S T RO N G E R TO G E T H E R
Beyond the Silos Labor and the LGBTQIA Community By
Chelsea Bland
Often when folks think of the labor movement there a few com- groups. We know that LGBTQIA folks mon reactions: nostalgia for the glory days when workers banded to- are members of labor unions and, obvigether to fight for the weekend, the eight-hour work day, and an end ously, that people who identify within the to child labor; the notorious days of Jimmy Hoffa; or the classic smile queer community are also workers. Raffi and nod accompanied by "What's a labor union?" Freedman-Gurspan, former Senior AssoThe rights of workers on the job are largely tied to unions. A ciate Director in the White House Office union is a collection of workers who joined together to improve their of Public Engagement and 2016 Boston working conditions, to exercise their voice on the job, and occasionally Pride Marshal, served during the Obama adto tell the boss where to go and how ministration, where she to get there. The history of organwas the primary liaison to the We must be able to bring our ized labor and social justice moveLGBTQIA community. She exments has at times been strained, plains that looking at labor and the full identities to the table, even and even outright adversarial if we queer community in silos does not are being honest. From the late serve us. at work, and unions are in a 1800s, when black workers founded “When we’re talking about their own unions because the doors workers, we’re talking about everyunique position to create and were closed to labor organizations one,” says Freedman-Gurspan. to sustain a pathway where all led by whites, to the hostility that “LGBT people are going to benefit some union activists face after comfrom equal pay, and from paid sick workers are afforded that ing out in their local chapter, it’s leave, and from raising the miniclear that the labor movement is no mum wage, and general things opportunity. stranger to experiencing internal around workplace safety issues.” growing pains. From schoolteachers to fireThe complex histories of our social fabric can be found in the fighters, from doctors to park rangers, and from hotel workers to formation, growth, and reimagining of today's labor movement. De- plumbers, the opportunity for workers to act collectively is limitless. spite these differences, we have seen the worlds of labor and social And we know that people who identify as LGBTQIA are doing and economic justice collide. This brings us to the these jobs and working in our communities. Not only are we doing question: What role does labor play in protect- the work, we are leaders in our unions and advocating for issues of ing the rights of workers that identify within equality in and out of the workplace. the LGBTQIA community? “When you have someone like Randi Weingarten, who’s the We must move beyond the idea that head of a major labor organization, who’s out and proud herself and organized labor and the LGBTQIA a major, major contributor to our movement, I don’t think there’s a community are two separate and distinct feeling of apples and oranges,” adds Freedman-Gurspan.
116 | Boston Pride 2017
Credit: Courtesy of The History Project.
