A Breakthrough Conversation
I was so moved by the response from Bella’s post last month, I felt c
ompelled to share a story of my own about the work we do to open minds and change hearts for full LGBT equality.
During a recent phone bank, I contacted a California voter about the FAIR Education Act. As I described how the FAIR Education Act would place the achievements and struggles of LGBT people into history books and social science classes, she abruptly interrupted me by saying, “Why do we need to talk about a person being gay? We should just focus on what a person has done.” I then told her that gay people have had to fight for equality throughout history. I explained that only a couple of decades ago The Briggs initiative would have made it illegal for gay people to teach in California’s public schools. She agreed such a law was unfair. I asked if she or her family had ever experienced discrimination. She told me how she had recently been harassed by a store owner in Arizona because she was Mexican. She believes that this happened because of SB 1070, the anti-illegal immigration law. I took this opportunity to tell her that when gay folks were faced with the insanity of the Briggs initiative, they organized and successfully defeated that law in historic fashion. We both agreed that a law like the Briggs initiative and a law like SB 1070 were equally unfair. I explained that because LGBT Americans have been the victims of exclusion throughout history, they have had no choice but to organize to fight for basic rights, just like people have been doing in Arizona recently. I asked her if she believed that all people who fought equality should be included in history books–she said they should. At this point she told me that the history of the LGBT movement and LGBT people should be taught in schools and that she fully supported the FAIR Education Act.
Within minutes, miles of progress can take place and these are critical conversations to have in order to combat our opponent’s scare tactics.Rich Text AreaToolbarBold (Ctrl / Alt+Shift + B)Italic (Ctrl / Alt+Shift + I)Strikethrough (Alt+Shift+D)Unordered list (Alt+Shift+U)Ordered list (Alt+Shift+O)Blockquote (Alt+Shift+Q)Align Left (Alt+Shift+L)Align Center (Alt+Shift+C)Align Right (Alt+Shift+R)Insert/edit link (Alt+Shift+A)Unlink (Alt+Shift+S)Insert More Tag (Alt+Shift+T)Toggle spellchecker (Alt+Shift+N)▼
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I was so moved by the response from Bella’s post last month, I felt compelled to share a story of my own about the work we do to open minds and change hearts for full LGBT equality.
During a recent phone bank, I contacted a California voter about the FAIR Education Act. As I described how the FAIR Education Act would place the achievements and struggles of LGBT people into history books and social science classes, she abruptly interrupted me by saying, “Why do we need to talk about a person being gay? We should just focus on what a person has done.” I then told her that gay people have had to fight for equality throughout history. I explained that only a couple of decades ago The Briggs initiative would have made it illegal for gay people to teach in California’s public schools. She agreed such a law was unfair. I asked if she or her family had ever experienced discrimination. She told me how she had recently been harassed by a store owner in Arizona because she was Mexican. She believes that this happened because of SB 1070, the anti-illegal immigration law. I took this opportunity to tell her that when gay folks were faced with the insanity of the Briggs initiative, they organized and successfully defeated that law in historic fashion. We both agreed that a law like the Briggs initiative and a law like SB 1070 were equally unfair. I explained that because LGBT Americans have been the victims of exclusion throughout history, they have had no choice but to organize to fight for basic rights, just like people have been doing in Arizona recently. I asked her if she believed that all people who fought equality should be included in history books–she said they should. At this point she told me that the history of the LGBT movement and LGBT people should be taught in schools and that she fully supported the FAIR Education Act.
Within minutes, miles of progress can take place and these are critical conversations to have in order to combat our opponent’s scare tactics.
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