Last night’s protest at the Harold Ford/Stonewall Democrats event caused a great deal of “conversation.” My response, “Harold Ford’s Treatment No Better Than Tea Party Protests,” seems to have stirred up almost as much.
Let me add this.
Yes, I have a problem with the Tea Party style protest at last night’s event.
But had the protesters let Ford speak, THEN protested, I would totally have been fine with that. Had they restricted their protest to before and/or after his speech, or had they restricted it to outside the debate room before, during, and/or after his speech, I would totally have supported that too.
Protest? Absolutely!
Civil disobedience — done right, designed to change hearts and minds? Absolutely!
We are in the business of winning our civil rights — rights that I believe are “unalienable.” Being in the business of winning our civil rights from a majority who do not seem to want to hand them over to us means we are in the business of having to win hearts and minds.
Not the heart and mind of Harold Ford, but of the rest of America.
Nasty, rude, juvenile tactics designed to shut down conversation and debate are exactly what the Right has done to us for centuries. To emulate their oppressive behavior is simply not a smart tactic. It does not help us.
There are two arguments going on here. The folks who are on the side of the protesters, I believe, only care about sending a message to Harold Ford. They thought a rude, unruly, shout-down, Tea Party style protest was the best way to do it. Obviously, I disagree.
Those who have a problem with the protesters, at least, myself, know that Ford will either not run, or not win if he does. And so, I’m more concerned with our reputation, with winning hearts and minds, with having the average American not see us as “the mob,” so that they will WANT to support us. At least, so we don’t give them reasons to hate us more than they do.
I’m a fighter. I spend all day long fighting. But I’m smart enough to know that we need to be big-picture oriented. Not juvenile-tactics focused.
One thing I haven’t said publicly yet also is this.
My disagreement here comes at a price. I know these folks. Some of them I consider my friends. And while I was unaware of what they were going to do specifically — yes, I knew there would be a protest — I did not know what that would consist of, I assumed it would have been outside the debate room. And I have no doubt that they no longer will consider me their friend. Politics does that to people. I’m sorry to see that happen. But I cannot change my mind when so much is at stake.
Meanwhile, to prove I’m far from alone in my disagreement with the tactics of “The Power,” here’s what the “non-gay,” mainstream media — the one that voting citizens read, too –Â had to say.
(Although, again, I’ll mention even Queerty agrees with me, as have many other bloggers. Queerty’s front page says, “Did New York’s Terribly Rude Gays Give Harold Ford Jr. a Chance to Explain.)
And an update: Joe.My.God, whom I respect immensely, weighed in too:
“While I’m no fan of a carpetbagger like Rep. Ford, I don’t see the point of disrupting an ostensibly friendly speech on our own turf. Ford was the invited guest of the Stonewall Democrats.”
Look at the way we were represented in the mainstream media. Look at how we were perceived last night. Did we help ourselves in the media? No.
New York Magazine: “New York Gays Are Rude to Harold Ford Jr.”
Read some of the comments there:
“Though,
I don’t agree with the Tea Baggers at the town hall meetings last year. The respectful Tea Partiers spoke & listened with respect & dignity.
As a gay man, I can’t approve of the way that those other gays acted last night. I have no problem with activists protesting in the streets, however, when you’re inside at a meeting, there has to be some form of respect.
You can dissagree with him, you can tell him a lot of things but do it with respect.”“Rob,
I called out the Tea Partiers who were rude at the town hall meetings because they were.
As a gay man, I’m calling out my fellow gays for being rude.
Never kiss the politican’s @$$, however, have respect, I don’t care what politcal or social or cultural issue is at stake.”“Wow. I can’t imagine a situation where I wouldn’t let someone speak and just chanted insults at them. Was he an invited guest? Yikes.”
“It’s really not cool to set off things like confetti poppers at political events. I’m sure it scared the shit out of him. Not cool man.”
“They’re like any other group of NY liberals. They’re always rude to people who are not kissing their asses at the moment. They are better than everyone else, you see…and they deserve that respect!”
Gothamist: “Gay Rights Group Heckles Harold Ford”
Comments:
“So they invited him to speak there just so they could heckle him? Kinda lame.”
“Would have been better if they invited him and no one showed up to listen. Heckling is sooo 1900s.”
DNA Info: “Harold Ford Jr. Gets Hostile Reception from Stonewall Democrats”
NY1: “Crowd Heckles Ford Jr. On Gay Marriage Stance”
New York Post: “Ford lambasted by gay community at Democratic Club”
I rest my case, except to say this: There are too few of us, and too few of our supporters. The LGBTQ community needs to find a way to work together. It’s OK to disagree over tactics and positions, but it’s not OK to make ad hominen attacks. When that starts happening, we’ve already started to lose.