Activism or publicity stunt?

As many of you might have heard, Central Valley activist Robin McGehee was arrested last week in front of the White House, apparently protesting DADT.  I’ve known Robin for a long time and I have a lot of respect for many things that’s she’d done to help further the cause of gay right and equality for our community.  As of late, she has taken a razor sharp focus on gay marriage, despite her own relationship seemingly falling apart late last year.  Here is my issue with Robin’s arrest…

Just days before Robin’s arrest, her and Kip Williamns announced the launch of their own national organization GetEqual.  If you’ll remember, Robin and Kip had a very public departure from Cleve Jones and the Equality March folks very soon after helping to organize the event in Washington, D.C.  So here’s my issue:  If you announce the launch of a new venture, don’t you lose or damage your credibility if you get arrested “protesting” two days later?  Was this really activism or simply a timely publicity stunt aimed at garnering free press?

Being persecuted for what you believe is one thing, seeking the spotlight or intentionality trying to get in front of the camera in order to get your name out there is quite another.  Maybe it was just poor timing or perhaps she got caught up in the moment.  I think leaders should probably show better judgment in such matters or maybe I’m being too hard on her.  All I know is that it felt odd to me and it struck me as a bit…staged.

Did anyone else think so???

[Via http://mikesdailyblog.com]