'MO - July 2008 - (Page 14)

cover story (continued from page 13) about Washington. One of the things I keep hearing in our community is, ‘Well I already have all these papers in place.’ But I could tell those people about how many people already have those papers in place and still can’t get legal protections when they need them.” Powers of attorney, business partnerships and other legal tools may not transfer across state lines and even if they do, they may not be immediately enforceable. “There was a case recently were a lesbian couple went on a Rosie Cruise and one partner dropped from a cerebral aneurism. She was unconscious when they got to the hospital and the nurse told her partner, ‘you’re in a gay hostile state. Your papers mean nothing to us. Sit down.” These mistaken ideas and assumptions about legal protections are something that fuels Charlene’s activism. “I read one comment written about me in where one gentleman said, ‘I’m gay. I don’t understand why Charlene couldn’t have just gotten this paperwork.’ I thought, you’re not helping the issue. Basically you’re singing the song that everyone else in society is singing. We need to stand as a chorus of one voice. I think there needs to be some continuity. Joining us at lunch were producer LD Thompson and writer/producer David Rothmiller, from Trick Dog Films who are making a documentary ﬁlm about Charlene titled For My Wife. LD suddenly interjected. “One of the interview subjects in our ﬁlm corroborates this. She is an attending physician and she talks about that when a man and a woman come into the hospital, we don’t question their relationship.” These are the questions that come up. Even within our own community there are many voices expressing many opinions on what kind Strong poses with Gloria Steinem (left). of gay rights we should be asking for. In many ways, the LGBT community has mastered the work-around and carved out community space through a mix of legal action, social compromises and lies of omission. Charlene was not going to equivocate however. “Why in 2008, why in 1990, whenever, why as a community are we willing to allow ourselves to be considered second class citizens? That is the question that goes over and over in my head at night. I keep trying to ﬁnd that quintessential nugget of information that makes me say, ‘I get it!’” David Rothmiller added, “Marriage equality is not the only issue, the issue is ﬁrst class citizen status. But marriage is the button.” There does exist a strong fear-based belief in the LGBT community—perhaps based on as much of a lack of internal acceptance as external acceptance—that if we ask for too much, everything could get taken away. “Imagine if Martin Luther King had taken that stand,” Charlene retorts, “or Malcolm X. Now I’m not evoking the understanding of another person’s plight, but just imagine. Imagine if women said, ‘oh that’s okay, I don’t need to vote.’ It’s never easy to ask for change because society has set up that this is the way you’re going to be looked at. Absolutely not. I don’t agree. How do they know what my needs are or what my rights should be? We’re going for it. If I’m making somebody uncomfortable, they need to look at why they’re uncomfortable.” For someone of her proﬁle, Charlene is something of an unusual activist in that she is a solo-player and not ofﬁcially part of a single organization. “Are there organizations that support me? Yes. GLAAD approached me about some media training. They brought me to New York with a handful of people with prominent stories to help us with 14 our presentation. GLAAD and I have a wonderful relationship. I went to Vegas and spoke at a fundraiser there. Also, people like Equal Right Washington have asked me to a couple of their fundraisers. I’m just working to get the message out there whatever way is most effective. One of the things I’ve found is that many, many heterosexual people don’t realize how few rights homosexuals have. I just did an op-ed piece and most of the responses were from people saying, ‘I had no clue you people were denied these rights.’ and they were almost all positive responses. I only had one negative one. It was heavily misspelled with terrible grammar. Maybe he was so angry he couldn’t think ‘straight.’” She divides her educational message between the straight and gay communities but feels like the gays particularly need a little “gathering.” This question of diversity versus unity is one that particularly plagues the liberal mind-set. In an effort to value all opinions, it can often seem like liberals are going 10,000 directions at once whereas conservatives stay focused on a limited set of objectives. LD ﬁelded a response to this, “It’s just the hand that we’re dealt. Some people think with celebrating seattle’s gay community

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of 'MO - July 2008

'MO - July 2008 Contents Letter From The Editor Series 2008 Needs Volunteers Voices 'mo-BIZ: City Lights Sign Company HIV Is Still a Big Deal, The Online Video Series Instant Activist Pet Project: Wiener Takes All Charlene Strong on the Rights Fight Form & Function: Molding Your Middle Will the Economy Ruin LGBT Funding? Toronto is a Great Place to Meet Feature Film Review: American Teen Live Event Preview: Sitting In Circles with Rich White Girls Book Review: In the Eye of the Storm by Gene Robinson Capitol Hill Guide Three Dollar Bill Cinema Presents: Features from the Black Lagoon Raising Spirits: Tini Bigs Offers Five New Martinis SceneOut: People@Places

'MO - July 2008

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