Getting stronger and better

January weather did not deter over two hundred people last Wednesday from showing up to greet returning state legislators in Lansing. They were there to remind them that all citizens in Michigan deserve equal protections under the law.
Participants cheered as State Rep. Chris Kolb (D-Ann Arbor) announced plans to introduce LGBT legislation intended to amend the state Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity protections.
"It is not a moral and just society that does not allow equality for all of us," Kolb told those gathered. "We can not allow Michigan to pretend it is a moral and just state when our families are not allowed to be recognized."
In the same spirit, thousands of fair-minded Michiganders around the state have been gathering to discuss how to move forward in the current political climate since the Nov. 2 election.
Determined to make Proposal 2, the anti-gay marriage amendment, the last "win" for the right wing, community organizers have been meeting in the spirit of cooperation and coordination at a level not seen before.
We support the renewed energy committed to maximizing organizational synergies. Our community has had plenty of experience with personality conflicts and "turf wars" and we are glad to see the organizational leadership maturing into a cooperative force.
No organization can exist in isolation, and no movement can exist in a vacuum. It was heartening to hear the panelists at the Wayne State Town Hall last week each speak out about the LGBT community's need to be present on other issues. Affirmative action, a woman's right to choose, issues of peace and other progressive issues are not beside the point for the LGBT movement, they are part of who we are. Not all LGBT people will be comfortable in a progressive movement, but the LGBT movement must be aligned with other progressive causes or we will end up looking simply selfish and self serving. Not many people will be convinced that an insular group that cares only for itself is worth fighting for.
An African-American woman at the WSU town hall meeting asked Sean Kosofsky of the Triangle Foundation a hypothetical question. She asked if Kosofsky were someday able to become fully enfranchised as a white gay man, would he still have any interest or commitment to her, who would be enfranchised as a lesbian, but would remain still twice-disenfranchised, as a woman and a black person. To his credit, Kosofksy answered strongly that he and his organization are committed to full civil rights for all people.
When asked by a white, gay man if we run the risk of diluting our efforts by aligning with too many progressive issues, Michael Gibson-Faith perhaps said it best when he remarked that we make up our minds what the LGBT movement is and what we stand for, and remain true to it. We cannot leave any part of our humanity at the door when we do our work, nor should we ever ask anyone else to.
It is a hopeful and exciting development that so many LGBT leaders are demonstrating a new commitment to synergistic organization, to a progressive agenda, and to each other. We look forward to seeing more organizational depth, and more progress on LGBT issues as a result.