Principles and Pragmatism
The Dallas Principles offer a ''No Delay, No Excuses'' roadmap to GLBT equality
by Will O'Bryan
Published on July 2, 2009
http://www.metroweekly.com/feature/?ak=4366IT IS SOMETIMES DONE with baby steps, other times with great leaps, and every so often it's done in circles. Still, advocates and enemies alike would have a difficult time denying that modern history has seen the GLBT community moving steadily in the direction of full equality.
The value of a particular step may, however, be difficult to gauge at the time. Some who remember the Stonewall Riots say they didn't regard the moment as historic. Then again, those masses at the 2000 Millennium March on Washington may have thought they were heralding in a new gay millennium. Maybe they were. Time will judge.
Time will also judge the Dallas Principles, a core set of beliefs crafted in mid-May in their namesake city -- specifically, the Hyatt Regency at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, just off Terminal C and not to be confused with slightly swankier Grand Hyatt in Terminal D. Here, over the course of a weekend, 24 people who individually have been making steps toward equality gathered at the invitation of Juan Ahonen-Jover, a wealthy technology entrepreneur and activist. He wasn't picking up anybody's tab, of course, only serving as a catalyst.
