I bet that you’ve had at least one of those weeks that was jam-packed, but you had everything figured out. You were proud of yourself for fitting in every single meeting, flight and hotel in order. Then, at the last minute, a huge wrench was tossed in that caused you to rush and change flights, hotels and meetings. Welcome to my life last week.
And what made it bearable is the fact that last week was going to be the result of years of work and relationships that have been built. So a little change was worth it.
Three events of my life all came together in one week: Nondiscrimination, LGBTQ+ media and Stonewall history.
Non-discrimination: Monday and Tuesday were spent working on nondiscrimination in my home state, something I’ve been doing since 1975. Back then, the welcome I received wasn’t really a welcome. Senators and representatives refused to meet with me, and some said or did things I’m still unable to talk about. However, we made national history from the actions and executive orders led by then-Gov. Milton Shapp, the first governor in the nation to embrace LGBTQ+ rights.
Now, over 50 years later, the current governor embraced that history and used it as part of his budget address to the Senate and House of Representatives. This time, I was welcomed into both chambers, and the Lt. Governor had me pick up his gavel and gave me a tour of his perch as president of the Senate.
Times have changed, and now we are visible.
LGBTQ+ media: Then, I took a flight to Austin, Texas where Local Media Association (LMA) had helped LGBTQ+ legacy media create a collaboration. That collaboration created a website called New is Out, and the media set out to have legacy media transform into new media. Google, AARP, Knight Foundation and others supported this endeavor, but the most pioneering of the partnerships was announced in Austin. Comcast would sponsor a program with another LMA collaboration, Word In Black, a collaboration of legacy Black media. This is pioneering.
Times have changed, and now we are visible.
Stonewall history: Finally, National Parks Traveler featured an article about the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center that will open this June, and my small part in that process. Stonewall has hundreds of stories, and only a few have been told. You can only understand what happened at Stonewall by realizing it’s a collective view of many voices.
At Stonewall in 1969, the government and corporate America didn’t want to see us. That invisibility allowed them to believe all the myths and misconceptions about who we were. Stonewall changed that. From the ashes of Stonewall, the Gay Liberation Front and later the Gay Activists Alliance created a new, out, loud and proud community that made us visible. That is the spirit of Stonewall.
Times have changed, and now we are visible.