'The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle' Book Talk, "Question and Answer: Part 8 of 16", Lillian Faderman, 2015/10/18
[caption: Lillian Faderman, Historian and Author of, The Gay Revolution, Q & A 8]
Audience member: You started talking about the second wave and in terms of the radical politics of lesbian feminism in the early ‘70’s, and I’m–in all liberation movements there’s a tension between the more radical ideologies and the assimilation that happens in terms of more mainstream goals. And so, in following that arc to contemporary times, in terms of how central the issue of marriage has been, I’m curious about your thoughts as a historian in terms of the ramifications of that?
Faderman: Yeah, I tried to deal with that in the book. Marriage has gotten so much play in the news, but I tried to make it very clear in the book that not all LGBT people think that that should have been a top priority. Not all LGBT people were thrilled about all of the energy that was put into getting rid of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, but what I also try to make clear in the book is that the media does what it wants with us. They used to always present us as being child molesters, and as I said earlier, lurking in the shadows. Now they present us as all being determined to get married and serve in the military. We know that that’s not true, we know that the community is very diverse and has always been very diverse. It’s diverse ethnically, it’s diverse racially, it’s diverse in terms of class, it’s diverse in terms of political preferences, and it’s certainly diverse in terms of goals. There are of course many people in the LGBT movement who think that the focus should have been on getting ENDA passed, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. We still have trouble there. It’s true that we can get married anywhere in the United States but in more than a dozen states you can get married on Sunday and fired on Monday because there are no employment protections. So many people within the movement have argued–or I should say movements rather than movement–have argued that that needs to be where our focus should be. Or in the first seven weeks of 2015, seven transgender people of color were killed, and it’s continued. About fifty transgender people of color have been killed just this year, many have argued that that’s where our focus should be, that’s where the real need is. So I think it’s wrong to talk about a movement, there are multiple movements, within the LGBT community.
[END OF VIDEO]
Interviewee: Lillian Faderman
Interviewer: Audience member
Transcriber: Anna H.
Formatter: Serena R.
Recording Date: October 18, 2015
Release Date: October 25, 2015
Location: City Council Chambers in West Hollywood, California
Interview Length: 00:03:01