Is there a gay agenda? Eight national GLBT leaders met to discuss that question June 2 before a packed house of more than 300, kicking off gay pride activities in Washington, D.C. While there were differences on tactics and on fine points as to what should or should not be included, the overall tone was more cooperative than had been seen at some similar events in the past.

“Do we have issues on which we can speak in a common voice? The answer is an unqualified yes,” said Patrick Guerriero, the executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans. The Log Cabin leader urged that the GLBT movement should “save our firepower ... to take on the voices of bigotry,” rather than sniping at other community organizations. Gueriero said the Log Cabin’s focus includes pushing a legislative agenda of hate crimes and employment protection, personal privacy, “recognition of our relationships,” HIV and breast cancer. “We recognize the great hypocrisy of fighting for freedom overseas while some of the men and women of the armed forces cannot be free in expressing their sexual orientation.” Guerriero added, “You don’t get respect in America unless you demand it.”

Martin Ornelas-Quintero, executive director of the National Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Organization (LLEGO), said, “There are plenty of gay agendas. There isn’t one gay agenda; there isn’t one voice, for one voice cannot truly capture the essence of our complexity.”

An immigrant himself, Ornelas-Quintero used the example of immigration. “It is important to me as a gay man…. Everyone has a different prism, a different angle that they look at [things], and that is good.” However, Ornelas-Quintero said he does not want to be “part of a larger gay community that is splintered; we want to be part of a larger queer community that is united, that is sophisticated in its diversity … as well as in its actions.”

“It really is about justice, and about civil rights, and about civil liberties,” said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. “It really simply is not possible to create a world in which transgender people are not safe, but gay, lesbian, and bisexual people are safe.... It is the same violence that is attacking all of us.”

“When our community is under attack, we have an obligation to set all of our agendas aside and unite and fight that attack,” said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF).

Foreman said he sees this threat in a constitutional amendment to outlaw gay marriage that is being pushed by some on the far right. “I see this becoming a blazing inferno,” with Congress and the states passing it much as they did the antigay Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1993.

“There is no way to advance our agenda on our backs alone; we are simply too small a people to do that,” Foreman said. “The only way we are going to advance our rights is with all of our allies rights.” Foreman said he sees the solution in building coalitions and in registering and voting.

“Time and time again, in state after state, we learn that we are better off when Democrats are in charge,” said Dave Noble, executive director of National Stonewall Democrats. “The Democratic agenda helps the gay community as well…. When we create smaller class sizes, we reduce antigay bullying in classrooms because teachers can pay more attention to what is going on in their classrooms.”

Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), struck some of the most optimistic notes of the evening. “We see the agenda as perfect equality. Nothing more, nothing less, whether it is about immigration, or the military, or the 1,045 rights, benefits and privileges extended to Americans on terms of relationship recognition. “We are winning,” she added, “and we are winning because when accurate information is put out about who we are as people, who we are as a community, and all of the issues that face our lives, what is created is an amazing cultural shift and emotional shift. Never in the history of this country has there been such a transformation in attitudes over such a short period of time.”

“I am more bipartisan today than I was when I arrived,” said Birch. “You need good moderate Republicans or you can’t get stuff done in Congress. And you need fantastic Democrats, and more of them.”

Craig Bowman, executive director of the National Youth Advocacy Coalition, had a more ominous view. He called these “dangerous times,” with threats to affirmative action, reproductive choice, privacy and a military buildup. “I’m tired of people telling me that the war [in Iraq] is not a gay issue, he said. “Military spending and tax cuts” are affecting social safety net programs and a handful of youth programs have closed their doors. For Mandy Carter, a founder and staff member of Southerners on New Ground (SONG), the principle question is: “Are we going to be about ‘just us’ activism? Or are we going to be about joining the justices forces of the broad-based civil rights movement, a group that includes us?”

“Every ten years this country gets more and more of color,” she said. Will the community acknowledge this demographic change and embrace more of a multi-racial and multi-cultural approach? “Is the LGBT agenda relevant to the lives of communities of color?”

During questions and discussion from the floor, Birch said, “The central way that humankind has controlled homosexuals over the centuries is to project the scourge of pedophilia onto us.... People are very tolerant until you get close to their children, and then they freak out.” She called it a central challenge that has to be faced “head on.”

“We need to be clear that we are recruiting,” said Ornelas-Quintero. “We are recruiting to save queer children from the ravages of the right. We have to be very honest and very direct, and take responsibility as leaders. If we do not protect ourselves, no one will.”

One young law student called the current situation “unbelievably scary.” Birch disagreed, citing numerous recent advances in private industry and in state and local governments. Though stating, “The progress our community has made over 30-40 years is nothing short of extraordinary,” Foreman expressed fears that a backlash could roll back that progress.

Carter compared it with the black civil rights movement and saw the antigay frothing of extremists as a sign that we are winning. “When we are this close, it means that people start getting scared, and when they get scared, they get desperate. When they desperate, they start doing crazy things.”

The forum came to a dramatic close when a black woman in the audience stepped to the microphone as “an ambassador of Jesus Christ.… Look at someone who god turned from a gay woman to straight.” She asked what they would say before god. The audience seemed divided between bemusement and anger, and a police officer quickly removed her from the room.

“Let’s answer her question,” said Birch. “I would say, thank you god for making such an interesting, colorful variation on the species.”