new column

“Ain't No Movement Like A Progressive Movement
Cuz A Progressive Movement Don't Stop”
“The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice.” - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sometimes you wonder if you’re making a difference. The life of an activist fighting for equality and justice and a better way of life for everyone can be, ironically, quite lonely. Especially when there’s so much against you. And even more so, when your own disown you. I’ve been thinking about these concepts lately as our movement has been stepping forward, and falling back, in the normal ways any cause does.

Take for instance the movement with marriage equality. Did the electoral losses of 2004 stop us from going forward? Did the rulings against the San Francisco marriage licenses for same-sex couples keep us from fighting on? These were certainly all setbacks, but we didn’t let them keep us down. Our movement marched forward and stridently put marriage equality on the state legislative plate.

And we came oh-so-close to getting Assemblyman Leno’s full-fledged marriage equality bill out of the Assembly. (What an amazing feat to gain 37 legislative votes in any legislative body in the country IN FAVOR of full fledged marriage equality for us all!) But wait, that’s not the end of the story. Following our near victory in the Assembly, Assemblyman Leno and the full California LGBT Legislative Caucus are marching ahead with the legislation in the Senate. They decided the movement on this legislation was not over. Our fight for equality doesn’t stop just because of a small setback.

Look also to the movement’s response to Badlands. For over a year, a valiant effort has been made to get out the word about the appalling practices of racial and sex discrimination within our own community’s popular danceclub Badlands. A few months ago, after a thorough Human Rights Commission investigation, a Boycott began with weekly protests and vigils. The message began to be heard and people began to engage in dialogue.

However, a difficult setback has come from within our own community. As the Boycott has grown, many in our own LGBT community fight against it. They don’t believe it. They don’t care. They enter the club anyway. They scoff at the protests. They hurl epithets at the protesters, or worse.

And yet our progressive movement is still sending the message. And the protests, dialogue, and calls are not stopped. It will take time and perseverance for the full community to see the problem. And eventually they will—because the movement will not stop. Over the last year many who initially were not convinced of a problem were turned around. It takes time for us humans sometimes to ‘get it.’

Just as it took time and perseverance for 37 politicians to come around to support marriage equality, just as it took time and perseverance for ‘civil unions’ to become mainstream, and just as it took time and perseverance for racism and discrimination to be seen as a negative social condition, society will eventually inch forward. But our society only does so because we do not, and must not, stop pushing our progressive agenda.

There are many setbacks these days. Our national political climate is terribly disturbing. We have much to fight. But I have faith that the progressive movement will not allow these setbacks and obstacles to break us down. I have born witness to the fact that, even in the darkest of moments, our movement has continued with a loving belief in the light on the horizon.

Yes, there are times when we may feel lonely, when we may feel like we’re not making a difference, when we wonder if we’re being heard. We then must simply remember and hold on to the truths that we know—as long as there is a movement then we are progressing forward; and as long as we keep on marching then there is a movement.