Telling our stories, winning on our issues

Netroots Nation Minneapolis: June 2011During Netroots Nation I attended an LGBT strategy caucus. Our conversation focused on same sex marriage, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) repeal, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and Uniting American Families Act as case studies. What have we done well on these issues, where have we struggled, and what can we learn?

For me, the major take away from this conversation was the need to tell our stories. When a political issue becomes personal, when people understand it not in the abstract but as impacting real people, they’re able to empathize. DADT became humanized through the stories of folks like Dan Choi, and from hearing the voices of military personnel who wanted queer soldiers to be able to come out.

Belief in the power of coming out was reinvigorated for myself and many of the other caucus participants who got to hear from DREAM activists during Netroots. Many of these brave young people have come out as both queer and undocumented. I watched their stories create an emotional connection to the immigration issue for people who may not have been personally connected before.

Coming out can change opinion on a whole range of issues – I can imagine campaigns around abortion, sex work, employment discrimination, you name it.

As I said during the caucus, recent polling shows 90% of Americans think LGBT folks already have federal workplace protections. 73% support protections, but there’s not the public pressure partly because people don’t realize it’s an issue. To change this we need to share stories of workplace discrimination. And we need diverse stories, from folks across the queer and trans spectrum. We shouldn’t shy away from the fact that trans folks face the majority of discrimination. But we also need LGB folks to tell their stories of discrimination, especially since LGB folks have been more humanized to the general public already. It’s time for queer folks to win a victory in partnership with the trans community for once instead of leaving us behind again.

One topic that came up in the caucus conversation was the need to tell positive stories. Pam Spaulding brought up the good point that stories from employers who do have workplace protections for LGBT folks can show this is actually a good idea. And people may be understandably afraid to come out about losing their jobs. We do need to tell the stories of discrimination, though, so we need to create a context where people can feel supported.

I question how honestly we can say we’ll make coming out around politically volatile issues safe. If telling your story is definitely safe it’s probably not a story about an issue that needs political change. While we should certainly work to make sure people who put themselves on the line are as protected as possible, the DREAM activists facing deportation are a reminder making the personal political can be dangerous.

I’ve been thinking about Exhale‘s 16 and Loved campaign as a model for the kind of support that needs to go in tandem with political storytelling. When MTV decided to air a special called “No Easy Decision” in which three young women told their abortion stories, Exhale knew these young people could face the overwhelming hate and dehumanizing political rhetoric that so often surrounds this issue. So they put together a project to send love and support to these three young women.

I think projects like this are an important component of storytelling campaigns. We need people to talk about their lives and give a human face to political issues, and we also need to support these brave individuals.

Boston, MA

Jos Truitt is Executive Director of Development at Feministing. She joined the team in July 2009, became an Editor in August 2011, and Executive Director in September 2013. She writes about a range of topics including transgender issues, abortion access, and media representation. Jos first got involved with organizing when she led a walk out against the Iraq war at her high school, the Boston Arts Academy. She was introduced to the reproductive justice movement while at Hampshire College, where she organized the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program’s annual reproductive justice conference. She has worked on the National Abortion Federation’s hotline, was a Field Organizer at Choice USA, and has volunteered as a Pro-Choice Clinic Escort. Jos has written for publications including The Guardian, Bilerico, RH Reality Check, Metro Weekly, and the Columbia Journalism Review. She has spoken and trained at numerous national conferences and college campuses about trans issues, reproductive justice, blogging, feminism, and grassroots organizing. Jos completed her MFA in Printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute in Spring 2013. In her "spare time" she likes to bake and work on projects about mermaids.

Jos Truitt is an Executive Director of Feministing in charge of Development.

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