Anyone with a heart and soul is celebrating Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision on marriage equality.

The fundraising blogs are alive with the celebratory news. Tom Ahern and his partner Simone Joyaux report their giving patterns will now change. Hopefully, and surely, the Human Rights Campaign will be wringing mega $$ from the jaws of victory.

I don’t want to let this glorious moment pass without recognizing those long ago folks who got this all started. Those who stuck their necks out 45 years ago taking action on what had to be done when GLBT surely wasn’t cool.

To the fundraisers of the 60s and 70s and 80s goes a lot of credit because they fueled that engine of change. It’s one thing to catch today’s stock photo of kissing marriage ceremonies on TV and quite another to recall the secret words, messages and techniques we had to use to get this all underway in a world where social opprobrium and possibly jail time were realities.

My point though isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about recognizing how long and how hard the fight always is for significant change. A reminder to all fundraisers in this space — especially the young: You shouldn’t be in the social change fundraising business unless you’re mentally dressed in rugged trousers and boots and prepared for the long haul.

No sooner had the Stonewall riots in New York occurred in June of 1969 then Ira Glasser, then of the New York ACLU, announced that organization’s support for the right to gay marriage. Most folks thought he was bonkers. It seemed quixotic then, but here we are today. Now he’s a hero.

As Ira used to say in his debates with The National Review’s William F. Buckley: “The ACLU is rarely wrong, but is very often prematurely right.”

Change occurs very, very slowly. Ours is not a trade for the impatient.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your skills make a difference, let me tell you about my own experience with the gay underground in those days. Days when being ‘queer’ could cost you your job … your standing in the community … your very livelihood.

I was blessed to find a group of young, committed and fearless gay activists who wanted to fight the homophobic system and make political gains. They were both energetic and studious.

Sean Strub, in his remarkable book on the early history of gay activism in the late 20^th Century, Body Counts, covers a lot of what went into that early movement toward gay equality. Whatever your orientation, you need to read Sean’s book to understand the pathos and suffering of that period, covering both the fight for rights and then the later battle against the blight and terror of AIDS.

Fundraisers were essential to the modern gay rights movement.

Money, as always, is the fuel that drives the engine of change.

I remember giving my gay friends and co-conspirators advice. Sean describes it this way in his book:

“Craver explained response rates, average gifts, how to calculate the cost per thousand and revenue per thousand, and what made a fund-raising letter work. He taught me the mechanics of database manipulation, response analysis, and innovative production techniques. He explained what type of celebrities worked best to sign fund-raising appeals; why some colors of paper and shapes, sizes, and types of envelopes pulled a better response than others; and why a stamp affixed to an envelope slightly crooked produced a better response than a straight one.”

Whatever I did, I’m sure glad I did it. And, I know how long it takes to make the world better, safer and more equal for all of us. This is why we do what we do.

Are you rejoicing or damning the Supreme Court’s decision on marriage equality? Why?

Roger

P.S. In almost every historic social policy change in the 20^th and 21^st centuries fundraisers figure prominently. Here’s a link to a little orientation lesson I used to give to those new folks joining the ranks of Craver, Mathews, Smith.