Just like Keith at crusingforsex.com and miscellaneous San Franciscans, I’m not going to the Millennium March either. Didn’t even occur to me to go. To be honest, I really wasn’t even all that aware of its details before reading these articles by other people who weren’t going either.
Why not? Hmmm. Glad you asked.
First, of course, would be the fact that I don’t see a tremendous lot of point to it. The point of such marches is to increase visibility by stating rather smugly that “there are 300,000 of us here so you’d better notice us, dammit.” But visibility is not the problem; most Americans are quite aware than queers exist in significant numbers. Most of them don’t really give a damn, and another march isn’t going to do a single thing to change this fact.
Attitudes are changed by one-on-one interaction, and legal status is changed by legislation or litigation. About the only thing that marches (and parades, etc.) do is annoy the people who can’t get across town because of them.
Then, of course, there’s the mixed agenda. To heterosexuals, it’s “we’re just like you, so please give us the freedom to marry and kill people in the military”. To ourselves, it’s “we’re different and special and should have pride”. So which is it? To me, it’s neither. I am not just like everyone else (who is?), but the fact that I suck dick does not make me particularly different from anyone else either. And pride should be the result of accomplishment; I just did what came naturally…
The “just like you” path to equal rights has always left me cold. To those who say there are issues other than sex involved, I would answer that sex is the only characteristic queers all share, and it’s the single reason queers face discrimination. Therefore, sex is absolutely the ONLY issue involved.
People have a right to choose whatever sexuality or relationship type they want. The gay movement is currently obsessed with fighting for equality by saying “I agree to copulate by your standards you in exchange for civil rights”. It should instead be demanding that “you must not discriminate against me based on the way I copulate”. I’m more inclined to fight for the freedom NOT to marry and still to be regarded as a complete human being.
Of course I support anti-discrimination legislation, and yes, I even support legal same-sex marriage. What I don’t support is this warm fuzzy visibility tactic which may have had some validity twenty years ago but no longer does. I think the time and money might be better spent on other things, a few strategically placed anti-discrimination lawsuits being at the top of the list.
And while we’re at it, let’s not forget the Equal Rights Amendment…