As expected....

This post was written by Chelsea Sayre of Smells Like Loathing and was reposted with permission.

Women taking action for equal rights terrifies men in power. Elsewhere, folks are dumbfounded over the intent behind the outburst so quickly picked up in the non-queer press as a "gay rights" action related to SB 106. Rumor has it the LGBT movement also isn't black or oppressed.

Perhaps busy drafting an official response to the grassroots-led rally and action they originally wanted nothing to do with, it appears Equality North Carolina can still only focus on either stopping the marriage amendment or advancing a non-discrimination bill. It's funny--I haven't had a problem discussing both and encouraging allies to take action for both--but then again, I'm not Harvard-educated or an employed and well-connected, genius civil rights strategist.
What I've taken away from this exchange is that a group of employed and educated gay men with insider access to the North Carolina political scene believe themselves to be the sole authority on "intelligent" action. If it's not part of their plan (and they aren't completely in charge), they don't support it, they'll slander it on Twitter, and then apologize for your "disrespect" to the ones peddling tyrannical legislation to begin with. Did the Raleigh 3's action offend and anger the authors of SB 106? Good. Everyone should be pissed off at the intrusion of SB 106 into our lives.

Maybe you need to be unemployed, fired from your job for being queer or transitioning, potentially homeless at the end of each month, harassed or assaulted, and unable to afford the health care you need before you get to the point where you aren't going to be pushed around any more.

It's great that privilege has left some folks in power unconcerned about immediate relief from discrimination in this state, but that is not a reality for many of us, and we are the people who support more direct action tactics. Why? Because that's how awareness is brought to the issues and that's the only way we're going to get relief.

We cannot keep praying that the fascists supporting this bill will just give up next year and let us pursue our rights. We have to face them sooner or later, passionately, spontaneously, logically, and persistently to shift the tide in a positive direction. It's 2011.We all have to work harder if we want to see equality in this lifetime.

For starters, we could examine why a flawless, intelligently-designed strategy is so effective that people would feel the need to take action outside it.