A Pledge for 2010
Now that 2009 is officially over, it is time for the LGBT community to make resolutions for 2010 and boy do we need a few. 2010 promises to be a great year for LGBT equality, if the LGBT community adopts these simple resolutions. So, raise your right hand and repeat after me, I pledge to:
Be a Team Player
The entire LGBT community wants equal rights, we may differ about strategy, but in the end we all need to work together. We need to be creative in developing partnerships between organizations to ensure that our limited resources are used more effectively. Team work will lead to success. Get involved by giving your time, after all these LGBT organizations are fighting for your civil rights.
Financially Contribute
Our largest civil rights organization has a budget of $40 million. Just one of the organizations committed to discrimination against the LGBT community, Focus on the Family, has an annual budget of $150 million. You get the picture; the LGBT community’s financial resources are dwarfed by those of our enemies. Get out your wallet and make a commitment to an organization fighting for LGBT rights. Make it a big one, you owe it to yourself.
Come Out
It has been proven time and time again that those who know a member of the LGBT community are less likely to discriminate against them. It is time for all of us to let our families, friends and co-workers know who we really are. For many that process will be painful, but it is necessary for the greater good. My only caveat is to consider your personal safety.
Learn to Write or Call
Commit to writing one letter or making one call a month to a member of Congress, local state legislator or city councilman to promote LGBT equality. Make sure five of your friends do the same. Believe it or not, this type of communication is really considered by politicians and can make a difference. Our enemies use it to their advantage all the time.
Keep My Resolutions
A simple resolution, but one of the hardest to keep. If you do, 2010 will be a banner year for LGBT equality.
Happy New Year, time to get to work.
Mr. Corbin’s ideas are good, but declaring resolutions for an entire community and then literally demanding we raise our right hands and make a pledge is grotesquely arrogant, but that’s par for the course for Corbin (the self-proclaimed LGBT “Oracle”) and the Human Rights Campaign. There’s no mention of Mr. Corbin actually making these resolutions himself. Rather, he backhandedly reprimands all of us with his declaration of how we should correct our behavior.
Mr. Corbin shows how he and the HRC are disconnected from the real concerns of the community by telling us to “make it a big one” and donate large sums of money. Since Mr. Corbin used his last column to brag about his recent trip to the White House, it’s no surprise that he now overlooks those that are not as equipped as he and his elite HRC-er’s to write big checks. Some people choose to donate their time instead, which can be just as beneficial as a check.
Calling or writing to elected officials is certainly a great resolution. However, I question why Corbin sub-titled this section, “Learn to write or call.” Learn to write? Is Mr. Corbin going to teach a class where we can learn to write and use the telephone? Again, great advice diminished by Corbin’s superiority.
Furthermore, Mr. Corbin’s number one resolution for us is to “be a team player.” This is especially laughable since his own reputation precedes him for ranting about and publically demeaning Delores Jacobs, the LGBT Center, Ron De Harte, and San Diego Pride, among other leaders and organizations in our community.
None of these resolutions are bad, but our community needs leaders, not prophets.
Hmm…afraid to leave your name anonymous? Nonetheless, resolutions are about a new beginning. I am sugggesting a new beginning for all of us, including me.
BTW Delores, Ron, The Center, Pride and I have no issues with one another. You are misinformed.
As to my suggestion that you write a big check, big is relative. For some it is $20, others $20,000. The point is to give to LGBT organizations fighting for your rights because just volunteering is not enough. All our organizations need money, whether it is Mama’s Kitchen or the Center. Unfortunatley in this world money is necessary and I am not afraid to say so.
Writing or calling your political representative is a learned behavior and most in our community never do it. So, yea it needs to be learned.
Finally, repeat after me indicates I am taking the pledge as as well.