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Michelle Brown is an author, activist & public speaker who believes in common ground for all people.Appearances
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Tag Archives: lgbt
My latest POV on CherryGrrl.com
As we count down the last days of 2012 time to think about how we should allocate our time, talent and tithes in our fight for equality. My latest post in Cherry Grrl
http://cherrygrrl.com/pov-nows-the-time-to-find-the-band-for-your-different-drummer/
POV: Now’s the Time to Find the Band For Your Different Drummer
December 16, 2012 · Op-Ed, POV · 0 Comments
Who hasn’t been asked to join a group, sit on a committee, or participate in some function where you knew you didn’t quite belong?
In our politically correct world of diversity and inclusion, everyone says, “But that’s ok. We need a different viewpoint. We need that energy.” And, having also taken a sip of that same Kool-Aid laced with a bit of ego and the honest belief that we can make a difference, we avoid all the warning signs and dive head on into the fray.
Sometimes it works out but more often than many of us care to admit, it doesn’t, and the experience taints our opinion about the effectiveness of our movement.
Time and time again when sitting around the diversity campfire I hear the same story. “We try to be inclusive and have reached out to (youth, people of color, transgender, southerners, mid-westerners, tall people, red heads – fill in the group of your choice) but it just hasn’t worked out. They come to a few meetings then just drop out.”
On the flip side, I hear from the other folks (youth, people of color, transgender, southerners, mid-westerners, tall people, red heads – fill in the group of your choice) that although a seat was offered at the table the menu remained unchanged.
Decisions, strategies, new initiatives and governance remain the same – as one Latina sister told me “Adding Habanero sauce to the condiment tray but still serving peas and white rice ain’t inclusion!”
So what do we do to be really diverse and inclusive in the LGBT community facing some homogeneous attacks against our families, our right to work, our lives but consists of individuals/communities as diverse as the rainbow flag we wave?
Let’s face it, if we can’t get it together in our LGBT house our work will continue to be an uphill battle in the state and federal legislative houses.
I have experienced different paths to this dilemma and quite frankly am still looking for a solution.
One path, which is truly not for the faint of heart and is tinged with varying doses of passive/aggressiveness and masochism, is the road of “being the first.”
You know the one. He or she takes that first seat at the table, bringing their own habanero sauce and keeps pouring it liberally over that rubber chicken until one day fried chicken shows up on the menu.
They are the standard bearer for their community (youth, people of color, transgender, southerners, mid-westerners, tall people, red heads – fill in the group of your choice) always called upon to explain every action of every member of their unique community.
If those of us who have walked this walk had a dollar for every time we had to explain that all African Americans aren’t Baptist, every Trans-person isn’t a drag queen/king and every lesbian doesn’t have a collection of Birkenstocks and flannel shirts at home in lieu of lingerie there’d be a whole lot of happy activists sitting on a sunny Caribbean beach working on our novels.
Another path requiring thick skin, unflappable determination and commitment, often involves working solely within our own communities to organize, educate and mobilize without access to the resources that seem to be designated for the more mainstream, big organizations where our community (youth, people of color, transgender, southerners, mid-westerners, tall people, red heads – fill in the group of your choice) is underrepresented.
Those taking this path are “Trail Blazers” but their trail is not the tedious, aggravating and frustrating road of explanation. They come to the trail blazing not asking to be included in the conversation or accepting crumbs but demanding there place at the table even if it means bringing a bag lunch.
You know us as the angry (fill in the blank – black woman, lesbian, trans-activist etc.) ever vigilant to avoid being marginalized or thrown under the bus for the sake of political expediency.
I still remember ENDA when the LG was willing to leave the T waiting at the train station just to keep the equality train rolling.
If those of us who have walked this walk had a dollar for every time we had railed against the power organizations, the political machine, Washington insiders and other establishment types, we could buy a damn cruise ship to take us to that island and party with those happy activists sitting on that sunny beach.
There’s a whole lot of gray area in between and finding a way to fight for our common goals while respecting the unique strengths and cultures our diverse communities will always be a tight rope we will have to walk. And sadly our internal LGBT squabbles have left many in our community holding on to the dollars needed to continue our fight for full equality.
It’s year-end and if you’re like me you’ve received tons of requests asking for not only year-end donations but continued support in the New Year.
I have thought long and hard on where I am going to give and commit my time, talent and tithes and found inspiration from a post by the Women’s Rights Network.
It said “Respect yourself enough to walk away from anything that no longer serves you, grows you or makes you happy.” I respect myself enough to walk away from the status quo and what will make me happy is nothing less than full EQUALITY.
To borrow from Robert Frost, we have promises to keep – to our families, to our youth and to the lives of the LGBT community worldwide – and miles to go before any of us can sleep.
So as you look over those year-end requests and where you will commit your time, especially over the next four years (hate to say it but we still have two elections to be working on now) reinvest in our community. Maybe it’s time to switch your support from organization A to organization B, from locally to nationally, from established to emerging but don’t say no say yes to equality
Because we have promises to keep, and miles to go before we sleep.
Stark Difference Part Two: DNC Convenes in Charlotte
“So a Democrat, a Republican and Apathy walk in to a bar…….”
Now that we’ve seen the “Better Future” offered at the Republican National Convention, it’s the Democrats turn to pitch to American voters an alternative vision.
America is changing, becoming more diverse and the Democratic National Convention during its four days in Charlotte, NC will try to show voters it is more in tune with today’s America where, according to census statistics, women out numbered men by approximately five million (at age 85 and older, there were more than twice as many women as men); and where people under 20 years of age make up over a quarter of the U.S. population. It’s an America where Hispanic and Latino Americans accounted for almost half of the national population growth and for the first time in history, there were more minority children born in the United States than white.
It’s an America demanding a different vision from that of yesterday where the mores of a majority White Anglo-Saxon society defined separate and unequal reality for women, Blacks, poor and other minorities. Tampa brought us a vision of a “Better Future” clinging to that past, slow to embrace if not turning back time on many issues of social and economic justice.
While embracing the Romney/Ryan ticket (a Mormon and Catholic team), it held fast to the patriarchal doctrine that has in recent years disempowered women, African Americans, the poor, and other minorities while maintain the gap between the haves and have nots.
The DNC offers a stark difference to the GOP’s “Better Future,” a different vision for America. You can tell it’s a different vision just by the people in attendance.
Nearly 6,000 delegates from every nook of America make up the 56 delegations – the largest and most diverse Democratic National Convention since Andrew Jackson’s “Kitchen Cabinet” at the first DNC convention 180 years ago.
They are white, Black, Latino, Native American, Asian/Pacific Islanders, Arab-Americans, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, straight, gay and transgender. It will be a convention of as many women as men in comparison to the Republican National Convention’s 46 delegations with its lack of diversity and inclusion. But it’s more than the face of the delegates that highlights the stark difference between the two parties.
Unlike the discordance between the RNC party platform and Mitt Romney’s platform, the DNC platform reflects the direction not only of the party but its standard bearers – President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
This year’s Democratic Party platform is the most pro-LGBT in history, complete with support for both marriage equality and fully-inclusive employment nondiscrimination protections reflecting President Obama’s evolution on LGBT equality.
The DNC platform language connects LGBT rights to the larger issues facing all Americans reinforcing the reality that LGBT rights are not special rights merely equal rights.
As LGBT rights activist Waymon Hudson puts it “Employment discrimination protections relate directly to the larger fiscal issue of job creation…. (it) shows a party that finally understands that for many in the LGBT community, social issues like equality are very much inexorably tied to fiscal and financial issues; many in the LGBT community get hit with the double struggle of a bad economy and still-legal employment discrimination against them.”
And it’s not just in the platform where the LGBTQ community is being is being welcomed. There are twelve openly LGBT delegates. National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) board member and trans-activist Kylar Broadus, has been appointed to the Rules Committee for the DNC 2012 Convention Platform Committee – a real seat at the table.
In Contrast this year’s Republican Party platform includes some horrific anti-gay language influenced by Tony Perkins of the anti-LGBT Family Research Council basically saying LGBT people are not among the Americans who deserve “dignity and respect.”
There’s a lot at stake this November.
For women it’s about stopping the attacks on abortion, birth control, reproductive rights, access to health care, equal pay and domestic violence.
For immigrants, it’s about broader comprehensive immigration reform legislation and protection from xenophobic attacks on civil liberties.
For millions of Americans it’s about access to affordable healthcare including continued coverage for the millions under age 26 now covered by their parents insurance; the 47 million women who now are guaranteed coverage of preventive services including contraceptive coverage without co-pays; or the 14.3 million seniors who have already received important preventive benefits under President Obama’s health care law.
Every vote will count this November. Unfortunately after record Democratic voter turnout in 2008, subsequent elections have seen a trend of apathy amongst progressive, Democratic voters the result being set backs on many social and economic justice issues and a dominance of conservative and far-right leaning legislatures at the state and federal congressional levels.
A 2010 study, released by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement showed only 20.9% of eligible voters ages 18-29 actually voted in 2010, down from a high of 49% in 2008. Recent elections reflect low voter turnout amongst other traditionally progressive voting groups as well.
The systematic attempts to suppress minority votes in a growing number of states is only another indication of how important it is for those of us who support a Democratic vision of a “Better Future” to sit on the sidelines while others are investing and mobilizing their resources for November elections – Too much is at stake.
The conventions have provided a stark difference of a better future. The choice is yours. So what are you going to do?
A Democrat, A Republican and Apathy walk in to a bar. Apathy tells the customers “Your vote doesn’t matter” and orders another round. And the Republican marches into the White House.
This joke’s not funny!!
Tagged Biden, Democratic National Convention, DNC, lgbt, Obama
2 Comments
When the Walls Come Tumblin’ Down
In 1987 Ronald Reagan challenged Mikhail Gorbachev, then the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, to tear down the Berlin wall.
Eastern Bloc propaganda claimed the wall had been erected to protect its population from elements conspiring to prevent the “will of the people” in building a socialist state in Eastern Germany. For decades the wall divided Berliners giving rise to a widespread sense of desperation and oppression.
In the speech at the Brandenburg Gate, Reagan said, “We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together,” concluding his speech saying, “if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity ……. tear down this wall.”
Many believe these words uttered by the “leader of the free world,” the President of the United States of America, the country “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all are created equal” signaled the beginning of the end of the Eastern Bloc. In the months and years following Reagan’s declaration, the wall came tumbling down.
In 1996, a wall was figuratively erected across America. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman. Under the law, no U.S. state or political subdivision is required to recognize a same-sex marriage treated as a marriage in another state and codifies the non-recognition of same-sex marriage for all federal purposes, including insurance benefits for government employees, Social Security survivors’ benefits, and the filing of joint tax returns.
DOMA was discriminatory and divisive but to many of its proponents as necessary as the Berlin wall to protect the American population from elements conspiring to prevent the will of the fundamentalist far right in building a “Christian” state in the United States of America.
Despite challenges in Massachusetts and California, which found Section 3 of DOMA unconstitutional, changes in public opinion on marriage equality and legalization of same sex marriage or civil unions in a handful of states and the District of Colombia, DOMA remained the elephant in the room.
But then the walls of DOMA started crumbling down in 2011when the Obama administration announced that although it would continue to enforce the law, the Department of Justice would no longer defend it in court.
Like a weeble, DOMA wobbled but it wouldn’t fall down – propped up in part by the House of Representatives, which undertook the defense of the law on behalf of the federal government in place of the Department of Justice .
But once again the President of the United States, Barack Obama, took a verbal sledgehammer to a wall of discrimination and oppression dividing our country saying: “it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.” And the dismantling of the wall against gay Americans began crumbling, tumbling down.
Then at last the word we’ve been waiting for. In a unanimous decision, the three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston said the 1996 law deprives gay couples of the rights and privileges granted to heterosexual couples was unconstitutional. This ruling will more than likely send the battle over DOMA to the Supreme Court.
With over 30 states having constitutional amendments or laws prohibiting same-sex marriage on the books, does repeal of DOMA matter? Oh yes it does!
DOMA deprives same-sex couples of over 1,100 federal rights, benefits, and responsibilities of marriage. It has created a patchwork of confusing laws and rights across the country that denies same-sex couples and their families the basic rights and stability that comes with the federal recognition of their marriages. The law’s impact is far-reaching, affecting Social Security survivor benefits after a spouse passes away and the filing of joint federal income taxes, and prohibiting couples from taking unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. It also impacts immigration issues for same-sex couples, sometimes forcing the deportation of a non-citizen spouse.
It discriminates against same-sex couples by saying that state governments do not need to recognize marriages from other states, and the federal government does not recognize marriages unless they are between one man and one woman.
The 1st Circuit, which only has Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine and New Hampshire and Puerto Rico in its jurisdiction, said its ruling would not be enforced until the Supreme Court decides the case, meaning that same-sex married couples will not be eligible to receive the economic benefits denied by the law until the high court rules.
Since Congress seems unable and unwilling to repeal DOMA and President Obama has no plans to pursue a formal appeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, we will just have to wait for our day in court – the Supreme Court that is.
Until that day I’ll keep singing John Mellencamp’s refrain:
“When the walls come tumblin’ down.
When the walls come crumblin’ crumblin’.
When the walls come tumblin’, tumblin’ down.”forcing the deportation of a non-citizen spouse.
It discriminates against same-sex couples by saying that state governments do not need to recognize marriages from other states, and the federal government does not recognize marriages unless they are between one man and one woman.
The 1st Circuit, which only has Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine and New Hampshire and Puerto Rico in its jurisdiction, said its ruling would not be enforced until the Supreme Court decides the case, meaning that same-sex married couples will not be eligible to receive the economic benefits denied by the law until the high court rules.
Since Congress seems unable and unwilling to repeal DOMA and President Obama has no plans to pursue a formal appeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, we will just have to wait for our day in court – the Supreme Court that is.
Until that day I’ll keep singing John Mellencamp’s refrain:
“When the walls come tumblin’ down.
When the walls come crumblin’ crumblin’.
When the walls come tumblin’, tumblin’ down.”
Because they are!!
Tagged Berlin wall, DOMA, lgbt, Obama
1 Comment
Evolution: It’s been a long time coming
While on the road in 1963 Sam Cooke penned the original draft of his classic song ” A Change Is Gonna Come” while sitting in the back of his tour bus.
The song became the soundtrack of the Civil Rights Movement for the sixties and inspired many since.
It didn’t just come to him, the words came through him. The song captured the pain and hope of the civil rights movement to the African American community.
The words expressed the hopes and dreams of equality carried across time by the cries for freedom of oppressed people universally.
Equality may not have been born by the river in a little tent but just like the river it’s been running every since.
Again and again, during our social evolution, these cries for freedom and equality have found a voice. Much like the little boy who cried “The Emperor has no clothes,” someone states the obvious and, with that single act or deed, the dominos of inequality start to fall.
Such was the case when President Obama completed his evolution on same-sex marriage announcing in an interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts that he believed “same-sex couples should be able to get married.”
Even though many within the LGBT community had grown impatient with the slow pace of Obama’s “evolution”, we knew it was going to happen but what we didn’t know was what would happen in the aftermath.
Obama’s declaration was not a “surprise” but for many still struggling with internalized homophobia, confused by rhetoric blurring the distinction between religious rites and civil rights it was shocking.
For those leaning even further to an extreme right, it was a declaration of war.
Despite wishing gay pride participants a “Great Pride Weekend with the inscription “All Citizens Deserve Equal Rights, Regardless of their Sexuality” while Governor of Massachusetts, presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney reaffirmed his position that “that marriage ought to be defined between one man and one woman.”
Ministers decried Obama’s position with calls from African American clergy urging Black voters to turn against President Obama in November
But then the other shoe dropped and it was a good shoe for equality.
African American leaders including Reverend Al Sharpton, President of National Action Network, Julian Bond, Chairman Emeritus of NAACP, Melanie Campbell, President and CEO of the National Coalition for Black Civic Engagement, and Reverend Dr. Joseph Lowery, Civil Rights Icon and President Emeritus of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, released an open letter embracing President Obama’s position on equality for the LGBTQ community. Even rap-mogul Jay-Z and actor Will Smith came out in support of gay marriage.
In a scathing open letter (available on youtube.com), Rev. Dr. Otis Moss II of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, IL called out ministers saying “gay people have never been the enemy and when we use rhetoric to suggest they are the source of all our problems we lie on God.”
With those words, “I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.” President Obama opened the floodgates and the walls began to tumble down.
And then the granddaddy of them all, The NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, released a resolution supporting marriage equality as a continuation of its historic commitment to equal protection under the law. In a statement Chairman of the NAACP Board of Directors, Roslyn M Brock said, “The mission of the NAACP has always been to ensure the political, social and economic equality of all people. We have and will oppose efforts to codify discrimination into law.”
Before you get too happy remember this, nothing has changed. Although public opinion shows the tide turning with more people supporting LGBTQ equality and marriage, over 30 states have amendments/legislation banning same-sex marriage. Obama’s “evolution” does not rescind DOMA – The Defense of Marriage Act.
Too little, too late – hardly!! It’s been a long time coming and our change is going to come.
And there will be a price to pay.
In 1901 President Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to dinner at the White House bending the rules of segregation. The repercussions from this dinner were the attack on African American’s in the south.
Following the passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act there were lynchings and bombings across the south.
And on Tuesday May 15th LGBTQ offices in Washington DC including those of the Human Rights Campaign, The Task Force and National Black Justice Coalition were evacuated following a very credible, potential bomb threat reported against a DC LGBT organization.
Some might call it a tipping point, others synchronicity, today it’s evolution, the reality is we have reached a critical point in an evolving situation that leads to a new and irreversible development.
This is a pivotal moment in our struggle for equality, a time to celebrate, to be energized, to push for the finish line, not to bemoan the past.
To borrow again from Sam Cooke, “There have been times that we thought we couldn’t last for long/but now I think we’re able to carry on. It’s been a long time coming, but I know a change is gonna come.”
Michelle E. Brown is a Public Speaker, Activist and Author follow her activities at http://www.facebook.com/mychangeiam http://www.twitter.com/mychangeiam
Tagged civil rights, lgbt, marriage equality, Obama
12 Comments
Anti-Bullying Advocates Gather in Howell, MI
Anti-bullying advocates gathered in front of the historical Livingston County Courthouse in downtown Howell on Saturday, April 9 as part of a march to oppose bullying in schools.
The Michigan Democratic Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Caucus and the Michigan School Tolerance Campaign held the rally to encourage the state Legislature to pass a bill that would require school districts to adopt policies prohibiting bullying in K-12 schools.
The rally took place in front of the courthouse at 200 E. Grand River Ave.
“Our main goal is to pass Senator (Glenn) Anderson’s anti-bullying law, but also to raise awareness about bullying in general,” said Jennifer Chapin-Smith, vice chairwoman of communications for the Michigan Democratic LGBT Caucus, a subgroup of the Michigan Democratic Party. “If you’re being bullied, you can’t get an education, and that’s what school is all about.”
The bill was first passed by the state House during the 2007 legislative session, and passed along to the Senate Education Committee. A 2009 version of the bill died without action.
Anderson, D-Westland, has reintroduced the proposal this year as Senate Bill 45.
The organizations chose Howell as the location for their first rally because of its central location, according to Phil Volk, vice chairman of the Michigan School Tolerance Campaign and chair of the Michigan LGBT Caucus.
“We’re looking to try to pass state legislation,” Volk said. “What’s happening in your local schools in Howell should be dealt with by your community.”
Michigan is one of five states without an anti-bullying law. The bill would require that schools adopt an anti-bullying policy that defines bullying, consequences and outlines a reporting procedure for bullying incidents, among other provisions.
Saturday’s event was the first in a series of similar rallies across the state, including ones scheduled in Grand Rapids and Lansing.
“We’ve also started a series of miniconferences all over the state,” Chapin-Smith said. “We also have a lobby day coming up in early May.”
The lobbying day is scheduled for May 4, and the organization is encouraging people to speak with their legislators about the bill.
Speakers at the event include Volk; Wayne State University law professor Jocelyn Benson, who ran for secretary of state last year; Michelle Brown of the National Black Justice Coalition; and Christopher Armstrong and Brendan Campbell of the University of Michigan Student Assembly.
Armstrong is U-M’s first openly gay student body president and was the topic of a national news story involving former Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell last year. Shirvell was eventually fired from the attorney general’s office for maintaining a blog focused on Armstrong, whom he called a “radical homosexual activist,” a Nazi and Ku Klux Klan member.