Subject: Taking The High Road? by Robin Tyler
From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 19:43:56 EDT

Taking the High Road?
by Robin Tyler

For the past year and a half, I have been urged to take the "high road" with 
regard to the deliberate and calculated lies and misinformation put out by 
the Ad Hoc Committee for an Open Process. In other words, some felt 
responding would only escalate the disagreement. 

Not responding to the misinformation, I believe, has been a grave mistake. It 
has not only allowed the lies around this March to continue to grow, but it 
has permitted the myths crafted by the self-styled "Ad Hoc Committee" around 
the previous Marches to go unchallenged.

I've grown tired of our history being rewritten and distorted.

It's time for truth-telling.

As an activist for 30 years and as someone who has been involved in all of 
the national LGBT Marches (in 1978, I called for the first national gay 
March), I have seen enormous abuse in this movement -- abuse cloaked in the 
good names of political correctness, accuracy, and in this case "an open 
process."  But I have never before seen the level of character assassination 
and distortion that March opponents have heaped on good, committed 
activisits.  

The libelous misinformation and untruth's in Billy Heilman’s last press 
release, and the fact they are now being distributed in the press, has ended 
my silence.  

The Untruths Of The Ad Hoc Committee

THE MYTH:  If Robin Tyler is the hired executive producer of a non-profit 
group, why has her private company blocked thousands of hotel rooms?

THE TRUTH:  The truth is, I have only one hotel room booked and it's for my 
partner and me.

Billy Heilman knows he is spreading lies. He knows the charge is untrue, 
because he sat in the same meetings in which I sat where this was discussed. 
Every contract for every hotel room is in the name of the non-profit 
Millennium March on Washington, Inc. and every penny of revenue from the 
hotel commissions goes directly to the March. Neither I nor my company has 
any contracts with hotels nor do I receive any personal or business income 
from the March hotels. One should question the motives of anyone who 
continues to perpetuate information they know to be untrue, misleading and 
inflammatory?

The March hotels were booked for two reasons:

1.  At many events, including the last March on Washington and the Gay Games 
in Amsterdam, hotel rooms have been sold at inflated levels, to the financial 
detriment of our community. (Close to the events, some rooms have been 
increased 200-300% over their regular rates.)  By reserving hotel rooms 
through the March, we have assured that thousands of rooms will be available 
to our community at their actual cost, and not at inflated rates.

2.  The March is receiving all commissions for the reserved rooms. These 
commissions serve as a fundraiser for the March.  In addition to the rooms 
the March has reserved, there are still tens of thousands of hotel rooms for 
individuals and travel agents to book. We are also arranging free and 
low-cost housing alternatives youth and other members of our community who 
may not be able to afford the expense of a hotel room.

Once again, Billy had this information and yet chose to perpetrate the lie 
that I and my company are receiving the commissions. When you know the truth 
and still spread misinformation, isn't that called a lie?

THE MYTH: The previous Marches were more open and more democratic.

THE TRUTH: National meetings for the 1993 March were held in four cities. The 
majority of those meetings had less than 100 people.  I know, because I was 
one of a handful of people who flew to all of the meetings. Only a small 
handful of people, who could afford to travel to the meetings, decided to 
have a March in 1993.  In 1979, it was a group of people in Minnesota who 
formed a March committee (documented in the recently published book, "Out For 
Good") and when that committee went defunct, Harvey Milk (who was originally 
against the first March) picked it up. The gay organizations were still 
against it.  Harvey's murder gave impetus for the March on a national level.

THE MYTH:  The Millennium March is an HRC and UFMCC March.

THE TRUTH:  The original call for the March was put out by HRC and UFMCC. 
Subsequently, representatives of 45 LGBT organizations from across the 
country met in Washington in June of 1998.  These organizations represented 
hundreds of thousands of grassroots activists and each organization sent a 
representative. (At this meeting, the Ad Hoc Committee was also invited to 
designate a representative to participate with full voice and full vote and 
they declined.)  

This broad cross-section of community representatives reaffirmed the decision 
to hold the 4th national LGBT March on Washington, voted to keep the date for 
April 30th, 2000, and approved procedures to name a board of directors and 
form a non-profit corporation called MMOW, Inc. HRC and UFMCC each had one 
representative and one vote on the board, as they do to this day. To continue 
to perpetuate the myth that this is solely an HRC and UFMCC event does a 
disservice to the more than 100 local, state and national organizations which 
are sponsoring the Millennium March. There are currently 18 members of the 
board from across the US. The board is composed of 50% women and 50% people 
of color.

THE MYTH:  The theme of this March is "Faith and Family."

THE TRUTH:  There have never been any discussions, meetings or votes by 
organizers about a theme of "Faith and Family" for the March. Never. This is 
a lie that continues to be spread solely because it inflames certain segments 
of our community.

In 1998, there was an Internet poll conducted by Data Boy Lounge (which has 
no official or unofficial connections to the March). This independent poll 
asked:

1.  Do you think there should be a Millennium March on Washington? (86% 
responded yes.)
2.  Do you agree that the March should be about faith and family? (66% 
responded yes.)

Despite repeated clarifications over the past year, the March continues to be 
attacked on the basis of this untruth. Those opposed to the March on 
Washington have continued to spread this lie even after they know it to be 
untrue. We have repeatedly said that the Millennium March on Washington must 
and will be as broad and diverse as are all of our LGBT communities.

THE MYTH:  The community doesn't want the Millennium March on Washington.

THE TRUTH:  Despite any claims to the contrary, the simple answer is that 
there has been overwhelming community support for the March. The  majority of 
the 45 LGBT organizations which met in June of 1998 agreed that their 
grassroots members and constituents wanted the March. And poll after poll 
reflects this consensus. An early Advocate Magazine poll showed 84% of 
respondents support the Millennium March. The DataLounge Poll showed 85% 
support. An early PlanetOut Survey showed that more than 60% of the LGBT 
community plan to attend the March. In the first four weeks of unveiling the 
MMOW Website, more than 5000 people registered their plans to attend. And in 
the last week alone, more than 4000 people have offered to serve as volunteer 
organizers.

THE MYTH:  This March is being organized differently than past Marches.

THE TRUTH:  Well, in some ways it is different. It is more democratic, more 
participatory, more open and more grassroots than ever before. 

Also, I made the initial approach about holding another March to LGBT 
organizations because in previous Marches, a small group of people claimed to 
represent the "grassroots."

Here's an example: In the last March although the ‘right to serve’ was the 
number one issue at the time (as the recently elected President had pledged 
to allow gays in the military) the March Organizing Committee did not want 
this issue presented on stage. I remember the discussions vividly. Some felt 
this issue represented U.S. imperialism and capitalist domination on a global 
scale. The "right to serve" -- which enjoyed broad support throughout our 
community -- was only included after we fought a bloody battle to have it 
included. So much for the myth of broad grassroots representation.

Here's another example: In 1987, most in our community wanted same-sex 
marriage rights included as a March issue.  And yet, the "Organizing 
Committee" made a decision on behalf of the entire community that same-sex 
marriage represented conformity to heterosexual standards and proclaimed it a 
conservative issue. These were the people who claimed to represent the 
grassroots of our community. What did the community really feel? A same-sex 
couples demonstration took place in front of the IRS building without the 
March's endorsement. I attended. And 10,000 people showed up.

Or one more example: While people of faith have been involved in every 
previous March on Washington (including UFMCC, which serves 1/4 of a million 
people annually), it has been almost impossible for that segment of our 
community to get representation on the stages.  And, when someone like the 
Reverend Troy Perry has been allowed on the stage, they have usually been 
relegated only to do the fundraising pitch.

THE MYTH:  This March is not democratic.

THE TRUTH:  Yes it is. It is the most open, democratic, participatory 
national March ever held. For the first time, every single member of the LGBT 
community has the opportunity to vote directly for the platform of this 
March. No longer can one individual or one group claim to represent our 
community. For the first time ever, every member of our broad and diverse 
community has the opportunity to represent herself or himself.

THE MYTH:  The Millennium March is too controversial.

THE TRUTH: There are two issues at the heart of the controversy -- and 
neither has yet been adequately covered by the press:

First, this March has a very clear and well-defined focus. It is a March for 
LGBT federal civil rights. Billy Heilman and others of his group have 
demanded that we March on a platform of other issues they think are 
important. And many of those issues are important. But this march for LGBT 
rights should and will be a march strategically focused on LGBT rights. After 
all, forced consensus on all issues is neither consensus nor democratic.

Like many in our community, I've done lots of marching. I've marched for 
black civil rights, in the anti-war movement, and for the equal rights 
amendment. I've marched for affirmative action, for choice, for farm worker 
rights, and for the rights of other oppressed peoples. Now, I'm marching with 
our community for our LGBT rights.

I've heard the criticisms and here's what they amount to: There are some who 
feel it is not right or just to March for solely our LGBT civil rights. (Is 
there some internalized homophobia in the view that does not want us to march 
solely for our own rights?) These critics say that a gay agenda is 
conservative, racist and classist.

Let's think about that.

How conservative is demanding an end to hate crimes and inclusion in the hate 
crimes act?

How conservative is it to demand the right to keep our jobs, or even be given 
jobs if we
are out of the closet.

How conservative is it to demand the government not take our children from us?

Is marriage a conservative issue?  After all, social security, pensions, the 
right to visit our partners in the hospital, and demanding legal recognition 
of our relationships are not conservative -- these are still radical concepts 
in this society.

And let's be honest. Do most people in our community think that serving our 
country (the military is the largest employers of minorities in the US), 
protecting our youth, AIDS, lesbian health issues, and LGBT aging issue are 
really conservative, ‘right wing’ rich elitist gay male issues?
  
No! These issues cross race, age, and class lines.  They are basic civil 
rights issues, and they are ones we have a right to demand of our government.

Oh, please!  Lets get real.  The issue -- the real, bottom-line issue here -- 
is that for once a small group of extremists is not dominating the March or 
imposing their views on the grassroots.  Every segment of our community 
should be -- must be! -- part of this broad and diverse March. But no segment 
should dominate, saying that they represent their mythical version of the 
grassroots.  

For once, the majority of the LGBT community has the opportunity to directly 
vote on the platform of the March -- and to be assured that their views and 
concerns will be represented.  The majority of this community is not to the 
extreme left or right, and they all don't, nor should they be forced, to 
think alike.

The majority in this community has too often been ignored.  Let me be clear: 
I consider HRC's endorsement of D'Amatto a mistake, but they still have 
300,000 members and represent a significant portion of our community. They've 
made mistakes; they have also done good work. And they have taken enormous 
abuse.  You know, for a community fighting for the “right to love,” we are 
far too quick to beat people to death when we disagree with them.

Or, we resort to name calling. Or we cannibalize and bash and abuse our own. 
The charges come far too easily and manipulatively: "You disagree with me; 
you must be racist, or sexist, or classist, or elitist."  We do not have the 
right to batter people in the name of our own oppression. It becomes a 
continuous cycle of abuse. In the cycle of violence, the victim often becomes 
the perpetrator.

And, what responsibility does the press have?

In one regard, the LGBT press is similar to the mainline press: both love 
controversy.  Controversy sells. My perception is that too many in the LGBT 
press have printed lies and myths and unsubstantiated allegations about the 
March on Washington, 'just because' somebody says them, 'just because' if 
they come from someone perceived as an oppressed victim they must be assumed 
to be telling the truth. I've tired of myths and untruths that continue to 
appear "just because... just because... just because..."

Bill Dobbs of the Ad Hoc Committee was right last week in Chicago, when 
speaking of the Ad Hoc's opposition to the March, he screamed, "This is all 
about power and control." And you know what, I agree. But from my 
perspective, it's about giving power and control to the true grassroots 
activists who do the hard work of justice day in and day out in local 
communities across America. How odd that some would find this concept so 
threatening.

And despite the controversy, the March moves forward. Our offices are 
receiving more than 1000 platform ballots a day -- the largest grassroots 
response in the history of our movement. More than 4000 grassroots activists 
volunteered to help the march in a one-week period. And yes Billy, right now, 
we are working out of my offices in California.  Why?  Because they are free. 
 And so are the computers, and 3 of the 4 telephone lines, and the fax, and 
the scanner and the desks, and the volunteers.  And later this year, we will 
move to Washington.

And is this March about every social issue from the death penalty, to 
bi-lingual education, to socio-economic justice, to American imperialism?  
No. 

This March, by and for a group who have had no basic civil rights on a 
federal level, is about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equality. 
Nothing more. Nothing less.  We must learn to work together where we can 
agree, and not to kill each other over our disagreements.

And if we can't agree and be unified around the basic need for equality of 
gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons under the law, our 
movement is in serious trouble.

Will I be fired for this response?  Possibly. For in politics, telling the 
truth has become 
the "low road." 

But at this point, with or without me, this 4th national March on Washington 
will take place on April 30, 2000. Why?

Because our community wants it. 

And that's good enough for me.

Robin Tyler