Everyone acknowledges that the LGBT civil rights movement has made astonishingly rapid progress. Even our bitterest enemies acknowledge that fact. But a writer for TIME insists—once again—that gay activists are doing gay activism all wrong. From the push for marriage equality to outing closeted gay politicians with anti-gay voting records to dividing people into "good" and "bad" camps, we're doing it all wrong, says TIME stringer Brandon Ambrosino. (There's no way of knowing how much more progress the LGBT civil rights movement could've made over the last 40 years if Brandon Ambrosino had been in charge of it all along. Who knows? If Brandon ran the movement straight sex would be illegal by now and St. Patrick's Cathedral would be a gay bar.)
Today's you're-doing-it-wrong lecture is about how gay activists are too angry and how Martin Luther King Jr. didn't divide people into good or bad camps. Um, yeah, no:
“It may well be that we will have to repent in this generation. Not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people."—Martin Luther King Jr.
John Aravosis rips into Ambrosino in a post today. And Noah Michelson, the "mean" gay activist Ambrosino slams (but does not name) in his piece today, responds at length at HuffPo:
In brief, Ambrosino wants queers like me who believe that we shouldn't apologize for or excuse the homophobia or transphobia of our fellow countrymen and women, even if they're our parents or our friends (which is a totally radical, scary notion, right?), should follow King's lead and "condemn the evil without condemning the evildoer." ... But here's the thing: I have listened to our opponents, and I've heard all the awful things they've said about us, including that we're sinful and have murder in our hearts, and that we're dangerous to children. I've listened to this kind of filth my entire life. And while I agree with Ambrosino in the vaguest of ways—I do think that many people who are coming to grips with their homophobia and are trying to understand queers should be approached with love and kindness and respect—those who spew hate need to be addressed and quickly countered.
