Movement Showing Signs of Maturity

by Rhonda Smith

SAN DIEGO -- Gay civil rights activist Jean Harris lost her temper last week, in a room full of strangers who had traveled to Southern California to share political strategies.

"Whenever there was a challenging issue...it was dealt with matter-of-factly," said NGLTF’s Kerry Lobel. (by Clint Steib)

"I just got stopped by a leader of a national Gay rights organization who said ‘Don’t do this, it hurts us,’" snapped Harris, executive director of Basic Rights Oregon, a grassroots group that wants to wage a battle for a state law there that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation. "It concerns me when I have people from these national groups telling me ‘Even if you win, we lose.’"

It was a complaint that Eric Bauman, president of the Stonewall Democratic Club in Southern California, and others in the room had heard before. But not all agreed with Harris’s reaction.

Creating Change Reporter’s Notebook MEDICALIZATION OF SHAME: Even advocates for women and Gay civil rights have been slow to embrace the Intersex Society of North America’s cause. But after participants at the Creating Change conference watched a 30-minute movie in which eight hermaphrodites told painful personal stories about their plight, Gay activists were upset. "At times I feel like hiding in the closet because who can accept damaged goods," said one intersexual adult in Hermaphrodites Speak. The intersexuals in the movie, most of whom were women, said they would rather have been left alone instead of having their genitalia surgically altered because it did not resemble that of other children. Intersexuals are born with so-called ambiguous genitalia that can resemble, in various forms, that of both males and females. "The problem is not with the child," one movie participant said. "The problem is with the attitudes toward the child." Cheryl Chase, executive director of the San Francisco-based INSA, said that, in 90 percent of the cases, doctors designate the intersexual child as a girl. They then perform clitoral reductions so that the child’s genitalia more closely resembles that of other females. But INSA members contend that this surgery is unnecessary and can lead to psychological and physical difficulties, such as loss of clitoral sensation. "Intersexuality is part of being human," said Suegee Tamar-Mattis, an INSA member and a Lesbian who never underwent the surgery. "But there is this medicalization of shame." Gaby Tako, who is Gay and underwent the surgery when she was 14, agreed. "We’re only asking," she said, "to grow up the way we were born." TRANSGENDER TOUGH LOVE: As conference duties go, Nicole Ramirez-Murray’s role at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s 10th annual Creating Change gathering was fairly simple. All she had to do was deliver a brief speech as part of her pitch to garner donations for NGLTF and to get new members to join the task force. But by the time the self-described drag queen and transgendered person of color finished, audience members were on their feet, yelling and clapping wildly. "I’ve heard whispers about the leadership role that Lesbians are playing in the movement," Ramirez-Murray said. "But the women are here and they’re doing a damn good job. So instead of criticizing Lesbian leadership, we should be thanking them." Ramirez-Murray didn’t stop there. She then chastised actor Ellen DeGeneres and AIDS activist Jose Zuniga for comments she said they made in the past year that implied the media shouldn’t portray Gays as "dykes on bikes and drag queens." At this point, a few activists hissed, but Ramirez-Murray continued. "I’m tired of people trying to rewrite our history and sweep the contributions of drag queens under the table," she said. "Hell, drag queens, transgendered people, and dykes helped build that fucking table." After her standing ovation ended, Ramirez-Murray donated $100 to the Task Force and sat down. In a matter of minutes, she raised $3,080 for NGLTF and the consciousness of a community. STATE NETWORK LEADERS: The Federation of Statewide Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Political Organizations is stepping up its effort to help Gays organize politically and raise funds in their respective states. Activists from 38 states met at the Creating Change conference last week to discuss their concerns and needs. "We have a movement that is diverse but many of its members have not been tapped yet," said Paula Ettelbrick, legislative counsel for New York’s Empire State Pride Agenda and co-chairperson of the Federation. The Federation will continue to support Gay civil rights organizations in all 50 states, Ettelbrick said, so lobbyists can more effectively advocate in state legislatures for such rights. The Federation’s priorities include improving communication among various state organizations, Ettelbrick said, and sharing information between Gay political leaders. Dianne Hardy-Garcia, executive director of the Texas Lesbian and Gay Rights Lobby, is the Federation’s other co-chairperson. Collective fund-raising remains a priority, she said, noting that groups that lobby in state legislatures traditionally are underfunded and have small staffs. "The Federation will ask people to invest in state organizing," Hardy-Garcia said. "And we will be asking national Gay rights organizations to make a commitment." For information, contact Tracy Conaty, field and media organizer, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, (202) 332-6483, Ext. 3303. -- Rhonda Smith

National Gay civil rights leaders don’t view political issues in individual states from the same angle that leaders in those states view them, explained Bauman, who also is co-chairperson of the California Democratic Party’s campaign service committee. The national leaders often have more than one priority or battle at a time.

"If we’re dealing with 10 or 12 anti-Gay initiatives around the country, where is money going to come from to fight all of them?" Bauman asked.

This testy reality was debated between Bauman and Harris spontaneously at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s 10th annual Creating Change conference, which was held in San Diego from Nov. 12-16 and drew 1,700 politically active organizers from across the country. About 2,000 activists attended the conference in Virginia last year, but during the early 1990s, far fewer came than this year. While past Creating Change conferences focused a great deal of attention on political opponents outside the Gay community, participants at this year’s conference were more inclined to look within. They tackled such issues as sexual freedom, the importance of building bridges with allies, and how to make room for people of faith who want to become more politically active.

After their workshop on political strategy, Harris, a 53-year-old activist in faded blue jeans, and Bauman, a 38-year-old business owner in a conservative suit, left together. Strolling along San Diego’s waterfront, they seemed to grasp the importance of putting differences aside for a movement that Gay civil rights leaders say has matured and is growing on various new fronts.

"This audience is sophisticated. This gang has worked at it and knows what they’re talking about," said speaker Sheila James Kuehl, the first woman and first Lesbian to be named Speaker Pro Tem of the California Assembly. Kuehl spoke at the conference’s opening plenary session, on Nov. 13.

During her keynote speech, Kuehl made reference to a favorite movie among many Gay people, The Wizard of Oz, to remind the crowd that most people already possess what it takes to compete for a political seat, or to serve in the Gay civil rights struggle in some other way.

"The Wizard of Oz is the story of a collection of entities who think they’re deficient," Kuehl said. "They believe they have to go to a mystical entity who could give them what they wanted."

"So they set out on a great quest, not realizing that they were demonstrating that they had the things they thought they needed -- a brain, a heart and courage," Kuehl said.

"The level of knowledge and professionalism among local Gay activists has dramatically grown," said Urvashi Vaid. (by Clint Steib)

In addition to urging the activists to tap into their collective potential, Kuehl told them to eliminate oppressive behavior in their own communities -- behaviors related to how youth, people of color, elderly residents, and people with disabilities are treated.

"We have to show up for each other; and we have to organize at home and not forget our own," she said. "Ninety-eight percent of our community is so apathetic; but, we must try to move them, in their own time."

Candice Boyce, 54, came to the Creating Change conference from New York City, where she works as a computer systems manager for the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center.

"I’ve been coming for six years on a need-to-know basis," said Boyce, who also is co-founder of a 23-year-old group known as African Ancestral Lesbians. "I need to know what everybody else is doing, and I need to know about oppression across the board, because I know I’m not in this alone."

Kerry Lobel, NGLTF’s executive director, said the Creating Change participants showed a great maturity about dealing with political issues.

"Whenever there was a challenging issue, or people disagreed, it was dealt with matter-of-factly -- not with a lot of drama but with an eye toward the greater good," she said.

Other longtime activists who were there agreed.

"The level of knowledge and professionalism among local Gay activists has dramatically grown," said Urvashi Vaid, executive director of NGLTF from 1989 to 1992. "People have done more work, and that was reflected in their questions about strategy."

Vaid, current head of NGLTF’s public policy institute, served as moderator for the conference’s "Elections 1998 and 2000: What’s the Strategy?" workshop. It included key leaders from the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, Log Cabin Republicans, and the Human Rights Campaign, as well as the Democratic Socialists of America.

During the panel discussion, Donna Red Wing, national field director for HRC, said congressional races for Senate seats in Washington, Oregon, New York, and Illinois could hurt the Gay movement in terms of votes for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). The proposed federal bill seeks to prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.

"We’re not drawing a very pretty picture for 1998 because it just isn’t a pretty picture," said Red Wing, whose comments were based on research by HRC.

She did, however, predict that by February 1998, there will be 51 politicians in the U.S. Senate willing to vote for ENDA, although she did not say who the new votes would be. Last year, 49 Senators voted in favor of ENDA.

"I think we have the votes on ENDA now," remarked Rich Tafel, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans.

The 1997 Creating Change conference marked the first time a national Gay Republican leader had been invited to play such a visible role.

"I urged and lobbied Rich to come," Vaid said later. "He said this was a progressive conference and he was a conservative. But I think he’s got a lot to offer."

"Strategically, the community has, in the past, used a one-party strategy," Tafel said at the workshop. "But we strengthen each other’s hand by working on both sides of the aisle."

At the faith roundtable discussion, the Rev. Janie Spahr said, "I don’t care what ‘they’ think. I care what I think. I care what we think. We have an agenda now, and it’s around wellness and wholeness." (by Clint Steib)

The panelists also mentioned that Lesbian candidates in Wisconsin (Tammy Baldwin), California (Christine Kehoe), and Washington state (Greta Cammermeyer) will seek seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1998.

In addition to workshops on electoral politics, NGLTF held an all-day "Sex-Panic Summit," as well as a community forum and four workshops about the right to sexual self-determination.

The term "sex-panic" is being used nowadays to address issues over how public today’s sexual culture should be. Proponents for more sexual freedom want unrestricted access to sex clubs and public bathhouses, among other venues. A crackdown on such public places by police and state legislators has created what they describe as "sex panic."

"There is new legislation -- restrictive policies and Draconian measures -- against Gay men who engage in sex in public bathhouses, sex clubs, and other places," explained Tony Valenzuela, 29, a writer and political organizer from San Diego who coordinated the related discussions at the conference.

The controversial topic, which has been garnering attention primarily in New York and California, prompted a range of reactions at the conference.

Longtime Lesbian activist Robin Tyler said Gay men have a responsibility to the entire community not to be promiscuous or to engage in unsafe sexual practices. Lesbians have helped Gay men during the AIDS epidemic, she said, sometimes neglecting their own unique health issues.

"Do what you want," Tyler told Valenzuela and other panelists at the community forum, "but I’m not going to be there to clean up after you this time."

Valenzuela, who described himself as a sex radical and as promiscuous, said the Gay community is making false links between public sex, promiscuity, and HIV infection.

He identified himself as having HIV infection and noted that he earns a living by acting in pornographic movies and working as an escort for Gay men.

But in defense of the sex-panic movement, Valenzuela said that no one is arguing for sex without regard for health. Proponents, he said, want the right to a sexual life without shame and stigma, and free from government intervention.

"It seems the more political and cultural gains we make in the Gay community," he said, "the more we distance ourselves from our sexuality and, in particular, marginalized sexuality, such as promiscuity."

In a related workshop, a panelist from the Audre Lorde Project, a center in New York that addresses issues affecting Gay people of color, said the Gay community should redefine the parameters of the sex-panic debate.

Joo-Hyun Kang, spokesperson for the Audre Lorde Project, cited as an example sex panic debates in New York over a school curriculum that would have acknowledged the existence of Gay families. Another example, Kang said, involved a recent police brutality case there that involved a Haitian man, Abner Louima, who was sodomized, allegedly by police.

Kang also noted that politically conservative Gay white men in San Antonio, Texas, help lead efforts to block funding for the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center in that city.

"The center, which is operated by Latina Lesbians and people of color, has been defunded by 100 percent," she said, noting that critics dismissed some of the center’s arts efforts as pornographic. "That’s a result of sex panic."

In addition to conversations about politics and sexuality, Gay civil rights activists who are people of faith participated in a groundbreaking roundtable discussion at the conference.

"In essence, we have a need to reclaim our spirituality from those who have tried to take it away from us," said Stephanie Burns, justice ministry coordinator at a Metropolitan Community Church in Northern Virginia. Burns helped organize the faith roundtable discussion by inviting 200 faith-based activists in the Gay community from across the nation to participate.

Rich Tafel of Log Cabin Republicans attended; it was the first time a national GOP leader was invited to play such a visible role at the conference. (by Clint Steib)

"Many of us are feeling a sense of our wholeness and want to get on with our agenda," said the Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr, a Presbyterian minister and Lesbian evangelist based in San Rafael, Calif. "I am not reactive anymore. I don’t care what ‘they’ think. I care what I think. I care what we think. We have an agenda now, and it’s around wellness and wholeness."

The "Spirituality Caucus" read a statement at the conference’s closing plenary on Nov. 16, urging Gay political activists to make more room for them in the movement.

NGLTF head Lobel said this was part of an effort to get Gays to reclaim their spirituality and not cede it to the religious right.

"I kept hearing people say the [religious] right has churches and they can talk to people every week and collect money and that we don’t have that," she said. "I thought that was absolutely not true."

"For many of us, our political activism and our spirituality fuel each other," added Lobel, who is Jewish. "The gathering helped bridge that gap."

This year’s conference also offered high school and college-age students a more visible role. About 200 young adults stood and cheered during the plenary speech made on Nov. 15 by Roland Sintos Coloma, a 1996 graduate of NGLTF’s Youth Leadership Institute.

"We despise and resist institutions governed by adults that continuously silence our voices, police our bodies, dictate our actions, shackle our spirits, and cage our humanity," said Coloma, a 24-year-old teacher in California.

"In fact, we aim to transform these very same institutions," he added. "We dare to create our own safer spaces, push the boundaries of tolerance, and make our own moves in spite and because of other people’s refusal, neglect, incompetence, lack of vision and sincerity."

Lobel said more youths are emerging in the Gay civil rights movement who want to create supportive places for themselves in response to emotional and physical attacks at schools.

"All too often, I think adults aren’t responsive to youth issues and they’ve had to lead," she said. "If they were going to wait [for help from adults], they might have to wait a long time."

At the other end of this spectrum were older Gays, who urged conference attendees to reserve room for them in the movement.

"I am and was an activist my entire life," said Shevy Healey, 75, a member of Old Lesbians Organizing for Change (OLOC). With her partner, Ruth Silver, watching, Healey described herself as a Communist, a feminist, a Jew, a Lesbian, and an "old woman."

"I survived McCarthy’s witch-hunts," Healey said. "The backlash of the religious right today comes as close to scaring me as the McCarthy days.

"But it was in those days that I learned to tell people who I was," she added. "I feel the safest when I’m most open about who I am."

NGLTF presented its Community Service Award at this year’s conference to longtime activists Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, who in 1955 founded Daughters of Bilitis, a social and political organization for Lesbians.

Tim Gill, who invented Quark software and heads the Gill Foundation, accepted a similar award for his ongoing efforts to help Gay organizations and activists who live in small towns. During Gill’s acceptance speech, he urged audience members to locate organizations in small towns that need money, or other forms of assistance, and report this to him at next year’s conference.

"That’s the place," he said, "we’re really the most vulnerable."