On another note…

I think there is room in our activist community for many different methods and voices. I honestly don’t believe that Blake and Gabe are in this fight for media attention. I attended the Saturday rally against DoMA and Gabe declined to go in front of the media. He asked if I would speak to the media in his place (and I did). He didn’t even want to give his own speech to our crowd (I gave it for him).

I think we are all in this fight for the same general reasons: to form a more perfect union… to gain equality… to have happier lives. We just have different methods that we feel are effective in reaching those goals.

Why don’t we work together, every person contributing where they are best suited, instead of bickering amongst ourselves?

I asked a legitimate question as to why the condom ban was not an issue that they got involved with. And the reason why they chose not to involve themselves was never answered.

I find it hard to take a group of young men seriously whose sole mission is to stage a series of protests around town demanding gay marriage, just so that they can get on TV and make the entire LGBT community look like a group of spoiled white gay men.

Blake and Gabe have chosen to make themselves public figures and with that comes scrutiny, sometimes harsh scrutiny.

I don’t like the two of them. I think they are going to realize after about six months that you can’t have a gay marriage protest every Saturday. At some point people just stop coming and the news stops covering them.

To advance LGBT equality, much more is required than yelling outside some random building for the 10 o’clock news.

As a straight man, whose name is Tom McPonnell btw, I just can’t tell you how silly you look when you go on TV and gripe about a gay marriage ban in California, while right here in your own town, the repealing of a decade old condom ban stirs not one word from you.

But finally, the saddest part is that Blake said,

“We can recognize that multi-million dollar TV ad campaigns can produce positive results”

They didn’t produce positive results in California. And it seems the only results your media saturation has brought you here are divisions in your own LGBT community.

It’s a bit silly that we have to explain our position on using the media again. It should be very simple to understand. Visibility in the public eye is effective for advancing our goals. We can recognize that multi-million dollar TV ad campaigns can produce positive results but somehow when local activists try to use the media to achieve the same goals there are some who hide behind fictitious blog names who would like to portray us as egotistical. Hell, I went into organizing the DOMA demo knowing that I would be doing the majority of work but also that I wouldn’t be able to be there the day of, effectively missing my shot at stardom.

So save your venom for those that want to bash us back into the closet. Don’t spew your crap at those that are trying to get a pro-Gay message in the media. In the end, we’re trying to change society so that you can use your real name when you post on a Gay blog and so that you wont be too ashamed to go to a Queer protest for fear of being caught on camera.