13
ME? A BEGGAR?!
N ot F alling in L ine
None of us can imagine a fate much worse than begging for our lives.
It may surprise you then that the word to pray originally meant to beg.
All who pray are beggars. W hen we truly pray from our hearts, we are
begging G od to give us what we cannot supply for ourselves— the very
essence of life.
Often we are tempted to believe that in prayer we are asking God to
grant us things o r to change the course of events as if God were some
type of cosmic bellhop. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus proclaimed
Critics are dragging their feet at the prospect of another march
on W ashington, D.C., th at's been called for 2 0 0 0 by Bob Roehr
Ask and it will be give to you;
Seek and you will find;
Knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives;
He who seeks finds;
And to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
1993’s march on Washington
he Millennium March for Equal
Rights was announced in early
February via a press release from
the Human Rights Campaign and
JIL the Universal Fellowship of
Metropolitan Community Churches. They had
bought into a proposal made by promoter Robin
Tyler for a Washington, D.C., rally in the spring
of 2000.
Dissenting voices arose even while fax
machines were still spitting out the news.
Within a week, HRC head Elizabeth Birch
announced a “pause” to try and calm protests.
Some critics argued there had not been ade­
quate consultation and discussion within the
queer community, others opposed the principle
of a national march, while a third faction ques­
tioned the timing of this particular event.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
has been working for more than a year with a
network of state and local groups to organize ral­
lies in state capitals in 1999. Each will be tied to
local issues such as repeal of sodomy statutes,
same-sex marriage and civil rights legislation.
Five organizations joined together to raise
questions about the march: the Gay and Lesbian
Alliance Against Defamation, the Gay and
Lesbian Victory Fund, the Los Angeles Gay and
Lesbian Community Services Center, the
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, and
the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership
Forum.
They crafted a letter outlining their con­
cerns. It grew out of a Feb. 17 memo prepared by
Victory Fund executive director Brian Bond,
that was circulated to the others in advance of a
conference call later that day. The missive
reflected conversations he had had with his
board and “key political leaders and donors on
this issue.” In the memo, Bond cited the recent
repeal of anti-discrimination protections for gay
men and lesbians in Maine.
“I think it is very clear to all of us that more
needs to be done in the states to bolster our
statewide organizations,” he wrote. “I think the
general feeling out in the ‘real world’ is that
enough money already flows to Washington,
leaving in many cases scraps for our state and
local organizations.”
Longtime California activist Jerry Sloan has
noted, in addition to the time and money need­
ed to stage the event, that “what always seems to
be overlooked is the cost incurred by the people
who go to D.C. for [a march].” Transportation,
food and lodging for as many as 1 million people
is a spendy proposition, and some feel that the
time, energy and expense could be better used.
The controversy continued on March 5,
when the Human Rights Campaign sent out a
letter to newspaper editors.
“In the year 2000, the entire nation will be
looking for new trends and fresh messages. We
have an opportunity, if not an obligation, to use
this wave to effectively shift the paradigm of
perception about gay people,” wrote Birch.
She maintained the event could in part lead
to better organizing around the fall 2000 elec­
tions.
The spring of 2000, from February to June, is
when presidential candidates will duke it out in
wide-open fights in both parties. It is the first
nonincumbent race since 1988. Many states will
also decide congressional nominees. The reli­
gious right wing will have its hard-core support­
ers working the pulpits and bake sales, exhorting
its people on how to vote.
HRC, the largest gay and lesbian political
organization, is proposing to counteract this by
bringing the gay and lesbian community’s most
open and visible members to Washington, D.C.,
at the very height of this crucial primary season.
Some feel this doesn’t make political sense.
The day after HRC sent out its letter, Robin
Tyler sent out her own, under the title of “exec­
utive producer” of the march.
Tyler said she had a financial plan she
believed would “raise enough money not only to
cover the march, but to possibly raise money”
for other organizations across the nation.
The track record on this point is not good:
Most marches have lost money. Stonewall 25,
held in New York in 1994, was a financial disas­
ter. The Million Man March generated losses.
The Promise Keepers, which held a massive
rally in October, is in the midst of a financial cri­
sis.
At the same time, those marches garnered
major attention, says Nicole Ramirez-Murray,
national co-chair of the National Latino/a
Lesbian and Gay Organization.
In a March 6 public statement, Ramirez-
Murray wrote, “The Millennium March on
Washington once again gives us a great oppor­
tunity to show America the determination of
our movement and our allies in our struggle for
equality. The facts are that the Million Man
March and the Promise Keepers march brought
the world’s attention to Washington, D.C., and
we will do so again for our march in 2000.”
Still, critics argue that skepticism is in order,
and say greater public discussion must occur—
and questions must be answered—before the
community commits to moving forward on any­
thing as large as a Millennium March.
Based on his example, it is unlikely Jesus was suggesting we ask for
“the good life.” Rather he was teaching that all who truly seek G od can
be assured of G o d ’s loving response.
So what should a gay man pray for? A hot new partner? A tight body?
Youthful looks? More stuff? The list of our wants is endless and we deceive
ourselves into believing that their fulfillment brings deep happiness o r
inner peace.The promised satisfaction is short lived and soon we discov­
er something else we “need” to make life complete.
G od wants us to seek nothing more than G o d ’s own self. W hen we
pray we should assume that being in G o d ’s presence is our blessing. Only
losing ourselves in the unfathomable love of G od brings true happiness.
W e are beggars because we are helpless to secure the deepest desire of
our hearts except as the gift of G o d ’s grace.
A message from the Anawim Community—gay men seeking to follow
Jesus through lives of prayer and service to our gay brothers.
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