Date: Mon, 1 Nov 1999 11:13:54 -0500 From: David Elliot Subject: [NGLTF PRESS] OP-ED: Coalition-building fuels change RETRANSMITTING: Kerry Lobel's November Op-Ed ********************************************* NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE PRESS RELEASE Contact: David Elliot, Communications Director 202-332-6483 ext. 3303 800-757-6476 pager delliot@ngltf.org http://www.ngltf.org 1700 Kalorama Road NW, Washington, DC ********************************************* Attention editors: An earlier version of this op-ed contained a typo. Please use this version instead. This opinion/commentary is written by Kerry Lobel, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. For mug shots, please contact the NGLTF communications department. Coalition Politics: The Work That Fuels Progressive Change By Kerry Lobel November 1999 Last month, the folks at the Lambda Book Report asked me to write a short article about a book or books that had informed my life as an organizer. One of my favorite picks was "Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology," edited by Barbara Smith. My copy is well worn and the essay by Bernice Johnson Reagon, "Coalition Politics: Turning the Century" is especially dog-eared. The essay stems from a talk Reagon gave in 1981 at the beginning of that decade and her argument was both simple and profound: our need for each other, our ultimate interdependence, creates a political atmosphere particularly conducive to coalition building. She argues that by building coalitions, we move beyond our own comfortable rooms and into a world where social change is truly possible. She knows, as most of us do, that the work of coalition building for social change pinches and pulls. She writes, "Coalition work is not work done in your home...And it is some of the most dangerous work you can do. And you shouldn't look for comfort. Some people will come to a coalition and they rate the success of the coalition whether or not they feel good when they get there. They're not looking for a coalition, they're looking for a home! They're looking for a bottle with some milk in it and a nipple, which doesn't happen in a coalition. You don't get a lot of food in a coalition. You don't get fed a lot in a coalition. In a coalition you have to give, and it is different from your home. You can't stay there all the time. You go the coalition for a few hours and then you go back and take your bottle wherever it is, and then you go back and coalesce some more." Reagon challenges us to move beyond our own safety and to unbar the doors of the rooms that divide us from each other, to move freely and intentionally from room to room. To do so, will require some of us to feel uncomfortable, but our discomfort may be a sure sign that something is changing around us. One of the places needing changing is the leadership of our GLBT movement. Our movement's leadership, to be blunt, lacks diversity. Although many national GLBT groups have closed the gender gap in leadership positions, few have crossed the race line. People of color in leadership positions abound, many running local and national nonprofits in the HIV/AIDS movement, others serving as elected or appointed officials, others still working in non-GLBT social change organizations. But overall, the leadership ranks of the largest GLBT organizations do not reflect the racial diversity of American society. In fact, only one GLBT organization, LLEGO, is headed by a person of color. At NGLTF, we are trying to do our part to unbar the doors. We recently convened the National Leadership Roundtable to discuss the barriers to people of color leadership of the GLBT movement. We're looking at ways to strengthen local people of color GLBT groups - and are calling on others to do the same. We also were pleased to recently receive a $200,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to study the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender elderly, people of color and those who are poor or on limited incomes As Reagon argues, by building coalitions, we have moved beyond our own comfortable rooms and into a world where social change is truly possible. That's what progressive movements are all about. And that is why we who are lucky enough to labor in a progressive movement come to work every day. _____________________________________________________________________ Founded in 1973, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force works to eliminate prejudice, violence and injustice against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people at the local, state and national level. As part of a broader social justice movement for freedom, justice and equality, NGLTF is creating a world that respects and celebrates the diversity of human expression and identity where all people may fully participate in society. _________________________________________________________________ The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force presents the Creating Change conference - the nation's premier conference for activists and organizers in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender movement. November 10-14 * Oakland, CA * http://www.creatingchange.org _________________________________________ _________________________________________ This message was issued by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Communications Department. If you have a question regarding this post, please direct it to the contact at the top of this message. To reach the NGLTF Communications Department at NGLTF, please call David Elliot, Communications Director, at 202-332-6483 x3303 or pager 800-757-6476. 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