I was sharing a story with a yoing friend the other day about one of the more successful lobbying efforts I had been involved with in the 1980's. And he suggested this was a story and a tactic that could be still used.

Thise of us involved called it "clergy drag day".

For whatever reason, in the USA, the "clergy shirt" (usually black with a little square of white) seems to "command respect".

Really.

Just let a person wearing such a shirt walk into a room and watch how many people will suddenly change their behavourm usually for the better.

People will at least politely listen to folks wearing those odd shirts!
So we decided that when we would visit legislators and key politicians regarding GBLT issues, we clergy folks would wear "clergy shirts" even if those shirts weren't a part of our "Tradition".

Imagine the surprise of a politian when he was told that a group of clergy wanted to speak to him about a "gay rights" issuem - a group that looked like clergy, and talked like clergy - that was in favor of the issue!!

No, we didn't change everyone's mind then and there. Some people we talked to do had minds already made up. But more often than not we at least started a dialouge, abd some minds we did change over time.

With the Religious Right making the claim that they are the spokesmen (and yes they are mostly White MALES) maybe this a tactic we progredsive-moderate=leftwing clergy-types can use for our issues?

It couldn't hurt, could it?