8 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE MAY 2, 1997
700 at HRC dinner hear Rep. Cynthia McKinney
Continued from page 1
just been fired from her job because she is a lesbian. The conversation between her coworkers reveals that the firing, while unfair, is not against the law. The ad then offers a toll-free telephone number for the Human Rights Campaign that viewers can call to get more information.
The ad, on a videotape produced for HRC's Ellen-night house parties, was preceded by a message from HRC executive director Elizabeth Birch. In it, she referred to ENDA as a "very sacred piece of federal legislation."
"At the HRC, we care a great deal about your family, and your health and your safety,” Birch said. "But when you think about it, if you don't have a job, and you're not secure in the workplace, you can't take care of your family and your health and your safety."
HRC legislative director Winnie Stachelberg related a story about an Atlanta woman who was taken to the hospital after she was wounded in the recent bombing of the Otherside Lounge. When she saw the reporters and photographers at the emergency room, the woman refused to get out of the ambulance and have her wounds treated because she was afraid of being identified as a lesbian.
"I'm not criticizing her," Stachelberg said. "Her fears were very real. In Georgia, and in
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McKinney became Georgia's first AfricanAmerican congresswoman in November 1992. Last November, McKinney beat the odds and defeated her Republican challenger 58% to 42% in a redrawn, predominately
DOREEN CUDNIK
MPAIG
Cynthia McKinney
日
whether they live in Cobb County or Cleveland, can be open and honest and safe at work and in their communities."
The annual Torch Award was given to the United Church of Christ for its "longtime support of the lesbian and gay community." There to accept the award was the president of the UCC, Rev. Dr. Paul H. Sherry.
The highlight of the evening was the keynote speaker, U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney from Georgia's 4th District east of Atlanta.
white district created as a result of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions. She was one of 62 House members who voted against the Defense of Marriage Act to be reelected in November.
McKinney said the speaker of the Georgia House, who she referred to as a "cigar-chompin,' wily Southern politican," and her state's "good ol' boy" network were responsible for her new district.
"They drew this 4th District that was majority white and everyone began to write my political obituary," McKinney said. "But what they didn't take into account was the fact that all white people don't think alike. They were so sure of themselves, but they forgot about the Human Rights Campaign and the gay and lesbian community.They forgot that they had tortured gays and lesbians in the state of Georgia and passed oppressive laws and refused to meet with their own gay and lesbian constituents.
"They forgot that their own attorney general in Georgia took their homophobia all the way to the Supreme Court in Bowers v. Hardwick and denied loving gay couples something that is sacrosanct in the American belief system-basic privacy. And they forgot that friendships and love and respect can cross color and sexual orientation lines and that even their own white brothers and sisters whom they had rejected could wrap their loving arms and protecting arms around this black sister." Speaking to the largely white crowd about
the difficulties of coming out, McKinney said, "If it's hard to do in the white community, just imagine that it's darn near impossible in the black community."
She challenged African-American gays and lesbians to be more out, saying, "Black gays and lesbians need role models. They need to become visible and a presence within the community.” She then implored the white gay community to "wrap your arms around them and protect them, seek to understand them, because they represent the unfinished part of the civil rights movement for us all."
To close, McKinney spoke about how the African-American community is being courted by the radical right. She cited an incident in which a black minister lauded Ralph Reed as the "messiah for the black community," and said that Jerry Falwell has formed a coalition with 43,000 African-American churches across the coun-
try.
"If Ralph Reed, Jerry Falwell and the like become leaders, and acceptable to even a slight percentage of the black community, it sets the progressive movement back decades."
Berrey, who will co-chair next year's dinner with Timothy Downing, said that efforts to attract more African-American gays and lesbians to the HRC will continue to be a priority. "We still have a long way to go," she said, "and those who have worked on civil rights issues know that it's not a one-year, one-shot fix. There were effort last year to reach out to lesbians and gays of color. That effort continued this year, and we will work on it again next year."
The fifth annual Cleveland HRC dinner is scheduled for April 4, 1998 at the Renaissance Grand Ballroom. Tickets to the June 21 Columbus HRC dinner can be purchased by calling 614-265-7303. ✔
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