Building Coalitions Is the Enemy of My Enemy My Friend?
Imagine if we built coalitions from advocates of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights, women's reproductive choice, health care and immigration reform, and workers' rights groups...
Some say, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Under that theory, building coalitions with organizations and peoples who are directly impacted by conservative ideology sounds easy, right? Immediately, thoughts of coalitions containing worker's unions, women's rights organizations, immigrant groups and other organizations which are often downtrodden by conservatopia start dancing in my head.
Sadly, the rainbow that makes up our diverse community also casts a shadow upon it. Our community is comprised of women, workers, immigrants and other categories of persons other than just LGBTQ who are affected by right wing antics, but we also have many in our community who support oppressive views. In fact, GOProud, an "LGBT" organization, holds onto Republican principles even when the Texas GOP Platform and platforms in other states call for re-criminalizing sexual activity between consenting adults of the same sex (a notion previously overturned in 2003 by the U.S. Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas). But we don't have to look to such radical examples to prove this point.
More recently, the LGBT advocacy organization GetEQUAL posted a supportive message against the incendiary SB 1070 in Arizona (the "Papers Please" legislation). In response, numerous members of the LGBTQ community complained, indicating that they concur with the Arizona policy and such mixing of messages divides our community. While this is a small minority in our community, their voices must be considered.
On the other hand, by uniting with worker's unions, women's groups, immigrant organizations and other more progressive ideas, the LGBTQ community can find fierce and vocal allies in the struggle against oppression. The power of this unity is evidenced in an unlikely place, San Antonio Texas.
On Saturday, March 5, 2011, the 21st International Women's Day March was held. The organizers at Esperanza San Antonio planned several stops along the march route as points of oppression. The points of oppression were not exclusive to the oppression of women (albeit they are inclusive of women), but also included points of oppression for other victims, including immigrants, workers and, indeed, LGBTQ people. Several hundred people from all walks of life participated, including politicians, student groups, women's groups, elder groups, parenting organizations, union groups and more. This method provided each "cause" an opportunity to educate other progressive organizations about how their communities have been affected by oppression.
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