AN OPEN LETTER TO THE "LEADERSHIP" OF THE LGBT MOVEMENT

It's time for you to justify your existence. For far too long, you have asked us to open our wallets and those of our families and our friends to fund your folly. I say, no more.

The LGBT community ATM is closed. You cannot willfully spend tens of millions of this community's dollars without having to remain accountable for your expenditures. With such great investment, we demand results - greater than those that have been given us by you in the past. You can't point to the slim loss of Prop 8 and tell us that it's "progress" over the 2000 Prop 22 fiasco. The fact is that Prop 8 meant a lot more and cost exponentially more.

If this were a traditional investment, you would all be removed by your respective boards of directors, and short of that your boards would be voted out by we, the stakeholders. Quite frankly, most of you should voluntarily recuse yourselves from spending another dime of this community's dollars on anything related to the repeal of Prop 8. You should rise above your hubris and recognize that this is bigger than you, and that perhaps there is someone or a group of someones who are better equipped to handle the next campaign. Because this isn't about your vanity; this is about our right to be recognized as equals under the law.

It's time for new ideas and a new direction, and unfortunately, many of you "lifers" at our national LGBT organizations are no longer equipped to lead. Personally, I question your commitments in the face of the massive Prop 8 debacle.

While it's easy and convenient to turn the community's anger on the California Supreme Court, the simple fact is that the Court interprets the laws - it does not legislate. Further, directing anger away from you who are supposed to be the caretakers of this movement only serves to deflect responsibility and culpability.

Take responsibility for your shortcomings and let's move forward with new ideas and renewed passion. Your outdated ideas are no longer relevant. Do what is right for the greater good and step aside.

NO MORE WHINING

Californians are up in arms - again - over same-sex marriage.  The California Supreme Court upheld the will of the people today.  Some call it the tyrrany of the majority.  I say, stop whining and get organized!

First, start holding leaders of the LGBT movement accountable.  If you invested $80 million in a hedge fund and it suddenly went out of business, you'd want blood, no?  This is no different.  Tens of millions of dollars were invested in the defeat of Prop 8 and it passed by four percentage points.  The leadership was, as always, at a loss for words because they have no fucking clue how to run an effective campaign!  I kindly refer you to the Prop 22 debacle of 2000.

While Prop 22 did not cost nearly the same as Prop 8, its fate was sadly the same.  The campaign was an utter joke - and I should know; I worked on it!

The forces at work are making California's proposition system, albeit broken, work for them.  When the LGBT community pulls its collective head out of its butt, perhaps someone will start doing the same for our side.  

First, we need to reach out in an effective manner to communities of color; African American, Asian and Latino, and educate them.  They don't have to love the gays, but they do need to be made to understand the basic tenets of the issue and how it affects them.  Second, we need to change California's easily-manipulated proposition system.  The longer we let the people govern, the further we will sink into the morass that is our own doing; it will be California's undoing.

Yes Prop 8 sucks, and yes the system sucks, but until the gays are in the majority, which statistically is unlikely, then we need to find allies and stop trying to make them accept our way of life.  They only need accept that equality means for everyone.

TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS

Recently I've realized that, like any other, renting an apartment is a relationship  Except in this case, you don't really know who you're dating until you're married -- or at least in a long-term relationship.

After signing a new lease in the uber-competitive rental market in which I live, I started discovering a few character flaws in my new beau.  After peeling down the layers, it became apparent that I had gotten myself (unwittingly) into an abusive relationship.

My first night was spent in my new abode last Sunday.  I awoke the following morning to find my car covered in what can best be described as sewage.  Apparently a pipe had burst in the middle of the night and soaked my car, a soft-top convertible, and had dried by the time I got to it.  The stench was unmistakable.

Upon phoning my new property's management company to find out what they were going to do to rectify the situation, and to perhaps get a simple "I'm so sorry, we'll fix it right away," I was instead greeted with something akin to "Gee, that sucks - why don't you go fuck yourself now so I can get back to my Sudoku."

Turns out that what had dumped itself so unceremoniously onto my car was not human in origin -- like that was supposed to make me feel better.  Rather, I was told it was manure meant as fertilizer from the planter above, and the faulty drain work was summarily repaired.

Suffice to say, the other "tiny" repairs haven't been any easier.  My kitchen was basically unusable for the first 10 days of my tenancy.  I've decided to stop pulling on the thread that is my new apartment so that it all doesn't unravel around me.