Top photo from left: dinner co-chair Richard Oceguera, actress Becki
Newton, actress Vanessa Williams, HRC president Joe Solmonese and
dinner co-chair Lori Megown; Ron Zacch of Marriage Equality New York with Rep. Jason Bartlett. Photos: Jeffrey Holmes/HRC. Bottom photos: demonstrators outside the HRC dinner. Photos: Kaitlyn Tikkan.
Thousands united Nov. 12 in front of a Mormon temple in Midtown and marched to Columbus Circle to protest Proposition Hate, er…Proposition 8.
A new generation of activists unites via the Internet. Log on and Join the Impact.
A multimedia SAGE campaign makes LGBT elders more visible—even on New York’s subways and buses.
How will his departure affect LGBT issues in Albany?
Industry leaders powwow to raise questions about the persecution of clubland.
Anti-gay hate crimes are on the rise across the U.S.—homophobic incidents have even surfaced at a local production of play “Judy and Me.”
Spurred by a gay marriage ban in California, simultaneous protests were
held Nov. 14 across the nation. In Manhattan, 4,000 rallied at City Hall.
Next up: A Dec. 10 event called A Day Without a Gay.
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By TRENTON STRAUBE
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The Human Rights Campaign’s gala New York fundraiser unfolded last weekend in typical fashion: Inside, a swank crowd of almost 1,000 mingled during a formal dinner ceremony while outside, about 40 “radical” activists chanted, “You can’t spell LGBT with HRC.”
As the nation’s largest LGBT civil rights and lobbying group, HRC came under heavy criticism last fall when the House of Representatives passed a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, known as ENDA, that was stripped at the last minute of transgender protections.
Not that ENDA was the only point of contention between demonstrators and HRC. Nor is the conflict a new development.
“We have protests all the time,” said HRC president Joe Solmonese. “It’s the nature of the movement.”
The New York dinner drew about the same number of attendees as last year, according to HRC deputy communications director Trevor Thomas. “In terms of revenue, it appears we brought in a little more than last year, although we are still tabulating receipts.”
Regular tickets cost $400; VIP passes went for $600. Funds were also raised through a silent auction.
“Protesting has had no impact on our fundraising or dinners,” Solmonese told The Blade, “except to remind people—and this is a good thing—that there’s a debate within our community and that there’s disagreement about how to move forward.”
Disagreement, indeed. On the surface, the HRC protest seems to be about the place of transgender rights in the LGBT movement—a contentious issue in itself. While specifics of HRC’s involvement in the ENDA flap remain a much-discussed topic (read The Blade’s recent interview with Solmonese here), the controversy has exposed widening rifts within the community about which strategies best secure LGBT equality.
One side of the spectrum maintains working from within the system and building upon small victories, piecemeal at a time—for example, securing civil unions first and then full marriage equality later.
The other side advocates a more leftist, all-or-nothing activism—which is the approach of local group The Radical Homosexual Agenda (RHA), which spearheaded Saturday’s protest.
In the middle lie a range of options and ideas, as was evident among the HRC picketers.
“I wouldn’t say I’m here protesting HRC—I’m here supporting my transgender friends,” said Sister Halleluyeva. Dressed in colorful nun garb, the devout activist is a member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and marched alongside a line of RHA drummers outside the Hilton, where dinner took place.
Gary Parker, former president of the Lambda Independent Democrats, a Brooklyn group, said that he too was taking a stand for transgender people—“They stood by our side at Stonewall; there’s no reason we can’t stay by their side now”—but that he saw larger issues in the HRC/ENDA struggle. “There’s a lack of transparency when HRC’s making these tactical decisions,” he said. “I want HRC to form a committee that would have a say on these decisions.”
Allen Roskoff, president of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, another group to call for a boycott of the dinner, used to be an HRC supporter. In the early ’80s, he even helped organize HRC’s fundraising dinner. Not today. “If I would have known they would stop being a progressive force—that they’d become right of moderate—I’d never have supported them.”
Roskoff faults all versions of the current ENDA. “Even the trans-inclusive ENDA has many exemptions for corporations and religions,” he said. “To ask for piecemeal rights is to say you are unequal.”
To attain full equality, Roskoff wants to amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include LGBT people. He’s working with Congressional members from New York to introduce that legislation. (Introduced in 1973, the bill that became ENDA originally included protections for employment, housing, pubic accommodations and financial credit.)
Both the Jim Owles Dems and the Radical Homosexuals believe that LGBT activists must look beyond gay-specific issues and align themselves with broader human-rights battles.
For Tim Doody, a member of the Radical Homosexual Agenda, HRC is problematic because it takes dirty money from corporations. “Shell colluded with a Nigerian dictator to assassinate an activist in Nigeria,” he said. “Nike continues to use sweatshops in southeast Asia; Chase urged the Mexican government to eliminate the Zapatistas who were trying to work for autonomy from corrupt regional leaders. HRC not only took money from all three but heavily promoted them in its presentations.”
HRC counters that it works within corporate America to create safer workplaces for LGBT employees and to help the business sector lead the country toward equality. According to HRC’s 2008 Corporate Equality Index, 195 Fortune 500 companies scored a perfect 100—a costly accomplishment, according to Doody.
“HRC is trying to advance the rights of some gay people while turning others into second-class citizens, he said.
But is this sort of global perspective counterproductive to the local movement? Does it even represent most LGBT people? For that matter, which groups should speak for the community—is HRC more valid than RHA?
“There’s a re-aligning of the movement,” said HRC’s Solmonese. “Every point of view needs to be heard and voiced.”
N.Y. Lawmakers & HRC Honorees
Meanwhile, inside the Hilton, HRC honored Connecticut state Rep. Jason Bartlett, the African-American politico who came out the very week of the dinner. But most of New York’s legislators and openly gay politicians were absent from the fundraiser. HRC’s Thomas said that was due to scheduling conflicts. Others speculated lawmakers snubbed the event because HRC penalized seven N.Y. lawmakers for voting against an ENDA that excluded transgender protections.
(Similarly, many of the city’s most recognizable transgender activists were absent from the picket line. Melissa Sklarz, for example, of New York Trans Rights Organization, was attending a political event out-of-state.)
Another hypothesis had ENDA protesters forcing HRC to move its event to the Hilton from its previous home at the Waldorf-Astoria. Not true, said Thomas. “The plain and simple truth is that this decision [to move] was made over a year ago.”
At the podium, Solmonese did not gloss over ENDA and its aftermath. He reiterated HRC’s support for a fully inclusive bill but emphasized that progress on the hill doesn’t happen overnight.
“We have to stop complaining,” he said, referencing the LGBT community. “We must see, instead, the big picture. When did we get so impatient? … Let me be clear: No, we are not done. We are in the middle of a fight, and we have to see the big pictures.”
Calls to boycott the event went out to the evening’s honorees, all of whom attended. Ernst & Young LLP received the HRC Corporate Equality Award, Marriage Equality New York (MENY) received the Community Equality Award and Vanessa Williams received the HRC Ally for Equality Award. Each honoree mentioned inclusiveness when on stage.
Before singing her trademark song “Defying Gravity” from the Broadway hit “Wicked,” Idena Menzel told the audience: “I don’t want to piss anybody off [by attending]. I’m just so honored to be here.”
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