NOV. 2008 - The Rainbow Times

16 • Nov. 6 - Dec. 3, 2008 • The Rainbow Times • www.therainbowtimesnews.comLesbian VoicesA Lesbian’s Post-election MusingsBy: Rev. Irene Monroe*Depending on whichmedia outlets you tunedinto for “fair and balanced”reporting on theelection campaign’spresidential candidates,Senator Barack Obamacouldn’t do any wrongand Senator John McCain couldn’t do anyright. Or, Obama was spun as an elitist eruditewith anti-American cronies, and McCain’s aswashbuckling maverick. The V.P. hopefuls—Senator Joe Biden and Governor SarahPalin—were not spared from the “info-tainment”and insults, either. And while the 2008election coverage had been nonstop in providingexcitement, too much political theater andfighting became exhausting over time.While political ideological lines were warringfactions in the campaign, so too wereidentity issues. The intersections race, gender,and sexual orientation played out in this campaignwhere women and blacks have been pittedagainst each other, and blacks againstgays. The dynamics of status, power, privilege,and inequality also impacted theseissues. At times, we behaved as a nationintractably embattled and divided across theseidentity lines than as a nation striving towarda participatory democracy.As a LGBTQ community we saw that notime was the right time to push to the forefrontas national campaign issue marriageequality.Marriage is a litmus test not only for thoseof us seeking it, but marriage is also a litmustest for our government to honestly say that itgrants equal rights to all its citizens.Democracy can only begin to work whenthose relegated to the fringes of society canbegin to sample what those in the rest of societytake for granted as their inalienable right.The gap between heterosexual marriage andun-recognized same-sex partnerships includemore than 1,100 rights and protections, suchas Social Security benefits, veterans’ benefits,health insurance, Medicaid, hospital visitation,estate taxes, retirement savings, pensions,family leave and immigration law, toname a few. This election was no differentthan previous ones, in that no candidateattempted to grant these rights and protectionsto us under the name of “marriage.”Without the right to marry a failed economyhurts, LGBTQ taxpayers more. For example,aside from HIV/AIDS prevention programsthat will be slashed if not all together gone,our Medicare and social security benefits willbe slashed disproportionately more than therest of the population, if we are partnered/married, simply because we are LGBTQ taxpayers.Why? With only a few states recognizingsame-sex marriage we not only areforced to file separate income tax forms, butQueer Cinema You Can’t Miss!Milk (G)Genre: Biography, Drama; Rating: Not yet ratedDistribution: Wide ReleaseDirector: Gus Van SantDistributor: Focus FeaturesStarring: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch,James Franco; Release Date: 10/29/08Notes:General release in NovemberSynopsis: Harvey Milk (Penn) was the first openlygay man elected to officce in 1977. A year later, hewas assassinated by Dan White (Brolin), a rivalpolitician. Also included in the story is Scott Smith(Franco), Milk's lover and campaign manager, aswell as gay rights activist Cleve Jones (Hirsch), whowent on to form the NAMES Project AIDS MemorialQuilt.The Women (L)Genre: Comedy, Drama; Rating: PG-13;Distribution: Wide Release; Director: Diane EnglishDistributor: Picturehouse EntertainmentStarring: Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes,Jada Pinkett Smith, Debra Messingwe also as its consequence are thrown into ahigher tax bracket. And, to add insult toinjury, our social security benefit packageswon't benefit our partners like those of heterosexuals.All of us hope for a speedy solutionto our country’s financial crisis. But one, Isay, that take into account the way all its taxpayersshare households, including itsLGBTQ partnered and married citizens.Women’s issues had never been so exciting—andso frightening—in a presidentialcampaign until this August when McCainAs an African American lesbian, Christian minister andtheologian I know that the struggle against racism is legitimateonly if I am also fighting Anti-Semitism, homophobia,transphobia, sexism, classim and other oppressionstogether. I know that all of these “isms” are merely tools ofoppression, which will continue to keep us fractured insteadof united toward a common goal.Release Date: 09/08/08Synopsis: In this remake of George Cukor's 1939film of the same title, Mary (Ryan) a wealthy NewYorker, leaves her cheating husband and bonds withother society women at a resort. Among her supportgroup is Alex (Pinkett Smith), who is an out lesbian.Happy Hookers (G,T)Genre: Documentary; Rating: Not yet ratedDistribution: Limited ReleaseDirector: Ashish Sawhny (Happy Hookers),Alessandrea Zeka (Harsh Beauty)Release Date: 00/00/00Synopsis: Happy Hookers looks at the lives of threemale hustlers in India. Harsh Beauty follows the joysand struggles of the hijras, a cult of eunuchs wholive between genders.Jack & Diane (L)Genre: Drama; Rating: Not yet ratedDistribution: Starring: Ellen Page; Status: delayeduntil 2010; Synopsis: About a young lesbian dealingwith her sexuality.picked Palin as his running mate. Viewed bymany women Democrats as the G.O.P.’s dragqueen, lip-synching the party’s rhetoric,Palin—a moose-hunting, gun-toting maxedouthockey mom of five—has the worstrecord on women’s issues of all four candidates,including McCain’s. The NationalOrganization of Women refused to supporther. Astonishingly during the Biden/Palindebate, women's issues were scantly touchedon. If you were not listening closely youwould have missed this topic all together.More amazing was that the moderator, PBS'sGwen Ifill, a noted African-American femalejournalist, never broached the topic head-onby asking the candidates questions concerningwomen. Only Biden briefly mentionedRoe v. Wade. And though Biden authored theViolence Against Women Act, he did not takethe time to stress the significance of the bill.In our efforts to erase race in this campaignwe have had to confront the issue of genderbias, or more bluntly stated the issue of aBlack man competing against white womanfor the highest office.The race between Obama and Hillary forthe White House highlighted the fault lines ofboth race and gender, and a nation still at thecross roads of how to overcome these socialills. And with a media that pandered toObama's charm and parsed Hillary's words wesaw not only unfair treatment of the candidatesbut also a race/gender divide amongDemocrats as a consequence of it. Race in thisinstance did indeed trump gender and thealchemy of the two in a male- dominated societyI confront all the time as a black woman.As an African American lesbian, Christianminister and theologian I know that the struggleagainst racism is legitimate only if I amalso fighting Anti-Semitism, homophobia,transphobia, sexism, classim and otheroppressions together. I know that all of these“isms” are merely tools of oppression whichwill continue to keep us fractured instead ofunited toward a common goal.And while it is also true that employing anarrow understanding that all oppressions areinterconnected ignores the salient pointsabout differences within oppressed groupsand that these differences are neither all thesame nor all equal to each together, it is alsotrue that ignoring how oppressed groups canwork together truncates the possibility for fulland equal rights for all Americans.With this new presidency the moral andpolitical imperative before us all is that unitedwe can stand striving toward a participatorydemocracy or divided we can fall as a pettypeople.* Rev. Irene Monroe can be reached care ofthis publication. For more information, visit:therainbowtimesmass.com.