Prop. 8: Witch Hunt and Holy War Make Way for New Beginning?

While Southern California burned over the weekend, the conflagration set off by Prop 8 also continued to flame up around the country. The Chronicle's story, which was careful after some grumbling last week to reference Bay City News' quote from the police on crowd estimates here, offered a good overview of marches around the country.

But reporters Kevin Fagan and John King noted about SF's march what blogs and other media seem to reinforce: a change in the wind pattern of the protest.

SF's demonstration was, the story said, "noisy but good-natured." "Speakers emphasized the importance of pushing affirmatively for full rights in marriage...rather than turning on groups because of a perceived lack of support." Several speakers in the article reinforce that notion. While passions and commitment continue to run gale force, accusations, finger-pointing, scapegoating, retaliation, victimization, schisms between minority communities, and the prospect for a holy war died down in favor of the future and a larger sense of purpose.

For a while, newspaper web sites like the Chron and LA Times seemed like they were providing targets on the backs of individuals and companies in their database presentation of contributors to the Prop 8 campaign. The news was pitted with stories about people quitting or losing their jobs because they'd given money and were being called out.

Some claimed this was true on both sides. Michelangelo Signorile, the writer and talk show host and a long-time believer in outing people, said on CNN that he'd gotten calls from people who opposed Prop 8 who said they'd been fired in retaliation for their positions. The Mormon Church was attacked in speeches and physically assailed by crowds. As the Chronicle also noted Sunday, the African American vote for Prop 8 was being inaccurately singled out. The owner of a small LA Mexican restaurant who donated $100 to Yes on 8 held a press conference at her eatery that almost turned into a riot. There was even a claim on Queerty that the whole thing was just a big promotional stunt for the film, Milk.

Things were getting a little ugly. A friend of mine who supports same sex marriage said some anti-8 protesters were "a well-intentioned mob," and the phrase "witch-hunt" has been used more than once. With angry mobs, you at least know what to expect. Well-intentioned mobs are a little harder to figure out. Gay rights activists countered that you have to be harsh when your civil rights are taken away.

But appeals for a less combative approach grew. Even the "Join The Impact" web site, which was the organizational and information outlet for the coordinated marches over the weekend, ended its to-do list with this:

"Please remain respectful of your neighbors and reach across the aisle to our opponents. This is an amazing opportunity to continue the conversation and drive change. Please keep promoting peace, respect and outreach."

Actor Oscar Nunez, who plays a gay character on The Office, suggested Prop 8 opponents do some community outreach. Locally, a number of commenters on an SFist story on boycotting Cinemark theaters because the CEO gave to Yes on 8 took the tone of benmullin333: "Maybe there should be attempts at educating those who were misguided enough to support Prop 8. If gay marriage rights are a righteous cause, it shouldn't require tactics of alienation and blacklisting." (joshb said he could do a boycott of theaters but "if Netflix gave to 8 I'd be f-ed."

Benjamin Wachs weighed in on the SFWeekly blog, The Snitch: "No on 8 activists: please, please, PLEASE don't turn this into a holy war...If getting mad is more important than getting married, then by all means pile on."

This view is hardly unanimous, but, what the hell, let's call it a trend.

I'm a big student of and believer in insurgency, an art form that isn't always so gentle. But in the spirit of this apparent Prop 8 mood shift, I'm prepared to say: Mayor Newsom, the past is the past.

Comments

[christopherstjohn]

You almost always hear, in the context of public discussion about Prop 8, something like:

"Why should we give gay people special rights?"

The implication here is, "They have enough rights now. Why aren"t these people ever satisfied?"Of course, anything that is part of the status quo seems "normal," whether it makes sense or not. Before the 1920"s, it was "obvious" that women were not intelligent enough to vote. Before the Civil War, it was commonly asserted that slaves were happy being slaves. When the Constitution was written, only white male real-estate owners could vote. Clearly, granting all Americans equal rights is a work-in-progress. As I see it, reversing Prop 8 will be part of that work.

Christopher St. John
www.christopherstjohnblog.com

[AngryAmish]

Let's just remember that if the movement for same sex marriage rights does shift permanently into an equally passionate but more civilized mode, we gays and lesbians will be taking a far higher road than the one taken by those who have persecuted us, taunted us, beaten the crap out of us, and exiled us from mainstream life throughout history. If anyone who's alarmed by the movement's supposed "witch hunt" tactics wants to know what a real witch hunt feels like, they should try growing up gay in almost any American high school. We learned at the feet (and fists) of the masters.