This is a Special Holiday Edition of What’s Brewing, coming to you from my garden bungalow (garage apartment) near University Park (but in Dallas).
1. Local gay activist Blake WIlkinson is reportedly trying to organize a Prop 8 demonstration on Saturday outside a Mormon-owned bookstore on Preston Road. Despite concerns about whether’s it’s an effective strategy, the 27-year-old WIlkinson has argued in favor of direct attacks on the LDS Church for its support of Prop 8. Wilkinson has an abrasive style, and he was ousted from organizing efforts for the recent rally outside Dallas City Hall, reportedly because he wanted to turn the rally into a protest march. He also left a newly formed anti-hate crimes group, over disagreements with the group’s leader, Michael Robinson. Wilkinson’s event, which hasn’t been sanctioned by any local LGBT groups that I know of, will be outside Moon’s LDS Bookstore at 1482 Preston Forest Square at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, according to a Facebook message I received.Â
2. Sour grapes called, and they want their vine back! The Dallas Morning News has apparently been reduced to taking potshots at lesbian Sheriff Lupe Valdez, as well as the entire Dallas County electorate, on its editorial page here. The DMN’s candidate for sheriff, Republican Lowell Cannaday, was trounced by Valdez on Nov. 4, and now the newspaper is blaming it on “undiscriminating voters.” Why don’t they just editorialize against democracy?
3. HFTD (Happy Fuckin’Â Turkey Day)!!!
17 Comments
Fell into a turkey-induced coma yesterday. Finally came out of it this morning, now if there only was another showing of that Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade with the hunky male cast of the Broadway revival of South Pacific dancing around shirtless, it would be a perfect day!
John, as a friend of Blake’s I take exception to your characterization of him as having an “abrasive style”. On the contrary, Blake is very dedicated to our cause, and though I cannot speak for him, I believe that he simply believes that we shouldn’t mince words.
The Mormon church has worked hard against our equality as American citizens, and they should be called out for it. Additionally, he was not “ousted” from the organization or from participating in the Prop 8 rally. He was there that day, and he made many signs for people to carry. He also stood out on Cedar Springs night after night handing out flyers. I should know, I donated all the printing for his efforts. Blake did want the rally to be a march as well, one that went from City Hall to the First Baptist Church, where another rally was being organized the next day by another person. This idea was shot down because, as I understand it, a permit was required for that kind of protest. Lastly, Blake decision to leave the UCAGHC, which he helped organize from the very start, was based on the fact that his contributions were systematically being marginalized by the other co-founder. I think it was the right decision for him, and I would have done the same thing.
You have characterized Blake as being militant before, and you seem to imply that he is a loose cannon. Nothing could be further from the truth, and your assessment of him lacks understanding and objectivity. Blake’s commitment to LGBT equality is honest and sincere, but uncompromising. Who can object to that? For my part, I would be glad to have Blake on my side anytime.
yeah, this post seemed more like axe grinding than reporting. which, by the way, why has the voice been noticeably absent from this protest? the straight media showed up in droves to cover it but the dallas voice was silent. shamefull.
I agree Brian. I am disappointed that the voice did not mention the rally, or show up for pictures.
Gay activist that have a miltant vibe to them do not get the respect they deserve.
You can throw rubber chicken black tie dinners till the cows come home but until you get in these fuckers face, we will always be kept at bay.
Maybe Blake will start a more radical group. If we depended on pissy dinners and blind auctions during the 80’s…about 1/2 of us wouldn’t be here today.
If we had more militant, direct-action guys like Blake on the ground in California in the months prior to November, we wouldn’t have to be in the streets now protesting the passage of Prop 8!
Yeah…we could take a few lessons from Code Pink
I just saw MILK. Harvey had to contend with The Advocate–the same a**holes then as today–and others who loved Democrats more than their fellow LGBT sisters and brothers. In your face, out and militant is the way to go. The court in California will take notice.
“For the record, Dallas Voice never received any…”
I was told a press release was sent to the Voice. Besides, John mentions the rally in the blog post above. Are you suggesting the Voice did not know about it?
I had the pleasure of working closely with Blake for about two years up here in Chicago during the last big wave of marriage equality activism a few years ago. What I saw was an intelligent young man with extraordinary political depth, especially considering his relative youth, and one who put considerable time into LGBT activism rather than just talking about it.
If he has shown any “abrasiveness,” I would imagine that it would have been in response to a justified irritation and impatience with older activists trying to implement the same failed strategies that have lost us over 2 dozen previous anti-gay amendment battles. I share his irritation with these “kid glove” approaches which have only emboldened our opponents while doing almost nothing to mobilize our community.
The relative ineffectiveness of this approach compared to more militant strategies advocated by Blake and others can be readily quantified. Two months before the California vote we were up 15 points in the polls. Even adding in a gay version of the “Bradley Effect” cannot account for the fact that we had a 19 point swing leading to our Nov. 4th loss. By way of contrast, the numerous marches and other vocal protests post-Nov. 4th (anathema to the pre-Nov. 4th mainstream organizations) have already led a reported 8% of pro-Prop 8 voters to switch to an anti-Prop 8 position, according to a recent poll, and this doesn’t even factor in changes among the undecideds.
Blaming the sleazy tactics of our opponents for the California loss merely demonstrates an amazing, if not disingenuous naiveté. When HAVEN’T they employed such tactics? Were anti-Prop 8 leaders really not expecting this? A hard-hitting, take-no-prisoners approach early on would have anesthetized the public to these election eve lies.
A generation ago, after a similarly ineffective early campaign in other states, LGBT activists successfully turned the tide against Anita Bryant with an in-your-face grassroots movement against California’s Briggs Amendment (banning gay and pro-gay teachers). It was coupled with a successful Florida orange juice boycott, as Bryant was the spokesperson for the Florida orange growers (and yes, many gay people undoubtedly had their incomes tied to those orange growers). More recently, an in-your-face campaign successfully put the kybosh on hate radio hostess “Dr.” Laura Schlessinger’s career, a campaign I had the pleasure of being the (unpaid) National Action Coordinator for.
As one of the commentators above noted, a “rattle the cages” ACT UP-style campaign is what has led to sweeping civil rights progress in the past. If we’re going to have a chance of getting the California court to reaffirm its earlier recognition of our human dignity, such a campaign is what we’ll need in all parts of the country today. Providing 40% of the funding, and more importantly, most of the early shock troops in the pro-Prop 8 campaign, the Mormon Church is a completely legitimate target of protest. Their leaders are haters and bigots, and should be labeled in the public mind as such. If and when Blake and/or others launch a protest against Cinemark in the Dallas area, I would hope the Voice and others in your area give it the enthusiastic support that it deserves.
Andy Thayer
co-founder, Gay Liberation Network
One of the organizers of the Nov. 22nd protest against Cinemark in Evanston, IL, and the Chicago component of the Nov. 15th national protest against Prop 8
Why is the Voice claiming they didn’t cover the rally because they didn’t get a press release? Even if that were true, we all know that they were well aware of where and when Blake’s group would be in front of that bookstore. The cops sure knew ahead of time, and they never got a press release. I’m certain the Dallas Voice knew exactly where we were meeting, based on the conversation I had with the elusive JTI lady who doesn’t want her name used on these public forums, who put forth a great effort to close down Blake’s rally before it even began. (I saw the protest on channel 5! What a great presence!)
Shame on the Dallas Voice for using such dismissive words such as “abrasive” to describe someone who is working his ass off for this community in the COLD. Minus a certain elusive lesbian and an apparently ignorant blogger for the Dallas Voice, the rest of us LGBT’s are well aware of that fact that the Mormon church WAS the reason that proposition passed, and we’re pissed off.
Blake Wilkinson is quickly becoming a hero amongst those of us Dallas LGBT’s who are actively involved in making our efforts seen and heard by Dallas citizens. Thousands of cars witnessed that rally in front of such a busy road Saturday, and many of them honked and waved.
Like Andy Thayer, I too have had the pleasure of working with Blake Wilkinson, a very bright, determined young man. A lot of older gays could take a few pointers from Mr. Wilkinson: the backbone of any progressive movement is an in-your-face street aproach, DIRECT ACTION, soft-pedaling an issue is an indication of a lack of self esteem. Can you imagine say, African-American rights put on the chopping block of the majority? Why, there’d be a riot. Kudos to my friend Blake Wilkinson and his efforts to shore up the collective gay conscience of Dallas and beyond. Are you listening, Mr. Cloumnist, John Wright?
– Craig Teichen, Gay Liberation Network, member of
Gabe:
I learned about the rally from a Facebook message that YOU forwarded to me. I believe you sent it on Wednesday afternoon at about 4 p.m. (check your Outbox), but I didn’t read it until Thursday morning. This was too late to get a story about the event in last week’s paper, which we put together on Wednesday due to the holiday. The only alternative was to put it on the blog, which is what I did. It was also too late to plan any coverage, given that our offices were closed from Thursday through Sunday. Also, we don’t take our cues from the mainstream media, and just because someone decides to make a few signs and have a rally doesn’t mean we’re going to be there. Sorry.
I hadn’t even realized you were one of the ones I sent that message to. I quit sending that message after just a few people. you just happened to be one of the 4, and I didn’t put two and two together.
Wow. I truly hope you don’t dismiss our future rallies and vigils as “someone deciding to make a few signs and have a rally.” That comment makes clear your belief that there was nothing newsworthy about our protest. I’m not sure why you even bothered to give the excuse that it was “too late to plan any coverage, given that our offices were closed Thursday through Sunday” if you were going to follow it up with a comment like that. What’s the point, if you would have snubbed it anyway?
Well, we got our message out regardless, and thank goodness there were at least a few stations that felt what we were doing was newsworthy, even if they weren’t gay publications. Blake is trying to start a movement of Dallas LGBTA’s who want to be visible and active, participate in direct actions, protests, silent vigils, (most of the time, we were silent. we were respectful, not “militant”) and marches. It’s what is happening all over the country, and our community deserves to have a the same kind of activism venue. We’re ready to get LOUD and make our demands for equality known. i hope you agree there is a place for that kind of activism, whether you prefer that “style” or not.
I think Wright’s “abrasive” style in attacking Blake should have him “ousted” from the Dallas Voice.
His decision not to cover the protest because it was the holidays was poor judgment in my opinion. If a “few signs” got the attention of local stations, then one would think Dallas Voice would have been all over it. Having someone from the DV staff take an hour of their time on Saturday to cover the event is really not asking too much. We depend on the DV for local coverage of these very important issues….regardless of holiday schedules.
I learned about the protest while in NYC over the holiday. I didn’t return until Sunday but expected to read about it on-line. I had to email Blake on Sunday evening (whom I do not know) to see if the event even occurred.
Dallas Voice…you can do better than that and stop with the excuses already. We can see through them!
haerd crossroads needs help packing mooving theyre store this weak. maybe this militant stuff cuold be used there??
Reading the comments on this site show how we are NOT untied no matter what our differences are. The hate that exists in our own gay community is becoming much larger than the hate that is directed at us from the outside. Some how we have to change the way we talk to each other we need to find a way to stand together rather than standing apart. Let us not become fragments of groups where one group is trying to make their issue louder than the other group. “We all loseâ€
The best way to defeat ones enemy is to expose how they operate from the inside first.
“We are exposedâ€