You all changed my life. Truly. The year I worked with you all was amazing and I was so proud of you. You all made some tough calls and handled them with grace. But I cannot support the direction it is going now.
While I am fully supportive of the vision of an inclusive group, I cannot help but be disappointed that other groups get a concise vision and PRIDE does not...Why does it seem that everyone is scared to be a "gay" group? If you all are waiting for the day for everything to be more acceptable please know this, it will not happen without someone having the balls to do it. PERIOD. Someone has to stand up. Someone has to say "a GSA is necessary", someone has to say "the GLBTQ community and their allies deserve to be heard". That was the intention of PRIDE when it started as the Rainbow Alliance.
This bullshit of being PC is not something I am able to stand behind. Of all the minorities in this country, right now, the GLBTQ community is the one whose civil rights are repeatedly in question. Now is the time to stand up and be heard and now is the time to fight. While it sounds nice to be inclusive and welcome everyone when has that ever worked when a subculture has asserted its need to be heard? You fight together and with Allies and you fight for the same thing. You do not spread yourself thin with bullshit activities that do not focus on your vision. You focus and you be heard.
I am fearless about my convictions. And I have faith that Lawton can handle this...I am not scared.
I will be starting the Community Diversity Project. A strictly GLBTQA organization that focuses on community education, fundraising and the needs of MY community as a whole.
Fraidy cats need not apply.
Love this!! Awesome! I'm going to miss you :(
ReplyDeleteAmy, I completely understand and respect your stance.
ReplyDeleteWhen Rachel (the then-VP) and I rebooted the group, we amended the constitution to be pan-equality as opposed to a GSA in an effort to attract more members. (We both know how effective that was.) The constitution did not change last year while we spent the entirety of events and meetings focusing on GLBTQ issues.
When I presented the amendment last year to revert PRIDE to a GSA, it was in an effort to end the hypocrisy that we espoused - a group cannot say one thing and do another. That amendment was voted down; the majority of members wanted a group for total equality.
At the last meeting, I proposed a month-by-month focus on different groups to end PRIDE's hypocrisy. I believe totally that a GSA would be great, and I wholeheartedly believe that is what the majority of members currently in the group are there for. But that is not what PRIDE is anymore. That is not what the members wanted.
I cannot stand behind hypocrisy. As a member of the gay community, I will continue to speak out on our behalf, and do whatever I can to help see full GLBTQ equality realized. However, it is up to the members of PRIDE to determine the group's focus and purpose. As long as I am a member, I will go along with what they choose to do.