NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendall says as marriage equality looms, it’s time to look ahead and to stand with others fighting for their rights
The legal battle over same-sex marriage has grabbed headlines and taken center stage in recent week. But that’s only one battlefront in the overall fight for LGBT equality, National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Kate Kendall pointed out this week.
Kendall will be in Dallas to participate in several events taking place Nov. 7-9 as part of the “Our Bodies. Our Spirits. Our Selves: A Celebration of Women” weekend, being presented by the Dallas-based Hope for Peace & Justice social justice ministry. And Kendall said the message of the weekend-long celebration meshes seamlessly with the mission of her organization.
“There’s so much happening right now [in terms of same-sex marriage]. That [issue] is completely on fire right now in a way we would not have expected before the U.S. Supreme Court rejected” in early October appeals in seven cases from five states were lower courts had overturned same-sex marriage bans, Kendall said.
But, she continued, “That is just a small piece of the overall battle. There is so much else to be done, especially in a place like Texas. And this weekend of events will be focusing on those issues that are very much in the sweet spot of NCLR’s mission.”
NCLR, Kendall said, was created some 37 years ago specifically to offer help to lesbians dealing with issues like child custody, relationship protections and employment discrimination.
“But then, very shortly after the organization was founded, they started representing gay men dealing with those very same issues,” she said. “One of our earliest clients was an HIV-positive gay man who lost custody of his son in the mid-1980s.”
And while NCLR now boasts a staff and an array of donors that is “wildly diverse,” caring for and helping women remains at the core of its mission.
“We have the very best men working for us and supporting us, men who aren’t afraid of women, who understand we are all sisters and brothers in this fight together,” Kendal said. “But the majority of our supporters are surely women, mostly lesbian-identified women. I am the executive director, and I am lesbian-identified. The majority of our board are lesbian-identified women.”
She continued, “Even in 2014, as we fight as a community for broad LGBT protections, lesbian women and transgender women continue to, in many ways, live more on the margins than we should be willing to tolerate. One thing I am very gratified by with Hope for Peace & Justice is the focus of the [panel discussion] on Saturday. You can’t address a problem if you don’t acknowledge it exists. And that’s what Hope for Peace & Justice is doing with this event: bringing women and like-minded men together to talk about the inequities and the ways to move forward.”
As the LGBT community “begin[s] to see the close of the chapter on marriage,” Kendall said, “We have to look ahead. Who else is being left behind? What else do we need to put our energy and our obviously tremendously powerful talents for change to work on?”
And when she looks, Kendall said, the list is obvious: poor LGBT people, especially lesbian- and trans-identified women; rural LGBT people, particularly lesbian- and trans-identified women; and “folks who live in communities where they do not have economic security or security in their communities” socially.
“It’s all the same issues we [at NCLR] have been working on all along,” she said.
Kendall also praised the LGBT community for the way, overall, that people bridge the gender gap to work together on issues that may affect one gender more than another.
“I think our community probably understands as well as any community that our fates are connected,” she said. “And we also, I think, have a greater appreciation for the morality of not leaving anyone behind. We have seen this in our movement again and again.”
Kendall pointed to the early days of the AIDS epidemic when lesbians were the ones — sometimes the only ones — stepping forward to “care for our sick brothers” and who were “on the front lines fighting alongside the gay men.”
The LGBT community has also been “very present” in standing with immigration rights organizations in the battle for comprehensive immigration law reforms, and “our community has stepped up big to help LGBT youth being harassed in schools and communities, helping them find strength and an autonomous voice to fight back.”
Kendall noted that recent years have seen “a rocket-propelled acceptance of LGBT people, particularly on the issue of marriage.” And while LGBT people have won that acceptance by standing strong through some very tough fights, the LGBT community did have some outside help.
“It happened because of our non-gay allies,” Kendall said. “It happened because of our friends, our neighbors, our family members who did not have a dog in this hunt, but who saw the injustice and who stood up for us.
“Now we are being asked to stand up for others whose fights are not our fight,” she continued. “We understand that we got where we are because many people stood up for us who could have easily turned their backs on us. Now it’s time for us to do the same,” whether than mean’s standing up for poor LGBTs even if you are not poor yourself, standing up for transgenders even if you are not transgender, standing up for immigrants even though you are not an immigrant.
“I think we will do the right thing,” Kendall said. “I just feel we do know true north. We have a good moral compass as a community.”
Kendall said the weekend full of events offers a chance for those in the community to “come together, appreciate each other, honor where we’ve been, where we are and where we are going.” But she doesn’t want anyone to be scared off by the thought it might be too somber.
“Yes, I want people to hear some good information and I want them to be inspired. But I want to have fun, too. I want to laugh and have a good time.”
For information on National Center for Lesbian Right, visit NCLR.org. For information on Hope for Peace and Justice and a schedule of weekend events, visit H4PJ.org.
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Celebration of Women : Schedule of Events
• Solidarity With Women Mixer: 6:30-8:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 7, Sue Ellen’s Vixen Lounge, 3014 Throckmorton St. Free admission. Sponsored by Resource Center, Lambda Legal and Human Rights Campaign.
• Women’s Rights Symposium: 10 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 8, Cathedral of Hope, 5910 Cedar Springs Road. Led by the Rev. Colleen Darrough of MCC Dallas, with Kate Kendall of NCLR, Blair High of GEAR, Susan Perry, Amanda Robertson of Real Live Connection, the Rev. Shelley Hamilton of Cathedral of Hope, a representative from Genesis Women’s Shelter and more, discussing topics including the history of the women’s movement, women’s health care, spiritualit, trans women, marriage equality, domestic abuse, aging and more. Lunch will be served after the panel discussion, followed by five workshops on the next step in the LGBT rights battle, domestic violence, aging issues for women, trans women and spirituality, and men and feminism. A $5 donation benefiting Genesis Women’s Shelter is suggested. Box lunches are available for $10.
• Celebration of Women Reception: 5-7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 8, Interfaith Peace Chapel, 5910 Cedar Springs Road. $10 suggested donation. Presented by Hope for Peace and Justice.
• Cathedral of Hope Sunday Morning Services and Brunch: Kate Kendal of NCLR will speak at the 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. services at Cathedral of Hope on Sunday, Nov. 9. A brunch in her honor will follow the 11 a.m. service at Margaux’s Bridge Bistro, 921 N. Riverfront Blvd. Brunch tickets are $50 with proceeds benefitting H4PJ.
• Spanish-language, women-focused event following the 1 p.m. Spanish-language service with a sermon by Yinessa Romera and a special blessing of all women, at La Catedtral de la Esperanza, 5910 Cedar Springs Road. Event will include a Tex-Mex lunch and a workshop at 3 p.m. with Betti Ibarra, author of Mi Despertar: No Son Ustedes, Yo Soy. Suggested donation is $10. For reservations call 469-879-3783 or email imarquez@cathedralofhope.com.
For tickets to or information about any of the Celebration of Women weekend events, visit H4PJ.org/WOMEN. Individuals needing a scholarship for the reception or boxed lunch should contact Roger Stanley at 214-351-1901.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition October 31, 2014.