Out at Work: Building a Gay - Labor Alliance (Cultural Politics Series)

291 Pages·2001·2.4 MB·English

by  Kitty Krupat

Out at Work
Cultural Politics
A series from the Social Text Collective
17. Out at Work: Building a Gay–Labor Alliance
Kitty Krupat and Patrick McCreery, editors
16. SportCult
Randy Martin and Toby Miller, editors
15. Perry Anderson: The Merciless Laboratory of History
Gregory Elliott
14. Cosmopolitics: Thinking and Feeling beyond the Nation
Pheng Cheah and Bruce Robbins, editors
13. Changing Life: Genomes, Ecologies, Bodies, Commodities
Peter J. Taylor, Saul E. Halfon, and Paul N. Edwards, editors
12. Will Teach for Food: Academic Labor in Crisis
Cary Nelson, editor
11. Dangerous Liaisons: Gender, Nation, and Postcolonial Perspectives
Anne McClintock, Aamir Mufti, and Ella Shohat, editors
10. Spectacles of Realism: Gender, Body, Genre
Margaret Cohen and Christopher Prendergast, editors
9. Cultural Materialism: On Raymond Williams
Christopher Prendergast, editor
8. Socialist Ensembles: Theater and State in Cuba and Nicaragua
Randy Martin
7. The Administration of Aesthetics: Censorship, Political Criticism, and the Public Sphere
Richard Burt, editor
6. Fear of a Queer Planet: Queer Politics and Social Theory
Michael Warner, editor
5. The Phantom Public Sphere
Bruce Robbins, editor
4. On Edge: The Crisis of Contemporary Latin American Culture
George Yúdice, Jean Franco, and Juan Flores, editors
3. Technoculture
Constance Penley and Andrew Ross, editors
2. Intellectuals: Aesthetics, Politics, Academics
Bruce Robbins, editor
1. Universal Abandon? The Politics of Postmodernism
Andrew Ross, editor
Kitty Krupat
Patrick McCreery
editors
A Cultural
Politics Book
for the Social
Text Collective
Out at Work
Building a
Gay–Labor
Alliance
Cultural Politics / Volume 17
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis • London
This collection copyright 2001 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
All contributors to this volume hold copyright to their own writing. See pages 267–68 for
copyright and previous publication information.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Out at work : building a gay-labor alliance / Kitty Krupat and Patrick McCreery, editors.
p. cm.—(Cultural politics ; v. 17)
ISBN 0-8166-3740-7 (hc : acid-free paper)—ISBN 0-8166-3741-5 (pbk. : acid-free
paper)
1. Gays—Employment—United States. 2. Gay labor union members—United
States—Political activity. 3. Gay liberation movement—United States. 4. Gay rights—
United States. 5. Civil rights—United States. 6. Coming out (Sexual orientation)—
United States. I. Krupat, Kitty. II. McCreery, Patrick. III. Cultural politics
(Minneapolis, Minn.) ; v. 17.
HD6285.5.U6 O878 2001
331.88'086'640973—dc21
00-010634
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer.
11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
vii Acknowledgments
xi Introduction
Patrick McCreery and Kitty Krupat
1 Out of Labor’s Dark Age: Sexual Politics Comes to the Workplace
Kitty Krupat
24 The Growing Alliance between Gay and Union Activists
John J. Sweeney
31 Beyond Gay: “Deviant” Sex and the Politics of the ENDA Workplace
Patrick McCreery
52 What Is This Movement Doing to My Politics?
Cathy J. Cohen
60 Sexuality, Labor, and the New Trade Unionism: A Conversation
Amber Hollibaugh and Nikhil Pal Singh
78 Strike a Pose for Justice: The Barneys Union Campaign of 1996
Andrew Ross
92 Conversations with a GenderQueer: Talking with Riki Anne Wilchins
Patrick McCreery and Kitty Krupat
112 Trollops and Tribades: Queers Organizing in the Sex Business
Heidi M. Kooy
133 Being a Lesbian Trade Unionist: The Intersection of Movements
Teresa Conrow
150 Making Out at Work
Tami Gold
172 “Top-Down” or “Bottom-Up”? Sexual Identity and Workers’ Rights
in a Municipal Union
Tamara L. Jones
196 Homophobia, Labor’s Last Frontier? A Discussion with Labor
Leaders William Fletcher Jr., Yvette Herrera, Gloria Johnson, and
Van Alan Sheets
Kitty Krupat and Patrick McCreery
211 Kingdom Come: Gay Days at Disney World
Jeff Truesdell
232 Imagining the Gay–Labor Alliance: A Forum
232 Getting There Means Mapping Here: Challenges to
Collaboration between a Workers’ Rights Movement and
Today’s LGBT Movement
Urvashi Vaid
240 Toward a Gay–Labor Alliance
Kent Wong
247 It All Begins with Coming Out
Desma Holcomb
252 Seeing the Links between Labor Rights and Gay Rights
Barney Frank
258 Afterword
Lisa Duggan
263 Contributors
267 Permissions
Acknowledgments
We are in the habit of referring to Out at Workas a projectbecause it devel-
oped from a series of events. The first occurred in 1997, when we saw the
documentary film Out at Work: Lesbians and Gay Men on the Job.The film
inspired us to think more about matters of class and social identity, espe-
cially how sexual identity translates into working-class struggle when rights
are at stake. Our ideas about this evolved over time, and we have many
people to thank for thinking, arguing, and working with us. The first of these
are Kelly Anderson and Tami Gold, the producers of that first version of Out
at Work and a sequel made later for HBO television. In their hands, the
stories of five courageous individuals became a political story of power and
beauty. Nat Keitt, Cheryl Summerville, Sandy Reily, Ron Woods, and Mark
Anderson have been in our minds and hearts since we began the project. We
are also grateful to the Out at Work audiences. The reception these films
received made us realize that people are eager for honest and provocative
discussions about sexual identity in the workplace. With that in mind, we
organized a screening and symposium at New York University in November
1997. We would probably have stopped there were it not for Andrew Ross,
director of NYU’s American Studies program and someone we feel privi-
leged to call a friend. He saw the potential for a book and pushed us to take
up the political and intellectual debates that were implicit in the films. It is
our good fortune to be students in a program that encourages projects like
this one and our good luck, as well, to have the administrative support of
Alyssa Hepburn. She has always been there for us.
It goes without saying that our contributors are the bedrock of this book.
We cannot thank them enough. Sadly, one Out at Workcontributor will not
see the fruits of his labor. Van Alan Sheets, a devoted trade unionist and
Pride at Work activist, died on October 21, 1999, after a long battle with
AIDS. We hope this book is a fitting tribute to his memory.
Earlier versions of seven articles in this anthology—those by Kitty Krupat,
Patrick McCreery, John J. Sweeney, Tami Gold, Amber Hollibaugh and
Nikhil Pal Singh, Cathy J. Cohen, and the roundtable of labor leaders—first
appeared in the winter 1999 issue of Social Text.We were enormously grati-
fied by the interest and unstinting support of the entire Social Text collec-
tive. Toby Miller and Bruce Robbins, the editors when we began writing, al-
ways believed we could turn the project into a book. Monica Marcickiewicz
was a great copy editor. Then, at Duke University Press, Kay Alexander and
vii
Acknowledgments
Rachel Caref guided us through the mysteries of journal production. When
we were ready to move on, Andrew, Bruce, and Toby opened the door for us
at the University of Minnesota Press. Doug Armato, director of the press,
has been a pleasure to work with, and we are immensely grateful to his asso-
ciates for the assistance they provided. We owe special thanks to Gretchen
Asmussen, Pieter Martin, and Linda Lincoln, our meticulous copy editor.
We presented early versions of our own essays at the 1998 Lavender
Languages and Linguistics conference in Washington,D.C.We thank Professor
William Leap of American University for that opportunity and for his very
enthusiastic response to our final text. Faculty members and students from
NYU and other universities have given us invaluable counsel. Lisa Duggan,
one of our most thoughtful critics, was extraordinarily generous with her
contacts. Several of the essayists in this anthology came to us through her.
Phillip Brian Harper and Nikhil Pal Singh were two of our biggest boosters.
George Yúdice, our program’s director of graduate studies at the time we
began this project, was the most patient of advisors, helping us fit the project
into our academic lives. Carlos Ulises Decena, Lisa Duggan, Licia Fiol-Matta,
Phillip Brian Harper, Paul Kariouk, Robin D. G. Kelley, William Leap, Steven
Maynard, Nikhil Pal Singh, Danny Walkowitz, and the graduate students in
Robin’s research seminar read essays in this anthology and made valuable
suggestions. Miriam Frank was among the first scholars to document the
growth of gay activism in the labor movement. She has shared her research
with us unsparingly, as well as her remarkable collection of buttons.
We could not have gotten off the ground without support from many col-
leagues in the labor movement. At the AFL-CIO, we thank Denise Mitchell,
Joyce Moscato, Nadra Floyd, Mark Splain, and—above all—Bill Fletcher,
who was a good friend and advisor throughout. The office of Linda Chavez-
Thompson was our first port of call at the AFL-CIO, and staff writer Paul
Gordon deserves thanks for his efforts. Among our colleagues in several
unions, we thank in particular Michael Funke, a reporter for UAW’s Soli-
darity magazine, and UNITE staffers Carrie Kim, Elba Liz, and former
research director Desma Holcomb. Our comrades in GSOC-UAW (the
Graduate Student Organizing Committee of NYU) have cheered us on. Of
these we owe most to Julie Kushner—as dear to Kitty as any sister could
be—and to our organizer, Lisa Jessup, who turned the other cheek when we
missed a union meeting or two.
Many friends supported our efforts even when they didn’t know it. Much
of what we feel about our subject comes from treasured personal relation-
ships. For Kitty, these include lifelong friendships with John Corigliano,
Richard Pearlman, Bill Hoffman, and a newer one with Mark Adamo. Like-
viii
Acknowledgments
wise, Robert Larew and Michael Lentz gave Pat not only their love and en-
couragement, but also a comfortable crash pad during many trips to Wash-
ington, D.C. Karen Ackerman, Bob Muehlenkamp, and their son, David,
made their Takoma Park home a welcome oasis for Kitty. Mona Kreaden pro-
vided much-needed computer assistance and lots of encouragement, and
Andrea McArdle went beyond the call of duty to help us with some legal re-
search. We enjoyed hours of good conversation and wise advice from Bridget
Brown, Erin Clune, Carlos Ulises Decena, Donette Francis, Paul Kariouk,
Richard Koseff, David Paskin, Jerry Philogene, Milton Reverby, Ralph Rivera,
and Mabel Wilson. And we should not forget the Dodgers—Jackie Robinson
and Roy Campanella—whose affectionate ways and silly antics have given us
so much pleasure.
The friendship we have found most important to this project is our own.
We have learned a great deal from one another. In the process we have de-
veloped mutual respect and the basis for a lasting relationship—the sort that
grows when two people struggle together over questions of principle and
then work like hell to make them useful.
Our final and deepest debt is to our families. They have given us enduring
love and support, both emotional and material. Kitty dedicates this book to
the memory of her father, Paul Weiss, whose prodigious energy and passion-
ate opinions were both irritating and inspiring, and to her mother, Magda,
whose intelligence and grace continue to amaze. Pat dedicates this book to
his father, Mel, who knows hard work from a lifetime of it, and to his mother,
Mary, who understands that work and love take many forms.
ix