LifeLube's "It's Not Just Faggot!" forum - a recap

recap by John Garver of the Project CRYSP team

Last Wednesday, December 8, about 100 people joined  LifeLube and Project CRYSP for another one of our fabulous community forums at Center on Halsted titled “It’s Not Just ‘Faggot!’ End Homophobia Now.”

Simone Koehlinger (former director of the city's Office of LGBT Health and current consultant with the Cook County Department of Public Health) moderated the town hall discussion between the audience and panelists Keith Green of the Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus, Rick Garcia of Equality Illinois, and Lois Bates of Howard Brown Health Center.

Here are some highlights from the discussion:

The panelists helped first to expand the notion of “homophobia” as something beyond a fear of those who are in same-sex relationships. Keith Green addressed the existence of “institutionalized homophobia” wherein larger social systems reinforce messages about being “second-class citizens” through policies such as Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which in turn shape one’s self-concept, self-esteem, and sense of self-efficacy. Addressing his own experience as a youth and that of youth today, Keith discussed what is at stake when teachers don’t teach comprehensive sex education. What happens when LGBT youth don’t find themselves represented by educators or as part of the conversation when they try to learn about their sexual health and preventing HIV? Keith also discussed the need to consider the role of sexism.

The above word cloud reflects the prominence
of different words and themes that came
up during the discussion.

Rick Garcia provided information around the work he and Equality Illinois are doing in the political sphere with regard to civil unions and marriage equality—how did we get to civil unions and where do we go from here. Rick also addressed the need to make schools safe for LGBT youth from discrimination and hate, both physically and emotionally. He called upon audience members to hold Chicago’s future mayor accountable for ensuring safety in schools and the need to know the mayoral candidates’ positions with respect to these issues.

Rick also emphasized that the political effort is shaped largely by personal experiences—that a politician from a conservative district might vote for civil unions because their best friend is gay, and that friendship brings the reminder of our shared humanity.

Lois Bates discussed the ways in which “faggot” is a term used to describe lots of people who do not live up to cultural expectations about masculinity and femininity. Lois addressed the need to support and affirm LGBT people who are in the military, the Boy Scouts, neighborhoods, or schools where homophobia or heterosexism is well-inculcated.

On the front lines, bullets aren’t discriminating, so LGBT people in the military who are discriminated against need support. Lois noted how language and action fracture the sense of community and equality that can move people forward and emphasized learning about our own community so that we can stand up for every part of it. How can we make sure that everyone is on the bus in the ride toward equality?

Simone and audience members asked questions about “compromise” in moving legislation forward to advance equal rights; speculation on a future 50 years from now; the role of churches; “bigotry” as a replacement term for “homophobia”; uniting rather than dividing Chicago’s neighborhoods and communities, while ensuring that every community is safe and nurturing; transferring what’s happening in academia into the streets; and future actions to end “homophobia” now!

Click here for more photos from the forum.

Click here for the Windy City Times coverage of this forum. 

Click here for info on past and future forums.