10 Things I learned from some Members of GetEQUAL

So over at Bilerico Project, I wrote a piece that questioned GetEQUAL's ideas. It started with an article with one of their directors talking about protesting President Obama. Well, I thought it was silly of them to waste all that money and resources attacking him and leaving our enemies home free.

After my post hit, they got mad at me. I didn't care, I knew they would. However, during this back and forth, I learned a lot about dealing with these folks.

1. They use quotes from civil rights leaders like they are spells. I felt like I was Nancy from "The Craft" getting some binding spell thrown on me.
2. If you question their tactics or strategy, then you are insulting them in a Klingon kind of way. It's blasphemy to question GetEQUAL's skills. If you read some their responses, they claimed they were insulted. Personally, I thought those parts were funny.
3. They love using GetEQUAL as their middle names. A bit cult-ish, but if I could, I would put Louis Vuitton as a middle name.
4. If you quote one of their leaders/directors from any media, disregard it. According to GetEQUAL, you have to 2nd guess that statement and find one of the members to clarify it. Basically, if I'm told to 2nd guess your leadership, then that spells DISORGANIZATION.
5. A bunch of angry activists doesn't ensure leadership.
6. They suffer from the worst case of tunnel vision.
7. GetEQUAL has protested the president more than any of our opponents.
8. In fact, they have staged sit-ins and interruption to our biggest allies, but to our enemies, they just shouted outside of their events. EX: They protest outside of Rick Perry's prayer event. It seems they show our enemies a little more respect.
9. They gave me so much flak, but no answers.
10. They need strong leadership to keep them in line. If they don't get it together, they will be gone in 5 years.

My Rant: Did we Read the Same Post?

In my latest piece in Bilerico Project, I wrote about full equality, not just marriage equality, should be our focus as a community. However, some folks got lost with my statement here:

  While gay marriage is cute for a privileged few, it is not a priority to many others.

My use of "cute" really bothered some people. They thought I was dismissing gay marriage, but the thing is, I wasn't. My statement "gay marriage is cute for a privileged few," was meant to point out how it's a privilege to not worry about your employment, housing, or benefits and you can only focus on marriage.

And speaking of "a privileged few", that's me. I am that PF. I have a job that allows me to talk freely about my partner, put him on my insurance and to reap my benefits; and he can do the same at his job.  They are many out there who don't have these opportunities. I want to make sure that they do. With a full equality plank, all in our community can reap the benefits.

I thought it was clear I was talking about full equality, but these folks just read what they wanted to read.

The interesting pieces to their rants against me proved 2 things:

1. They didn't read the full article, they got caught up with the word "cute" and they totally missed the message.
2. They proved my point in my post. They are so focused on gay marriage, they can't see anything else.

I appreciate opposing views, but to claim that I'm trying to divide the community or that I'm being dismissive is far from the truth.
If they can get past their own foolishness, they will see that I want the same thing they want. Full equality.