“…the battle still
remains …the challenge is still there…” ~ US Senator Dick Durbin
Hey, blogspot readers, in case you didn’t know …SouthSide is
a proud (hard-working, scene queen) single mom of two …a transgender son and bi
daughter. And guess what? She’s very cool with that! She loves and supports
them both.
That being said, during a recent weekend, she spent her
Saturday at the annual LGBT Equality Institute conference session at the Hyatt
Regency Chicago. This two-day event was sponsored by her equally hard-working
friends at Equality Illinois as well as PFLAG, Lambda Legal, ALCS (Aids Legal
Council of Chicago), Human Rights Campaign and many others who are out there
(no pun intended) striving and working for the betterment of gay rights and
civil liberties.
(Actually, it’s human rights, blogspot readers, but
SouthSide will save that argument for another time…)
This two-day conference brought together allies (political
and community) and supporters of and within the LGBT community to discuss
important issues affecting them such as school to healthcare to equality rights
to homelessness and more. Issues in which likeminded people are striving to
find goals or solutions …networking with others and making relationships in the
end. Today’s session opened with a few remarks by Mitch Lawson who introduced
the group to the morning’s speaker US Senator Dick Durbin who bluntly stated
that “…there’s going to be resistance…”
within the federal level because of both houses of Congress are
Republican-controlled. Also, he warned us not to “…think LGBT issues are safe…”, blogspot readers, since they are not.
Look at recently happened in Indiana
With a challenge given to us, it was time for the morning’s
panel discussion – The New Agenda for LGBT Youth, blogspot readers, featuring
speakers State Representative Kelly Cassidy (of the 14th District, Chicago),
Jane (mother) and James (brother) of Tyler Clementi Foundation, and Cassandra
Avenatti of Project Fierce Chicago. One thing …actually people who were missing
and not represented in this discussion – the youth. There should have been a
few representing the LGBT youth since after all – this was panel discussion
about what’s effecting the gay youth community today to which SouthSide there
are other issues that’s needed to be discussed besides homelessness and
bullying. IL Rep Cassidy (whose district includes the diverse Chicago
neighborhoods – Rogers Park and Edgewater) is currently sponsoring the conversion
therapy ban and told the group how it “…doesn’t cease to amaze…” the hatred is
projected towards gay people. She encouraged everyone to stay engaged and stay
fighting as well as supporting our LGBT community as allies. Then, we heard the
story aboutTyler Clementi’s (a
Cassandra Avenatti is part of the coalition that’s working
on the conversion therapy ban in Indiana Chicago Indiana
All of these issues – are simply not LGBT issues. No. In
fact, they connect everyone by class, gender, religious, social, economic, et
al …for example – homelessness affects everyone, blogspot readers. It’s not
just a “gay” problem …it’s a social problem because it doesn’t discriminate
based on sex, gender, orientation, color, religion etc. Other topics briefly
discussed during the panel discussion included bullying since it’s a “hot”
topic these days. Even SouthSide’s teen daughter was a victim of bullying at
her school recently when two students said to others at the lunch table “…look
at the two lesbians…” (talking about her and her friend). Luckily, the matter was
handled immediately due the school’s anti-bullying policy before SouthSide had
a chance to deal with the matter herself. The IL law (modeled after the New
Jersey law which is also known as the New Jersey Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights
Act) clearly defines what bullying is, how to deal with it, what to do if
bullying occurs and etc – some school districts have policies and some didn’t
while a handful had a one-sentence policy at first. Now, here in Illinois
SouthSide’s first session took her to the Acapulco Chicago Phoenix Center Bloomington Normal Peoria Carbondale Phoenix Center
Before enjoying a delicious lunch inside the main conference
room, SouthSide checked out The Legacy Walk display, the world’s only outdoor
LGBT museum walk that’s located between Bradley and Melrose along north Halsted
aka Boystown. The Legacy Project is an award-winning Chicago-based non-profit
organization committed to researching and celebrating the contributions of
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people to world history and
culture. This outdoor exhibit is continuously growing that currently features
thirty (30) bronze memorial makers aftixed to the “Rainbow Pylons” along
Halsted defining the area as the cultural and business center of Chicago’s
large diverse LGBT community. During the tow-day conference, participants were
able to view a tiny sample of the exhibit as well as the notable 2015 Legacy
Candidate for Induction. The candidates featured such notable names like George
Washington Carver (Botanist, Agronomist, Educator, Inventor), Frances Perkins
(US Secretary of Labor – the woman who gave working people the notion of the
40-hr work week), Leonard Bernstein (composer and conductor), Josephine Baker
(Civil Rights Activist and Entertainer – the woman who refused to sit in the
back of the Savoy restaurant in 1930) and Grant Wood (iconic artist for his
painting American Gothic) …just to name a few, blogspot readers. SouthSide
highly recommends checking out this exhibit when the weather is warmer and
sunnier …a good educational tool for the youths all ages, gender and
orientation as well as for adults. This reviewer plans on taking her daughter
during the weekend. For more information about this outstanding project, visit http://www.legacyprojectchicago.org.
During lunchtime, conference participants were briefed on the
happenings from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Jonathan J. Smith (Senior
Counsel, Office of the Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division) which
also featured some remarks from Equality Institute’s sponsor Coca Cola. He
first told the group that 2015 makes the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Voter’s
Rights Act, the 25th anniversary of the People with Disabilities Act and 5th
anniversary of the Matthew Sheppard Hate Crime Prevention Act. He stated the
Department of Justice works hard to protect the rights of all LGBT workers and
prohibits discrimination based on sex and sex-based (i.e. gender identity) “…our
existing laws protects all people including LGBT…” He also mentioned that the department is also
working on discrimination in housing, education, and employment not just
marriage, blogspot readers.
After the lunchtime briefing, it was time to begin the long
afternoon of sessions. SouthSide attended the Transgender Issues 101 for
further education into understanding her son more. This session went deeper
than what she sat through during last year’s Transgender 101 session. “…everyone’s
unique...” was the theme of the session as participants learned about gender
binary (growing up in the orientation you’re expected to be since birth- male
or female), gender reality (how we express our sexual orientation …it’s not
biological, it’s cultural and or societal), gender identity (the gender someone
ids with), gender expression (the way your gender is expressed) sexual
orientation and sex assigned (which happens at birth …either born male or
female). It was a very information session that thoroughly helped SouthSide
understand a few transgender definitions and why some people don’t like using
the word “transition” since they feel have always been male or female without
changing surgically as well as the meaning of cisgender to terms that are
considered “violent” (i.e. terms not used amongst the LGBT community any more
such as she-male/he-female) even though in the UK “transsexual” still means “cross-dresser”.
Besides the terms, there are major issues effecting the
Transgender community like violence and abuse (they are more likely to
experience violence in home, street, healthcare settings) and
poverty/homelessness (they are four [4] times likely than the general
population to live in poverty). It was noted that transgender people are likely
to be uninsured and or seek preventive health care …about 6400 respondents who
identified as transgender have attempted suicide …and the most serious – new HIV
infections are amongst transgender people …much higher for transwomen and
transwomen of color. There’s also employment discrimination where transpeople
experience unemployment at twice the rate than the general population …especially
transpeople of color in which they have the highest. Lastly, over 45%
transpeople have reported being harassed or faced lost of employment. SouthSide
wished this session was at least 2 or 3 hours long because there was SO much
information the speakers had for the participants that the 1hr and 15 minute
time frame wasn’t enough and they had to skip over a few things. They weren’t
able to go into detail about mental health issues that occurs with transgender
people or about substance abuse and prevention. Looking forward to attending
this particular again next year, blogspot readers.
After taking a mini break between sessions, it was time for
SouthSide to improve her networking skills at the Networking 101 class where
she had to introduce and speak briefly about herself in front of a group of
people. There easy for her but for some people there’s anxiety associated when
it comes to networking or interacting with other people. The session speakers
Michael and Chris told us that we should set goals for ourselves to help make
networking with others a little easier because it doesn’t hurt to go to an
event with a purpose in mind. For a successful networking goal, one should find
an ice breaker or commonality you might have with the person (s) you want to
network with …compliments work too. “…people love compliments…” Other
techniques include reading body language and eavesdropping – two certain ways
of making your presence known to the person you want to talk to. During this
fun session, we were given advice on how to (politely) excuse ourselves from a
group conversation or tips on what to do when you’re attending an event and you
don’t know anyone there (that has happened to SouthSide plenty of times!). Here’s
a tip – want to mingle at a social event? Simply go where the food and drinks
are. People at some point will visit the bar and or food station …easy to
strike up a conversation then. However, do remember to limit your alcohol
intake. No one likes a drunk conversationalist at a public event. Then, we were
taught how to continue building relationship beyond the event/conference like
sending a follow-up email or phone call …handwritten letter works too, blogspot
readers. “…it’s very important to be organized with your network…” and with so
many online tools (i.e. Facebook, Skype, Twitter, et al), you should have no
problem maintaining that networking relationship. Yet what if you can’t find a
commonality with the person you want to network with, well – research your
subject …still take a business card – never hurts to take a business card for
future reference.
Well …that was a tiny sample of the happenings at this year’s
Equality Institute, blogspot readers. It was exciting as well as very
informative for SouthSide as she learned to become a better LGBT parent,
supporter and ally. She does suggest having LGBT youths to participate (their
voices and concerns should be heard too) and some closing remarks to keep
participants inspired and fired up for next year’s conference.
See you next year…
Until next time, support your local scene,
SouthSide
