Imagine if we built coalitions from advocates of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights, women’s reproductive choice, health care and immigration reform, and workers’ rights groups…
Editor’s note: This post is by friend and fellow writer Jay Morris. His impressive bio is below.
Sadly, the rainbow that makes up our diverse community also casts a shadow upon it. Our community is comprised of women, workers, immigrants and other categories of persons other than just LGBTQ who are affected by right wing antics, but we also have many in our community who support oppressive views. In fact, GOProud, an “LGBT†organization, holds onto Republican principles even when the Texas GOP Platform and platforms in other states call for re-criminalizing sexual activity between consenting adults of the same sex (a notion previously overturned in 2003 by the U.S. Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas). But we don’t have to look to such radical examples to prove this point.
More recently, the LGBT advocacy organization GetEQUAL posted a supportive message against the incendiary SB 1070 in Arizona (the “Papers Please†legislation.) In response, numerous members of the LGBTQ community complained, indicating that they concur with the Arizona policy and such mixing of messages divides our community. While this is a small minority in our community, their voices must be considered.
Read: “Wisconsin Union Uprising: Why This Is The LGBT Community’s Moment“
On the other hand, by uniting with worker’s unions, women’s groups, immigrant organizations and other more progressive ideas, the LGBT community can find fierce and vocal allies in the struggle against oppression. The power of this unity is evidenced in an unlikely place, San Antonio Texas.
This past Saturday, March 5, 2011, the 21st International Women’s Day March was held. The organizers at Esperanza San Antonio planned several stops along the march route as points of oppression. The points of oppression were not exclusive to the oppression of women (albeit they are inclusive of women,) but also included points of oppression for other victims, including immigrants, workers and, indeed, LGBT people. Several hundred people from all walks of life participated, including politicians, student groups, women’s groups, elder groups, parenting organizations, union groups and more. This method provided each “cause†an opportunity to educate other progressive organizations about how their communities had been affected by oppression.
To be fair, it would be extraordinarily difficult to build such coalitions while maintaining a radically inclusive sampling of the LGBTQ community and still make progress. However, it can be done.
Consider if you will what conservatives attack: (1) women’s reproductive choice, (2) immigration reform [i.e. the Dream Act], (3) health care reform [aka Obamacare], (4) LGB rights [i.e. same-sex marriage], (5) transgender rights [i.e. employment non-discrimination], and (6) worker’s rights [i.e. collective bargaining], to name a few. By unifying these groups under one umbrella, we could develop a nearly unstoppable force.
The key to this development is to avoid single-issue matters. Rather than each organization declaring support for the other’s cause, perhaps the correct way is to speak out against the opposition together.
In Texas, where our examples remain, just invoking the name of Lamar Smith (the anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT equality, and anti-reproductive rights U.S. Representative from Texas) to any of these groups sends shivers down all their spines, but for different reasons. Yet, in an area where a strong conservative majority keeps battling away at the more progressive minorities, we still make it about each micro issue. Immigrants, LGBT people and women rally for their respective causes and rights. Perhaps the next election cycle we can develop a plan to make it more of a macro issue – to depower the conservative agenda.
Jay Morris is a State Lead for GetEQUAL.org, a founding member of the Direct Action Network San Antonio, a writer for Ignite San Antonio Magazine, and blogger at jaysays.com. You can find him posting randomness on Twitter or engage him in conversation on Facebook.
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