Planning for action

The loss last year at the ballot box ushered in a new era of LGBT activism in Michigan. LGBT people who either were apolitical by nature or who had believed the hype that we had reached some "post-gay" social order of acceptance were galvanized into action.
The passage of Proposal 2, the anti-marriage constitutional amendment, was a huge wake up call to LGBT people and their allies. Those who comprised the 41 percent of the electorate who voted against the amendment were appalled to learn that a majority of their fellow citizens were comfortable voting away the basic right to form and protect a family without governmental interference.
Within weeks of the election, a group of thoughtful and intelligent LGBT activists started a strategic planning process to garner all the resources of the LGBT organizations in the state, identify and build on the strong allied organizational ties, and to plan ahead. All agreed that the LGBT movement in Michigan has consistently been in a reactionary mode – fighting back attacks from the state's well-funded right wing extremists. But with careful and strategic planning, the LGBT movement can become proactive, putting our issues forward to benefit us all.
We applaud the efforts of the strategic task force. We look forward to the fruits of their work and the ideas that are already streaming out of the planning process. Perhaps one day we will look back on the loss in 2004 as a defining moment, when the LGBT movement took a huge step forward in Michigan.