I just got off the phone with Mark Reed who was at the protest in Nancy Pelosi’s office yesterday. He was about to board a plane headed back to Dallas and will have more information, photos and video over the weekend.
Reed said that Michael Robinson was among those arrested in Pelosi’s Sn Francisco office. Robinson paid a $135 fine and was not taken into custody.
- Mark Reed
In Washington, the group met with an aide at 4 p.m. to discuss moving ENDA out of committee and onto the floor of the House. Without a commitment, the group refused to leave.
Reed said that his role was mostly to photograph and send communication about the event out. At one point, he was told he could take no more pictures. He said during the protest he was free to come and go and he brought the protesters food and water.
Kirven was among the protesters. She was arrested about 8 p.m. and taken to jail. Reed bailed her out at about 11 p.m. She has a court date set for April 4 on a charge of illegal entry.
Reed, Robinson and Kirven are involved with the new direct action group Get Equal. This is the first protest in which the new group has participated. The group also had a role in the Dan Choi protests at the White House.
Look for updates later in the weekend after the group returns home.
GetEqual needs to find a legitimate (and effective) purpose. Their strategy is to organize publicity stunts to make DEMANDS. Demands without any viable THREAT are useless.
What THREAT does GetEqual have? Volume? What are the consequences when LGBT demands are not met? If we are ignored, as has been the case for decades, what’s next? Violence? When Blacks had “non-violent” marches in the 60s thousands of men carried baseball bats. That “picture” was threatening. Our country at that time was terrified about riots and violence. That was a real THREAT. What’s our threat?
That is the big problem with GetEqual and its predecessors, EqualityAcrossAmerica, JoinTheImpact, EqualityNetwork (mostly the same people) and on and on and on.
Demands without threats are like opinions without solutions – they may garner some attention, but they don’t provide any results.
GetEqual will receive attention. But, attention is not the same as results. This is an old playbook that may have had some value in the 1960s, but it ignores the fact the the world has changed.
Demonstration has been replaced by communication. Making angry demands or trying to annoy people is not communication. It does not encourage anyone to join us – in fact research indicates that it does just the opposite.
In order to garner sustainable support, GetEqual will need to provide some idea as to HOW their very “old school” activities will actually help the LGBT Community.
Andrew.. you are an idiot..
Very mature Daniel.
You don’t need to be upset because GetEqual has already failed.
The LGBT Community is finally enforcing accountability.
If you had anything useful to say, I guess you would have already said it.