Gay Activists Ascendant

Anticipating unprecedented victories in the United States, gay rights groups in America are raising their profile at home and abroad. “It’s a really exciting time to be an LGBT American,” Rob Anderson, who edits the web site for Campus Progress, said at the group’s fourth annual national conference last week.

The progressive student organization held its annual meeting at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. The panel was entitled, “Is LGBT Activism Obsolete?: Assessing the goals and methods of the LGBT movement,” and offered a particularly notable presentation. The panel of four LGBT experts suggested that the LBGT (Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transsexual) movement has made vast progress during the last decade as society has become more accepting of their lifestyles.

First to speak was Richard Kim Associate Editor for The Nation, a weekly publication covering politics and culture often described as “the flagship of the left.”

“As an activist, I want to put my energy in perceptual rights,” Kim said. He referred to a situation that occurred last month in Uganda, during which several gay protestors were arrested for demanding the right to AIDS/HIV treatment at an international AIDS conference. In Uganda, engaging in homosexual acts can even result in life-long imprisonment.

Such is certainly not the case in the United States, as gay marriages were legalized in California just last month. As a social issue, issues like gay rights are often associated with the left-wing political agenda. James Kirchick, Assistant Editor of The New Republic, believes that the issue should be above the initiatives of both parties.

“I don’t think gay rights should be associated with only the left,” Kirchick said. “It should be above left and right.”

Audra Taylor is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.

Audra Taylor