{"id":26860,"date":"2023-06-07T12:35:53","date_gmt":"2023-06-07T19:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=26860"},"modified":"2023-06-07T12:35:54","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T19:35:54","slug":"new-book-chronicles-changing-world-of-lgbtq-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/06\/07\/new-book-chronicles-changing-world-of-lgbtq-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"NEW BOOK CHRONICLES CHANGING WORLD OF LGBTQ POLITICS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by\u00a0Randy Shaw<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0June 5, 2023 (BeyondChron.org)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Historic Gains While Threats Remain<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LGBTQ community has made tremendous political progress in the past two decades. We\u2019ve gone from Democratic Party politicians debating whether to support civil unions to the national legalizing of gay marriage. But LGBTQ progress remains under siege as Republican leaders wage a \u201cculture war\u201d targeting LGBTQ rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kevin Naff, longtime editor of the Washington Blade<\/em>, has been on the frontline of national LGBTQ struggles. His new book, \u201cHow We Won the War for LGBTQ Equality\u2014And How Our Enemies Could Take it All Away<\/a>\u201d reminds us that activism brought LGBTQ victories and that activism is essential to protect this progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading Naff\u2019s book is a great way to start Pride Month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essays and New Insights<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naff  structures the book around his columns, but prefaces each with his contemporary assessment of what he wrote. He describes it as combining \u201ccollected essays with new insights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This approach puts positions on gay marriage taken by Barack Obama and other Democrats in the context of its time. Naff does not excuse reactionary positions; for example, he attacks President Bill Clinton for enacting \u201cDon\u2019t Ask, Don\u2019t Tell\u201d and the Defense of Marriage Act\u201d after claiming while running in 1992 that he supported gay rights. But he does not hold Obama\u2019s past positions against him because unlike Clinton his presidency brought enormous progress to the LGBTQ movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wonder how many activists under thirty even know about the huge fight to legalize civil unions. As recently as the early 1990\u2019s civil unions were considered the closest alternative to marriage that the LGBTQ community could politically achieve. Candidate Barack Obama in 2008 backed civil unions while opposing gay marriage. Naff\u2019s current perspectives and past columns show how the political dynamic radically changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naff describes himself as a journalist and not an activist. But he regularly addresses the challenges LGBTQ activists faced trying to win greater rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, consider the fight to pass ENDA\u2014 The Employment Non-Discrimination Act. ENDA was first introduced in 1994. It went nowhere after Republicans won the House that year but was revived when Democrats regained control in 2007. Gender identity protections were added to the legislation, causing a split among Democratic supporters of the initial bill. The Human Rights Campaign was so torn over the strategy that it took no position. This led transgender activists to picket outside the group\u2019s annual dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naff analyzes the conflict and came down on the right side: transgender protections should be included. But many saw this expansion as killing the measure. Naff described their position as \u201cIsn\u2019t something better than nothing? The United States has a long history of incrementalism. After all, Black men won the right to vote before women did.\u201d He explains why this political assessment was unsound, a position that ultimately prevailed among LGBTQ advocates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2009,  Rep. Barney Frank<\/a> introduced a transgender-inclusive version of ENDA. He introduced it again in 2011, and it passed the Senate in 2013. But Republicans had regained control of the House and defeated the bill. ENDA has not passed to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naff\u2019s deep dive into the ENDA fight reflects a core strength of his book: a recognition that passing major national legislation invariably requires compromises that some advocates may resist. His ENDA account reminded me of the campaign around the same time to pass comprehensive immigration reform (which I describe in my book, Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st<\/sup> Century<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some immigrant rights leaders felt accepting a \u201cguest worker\u201d provision was the only way to secure passage. But progressive groups opposed this compromise. The result? Despite massive marches in 2006, comprehensive immigration reform has never been enacted. The issue is less about particular compromises than the steep challenge of passing progressive federal legislation in the post-Reagan era. Naff sympathizes with those in the arena who have to make tough decisions in the face of sideline critics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond Politics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naff\u2019s book goes beyond politics to discuss LGBTQ rights in a wide variety of areas, from entertainment to the military to the controversial question of outing. Particularly interesting was the battle he got into with John Waters over Scientologist John Travolta having a starring role in Hairspray<\/em>. Naff has directly been involved in outing and offers a sophisticated analysis of the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether you agree with him on every issue or not, Naff consistently offers a thoughtful take on where the LBGTQ movement has been and where it is going. How We Won the War for LGBTQ Equality<\/em> is an insightful read on activism\u2019s power to bring progressive change and resist threats to LGBTQ rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randy Shaw<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Randy Shaw is the Editor of Beyond Chron and the Director of San Francisco\u2019s Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which publishes Beyond Chron. Shaw’s latest book is Generation Priced Out: Who Gets to Live in the New Urban America. He is the author of four prior books on activism, including The Activist’s Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century. He is also the author of The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Randy Shaw\u00a0on\u00a0June 5, 2023 (BeyondChron.org) Historic Gains While Threats Remain The LGBTQ community has made tremendous political progress in the past two decades. We\u2019ve gone from Democratic Party politicians debating whether to support civil unions to the national legalizing of gay marriage. But LGBTQ progress remains under siege as Republican… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[666],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26860"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26861,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26860\/revisions\/26861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}