RENWL

Is this the week for Cali equality news or what?!  Just as we were turnin’ in for the night did we receive a note from Rick Jacobs, head of Courage Campaign in response to criticisms directed at him for leaving Love Honor Cherish (LHC) jilted at the alter (Courage Campaign pulled out of the 2010 marriage equality campaign recently).   So far, LHC’s Lester Aponte has been the most vocal about it all hurling out a doozy of an accusation on our Facebook profile that Courage got cozy with EQCA in a hush hush meeting over cocktails ‘n’ footsies which resulted in a sudden about face action on Courage’s part.  Read the whole tear-soaked diatribe below:

” Courage Campaign has now gone officially corporate. To criticize an elected leadership which has been asking Mr. Jacobs and his organization for their input and participation for months is cynical to say the least. Rick was at the meeting in San Francisco where more than 80 organizational delegates chose the structure for the signature gathering … See Morecampaign and elected an Interim Administrative Group. He chose not to offer any opinions or suggestions, run for a spot on the IAG or allow any of his people to run either. Courage leaders did not attend or stand for election or attend any of the open Town Hall meetings across the state through which the regional representatives of the all-volunteer State Advisory Panel was elected. Their reserved seat on the State Administrative Panel remains unfilled and I am sure any request now for Rick or any of his employees to bring their suggestions for the governing structure forward will go unanswered. This smacks me as someone who did not want to be part of the campaign so he could then criticize it. Perhaps it is the direct result of the Big Pow Wow Courage had with EQCA. Rumor has it they did more than smoke the Peace Pipe. Regardless, we go forward because we know it is never wrong to fight for what is right and 80% of our community, including that percentage of Courage’s mailing list, voted to go forward. Camp Courage and the equality teams are a great asset to the marriage equality movement and I would not discourage anyone from joining them. If you want to fight for our rights this year rather than just preparing for a battle in the distant future, however, come to signforequality.com and join the fight.”

Poor guy.  We feel the hurt in his words.  But really now Lester, did you honestly think this was a match made in heaven? We were present at one of the initial meetings between LHC and Courage. Let’s just say we’ve seen warmer gatherings.  Never one to back down from an opportunity to steer it all into another direction without looking back at the blood and carnage, Jacobs responded to Aponte’s statement saying everything but get a life.  Here’s what Jacobs had to say:

First, I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. Second, I invite those interested here to read the blog post that the BAR put up. No where in it does it mesh with their controversy-grabbing headline: neither I nor Courage criticized the leadership of the 2010 effort. Read the story. What I do say is what we have been saying since late July. Nothing we have said has changed.

Second, I would be very interested in knowing more about the supposed meeting we had with EQCA. I will tell you that since June, Courage has sought such a meeting, has sought to improve relations in the community and we hope and expect to meet and talk soon. We look forward to working with everyone so that we stop duplicating efforts and better coordinate/share information.

Courage has a specific view of the means by which training and organizing should occur. That’s why we have so many Equality Teams, all of which are led by volunteers who are, in turn, led by Deputy Field Organizers (all volunteers) with the professional leadership of a small, smart and highly motivated field staff (Hope, Arisha, Anthony and Caitlin) who in turn benefit from the leadership and experience of Sarah Callahan. … See More

We are learning from our research and applying lessons at every turn. We try to integrate online and offline and we try as hard as we can to build on ideas and leadership of our members and volunteers. We have had some remarkable results from the ideas and work of many, many of those teams and others. The recent meeting Derrick and others held at Lucy Florence Coffee House about homophobia in the Black community is just one such example. No one person or organization can think of or do everything. We are all made more powerful by the manifold talents and ideas of others. Our job at Courage is to magnify those where we can.

Our model is to build a permanent volunteer infrastructure using the Obama Campaign as the jumping off point. We believe firmly that LGBT rights are part of the larger progressive movement. All of our work is informed by that.

In that context, it’s important to look around. Last week, for the first time in years, we saw major demonstrations and non-violent civil disobedience on multiple UC campuses. Why? “Fees” (which is California French for tuition) increased 32% at UCs, resulting in a three-fold increase in ten years. Cal States are set to reject 50,000 or more eligible students because of budget cutbacks. Community colleges and Cal States are the traditional routes for advancement for those in our society least able financially to afford higher education. They are the backbone of California’s once upwardly mobile workforce, the only mechanism by which we as a state can grow our way out of this economic mess. The once model California education system that took every Californian from kindergarten to post-doctoral work, is in shambles–unless you are white and rich (or in some cases just rich).

And in 2010, next month, the state’s $70 billion general fund budget faces a $25 billion shortfall, plus a further debt to special funds which could effectively mean we have a $40 billion deficit. Forty billion out of $70 billion. And you thought 2009 was bad.
Think about it: our state cannot print money to get out of deficit (as can a sovereign nation) and the right wing has convinced the entire country that all government is bad. We have Meg Whitman, a billionaire who has not voted for “twenty or thirty years” saying that we have to lower taxes and spend more on higher ed. Maybe she can do that kind of voodoo math on E-Bay, but it does not work in government. If that’s the ethos for 2010, we are in a whole heap of trouble. Well, we’re in trouble anyway, but I and Courage are not about to sit around and wait for candidates to talk nonsense, get elected and just make things worse. We’re done with that.

Now is the time for the LGBT community to stand up together and rebuild our state. Now is the time for us to stand together to lead. More about this in coming weeks and months, but clearly LGBT people, along with everyone else, are hurt when colleges are unaffordable or entrance closed, healthcare is decimated, unemployment (and underemployment) rise to over 20%. We’re all in this together. As Derrick has pointed out so eloquently in what he and RENEWL do, we win equality by lending a hand, leading in a fight for all of us and showing that together we are all stronger.

As to the current effort to put an initiative on the ballot, while organizationally we will not participate for the reasons above, we do not now, nor have we ever, attempted in any way to interfere with the efforts of others to win equality as they see fit. I and Courage greatly respect that there are different paths to victory. As we have seen all too well, no one path is “correct.” What we do know from Maine and our research to date is that we have a lot more to learn.

I look forward to working with everyone to win equality–economic and social–for our state and nation. And clearly it is going to take all of us.

We ask: how can you fault a guy who takes the time to give you and your org props while driving the last nail in somebody else’s coffin?

And that’s what it’s starting to look like for the 2010 campaign if they don’t do some scrambling but quick. What happened? What went wrong?  How did it all end up this way? Back in August it seemed that EQCA stood alone ostracized and ridiculed by many for its seemingly bullheaded commitment to 2012. Here we are in November with a completely different scenario. Well, EQCA is still being ostracized and ridiculed—that much hasn’t changed—but we’re referring more to the total landscape these days and how it has shifted.  Even the grassroots orgs around town seems to have changed their focus.  Just last week the Roots Of Equality folks wrapped up their Lavender Los Angeles exhibition downtown. That was a lot of time and energy spent on showcasing the past.  We couldn’t help but notice that the whole time they were promoting the show they weren’t bangin’ any drums about the future aka the 2010 campaign.  At least none that could be heard here in West Adams.

But be that as it may, look, from the sidelines it’s hard to take issue with Courage Campaign with this latest move (not that we can’t be persuaded).  Simply for the reason that they’ve provided so much training to so many activists statewide. There’s this built-in loyalty of sorts that truth be told, we even suffer from to some degree. We hate it.

To that end, we’re most certainly willing to take in all points of view on these latest developments and receive information with an unbiased ear.  That’s the least we can do.  With the Courage Campaign saying adios is the 2010 marriage equality campaign a goner?

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