Now that a little time has passed after the midterm elections, it's time for us to pick ourselves up and figure out how to move forward in a very different political climate. There has been much talk about voter disillusionment with the Democrats, especially in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender (LGBT) community, which voted for the GOP in much higher numbers than in previous cycles -- even against their own interests and rights in many cases.
There is no doubt that proponents of equality are in a tough spot. We have the Democrats on one side, who constantly ask for our votes while also demanding our patience and to "wait" for our rights until it's a politically good time (which never comes despite controlling the Presidency, House, and Senate). On the other side are the Republicans, a political party with discrimination against LGBT people literally written into their platform and a history of not just blocking our rights, but using us as "wedge issues" to drive out bigoted voters in elections. We have supportive lip-service or outright hostility.
Not exactly the best choices, proven by the fact that even though LGBT rights are gaining broad support among the American public, politicians continue to lag generations behind.
Given this, it's no wonder our community has grown angry, disillusioned, tired, and feels betrayed on all sides as the basic American Dream continues to allude us for no other reason than outdated bigotry and personal bias. But how can we move beyond those feelings, or perhaps even use them, to push forward on the equality and basic rights we need to live full, complete lives especially given an at least two year period when the GOP is going to block any forward movement on civil rights in the House?
The LGBT community is a small minority group, with many of our number unable to live openly or identify as such. As such, we need to cultivate and engage our natural allies in the fight for minority rights, personal freedom, and basic civil rights so we can have the hard numbers to make the gains we need. 
But we can't simply demand our fair-minded allies be there for us when we need them and not do the same in return.
In short, we must be the allies for others that we want for our issues.
If we want our straight allies to go to bat for us, we need to do the same. Issues like fair pay for women and women's reproductive rights, anti-poverty initiatives, fair immigration reform, healthcare, education, and many other issues that touch our community should be part of our movement. Besides just being the right thing to do and being part of issues that directly affect members of the LGBT community, we become good allies and a group that others can count on when they need us.
Building bridges to other communities that are in fights for minority rights as well can only help our cause as we push forward in a hard political climate. We need all the help we can get.
Let's be honest- chances for equality are stalled for awhile in Congress now that the GOP has gained control of the house. We were told to wait and they would get to our rights later in the Obama administration, but that seems unlikely to happen. So we need to continue to stop the waiting and use the system our founding fathers set up to address issues exactly like the ones we face: the judiciary.
It's the job of the courts to make sure the constitution and our laws are applied equally and fairly. They are there to make sure the tyranny of the majority doesn't trample on the rights of the minority. And we need to continue to use it.
Seeing the movement on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", the new challenges against the "Defense of Marriage Act", challenges to adoption bans, the challenge against Prop 8, and other chipping away of bigoted laws through the courts is where nearly all of our movement forward has been made. And it looks to be where we will continue to be able to make wins for equality even while the political route stalls.
Plus, the court cases often put politicians in tough spots and force their hands on issues, helping us see where we stand with them or making them take quicker action than they like.
Getting directly involved in politics and having a seat at the table is huge. I've seen first hand how having an openly LGBT person on a local city commission, 
for example, can change the complete dynamic of that region for equality. We need to run for office at every level. Visibility in the political process, whether it be at the national level down to local school boards, can have huge impacts.
According to the Victory Fund, this past election over 100 openly LGBT where elected to office- a record number. In fact, the LGBT community had a better election rate than Tea Party-backed candidates (although you'd be hard-pressed to see the media talk about the surge of equality-minded candidates like they do the Tea Party).
We can be voices of fairness and reason, putting a face on our community and making it harder for our opponents to blindly attack us as the "scary gays" when we're sitting right beside them in positions of public influence. We can also make huge pro-equality gains on the municipal and state level.
While our political prospects for equality on the national level look grim, we can't simply withdraw and give up for the next two years. We've seen the consequences of disillusionment and how the shift in power can squash momentum for our cause. So while the fight just got harder, we have to continue.
We have to use everything in our toolbox, from insider access and lobbying to politicians and grassroots direct action and protests to keep our issues in the public debate. We also have to stay engaged to make sure we aren't the ones thrown under the bus in the name of political "compromise", as has been the case in the past with things like the creation of DADT and DOMA. History and shifting demographics that support equality are on our side, so we have to continue to build the political influence and structure that can make the political jumps forward we want when the opportunity presents itself and stop any regression in its tracks.
That means we have to support the individual candidates that support our issues, pressure those that are on the fence, hold our enemies accountable, and stay engaged at all levels. We can't just sit out of voting or stop pushing the legislation we want. We have to protest, engage, educate, and lobby.
It's easy to give up, throw up our hands, and retreat to our everyday lives, especially when faced with an uphill battle like we have the next two years. But the fight for equality is never easy and never over.
The stakes are too high- our youth feel increasingly bullied as shame and bigotry trickle down through our anti-equality laws and the rhetoric around it. The forces for outdated homophobia are fighting harder and louder as they see the public opinion turn against them. We take steps forward, get pushed back, but have to keep moving.
Find a way to get involved and engaged. Make calls to your legislators, run for local boards, talk to your friends and family about our issues, and do what you can in your every day life.
It's a hard fight, but we have to keep at it and push that arc of history towards the justice we deserve.
Follow Waymon Hudson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/WaymonHudson
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It is ours by virtue of birth.
It can only be illegally withheld.
Straights wouldn't tolerate this for one day, let alone a lifetime, yet the homohaters think this is just fine and dandy.
Um, we HAVE been reaching out to natural allies FOR ABOUT FOUR DECADES NOW. But thanks for the bright idea that you suddenly thought up all by yourself!
We also have been doing public education, lobbying, and handing blind support to the Democratic Party for four decades. You utterly fail to address the crux of the problem: That a Democrat who can count on blind support from you will never take any political risk for your rights because he doesn't have to.
That problem is where the debate in the community has to focus. Undirected, nonspecific, non-strategic calls for more lobbying and voting is just pablum that does nothing to advance the discussion about the central problem.
The funny thing is that we aren't disagreeing- listing things people can continue to do while taking on the blind support of Democrats who don't support our issues is what we are both doing. I have long been an advocate for only supporting those in power that support us. It's not about supporting one party over another, but choosing specific candidates that reflect your values.
Talking and debating tactics and actions is never a bad thing, in my opinion. You have to have a debate going to focus it. And I fail to see how ageist jabs that have no real basis focuses any debate.
If it goes as everyone is predicting, we need an all out, political correctness aside march.
We have used all avenues and apparently have exhausted them. Pretty please did not work.
especially from what we all feel is almost being traitorous by our fierce advocate who isn't.
So, for the midterms, I found that my priorities lay elsewhere. Looking ahead to Republican hostility and Democratic inaction, I voted Green. Did I expect my candidates to win? Not this election cycle. But in the long run, I'm hoping that I can find a party of real allies, a party that will actually do something to help a constituency it VALUES, a party that lists my civil rights as part of their platform - actually written down. Yeah, I could have voted Democratic again on a hope and a dream, but in the end we know where that would have gotten us. Nowhere.
That IS what it's there for, after all.
But looking to allies that do not exist to help us is futile. Sure, lots of straight folks say they support us. But when push comes to shove, it's mostly lip service. Even amongst my own friends. Mostly ~ no one cares.
Every other minority group in the United States that has had their equal status withheld has been vindicated via the judicial branch.
So will we.
I have always been of the mind set that all of the millions of dollars that go to the HRC and GLAAD and all the other Gay, Inc. organizations would be FAR better spent launching lawsuits in every single state in the nation. At each and every opportunity.
Because that's how it's done.
Why are we seeking our equal status from legislators and fellow citizens when those are the very people who are withholding our civil rights?
I'll leave the 'changing hearts and minds' crap to someone else. I'm not interested in changing anyone's heart OR mind. If they would like to hate me, by all means, please do so. The haters have to live with that hatred in their heart. Not me.
The judicial branch will provide the relief we seek.
And only the judicial branch will do so. History tells us that, across the board.
Thanks for your input. ~Bill