By: Valerie Milano
Somewhere on the North Pacific Ocean (The Hollywood Times) 4/23/24 – One cruise ship. A thousand-plus women. The leaders of four important LGBTQ+ organizations at the helm of two spirited and timely panels navigating open discussions as vast as the seas.
And one unifying goal: Equality!
For those participating in Olivia Travel’s recent seven-day San Diego-to-Mexico cruise aboard Holland America’s ship, MS Zaandam, it was much more than just fun in the sun. With the leaders of our country’s four premiere LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations among the passengers, it was a prime opportunity to discuss current events, issues and their visions for the future of the movement.
The quartet – Jaymes Black , President & CEO of Family Equality; Imani Rupert-Gordon, Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights; Sarah Kate Ellis, President & CEO of GLAAD; and, Kelley Robinson, President of the Human Rights Campaign – sat for two panel discussions during the cruise, and their message came through loud and clear: The LGBTQ+ community is growing in numbers, power and influence when it comes to our National identity.
“When LGBTQ+ people vote, equality wins”, said Ellis, pointing out that the community played an important role in the 2020 election. “In the last election, 93 percent of LGBTQ+ people who were registered to vote, voted! The Washington Post ran an article that said if LGBTQ+ people had stayed home from this election, then Trump would have won. We have the power, and we have to use it in this election.”
Indeed, the upcoming election was a hot topic for discussion, but more than that, it was an opportunity for these four women to educate the audiences attending for these two panels about their jobs and their roles in creating a unified front for all LGBTQ+ people in the U.S.
Ellis who has been involved with GLADD for 10 years, said she came to the fight for equal rights at a time when the key organizations were all run by gay men.
“It was very difficult,” Ellis recalled. “People wouldn’t take meetings with you. The patriarchy is real and it’s real in the gay movement. So, I was bumping into a lot of walls.”
Now, though, the tide has turned, and the four largest LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations are all headed by women. Ellis said, “that is a game changer. We act differently, we build differently, we collaborate differently,” she said, noting that organizations acted territorially then. “People were fighting over the same donations, dollars and credit. Now when something goes wrong, we get on the phone together and say ‘I’ll take this piece, you take that piece. Let’s meet them together. We don’t want them dividing us.’ “We’re coordinated. It’s really been phenomenal and freeing, and I think we’re going to see more progress in the next several years because of it.”
Rupert-Gordon said the goal, while shared, needs to stay focused on the larger picture, and that striving for equality is larger than just equality for LGBTQ+ people. “We have to make sure when we are doing this work that everyone will benefit from it,” she said. “It doesn’t help if we get to LGBTQ+ equality if we’re not looking at racial justice, if we’re not looking at economic justice, if we’re not looking at disability justice. Because we know that even if we get these wins, if someone is experiencing so much racism that they can’t actually benefit from them, are we really at LGBTQ+ equality? “That’s how we have to think in our work, not just how we’re taking care of us but how we are taking care of everybody. Not just thinking about what we’re doing now, but what we are doing next.”
Rupert-Gordon stressed that the real work in which these four remarkable women are engaged is changing hearts and minds. “It’s not just about having these intellectual conversations with people who think like us,” she said. “We are actually in the business of changing hearts and minds of other people, so they are going to be fighting for us when we are not in the room. We are changing our world, and we are dedicated to knowing that people can and will change, and that is going to be our work.”
On the topic of self-identification, Jaymes Black emphasized that the words members of the community used to identify themselves are important and very personal, pointing to the use of the word “queer” as an example.
“There is a resurgence around using the word ‘queer’, she said, noting that for many years she referred to herself as a lesbian but now calls herself: gender queer.” “It was a word they used to marginalize us, a word they used to discriminate against us, and what we are doing right now is we are reclaiming our power,” Black added, that one way of reclaiming power is by taking a word that was used to marginalize you and saying, ‘I own it.’ There is power in that,” she said. “We need to create space for people to identify in whatever way is comfortable for them. It may not be comfortable for you, but we do need to create space for our community to identify in whatever way is comfortable for them.”
The cruise set sail from San Diego and made port in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlán, and Cabo San Lucas, with three days at sea before returning to San Diego. The adventure kicked off in port with a classic evening of comedy from the legendary Lily Tomlin.
During the high seas’ adventures, passengers were entertained with musical performances by Olivia legends Cris Williamson, Linda Tillery, N.Y. rockers Antigone Rising, and indie trio BETTY. There were also performances from comedians Karen Williams and Suzanne Westenhoefer, and dance parties with DJ Olga T and DJ Christie James.
It truly fit the billing of WOMEN WHO ROCK!
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