prairie fire organizing committee

Speech on LGBT Liberation and Building a Progressive Movement

John Bartlett for Prairie Fire Organizing Committee
Depaul University
11/14/02

Today there are many extremely crucial issues that call us to act and speak out. There is a pending war in Iraq, the Israeli occupation of Palestine, racism, poverty, a lack of housing both in the US and around the globe and a right-wing president who believes that forcing women to marry will help alleviate poverty and that the best way to protect our freedoms is by taking away our civil liberties. I think that from Argentina to Southern Africa to the Middle East to right here in Chicago the world is in crisis. The only way out of this crisis is to build a movement that unites people in a common struggle for liberation.

While many people talk about the need to build a large movement, lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender issues are frequently not included as a part of this movement. For example, when passing out leaflets for this program different people remarked, "This is not a priority for me." or "When there are so many crucial issues to be focus on why are you focusing on this one?" Others thought that we need to stop the war in Iraq or that the struggle against globalization needs to be our first priority. All these comments make me think that this is exactly the reason why we need to have this program. We need to build a powerful movement to stop the war in Iraq. In order to build a movement that can transform society, we need to not only our confront war and racism but also challenge our views and society's views on gender and sexuality. To do this we need to support Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender liberation.

I want to take a moment to answer why LGBT liberation is so important to building a movement? For me being a part of a progressive movement means struggling to end oppression. We struggle to end oppression not necessarily because it will benefit you or me directly but because it is just. As a movement, we cannot struggle to end the oppression of some while leaving others to suffer discriminatory attacks. Fighting homophobia is the right thing to do. Supporting LGBT liberation means more than just saying no one should be attacked because of their sexual preference. Certainly this is a good first step. It also means that we must challenge other straight people and society to affirm LGBT people and their relationships.

Just as heterosexual couples feel free to walk down any street in the US holding hands, LGBT couples need to be able to walk together in public without fear or disparaging looks. They need to be free to express their love for whomever they choose. We need more loving caring relationships in our society not fewer. Whether you are straight or queer, our whole society will be better off when we rid society of homophobia. When some asks what does love have do with it, we should answer it has everything to do with building a movement for peace with justice.

For those of us who are straight, our support is essential to ending homophobia. Homophobia is one of the last the last accepted forms of state sponsored discrimination. Queer couples can still get fired from their jobs for being "out" in public. Lesbian and gays cannot marry (not that I believe in or support marriage as an institution). In some states sodomy is still a crime. Our government criminalizes and belittles homosexual relationships and turns LBGT people into the perverted ``other''. This leads to atrocities like the murder of Mathew Shepherd or the more recent killing of transgendered Eddie Gwen Araujo in the Bay area. Straight people who think that it is okay to bash and discriminate against LGBT people commit these brutal attacks. As straight people we cannot be silent about these attacks nor the people or groups that believe LGBT people are sick or deviant. The reality is that straight people who think that way are the ones who are sick. We must confront those sick straight people and let them know homophobia is wrong.

Many people are here tonight because you support LGBT people and issues. Yet for those of us who are straight we need to be continually aware of our privilege and the homophobia in our society. Unfortunately we often either fail to notice discrimination and/or promote LGBT rights. For example, I like to think of myself and my organization, Prairie Fire, to be Pro Queer. Yet last March when we were part of a coalition that organized a demonstration for International Women's Day, we did not invite a lesbian to speak at the demonstration nor did we speak in support of lesbian rights. We missed a chance to stand in support of LGBT issues. This served to challenge us to examine ourselves and our commitment to queer liberation. Tonight's program is, in part, a result of our internal examination. This year we are committed to raising lesbian liberation at International Women's Day.

Heterosexism infects our progressive movement in other ways. I recently attended an event honoring a longtime male, movement activist. One speaker got up and talked about the honoree's family, his wife and children, and how the honoree was a family man. The speaker glorified the marriage-based traditional heterosexual family. I recognize that loving caring relationships are important parts of all our lives but would the same speaker get up and talk about a lesbian relationship in the same way? I don't think so. This illustrates the pervasiveness of heterosexual privilege and shows why straight people need to always be conscious of our privileges and committed to ending homophobia.

Supporting LGBT liberation not only challenges us to be conscious of our privileges; it challenges us to examine our views of gender, relationships and sexual identity. It makes me ask the question what does it mean to be a heterosexual man or woman. While I cannot say that I have the answer to that question, I can say that today's social norms don't allow for exploration and limit our possibilities. To build a progressive movement for liberation, we need to not only redefine our social values but also redefine ourselves. Lesbian, gay, bi and transgendered people offer us positive alternatives to traditional gender limitations as well as traditional family relationships.

Tonight I also want to acknowledge the tremendous debt our movement owes LGBT activists. They have been an inspirational source of energy, vision, and determination from whom we can learn a lot. For instance, their activism around AIDS sparked a movement that not only fought homophobia but also helped to redefine health care and created a mandate for accessible prescription drugs. These victories make our movement stronger and help to create social change.

I recently watched a video on the Stonewall rebellion. It was really inspiring to see people, particularly transgendered people, stand up and fight back against the homophobic police. I asked myself, if I would have been living in New York and been a little older would I have gone to support the Stonewall protesters. Very few straight activists did. I thought about the tremendous courage that it took to stand up to the police and say no more attacks. Then I thought of the courage it takes to "come out" in this society. LGBT people risk relationships, jobs, physical safety and even their lives to confront immoral social norms. It is courage like this that our movement needs to build a new society and to challenge homophobia.

While the Stonewall rebellion is history, the question remains what can we do to become straight allies for LGBT liberation? There is no simple answer. It takes hard work and a willingness to educate ourselves about the many different issues confronting the LGBT community. Dialog with other heterosexual as well as LGBT people is also essential. We need to confront homophobia wherever and whenever we see it. We need to make sure that LGBT liberation is a visible part of our movement. All this is possible. As a friend of mine always says, "The proof is in the pudding." We cannot just say we support LGBT liberation we must act upon it.