Take a Cue from Alice

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has taken center stage as the cause celebre of queer politics, joining marriage equality as one of the key issues around which the queer community is rallying.  Perhaps neither of these are your issues.  Honestly, they aren’t exactly mine.   But the significance of these battles reach far beyond the chapel or the combat zone.   By fighting for unrestricted access to all of our nation’s institutions, we claim our own humanity, our right to full equality.  What’s more, DADT is inherently a feminist issue – women are more likely to be discharged under the policy, not to mention how it can lead to harassment and assault of lesbian soldiers.

GetEQUAL has been engaging in stunning actions of late, calling on Obama to remain accountable to the promises he made our community.  Military personnel and civilian activists have handcuffed themselves to the White House fence, activists have rallied and protested, and individuals have used their voices to speak truth to power.

You may have heard about the “hecklers” who confronted Obama at Barbara Boxer’s April 19th fundraiser.  One of them was my dear friend, and committed activist, Zoe Nicholson.  Oddly enough (at least to those of us who believe in the power of non-violent direct action), the GetEQUAL activists at this event have been critiqued from inside the queer community.   Ever the nerd, I put on my historian hat trying to explain to people why taking action like this is an essential part of social change.

Take as an example women’s fight for the right to vote.  In the first decade of the 20th century, the National American Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA) led the movement for suffrage.  They were engaged in a time-consuming state-by-state campaign when young activist Alice Paul, fresh from training with radical suffragettes in England, joined their ranks.  After much convincing,  NAWSA leadership allowed her to begin work on a federal amendment.  While NAWSA eventually came around to the national approach, conflict continued between it and Paul’s Congressional Union, leading Paul to create the National Women’s Party (NWP).

NWP instantly adopted the role of radical fringe within the suffrage movement.  In taking a national approach, these women held the party in power responsible for not securing women’s right to vote.  These women began their militant campaign “with ‘heckling’ Wilson–interrupting speeches and asking pointed questions” (Ford, 283).    They picketed the White House because of President Wilson’s inaction, and continued to do so even after the United States entered World War I.  Using his own words to make clear his hypocrisy, NWP quoted him on protest banners: “We shall fight for the things which we have always held nearest our hearts–for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have to have a voice in their own government.”  Arrested for these protests that shamed the president, these suffragists were jailed and force-fed upon their decisions to fast.  Information regarding their treatment ultimately reached the press, further shaming the administration. Militant actions continued upon their release and until they gained the vote.

All of these actions made President Wilson more responsive to NAWSA, the more moderate organization – aligning with NAWSA allowed him to save face.  Yet it was certainly due in large part to the actions of NWP that Wilson finally, in 1918, encouraged the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.     Chief Justice Walter Clark congratulated Paul on the success of the amendment, stating, “Will you permit me to congratulate you upon the great triumph in which you have been an important factor?  There were politicians, and a large degree of public sentiment, which could only be won by the methods that you adopted.”

The movement for queer rights needs all of us, especially those so committed to the cause they are willing to face arrest, alienation from friends and peers, and angry public threats.   We are fighting for respect, for safety, for equality.  Empty promises will not get us there – it is up to all of us to demand accountability and action.  Take a cue from Alice.

*for more information, see Ford, et al, in Marjorie Wheeler’s One Woman, One Vote

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