Wednesday, May 9, 2012
News Five Constructive Ways to Channel Anger Over North Carolina's Anti-Gay Vote Last Night
Posted by Audrey Ference on Wed, May 9, 2012 at 1:30 PM
1. Read this series of tweets from the Mountain Goats's John Darnielle, North Carolinian and fighter for social justice. Just go and read. If that doesn't make you feel a little blubbery-hearted, then I don't know what to tell you.
Or you can do as we will do in North Carolina & roll up your sleeves, & know that their hateful efforts are an attempt to hold back the sea.
— The Mountain Goats (@mountain_goats) May 9, 2012
2. Sign this petition. I know, signing a petition feels like the least satisfying half-assed activism in the world. But it does feel powerful to say 1 million people on the internet think this thing sucks. If nothing else, it shows the gay and lesbian families of North Carolina that they have support, somewhere, even if their own state is currently not showing it to them.
3. Stop saying black churches are the problem. Just stop it. It wasn't true for Prop 8, and it's not true now. The North Carolina NAACP was incredibly outspoken in their opposition to Amendment One, and paid for ads to run decrying the amendment. Not only is this trope racist and divisive, it literally plays right into NOM's strategy to split white gay voters and black and Latino straight voters. This nonsense HAS to stop.
4. Fucking vote. Vote all the time. I am seriously so sick I could puke of hearing people talk about not voting in this election to "punish" Obama, or how Democrats are so centrist they're the same as Republicans, or anything like that. It is NOT TRUE and that is HOW THINGS LIKE THIS GET PASSED. Local elections matter, your judges matter, and you better believe November matters.
Listen, I'm all for revolution. Fuck the system, seriously. But until someone actually starts to tear the whole thing down and start over again, our choice is to vote in every election or get even more fucked! Voter turnout matters. Yesterday's NC vote had only a 34% turnout—typically, low turnout is good for conservatives, which is why they are working their asses off to disenfranchise as many people as possible before the next election. Older folks and people mobilized by hate groups go to the polls. We have to match their numbers.
5. Get ready for a fight. November is going to be ugly, you guys. Yes, "the arc of the universe is long and it bends toward justice." Yes, laws like this will eventually be struck down. But the fight is going to get very, very nasty before it does. And it's a struggle we're not going to have once or twice, but for a long time, over and over again. Look at reproductive rights. Look at racism. Things get a little better, get a little worse, get a little better, get a lot worse. It's easy to be over this election already, but there is work left to do.
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