The Black Commentator - ‘Our Fight Is Your Fight’- Speaking Out For GLBT Equality

Excerpted from Human Rights Campaign’s Equality magazine, Fall 2006

From Equality Magazine Julian Bond and Dolores Huerta are true American heroes. From the back roads of Georgia to the California growing fields, the two have been on the cutting edge of social change for decades — through organizing, protest, lobbying and voter registration campaigns — often risking their lives along the way.

Fortunately, Bond, the chairman of the board of the NAACP, and Huerta, co-founder of the United Farmworkers of America, really get the fact that “civil rights” are rights shared by all. They really get the fact that as more people are able to have equal rights and protections and can live and work free from discrimination, the stronger this country is and the stronger all Americans are. For years, the two have stood with us in the fight for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. Bond and Huerta recently took time out from their busy schedules to speak with the Human Rights Campaign.

Legendary labor leader Dolores Huerta is definitely someone you want on your side. Fast-thinking, fast-talking and fearless — she is more than ready to act. Decades ago, Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers of America with César Chávez, and she’s been making history ever since as a leading advocate for immigrant workers’ rights. She’s also a mother of 11 and grandmother of 14 and heads her own foundation for community organizing.

One recent morning in downtown Los Angeles, Huerta, 76, addressed a crowd of reporters, denouncing racist and sexist remarks by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. An hour later, she’s seated next to you, quietly talking about organizing, lobbying, religion and her love of dancing.

Huerta has supported GLBT equality for decades, marching in early pride parades, testifying against discrimination and previously serving as an HRC board member. Here are excerpts from her chat with Equality’s Janice Hughes.

Equality: Early in the farm worker movement in California, I understand that you knew several gay men who were activists.

Huerta: Yes, there were farm workers who were gay and lesbian. César Chávez had a “comadre,” a lesbian who baptized his oldest son, Fernando. She owned a little bar called People’s. For the strikers, that was our hangout because there was so much discrimination against us — People’s was a place where we all went because there was never any hostility. In fact, it was part of our movement.

Equality: You’ve said often how much your mother influenced you.

Huerta: One of the most important lessons I learned from my mother — one of her principles — was to help others when they needed help and not wait to be asked. When you saw someone in need, help them, and do not expect anything in return.

Equality: The Dolores Huerta Foundation focuses on helping others — through community organizing.

Huerta: It’s about meeting with people, showing them what they can achieve by giving them successful examples. These are lessons I learned from the farm workers’ movement. Before the movement, farm workers didn’t have toilets, cold drinking water, hand-washing facilities in the field or a rest period. They have them today because farm workers went out and marched and worked in the political campaigns to get their supporters elected.

Equality: You’ve worked so hard for a variety of groups — for rights of women, immigrants and others. Can you talk about the role of coalition work?

Huerta: It’s extremely important. We live in such a segregated society and we don’t always know what other groups are doing. We can make our movements a lot stronger if we learn how to work together. For instance, the environmental movement does not have a real strong presence among Latinos, even though Latinos are the fastest growing population and are very adversely affected by environmental degradation — pesticides in our food and in the ground. If groups were more integrated, we would be a lot more powerful.

By the way, I remember a hearing in San Francisco in the 70s or early 80s on the issue of discrimination against gays and lesbians. When I arrived to testify, no one had any idea what I was going to say and they were nervous. When I testified and said it was wrong to discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation, the opposition forces were shocked. It was something I felt strongly about – so much so, that I went on my own to that hearing.

Equality: I bet that made a big impression.

Huerta: When I was political director for the union, we joined the first gay marches both in West Hollywood and in San Francisco. We had the farm workers come out in droves to come and march. My daughter Lori de Leon participated in the one of the first marches for gay rights in New York City. She actually got hit by policeman in the back and to this day she still has scars.

Equality: I understand one of your daughters identifies as bisexual.

Huerta: My daughter, Juanita. She’s a teacher in L.A., and has been active in the movement. While she was teaching in San Francisco, she set up a resource center for any of the kids who happened to be gay and lesbian. When she was teaching at a charter school near Los Angles, some parents took up a petition for her to get fired because she told the class she was a lesbian. She kept her job.

Equality: Thank you for your work on marriage equality in the California state Legislature. How has the presence of Latino/a support for marriage equality influenced the Latino/a community at large?

Huerta: Well, a couple of people who voted against the marriage equality bill lost their elections. Incumbents who supported marriage equality all got re-elected. A number of Latinos who voted in support of it were also re-elected.

Equality: How do you think the presence of you and others in your community in such efforts affects the Latino/a perception of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community?

Huerta: We do influence when we stand up. When I’m speaking to the public or to colleges or community organizations, I like to quote a president of Mexico, the first indigenous president of the Americas, Benito Juarez. He said a Spanish phrase that every Latino family knows: “El respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz.” Or in English: “Respecting other people’s rights is peace.” No matter how many children you want to have, that’s your constitutional right. The right of privacy, whom you want to marry, whom you want to live with — is your constitutional right. You need to respect the rights of others. When I say that to Latino audiences, they understand. They get it. So it’s important for political leaders and civic leaders to speak out. Very important.

Equality: When you lobbied lawmakers in Sacramento on marriage equality, did you find that some arguments resonate more than others?

Huerta: I’ll tell you this little story. One legislator voted against the equality of marriage bill. And afterward, the president of the Democratic Women’s Club — she’s Latina, Sara Garcia — wanted a meeting with him. And he said, “You know, I vote my religion.” Her response: “We didn’t elect you to vote your religion, we elected you to represent us.” Isn’t that great? He got defeated in the next election.

Equality: You’ve spoken out about the need to put fair-minded judges into the system, to make sure everyone is treated equally.

Huerta: And politicians. I think we have to be a lot more assertive. Anybody who is not supportive of gay and lesbian rights is against human rights. We’ve got to be more assertive in running candidates against those who are against you.

Equality: How do you see the struggles for fair treatment by field workers and immigrants compared to the struggles by the GLBT community?

Huerta: Both are extremely similar because both involved discrimination. The farm workers faced racial discrimination and never received respect for the job they did — until they organized, educated others and organized for change. The GLBT community also has had to do outreach and education and organize for change.

Equality: Some leaders dislike when we say that the GLBT fight is a civil rights fight. What do you say to people who say to us, “Your fight is not our fight”?

Huerta: The civil rights struggle was a human rights fight to end segregation under Jim Crow and end racism against African-American people and other minorities. Just like the struggle for GLBT equality, we must end discrimination and recognize gay and lesbian rights as basic human rights.

Equality: Recently, very prominent Hispanic leaders like Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and members of Congress Linda Sanchez and Hilda Solis of California and Charlie Gonzalez of Texas have joined with you in support of equality because they see it as discrimination against a specific group. What do you say to leaders who fight discrimination yet do not support equality for the GLBT community?

Huerta: It’s time for leaders of the entire community to take a stand. Leaders cannot represent their constituents if they do not represent and educate all of their community on GLBT equality.

Julian Bond chairs the board of the NAACP, the largest and oldest civil rights group in the country. In the 1960s, he co-founded the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, renowned for its organizing work in the fight against racism. Bond also served 20 years in the Georgia Legislature and holds 23 honorary degrees.

The longtime civil rights leader and strong HRC supporter was one of the first guests on the Human Rights Campaign’s new show on XM Satellite Radio, The Agenda with Joe Solmonese. Excerpts from his interview with HRC President Solmonese follow.

Solmonese: You’ve been such an incredible ally for us and our community, particularly around the issue of marriage. Where did this come from for you? At what point in your gut did our fight become your fight?

Bond: You know, I’m not really sure. When I was in college, I had friends who were gay. They weren’t out, but they knew, and other people knew, they were gay. Then when I got involved in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, there were friends who were gay. When I was much, much younger, I’m sure I would make these homophobic jokes that I’m ashamed of now. Something happened. I don’t know what happened. My closest friend died of AIDS — a guy with whom I had been in the civil rights movement. We had served in the Legislature together. We were very, very close.

Solmonese: You’ve been both a participant and a learned observer of national politics. Will the Federal Marriage Amendment be a wedge issue again this fall?

Bond: Oh, I’m sure it will be. Republicans are quite clever at using this to leech people away from the Democratic consensus. They had some success — and I don’t think we really know exactly how much — with black voters in Ohio in the last election. And they’re hoping this repeats itself in the states where they’re trying it again. It’s really the worst kind of cynical behavior. Because for some of them, this isn’t an issue at all. It’s not anything they care about.

Solmonese: When you hear the debate on the FMA, and someone like Congress-woman Marilyn Musgrave of Colorado actually says on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives that somehow our marriages threaten her marriage and the institution itself, what goes through your mind?

Bond: First of all, I wonder what the state of her marriage is and why she feels threatened by two other people in love who want to do what she has done. If it was good for her — or maybe it’s not good for her — but if it was good for her, why isn’t it good for other people? And you wonder how this institution that has a 50 percent failure rate right now, even before this became a pronounced issue around the United States, how is it threatened by other people wanting to do what hundreds of thousands of Americans have done for years and years going back. I don’t see the threat. I don’t see any kind of threat. But again, this is one useful tool that people like her have used to divide and conquer. Those of us who believe the opposite have to find some way to counter it.

Solmonese: How do you see our fight for equality — whether it’s in the workplace or in our everyday lives — as compared with the great civil rights movement that you and others ushered through in this country?

Bond: Well, I think with minor, minor exceptions, it is an exact parallel. A couple of years ago, I was in Seattle and this white guy came up to me and identified himself as a steel worker and said he was so grateful to the NAACP. I said, “Why?” He said [it was] because the NAACP had filed a suit against restrictive seniority rules that privileged white workers, and it dis-privileged him. He was denied the chance to promotion on his job. But the black NAACP fought the fight for black workers, and the benefits were felt by white workers like him. When the black civil rights movement wins an advance, it isn’t a black advance. It is an advance for all people. Everyone moves forward. Everyone takes another step. That’s true with gays and lesbians; it’s true with Hispanics; it’s true with women. It’s true with all of us.

Solmonese: So how do we answer when someone says, “Well, our fight is not your fight,” and that it’s actually disrespectful to compare the two?

Bond: I answer that it’s just the opposite. I feel flattered when other groups of people adopt the songs I sang in the movement, when they adopt the tactics I used in the movement.

These exclusive interviews ran in HRC’s magazine, Equality. It only costs $35 to get four fun-filled issues of Equality each year, featuring lots of special interviews, photos, features and more! To start receiving Equality, join HRC today!