Local News: Triangle Gay Men’s Chorus Celebrates 10 Years, p.6
Jum 10,2006
Wunw 26, Number 12
Local News: Durham Investigates Cross Burnings, p.8
www.frontpagenews.CDm
Serving the Carolinas For Over 25 Years!
An Interview with Matt Foreman
Interview with Matt Foreman
By Rex Wockner
Here starts an occasional series in
which we pick the brains of well-known
homosexuals I’ve encountered during
my 20 years in gay journalism. We
start with National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force Executive Director Matt
Foreman.
WOCKNER: Matt, is the gay
glass half full or half empty in
America today? Are we winning or
losing? Here's an interesting quote
from Queer As Folk's Peter Paige
(Emmett), which he made to the St.
Louis gay newspaper The Vital Voice
in mid-May: '1 think we've already
won. And that's a hard thing to
remember because it's really a scary
time. But when you look at what
has happened in the gay-rights
movement in the last 36-37 years,
we have progressed further; in a
shorter period of time, than any
civil-rights moyement in the history
of the planet and there's bound to
be a backlash.... Uppity people get
uppity and get excited and get orga
overt aspects of
antigay discrimi
nation, but has
less power in
escaping from
racism and sex
ism.
WOCKNER:
That makes it
sound like we
can't achieve
GLBT equality
until every other
social ill in
America is eradi
cated also. I think
I disagree. There's
still racism and
sexism in
Massachusetts,
but same-sex cou
ples in
Massachusetts, of
all races and gen
ders, have
achieved full
;’«iflsd«iding- ^access.
to plain old mar
nized and there s a backlash. But I
truly believe that we have so pro
foundly impacted the generation
behind us that we've already won.
We just don't know it yet." I think I
agree with Peter.
FOREMAN: The question is not
whether we are going to win com
plete equality, but when? Yes, in
many ways we have 'won' the cul
tural war, which is the essential
predicate to winning legal equality.
This is underscored by polls show
ing 75-percent-plus believe we will
eventually win marriage equality,
and by strong support among
younger people. Yes, amazing
oroeress in a verv short period of
time. All of this is of little conse
quence, however, in the day-to-day
lives of our people. Job, housing
and public-accommodation dis
crimination is rampant FBI statis
tics show that more people are
being murdered because of their
sexual orientation than for any
other bias reason. Our young peo
ple are still routinely bullied and
beaten in schools. Tire examples of
egregious injustices in the area of
partner and family recognition are
too many to list. I could go on and
on. The glass is filling up, but not
nearly quickly enough.
WOCKNER: Would you say
there are stark regional discrepan
ties in the amount of antigay bias
arid discrimination that out people
face? I live in San Diego where city,
county and state law all three pro
tect gays from discrimination.
We've certainly had no antigay
murders in the 12 years I've lived
here. State law lets gay couples reg
ister as domestic partners and
grants them every state-level right
of marriage — and recognizes their
families. I’m sure people in
Massachusetts and Vermont and
some other places live in a similar
environment. Are there two
Americas, or three or four; when it
comes to things gay?
rUKJbMAiN: mere are many
Americas for LGBT people —
depending on the overlays of race,
class, gender identity, gender and
geography. 'n»i ream of pro-LGBT
laws in a given jurisdiction is an
indicator of community attitudes.
But, those attitudes vary widely
within short distances. In New York
City, for example, it’s much easier
being out in Chelsea than
Bensonhurst But other factors —
such as race and class — have a
much greater impact than geogra
phy. Money and race usually dictate
where you can live or where you
are educated, which is a principle
indicator of lifetime income. Money
can buy insulation from the more
riage. Can there be no GLTB equali
ty without full success of The
Thousand Year Plan for Peace and
Harmony in the Universe?
FOREMAN: You asked if there
were different gay Americas, and
that's what I addressed. It's very
important not to fall into the stereo
type that we all live in a Will & Grace
world. Of course it's possible to win
equal rights under the law without
overcoming other social ills. African
American leaders have talked a lot
about the fact that all laws uphold
ing racial discrimination have been
eliminated for many years, but the
economic gap between whites and
blacks — and many other measure
ments of discrimination—have not
narrowed since Brawn vs. Board of
Education. So, unless we also deal
some crushing blows to heterosex
ism and the other isms that afflict
our society along the way, the win
will be illusory for broad swaths of
our community.
WOCKNER: That's one particu
lar take on gay lib *— and one that
NGLTF is well-known for. Moving
on... What are the chances that all
these state antimarriage constitu
tional amendments eventually will
by found by the U.S. Supreme
Court to violate the U.S.
Constitution. Is that something we
continued on page 10
Noted Democratic Party
Official and Gay and Lesbian
Rights Leader was 57
1X55 ANGELES — Lesbian activist, former
nun - and b—
Democratic
party leader
Jean O'Leary
died June 4 at
the San
Clemente,
California,
home of Lisa
Phelps, her
partner of 12
years, and
surrounded
by her family
and close
^^Lea^wKoTad been BaW^
tor two years, was 57.
O’Leary .was an advocate for the rights of
gays and lesbians, women and people with
HIV/AIDS as well as a prominent
Democratic party activist Over the course of
a 35-year career; she ran several national gay
rights groups, co-founded pioneering organi
sations, including Lesbian Feminist
Liberation and National Coming Out Day,
and worked to elect Democratic candidates.
Bom March 4> 1948, in Kingston, New
York, Jean Marie O'Leary grew up mostly in
Ohio. She used the occasion of her high
school graduation speech in 1966 to
announce her entry into the Sisters of the
Holy Humility convent. In a 1984 anthology,
"Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence," O'Leary
said she joined the convent because "there
was no anti-war movement, no women's
movement, no gay.movement m umo m
1966” and that she "wanted to do something
special, to have an impact on the world."
She graduated from Cleveland State
University with a degree in psychology in
1970, left fte convent and became the drum
mer for a girl band, The Satin Dolls. Soon
thereafter she packed up her drums and
moved to New York to pursue doctoral stud
ies in organizational development at Yeshiva
University. She became enmeshed in the bur
geoning gay and lesbian rights movement,
attending toe political meetings and social
events at the Firehouse, joining the Gay
Activists Alliance (GAA) and driving once a
week to Albany to lobby state legislators on
-gayissues. ....
■' continued on dmm 13
’.'i : ' -< -r« *&■;.
For information on Crape Myrtle Festival XXV, see www.crapemyrtlefest.org