queer
GRITtv: Omar Barghouti & Sarah Schulman: Equal Rights for All in Palestine
?People have rights, and when we say we want to end Israel's multitiered system of oppression...we must immediately, in the same sentence, say people have equal rights in every formal way," says Omar Barghouti, author of the new book Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights. And author, activist and professor Sarah Schulman has been involved with the Palestinian queer movement, emphasizing that their struggle is deeply tied to the struggle to end the occupation. Omar and Sarah join Laura in studio for a discussion of the interlocking oppressions being fought by the BDS movement.
Email this pageGRITtv: Rep. Tammy Baldwin: The Bigger Fight Starts in Wisconsin
"People are very concerned about what will happen next if their right-wing governors and legislatures are emboldened by something in Wisconsin," says Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin. She notes that while she was in Washington last week, colleagues told her that Wisconsin had to win its fight because if not, their state was next--and she got on the first plane she could to get home to her state and stand with the protesters.Rep. Baldwin joins Laura in Madison to discuss the larger national context for the fight over workers' rights in Wisconsin--and why it's connected to the larger fight over reproductive justice, health care, and rights for LGBT people.
GRITtv: James Baldwin: Still So Much To Teach Us
"The paradox of education is precisely this -- that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated." James Baldwin wrote that in 1963, but as we watch teachers and their students leading pro-labor protests in Wisconsin and around the country, it remains truer than ever. Baldwin died in 1987, but his novels and essays--and his activism--live on. This week at NYU, a conference examining Baldwin's work and influence in today's globalized world is meeting, and Laura sat down with two of the speakers, Hortense Spillers and Darryl Pinckney, to discuss why Baldwin's work still feels so vital, so important.
GRITtv: Avram Finkelstein: Silence = Death
"Institutionally, silence is about control. Personally, silence is about complicity," said Avram Finkelstein, one of the designers of the iconic Silence = Death poster in the age of AIDS. In this clip from our friends at Silence Opens Doors magazine, Finkelstein discusses the poster, the movement in the Reagan era, and why speaking out matters.
GRITtv: Kai Wright: Outside Action Moved DADT, DREAM Act
This weekend saw critical votes on Don't Ask Don't Tell and the DREAM Act--one victory and one defeat for progressives. Kai Wright of ColorLines notes that it was grassroots organizing and militant activism that brought both these bills to the point of passage. "In the end it's the outside that moves people. Literally outside the White House, chained to the fence, or DREAM act students hunger striking," he notes. Kai joins Laura in studio to talk about what can be learned from the movement around the DREAM Act and Don't Ask Don't Tell, moving beyond "inside/outside" strategy, and why the military is traditionally a first step toward wider equality and rights for all Americans.
GRITtv: The F Word: Banning Art, Forgetting the Artists
This Wednesday was World AIDS day, but instead of honoring the lives lost to the disease, Republicans are attacking art that reflects on it. They're targeting a show at the National Portrait Gallery called "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture." The gallery has pulled a video by David Wojnarowicz called "Fire In My Belly." John Boehner and the Catholic League complained that the video's use of Catholic imagery was an attack on their religion. Wojnarowicz died of AIDS-related complications in 1992, but I asked his old friend Philip Yenawine for some thoughts. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: The F Word: Changing Deadly Hate in the Military
President Obama's go-slow approach to ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" discrimination in the military has left repeal on life support in a lame-duck session of Congress. Well thanks for nothing, Mr. President. But it's not just him. How about our justice strategy? As we mark another Veterans -- or Armistice - Day, with LGBT vets shut up and shut out, it's time we called an Armistice on making nice to our military. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Kate Clinton: Really Graphic
Kate Clinton's trying to figure out just why LGBT Americans might be a little depressed this election season. Could it be Sharron Angle? Don't Ask, Don't Tell? Marriage equality? She tracks our country's up-and-down movement on her "It Gets Better" index, and reminds everyone to get out and vote on November 2nd.
GRITtv: It Gets Better: Faith Community Joins Movement for Hope
Following a recent spate of well-publicized suicides by gay teenagers, Dan Savage, Savage Love syndicated columnist, started a YouTube channel recording videos to tell LGBT youth "It gets better." The first videos included messages from Savage and his partner, and now even President Obama has recorded a message for the project.Members of the faith community here in New York, frustrated that religion is often touted as a reason for hatred of gay and lesbian people, have started recording It Gets Better messages within their congregations; Rev. Winnie Varghese of St. Mark's Church on the Bowery and Rev. Jacqueline Lewis, Ph.D. of Middle Collegiate Church join us to talk about their attempts to bring hope to people who face discrimination and hatred.
GRITtv: John Fugelsang: Stop Calling it Bullying
Due to the recent wave of kids -- especially gay teenagers -- who've been bullied to the point of taking their own lives, the U.S. media's begun talking about bullying & teen suicide. It's so horrible that Americans have finally begun to do what we do best - fight with each other over what to do and never accomplish anything.
