Dissent and Equality: How the GLBT Community Should Handle Political Differences

After the November elections, Sir Elton John was asked his opinion, as a gay celebrity, on the reasons Proposition 8 passed. His response was that the word “marriage” put off a lot of people, and that the GLBT community ought to be seeking equality, not necessarily the M word:

If gay people want to get married, or get together, they should have a civil partnership. The word ‘marriage,’ I think, puts a lot of people off.You get the same equal rights that we [he and his partner] do when we have a civil partnership. Heterosexual people get married. We can have civil partnerships.

(Source: USAToday.com, November 13, 2008)

The response by many in the online community was to denounce Sir Elton as insensitive and out of touch with the ways discrimination affects many GLBT people. Many felt that as a gay man–and a celebrity–he had an obligation to fully denounce Proposition 8. Yet one respondent remarked that she was a lesbian who agreed with Sir Elton and wished the GLBT movement would stop assuming every GLBT person wants the right to marry.

Leaving aside the merits of Sir Elton’s opinion (for the record, I disagree; I think separation implies inferiority), people’s response to his comments brings up some important questions for the GLBT community: namely, whether agreement on the marriage issue (or any aspects of the rights movement) is a necessary prerequisite for being accepted by the community and how to handle divisions within the community as we continue to push for equal rights. Relatedly, do GLBT celebrities have greater obligations towards the community because of their position?

First and foremost, I do not believe that all GLBT persons have to agree on equality issues or any other issues. Clearly one’s sexual orientation is determined by which gender(s) s/he is attracted to, not hir political opinions. Furthermore, it is not to the rights movement’s advantage to alienate members of the community who disagree. To do so only makes enemies out of a portion of the community and implies that the rights movement is an exclusive club. This type of division is what our true enemies–committed homophobes–would love to see among us, because it weakens our strength.

It is important to be able to bridge disagreements such as these. I have no doubt that the majority of GLBT persons desire equal treatment, but not everyone agrees on the form that treatment would take or the way to get there. By focusing on what both sides of the debate (within the community) have in common, it is more likely that we will be able to stay unified as we progress towards the goal of equality.

How, then, to handle such divisions? I think there are several important principles to keep in mind: