Area gay leaders take on racism in their community
Anneesah Smith stepped onto the stage of the African American Museum in Philadelphia on Saturday as the role model she never had.
Anneesah Smith stepped onto the stage of the African American Museum in Philadelphia on Saturday as the role model she never had.
The college administrator grew up in Germantown with no one in her community to show her how to navigate the world as a gay African American Christian.
So Smith, who came out when she was 25, pledged to be that example for other young women. She does it daily as the LGBTQA services coordinator at West Chester University, and she did it this weekend as cochair of the Creating Change conference, the national convention of the National LGBTQ Task Force, which will meet Jan. 18 to 22 in Philadelphia.
Saturday's meeting, a precursor to the convention, which is expected to draw 4,000 people to the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, was a one-day seminar on an issue that activists such as Smith say is critical - race.
"Queering Racial Justice" offered a series of workshops and panel discussions meant to help the LGBT community confront issues of race and racism. About 150 people attended the meeting for sessions on subjects including economic justice, poverty, Islamaphobia, criminal justice, and gun violence.
"As a woman of color who identifies as queer, the two are more often separated," said Smith, 36, of Eagleville. "This brings the conversation together in one space."
The event was cosponsored by organizations including the Pennsylvania NAACP, the ACLU, and Equality Pennsylvania, an LGBT rights group.
Meeting organizers warned that the discussions might make some feel uncomfortable, but facilitators urged that attendees "lean in" when those moments occurred, because they offered an opportunity for growth.
"We have to shift the gaze away from whiteness," said the Rev. Rodney McKenzie, director of the National LGBTQ Task Force's Academy for Leadership in Action. "When people say "LGBTQ, they think of white gay men. We need people when they think LGBTQ to automatically think black and brown."
McKenzie described the nation as in a "movement moment" propelled by the protests surrounding the police-involved shooting of African American men. The Black Lives Matter movement that has emerged from the protests should be supported by the LGBTQ community, McKenzie said.
The National LGBTQ Task Force is a social-justice organization that "does its work through the lens of LGBTQ equality," McKenzie said. "Anything that affects one movement affects us all," he said.
Gay people of color are often subjected to racism within the LGBTQ community, activists said.
Ernest Owens, a Philadelphia journalist and vice president of Equality Pennsylvania's board, recounted his experience in clubs and bars in the downtown community known as the Gayborhood.
"I've been called the N word," Owens, 24, said in an interview after leading a seminar called Beyond the Rainbow: Acknowledging People of Color in Philly's LGBTQ Community.
"When has racism been an issue in the LGBT community? Since the beginning," Owens said. "This is not just a trending topic."
John Jordan of the Pennsylvania NAACP's office of community relations stood up and urged attendees to report any discrimination.
Owens responded by challenging social-justice groups to increase their efforts to reach out to a marginalized community, some of whom are too traumatized to fight back.
610-313-8211
