The influence of the Gertrude Stein Club is stronger than ever.
For all the hype about hope, Obama is still a
calculating politician.
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REV. V. GENE ROBINSON
Friday, March 16, 2007
THERE HAS BEEN a great deal written about the Human Rights Campaign in the past several months in print and online. Notable media outlets, including the Boston Globe, National Journal and Congressional Quarterly, all cited the organization’s muscle in last November’s election, which helped change the face of Congress in Washington and targeted state houses around the country.
Others, particularly in the LGBT blogosphere, have been more critical of HRC in recent weeks, claiming that the organization is too focused on marketing and branding, and pointedly highlighting the fact that HRC’s two top-tier pieces of legislation — one that would add sexual orientation, gender identity and disability to federal hate crimes statutes, and the other that would ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity — have not yet passed.
Surely the reasons for this failure cannot be laid at the feet of HRC alone, when all of us have been contributing to this as-yet-unsuccessful effort.
As we enter a particularly busy legislative session in Congress, and as we look ahead to the 2008 presidential elections,
I simply wanted to share a few thoughts about all of this.
I am a proud member of the Human Rights Campaign. Beyond that, I am a charter member of HRC’s Religion Council, which is changing the dialogue in this country on faith and the lives of LGBT Americans.
Last summer, the Episcopal Church in the United States elected a new leader, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori — an incredible woman of faith who also believes strongly in the full inclusion of LGBT people in the church. HRC stood with me and helped organize a national press conference, and more importantly, through the HRC Religion Council helped organize our faith community in support of Archbishop Schori’s election, as well as speaking to the issues facing the church’s LGBT members.
THE HRC RELIGION Council has been organized strategically to reach out through the media to tell the stories of LGBT people in a way that has never been done before. From Larry King to the Associated Press, we have spoken to more than 90 million people in a little over a year — on TV, in print and on the radio. Literally, we have spread the good word in this country and are making sure that we are no longer ceding religion and faith issues to the radical right.
It is also worth noting that on occasion, I still hear grumblings out there in the world that HRC has its own building. I think that the business plan for purchasing a building rather than wasting money on rent in Washington speaks for itself.
But more important than the dollars and cents, the building is an important and powerful gathering place. Last November, when the Episcopal Church gathered at the National Cathedral in Washington for Archbishop Schori’s investiture, I hosted a meeting at the HRC building of 12 other bishops who were consecrated with me in 2003 — some of whom are not particularly good on LGBT issues. Bringing that group of people into the proud, open, welcoming space that is the HRC building was an important “a-ha!” for each of them. HRC’s hospitality was both a surprise to them, and a great opportunity for outreach and advocacy.
IN SHARING THESE thoughts right now, I hope that we can decide as a community that infighting and back biting are not going to serve any of us well during this legislative cycle when we are poised for so much important success.
Maybe you think, like I do, that HRC is an important organization that is leading the fight for our equality with grace and savvy. Maybe you disagree. Each organization within our movement brings its own gifts and expertise to our combined efforts, but attacking one another, instead of our oppressors, will never help us achieve our goals.
As we work to make a more respectful, understanding and inclusive nation for all Americans, let us in the LGBT community treat one another with dignity and a sense of shared mission.
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