Handout: Public Speaking Tips - About Homophobia for People of Faith
It is necessary for political and social activists today to work in coalitions which fight a variety of oppressions, a type of organizing in which Meg Riley of the UUA Washington Office specializes. Coalition work, commonly known as "identity politics," often makes for strange bedfellows. This thought-provoking workshop illustrated how racism, classism and sexism are linked, and how, in the struggle to overcome these oppressions, we must be ready to pick and choose carefully which battles to fight, and align ourselves purposefully with others engaged in similar struggles.
Chip Berlet (left), Senior
Analysist, Political Research Associates, believes that the right wing backlash that we are currently experiencing in America is the most sustained backlash in American history. He believes that we need to adopt a different way of thinking about these right wing backlash groups. With 95% of the hate crimes in America being committed by people not affiliated with any hate group, we can no longer continue to link these crimes to a perceived "lunatic fringe." These coalitions of the right wing are organized, heavily financed and fully functional. Berlet emphasized that people who commit hate crimes do not wake up in the morning with a plan to do so, but rather with an idea that in beating up a homosexual or a person of color, they are "protecting their family." They have internalized a narrative, carefully developed and promoted by the right wing to demonize those groups which are the most oppressed, which makes it ok in their minds to commit these crimes. If we are to successfully work for full equity among all classes, races and sexes, we need to pay closer attention to the right wing coalitions, and develop coalitions among our own allies, instead of isolating ourselves into another version of "lunatic fringe."
Rob Cavenaugh, Legislative Director of the UUA Washington Office, works in the halls of Congress to effect legislation which will support Unitarian Universalist and human rights principles. He lamented that the possibility of what we can do is so limited compared to all that needs to be done. One of the two pieces of legislation Cavenaugh is working on is the Religious Liberty Protection Act (RLPA). Working with the Coalition for the Free Exercise of Religion, the UUA has been wrestling with the difficulty in balancing the fight for religious liberty with the need for antidiscrimination laws which protect particular constituencies. Since the Coalition for the Free Exercise of Religion does not support the protection of specific constituencies, our laison with them forces us to make difficult decisions. Campaign finance reform legislation has also made the creation of workable coalitions difficult, as all liberal groups are buying into the concept. Because many are primarily one issue groups, they do not always have the same legislative priorities as we do. Rob ended by stressing that there is nothing that is uniting all fronts, no particular "movement" that can bring diverse people together in a common fight, and that increasing the number of battles one fights is not necessarily the answer to successful social action.
Parisa Parsa of the UU Urban Ministry works in an agency-based coalition. She directs a program at Renewal House Women's Shelter in Boston. When working with women who are trying to free themselves from domestic violence, all issues of class and gender intersect. Issues are so multi-faceted, and the social, emotional and family problems so severe, that direct service programs must help these women actually learn and relearn ways of being in the world which will eventually create a completely new personal and economic reality. In general, funding for direct service programming is linked to the latest trend, and substance abuse, HIV and poverty are no longer popular causes. Empowerment of these women is made more difficult by the popularity of twelve-step programs, which emphasize the lack of power the addict has. To these women, who have lived with feelings of powerlessness all their lives, this is old news, and the struggle to empower these women and to find adequate funding to do so is endless.
Karen Hutt is the co-pastor, with her lesbian partner, of The Church of the Open Door in Chicago's Chicago Lawn area. This church ministers to the African American, B/G/L/T and poor community, and Karen operates in the intersection of race, class and gender issues every day. Part of the church's mission is to meet the community where they are, and to provide a ministry which speaks to the everyday needs of all the groups for whom Open Door exists. Open Door responds to the community; when drug dealers from outside the community set up shop across from the church, Karen found herself engaged in a reverse sting operation with the same police force whom she had had to confront in exposing police brutality when the community experienced the murder by police of four unarmed African-Americans in one month.
Karen's stories of how race, class and gender meet in nearly every social justice struggle with which Open Door is involved were endless. Many of these stories have successful endings, but Karen stressed that the work is never over. "You will always be surprised by who you find yourself working with," she said. "Choose your battles carefully, and who you'll be in coalition with. Let go, and let God take you into the mystery, and never give up!"
Reported by Gina Whitaker, formatted for the web by Margy Levine Young
