December 1999

'Creating Change' conference

Oakland, Cal.-The twelfth annual Creating Change conference was held here this past November, bringing together over 2,500 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (lgbt) activists and thinkers from across the USA, from the 87-year old Harry Hay to homeless transgender youth. But for all the exhilaration of the event, the pull of retrogression was felt: workshops on spirituality were plentiful, while the word revolution was barely spoken.

The locus for radical organizing and thought, at the moment, is among those who are opposed to the so-called "Millennium March on Washington." This event, scheduled for April 30, has been organized by the Human Rights Campaign (a national gay/lesbian rights organization) and the Metropolitan Community Church (a gay/lesbian evangelical Christian church) without any grassroots participation. Furthermore, the organizers announced a thoroughly assimilationist theme of "Faith and Family"!

Opposition to the Millennium March has been voiced among members of the Ad Hoc Committee for an Open Process. The two meetings which they held featured strong critiques, by Black lesbians in particular, of capitalism's effects on the lgbt community. Black lesbian author Jewelle Gomez warned that lgbt visibility should not simply be translated into becoming a niche market. She challenged each of us to stay close to activism, and to resist the pull towards the corridors of power.

Mandy Carter-a southern Black lesbian who publicly resigned from the Human Rights Campaign when they endorsed misogynist, anti-immigrant senator Al D'Amato last year-spoke of the queer movement at a crossroads. Vowing "no more business as usual," she called for a "reality check on principles and values" around issues of race and class. A young Black lesbian from Washington, D.C., Carmen, reminded us that queer youth are coming out at younger and younger ages, and they "want to come out into something real," not into a replica of the mainstream society that oppresses them.

Queer homeless youth held a powerful session, which projected an indictment of the family. Many queer youth are homeless because their parents kick them out of the house if they dare to come out. But Christian, one of the youths, pointed out that youth are also rejecting the traditional household when they prefer the streets to a cruel home. The youth were united in their critique of the police: "Nothing can be done through the police; it doesn't matter how much 'sensitivity' training they've had, they don't like queer youth," Christian said. As if to underline this theme, the conference security had harassed the youth who were speaking on this panel. The security guard went up to the three homeless youth, and said "Get out, we're having a conference here!" to which one of them replied "We're the next act!" They were then told to keep quiet, though they had not been making any noise!

An even more serious incident occurred early Saturday morning in the streets of Oakland. A young Black transgender woman and Oakland resident was the victim of a hate crime, suffering stab wounds to her hand. When police arrived, one officer was contemptuous of her gender status, and complained about it being "too much paper work" to notate. When conference participants heard about this, they organized a march to Oakland police headquarters Saturday afternoon. Fifteen hundred people marched, chanting "Gender rights are human rights" and "We're not paper work, we are people." The march got the attention of the police and the mayor, but also revealed the contradictions of the conference: many of the youth and transgender organizers were not fully acknowledged, and the leadership of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF, the organization which sponsors the conference) made themselves highly visible. But there was still tremendous power in having the conference participants stand as one for transgender rights-a subject that many shied away from in the past.

-Jennifer Pen

CLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO CONTENTS PAGE

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO NEWS AND LETTERS