Roy Bateman is a 56-year-old gay man living in San
Francisco, the Mecca of American social activism. He is about as socially
conscious as they come, especially when it comes to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgender (LGBT) causes. And yet
he said this past October's National Equality March, which organizers say drew
a crowd of 150,000 in support of LGBT equality, barely made his radar. How can
this be?
In
part, it may be because the march was largely the work of a new, younger
generation of LGBT activists. Jay
Michaelson, executive director of Nehirim,
a nonprofit organization that focuses on LGBT issues in the Jewish community,
said that the march had a distinctly youthful quality. He compared the march's
organization to that of the Obama campaign. "There was a lot of use of social
media and a lot of grassroots organizing, as a opposed to sort of a more top
down approach," he said. The march also had an anti-establishment bent. "There
was a kind of useful rebellious energy that was at the march. And then the
rhetoric that was used at the march, the way it was constructed, and even the
idea of having a march at all, it wasn't necessarily establishment politics,"
said Michaelson.
The
New
York Times' coverage of the march quoted one attendee, Corey Johnson,
27, as saying that the day represented "the passing of the torch." This begs the question; who are the
members of this new generation who will bear the torch? What does their
activism look like? How do they view the older generation? What issues are
important to them? And, on the flip side, how does the older generation view
the new generation? What is their relationship like? Is there a generational
divide? And finally, how is all of this affecting the movement?
The Wired Generation
One
of the most obvious things that sets the new generation of gay activists apart
from their older counterparts is a pervasive reliance on and sense of comfort
with the Internet, particularly social media. They have been dubbed Stonewall 2.0,
a nod the 1969 riots that resulted from a Manhattan police raid of several gay
establishments. Stonewall is widely regarded one of the first times the LGBT
community fought back against the unequal treatment they received at the hands
of the government. The Stonewall 2.0 moniker is quite accurate considering this
generation's skillful use of sites like Facebook and Twitter to draw attention
to LGBT causes coupled with their extreme drive to fight for equality.
The
NOH8 campaign, which
protests California's passage of Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage, is a
prime example of Stonewall 2.0 activism. At the campaign's core is a collection
of portraits of celebrities and non-celebrities with duct tape over their
mouths, representing the silencing of supporters of marriage equality during
the election.
Though
the campaign has held gallery exhibitions of the photos, much of its message
has been spread digitally. Co-Founders Adam Bouska and Jeff Parshley have taken
full advantage of social networking sites as a grassroots-organizing tool. Participants are encouraged to display
their photos on sites like Facebook, effectively expanding the campaign's reach
far beyond its Los Angeles base. "There are millions and millions of people on
these networking sites, and for what we are doing it is easy for a lot of people
to see it. We can get it to people in Brazil, we can get it to people in
Australia," said Parshley.
They
have also used Twitter extensively, both to spread the word about the campaign
and to reach out to potential celebrity participants in a medium that makes stars
more accessible than ever before. "Once we saw Twitter and we saw that
celebrities were kind of the pull there, we hopped on that early," said Bouska.
The
ability of the Internet to create virtual communities is particularly appealing
to LGBT youth, many of whom continue to face prejudice and isolation. Stephen
Searles, a University of California Los Angeles student who worked as a field
organizer during the campaign against Proposition 8, said, "The most powerful
thing, in my opinion, is for a young queer individual to be able to go online
and find that other people share the same experiences. It is profoundly
assuring."
Michaelson
finds this social media savviness to be a clear strength of the younger
generation. He said that social media
are more than a useful tool but also a fundamental part of how activism is done
today. "These tools are very potent. When I am running events with my
organization, the first thing I think about is putting it on Facebook and using
social networking and so forth. It is not like, oh, how do I take advantage of
new media and hire a consultant?" Michaelson said.
For
Bateman, this shift to high-tech forms of communication is something that
remains novel and a bit foreign, certainly setting his generation apart from
the younger one. "What I have heard is that younger people who are using these
technologies never escape from their friends, or are isolated. There is
constant communication, and the concept that no one might know where you are at
any point in your life is becoming a thing of the past," he said. While many in
Bateman's generation have become comfortable with digital communication, there
is a bit of a lag when it comes to newer web technologies. "You've got older
people who have adjusted to email and website communication, but not the new
forms of electronic communications - the social networking, the kinds of
communication that are designed for extremely short messages," said Bateman.
Of
course, generational differences in technological know-how are not specific to
LGBT activism, or even activism at all for that matter. In fact, signs point to
the older generation gradually becoming more wired. Robert Nakatani, a senior
strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union, notes out that as older people
retire, they find more time to become acquainted with the web and its
associated technologies.
A
recent New
York Times article describes the work of Chris Bartlett,
who has taken to the web to memorialize those who died during the AIDS epidemic
and educate the younger generation on this important historical period in LGBT
activism. On his site, The
Gay History Wiki , he has created social-networking
style profiles of those who succumbed to AIDS during the early years of the
epidemic in Philadelphia. He also uses
Twitter, tweeting under the name @harveymilk
in order to spread the word, in 140 characters or less, about LGBT history.
Historical Ignorance
Bartlett's
work is particularly interesting because there is some sense within the LGBT
community that the younger generation is not as aware of their history as they
should be. Kate Kendall, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, has
found that the LGBT community does a poor job of communicating its history,
which she feels is a great missed opportunity. "History is a really important
tool for people to understand where we've been, how we got to where we are now,
and how progress was made." In
fact, Kendall indicated, knowledge of history can actually help to enthuse the
LGBT community. She said, "Anyone who looks at LGBT history should
be very optimistic about how much we've been able to accomplish and how far
we've come, and that can reinvigorate you and excite you and inspire you to
continue fighting, because look how much we have achieved."
Searles,
who acknowledges being more educated on LGBT history than most of his peers
because of his college coursework, agrees that history is a source of
inspiration. "LGBT rights have come a long way in a relatively short time, and
young activists want to move the project further and in ways more gratifying
and accessible than simply donating money to a lobbying organization. I think
the younger generation is inspired by the history of things like Stonewall and
ACT UP, and thus the power of collective action," he said.
Elders
bemoaning the ignorance and disrespect of youth are a part of most
organizations or movements. As Michaelson put it, "When you have a civil rights
struggle, generations come and generations go, and young people are never fully
cognizant of the gifts and the sacrifices of an older generation. We aren't
grateful enough to Mom and Dad, let alone our elders in activism."
However,
the LGBT movement is somewhat unique because it is part of a non-familial
minority group. Searles said, "Ethnic communities are tied by family heritage
and can pass along oral histories. The same can be said of religious
communities, which often have regular services at which histories are preached.
The LGBT community has nothing comparable to pass history along effectively.
Queer people are not often born into queer families and not many LGBT gathering
places are likely venues for oral history."
But,
there is also a bright spot in this lack of historical awareness; it makes the
movement seem less rigid to young activists. As San Francisco activist Bateman said, "It was certainly
true of me when I was younger. I had no idea about history or perspective of
the wisdom that comes from knowing about the trajectory of issues over the
years. And that was good and bad. It meant that I didn't really have a good
perspective on things because I didn't know much of the history, but it also
meant that I wasn't constrained by thinking it should take 20 years to achieve
this or that."
Michaelson
echoed Bateman's sentiments, calling this lack of historical knowledge both a
blessing and a curse. "The curse is that [the younger LGBT community is] not
aware of history and where we have come from and can sometimes be a little tone
deaf to where a lot of America still is. But there is a blessing in that, too.
The younger generation is not held back by that history either," he said. Michaelson said the older generation
bears the scars of growing up in a society that told them they were degenerate.
"Its impossible to just wash your hands of that kind of bigotry. The blessing
of the younger generation is exactly their ignorance--the fact that they didn't
go through that trial by fire," said Michaelson.
Tired of Waiting
Being
born into a climate that is largely more tolerant of homosexuality than that in
which their predecessors grew up has changed the tone of the younger
generation's activism. "The issue of whether gay is ok is not really on the
table for much of the next generation of activists. They are not tentative
about asking for their rights and worried about whether they are legitimate or
not. There's an assumption of legitimacy, and that makes for a more potent kind
of activism," Michaelson said.
This
has also bred a sense of impatience and frustration with the pace of progress
within some of the younger generation, which is particularly evident in the
aftermath of the passage of Proposition 8. The question of whether same-sex
marriage should go back on the ballot in 2010 or be held another two years has
been a topic of much debate in California's LGBT community. Proponents of a
2010 vote argue that it is better to keep up the momentum and push aggressively
for immediate action. Those who prefer to wait until 2012 say a more prudent,
calculated approach is necessary to avoid another defeat. A sense has emerged
within the LGBT community that the 2010 group is largely made up of younger
activists while the 2012 group consists of older, more experienced
activists.
Nakatani,
who places himself in the older generation, said part of the reason for the
divide is that there was a generational difference in the reaction to the
passage of Proposition 8. "I think
[younger activists] felt the outrage more. Those of us who have been around for
a long time, we are sort of used to losing...When people say 'I can't believe
this happened in California,' from my standpoint it wasn't surprising to me
that it happened in California." This is a notion Kendall, who was part of the
steering committee for the campaign against Proposition 8, is all too familiar
with. "We faced a lot of complacency by people who just assumed we were going
to win, and that was an enormous frustration," she said.
Jonathan
Nelson, a 26-year-old Los Angeles casting associate, said he was floored by
Proposition 8's passage, but admitted he hadn't done enough during the campaign
to fight against it. "I was in the midst of being a gay man, and voting on
this...and not really thinking that it was going to pass. I didn't really put in
enough effort in my own right to realize that there are people in California
that don't see the same view that I do." Nelson supports going back to the
polls in 2010, and said there is a risk of losing momentum if the issue is held
until 2012: "I think [we should] keep it in people's faces. There is no reason
to keep it out of the public eye. If we are fighting for our rights, why would
we wait four years?"
Michaelson
said Nelson's views are typical of the sense of impatience he sees in younger
activists, and something he thinks can be a strength: "I think it is really
important for a younger generation to kind of say, well, we are not going to
wait and be patient. We are going to demand our rights now, and we are not going
to be taken for granted" Kendall agreed that this sense of impatience can serve
as an important reminder for more experienced activists. She said, "I think
that those of us who have been doing this for some period of time need to
question the assumptions that we make about how things happen and how change is
made because we should be able to move things more quickly than we are. And if
that's not happening, it could easily be a function of us accepting more
incremental gains than we should."
While
anger and impatience can be useful, Bateman cautions that they need to be used
strategically. He said, "I think there is some sense among the
group that wants to put the marriage issue back on the ballot in California
that if they campaign in areas where there isn't support for same sex marriage
and have confrontational protests in those areas that they will win people
over. In fact, said Bateman, when
it comes to winning over non-supports anger can be counterproductive. "Being
confrontational, frightening them, being disrespectful of the beliefs they have
either been brainwashed to have, or honestly, sincerely believe in - I don't
think it's a useful strategy," he said.
For
Nelson, impatience itself makes a powerful statement. He said, "We can change
this. If we can move it to where we can actually force it to come back in two years
as opposed to four years; then you have already said something to the entire
country--that enough people believe in this where we actually got it back on the
ballot in two years."
While
he appreciates the eagerness and drive of Nelson's generation, the elder
generation's Nakatani is apprehensive that the push to go back to the polls in
2010 is not the best use of this force. He said, "The 2010 issue is scary for
me. I am willing to be pushed by young people and really like their energy and
I like the new perspective, but I worry if we lose again in 2010, that it will
be a generation before the thing will come back."
But
Nakatani credits the younger generation with bringing the marriage issue to the
forefront of the movement in the first place. He said, "The younger people
really pushed the rest of us within the movement to embrace the marriage issue.
Most of us who were doing relationship recognition were much more incremental
in our approach." And, according to Nakatani, it's not just marriage. Youth were also an important force in
igniting the issue of gender identity within the movement. He put it this way,
"Although many of the young people are not transgender, they come from a whole
history of having to deal with gender theory and queer theory in college and
gender nonconformance. They have a much more concrete understanding of it, and
they have pushed the rest of the movement to do that issue."
Nakatani
expressed that younger people who push more forcefully on certain issues are
playing a key role in the overall movement, even if society as whole is not
prepared to meet their demands. He said, "What it does is that it creates a
certain dynamic within the world where what this group is asking for is so out
there that it makes modest gains much more possible," he said.
Just Getting Started
Another
consequence of Proposition 8 and recent losses in the fight for same-sex
marriage in other states across the country has been to rouse a faction of the
younger generation who previously saw no pressing reason to be active in the
LGBT movement.
Kendall
believes part of this complacency is the result of growing up in a less
homophobic society. She said, "If you look at people in their twenties and
thirties, many of them came of age in a time when they pretty much could be out
and had relative social acceptance. There were positive gay images on TV or in
movies, the kind of things that those of us who are in our forties and fifties
never saw. And I think that those gains, to some degree, made a lot of folks
think, well, its all taken care of...I don't really need to be engaged."
Kendall
feels the passage of Proposition 8 awakened a sense of shock and outrage in
some of those who had become complacent. She said, "I think the loss on Prop 8
really was a galvanizing wake up call that we have come maybe so far in social
acceptance, but if we are going to make it the rest of the way where we really
are an accepted part of the natural culture and landscape in this country, it's
going to take many more people to be engaged."
There
is also a notion that some of the impatience attributed to the new generation,
especially with regards to the push to go back to the polls in 2010 is not
necessarily a function of age, but rather of being new to a cause. Nakatani
said he believed it was not simply young activists who were pushing to go back
to the polls in 2010, but specifically new, young activists. Nelson, who falls
in this category, is extremely passionate about fighting for equality, but also
acknowledges that he isn't necessarily well educated on what it may take to get
there. He had, for example, a vague awareness that Proposition 8 was going to
be challenged in the California Supreme Court, but wasn't sure if it had or had
not yet happened. For the record, the Court upheld Proposition 8 in May 2009.
Fledgling
activists like Nelson may have a long way to go, but the movement is welcoming
them with open arms. Kendall said getting more people involved in the movement
is vital to make further progress.
"We need a lot of volunteers in order to do the outreach to communities
of color, the faith communities, and to potentially persuadable voters, to have
the direct conversations with them to change their minds. This can be done, but
it requires a very strategic, a very deeply thought out and widely canvassed
plan. We have to reach and talk to about three million voters and finding where
those people are, getting to them, engaging them in conversation, and moving
them all requires enormous resources of personnel and financial support" said Kendall.
We All Can and Do Just Get Along
Whatever
the generational differences, both useful and divisive, there seems to be
widespread agreement that both groups can learn from each other and work
together harmoniously toward a common goal. Some even say talk of a divide can
be dangerous. Searles points out that things are not necessarily clear-cut. "I
doubt that there are two easily distinct groups and further doubt that they are
simply separated by age," he said. He worries about damage from such categorization.
"Unity is of utmost importance, and while we do not have to all agree on
everything, dividing ourselves into an "us" and "them"
could be very harmful. We need to bridge gaps across and between communities,
not create them," he said. Bateman agreed, saying, "I think when people are
trying to comment on a social change or write about it, there is always a need
to talk about categories, and that is useful conceptually, but sometimes the
categories blend a bit."
Whether
the divide exists in a concrete form or not, the LGBT community as a whole
appears to have been roused by the action packed period of both impressive
strides and devastating setbacks on the political front over the last few
years. Kendall, from the older generation, is hopeful that this will result in
a more powerful movement going forward, where many more than the one percent of
LGBT people she estimates have been active in the past will become advocates
for the cause.
For
Bateman, it is not just stronger activism that he hopes will result from the
infusion of new voices into the movement, but also a more supportive and
cohesive community. "In theory, if we had a stronger LGBT community where there
was more communication and interaction between older and younger people,
younger people who weren't getting support from their families would find it
from a larger representative family," he said.
Just as having children both vitalizes
and strains a traditional family, so too has the birth of a new generation of
activists vitalized and strained the larger LGBT family Bateman refers to. At
the same time, the LGBT community as a whole can expect to further experience
the joys and bonds of being a family.
For the older generation, this includes the sense of having a legacy to
pass on to a younger generation, which both challenges and invigorates it. For the younger generation, this
includes having older role models to learn from and challenge newer beliefs, as
well as offer a sense of community and identity.
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