Out
at Work : Building a Gay-Labor Alliance by Kitty
Krupat (Editor), Patrick McCreery (Editor)
Challenging the gay rights movement and labor
unions to join forces in order to advance workplace rights for
all.
Today in thirty-nine states, employers may
legally fire workers simply because they are known or thought to
be gay. Clearly, the struggle against workplace discrimination
based on sexual orientation has a long way to go. In Out at Work,
a distinguished group of prominent gay rights activists, union
leaders and members, policymakers, and academics-including U.S.
Representative Barney Frank, AFL-CIO president John J. Sweeney,
and rights advocate Urvashi Vaid-offers a spirited assessment of
the challenges faced by lesbians, gays, and other sexual
minorities on the job.
Although mainstream gay rights organizations
have tended to imagine their community as primarily middle class,
an overwhelming number of lesbians and gays are working class, and
many are already union members. Indeed, most of the progress made
toward improved workplace conditions for gays and lesbians has
been accomplished by rank-and-file union activists. Out at Work
identifies the important parallels between the labor and gay
rights movements and their shared work of foregrounding human
rights, fighting homophobia, and embracing the full range of
sexual expression. Through case studies of organizing efforts and
more broadly political approaches, the authors call for both
movements to reexamine their priorities and practices. There is
much to be gained from a partnership between these movements, they
conclude: for the gay rights movement, having the bargaining power
of the trade unions behind them; for organized labor, a broader
base of support.
Contributors: Cathy J. Cohen, Yale U; Teresa
Conrow; Lisa Duggan, NYU; William Fletcher Jr., AFL-CIO;
Representative Barney Frank; Tami Gold, Hunter College; Yvette
Herrera, Communication Workers of America; Desma Holcomb, UNITE;
Amber Hollibaugh; Gloria Johnson, Coalition of Labor Union Women;
Tamara Jones; Heidi Kooy, Exotic Dancers Union; Andrew Ross, NYU;
Van Alan Sheets, Pride at Work; Nikhil Pal Singh, U of Washington;
John J. Sweeney, AFL-CIO; Jeff Truesdell, Orlando Weekly; Urvashi
Vaid, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; Riki Anne Wilchins,
GenderPAC; and Kent Wong, UCLA.
Kitty Krupat and Patrick McCreery are
contributors to this volume and doctoral candidates in the
American Studies program at New York University.
