Yet more Proposition 8 postmortems, or, who really is the bad guy (gay)?

The newest postmortems on the No On Prop 8 campaign declare that it wasn't the bad guys who done us in, it was us! If only different queers had run the campaigns, all would have been perfect.

Rolling Stone writes:

According to veteran political observers, the No on Prop 8 effort was slow to raise money, ran weak and confusing ads, and failed to put together a grass-roots operation to get out the vote. "This was political malpractice," says a Democratic consultant who operates at the highest level of California politics.

One of the replies on Rolling Stone's comments page is supposedly from No on 8 leader, Kate Kendall:

When (writer Tim) Dickinson called to interview me about the No on Prop 8 campaign it became obvious he wasn't interested in the facts about the campaign, he wanted only information that supported this hit piece. When he didn't like my answers, he just asked more leading questions. We lost. Yes, as in any campaign, mistakes were made, but to quote from unnamed sources and anonymous gay leaders running for cover in the wake of this devastating loss while ignoring all facts that don't support your assasination attempt against those who worked tirelessly for months is not jouralism, it's just trash. Dickinson should ply his "blaming the victim" tactics with the National Enquirer.

Towleroad IDs this person as Kendall.

My take on the Rolling Stone story: I think it is thinly sourced with too many anonymous quotes. On the other hand, it probably does get to the heart of the problems of the No On Prop 8 campaign. On the third hand, I believe it's far fetched to declare that if not for our own mistakes Prop 8 would have been a bed of roses for same-sex marriages.

This was a tough fight. It IS a tough fight. Despite the early poll showing Prop 8 to be way behind, I never thought we were a slam dunk to win. Honestly, I think it's a bit naive to think that any pro-gay position in any state is ever a slam dunk. What that means is that we do have to be politically smarter and much more organized than our opposition. That's why I think these postmortems are important, as long as we don't end up demonizing our own leaders.

Other interesting reports, include the very capable Karen Oncamb's special INmagazine investigation and The Petrlis Files close look at how No On Prop 8 spent its money.

Sheldon Rampton also gets up close and personal with Mormon homophobia.

As always, Towleroad provides the best roundup of Prop 8 coverage. (I am borrowing links from him shamelessly.)

Wanda Sykes comes out & speaks truth

Some folks are calling the events of the last two weeks the Awakening. In my latest Political IQ column, which will be out soon, I dub this the Great Gay Awakening, just to be a tad fancier. No matter what you call recent events, though, things are happening so fast that it is hard to keep up.

My goal over the next week or so is to post various interesting bits of news that come my way about the Great Gay Awakening. Instead of attempting to cover everything, I'll be picking out the events and speeches that stand out for one reason or another.

Here's comedian Wanda Sykes addressing the crowd Saturday in LA. She comes out and gets mad.



Hat tip to Americablog.

How to Lose California

My latest column is out. Given that polls now show the No On Prop 8 effort trailing, I'm worried that the dire prediction in my column will come true.

The Bay Area Reporter has a good overview of the struggling No on Prop 8 campaign.

Thank YOU Spielberg and Capshaw!

Steven Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw have followed Brad Pitt's lead and donated $100,000 to the campaign to defeat Proposition 8 in California.

Spielberg and Capshaw said in a statement, "By writing discrimination into our state constitution, Proposition 8 seeks to eliminate the right of each and every citizen in our state to marry regardless of sexual orientation. Such discrimination has NO place in California's constitution, or any other."

Most of us won't be able to give in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, but we can give $10, $50, $100, $1,000 or more. Go the No On Prop 8 page and donate today.