Under Obama: "LGBT Change is Coming" -- Or Is It?
With just over a month to go until President-Elect Barack Obama's inauguration, many leaders in the LGBT community wonder whether campaign pronouncements for change will see a life beyond rhetoric, particularly following the Obama's selection Wednesday of an anti-gay evangelical, Rev. Rick Warren, to deliver his inauguration's invocation.
These concerns were addressed in Chicago on Saturday when the Center on Halsted hosted a community discussion forum addressing the Obama administration's policy on LGBT issues. The forum, titled "LGBT Change is Coming" and organized by LGBTchange.org, attracted an impressive array of community leaders and activists as panelists. Approximately 70 individuals attended the event -- slightly more if you include the gathering of five protesters from the God Hates Fags/Westboro Baptist Church clan who picketed outside the center before the forum's start.
As expected, topics like gay marriage, domestic partner benefits and workplace discrimination were part of the conversation as main tenants of Obama's policy. Other topics included among those proposed by the President-Elect included the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, expanded adoption rights, and HIV/AIDS prevention services.
But perhaps more interesting than the above were the topics addressed that are invisible in the Obama team's plan, including issues facing LGBT youth, the LGBT elderly, support for community organizing and trans-inclusivity efforts. It was during this discussion that the question arose whether the title of the forum itself was a misnomer at heart.
"I was taken aback by the name of this forum - Change is Coming - as if now, all of a sudden that Barack Obama is here, change is going to come from the sky," said Sam Finklestien, a GenderJust community organizer. "But I just want to remind us all that we need to keep on organizing, keep on fighting, keep on having conversations like these if change - real, meaningful and stable change - is going to come."
Finkelstien's sentiments were echoed during the final panel of the forum featuring a group of out Chicago-area elected politicos and judges. Officials, including 13th District State Representative Greg Harris and 44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney, provided their advice on creating lasting change and holding elected officials like Obama accountable to the LGBT community's concerns. According to panelist Deborah Shore, a Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commission member, it might not be as complicated as some would think.
"How to advance our agenda and bring issues into action, my guess is that my colleagues would tell you that the most effective thing you can do is contact your elected official personally," Shore explained. "Remember, politicians follow. They rarely lead. It's the public, the culture that leads most of the time so force us, push us to do what we need to do."
It is the "what we need to do" part of the equation that is often most contentious, as demonstrated by the broadness of the forum. Between the number of issues discussed, the number of speakers included in the two-hour panel (over 20 took to the stage, all told) and the issues and concerns addressed by those in attendance, it was clear that one course of community action remained unclear. LGBT leaders will continue to work toward prioritizing the many issues facing our community.
"Our challenge as the LGBT community is to figure out a way to fight for all of these rights, because all of these rights are important," said queer poet and activist Nikki Patin while addressing the prioritizing of fighting marriage bans when compared to poverty and homelessness issues. "What needs to be understood is that we are a community of individuals and individuals all have [different] rights that are a priority to them. To me, its just as important to me for a 16-year-old to have safe housing as it is for two people to love each other to have full and equal protection under the law ... We need to put in the work to make [it all] happen."
A transcript of Saturday's discussion and various materials submitted by panelists will be submitted directly to the Obama camp, in addition to being posted online at http://www.lgbtchange.org