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2014 was best — and worst — of times

Year brought ‘trans tipping point’ but tragedy in Ferguson

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Best of Times, gay news, Washington Blade
Best of Times, gay news, Washington Blade

(Image public domain)

“I wish you would make up your mind, Mr. Dickens,” an editor says to Charles Dickens in an iconic New Yorker cartoon, “Was it the best of times or was it the worst of times?”

Last year was the best and the worst of times.

Writing this, I hear on the news that same-sex marriage is now legal in Florida, our country’s third largest state. A couple that has been together for 40 years talks about being able, finally, to marry. Now, same-sex couples can marry in 36 states, plus Washington, D.C. President Obama signed an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from engaging in discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Last year proved once again that coming out still matters in our culture where homophobia is all too alive and well. Apple CEO Tim Cook became the first Fortune 500 CEO to come out. You’d have had to be made of stone not to have been inspired when Cook said, “I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.”

I know nothing about football, but I was among the many in 2014 who were thrilled when Michael Sam became the first openly gay player to be drafted by the National Football League.  A kiss may, as the song says, be “just a kiss.” But it was a lot more than that when Sam kissed his boyfriend to celebrate his having been drafted by the St. Louis Rams. The Rams later cut him, but “the kiss” will live on forever.

Kudos to “Orange is the New Black” star Laverne Cox! It takes a star to make the cover of Time magazine. As Time’s caption said, it was “The Transgender Tipping Point.”

Props to Pope Francis. An institution like the Catholic Church won’t quickly or easily change its attitudes toward LGBT people. Yet, the Pope has (partly) opened the church’s long-closed windows (toward acceptance and inclusion of LGBT people).

Unfortunately, there was much to decry in 2014. Who among us will ever forget Ferguson and the police killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and John Crawford III and the failure of grand juries to indict the police involved in these shootings? Like many of us, I’m appalled by these shootings, and I hope that I’m not racist. Yet, an article in the January/February issue of Mother Jones tells how research shows that most of us have “racial” biases that “we cannot consciously control.” More than half (51 percent) of those who take the Implicit Association Test, an online test that measures unconscious racial prejudices, “show moderate to strong bias,” the magazine reports.

Racism is still entrenched in the culture at large and in the LGBT community. Yet, there’s a glimmer of hope. “Research suggests that once we understand the psychological pathways that lead to prejudice, we just might be able to train our brains to go in the opposite direction,” writes Chris Mooney, author of the Mother Jones piece.

If I could get everyone to read one book, it would be Charles M. Blow’s memoir “Fire Shut Up in My Bones.” Blow writes of growing up, black and dirt-poor in rural Louisiana. Political issues of race, poverty and sexuality become engagingly personal in his work.

As the Blade reported in its yearlong series, poverty is a searing reality for many – from youth to elders – in the LGBT community.

LGBT people still have no federal protection against employment discrimination. We can be fired just for being queer in 29 states.

Creative artists – from actors to poets – make art no matter what the year. Highlights from 2014 for me included seeing the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C.’s production of Noel Coward’s “Private Lives;” interviewing poet Venus Thrash for the Blade; and watching Lily Tomlin receive a Kennedy Center Honor on TV.

It’s tempting, with all the bad news, to give in to despair.  But, in the spirit of the New Year, let’s do what we can. Some ideas: Volunteer with Food and Friends, donate to Different Drummers, or support Split This Rock – the D.C. organization that fosters a national network of socially engaged poets.

Here’s to a better 2015!

 

Kathi Wolfe, a writer and poet, is a regular contributor to the Blade.

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What’s next for the LGBTQ movement?

Trump’s win requires us to organize, focus on protecting trans community

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(Washington Blade photo by Ernesto Valle)

These are frightening times for those of us on the target list of Project 2025, the blueprint for Donald Trump’s second term that he secured in landslide fashion on Tuesday.

Many of us are wondering how this could happen again. Kamala Harris is one of the most qualified presidential candidates to run in our lifetime. She ran against a 34-times convicted felon who staged an insurrection against the government and who faces a sentencing hearing in just three weeks for his crimes. A man who was twice impeached, who courts Vladimir Putin’s attention and approval, and who was found liable for sexual assault. Despite that last fact — and Trump’s bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade — 44 percent of women voters supported him, far more than the polls and pundits predicted.

Those polls turned out to be pretty accurate and Harris was brought down by lingering concerns over the economy and the toll inflation has taken on lower and middle class Americans. Sure, sexism, and racism played a role in this, but too many of us live in a bubble, insulated from the everyday concerns of disaffected blue collar Americans. While many of us crowed about last week’s Wall Street Journal lead story on the booming U.S. economy being the envy of the world, voters in the former “Blue Wall” states were struggling to put food on the table. When you can’t feed your family, you’re not going to vote for the incumbent vice president. 

So what’s next? We’ve seen this movie before. Trump will appoint a series of sycophants to run the government; he will undermine the federal workforce and try to fire as many longtime civil servants as he can. He will have a compliant GOP-majority Senate to rubberstamp his Cabinet and judicial appointees. He will probably ban transgender service members from the military on day one. The list goes on.

“The next conservative President must make the institutions of American civil society hard targets for woke culture warriors,” Project 2025 begins. “This starts with deleting the terms sexual orientation and gender identity, diversity, equity and inclusion, gender, gender equality, gender awareness, gender-sensitive … out of every federal rule, agency regulation, contracts, grant regulation, and piece of legislation that exists.”

Indeed, Project 2025 seeks to send us all back to the closet. But, as Harris rightly intoned throughout her short campaign: We are not going back.

The good news — and there is some — is that voters for the first time elected two Black women to the U.S. Senate to serve at the same time, Angela Alsobrooks in Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester in Delaware. Sarah McBride becomes our nation’s first out transgender member of Congress. She’s a formidable figure and will be an important voice for trans equality in the face of Trump’s inevitable attacks. At this writing, control of the House hasn’t been decided. If the Democrats can manage to flip it, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a capable strategist, becomes the face of our resistance.

We need our LGBTQ allies and advocacy groups more than ever. If you have the resources, donate to Lambda Legal and other legal groups gearing up for the many battles ahead, including over marriage equality. (Some more good news on that front, as California voters overwhelmingly approved Prop 3, which will enshrine marriage rights in the constitution of our largest state.) Volunteer your time with your local equality group, especially if you live in a state like Florida with draconian anti-LGBTQ laws on the books. 

No one said being part of a social justice movement would be easy. Sometimes pioneers in these fights don’t live to see the end of the road. Now’s the time to double down on hard work, determination, and compassion, especially for the trans community, which sadly will take the brunt of the incoming attacks. Those of us who are a bit older need to reassure younger voters and activists that their efforts this time are not in vain. Harris’s meteoric ascent to the top of the Democratic ticket and the incredible campaign she ran will make it easier for the next woman to run. That final, ultimate glass ceiling will fall in our lifetime.

So for now, take a breath. Hug the dog. Take a walk in the woods, whatever you need to refocus. Four years is a blip and will fly by. The Democratic bench is deep. And the march toward full equality for our community is unstoppable. Setbacks are inevitable but we learned a long time ago that love wins. So fight on.

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Independent parliamentary candidate campaign fulfilled my right as a queer Motswana

Botswana’s 13th general election took place Oct. 30

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Dumi Gatsha (Photo courtesy of Dumi Gatsha)

I had the privilege to run as an independent candidate for parliament during Botswana’s recent and most historic election. While I was not elected, my privilege to exercise my right to stand as a citizen was fulfilled, most notably, as an out and proudly queer feminist nonbinary individual in my youth

There are many reasons that lead to my decision to run, one of them being the anti-LGBTI developments that were occurring in my country, along with several others across Africa. Most notably, when our speaker of parliament attended a regional meeting on African sovereignty and values veiled against anything human rights related: Including reproductive and queer rights.

I could not understand how a member of parliament could question the fundamental basis of having three arms of government because of a court of appeal ruling that affirmed our rights as queer people. I could not understand how the church could protest against a constitutional review bill but not the corruption, gender based violence or poverty across the country. I could not understand how elected leaders could not publicly defend the rights of indigenous peoples that were consistently trampled on by the executive. I could not, sit with all I know and advocate for, allow for public discourse to perpetuate harmful gender norms and a lack of accountability from government. What I could do was stand for my rights in contrast to what I have done before in my activism — as a parliamentary candidate.

This is a mark of progress, from a country that previously denied LGBT registration to decriminalizing same-sex intimacy. It has been a frustrating journey of gaslighting erasure on a personal and professional level. I’ve had several undesirable encounters with law enforcement ranging from threats to be shot to having my phone confiscated. I have seen government absolve itself from accountability to its people while presenting itself as a beacon at the United Nations in Geneva and New York. These are not in isolation and neither am I special, as many queer Batswana continue to be questioned because their national identity cards present differently from who they are or how they dress in person. More importantly, how countrywide poverty, inequity disenfranchised my people are. Including those living with HIV, with disabilities, sex workers, indigenous people, ethnic minorities, and migrants among many others. 

We continuously have to fight for our dignity as stigma and discrimination strip away at our personhood and humanity. Whether in convenience stores, banking halls, or government service point — identity serves as a barrier to “Setho” in Setswana or “Ubuntu” in Zulu. All these challenges aside, I have often questioned how many more sanitary pads to donate, petitions to make, and radio interviews to do to achieve meaningful change. The many theories of change and M&E frameworks I have contributed to have not done enough. The projects I have designed, campaigned through, and deemed a “success” have yet to meaningfully shift realities across the country. 

It is this conundrum I have to fight with. Where my conscience has to answer whether it’s enough to raise awareness or translate human rights documents into local languages. Whether it’s enough that I have written too many reports to count or assisted too many survivors as a form of my own healing. While these questions linger at the back of my mind, I am privileged to draw from the likes of Hajiya Gambo Sawaba (Nigeria), Nomzamo Winifred Zanyiwe Madikizela-Mandela (South Africa), Dr. Stella Nyanzi (Uganda), and many other feminists who have stood against injustice and taken up general elections candidacy in their quest for justice. I find glee in the fact that this gives opportunity to another somewhere within our challenging continent, to take up the battle for queer liberation in an era that continuously wants to deny us belonging and becoming.

Dumi Gatsha is a consultant and founder of Success Capital Organization, a grassroots NGO working in the nexus of human rights and sustainable development at grassroots, regional, and global levels.

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A final plea: Vote for Kamala Harris

For the sake of our democracy there is no other choice

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Vice President Kamala Harris (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

I have written, and talked my heart out to those within the sound of my voice, to get them to vote, and vote for Kamala Harris. I truly believe for the sake of our democracy, and literally for so many lives, there is no other choice. 

I, like so many others, was appalled, and frightened, when listening to Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally. Yes, it was reminiscent of a Nazi rally held there in 1939, and Trump knew that. After all, it has been reported by one of his wives, he has had three and cheated on all of them, that he had Hitler’s Mein Kampf, on his nightstand at one point. The speakers at the rally were truly insane, and managed to insult every ethnic and religious group in the nation, maybe with one exception; male, Caucasian, Christians. One speaker called all Puerto Ricans garbage, when actually the garbage were the speakers on the platform. The speakers, who Trump chose, insulted women, African Americans, all Latinos, the LGBTQ+ community, Jews (yes, he has actually said there are things about Hitler he admires), and all immigrants. They managed to play Dixie before an African American Congressperson from Florida took the stage, and apparently, they, and even he, thought it was OK. They had the drunk Rudy Guiliani there, and one of Oprah’s biggest mistakes, Dr. Phil. It was a sickening spectacle. 

But there is some hope it just may have been the Trump campaign’s biggest mistake. Those who cheered what was said, are already his voters. But so many Independents, and remaining decent Republicans, may have been turned off and scared enough, by what they heard, to vote for Harris. There are enough Puerto Ricans in some of the swing states to make the difference for Harris. As I have written, and so many have said, “believe him when he speaks,” because while he lies about policy and facts, he is saying his truths on the culture wars, no matter how disgusting they sound. Those around him share his views and will be part of his administration should he win. They will be the ones to implement Project 2025, and they will be the ones screwing all our allies. They will be the ones to forfeit Ukraine to Putin, and end any hope for the Palestinian people to ever live safe, secure, and happy lives, in a state of their own. 

Trump can be accurately and truthfully described as; old, a convicted felon, found liable for sexual assault, racist, sexist, homophobic pig. This is what those people with their MAGA hats want as their President. So sad for them because he will happily screw them once he is elected. He will give tax breaks to millionaire and billionaire friends, he will happily break unions, he will stop all women from controlling their own bodies, he will put tariffs on all imported goods costing each family an estimated $4,000 a year. Project 2025 suggests ending the Federal Deposit Insurance Fund, so when your bank goes under, you will lose any money you have there. He doesn’t care!

I grew up in a different time in politics. My heroes were John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Yes, they were all assassinated, and we grieved for them as a nation. But as a nation we used our grief to make changes for the better. We passed civil rights laws, and passed a voting rights act. We managed to pass some gun control legislation, and it made a difference. I stayed involved in politics because of them, I cared. Martin Luther King, Jr., who I was honored to meet and talk with when I was sixteen, told me “One person can make a difference if they care enough, and are willing to work hard to do it.” I took that to heart my whole life. Today that difference is to ensure the election of Kamala Harris, and the defeat of Donald Trump. It is actually a fight between good and evil, as he is truly evil. He is venal, and doesn’t care who he hurts or screws. He has said he will use the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service to wreak revenge on his enemies. He has said he wants to be a dictator on day one. I can’t say it enough, or loud enough, BELIEVE HIM!

So, on November 5th if you haven’t cast your ballot yet, come out and vote for Kamala Harris. Please understand, your one vote will make a difference for all Americans, and truly, for the world. 

Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist.

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