Felipe Matos on Monday became GetEQUAL‘s new Field Director. Matos, who says he is both queer and undocumented, is perhaps in a unique position to assess and act on the current needs of the LGBT community while being able to form important and powerful coalitions with other minority groups — something the LGBT community up until now has rarely been effective at doing.
GetEQUAL, now two years old, has a very specific mission: “to empower the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community and our allies to take bold action to demand full legal and social equality, and to hold accountable those who stand in the way.” Clearly they have followed it to the letter, and with surprisingly effective results.
Perhaps best-known for the multiple times they have handcuffed themselves to the White House fence — drawing needed attention and momentum that resulted in the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — GetEQUAL’s tactics of nonviolent civil actions have been praised, prosecuted, and impugned.
Matos “has a long record of pressuring both Democrats (see here) and Republicans (see here) for progress on Latino issues — and now he’s bringing that knowledge and history to the LGBT movement,” Heather Cronk, GetEQUAL’s Managing Director, tells The New Civil Rights Movement.
She excitedly adds that Matos will be “bringing his ridiculously successful organizing experience in the Latino community to the LGBT community. Felipe is a rockstar DREAMer who participated in the Trail of Dreams in 2010 to draw attention to the need for the DREAM Act, and has been organizing for the past few years with both Presente and United We DREAM.”
In an introduction, Matos himself notes:
I was brought to the USA by my older sister who was living here for 4 years then. My mother had developed a chronic back disease that prevented her from working. I had grown used to being oppressed by extreme poverty in my country of origin, Brazil, so the US was definitely a promising way to finally find freedom- I was wrong.
His bio also notes:
He has served in the Board of Directors of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, a core leader from Students Working for Equal Rights, he is part of the National Coordinating Committee of the national organization United WE DREAM and an online advocate for the national group Presente.org.
We asked Felipe Matos several questions about his plans as GetEQUAL’s new Field Director, and the challenges he will face both within and outside of the LGBT community.
GetEQUAL has been very successful in the short time since its inception. What do you see as your role, will you be altering the group’s direction, or will you just “stay the course”?
I’m hoping to expand Get Equal’s capacity to go beyond the LGBT community but also its field power. Most national organization get stuck in the “DC mentality,†an island that allows politics to easily take over and “access†sometimes become more important than “progress.†Get Equal is different because we are actually led by people on the ground that face homophobia and homophobic laws on their daily lives. This is why I decided to stay in Florida, a place where we have a constitutional ban on marriage, SB1070 copycats are a constant threat, and we still have to fight to get justice for the murder of African American youth because of gun laws that allow for people to literally get away with murder. In my opinion, politics is truly done locally and a strong field is an integral part of our current plan to gain full federal equality. I wouldn’t call my plans “altering†the current course but rather expanding and exploring new opportunities for growth.
GetEQUAL’s success has not come without a price. There are those in the LGBT community who feel GetEQUAL’s “tactics” are more dramatic and disruptive that they are comfortable with. Some feel they don’t want groups like GetEQUAL or for that matter, HRC, to represent them. What would you tell them?
Not everyone agrees with our tactics or strategies, that’s OK. There is enough space in the spectrum of important roles everyone can play for progress in our community. We have chosen to create an unapologize way of organizing which it may not be popular but it’s definitely effective and it brings results to the community. We are more concerned with bringing equality to a young person in Iowa or a 80 year-old that waited his or her entire life for change than pleasing everyone. I also feel that everyone’s role is important and that’s why I would encourage anyone to reach out to us as we keep building a movement for full federal equality in this country.
Your background seems to be more focused on the DREAM Act and immigration. Do you feel you are changing direction personally, or are you at a point where you want to expand your responsibilities? Does your new GetEQUAL role mean you’re abandoning your DREAM Act activism?
I wouldn’t be able to ever leave the DREAM movement, as a matter of fact, I would feel like a traitor to an important part of who I am if I ever did so. My new role in Get Equal will allow me to embrace everything I am. I am an immigrant, undocumented, queer and a man of color. Get Equal’s philosophy allows for anyone involved to never have to choose which identity hat to wear, which part of their identity to highlight and which part to hide away. Instead, we are encouraged to embrace our full selves. I am grateful for Get Equal’s willingness to accept everything I am and allowing me to bring everything to the table. I am hoping that this new phase in my life as an organizer will expand the LGBT movement’s reach and keep a door open for Latinos and other communities of color to come in and also sit at decision making tables.
The LGBT community, especially recently, has benefited from other minority groups, like the NAACP, for example, showing support for our issues, yet LGBT groups have not been as active in speaking out for other causes, like immigration and the DREAM Act, or any of a number of other important social justice issues. Nor have we been especially successful at, or, apparently, interested in, building coalitions that support other causes. Do you feel you are in a unique position to change this? If so, will this be a focus for you?
I agree that several sectors of the LGBT movement has been “shy†to meaningfully engage on other social justice causes. Unfortunately, this has been a recurring problem in our movement. What we need to understand as a community is that there is LGBT people in every disenfranchised community. These individuals have to deal with homophobia and other structural oppressive system such as xenophobia, racism, transphobia, misogyny, to name a few. So immigrant rights, reproductive justice, health care reform, labor issues are LGBT issues because several individuals in our community are directly affected by these policies or issues. This is why I’m a firm believer that it is in the best interest of the LGBT movement to build coalition with groups working on other issues that have not been traditionally seen as our community’s issue.
Jorge Gutierrez, a personal mentor and a great friend, wisely told me, “Felipe we are natural bridges.†People who have multiple identities are clear ambassadors to multiple communities. I hope to bring other people from diverse communities to leadership position so we can expand Get Equal’s contribution in changing the current dynamic between the LGBT movement and other organizations fighting for other issues.
You have worked with faith-based groups in the past, especially on immigration. Do you plan to try to reach out to them, and do you think your past association with them will make that easier?
My personal interactions with faith groups have been very challenging and yet very rewarding. Faith groups have a strong base of people who many times care about equality and social justice causes. It’s important for us to create a strong coalition for equality and reaching out to them should be part of our strategy for change. Faith groups should be an integral part in increasing our political power as a movement and that’s why I will reach out to them.
What can the average person who supports LGBT rights and equality do that they may not be doing now to help us all “get equal”?
Martin Luther King, Jr once said, “In the end we will remember not the word of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.†So they should join us, organize with us, vote for people who care about our issues but most importantly never stand silent even when it’s hard to do the right thing. If they want to get involved with Get Equal they can go to http://getequal.org/join-us.