Harvey Milk used to get into intra-movement battles over whether to push openly gay candidates or straight ally candidates with his nemesis in San Francisco gay politics, the Alice B. Toklas Democratic club. The Toklas' Club philosophy was to work closely with straight allies, not antagonize anybody, and endorse straight candidates for seats on the Board of Supervisors, cautiously believing gay candidates- especially ones with Milk's politics and methods- could never win and that the city wasn't ready for them. Milk, who was refused the Toklas Club endorsement in his first race for Supervisor in 1975, his race for an Assembly seat in 1976, and his second race for Supervisor in 1977 (the latter because Rick Stokes, a strong openly gay ally of the Club, was running) was so frustrated with the Toklas Club methods that he formed his own organization, the San Francisco Gay Democratic Club, after losing his Assembly race.
But Harvey was living in a time when there were no major pieces of pro-LGBT legislation, no strong advocates on the Board of Supervisors, and no openly LGBT elected officials in the country. Today, all of that's changed.
I'm thinking about all of this because here in DC, Clark Ray, an openly gay candidate, is running against an incumbent Councilman Phil Mendelson, perhaps the strongest ally of the LGBT community and a straight man. It gets at the heart of what Milk stood for, and choices we need to make as a movement. Yet Ray is, as I see it, making three arguments for his candidacy, all of which are unstrategic and unpersuasive. I examine them on the flip.
Last week there was a big uproar in the LGBT community over Manhunt co-founder Jonathan Crutchley's $2,300 donation to John McCain. For those who don't know, Manhunt is the biggest gay male cruising site, with over 1 million active members and close to 1.5 million worldwide. It's very popular in among gay males, and a huge moneymaker from all the browsing traffic.
Except yesterday, James Kirchick, an assistant editor of the New Republic (big surprise there), wrote an LATimes editorial accusing the gay community of intolerance, comparing John McCain with "Massachusetts Republican" types, and scolding the gay community for not donating more to him. It really is a piece of work.
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