An terview wh Atralian gay labor activist Ken Davis, an anizer of Workers Out! World Conference of LGBT Tra Unnists, Sydney, Atralia, October 2002. From The Gully.
Contents:
- A GAY MAN'S STORY SNAPSHOTS
- WORKG OUT: REFLECTNS OF GAY TRA UNN ACTIVISM THE 1970S UK
- GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI
- GAY MOSW · CY GUI
A GAY MAN'S STORY SNAPSHOTS
Picture this. Me. May 1976. Buxton, England's Peak District. At the Annual Conference for NATFHE – the unn for teachers lleg England and Wal. I'm standg centre stage at the podium speakg to about one thoand fellow legat, mostly male lecturers ti. I utter the words "gay", "lbian" and "homosexual" for… * gay trade union *
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. 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.
WORKG OUT: REFLECTNS OF GAY TRA UNN ACTIVISM THE 1970S UK
* gay trade union *
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.
Lol anizers like Howard Wallace, an openly gay tck driver, worked wh Teamsters learship and lol distributn centers to ensure the boytt’s succs.
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. “In 1979, the AFL-CIO openly exprsed s support for gay rights by llg for feral legislatn banng workplace discrimatn based on sexual orientatn.
GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI
Explore gay Mosw wh Mr Hudson. The bt of Mosw for the discerng gay man. Where to sleep, eat, drk, shop and play. * gay trade union *
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.
This year we celebrate 50 years sce the Stonewall rts took place, when lbians, trans people, bisexuals and gay men rose up together and fought back agast the police who regularly raid gay bars and other LGBT venu. If you’ve ever seen the movie Pri, you’ll know that was the Natnal Unn of Mers that supported a motn promotg lbian and gay rights at the TUC’s ngrs 1985.
Fally, 1998, the TUC employed their first full time LGBT policy officer and set up the Lbian and Gay Conference and Commtee to progrs LGBT equaly. Myself, along wh my trepid partner om our fledglg gay and lbian group wh this unn, Bob Cant, had persuad, wh some difficulty, our branch and our regns to make sure that sexualy (the word we ed for sexual orientatn back then) was on that list.
GAY MOSW · CY GUI
But, remember, this was 1976 and havg gays and lbians as teachers was still ntroversial – even lleg – much ls fendg them if they were fired. The women who were femists Rank and File were our strongt supporters as they knew that “the polil is personal” and that homophobia need to be tackled along wh sexism.
As a homosexual myself, and I’m sure I’m not the only one at this Conference, much ls our entire unn, I want to be assured that we will receive equal protectn om the unn as would any other member. What we, and what many others at that nference knew, was that they were wantg to make sure that the unn did not have to end up protectg lbians and gays.