While Emory students were facing a #snowpocalypse, taking cute #selfies in the snow and enjoying an unexpected #break, seven undergraduate and two graduate students were in Houston attending the 26th National Conference for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality (LGBT): Creating Change.
Creating Change is an annual conference organized by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, a non-profit political organization that engages in grassroots organizing for LGBT equality. Recently, LGBT equality has been pigeonholed to only mean legalizing same-sex marriage. This insular message has been fostered by the media and the practice of polarizing politics in the U.S. As in, you are either for or against same-sex marriage, leaving no space for other issues. And if a politician is for marriage, organizations will throw their support and money at them without examining other aspects of their politics. But four thousand queer and allied people showed up in Houston for LGBT equality beyond marriage.
This was my first year at Creating Change and what struck me most about the conference and the Task Force itself was the broad and inclusive definition they had of LGBT equality. Unlike many other LGBT organizations, the Task Force does not have same-sex marriage as their central goal. They are cognizant of the fact that justice for queer people includes immigration reform, youth empowerment, prison reform, health care access equity etc., and have been working on these issues for years. In the past five years that I have organized for LGBT justice, I have never come across a national organization that explicitly acknowledges how inextricably linked these issues are. I went to workshops ranging from "Reproductive Justice" to "Saving Muslim Queers: Islamophobia and the War Against Terror."
Though organizations like the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and American Foundation for Equal Rights are usually cited as the premier LGBT rights group in the U.S., they have mostly remained single-issue organizations. The HRC in particular has a long history of trans exclusion and has been sponsored by drone manufacturers.
At Creating Change the opening keynote speaker was Laverne Cox, an activist and an actress who plays the groundbreaking role of Sophia Burset, an incarcerated African American transgender woman on the show "Orange Is The New Black." In her speech, Cox spoke about her experiences of being a transgender woman of color and how important it is that the LGBT movement push for progressive politics. She brought to attention the alarming rates of violence that transgender women face; she highlighted the case of CeCe McDonald, a transgender woman who was incarcerated for defending herself against a man who was attacking her. Though McDonald is now free, violence against transgender people is an issue that is far too often overlooked. Injustice At Every Turn is a report that the Task Force abides by about the rampant discrimination that transgender and gender non-conforming face in every aspect of their lives.
What kind of LGBT politics are being built if they are not addressing transgender issues? If they are not addressing the injustices of the prison system? If they are not addressing the current immigration policies that are separating families and refusing to create an accessible path to citizenship? If the people engaged in this politic are not advocating to stop the wars that are killing millions of civilians and perpetuating mass atrocities?
Queer activists have spoken out about this mainstream exclusionary gay rights movement. Dozens of local, community-based organizations have started to advocate for a politics that includes anti-war activism, racial justice and centering transgender rights in the movement namely the Audre Lorde Project, FIERCE and Southerners On New Ground.
Here in Atlanta we have JustUsATL, a youth-run organization that provides a safe and affirming space for the Atlanta area's LGBT youth.
By amplifying the voices of queer youth, JustUsATL is empowering the next generation to create the world in which they want to live. Georgia Equality is doing amazing work creating safer schools for all students, protesting the school to prison pipeline, raising awareness about HIV/AIDS and making sure that all voices are brought to the table. Now imagine where our nation would be if every LGBT organization and every queer activist came to work with that outlook.
We were able to go to Creating Change because of generous funding from the J. Michael Aycock Student Leadership Development Fund, Dr. Daniel D. Adame Student Leadership Fund, Emory College Council and a grant from the Alliance for Full Acceptance.
I was honored and deeply moved to share space, learn and grow from queer activists around the nation at Creating Change. It made me believe more than ever that another world is possible. Inclusive politics is possible. Justice is possible.
We're here, we're queer and we demand a liberation movement!
Nowmee Shehab is a College Sophomore from Dhaka, Bangladesh
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