It’s nice to see the Wall Street Journaltouching on the growing number of openly gay CEOs especially when they are up front about the stakes of being open in the workplace:
Some top executives are tiptoeing out of the closet about their sexuality. Many describe their coming-out experiences as unexpectedly painless—and most say they were met with overwhelming support.
…
Being gay in the corporate world is still far from being a “nonissue,” said Deena Fidas, deputy director of corporate programs at Human Rights Campaign, the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil-rights group in the U.S. Companies can still legally fire a worker for being gay in 29 states, for one, and many subtle biases remain in the workplace, according to the group.
Queer rights are of course really class rights. The top 1% of CEOs could undoubtedly survive being fired for queerness. Human Rights Campaign has sold out queer rights many times, acts like workplace rights themselves are a non-issue compared to marriage and certaily doesn’t deserve to be called a transgender civil-rights group.
What good is marriage if (some) worker can be fired for talking about your partner? That’s what’s on my mind tonight.
What’s on yours? This is the latest MyFDL open thread.
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on MyFDL, unlike most cities Austin celebrates ‘official’ LGBTQ pride in September. However for the past two years the same organization which holds pride has honored the actual anniversary of the Stonewall Riots with a rally at the Texas State Capitol. A small contingent of the Occupy Austin OccuQueers attended last Thursday, bringing our new Stonewall Was a Riot banner along with fliers for OccupyJ4 (our own all-day Independence Day rally at the Capitol).
About 75 people gathered for the rally by the south steps of the Capitol. As members of the queer community recited the history of the day and read from first-hand accounts, it was hard not to compare the radical, angry nature of the original riots with the sedate, low energy rally. Though there may be valid complaints about Austin’s official queer pride events (such as their sponsorship by Wells Fargo), I can’t lay all the blame at their feet — in weather over a hundred degrees, it was hard to imagine much more revolutionary fervor from that crowd. It was still interesting to compare where we’d been (angry drag queens throwing pennies at police) with where we are now (long debates between nonviolent activist groups about the definition of nonviolence), for better or worse.
For me the highlight of the rally was a drag show with about a dozen drag queens. It may have been a historic occasion — possibly the first every drag show at the Texas Capitol. Just as importantly, it was a gesture by Austin’s Pride organizers that they aren’t trying to whitewash the history of pride, as has often been the case with other events (or groups like Human Rights Campaign and their anti-transgender stances).
There was an even bigger sense of community — and I believe a bigger turn out — the following day for a vigil for Kristene Chapa and Mollie Olgin, the two victims of a shooting in Portland, Texas, one of two dozen vigils organized across North America by Get Equal TX. Mollie Olgin died at the scene, but her girlfriend Mary Kristene Chapa remains in the hospital without health insurance, though she has recovered consciousness, motion to one side of her body, and memory of the night of the shooting. In Austin, our numbers filled City Hall steps and spilled over beyond.
Two members of the OccupyAustin OccuQueers 'Rainbowbloc' at the Austin Stonewall Rally (Photo: @OccuQueers, used with permission).
This rally was an opportunity for the queer community to draw together in our grief, to send not just supportive energy, but also comforting notes, gifts, and financial support to the survivors of this tragedy. We set up a small altar; it began with a stuffed animal and some lights and ended the night covered in signs, flowers, glowing LED lights and other gifts as each of the dozens in attendance visited it to pray, reflect, or meditate on the events. I choked up a little when I saw a sign reading “Your Austin Family Loves You” surrounded by glowing offerings. That was hardly the only moment that tugged on our hearts — I was not the only one with tears in my eyes as Michael Diviesti led the vigil in singing (see video above) or when event organizer Amanda Williams and gay dad Paul Rodriguez‘s voices quavered with emotion as they compared Kristine & Mollie to their own children.
Though police still say there is no sign that sexual orientation provoked the killer, we all have to join together against crimes that are so hateful, regardless of whether they qualify as hate crimes. At the end of the night, the girls’ relatives and friends seemed deeply moved as we helped them fill bags with our gifts — moved by the outpouring of loving, grieving, unified energy as much as by anything physical we’d given.
OccuPride Banner in Chicago (Photo: Philip DeVon, used with permission)
If you had, at the time, asked a participant in the Stonewall Riots—whose occurrence annual LGBTQ Pride parades commemorate—whether they envisioned a future where their cause was vocally supported by JP Morgan, Doritos, and the President of the United States, chances are your answer would have been a swift and sure “No.” But, in 21st century America, this is the case, and, sadly, Pride has let itself be changed by this, with little thought given to the consequences and ramifications.
Let this be said: Chicago Pride was awesome. Hundreds of thousands (850,000 by the city of Chicago’s estimation) joined together in Chicago’s Lakeview and Wrigleyville neighborhoods in an exuberant celebration of humanity. People of all races, ages, sexual orientations and gender identities celebrated the wonder of life in all its forms. Gay cowboys line-danced. Dykes occupied their bikes. Even the handful of bigots ended up looking silly, flanked on either side by a sign directed at the preacher (“Secretly Gay”) and an honest to goodness “Gay Jesus” impersonator, fabulous from beard to sandals. It really was beautiful. In one interfaith segment, Mormons, Catholics, Buddhists, and other groups marched, carrying signs saying, “Gays are God’s People.” Even with all the upbeat, sun-driven joy, however, there were a number of troubling elements to the parade.
Underwritten by the 1%
Pride initially represented the cry, “We exist!” shouted from an ignored and stigmatized community to the larger population of the country. It was a celebration of the margins. While this is still the case in some ways, the LGBTQ community has now found itself underwritten by the most oppressive elements of American society—banks, politicians, and corporations, the ultimate ostracizers—and it has largely accepted this. It is a shift almost as dizzying in scope as the shift in mainstream consciousness towards LGBTQ rights. Decades ago, from the margins came a movement, one which has now, years later, unfortunately and almost unblinkingly accepted the subsidy of organizations and individuals that actively enable the perpetual, repressive “othering” of the powerless.
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