Raising the Sky: A Lesson from Cleve Jones
Persistence and relentlessness can turn dark into light...and lead to more...
Do you have a permanent reading list, books that get referenced or reread over and over? I have a stack, and in it is Cleve Jones’ When We Rise, a memoir of his life in the Gay Rights movement, though it is more than that. Cleve writes passionately and succinctly about his coming up and coming out, found freedom in San Francisco, politicalization, entry into activism, and his work as both a Gay Rights and labor organizer. And in his tale are plenty of lessons. I’m going to relay one of them to you.
Nineteen Seventy-Seven was a great year for punk rock and a lousy one for Gay Rights. It is the year that marks the rise of anti-Gay bigot Anita Bryant, the formation of Focus on the Family, and Phyllis Schlafly’s success in stopping the Equal Rights Amendment. It was also the year that a San Francisco activist named Harvey Milk started to mentor a 23-year-old Cleve Jones. Cleve’s first assignment was to help publicize a benefit called Moon Over Miami to help activists fighting Anita Bryant and anti-Gay Rights legislation in Florida.
A benefit seems like a pretty minor event, as far as organizing goes, but Moon Over Miami was unique for a couple reasons. First, it put focus on anti-Gay bigotry, without any reservations or pulled-punches. Second, it was one of the first showings of cross-country solidarity among Gay Rights activists. Together Moon Over Miami helped nationalize the fight against the suppression of Gay Rights.
A third reason Moon Over Miami was important is that it was a precursor to a fight a bit closer to home, 1978’s Proposition 6, a California ballot initiative created by Orange County right-wing state legislator John Briggs. If passed, the Briggs Amendment – as it was called – would have banned Gay and Lesbian teachers from participating in California’s public school system.
Remarkably, the fight against Briggs was one of my first tastes of politics. My mom had several close friends who were both teachers and Gay/Lesbian, so she stepped up as friends do. She went to a few meetings and distributed No on 6 lawn signs in our part of Sacramento. She explained to teenage me and my kid brother Tim the importance of defeating Briggs, how bigotry spreads and the importance of showing solidarity for people who are different from you. She also told us to expect some blowback, blowback from our house being the only one in our part of the neighborhood that had a No sign on the lawn (the sign got vandalized or taken and replaced several times). She instructed us to stand up to the bullies no matter what.
My mom and her friends were part of a bigger network of No organizers, activists, and voters, a network which started in the Gay communities of San Francisco and Los Angeles, and spread. Early on, straight allies were few, mostly Leftists and members of the miniscule Socialist Workers Party. Altogether, the early workers against Briggs numbered in the low thousands and were very much outmatched by Briggs supporters, which, of course, included the Republican Party and many California Democrats. But this was to change.
No on 6 activists hit established Gay communities first, organizing in bars, bath houses, cafes, and other Gay meeting places. This was hard work, as the Queer community was not as political as it would become during the AIDS crisis. Organizers not only had to deal with apathy and cynicism, but a significant number of people in the Gay establishment – in the closet and out – who fought hard against any spotlight focusing on The Gays. Better, they thought, to be quiet and safe than loud and in danger – an attitude that AIDS activists later lambasted with the slogan Silence = Death.
Remember this was 1978, way before Gay and Lesbian celebrities were open about their sexuality, when most homosexuals outside of San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and a small handful of towns met in secret or not at all. Gay acceptance was so rare among straight people that it was very hard to quantify. It was also nearly as dangerous as being queer. Being homosexual in the late 1970s was difficult, even among those who were out and living in San Francisco, the “Gay Mecca.”
So, if organizing against Briggs was difficult (and it was), well, that’s life, isn’t it? I mean, its not like Harvey Milk, Tom Ammiano, Hank Wilson, Cleve Jones, and other activists hadn’t experienced difficult fights before – not just politically, but personally, especially outside San Francisco and among family. They knew that the hedge against difficult was relentlessness and persistence, so they were relentless and persistent. They also were creative.
They organized students, who created some of the first Gay student associations and campus clubs - initially formed to fight Briggs. Jones and others organized marches in San Francisco, marches that occurred every time an anti-Gay rights law was passed anywhere in the country. As there was a lot of anti-Gay rights action happening, there were a lot of marches, which brought out more people every time one occurred, which increased the Gay rights political and activist base.
San Francisco organizers hit Sacramento and the Central Valley, while Los Angeles activists went east into the desert and south into Orange and San Diego counties. Milk braced San Francisco politicians to come out against Briggs. Many did, including the powerful Burton Brothers, head of San Francisco’s Democratic machine. Eventually, Democrats coalesced against Briggs, including President Jimmy Carter. Carter’s opposition against Prop 6 led to former California governor Ronald Reagan proclaiming his opposition to Briggs (a strategic move to help his upcoming presidential candidacy).
But at first and in most of the days leading up to the election, Harvey Milk and others thought that Briggs would pass. No matter, Briggs was important and fighting it was the mission at hand, but the greater goal was Gay Liberation and that could only happen once Gays and Lesbians were out of the closet and organized, and when solid alliances had formed with straight people, community groups, labor unions, Democrats, and even some Republicans. That was not going to happen without work and sacrifice and plenty of losses. The key, as always, was to learn and grow from the losses and keep people coming into the movement. If sheer numbers won’t put Gay Rights over, they will make the job a bit easier and less lonely.
And besides, when someone is coming at you, really coming at you, running away and hiding, staying silent and pretending to be who you aren’t, is not an option. You must stand up and fight back. You must punch the bullies in their noses. Silence = Death.
If you looked at the Briggs polls, Milk and others had every reason to be pessimistic. In early September, the numbers were bad: 61% for Briggs, 31% opposed. But as organizers organized the numbers shifted. By months end, 45% were pro-Briggs, 43% against, and 12% undecided. That set of numbers – or the momentum behind them – led to even more organizing, which further pushed the numbers in the Gay Rights organizers’ favor.
Briggs and his bigots dug in, spending a lot of work and money – especially in the Orange County, the Central Valley, and rural California – trying to reverse No’s momentum. Problem is, the No folks worked harder and organized smarter, while diversifying the anti-Briggs crowd. Gay Republicans – organized under Log Cabin Republicans – pushed mainstream Republicans to stand against Briggs. Eventually, GOP heavy weights like Ronald Reagan and Gerry Ford came out against Prop 6, which allowed others to feel safe opposing Briggs.
On November 7, 1978, votes were cast and Proposition 6, the Briggs Amendment, went down big: 58.4% No, 41.6% Yes.
It is very easy in times like these to get buried in the moment, especially when it is dark and the hits keep coming. But that is now and now will become then and then will be different from now. I can’t tell you how, but I do have an idea of why. Why things change depends a lot on us, what we do or do not do. Do nothing and things will stay bad or get worse, especially if our opposition is working hard. Fight and fight hard, things will change. Sometimes, we win by holding our ground. Other times, we clean their fucking clocks and make good change. We do that by being as persistent and relentless as Clive and his comrades. When we rise, we can win.