What is the future of politics in the GLBT community? That was the main question addressed by a panel hosted at the University of Chicago Center for Gender Studies building March 7. Among those speaking were recent 44th Ward candidate Rick Ingram, Paul Drugan, Debbie Gould, Jeff Edwards and moderator Stuart Michaels.
While the question was about GLBT politics in general, the focus was on 'independent' races, with Ingram voicing his frustration about coming up against the 'machine' forces who backed Tom Tunney, another gay man, who won in the 44th Ward race.
But Tunney supporters at the forum disagreed that Tunney is a typical 'machine' candidate, and said he has a long history of political activism. The pre-election debate about who is representative of gays was regurgitated, but most of the forum focused on larger independent political issues.
Panelist Drugan has been studying trends in gay electoral politics. In last November's election, he surveyed voters at North Side and Evanston polls, and found that GLBs tend to say they are slightly more liberal than heterosexuals. More GLBs voted for Blagojevich (92.7%) than did heterosexuals (77%). Economic growth, education, human rights, and healthcare topped the concerns of GLB voters. One percent of GLBs are totally against abortion, while 3.4% of heterosexuals say 'never' as to when they would back it.
Drugan said there has been a significant shift in the GLB community to the north and west of the 44th Ward.
Both Gould and Edwards are members of Queer to the Left, and they both spoke about activism on housing and other progressive issues. Gould focused a lot on the 46th Ward, where Ald. Helen Shiller's race offers a good example of the class conflict within the GLBT community. Queer to the Left works with housing advocates to dispel the myth that all gays are against poor people, and to bring a queer perspective to the debate.
The 46th Ward has lost much of its low-cost housing stock—as has the city in general. Edwards said that while gays tend to say they are 'liberal,' they often mean 'just not next to me' when it comes to poor people. But despite this, a majority of people in the precincts next to the Wilson Yard proposed low-cost housing development supported the project in a referendum Feb. 25.
Gould said attending CAPS, community policing, meetings in the 46th showed her 'what fascism looks like'—with neighbors calling on police to come down on neighbors, and police using building inspectors as a tool to force gentrification.
As gays and lesbians become more a part of the mainstream, Gould said, the most salient issue for them is not gay and lesbian rights, but their property values.
Housing is a gay issue, she said, because many queers are left homeless, including people with AIDS, GLBT youth, and seniors.
Edwards questioned Mayor Daley's support of Tunney. He said it is 'inclusion' on their terms—when it is useful for people in power to pick who is going to be the leader of a community. Edwards also questioned the strength of Equality Illinois, which endorsed Ingram but could not counter the force of the Daley machine in terms of volunteers, fundraising, and workers.
Dan Layman, an activist from the campaigns of Dr. Ron Sable in the 44th Ward more than a decade ago, said he did not feel that Ingram's campaign grabbed the community the way Sable's had. Layman pointed out that while he is a long-time Shiller supporter, he sees a lot of her support is based on Shiller herself, not the issues. Sable, he said, did a similarly successful job at reaching out to people who did not agree with him politically, but who could buy into his vision. Layman said it was also wrong to dismiss Tunney's support as all coming from the machine.
Ingram said Tunney 'clearly had a huge base of support that was not just the machine. ... but there was a huge outside presence.' Ingram added that while he was pegged as the Equality Illinois candidate, 'I didn't even know them before this election. ... It played into the splintering of the community. ... It doesn't help us get forward if we are too busy fighting against ourselves.'
Some in the audience viewed the splits within the community as a sign of strength—just as African-Americans are not united behind any one campaign. Some also pointed out that as basic gay rights are attained, the divisions of GLBTs will only further intensify, as the unifying call for 'gay rights' gets split among a myriad of issues such as the war, housing, crime, issues of class, and more.
