I’ll have more on last night’s rally on Cedar Springs in tomorrow’s Voice, but for now I wanted to share this video of Queer LiberAction’s Blake Wilkinson and Rick Vanderslice confronting National Equality March organizer Mark Reed and his partner, Dante Walkup, during the rally. Wilkinson is apparently still smarting about Reed’s decision to cancel a plane ticket he’d given Wilkinson to attend the march over comments criticizing the event that were posted on QL’s Web site. During the confrontation, Wilkinson and Vanderslice get in Reed’s face and call him a “piece of shit” and a “slimy motherfucker.” Reed responds by calling Wilkinson “a fuckin’ liar.” I was paying attention to the rally and missed the whole thing, but Laura McFerrin captured it all on video and passed it along this morning. It’s definitely worth three minutes of your time.
QL's Wilkinson, Vanderslice get in Mark Reed's face during last night's rally on Cedar Springs
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This is really sad. The more energy we expend fighting among ourselves, the less energy we have to fight for our common cause. Our community clearly needs distinguished leadership. No one wears indignation well. All the shouted profanity-laced insults in the world won’t bring us one step closer to marriage equality. My husband and I discussed attending last night’s rally but opted out precisely because the movement has actually become counterproductive. This video by our so-called leaders proves it.
Wow, this Oak Lawn you tube stuff is getting stranger than fiction over the last couple of weeks.
Hollywood couldn’t make this stuff up.
OUCH!!!! Gotta love those in the community who are supposed to be leaders and/or assume the role of leadership. They are always the hardest to fall.
Love ya Blake, but Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned…
Way to go Blake and Rick…!!! Wooo Hooo.. A picture tells a thousand words and this video is more like a BILLION proving what a butthole Mark Reed is for spitefully canceling your tickets.
National Equality March ? *—-> Equal to what? Doing Nothing? Accomplishing Nothing? Posing in pretty pictures? Kissing Conservative Ass?
As I told you before.. they can type all the shit they want on their blogs and gay rags but you can’t manipulate the reporting when it’s right there in recorded video and it doesn’t lie.
I’m really getting sick of the biased news reporters in this town and I gotta say thanks to John Wright for posting this as a true journalist allowing others to form their own opinions based on the facts conveyed. It’s about friggin time!!
This is the state of the LGBT Movement?
A small group of people committed to “rights,” arguing that either “time spent” or “money contributed” creates the “right” to lead? While experience and money are very important, ideas and strategies should lead us.
The results in Maine clearly indicate we need to honestly and objectively rethink our “movement,” or lack thereof. We need to develop a comprehensive strategy that will inspire a movement and ignite our unity. We need a Plan to Win.
While others are fighting over who gets to “lead,” some of us are looking for real solutions for our equality. During the last 4 weeks we have seen some very compelling ideas and proposals. It has been very encouraging. We continue this evening:
LGBT EQUALITY: We Need A Plan
7 PM at the iLume Complex, 4123 Cedar Springs Rd. (enter on Knight St.)
Join the Conversation – Bring your ideas and plans. Everyone is welcome.
Why would we want to watch this?
Thanks to Mark Reed, Rick Vanderslice and Blake Wilkinson for providing this Activist Training Video. Louder, meaner and angrier.
Let’s hope this inspiring video is widely distributed.
Go QL. As you know I was not a big supporter of Blake and his posse. That has chenged. What that twirp Mark has done is truly childish. SIGN ME UP BLAKE!
Blake Wilkinson making an ass of himself? What a surprise, tear out the front page.
He is my hero….
This is fair warning to all. If you work with Blake, Rick, or QL, and you don’t do EXACTLY what they want, they will attack you and make your life miserable.
They are so blinded by their own self righteousness that they cannot see how hateful and vindictive they have become.
Their presence on the scene has cause far more harm than any good they have done. They are truly a cancer on our community and I pray for the nightmare of QL to end.
Josh, get with the program. Blake may be thin and little, but she packs a whollop. Come with me and lets do the correct thing!
i guess activism = whining about a plane ticket. No Ma’m!
How embarrassing. Rick Vanderslice, Mark Reed and Blake Wilkerson are all children.
It doesn’t matter if Vanderslice has been protesting for 50 years or that Mark Reed gave $10,000 to the now defunct EqualityAcrossAmerica (NationalEqualityMarch clowns) or that Blake Wilkerson is the “loudest” idiot. They should all go away. PLEASE.
oh if anyone cares, almost 150 peeps showed up last night in support of equality 😀
I hears only about 50 showed up
133 official count
The Mark Reed Vs. BlakeWilkinson “Bitch Fest” made Queerty:
https://www.queerty.com/watch-the-bitchfest-between-queer-liberaction-natl-equality-march-20091105/
How wonderful for Dallas.
150 peeps? Probably the same 40-50 misfits that love to shout lyrical demands. The same ones that still haven’t learned they have no effect on our fight for equal rights. They actually hurt the cause. They still believe anger works. Gee Whiz.
Rick Vanderslice has been bitching and moaning via “protest” for 100 years. He’s got nothing to show for it. The only saving grace for Blake is that he hasn’t wasted as much time.
Blake called Mark Reed and his boyfriend Dante “slimy mother fuc*ers.” I think the odds of getting free plane tickets is now completely out of the question. They should get him a “Happy meal” and see if it helps.
These clowns are the biggest soap opera to come out of Dallas since Dallas.
But everyone’s just working for equality right?
I’m sure they said it in there, somewhere. Maybe I just need to watch the video again… Laughter is the best medicine…
And in the immortal words of Rick Vanderslice – “We’re all sick.”
Radical Faeries. What are you going to do? The only way to make real progress in any civil rights movement is to appeal to the common decency of the majority.
A kid getting his head busted by overzealous cops does that.
A kissing booth at the stockyards does not.
Mark keep doing what you are doing. Josh is absolutely correct. No matter who has tried to work with Blake, the result is the same. Thanks to Laura there is video of how he treats others.
Where is the ‘mute Blake’ button?
I do not think there is a mute blake button Deb. She is here, she is queer–get used to it OKAY!
She speaks out on behalf of all of us in the GLBT community. You are just ashamed of yourself and dont feel that you deserve the equality he feels you deserve.
Mark, take your money and go away. You, like John Write, are not wanted here.
Brian (the-not-so-Original), Blake does NOT speak for me and I am in NO way ashamed of myself. Get over yourself.
Blake has done nothing but verbally assaulted and criticized people within our community. Nothing more.
Blake, please shut up and leave Dallas. The LGBT community here will thank you for it. These foolish tactics do nothing to advance LGBT equality- you and the rest of QL are an embarrassment to the LGBT community.
Well Donald and Deb, QL is going nowhere. You know that I have been very against QL, but the tide has changed. He speaks the truth. She is a loud and vocal leader!
These guys needs to disappear.
Mark Reed thinks he gets credit for his donation to the March on Washington.
Rick Vanderslice wants credit for his decades of anger.
Blake wants to be a combination of both of them.
Shut up. Just shut up, already. So, you can curse and express anger – wow. There wasn’t a single word about equal rights. J.O.’s like this obscure the fact that we should be talking about Maine and ENDA and DADT and DOMA. Dumb fucks.
Wow. The fact that so many people have commented on this post should be an indication that many in our community are frustrated. I agree that these guys don’t speak for me and no one really speaks for the community as a whole. That’s a great testament to our diversity. Maybe we don’t need a gay voice to speak for us. We have plenty of allies who are giving voice to our community’s deepest aspirations. Remember Judge Tena Callahan? She didn’t have to be gay to tell the world that the U.S. Constitution is meant to provide every citizen equal protection. She didn’t have to shout it in the streets or frame it with profanity.
Wow, as an older gentleman, but one who still gets plenty of action and active in the community, I say SHAME ON YOU. This arguing is crazy and does not do anything. I remember my days in the sixties, smoking a joint while getting a blowj….and watching TV. Those kids made a lot of noise and got a lot of work done. I think they got the attention of John and Jane Doe. This is what they did. The mainstream public does not see this bickering….they see the action. This is what queer liberaction does. The closed door politics of groups like fairness fort wortw does not get the word out to John Q. Public. Direct action does.
While I feel that Blake needs to trim those burns, he is on the right path. When you are as old as me, I hope you are getting as much action as I am, but am able to get married.
Mark, you are a loser.
Peace to all…
I rather think that there are far more issues at play here than just “go Blake and Rick” or “Blake and Rick shut the f*&k up.”
Yes, Rick is an old-school sixties oriented in your face activist. And yes he does specialize in being the angry voice of the oppressed. But on the other hand, let’s look at what all the peace and love that the “let’s just get along” crowd has accomplished as well.
The answer must lie somewhere in the middle. There has not been a truly successful culture changing protest movement since the sixties, and that is where Rick got his start, if only by accident of birth. Civil Rights legislation was finally passed and made to stick only after tens of thousands of people took to the streets to demand their rights.
In this day and age, it’s lovely to go out and play activist, but if you look at the numbers only fifty people at a time show up. And to what end? For all the howling, California rescinded Gay Marriage and Maine failed to pass it at the ballot box.
Do I think that Rick and Blake get carried away with their rhetoric? Yes, at times they do. But by the same token, at least Mr. Wilkinson, who is something like 28 years old, is actually brave enough to speak out for his generation.
From what I have observed in twenty years of being a gay Dallasite is that the GLBT community is basically a complacent bunch, happy with their leased Beemers and their Turtle Creek Condos that are devoid of furniture because they can only afford the Beemer payment, the rent and their S4 alcohol budget. Very few of us can be bothered to do the leg work that it takes to affect change in the community, let alone the country as a whole.
So, I applaud Blake and Rick for being willing to stand up for something…anything for that matter. And I chastise them for making public fools of themselves by screaming obscenities in someone’s face at a rally.
What really needs to happen if Gay men and women want to be equally recognized is to indeed demand it; but in numbers that will actually make politicians listen instead of turn away annoyed. There needs to be considerably more coalition building between like minded gay groups and sympathetic straight ones.
What I see happening in Dallas is similar to what happens in many splinter church organizations. Some one starts something good, then the infighting leads to ego wars that lead to a half dozen useless organizations that are more about their founders than their mission.
The fact, as mentioned by TISHA, is that the rally for Equality was attended by people interested in focusing on injustice and voicing our protest. (Even though I for one don’t see how we legitimately protest PUBLIC REFERENDUMS in other states.)
The QL sideshow, Wilkerson’s personal grievances, and Vanderslices addled contributions are irrelevant. QLs participation has been unfocused and irrelevant. They remain a very small group who DO NOT speak for US the majority of gay people, or our friends and allies
WHY the Voice editors and writers continue to give them so much coverage- WHOLLY OUT OF PROPORTION to their contribution- is beyond me. It is a continuing lack of quality journalism in the only gay newspaper in Dallas.
Gotta Love: Do you really believe “the people” do not know about “Da Queers?” That’s silly.
We don’t need angry mobs demanding – we need to persuade people to stand with us for equality. Yelling and screaming is 1960s. Vanderslice just won’t grow up.
Point of clarification: Mark didn’t “buy” his way onto the Executive Committee of the NEM, he EARNED his way there and was nominated by other board members. And for the record, he had already been a member of the Exec. Comm. for two months, prior to making his donation.
Just because he only recently got involved in activism is irrelevant. He made a huge difference, in a short time frame. Time spent as an activist doesn’t earn you cred – results do. I think the last year has birthed many a new activist – all of whom are important and needed.
Thank you again for your time at the NEM Mark – we are forever grateful for your dedication.
Rick, what difference does your being angry make? Joe Solmonese issued a statement yesterday saying, “I am angry. But more importantly, I am determined that with the anger I feel today from this outcome in Maine, we’ll rise ever stronger to demand equal treatment under the law and equal respect for our relationships.” I guess that’s what bothers me: there hasn’t been any concrete effort on your part — or anyone else’s — to turn that anger into action. Not just any action, mind you, but effective action. I’ve been to my fair share of protests. I’ve stood in the rain and the cold, downtown and in North Dallas and in Oak Lawn. It’s going to take a lot for me to trust that you or anyone else will be the right leader to help me turn my anger into action. Right now, as a result of all this petty bickering, I am only inclined to stay home try to make a difference one person at a time.
Fully realizing all of you will read what you will into the following, and only, comment I plan to contribute to this discussion thread, here goes. Since I have seen, close up, the extreme stresses and pressures Blake has accepted and carried during the first year of his leadership of Queer LiberAction, in a city very uncomfortable with direct action politics, I’m amazed with his strength and energy. I’ve also witnessed the many cheap shots and put downs he has encountered, time and time again on blogs and from Dallas “A” Listers.. For what? For being angry that we’re not making enough progress or making it fast enough? For believing we GLBT’s have to demand, in unison, not ask for our full and equal rights. And that we have to do this in far, far greater numbers if we really want to win? Agree or not with our anger and impatience but don’t try to destroy our efforts with cheap, public ridicule and power playing. Besides being petty, it will piss me off. Cover your ears children.
What The Dallas Voice has failed to do, so far, is contact me for any comments I might have as to why I confronted Mark Reed in such a public place and way. There is context. There was a reason.
My continuing fear is that the framing of this episode will be biased and reactionary. I fear there will be no context provided to inform and explain the scene captured on video. I fear that the GLBT community will hear only one story, told one way about this encounter which is more than was told about the QL Rally & March in downtown Ft. Worth on July 12th, or the August “Debate” sponsored by The Dallas Voice between QL (Blake and me) and members of the more establishment GLBT community about the best and fastest ways for us to achieve our equal rights, or the large and very risky Queer Kiss In! demonstration at the Ft. Worth Stockyards where we demonstrated the courage to stand up and declare ourselves as equals to everyone else, or the QL Teach In in front of the downtown Ft. Worth Public Library where we explained how common and destructive Homophobic language remained in both media, city and state government, even in the religious community, with the help of Dr. Stephen Sprinkle of the Bright Divinity School at TCU among others.
I don’t really care what people think of me or Blake personally. It isn’t really that important. I do care about helping to creating a real and effective Gay Rights movement that has more anger and passion and demands in it. I don’t care if I’m popular or not. I’ve had lots of the former and enough of the latter.
Maybe everyone will read some balanced journalism on the the encounter at the Legacy of Love Monument on Wednesday between Mark, Blake and me. Maybe not.
Sounds like criticism of the march to me.
“The organizers of the Sunday, October 11th March on Washington have placed almost their entire focus on Congress (which will be out of town) and almost none on the President. Indeed, rather than making demands of the President, the official march Web site goes out of its way to praise ‘Obama’s Mobile Messaging Team (for) Donating Services To The National Equality March!’
“By targeting congressional districts and lobbying Congress in an effort to win legal equality, the organizers’ strategy looks suspiciously like a drive to elect and re-elect Democrats in the 2010 bi-elections, rather than make uncompromising demands on this President and his Congress.”
As someone who follows gay activism from far away, and I do not know a single person in Dallas, this video starts with an individual facing the camera and explaining he is about to attack someone verbally. That would be you Rick. So if you are afraid this video will be used out of context, perhaps you should have thought of that before you spoke. Mark and Dante barely speak.
Learn a lesson from the Republicans and the religious right. Whatever your grudges are, keep them private. Your enemies will use every division in the LGBT movement to their advantage.
Really Rick Vanderslice, really? The only positive thing you can say about yourself and Blake is “your angry?” Well, your anger is childish. You are delusional to think it makes a differnce when all you and QL continue to receive are pleas that you disappear.
Time and time again you have been asked to justify your angry demands with some evidence that they actually accomplish anything. Perhaps, if you could, people would join you.
No need to worry about your “popularity,” few people celebrate or even appreciate the angry guy. Even over-the-top “loving” Jon Garrin can’t stomach you and your anger. None of us can.
How about you try to channel your anger into something positive or helpful. For now, you are simply a bad joke.
Mark Reed earned a spot on the now defunct EqualityAcrossAmerica and NEM? Earned or not it was a colossal failure. Even contributing to the whole circle jerk was stupid.
So, why does anyone think Mark Reed has made a contribution to LGBT Equal Rights? Help me out here. He is just as embarrassing as Rick and Blake. Mark Reed wrote a check for a dumb idea – nobody is following him – anywhere.
Don’t worry, Rick, looks like no one was contacted for a quote – the video speaks for itself. And I’d say it’s just as well that this video is out of context. That way no one will see how you and Blake thereafter confronted Erin Moore, president of Dallas Stonewall Democrats, without provocation or reason and continued to berate her until the march started.
They won’t see how, as everyone else shouted ‘same struggle, same fight’ during the march, you and Blake were engaged in your own struggle: exchanging insults with Mark Reed.
They won’t see your smirks and snide remarks while the other speakers were addressing the crowd.
And YOU’RE the victim?! YOU’RE the target of some vast “LGBT ‘establishment'” conspiracy? You sure make it sound this way, which I understand: a feeling of victimization is common to many white men who don’t get their way. That’s what they built FOX news on…
I couldn’t tell you how to build an effective movement – but if you want to see the fastest way to destroy it, scroll up and press play.
Furthermore, your behavior showed a fundamental lack of respect for the organizers of Wednesday’s rally. I assume you would not behave in such a way at your own rally, and would be rightly disgusted by anyone who would. This public display of disrespect is the real reason why QL is not supported by many in the community – not because they’re intimidated, or jealous, or even because the ‘establishment’ is conspiring against the group.
Blake clearly supports the idea that years of activism yield some sort of entitlement, yet seems to abandon the concept when someone more seasoned disagrees with him. Nevertheless, if he will judge someone because they’ve been an activist for a year (rather than two), he should appreciate that those in the ‘establishment’ are there because their years of service have produced a strong organization.
Of course, those who have been doing things a certain way for a long time may have disagreements with newcomers, but when those disagreements leave the realm of rational debate, all parties lose.
It is long past time to abandon self-serving rhetoric and rebuild relationships built on mutual respect and cooperation. Otherwise you will for sure continue to encourage anger in the community, but only that anger which keeps us divided.
The real assholes here are the ones that decided to air this for the public…thereby squashing everyone’s hope of a unified front just a little more. WTF is wrong with you? This isn’t strange or specific only to the gay rights struggle. But NOW it will be part of everyone’s mental landscape as they mourn yet another marriage loss.
Fucking low-class, muckraking assholes…who’s side are you on?
None of it is working. High class faggots with false authority are attending dinners and are too easy to congratulate. They are every bit as establishment as the straight pricks that fight us. Black tie gays only have their own pride these days, enough to blow their own ranks. Titles.
We could do much better. Call it grassroots, fine. The gay community that we currently have is inadequate and deserves to be torn down entirely. It couldn’t be any worse than how feeble we already are and have been. It isn’t about what these A-list faggots call unity anymore. We’ll never be any better off with them. We have to let them go and figure out what is essentially, realistically going to become of us.
So, fuck them, yell at them, get rid of them, not in a sense of losing our history, but shedding a part of us that is accustomed to polite disrespect. Being afraid and easy. And one thousand dollars.
Tear the whole fucker down.
We’ll see what we can manage a day later.
No rush
It’s sadly telling that so many of these comment posts are laced with profanity yet completely lack profundity. Really now people. Who’s angrier? Rick and Blake or R. J. Jackson, to cite just one example.
How’s about we all grow up a bit, stop hurtling epithets at each other and figure out a way to be a united front for our own, communal benefit? Take a look at what happened to the Republican Party during the last election cycle. It was rendered all but ineffective from all the bickering and name calling and mudslinging, not that it did toward the Democrats, but toward itself. If we can do no better than to sit at our laptops and tap out four letter insults at each other then we are no better than the element that would have us shunted off to the margins of society. We are certainly no more literate nor eloquent.
It would behoove us to take a look at recent events in the broader body politic and learn a little from what just happened in the 2008 election. Those who fail to remember history are doomed to repeat it.
What a piece of shit Mark Reed is! He did buy his way in! The A-list gays always pretend to be for the community, when they are actually in it for their selfish reasons. Maybe to be noticed, or be seen as popular, just to make their egos bigger! The whole black tie event is bullshit, self promoting, and self righteous. So what you go to these events and throw a little money around, and try to make yourselves popular among the A-list!! Who the fuck cares. If you are so special and supportive of the community, just give your money for the event because it is for a good cause, and go away silently, and anonomously! Fundraise for a cause, not for your own selfish reasons, you black tie, eliteist assholes!
I’m on the “….Fucking low-class, muckraking assholes…” side…
They’re the ones with the ability to see-the-unseen perspectives that the rest of the herded sheep never do.. The only thing the sheep see is the next asshole in front of them.
YUP!! I’m on that side for sure.. gotta problem with that?
I pray for the potholes to disappear in this town but that doesn’t seem to do any good either. Maybe I should just accept that fact and adapt to them.. Maybe I’ll learn something new in my driving habits.
Gee, I wonder if the same could be true for Rick and Blake. Rather than focus on negativity, what type of positive things can this teach us in dealing with our own day to day stuff?
_________________________________
….”Really Rick Vanderslice, really? The only positive thing you can say about yourself and Blake is “your angry?” Well, your anger is childish. You are delusional to think it makes a differnce when all you and QL continue to receive are pleas that you disappear.”
We had a great Meeting last night. It was a very thoughtful conversation, including an objective review of what happened in Maine.
There are many new, innovative ideas within our Community and a spirit of cooperation. Our meetings are intended to find the ‘solution” to our equality – we are developing a way to actually win. It’s very positive and helpful.
From my perspective, I think “anger” should be retired. It does not work, in fact it just creates more anger. We need to redefine what it means to be LGBT. Repeated images of anger and disrespect just confirm our opponents claims about us. There is nothing positive or proactive about “angry demands” and they don’t persuade people.
As a Community we need to focus our energy on creating solutions. The video posted here is probably a good explanation why only 10% of our Community actually participates in any effort to obtain our equality. Until we are able to inspire and enroll more members of our own community, we’ll never be able to create a movement.
Everyone is welcome to join our conversation and participate in an honest and objective look at the state of our movement, and strategies to obtain our equality. You don’t have to donate, or be an activist, or work for the LGBT-Rights Establishment – you just have to care about our future. We’re interested in winning. Just winning.
Thursday’s at 7pm – iLume Complex, Oak Lawn.
ANDREW- is there a website, organization name, FB page we can all go to for info, updates, meetings, etc…?
Maybe Andrew can go out to the Dallas-Gayborhood group and post it there on the Calendar to share with others:
https://groups.google.com/group/Dallas-Gayborhood
Spare us the commercial Andrew……….Save it for the posh A-list folks at Ilume, while you all turn a blind eye to the GLBT poverty stricken a few short blocks away……………..
And Kevin, the reason why many of these comments are laced with such profanity is because our so-called “journalists” and “editor” of the paper are allowing it to be published without moderation !!! Yet how funny they will be quick to censor and remove comments and quote the Terms of Use Policy to those who provide commentary which uncovers corruption. Hmmm…… politics at its best !!
The Dallas Voice and its “leadership” is a large contributing factor to the above problem and should be held accountable !!
By the way John Wright, funny that you have never made a peep in this commentary. As was expressed to your editor, you need to fight your own battles and not have others do it for you…….
Spare us the commercial Andrew……….Save it for the posh A-list folks at Ilume, while you all turn a blind eye to the GLBT poverty stricken a few short blocks away……………..
And Kevin, the reason why many of these comments are laced with such profanity is because our so-called “journalists” and “editor” of the paper are allowing it to be published without moderation !!! Yet how funny they will be quick to censor and remove comments and quote the Terms of Use Policy to those who provide commentary which uncovers corruption. Hmmm…… politics at its best !!
The Dallas Voice and its “leadership” is a large contributing factor to the above problem and should be held accountable !!
By the way John Wright, funny that you have never made a peep in this commentary. As was expressed to your editor, you need to fight your own battles and not have others do it for you…….
Spare us the commercial Andrew……….Save it for the posh A-list folks at Ilume, while you all turn a blind eye to the GLBT poverty stricken a few short blocks away……………..
And Kevin, the reason why many of these comments are laced with such profanity is because our so-called “journalists” and “editor” of the paper are allowing it to be published without moderation !!! Yet how funny they will be quick to censor and remove comments and quote the Terms of Use Policy to those who provide commentary which uncovers corruption. Hmmm…… politics at its best !!
The Dallas Voice and its “leadership” is a large contributing factor to the above problem and should be held accountable !!
By the way John Wright, funny that you have never made a peep in this commentary. As was expressed to your editor, you need to fight your own battles and not have others do it for you…….
Dear Disappointed,
Whether or not the editors of this publication choose to moderate this discussion is irrelevant. Thinking, intelligent people should be able to carry on a discussion be it in private, on camera or in this forum without spewing forth a string of ad hominem attacks and profanities.
As a group, we are only as strong as our weakest link, to quote the cliche. From reading the forty odd comments in this thread, it would appear to me that our links, from the leadership to the protesters to the amateur commentators are pathetically weak.
The Ilume set condescends to the Buli crowd and the Buli crowd casts aspersions on the Buli set for their condescension. The truth of the matter is that there are good people from all walks of life and from all socio-econnomic strata. There are also jerks and losers from the same.
I propose that we become like a real university and leave everything behind except the true cause; that is respect and equality under the law. That is the only thing that really matters. Until the name calling and bickering stops and the anger management classes begin, we might as well just stay home and watch LOGO, because our cause is dead in the water until unity comes to pass. Hello, look at the flag that symbolizes our community. Unity amongst diversity.
Now, how about those of us who are doing all this typing get together to form some sort of coalition that will actually promote unity and common cause. I will open my home for such a meeting and facilitate it in any way I can. How many of you who have posted to this discussion are willing to sacrifice some of your time and energy and creativity to bring about positive change? I challenge the posters here and everyone who is reading this message to contact me privately and let’s see what we can do.
Let the name calling cease and cease now. I eagerly await your collective and individual responses. Please know that everyone, EVERYONE, is welcome and there will be no exclusions, no hidden agendas, no personal ego trips permitted.
You’ve been invited. Let’s see who has the courage to respond.
You may contact me at kevinsutton415@att.net
Correction, In my third paragraph I should have said that the Ilume crowd condescends to the Buli set and the Buli set casts aspersions on the ILUME crowd for their condescension. Sorry for the typo.
Kevin,
Your ideology is RIGHT ON TARGET and I agree with much of your commentary.
However, as much as we all would love people to be mature enough and civil enough to carry on these types of debates in a productive way, the realism is that some simply won’t ………………I feel that it is at this point where the editorial moderators need to take responsibility and step in to re-direct the conversation back to a civil discourse…………………..but they don’t..
Concerning your offer to host a gathering, I think that is very notable, but I am a little skeptical about its success…….. If you recall a few weeks back, a similar gathering was proposed by Rick Vanderslice above on one of these threads and his proposal was quickly ambushed by this Andrew fellow and quickly turned into some Ilume group with this “Game Plan” agenda, which was not the original proposal at all…….
So I suppose Kevin, if you can come up with a way to have people gather for civil and mature debate to discuss community issues without someone turning it into some new “movement” agenda then I am all for it !!
I look forward to further details in how you will accomplish this.
Kevin,
Your ideology is RIGHT ON TARGET and I agree with much of your commentary.
However, as much as we all would love people to be mature enough and civil enough to carry on these types of debates in a productive way, the realism is that some simply won’t ………………I feel that it is at this point where the editorial moderators need to take responsibility and step in to re-direct the conversation back to a civil discourse…………………..but they don’t..
Concerning your offer to host a gathering, I think that is very notable, but I am a little skeptical about its success…….. If you recall a few weeks back, a similar gathering was proposed by Rick Vanderslice above on one of these threads and his proposal was quickly ambushed by this Andrew fellow and quickly turned into some Ilume group with this “Game Plan” agenda, which was not the original proposal at all…….
So I suppose Kevin, if you can come up with a way to have people gather for civil and mature debate to discuss community issues without someone turning it into some new “movement” agenda then I am all for it !!
I look forward to further details in how you will accomplish this.
Kevin,
Your ideology is RIGHT ON TARGET and I agree with much of your commentary.
However, as much as we all would love people to be mature enough and civil enough to carry on these types of debates in a productive way, the realism is that some simply won’t ………………I feel that it is at this point where the editorial moderators need to take responsibility and step in to re-direct the conversation back to a civil discourse…………………..but they don’t..
Concerning your offer to host a gathering, I think that is very notable, but I am a little skeptical about its success…….. If you recall a few weeks back, a similar gathering was proposed by Rick Vanderslice above on one of these threads and his proposal was quickly ambushed by this Andrew fellow and quickly turned into some Ilume group with this “Game Plan” agenda, which was not the original proposal at all…….
So I suppose Kevin, if you can come up with a way to have people gather for civil and mature debate to discuss community issues without someone turning it into some new “movement” agenda then I am all for it !!
I look forward to further details in how you will accomplish this.
Enuf already! Morons, put your petty bickering aside for the greater humanity of the GLBT Community! There are issues in the Community that need to be addressed, like the blight in the neighborhood, crime, drugs, and lets not forget about Aids, as it ravages half of our community, spreading like wildfire. So stop being so petty, the marriage issue should be a non issue, or at the very least, put on the back burner, as there are greater challenges to our Community, like AIDS!!!! Can’t we just agree to disagree, and everyone get together to fight for our lives, as the Aids epidemic is going to kill us all! We need to save lives first, then worry about marriage and equality second!!!
And again more bitching from the LGBT community. How about you all stop complaining and start a campaign of your own that you deem to be effective. Results are measured in different ways and if you think yours work, then hell, go for it.
I am by no means a fan of QL and their “direct-action” technique, but at least they are doing something, asides from whining and moaning in front of their computer.
There are numerous organizations out there that has a policy that you may agree with. Get off your butt and join them. =)
I sent the video to The Dallas Voice. I did it because it was newsworthy and because I think people deserve to see how Rick and Blake treat people. I was a supporter of QL. I went to the first meeting. I donated my time and money to direct action because I believe in it.
I still support direct action,but I no longer support Blake or Rick. I watched them verbally assault Mark and Dante and then they moved on to Erin Moore. I cannot support people that would bully someone in public during a protest! If Blake and Rich cared about our movement, then they would have shut up and joined the protest. They saw my camera and they kept yelling at Mark and Dante.
BTW: If Mark or anyone else had verbally assaulted Blake or Rick, I would have sent that video to the Voice as well.
I’m with Tracy. Bravo. This all needs more Tracies.
Laura:
Thank-you for exposing the reprehensible behavior of the few. All activists shouldn’t be painted with the same broad brush, but Blake has really been giving the whole idea of ‘”direct action” a really bad reputation in DFW. The video helps explain it was him and Rick Vanderslice, that were creating the bad feelings.
Now, people will at least know “who” to ignore. I hope they both grow up. Attacking people never works. It takes a little more thought to actually engage in meaningful conversation, but it is much more effective.
Good-bye Queer Liberaction.
Kevin, if you’re for real, let’s talk. You can reach jongarinn@sbcglobal.net. In fact, anyone who is serious, thoughtful and respectful can do the same.
By the way, you had only seen a clip of that video. It’s hardly enough to garner conclusions from. The man that they were yelling at was someone who had only just recently been involved with these things. He was a tool for ponying up the dough for people’s plane tickets in the first place, yet while he deserves to be pointed out (as he was in the video, kinda), a ticket from some A-list fat-wallet phony asshole should already be a Judas kiss. I regret that only small clips like this get put up without having the entire video available. Wherever you are, where is it?
And fuck it, back to Tracy, we should collect ourselves and find any myriad of more honest, less-canoodling groups in order to secure our future.
And bickering, not less bickering, far more of it. This is not a subtle discussion. As painful as it may be to realize for us, it never was. We are dreadfully behind, and what do we do?
Who do we think we are?
ORANGES
So Laura, are you telling everyone then to BEWARE of the debates that anyone in the community has with people in public, lest face retaliation and ruin by you and your secret video cam and friend reporters at the Dallas Voice ???
Wow, I never thought I’d see the day when we live in a world where we have to constantly look over our shoulders and watch what we say to avoid big brother / big sister around the corner recording everything we do and say and going public with it………..
Certainly, I don’t agree with the nature of the exchange between those people, but the fact of the matter is, whatever the dispute that was going on, that was between THEM and it was really none of anybody’s business !!!
Do you make this a habit Laura of sticking your nose into arguments which don’t directly concern you and retaliating against people who may disagree with your friends in the way that doesn’t match your style ?? Do you usually conspire with the media in this manner to ruin people with whom you have a grudge with ??
I hope you know that recording people without their knowledge or consent is in most cases against the law….. Just an FYI.
Be careful everyone, go home and lock your doors and windows. Check your homes for bugs and check purses for hidden surveilance cameras. Hold your debates to a whisper or the Laura Cam / Wright retaliation team will post it on the 5 O’Clock news as “newsworthy”.
If that rally was so successful, you all would have had more productive work to do than sit around and figure out how to get back at each other. Grow up children !!!
I hope you know that you are making a bad name for all of us in the community and are destroying our image as a GLBT community with mainstream folks who read this paper or who may come across it via a link somewhere………..
@Street Smart
You wrote a comment so I am assuming you can read. Pleas read my above comment again.
They saw my camera and they kept yelling at Mark and Dante.
Rick invites me to record it at the beginning and then asks if I am getting this (meaning recording it) in the middle. So everyone saw my camera and continued……
@ Streetsmart (who is most likely Blake or Rick trying to do damage control)
Review the video again and realize these two men WANTED the video coverage. They were smiling in the camera and making sure everything was recorded.
Was this news that should have been reported by the DV? Absolutely.
Here you have a so called local gay activist “leader” trying to disrupt an event coordinated by former QL members. They were obviously trying to agitate a fist fight so the attention could be brought back to them that evening.
Their unbelievable assault on Mark & Dante during the middle of the Maine protest rally is inexcusable. WTF?
Kudos to Mark & Dante for maintaining their cool.
Kudos to Laura for recording this so the DFW LBGT community could see how the head of QL treats people that he has a disagreement with over an issue.
Calling people a piece of “sh*t” and slimy “mother f*cker” is a great way for a leader to deal with conflict. Oh…and don’t forget they also called Stonewall President Erin Moore a “b*tch” after that.
Blake & Rick….please go away as you are an embarrassment to our community.
Watch again. Far from unaware of the big bad secret camera, Rick is playing to it. Listen for when he says, “Are you getting this?”
He lives for this kind of publicity, and scandal, and “self-aggrandizing” confrontation. If all else fails, demand louder.
Is 65 comments a new record for an Instant Tea blog – just wondering?
Mark, We don’t keep exact records on such things as number of comments per post. There may have been more, or more “unique” comments, on prior posts, but this is no doubt a lot.
@R.J. Jackson
We don’t need any more bitching, tis all I was saying. A commenter stated earlier that we needed a strategy. Can someone please elaborate on what this “strategy” is and why you think this path of action would work? Maybe you can then garner up enough supporters to create a new organization that may well be the verge of the new gay civil rights movement.
Enough of the crying people! My best friend has a word for this and it’s “gay-bashing gays.” We need to learn to work with each other before we expect society to work with us. You can’t demand shit without earning it in some form.
@Laura, great job on catching this on video sweetie! Totally TMZ, love it!
We know who to avoid in Dallas: Mark, Dante, Blake and Rick.
Good work Linda.
Tracy: A strategy I’ve never heard articulated or elaborated on is going after the churches to get them stripped of their tax exempt status for their political activities. There’s no question that the Mormon and Catholic churches were responsible for the successful passage of Prop 8 in California, and now we know that the Catholic church was responsible for the “people’s veto” in Maine. The Catholic church successfully lobbied to have a strict anti-abortion provision inserted into the health care reform bill passed late last night by the House. It seems to me that the strategy of “building bridges” with people of faith is not an effective strategy. No church can be prohibited from exercising free speech rights or the free exercise of religion. In fact, the tax-exempt status of a church has been revoked by the IRS only once for engaging in overtly political activity (and that revocation was merely temporary). Churches and nonprofits are free to be involved in political issues as long as no candidate or party is endorsed. Yet many churches and religious organizations are afraid to speak and act boldly on important political issues because they don’t want the IRS to revoke their tax-exempt status. It seems to me that rather than build bridges with people of faith, we should build them with the IRS! A 501(c)(3) organization may not do such things as make statements that endorse or oppose a candidate, publish or distribute campaign literature, or make any type of contribution, monetary or otherwise, to a political campaign. They can conduct activities that are not related to elections, such as issue advocacy, lobbying for or against legislation and supporting or opposing the appointment of individual to non-elected offices. Churches may not contribute financially to a political party, political action committee or candidate and maintain tax-exempt status. They may not show bias toward a candidate or political party and maintain tax-exempt status. It could be argued that the Mormons and the Catholics have become emboldened by these recent developments, and that their “issue advocacy” has crossed the line.
Yeah Arnold, however you forgot to mention the comment that was never posted last night (censored), you know, the one which exposed deeper issues and which called for more evidence of the ENTIRE video, not just what was presented.
Again, funny how all of the McFerrin supporters/cronies come out of the woodwork after she had received a few comments criricizing her actions………….
When are you all at the Dallas Voice going to stop covering for each other and expose truthful journalism ??
I believe I’m the only one who signed in to post comments this weekend and I censored none. Some comments get caught in the spam filter and I checked there, but again found none that weren’t posted. When they get caught in the automatic spam filter, it takes mlonger to get them posted. The only editing I did was to correct spelling on a post criticizing something I wrote on another topic. Please repost if something has not been posted by now.
Thanks, Rick, for effectively bringing this post to an end. You have an amazing capacity for sucking the oxygen out of a blog.
Would you bitchy assholes SHUT UP already… I don’t give a flying fuck who’s right and who’s wrong or who’s got the more manly penis.
Bottom line, we’re here, we’re queer, get used to it. Show your respect for those you don’t agree with and demand they do the same in return or kick their asses to the curb. PERIOD.
Throw away your tea bags, and your psychic tarot, and your crackberries and DO SOMETHING besides bitch like a room full of “valley girls”.. Like Um, OMG.. Did you see what sheee did?
Fuck off and show a little respect to the others around you for once in your pathetic lives.
If you don’t agree with the goddamn video then say “I don’t agree with it” with no further diatribe or lengthy bullshit story. If you agree with it.. do the same..
But this ridiculous “he said / she said” crap needs to get flushed down the shitter already cuz you’re all behaving like a bunch of assholes.
*ALL OF YOU*
For those of you Southern Bitches here on the list.. WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU MANNERS?
If you want to have a heated discussion about this issue then show your ass up at Buli at 7pm on Wednesday On November 11th. Period.. End of Discussion
You don’t show up, then maybe we need to demand that the moderators delete any further messages here. Cuz all you’re doing is blowing smoke.
Really Rick?
Do you think you’ve contributed a thing with your illiterate and profane diatribe?
Are you going to show up at Buli on the eleventh?
And if you are, are you going to show some of the manners you mentioned above by not calling people bitches and assholes and referring to “the shitter”? I don’t for the life of me understand how posts such as the one above help a thing.
It is so very simple to sit in a dark corner of your mother’s basement and type out instant vitriol from your macbook. Can you do the difficult thing and come to the fore with either constructive rhetoric or actual man hours to help the cause? I’ll believe it when I see it.
Talk about blowing smoke. Where are YOUR manners Mr. Wagner? Where is your civility? And where on earth did you learn to write so very poorly?
Some days ago, I posted a challenge and an offer to facilitate a meeting of like minded groups to form a unity coalition for the good of the common cause. To date, two people have responded. It would seem that our community is very long on words and very short on action. Sad, isn’t it?
@ Rick Wagner: Why would any of us want to attend a Queer Liberaction Meeting at Buli?
What is clear from the short, colorful and then pathetic history of QL is that they don’t do anything positive for the Community. I think I understand their intentions, but the execution has been embarrassing.
Can we continue to justify this “in-your-face” anger? Is it actually helpful? I am all for reacting to something in our community that needs to be challenged – Rainbow Lounge, but it appears QL is just about making publicity. In fact, they’ve been very good at making publicity – the problem is, it’s all been bad publicity.
As a Community I think we need to decide whether or not “protest” is effective without a specific event. We’ve already decided QL is not.
># Brian Says:
>November 5th, 2009 at 11:06 am
>
>Thanks to Mark Reed, Rick Vanderslice and Blake Wilkinson for providing this
> Activist Training Video. Louder, meaner and angrier.
>
better read up if thats the tack you want to take, no judgments, just sound advice
Act Up has pretty much written the book on it and a good reference chapter forthat approach is covered by links on this page. If you haven’t read it you probably should.
Good luck to you
https://www.actupny.org/documents/CDdocuments/CDindex.html
While some above commentor’s oratory may be “final” here, I’d like to make one important point before everyone continues to argue with each other ad nauseum…
Now, I’m not saying that everyone is supposed to agree with what I’m about to say, but I would hope that everyone here has a mind open enough to listen and to consider an alternate perspective.
I continue to read all 70 + comments on this thread and the main red flag that continues to pop up in these comments is COMPETITION and WINNING AT ALL COST at the expense of destroying others. Also, it is clear that we have a series of mini groups which have formed, composed of friends with similar thinking ideology who wish to establish territories, force their ideology on others and conspire and retaliate against those either in other groups or those on the outside who somehow invade their ideological “turf” if you will.
Call it political activism, Game Plan Organizations, Equality Groups, QL, EAA or whatever you wish, the behavior expressed is similar to that demonstrated by gang related activity……I mean really, all you folks need is to fly some “colors” and you would be par with some of the more prominant street gangs…..
Don’t believe me ?? Take a look at all of the “recruitment” and marketing that is going on here. First you have the Wednesday night Buli’s faction (whether affiliated with QL or not, we don’t know ) saying in so many words “join us or shut up”. Then we have the Thursday night Ilume faction which is all about this “plan” that has yet to produce any details. Next we have the Equality across America faction whose leaders threaten people in online blogs (this is documented) with phrases like “God help you” if you don’t agree with us and appear to use their money and business clout to bully and retaliate against people who cross them, and then of course we have QL who debates strongly with everyone and who refuses the other side to have an open forum. Lastly we have folks like Kevin above who appear to be trying to come to some civil group and is frustrated by the response rate…………….Well Kevin, nice try but I think that people are either already a “member” of one of these other factions /gangs or are too skeptical to take part because they fear your group turning into another one of these factions and for being retaliated for doing so……
What totally amazes me is that like gangs and cults, some people will retaliate against people and express hate towards them, not necessarily because they know that person or know the situation, but at the behest of their faction’s leaders who had heavily influenced them, which is clearly seen when “supporters” come out of the woodwork and say textbook statements such as “we now know who to avoid (blackball)” and “Good Work”, “Great Article” etc……….. Its all about supporting the “leaders” in the buddy circle (gang) and their conspiratorial tactics than about talking about the real issue. I’m amazed at how easily human beings can be influenced and later manipulated……
But factions aside, a very puzzling point which always seems to linger is the underlying cause of the original verbal debate in the first place. Isn’t it strange that we never seem to hear the name of the airline in which these tickets were obtained ?? Also, why hasn’t John Wright seen it in his duty as a journalist to publish the ENTIRE video so that we can decide for ourselves ?? And why John do you sit behind in the shadows without a peep while you helped instigate these gang wars by publishing this article ??? What may be exposed which may possibly get to the hidden business connections that both Mark’s and Laura’s businesses are associated ?? And lastly John, why do you censor and remove comments which get to the very heart of these issues. Are you a member of one of these factions as well protecting your “turf” ???………….Sure seems like it.
So I say that perhaps you people in the factions / gangs above need to reflect upon the kind of behavior you are really fostering here. Defamatory slander, online bullying, retaliation and conspiracies are all activities that could very well be investigated by authorities, not to mention legal liability to the Dallas Voice, other business entities and a few corrupt attorneys and electronic litigators who have possibly aided and abetted this……………
Like many here, I am saddened that we have these factions forming in the first place and that we can’t come together as a community, at least not here in Dallas.
Take heed folks, word is getting around nationally on other blogs as to how the Dallas GLBT community is doing things and from the comments I have read here and there, Dallas is not too well-favored from the national masses despite all of the media hype.
Again, if this comment does get posted without censorship then thank you for at least stopping for a moment to listen to a different perspective.
Again, no posts have been censored. All posts that have shown up that are not spam have been posted (and I scanned through more than 400 posts in the spam folder and found three that were actual comments and posted them).
OK admin, very well, but how do you account for other posts in other articles throughout the week written by people which their comments were originally posted and then later removed (censored) and then given a snide comment by the editor stating something about terms of use violations or in her own words (“read your friggin terms of use”……), which by the way after some of the political and religious articles I have read on this paper 98 % of the people who comment violate !!
Again, I ask what is the Dallas Voice staff trying to cover up and why ???
There is more to these articles that meets the eye…
Yes, I admit it. The Dallas Voice staff is involved in a major cover up. Your posts could have saved the world and our edits have enabled al Qaeda, the Taliban and the Fort Worth police department. Thanks for pointing that out. Our readers are safer. Or would have been had I not deleted the secret code words that I discovered in your earlier posts.
Dear Kevin,
You said: “…Talk about blowing smoke. Where are YOUR manners Mr. Wagner? Where is your civility? And where on earth did you learn to write so very poorly?
I had a great teacher.. You can click here to learn all about them: https://www.rickwagnertx.com/html/thoughts__near_death_experienc.html
I wonder how well you would do if you were in the same position?? HUH?? Kindly share with us…
Dear Mr. Wagner,
I am sorry that you suffered so terribly at the hand of someone that was irresponsible. You have obviously gone through quite an ordeal, and for that you have my every sympathy.
However, your personal misfortune, horrific as it was and still is, does not give you the right to attack people you don’t even know. Nor does it excuse your profanity laced diatribes.
Many people have survived terrible accidents, misfortunes and injustices. I suggest that you take a lesson or two from someone like Nelson Mandela or Desmond Tutu; men who overcame the most criminal of injustices and went on to make something positive out of their experiences and even change the world.
Perhaps if you channeled your anger, which is indeed justifiable, into something good instead of listing the address of the man who struck you as if you were going to put a hit on him, you might help educate some people and prevent some other person from suffering the terrible pain that you have suffered.
Hurling epithets has never solved a single problem. Rather, such tactics tend to get you put on permanent ignore.
Can we all put our fucking differences aside and work together. Last night I was with QL at the Milkbox and we were flooded with AWFUL counterprotestors. There were just a few of us and MANY of them. The police were nowhere to be found. When I spoke with the police this morning they offered NOTHING. We need to stop this schoolgirl bullshit and focus on this hate and what we must overcome. I am referring to EVERYONE, including the dallas voice. I am done.
Kevin, thank you for the reply and suggestions.
As for channeling my energies into other things, I can assure you that I don’t “…sit in a dark corner of your mother’s basement and type out instant vitriol from your macbook.”
Instead I use an HP TouchSmart tablet with Windows-7 and have successfully developed and hosted the popular Dallas-Gayborhood System at: https://www.divamac.com/Gayborhood which you are also welcome to join. There you can learn more about the humanities that I have freely provided to gay men in the world for the past two decades.
Thanks for the reply and the sympathy which truly goes to prove that before you decide to attack someone, maybe you should try to walk a mile in their shoes first. For if you had, you would have known that me and my lover were both a powerful ingredient to the mix you have the benefit of enjoying today. Go out to Wikipedia and do a search for “Wynn Wagner”
In the meantime, why don’t you try using a little more compassion in your travels…
==Rick
You think Rick Vandurslice is angry at the rallys, you should see him at Buli.