Look, I could offer a lot of criticisms of this “Equality Summit,” but most of my criticisms would be similar to those I have leveled in the past against conferences organized by gay groups. I’ve heard a lot of politically correct rhetoric, not even rhetoric, jargon really. They count diversity by class and race, but not political ideology.
For them, philosophical diversity means including people from various left-of-center perspectives, with one person at a past such forum identifying the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) as a conservative group. Â
I won’t dwell on the politically correct aspect of this forum, but instead offer the organizers’ praise for doing something else I’ve been discussing on this blog since the Passage of Prop 8. I have said the opponents of the ballot initiative need to stop attacking Mormons and other proponents of the ballot measure and start engaging in some introspection, looking at their campaign and acknowledging the mistakes they made.
To be sure, some of those opponents, notably Geoff Kors “Equality California” and Lorri Jean of LA’s Gay & Lesbian Center, spent much of their time on panels praising themselves for their efforts to defeat the proposition. That said, this forum did offer ample opportunity for participants to criticize the “No” campaign and offer their suggestions on how to run future such campaigns.
Indeed, the very title comes from one speaker who raised his voice about the “shortcomings of the ‘No'” campaign. Let’s hope that the organizers of future such campaigns take heed to this man and others like him.
Despite some of the flaws of this forum, the organizers did open it up to the community and did give them a chance to weigh. And for that at least they deserve credit. So, this blogger offers kudos to them, kudos for promoting public civil discourse of this important issue.
ADDENDUM: As I had plans for this evening before learning of the Summit, I have to head out to meet my friends, including at least one blog reader, so my coverage is now complete. (Roughly 5 PM PST.)
What’s the point in opening it up to discussion if they piss on anybody who offers alternatives to their failures?
something is screwy with your comments thing, btw. i just posted a response and it never showed up.
anyway, to paraphrase:
i was opining on an implication in your post that was integral to the thesis of what you wrote. you said that you were not going to vote on prop 8 b/c of all the liberal advocates that piss you off, but then remembering a lesbian couple and their “true love,” you decided to vote. w/o repeating everything i said, this misses the point. whether or not an entire group of people should be able to have the same rights as everyone else should not hinge on what you or the government deem to be “true love.”
and yes, i know all the arguments of the social conservatives. they’re all crap. please feel free to posit one in particular if you think it’ll pose a challenge to me. i promise you, it won’t. i’ve debated this issue ad nauseam.
and yes, gays are the one instigating change. what’s your point? so were women during the feminist movement and blacks during the civil rights movement. the burden of proof here is on the people trying to uphold discriminatory laws that violate the 14th amendment.