The O-town Scene

the DIVERSITY SCENE Doc Rob Wrangles|by Robin Nussbaum Honoring a Gay Civil Rights Leader In honor of Black History Month, which is every February, I want to ask you: How many of you have heard of Bayard Rustin? Probably not many. He is not usually referenced in text books and education in general. Want to know why? Because even though he was once Martin Luther King Jr.'s right-hand man, even though he was the genius behind much of the strategy in MLK's work, Rustin was gay and, for that fact, his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement have been largely ignored or erased. It was with the urging of Rustin and his col- leagues that President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the Fair Employment Act in 1941 prohibiting racial discrimination in the defense industry. He was instrumental in the formation of Con- gress of Racial Equality and several organiza- tions working for freedom and civil rights in Africa and India. In 1956 he began working with MLK. Initially his role was to advise MLK in the Gandhian non-violence tactics he had learned in the U.S. and India. However, he became a key orga- nizer and strategist in the movement including the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He was also the lead organizer for the March on Washing- ton for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. All the while, Rustin was out as a gay man in his personal life. He was careful about his public persona because for much of the '60s, same-sex behavior was criminalized, and dur- ing the '70s it was certainly stigmatized. However there were a number of cases in which he was pressured to be silent, excluded, or even fired. He was even publicly attacked by Sen. Strom Thurmond and fired from the Fellowship of Reconciliation for his sexual orientation. In the '70s and '80s he began taking a more active and public stance for gay rights. His work in social and economic justice, civil and LGBT rights and nonviolence continued until his death in 1987. Sadly, his impact on social justice and civil rights goes widely unheralded. It is clear that this is largely due to public discomfort with his sexual orientation. It is a shame that someone so integral to the history of civil rights and social justice would be erased from the history books and ignored so thoroughly. I hope that as our country slowly moves towards acceptance and appre- ciation of LGBT people, eventually Rustin will be recognized for the amazing work that he did for our country and for humanity. Robin Nussbaum is the coordinator of the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center at SUNY Oneonta. She can be reached at nussbar@oneonta.edu. Our contributors talk about different aspects of diversity, from LGBTQ issues to questions of ethnicity and more. To submit a column or event, email editor@otownscene.com. ID Tags|by Jeffrey Pegram Labels Don't Fully Encapsulate Individuals I recently noticed a flier that read "How To Be An Ally To LGBTQ People." The acronym was not spelled out, which could be confusing for some people. (LGBTQ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning, which readers of the Diversity Scene are familiar with by now.) The first bullet on the flier read: "Use the words 'gay' and 'lesbian' instead of 'homo- sexual.' The overwhelming majority of gay men and lesbian women do not identify with or use the word 'homosexual' to describe themselves." Three ideas are implicit: (1) LGBTQ labels a group of people; (2) for most, the meaning they attach to their identity differs in relevant ways from the meaning of being homosexual; (3) being an ally to this popula- tion involves, among other things, not imposing unwanted labels on them. I was left with several questions: What words might one use when discussing people who are bisexual, transgender or questioning; espe- cially considering they may not identify with "gay" or "lesbian," or even be sexually active? Why might "homosexual" be a less appropri- ate label for most LGBTQ people? Why is there no recommendation to establish meaningful relationships with people of an alternative sexual identity and attempt to understand their perspectives as merely those of unique individuals rather than as representative of LGBTQ people? I believe that diversity and differences should evoke questions more so than answers; encourage direct engagement more so than the implementation of ethical guidelines. This is because all answers are relative and contingent, as inquiry about the complexity of a given phenomena (i.e. human sexuality) and the range of experience will certainly reveal. Words are symbols for the meaning we attach to our sense perceptions. The things we perceive (including ourselves) are complex and never static. Diversity in and of itself is not a problem. Our moral orientation toward the diversity we perceive, in light of the value we attach to it, often is. Our perception of difference is always rela- tive to us. Thus any exploration of the value we attach to diverse people is inevitably an indirect exploration of who we are at that moment. Jeffrey Pegram is an assis- tant professor of education at Hartwick College, and specializes in sociological foundations of education, liberalism and multicultural- ism. NOTE: Longer versions of these columns are found online at www.otownscene.com 18 O-Town Scene Feb. 9, 2012

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