- Conference
- 2012 National LGBT Conference
- Date
- 1 January 2012
- Decision
- Carried
Conference commends the work of the national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) committee with regards to raising awareness across this union of issues affecting LGBT members. It is now the norm for UNISON regional groups to have a high profile at the many Pride events up and down the country with many of our members marching in these parades.
Conference notes that whilst these events bring together the LGBT community more often than not there is little or no mention to the origins of Pride. As we celebrate 40 years of London Pride in this, our Olympic year it is important we remember the activists who first stood together to challenge discrimination, homophobia, hate crime and oppression for their sexuality and gender identity.
To many, Saturday, 28 June 1969 in Greenwich Village, New York is considered the cultural beginning of the LGBT rights movement following a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a small bar mainly catering for people from the trans community. This was the first time in modern history that a group of LGBT people had mobilised together to resist arrest for being gay or for wearing clothing that did not conform to gender stereotypes of the time. Such is the history of our community that even in this generation to be gay was to be a criminal in the eyes of the law.
Sadly, the political nature of Pride is often lost these days. A particularly worrying example of this was the response to the presence of Queers Against the Cuts (QUAC) at Brighton Pride this year, with some stewards and others arguing that pride should not be about political issues.
Throughout our recent history there have always been those pioneers of LGBT equality who first championed for the rights we now take for granted. These celebrated figures such as Alan Turing, Mary Kay Henry, Sylvia Rae Rivera, Harvey Milk, Linda Bellos, Bayard Rustin, Audre Lorde, June Jordan, Mabel Hampton, James Baldwin, David Kato, Simon Nkoli and Duanna Johnson, amongst others, saw themselves rightly as nothing more than equals to those around them, only now do we acknowledge the efforts and challenges they faced, and this history is highlighted and championed by organisations such as TUC, Stonewall, LGBT Labour, Lesbian and Gay Foundation, Press for Change and Gender Identity and Research and Education Society to name but a few all campaigning to improve the lives of LGBT people.
Conference also notes the excellent work of LGBT History Month to highlight the positive impact LGBT people have in society and with this in mind calls upon the National Committee to work with these and other organisations to:
1. Produce a ‘history of Pride’ leaflet in liaison with organisers of LGBT History Month and Black History Month that highlights an inclusive and representative history of Pride and how UNISON’s campaigns are linked to this history and why Pride is still needed today;
2. Work with regions and branches to encourage greater participation at Pride events from non-LGBT members.