Lessons from the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

National journalist and Grand Rapids native, Kerry Eleveld, will be speaking at Grand Valley State University’s Loosemore Auditorium on Nov. 14, 2011. Eleveld, who had the rare opportunity to meet and interview President Barack Obama twice during the 2008 campaign, will be presenting her lecture “Creating a Culture of Progressive Change: Lessons from the Front Lines of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” She will be discussing what lessons the progressive political movements in the U.S. can take away from the repeal of DADT.

The event is a fundraiser for the Progressive Women’s Alliance (PWA), a non-partisan Political Action Committee (PAC). The event begins at 5 p.m., tickets are $50, check or credit card only, and can be purchased at www.progressivewomensalliance.org, or by calling 481-0584. There is a discounted ticket price of $15 for students.

During our interview, Eleveld expressed the importance of connections between PAC’s, activism and activist groups like Until Love is Equal as an important part of creating change.

Lynnea Page-Jenkins: What was it like interviewing President Barack Obama for The Advocate?

Kerry Eleveld: Well, [she laughs] it made me very nervous! The good news was "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" had just been repealed at that time and there was a lot of jubilation in the community, and there were a lot of people across the country that were happy at that moment. But for the LGBT community, the question was, what can he, [President Obama] do in the next couple years?

This was a community that had never had a major piece of legislation passed to protect it for further equality, until the 111th congress. My job at that point was to let the president have his moment and talk about how he felt about getting this great accomplishment, [of] repealing "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell;" but then also to try and get information from him on what he might be able to do in the next couple years. Of course many LGBT people hoped he’d have another four years after that, but if not, what might the next two years bring- which was a difficult answer to glean.

LPJ: How do you see the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell playing a role in the 2012 election?

KE: I absolutely see repeal playing a role. It was a huge progressive win for the president, and many progressives are not particularly happy about what the president has accomplished, as well as the Democrats. Progressives by and large have not gotten what they thought they voted for. I think it will pay heavily because the president will tout having done this. He got such enormous praise for doing it; there was almost no political downside. Overall this is something that the president will tout on the campaign trail, and should tout. It was very popular; it consistently polled at 70-75% support for repeal, across all of America, not just across Democrats or Progressives.

LPJ: How do you see the role of organizations like PWA playing a part in communities? For example, PWA has reached out to the Until Love is Equal campaign? Why are organizations like PWA important?

KE: I don’t speak for PWA, but PWA to my understanding is mainly a fundraising organization, and if anything is true these days, you can’t play in politics unless you fundraise, because money does talk. It’s also incredibly important that PWA is doing things like reaching out to the Until Love is Equal campaign. Coalition building is very important and one of my take-aways from watching the repeal go through [is that] not everybody can do every position.

LPJ: How do you feel about the Occupy Wall Street movement and how do you see that as important for other progressive movements, including the LGBT community?

KE: I fully support the Occupy Wall Street movement. I haven’t been there, I would like to, I would like to go spend a couple days there and just get a sense of flavor of what’s going on. I do think that protests can be an important part of any political movement. Sometimes they are absolutely indispensible. Sometimes you reach a point in a political system where you can’t get people to pay attention other than by exercising your first amendment rights. Occupy Wall Street is a group of people who are exercising their first amendment rights; it seems to be a very organic movement, it sprung up out of nowhere. It didn’t have any financial backing, it was just people coming together with a voice, saying something is not working in the system, we’re very displeased and we don’t really see anyone reacting to make things better.

LPJ: Your recent article, “What Gay Rights Activists Can Teach the Left About Winning” from The Atlantic, discusses what other progressive groups can take away from the DADT repeal. What would you say is the number one thing to take away in order to create progressive change?

KE: If I had to choose something that really made a difference in DADT it was unpredictability and ingenuity. Political systems are sort of creatures of habit; they thrive on the status quo. If you introduce into that system, unpredictability to some extent, chaos to some extent, some creative thinking that is outside the norm, you can push buttons that create change. Otherwise that system would much rather continue doing a little bit here and there around the edges.

LPJ: Do you see that working on a local level, with the smaller "Occupy," for instance, Grand Rapids, groups?

KE: I absolutely think that the lesson is transferable at the local level. The mere expression of discontent, and I’m talking about peaceful protests, lawful protests, expression of discontent that are normally under wraps,  are very applicable on the local level.

LPJ: Why is it important that people support PAC’s (Political Action Committees) like PWA?

KE: Like I said earlier, if you don’t have some skin in the game, if you don’t have some money, you’re not a political player. Outside the aspects of fundraising for PWA, coalition building is incredibly important. PWA sponsors people to come in and bring in outside perspectives that they wouldn’t have access to without an organization like PWA. That is an absolute service.

LPJ: Any final comments you’d like to share about your lecture?

KE: It’s really an honor for me to come back to Grand Rapids, to be able to come back with something that maybe I can offer that will be of use to the progressive community, to Michigan in general.  I have not given this speech yet. I’ve written about it; there have been previews. I hope that it is well received. I hope that it offers something that is thought provoking. I’m sure there will be pieces that not everyone will agree [with], but hopefully some little seedling will get planted there that will be inspiration to some folks.