We've been doing a lot of blogging about LGBT issues at the national level, specifically ENDA and all the political schisms erupting here and elsewhere, but it's good to remind ourselves that the rubber often hits the road at the local level, where our advocacy organizations do a lot with not a lot of resources.
During our Pride last weekend here in NC (my post here), and the good folks at EqualityNC had a table up all day. People were enthusiastically signing the Safe Schools Petition -- 900 folks in support of it. We have an LGBT-inclusive School Violence Prevention Act making its way through the State Senate. Since there was a lot of buzz there about ENDA, as well as other issues, ENC took an informal poll on what most concerned LGBT Tar Heels:
Over half the respondents thought preventing the anti-gay marriage amendment was top priority. North Carolina remains the only Southern state to legislatively stop a constitutional amendment to reduce gay folks to second-class citizens who cannot marry.
A close second was preventing anti-gay bullying in our schools (something Equality NC is working hard to do next session with our Safe School legislation). Many people also expressed concern that the trans community isn't included often enough in pro-LGBT legislation -- a particularly relevant issue given the recent attempts to remove trans-inclusion from the federal Employment Nondiscrimination Act, efforts which ENC strongly opposes.
Employment nondiscrimination, both statewide and national (including repeal of the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy), was also cited.
Just a few weeks ago, I was in Birmingham speaking at Alabama's Day of Equality and Gala (put on by Equality Alabama), where hundreds of grassroots activists (LGB and T) came together to attend workshops and support the local advocacy organization.
On November 3, LGBT North Carolinians get their opportunity to come together, share stories and strategize how to advance our rights in our state with the 2007 Equality Conference & Gala. It will held at the Duke University School of Law, and will feature workshops that bring together movement leaders, grassroots advocates, and LGBT citizens from across the state for a day of networking, skills-building, and learning. In the evening there will be a gala held at the Nasher Museum of Art in Durham.
I serve on the conference committee, and was pleased as all get-out to confirm that Alabama Representative Patricia Todd is going to join us to speak about her journey to become the first openly gay elected official in that state; and Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) President Neil Guiliano will also bring his perspective to attendees. What's exciting is that we will have several member of the North Carolina General Assembly there. Remember, in this state, being an open advocate of LGBT rights can be no small feat in some circles, and we look forward to educating more elected officials about moving forward in support of equality. In fact, the first Equality North Carolina Award for Legislative Leadership will be given to Representative Rick Glazier for his strong work on the School Violence Prevention Act.
I'll moderate a panel that should be extremely lively, "Still Crossing Those Bridges: Facing Racial and Ethnic Barriers," featuring Mandy Carter, Co-Founder, Southerners on New Ground, Durham, Reverend Roger E. Hayes, Pastor, Church of the Holy Spirit Fellowship, Inc., Winston-Salem, Alba Onofrio, Executive Director, El Centro Hispano, Durham, and Allan Taziri, Member, Fayetteville Bayard Rustin Commemorative Alliance.
[A side note: until late last week, I thought discussing race was the major third rail topic that makes people uncomfortable with implicit bias; little did I know that discussing transgender issues would raise equally troubling questions about the inability of people to handle difficult and divisive subjects honestly and openly without wounding. You live and learn.]
See some of the other workshops, including one with the pastor who made news at the Dem YouTube debate with a question on marriage equality, over at my pad.
This weekend I was in Birmingham, Alabama, at the Day of Equality, where I gave a talk about "Educating Potential Political Allies and "Urban vs. Suburban vs. Rural and Perceptions of Rights and Community." Birmingham, btw, is my wife Kate's hometown.
It was eye-opening to meet with so many people committed to LGBT equality in a very Red State; while we live in North Carolina it's a Blue bubble here in the Triangle. It's not exactly San Francisco or NYC, but it's many steps ahead of Alabama, in terms of a more sane balance between the secular and religious sets.
The rights many gay folks who live in major metro enclaves take for granted are being battled for time and again in Alabama. Listening to the stories at this conference was both depressing (combating the level of Jesus-land freaks and blatant disregard of church-state separation by officials and legislators) and uplifting. It it all in perspective -- we need to know how far many of our brothers and sisters in the movement have to go -- and how they are willing to fight on in the deep South.
It was ironic that the Equality conference venue -- the Birmingham Civic Center -- was sharing space with this truly priceless event:
I didn't see the faith healing fraud, but I thought the irony was delicious.
During my sessions, LGBT Alabamians and allies from all walks of life shared their frustrations and experiences, but also expressed why they love and want to reclaim their state from the misguided moralizing elected officials (in both parties).
How can you not cringe when you hear from a lesbian pharmacy technician who worked for CVS (a gay-friendly company) in a northern state, and was fired after a transfer when her supervisor in Alabama found out she was gay.
And what about the story a university worker, where there is actually a diversity council, but whose leadership only thinks about racial diversity. Gay equality wasn't on his map because, as the session participant said, the man thinks being gay is a choice. The absurdity of it boggles the mind. You can watch video of my response to that story:
It's no wonder that Alabama residents, even educators with tenure, worry about being ostracized. Not just socially, but literally -- another participant told of being shuttled off to a dark corner of an office away from colleagues once it was discovered that she was gay.
If you're transgendered, life in Birmingham is light years better than say, Meridian, Mississippi, where conference speaker Roxanne Demornay hails from. She gave a talk about her journey from a gay man in Mississippi to transitioning to a woman in the reddest of states. Roxanne was featured in the film Small Town Gay Bar as well as an entertaining episode of U.S. of ANT, a show on LOGO that profiled gay life in Alabama. Birmingham, even as hard as life can be for many LGBT citizens, was an island of tolerance compared to Meridien.
Howard Bayless, an out gay man (also on the board of Equality Alabama), is running for the school board in Birmingham proper, where the schools are in crisis -- 80% of kids live below the poverty line, and 90% of them are black. Flight to Greater Birmingham (a series of separate small municipalities in close proximity to downtown with their own school systems and police forces) by both whites (and blacks of financial means) have left the infrastructure in the hands of the usual cast of characters of kingpins and party hacks who have little interest or anything to show for their years of rule over the city center. Sad indeed, and certainly not unique to this city.
Right: Bob Palmatier, Howard Bayless and Jennifer Clarke of Equality Alabama's board.
The most important message is that it's gratifying to see so many LGBT folks and allies at the dinner, as well as progressives moving downtown and actively engaged in the political and economic future of the city of Birmingham. Blue state gays cannot and should not write off the South. When you have people like Howard Bayless, Rep. Patricia Todd (the first out lesbian elected official in Alabama, named a trailblazer in the 40th anniversary edition of The Advocate) and long time members of the gay community working hard in a city like Birmingham -- committed to change and the grassroots level, change that benefit everyone, not just gays in the deep South -- they need our support. Kathy of Birmingham Blues hits the nail on the head:
It is disheartening to see commentary suggesting that more progressive states secede from the South, as if the South were a hopeless monolith of ignorant, barefoot, cousin-marrying rednecks. Hint: it’s not. The Democratic establishment wasn’t too excited about Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy when he first introduced it, but the party is reaping the benefits now. A similar push by national LGBT organizations would likely have similar positive results — if the leadership could take off its collective blinders.
After all, the problem isn't just about fighting fundamentalists, it's about battling inertia and ignorance among allies -- as well as the same within our community -- about the state of affairs in the struggle for equal rights. Take a look at this clip for an example.
Many thanks to Rep. Patricia Todd and Jennifer Clarke, Kathy and Bill McMullen, and the efforts of John Smallwood (and the Equality Alabama team). They provided hospitality, great humor and they represent their state so well. You made us feel like family.
Some other pictures from the weekend:
L: Kate with State Rep. Patricia Todd at the gala Saturday evening. R: John Smallwood of Equality Alabama with Kathy of Birmingham Blues from Friday's meet and greet.
At the silent auction on Saturday, Kate and I outbid Patricia Todd for this hilarious sign. I told Patricia that she could come take a look at where we hang it at our place when she comes to Durham to speak at Equality NC's gala in November.
And one last note to readers -- John's now back in the swing of things, so my guest blogmistress stint at AMERICAblog has now come to a close. I'll be dropping a post in every now and then, but I just wanted to thank all the readers for the warm welcome and kind comments while the posting was fast and furious.
At this year's National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association convention, reporter Karen Ocamb moderated a panel on whether gay issues will matter in 2008. The session happened to occur, ironically just a couple of hours Larry Craig resigned. Via The Bilerico Project, why the states rights issue, in particular, does matter -- there are questions that need to be answered by the candidates:
I asked Steve Elmendorf [political consultant on the Hillary Clinton national LGBT Steering Committee] if Bill Clinton advised John Kerry [in 2004] to have a "Sister Souljiah" moment with gays over the anti-gay marriage initiatives and Elmendorf said, "It absolutely did not happen."
It should be noted that Shrum and his wife Mary Louise Oates are longtime friends of David Mixner and have consistently supported gay rights. But Elmendorf's strong answer suggested that mistrust of Bill should not spill over into mistrust of Hillary.
The point here is that "states rights" is crucial to the LGBT community. "States rights" have traditionally allowed each state to determine if or how law enforcement and the court system prosecutes civil rights violations, crimes motivated by hatred, who has the right to control a person's body - the person or the state (selective sodomy laws, abortion rights, assisted suicide) - and other offenses to individual liberty.
We argue that the federal government has the duty to clarify and unify all those disparate laws, which is why we were exhilarated when the U.S. Supreme Court's overturned the sodomy laws and why we are pushing for the Employment Nondiscrimination Act and a federal Hate Crimes law.
Some of us agree with the traditionalist thinking that marriage should be left up to the majority-rule of each state. But others of us (see Evan Wolfson) believe the Constitution is supposed to protect the minority from the majority so all of us have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
These are fundamental questions, not merely issues of semantics, and it appears that it is up to bloggers and the LGBT press to pursue them.
Go read the rest. It sounded like an energizing and interesting panel.
***
And for another kind of coverage of the event...
The Peter reports on the NLGJA conference
Actually, LaBarbera sent an Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality proxy, Allyson Smith, to cover the event (that coverage is to come), but The Peter rolled the news out with unbiased reporting like this:
Approximately 500 journalists, editors, producers, travel writers, bloggers and other communications workers from homosexual and mainstream media outlets gathered August 30 - September 2 for the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) annual conference.
As at past NLGJA conferences , conservative-leaning Fox News Network was among the sponsors and recruiters.
Titled "Breaking Stories, Breaking Waves," the convention, held in downtown San Diego's Westin Horton Plaza hotel, featured a one-day LGBT media summit, six receptions, and more than 50 sessions and workshops ranging from "Covering LGBT Conservatives" (oddly, the Christian-conservative-bashing Wayne Besen was a panelist), to "Will Gays Matter in '08?" to "Sex Writing for Fun and Profit."
...The convention included plenary sessions on the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and immigration issues affecting homosexuals, as well as a general session featuring a conversation with Larry Kramer, founder of the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP), a radical, "in your face" demonstration group that made headlines in December, 1989, for disrupting a Catholic Mass and destroying a consecrated Communion host at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.
He lists the participating sponsors and news organizations, ostensibly to let "Christians" know that they are associating with/supporting homos covering the news. I'd venture a guess that sponsors and career expo attendees such as Reuters, the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau, GM, Toyota, Sony, the Canadian Tourism Board and even Fox don't give a rip what the Peter's fundies think of them when it comes to recruiting and hiring.
Many of you may have not heard of the National Black Justice Coalition. It's an organization that's working hard to counter the bigotry being fomented by the misguided, and oftentimes delusional rants of ministers and community leaders in the black community. It's a challenge to say the least when you have nonsense like this being promoted:
In addition to the damage that gay marriage does to the black family structure that is already under stress, legalization of gay marriage has the potential of endangering the next generation. -- Bishop Harry Jackson, in a March 12 Town Hall column, " Black Gays Aggressively Enlist in the Culture War"
You got blood vessels and membranes in your behind. And if you put something unnatural in there, it breaks them all up. No wonder your behind is bleeding. It's destroying us. Can't make no connection with a screw and another screw. The Bible says God made them male and female. The Hebrew word Negade, which means complimentary nature - there is something unique to man and unique to woman and it takes those two things to compliment each other. You can't make a connection with two screws. It takes a screw and a nut! (shouting)..." -- pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church in D.C. (and former mayoral candidate) Rev. Willie Wilson during a recorded sermon (there was applause from the pews).
An even more important goal of the NBJC is to empower the black LGBT community and work with allies to address myriad issues, such as health care, including HIV/AIDS policy and education.
The National Black Justice Coalition envisions a world where all people are fully empowered to participate safely, openly, and honestly in family, faith and community, regardless of race, gender-identity or sexual orientation.
Read more here, or watch the NBJC-TV video below.The NBJC's 2nd Leadership Conference & 3rd Annual Black Church Summit will be held April 24-26, 2008, with a plan to advance the cause of LGBT rights as the 2008 election nears, and there will be yet another push to co-opt community leaders by the bigoted evangelical right.
The NBJC also teamed with the Human Rights Campaign and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights to produce this ad (click to enlarge), which appeared in Roll Call and USA Today in response to conservative black clergy.
We've been doing a lot of blogging about LGBT issues at the national level, specifically ENDA and all the political schisms erupting here and elsewhere, but it's good to remind ourselves that the rubber often hits the road at the local level, where our advocacy organizations do a lot with not a lot of resources.
I serve on the conference committee, and was pleased as all get-out to confirm that Alabama Representative Patricia Todd is going to join us to speak about her journey to become the first openly gay elected official in that state; and Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) President Neil Guiliano will also bring his perspective to attendees. What's exciting is that we will have several member of the North Carolina General Assembly there. Remember, in this state, being an open advocate of LGBT rights can be no small feat in some circles, and we look forward to educating more elected officials about moving forward in support of equality. In fact, the first Equality North Carolina Award for Legislative Leadership will be given to Representative Rick Glazier for his strong work on the School Violence Prevention Act.
If you're transgendered, life in Birmingham is light years better than say, Meridian, Mississippi, where conference speaker Roxanne Demornay hails from. She gave a talk about her journey from a gay man in Mississippi to transitioning to a woman in the reddest of states. Roxanne was featured in the film 
Right: Bob Palmatier, Howard Bayless and Jennifer Clarke of 
