Labor of Love: How The American Labor Movement Is Securing LBGT Equality

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http://nhlabornews.com/2014/07/labor-of-love-how-the-american-labor-movement-is-securing-lbgt-equality/




From Left to Right : Amanda Terkel, Congressman Mark Takana, Roland Leggett, Kate Childs Graham, Cari Stevenson
“Labor has been fighting for LBGT rights for the last 30 years,” Carli Stevenson told the audience of the “Labor of Love” panel at Netroots Nation. Carli is an openly gay woman who has done communications for multiple labor unions and is currently working with AFSCME Indiana-Kentucky Organizing Committee 962.

The basis of the panel was talking about the direct influence that labor unions played in fighting for the rights of our brothers and sisters in the LBGT community. There is no doubt that labor played a major role in the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, working to end segregation, and fighting for equality. Let us never forget that the reason Dr. Martin Luther King was in Memphis, where he was assassinated, was to march with AFSCME sanitation workers.

It is no coincidence that labor has been a leader in pushing for the current civil rights battle, the battle for equality and LBGT rights. Congressman Mark Takano told the audience that “2013 may have been the gay-est year in history.” He also said that younger members of the LBGT community do not remember the struggles in the past and who was there to help the LBGT community continue to move forward.

It was people like Cesar Chavez, who as President of the United Farm Workers union was the “first major civil rights leader to support gay and lesbian issues visibly and explicitly.” Chavez also led the “Second National March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights” in 1987.

FULL story at link.

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