Is jailing people for their prejudice really going to curtail bigotry and prejudice?
Category: Prison industrial complex
“Radical queers haven’t yet figured out how to use film as politics; we’ve done it with performance and spoken word, but not with film. The assimilationists are winning the war because they’ve learned how to use film as propaganda by wrapping their message in the preferred discourse of civil rights.”
Joe Solmonese, executive director of Human Rights Campaign (HRC) , frequently finds himself in the eye of the LGBT political storm. In recent years, criticism of the nation’s largest gay organization has increased, whether for what many described as the betrayal over the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) or its rumored agnosticism over “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT). The organization recently unveiled a nationwide campaign, No Excuses, which aims to empower LGBTs everywhere to talk to their members of Congress about the issues facing them. Solmonese talked to Windy City Times over the phone about the campaign, and about a range of legislative and political issues.
Chicago recently became a finalist in its bid to host the 2016 Olympics. An umbrella group of local activist organizations and Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) is using this media attention to highlight Chicago police brutality. At a June 19 press conference outside Mayor Daley”s office and an evening community forum at the Broadway United Methodist Church in Boystown, the group argued that Chicago did not have a right to host the Olympics given its record on police brutality, especially towards members of the LGBTQ community. Sponsors of the events included queer groups Amigas Latinas, Equality Illinois, and Gay Liberation Network.
