Preparing for the Senate Forum: How to spot a "wedge" issue

Yesterday's news about the Court of Appeals decision in Maryland, denying the right of marriage to gay and lesbian couples, certainly was discouraging.

It's easy to get so frustrated by this kind of news that many of us will feel hurt and be angry. Some would even contemplate giving up on the idea of gay marriage. This would be a big mistake and our movement would suffer. But there is a way to harness and use that anger constructively.

There are signs that the social climate in this country might be changing. Sometimes those signs are small and largely unnoticed, and they might not even be directly related to GLBT people and legislative issues.

Yesterday the Arlington County Board passed a resolution about immigration. This issue, while on the surface seemingly distinctly different from the GLBT issues in substance, is not at all different in terms of the political climate it faces. It's passage is an indicator that the political opposition is formulating to using immigration issues and the federally created problem as a nasty, divisive, and often xenophobic battering ram at the local level. You see, the GLBT movement in Virginia was at this place in its political development about 12-15 years ago. It wasn't very common or popular for someone in local politics to stand up and take a stand against anti-GLBT bigotry or discrimination.

In that climate, even when you were very angry it wasn't always easy to find something constructive to do with it given the young stage of the movement. Today, that anger or disappointment over decision's like yesterdays should be directed at activities and education that can make a difference. Helping to spot allies being used as wedges in similar ways and helping to squash them immediately could do more to advance our cause than we may know.

In recent years, GLBT issues have been used as a divisive wedge issue to distract voters from real issues that mattered a great deal to the country (in 2004, Iraq, terrorism, the impact of our decisions on our "place" in the world, etc.). This is not to say the "wedge" issue may not be important to particular groups of people. Gay marriage is very important, particularly to fair-minded people. Likewise, immigration is extremely important and very complex issue, that like many GLBT issues, does not lend itself well to simple and easily understood explanations. It is crucial that we, as GLBT voters, are proficient in being able to recognize these largely politically-motivated "wedge" issue tactics, whether they involve us or not. It is crucial to know, as a community, when we are being taken for granted, when we are being used as a political football, and conversely when candidates truly care about our issues.

Likewise, it is critical that we pay attention to a range of issues, and that we understand when potential political allies are being used as a wedge issue in the exact same manner. When awareness is raised between such groups such as has recently occurred in Loudoun County resulting in the American Dream Alliance, powerful political coalitions emerge that tend to get more done than we could on our own.

First step--get educated about the people running in your state and local elections.

The best way to know about candidates and where they really stand is to meet them and listen to them talk about those issues in person. So, if you care about the continued progress on GLBT issues in Virginia, come to our Senate Forum on September 27th in Fairfax City and make sure that you are clear on where the candidates stand who are up for election in this year's state Senate elections.

After all, there are bound to be a few wedges thrown around. I think we need to be clear who is trying to throw them, and who is trying to break them apart and bring us all together!