Oftentimes, believers are so focused on their cause that they risk overreacting and sabotaging their own efforts. There is a moment that supporters start to peel away, turned off by over-the-top statements, unverifiable facts, or other antics that ultimately work against achieving the goal. Call it the tipping point.
That point was reached last Thursday after the Senate once again failed to break a Republican-led filibuster to bring the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal amendment to a vote. With one press release, GetEqual, a grassroots direct action group that has relentlessly fought for repeal and has staged numerous demonstrations over the last several months, showed why it struggles to attract donors and remain relevant. The release, issued by managing director Heather Cronk, stared out with the sentence: "I have to be honest – I just vomited a little inside my mouth."
At that point, we stopped reading – and we're likely not the only ones who did. Thankfully, we had not just eaten.
Aside from the unlikely honesty of Cronk's statement (and even if it was true, announcing it to the world is too much information), what is the point? Does her opener draw in supporters of repealing DADT? No. Does it show that GetEqual is a major player in the LGBT civil rights movement? No. What it does show is that Get Equal, which has been in existence for almost a year, is not ready for prime time.
Further proof was later demonstrated by GetEqual itself. About two hours after Cronk's initial statement, GetEqual sent out another news release that conveniently omitted the reference to vomiting. Obviously, more seasoned public relations folks prevailed.
Grassroots activists and others may like the in-your-face tactics from groups like GetEqual. And we all know that the big, national LGBT organizations are far from perfect. But we urge the community to arrive at a consensus that juvenile statements are counterproductive and do nothing to advance our cause. And lest you think this is much ado about nothing, consider this: GetEqual's e-mails go out to thousands of people. GetEqual leaders have met with political figures, including administration officials. In other words, it's important that they are seen as professional and committed activists; but the statement from Cronk fell short. GetEqual has also started asking for financial donations from the community. If it expects to raise sufficient funds to continue operating in 2011, it must adopt a more mature press operation. No one wants to throw money away on an inarticulate, immature organization, not when so many deserving groups are hurting for funds.
GetEqual, which has received lots of publicity for its direct actions, including zapping President Barack Obama and having former military members chain themselves to a White House fence, needs to get organized. We're not asking that it become button-down like other groups, that isn't what it purports to be. And as we have noted before, we believe that both activists agitating from the outside and lobbyists working on the inside to influence political leaders have important jobs to do in the fight for equality.
We just ask that Cronk and others at GetEqual think before they hit the send button on their e-mail blasts in the future.