Persephone, there's a time for immediate, no-holds-barred, in-your-face action, and there's a time for a building bridges of trust and respect. When it comes to acquiring civil rights, I wholeheartedly agree with the former approach: fuck what the Bible-thumpers say, let's ram this bill through Congress now. But if gays and lesbians want to be able to kiss in public and not have people scowl and mutter, that's going to require the latter approach, the soft touch. You can force someone to grudgingly tolerate gays, but you can't force someone to honestly accept the notion that homosexuality is perfectly normal.
That said, yes, I must admit that I am whining about a small and relatively mild group of participants. I've been thinking about how Malcolm X sabotaged his own attempt to deal with racial inequity by claiming that all white men are descended from the Devil, but, to be honest, I don't see anyone even remotely analagous in the Gay Pride movement.
In the long run, I am convinced that gentle persuasion will be of more value to the gay community than a show of force...but, yeah, I suppose I have been an exaggerating the severity of the situation to make my point. A few people who march with scowls instead of smiles aren't that big of a deal; they may even be necessary for these early stages of the movement.
I guess I drop into Devil's Advocate mode automatically; tainted demonic blood, you know.
No hard feelings? |
