Beyond Marriage

[lightningandsnow]

I found this website, http://www.beyondmarriage.org , and really liked it.

Here's some of the "executive summary" of their views:

The time has come to reframe the narrow terms of the marriage debate in the United States. Conservatives are seeking to enshrine discrimination in the U.S. Constitution through the Federal Marriage Amendment. But their opposition to same-sex marriage is only one part of a broader pro-marriage, “family values” agenda that includes abstinence-only sex education, stringent divorce laws, coercive marriage promotion policies directed toward women on welfare, and attacks on reproductive freedom. Moreover, a thirty-year political assault on the social safety net has left households with more burdens and constraints and fewer resources.

Meanwhile, the LGBT movement has recently focused on marriage equality as a stand-alone issue. While this strategy may secure rights and benefits for some LGBT families, it has left us isolated and vulnerable to a virulent backlash. We must respond to the full scope of the conservative marriage agenda by building alliances across issues and constituencies. Our strategies must be visionary, creative, and practical to counter the right's powerful and effective use of marriage as a “wedge” issue that pits one group against another. The struggle for marriage rights should be part of a larger effort to strengthen the stability and security of diverse households and families. To that end, we advocate:

Ø Legal recognition for a wide range of relationships, households and families – regardless of kinship or conjugal status.

Ø Access for all, regardless of marital or citizenship status, to vital government support programs including but not limited to health care, housing, Social Security and pension plans, disaster recovery assistance, unemployment insurance and welfare assistance.

Ø Separation of church and state in all matters, including regulation and recognition of relationships, households and families.

Ø Freedom from state regulation of our sexual lives and gender choices, identities and expression.

I have to say, this is the first thing I've seen that really articulates my thoughts about the current LGBTQ movement. Of course, we have to advocate for marriage; but it isn't enough, and it's distressing to see it pushed as the only issue and stop there.

Thoughts?

[imdjh]

1. This is all over the place which is disempowerment

Part of the reason that the gay community doesn't have the power of the black community is because we do not have the focus of the black community. We have no counterpart to the NAACP because if the NAACP were a gay rights organization, it couldn't resist the urge to expand its mission beyond equal rights for gay people. As your own article shows- the author can't resist wandering into immigration and government programs and other stuff.

Focus, focus, focus.

At one time, we were told that "coalition issues" helped us to build relationships which would be beneficial. Well, we have since found out just how well all that paid off. The bottom line is that no ones cares as much about us and our issues as we do. We are the only people we can count on, and obviously even some of us can't help but wander along the path.

Gay rights is a banner all but the most whacked out gay people can stand under. As soon as you start branching out, you start losing people.

[zipplewrath]

2. I tend to agree

Mixing things up this way is a real problem. There will always be hostility towards homosexuals. Just talk to the jews, there will always be folks that hate you. The strategy is to ensure that the government is limited in their ability to participate in the hostility, and then just move on from there. The hardest way to achieve ones rights is to pursue some utopia. Women didn't fight for the ERA first, they fought for the vote. It comes down to that, get the vote, protect your property and your job, and prevent the government from recongnizing any difference between you and everyone else. After that, it's a social problem.