Merger is long overdue

The All-American Lobby Day was great. Lots of people showed up to support anti-bullying legislation, meet with legislators and voice their support for Matt's Safe Schools.
Sound like a lot of fluff? That's because it is.
While lobby days are certainly important for involving as many people as possible in the process for pushing this and other important bills into law, the question remains: How successful have we really been? Every year, we lobby for anti-bullying legislation and every year, it either doesn't move or is shot down completely by the Senate and House of Representatives.
We at Between The Lines applaud the fact that the particular lobby day that took place on May 13 included representation from a broad variety of groups, including the LGBT community, the African-American community, unions and others. It's important to acknowledge the fact that anti-bullying legislation with enumeration protects not only LGBT kids, but also protects youth from bullying based on race, gender, disability and a slew of other traits. Thus, it's great that other groups were represented in support of the bill, showing legislators that this is not simply an item on the LGBT agenda – it's on the agenda of anyone looking to protect youth.
However, one glaring problem reared its ugly head having to do with the LGBT community. It's the same problem we've been discussing and battling throughout all of 2009 and really, for those of us who have been part of Michigan's LGBT community for this long, for almost two decades.
The issue? A lack of cohesion within the community.
Though people from both the Triangle Foundation and Michigan Equality attended the lobby day, there didn't seem to be concurrence on what was happening. While Michigan Equality was vocally recognized and Co-Director Michelle Brown spoke at the morning's lobbying training session, Triangle was not recognized. Likewise, Triangle was not even included in the press conference in the afternoon, which began and ended before they were even able to arrive at the Capitol.
This isn't just about lobby day, although it serves as a great microcosm of the larger image. This is about a community that has two organizations working for it and no one is quite sure why or what the difference is between the two. It's great that so many people are interested in representing and leading Michigan's LGBTs, but what good are a bunch of pieces of a puzzle that don't add up to one big picture?
We at Between The Lines are tired of dancing around this subject, and applauding individual and one-organization efforts that do a little to help, but never enough. We have the manpower, the will and the knowledge, so let's use it – as one organization.
Michigan Equality and the Triangle Foundation must merge. The organizations must stop saying that they can work together and actually prove it by not only shaking hands and posing for photos together, but by pooling their resources and creating one Michigan LGBT political advocacy organization that will fight for our rights, support our legislation and be our voice.
Names and titles are unimportant. What matters is what's getting done, and let's face it: the only way things will get done is if we do them together.