By Jill McLaughlin
The World Can’t Wait was part of the historic march on D.C. demanding full equality for LGBT people. The march was organized and mobilized by a new generation of LGBT people galvanized by their outrage at the passing of Proposition 8 in California on the night of Obama’s election. While some gay leaders advocated patience and waiting for the next election cycles to repeal Proposition 8, these young people were not willing to “wait and see” if Obama would be their ally and be the one to grant them their rights. Thus, this march was organized from coast to coast. Tens of thousands of people marched.
Many people connected with our banner which read “No Common Ground with Christian Fascists: LGBT Rights Now” and wanted to take photos of it. We talked to many about what it will take to resist the agenda of the Christian right which would like no less than to see LGBT people back in the closet or worse. We struggled with them that just because Obama was President it doesn’t mean that the Christian right no longer had power; that in fact his search for “common ground” is disempowering and therefore very dangerous in terms of actually reversing a fascist direction that was initiated under Bush. What’s needed, we said, is a movement of resistance in this country that acts outside the politics of the possible and visibly and openly challenges the bigoted agenda of the right.
Some people really agreed with this. Others still think that if pressure is applied that Obama will listen. Many people saw the banner at our table and immediately came over and without saying anything signed up to receive the WCW email and so we had to catch them and talk to them further and get their thinking on things.
The tenor of the speeches given at the rally ranged from “lets be patient because Obama really wants to do right by us”, to “lets put pressure on Obama” to “we don’t like your speech and we will not wait”. So in this mix it was very important that World Can’t Wait was there with its message and talking about what is needed.