Marital Blitz (gay and lesbian activist network is ready to play hardball)

[BR_Parkway]

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=11177

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Here’s the good news. First, 2004’s DOMA and SuperDOMA amendments were misread. They did not represent an anti-gay backlash; in fact, public opinion toward lesbians and gay men is warming more every day. Second, the “gay agenda” now has a new plan for winning over the long haul. For years, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) legal groups have been the most successful branches of what’s loosely called the gay movement. As a result, there’s been a winning air war -- but too few ground troops to solidify some of those wins. Now the political groups are catching up. LGBT organizations have developed a strategic plan to win marriage equality -- and along the way, anti-discrimination laws, zero-tolerance for school gay-bashing, and more.

A 15-year strategy has been agreed to by all the major organizational players. Funding is in place, and new tactics are being developed and tested in this year’s biggest clashes with anti-gay groups. As a result, says Rodger McFarlane, executive director of the LGBT-focused Gill Foundation, “for marriage, there is a strategy, movement coherence, and funding at scale.” Along the way, LGBT groups are planning to change the political climate in ways that will force politicians to support gay rights.

And the best news? As part of those tactics, LGBT groups are helping to build a new progressive coalition from the ground up.

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LGBT forces have decided to bulk up politically. “What can we build now to win our freedom?” is the question of the moment, said Rouse. “We can’t wait for the Democratic Party. We have to do this for ourselves.” That’s possible in part because of money. A generation of frontline LGBT political activists are now in major funding positions, as they weren’t before. Consider the transformation of the important Gill Foundation, launched by Colorado software entrepreneur Tim Gill in 1994 after his state passed an anti-gay constitutional amendment (later overturned by the Supreme Court). In 2004, Gill hired a new executive director: the colorful and impatient activist Rodger McFarlane. Under McFarlane’s leadership at the Gill Action Fund, the foundation’s 501(c)(4) sibling, Gill has been funding in-depth research on opinions and voting behavior. McFarlane has also begun convening all the major LGBT organizational players in hopes of coming up with long-term plans on marriage equality, federal legislation, and faith-based organizing -- which he will then help fund.