The UCLA Labor Center hosted the third Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender- Queer (LGBTQ) Labor Leadership School April 20–21 with support from Pride at Work, the national LGBT labor organization. More than twenty participants engaged in workshops on topics ranging from gender, sexuality, assertiveness, and communication to immigration and workers’ rights.
The evening event, “A New Union: A Labor-LGBT Exchange,” co-sponsored by the labor committee of the Vote for Equality campaign, created a public space for union members and staff to give personal testimonies on why the labor movement and LGBTQ community must work together for equal rights and justice. The keynote speakers were María Elena Durazo, secretary-treasurer of the L.A. County Federation of Labor, and Lorri Jean, CEO of the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center. Ms. Durazo said that our movements must take concrete action to support each other, because it is through specific acts of solidarity that union members learn that their community includes LGBTQ people.
She also highlighted the importance of pro-LGBTQ resolutions that authorize labor councils to hold political candidates accountable on LGBTQ issues. Ms. Jean addressed the need to educate the LGBTQ community on working people’s and immigrants’ rights issues and pledged to outreach to her networks in support of comprehensive immigration reform.
Participants felt the leadership school provided space for important discussion and self-reflection, skills building, and strategizing. Ongoing meetings of the school will further develop plans for education and action around LGBTQ workers’ rights. Demonstrating the strength of the UCLA Labor Center’s model, Pride at Work chapters across the country have been organizing similar schools.
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