How To Win LGBT Equality -- Even In Red States

Editor's note: This piece was written in longer form by an equality activist from Pennsylvania named Adrian Shanker. I've edited it down to column length, but it floats some important themes related to ALL progressive struggles in red states like Tennessee, and illuminates the importance of not getting so focused on our pet issues that we forget to work with allies on causes across the board, as it strengthens our entire progressive voice. So regardless of whether LGBT equality is your top issue, take a gander, because this applies to immigrant rights, women's rights, poverty, institutionalized racism and pretty much every other thing that progressives care about. Many of the strategies herein are along the same lines of those employed by great local organizations like the Tennessee Equality Project.

by Adrian Shanker

The path toward victory for full, national, LGBT equality could not be clearer. National leaders know that in order to win nationwide, they need to start winning where it is less popular. That means changing how we fight for equality so we can win in less convenient places. It’s easier to fight for equality while swimming through deep blue waters, but for those of us who have chosen to fight for equality in the purple or red states, we have a bigger challenge, but also a bigger reward. When we win in "inconvenient" places, it confirms that we are winning the struggle nationwide.

For allies in the progressive movement who desperately want to expand civil rights to their LGBT constituents, the challenges are the same. Without the coalitions in place to support equality, and without public support in the places they represent, it is a challenge and a political risk for an elected official to lead on equality if the campaign is not winnable. As progressives in moderate or conservative states, we need to focus where we can win, because we know we can’t win everything. At the same time, civil rights for the LGBT community cannot wait indefinitely. There is a balance that needs to be reached. If the LGBT community can work with the progressive community to build alliances while simultaneously educating the community at-large about our issues, then we can build public support as well as political clout with our allies.

This means that LGBT activists need to multi-task. On one hand, continue building public support and broader coalitions for equality issues, and on the other, find an LGBT angle on issues that are coming to a head either more quickly or simultaneously. We need to continue building support for non-discrimination and relationship recognition – but with the understanding that when our issues may not be ready for a vote,  assisting our allies in their efforts to pass progressive legislation on their issues creates a win-win situation for all.

Doing this doesn’t mean taking a back seat, but rather (at times) taking the passenger seat. It means that the LGBT community will be fighting side-by-side with our progressive allies to win crucial reforms in moderate and conservative states. To be sure, not every issue is one in which it is appropriate for the LGBT community to engage itself. But for those of us who believe in intersectionality, that our struggles between communities are intrinsically linked, we know that by working together with our progressive allies, we are making our states more equal for all of us. And we can be sure that our allies will work just as hard when our issues are at the forefront.

With what seems like a rushing tide of LGBT victories nationwide, it can be hard to understand why we won't yet win on certain LGBT issues in certain places. The cultural context in which I was raised makes it difficult for me to understand people who don’t believe that every person is due equal access to opportunity. But we should remember that activists in deep blue states did not just wake up and win equality; they worked for years supporting progressive legislation tangentially related to LGBT equality, but more directly to the progressive movement. The same strategy is needed in purple and red states today.

I chose to live in and fight for equality in Pennsylvania because winning here is harder than in a sea of deep blue. But winning here also means changing how we communicate our issues. It requires using different messages, different tactics, and in some cases, even different spokespersons. The reality is that the path from now to marriage equality is long (Ed: Maybe. We'll see what SCOTUS does.), and the fact that New York and Maryland have done it does not mean that our legislature will move any faster. (Ed: Or that Tennessee's legislature won't do everything in its power to move us backward.] In Pennsylvania, much like a majority of southern and western states, we lack all forms of LGBT equality and yet, I feel that we are winning. It’s true that a statewide victory has not yet been within reach, but we have worked diligently to advance equality in an effective way despite the lack of state-level legislative success.

Our success in advancing equality has been possible due to one primary strategy: building political clout within the larger context of the progressive community.

In Pennsylvania, in the past years, we knew we weren’t going to get a statewide non-discrimination law pushed through the legislature, so we hunkered down and passed more than a dozen municipal ordinances. We knew we weren’t going to get a marriage equality law through the legislature, so we approached Mayors of cities large and small and asked them to endorse marriage equality. Both of these tactics worked in our favor because both dramatically increased public opinion for our issues and created a farm team of local elected officials with a record on our issues, so that when they seek higher office, we have an assurance of where they stand.

Political power primarily comes from votes, so we formed an endorsement process and got involved in electoral change. As a non-partisan organization, we endorse LGBT affirming candidates from both parties, but significantly more Democrats seek our endorsement than Republicans. The same is true for Labor and environmental organizations that endorse candidates. And this must be where our partnerships are sustained.

We can't lead our allies and our own supporters down paths of defeat, and it isn't really compromise to choose our battles based on a strategy of creating a record of winning. If we partner with progressive allies on relevant state policy issues that indirectly relate to our community, but are the issue of the moment for the progressive movement, we win political clout and progressive policy change. For example, we recently joined a coalition to fight against the now-enacted “Voter ID” law, as all progressives should have. This ensures broader coalition support for our issues when they come up.

LGBT issues do not exist in a vacuum, and LGBT-specific legislation is not the only way to define success – supporting labor, supporting voting rights, supporting family-sustaining wages, supporting education – these are all progressive fights we have to join to ensure true equality for all.

Adrian Shanker is the president of Equality Pennsylvania, the statewide political organization advocating for equality for the LGBT community.