Solidarity Forever

The fight for equality exists on many fronts.  In addition to the struggles of all sexual minorities, the struggle certainly continues for racial, gender, environmental and economic justice, among others.  Since we are at Labor Day in the United States and I come from a very strong union background, I naturally spent a great deal of time of late thinking about being bisexual in the workplace and the connection between being bi and fight for workers’ rights.

Times are tough and we’re all living with the fallout of a 9.7% unemployment rate-16.8% if you’re paying attention to the unofficial figures.  In other words, many people are feeling mighty insecure at the moment.  In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many resumes come into my email, and in the education sector there are always a great number of people looking for positions, even in the so-called good years.  Consider also that Massachusetts where I live and work was not as badly hit as other states.

From the perspective of many, our economy is in shambles.  The poor seem to be getting poorer, the rich richer, and corporations with as much as they can.  Labor standards are dropping and workers are being asked to give up more and more.

Now, let’s take the present anxiety of the workplace and add to it the anxiety of being BGLT on top of it.  It sounds like a recipe of for a nervous breakdown, doesn’t it?  But wait, you say, what about anti-discrimination laws?  Well, only 21 states, the District of Columbia and some 140 cities and counties have any statutes prohibiting employment discrimination against BLGT folk.  There is also very little at the federal level.  This means that if you’re not heterosexual, your sexuality-and gender expression-can get you fired in most of the country.

Talk about perspective.  I feel very privileged to find myself in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Neither do I forget that education at the college-level is queer friendly on the whole.  However, not all BGLT people live in the Northeast and not even every BGLT person in the Northeast is a college educator.

I’m sure some of you reading this live and work in areas hard hit economically and/or without workplace protections.  Otherwise if you share my good fortune, can you imagine the terror?  And I use the word deliberately.  We often face enough harassment and violence for our sexuality, but to have our employment threatened for it is too much.  After all, we in the United States derive our identities from our work, and even more basic than that, we derive out very livelihoods from it.  No work can mean no place to sleep and no food to eat.  It’s as simple as that.

So, what can we do?  Well, if you are one of the many pounding the pavement looking for work, I wish you good luck and Godspeed.  The rest of us can get active.  There are plenty of ways to get involved in the fight for labor rights.  There are myriad organizations, but if you’re interested in groups that work for workplace and economic justice from a BGLT perspective, I suggest you take a look at Queers for Economic Justice, based out of New York, Pride at Work, and even Public Services International.

Workers, as is often said, are the backbone of the US.  Labor is what has built and made the nation great.  It’s a cliché, I know, but one I very much agree with.  On this Labor Day, I salute all workers in general and bisexual, lesbian, gay, pansexual, and transsexual workers in particular.  Let the holiday stand a reminder that we need stand up and be counted as part of the march for workers’ rights, which are after all our own.