Only Rights Can Stop the Wrongs: Looking at the Women’s Movement and the Gay Rights movement
Web Correspondent
Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund
Planned Parenthood recently hosted another "Let's Talk" event in Fargo, North Dakota. A group of about 25 people gathered at the Women's Wisdom Center to explore the connection between the Women's movement and the Gay Rights movement at "Let's Talk: Only Rights Can Stop the Wrongs."
First, we were treated to a slideshow with many photos of gay pride marches and women's rights demonstrations. The song "Dear Mr. President" by artist, Pink played in the background. In one verse we heard, "What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away? And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?"
Perhaps there's a reason these two issues follow each other so closely (apart from the obvious rhyming). The late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," meaning that any type of oppression hurts us all. At first glance the reproductive rights movement and the GLBT movement to gain equal rights may seem unconnected. But in our group discussion, we came to realize we have much in common.
The "Let's Talk" event featured a panel of four people and all had experience in activism for both communities:
-Deb White, sociology professor at Moorhead State University
-Matt Bakko, Social work graduate (MSUM)
-Fargo Police Sgt. Greg Lemke department liaison for the GLBT community
-Joie Jordan, MSUM student
When asked where she saw a connection between the two movements, Professor White said, "Where don't you see it? All oppression is connected." Sgt Lemke agreed, "If we let anybody's rights erode we risk it all." Bakko and Jordan both spoke of working the causes as separate for some time before realizing how connected they were.
An example of those connecting issues: PROTESTERS! Ending pro-choice policies and outlawing same sex marriage are often championed by the same group. Protesters seem to vilify those who step outside the 'moral box.' And it's my personal experience that 9 times out of 10 the same person holding up the "Abortion is murder" sign has an "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve," sign in their trunk.
Both GLBT and women's rights movements have had to work hard to keep antis from invading their privacy and attempting to control their sexuality. Anti-choice people want to keep women from accessing contraception and abortion. And anti-gay rights groups want to tell the homosexual population, "What you do is sinful and wrong. You will not be granted any protections or rights under the law."
Our movements suffer from the same harmful practices like 'abstinence until marriage' programs. These government-funded messages put young women at the risk for unplanned pregnancy and they put us ALL at risk for sexually transmitted disease. They also completely leave GLBT people out of the discussion since marriage is the ultimate goal.
These two movements haven't always been allies. Betty Friedan, a feminist icon and former president of the National Organization of Women, once famously referred to lesbianism in the women's movement as "the lavender menace." There have also been accusations that gay men could not understand or wouldn't care about women's reproductive health. But these two groups gain much by banding together.
Sgt. Lemke (also a Moorhead City Council member) encouraged everyone to speak out, write letters to the editor and also to politicians. Politicians who vote no on progressive legislation say they do so because all they've heard from their constituents is "VOTE NO." We need to make our voices heard as well.
For people in North Dakota who want to help expand rights for women and the gay community, visit the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition at Ndhrc.org.
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