'We Took Care of Each Other': A Marime Unn's Hidn History of Gay-Straight and Interracial Solidary | Labor Not

gay union workers

Des before the morn LGBTQ+ movement, a small but ant unn of marime workers on the Wt Coast wh openly gay members and lears ed a slogan lkg discrimatn agast gay men, racial discrimatn, and red-bag. For the better part of two s, the Mare Cooks and Stewards Unn fought discrimatn on the ships where s members worked and

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'WE TOOK CARE OF EACH OTHER': A MARIME UNN'S HIDN HISTORY OF GAY-STRAIGHT AND INTERRACIAL SOLIDARY

* gay union workers *

Through all, the muny has stood strong, and even when faced wh nstant attacks by a homophobic, transphobic right-wg ernment, LGBTQIA people the U.

WEBAR: MIGHTY GAY UNNS! QUEER AND TRANS LABOR HISTORI AND FUTUR

Many of the fac on picket l and stg across bargag tabl on behalf of Chigo's newt unn workers are relatively young, and many of them are lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr. * gay union workers *

Marie Equi went toe-to-toe wh the boss to fight for their fellow Rose Schneirman — who famoly ed the slogan “The worker mt have bread, but she mt have ros, too” — was hired as the Natnal Women’s Tra Unn League’s (WTUL) first full-time, workg-class Jewish anizer, her salary was paid by a donatn om a wealthy, anonymo Jewish Mare Cooks and Stewards Unn (MCSU), notable for s acceptance of both Black and gay members durg a time when many unns were far ls welg to eher group, elected Stephen Blair, who was openly gay, to the posn of vice print the 1930s. Blair’s partner, Frank McCormick, helped anize San Francis’s 1934 dockworkers’ strike alongsi Harry Hay, a Communist and gay rights activist who, wh fellow gay activist Morris Kight, found the Mattache MCSU — which flew a banner proclaimg “Race-bag, Red-bag, and Queer-Bag is Anti-Unn” s unn hall — won the first workplace protectns for gay people U. So beg gay was not a reason for beg fired, " queer labor historian Allan Bebe ‘70s were pivotal solidifyg the relatnship between the LGBTQ muny and the labor movement.

MAJOR U.S. RAILWAYS TO OFFER HEALTH BENEFS TO GAY WORKERS' SPO

The largt U.S. eight rriers will beg providg medil benefs to the spo of gay unn workers, a rail pany aln said on Wednday, a day after two same-sex upl sued BNSF Railway for nyg equal benefs. * gay union workers *

Lol anizers like Howard Wallace, an openly gay tck driver, worked wh Teamsters learship and lol distributn centers to ensure the boytt’s succs.

Cy supervisor Harvey Milk, who was one of the first openly gay elected officials the U.

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Top Mosw Gay Clubs & Bars: See reviews and photos of Gay Clubs & Bars Mosw, Rsia on Tripadvisor. * gay union workers *

Followg the mpaign, Milk ed his fluence to enurage the Teamsters to hire openly gay tck drivers as well as to feat the Briggs Amendment, a California state ballot measure that would have banned gay and lbian teachers om employment. “The gay bartenrs marched out wh the bottl of beer and dumped them the sewers, ” remembers Nancy Wohlforth, the now-retired secretary-treasurer of the Office and Profsnal Employe and -founr of Pri At Work, the AFL-CIO’s nstuency group for LGBTQ people. “And to this day, you n’t fd Coors a gay bar San Francis.

”Homophobia and transphobia have long been an issue wh the labor movement, however. “In 1979, the AFL-CIO openly exprsed s support for gay rights by llg for feral legislatn banng workplace discrimatn based on sexual orientatn. LGBTQ uc were found many unns as thoands of gay members anized to protect their rights, ” Caleb Fil, a member of the Washgton-Baltimore News Guild Lol 32035 and former Mid-South digal director of the Fight for $15 mpaign, tells Teen Vogue.

”In 1994, LGBTQ labor activists who were tired of the learship’s reticence to go all on gay rights formed the Pri at Work nonprof nstuency group, which was spired part by a 1990 anizg handbook lled Pri at Work: Organizg for Lbian and Gay Rights Unns. For example, one of the primary archects of the 1963 March on Washgton, a gay Black man named Bayard Rt, had an immeasurable impact on the civil rights movement, but was relegated to the sil and publicly smeared by racist policians like Strom Thurmond due to his sexualy. "The barometer for judgg the character of people regards to human rights is now those who nsir themselv gay, homosexual, lbian, ” Rt said.

GAY MOSW · CY GUI

Des before the morn LGBTQ+ movement, a small but ant unn of marime workers on the Wt Coast wh openly gay members and lears ed a slogan lkg discrimatn agast gay men, racial discrimatn, and red-bag. And although a high percentage of the oks and stewards were “queens, ” as gay men preferred to ll themselv at the time, the unn rarely if ever stood up for them when they were tnted—or “queen-baed”—by straight workers.

Bébé relat, “The sults keep g, but the gay stewards are gettg bolr bee they know their unn is watchg their backs. ” Stephen “Mickey” Blair, a whe, gay MCS member told Bébé, “Mare Cooks and Stewards took the digny that was each of and built up, so you uld get up the morng and say to yourself ‘I n make through this day.

Many of the new members were gay men who want to serve their untry the fight agast fascism but had been kicked out of the ary for their sexual orientatn.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY UNION WORKERS

Major U.S. railways to offer health benefs to gay workers' spo | Rters .

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