HomoQuotable - Karen Ocamb

"With all due respect to Cleve Jones and David Mixner, who I've known and covered for many years, I think we seriously need to question the wisdom of convening a march on Washington this October. Yes, LGBT people are angry and disappointed that President Barack Obama hasn't lived up to his promises and our expectations - something David knows about intimately, having been failed by his one-time friend Bill Clinton. Cleve, too, knows deeply about government scorn and neglect, having created the profound remembrance of those we lost as a result - the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

"And I understand the call for a march. I am among Obama's critics - I am stunned that he has so flagrantly forgotten, despite being a constitutional scholar, that equality is the first core founding principle of this country, and as leaders in the civil rights movement so aptly pointed out - "justice delayed is justice denied." [snip]

"For people who are concerned about poverty and social and economic issues as I know David Mixner and Cleve Jones are - it seems an odd time to re-direct resources and attention without something close to an assured outcome.

"Given their considerable talent for inspiring others, I would humbly request that David and Cleve consider shifting their attention to helping LGBT people, people with HIV/AIDS and our allies (labor, teachers, nurses) at the state and local levels survive this very difficult time while also pressing hard for full equality. Linking arms to confront the problems immediately before us only strengthens our sense of community as we all become foot soldiers marching to fulfill the promises of the American Dream." - Journalist/activist Karen Obamb, writing for the Bilerico Project. Read the entire essay.