Chicago History Museum (CHM) presented "From Chicago Out to the World: Advancing International LGBTQ Human Rights" as part of its Out at CHM program on March 21.
This year marks Out at CHM's 10th year; however, this event is the first highlighting LGBTQ issues and how they link people on a global scale.
The panel leading the presentation (which had approximately 100 attendees) included Stefano Fabeni, managing director of the Global Initiative for Sexuality and Human Rights at Heartland Alliance; Dr. Lynette Jackson, associate professor of gender and women's studies and African American studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago; and Keren Zwick, supervising attorney for the LGBT Immigrant Rights Initiative for the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC).
Heartland Alliance President Dr. Sid Mohn served as the program moderator. Following the panel discussion, attendees were welcomed to ask questions in a Q&A session.
"My work is LGBT-specific and I'm very committed to raising awareness of the intersection of the immigration issues and sexual orientation, gender identity issues to a broader community in Chicago, so I was excited to have an opportunity," said Zwick. "It's really important for me to be able to speak to people who are coming to an event from a sexual orientation-based angle to be able to explain to them why immigration issues, right now especially, are their issues too."
Within current domestic issues, Zwick explained, the LGBT community and the immigration community should coalesce and come together to recognize that immigrant rights are gay rights because everybody is looking for equality. With comprehensive immigration reform and the Defensive Marriage Act (DOMA) being challenged, this is a once in a generation moment for those two communities to come together, according to Zwick.
While on the global front, she said there is a lot of work being done to increase visibility of LGBT rights around the world and a lot of progress has been made. The Unites States cannot be silent as other countries around the world continue to punish the LGBT community, she added.
"As an immigration lawyer I don't often have an opportunity to be on a panel with people that are speaking about these issues from a global perspective," said Zwick. "Getting to hear people's thinking from the big picture is really nice. I will say it's very different. My clients experience their reality in their countries, even the same countries those same individuals [the panel] were speaking about, through a very different perspective. It's very interesting for me to see, we're coming from very opposite extremes towards the same goal."
Liz Garibay, public programs manager at the Chicago History Museum, said the program—which is held every January, March and May—presents a different topic and format each time. The main mission behind it is the idea that Chicago history is LGBT history and LGBT history is Chicago history and CHM is dedicated to community engagement and telling people's stories.
"I thought it was great," Garibay said of the event. "I really like this informal setting in this great space. I think it was exactly what we wanted it to be. I'm not by any means an expert in this topic, and what's happening with asylum, a lot of people and what's happening in their countries, so it was really nice to learn about our country being an option for people and especially our city.
"Chicago has become a hub in a way. What I really enjoy is when these programs can take a specific topic and then make that connection to Chicago and the rest of the world."
