Brother, can you spare a dime? Again.
We all sat grim faced in team meeting yesterday, contemplating the impact of a financial crisis that Suze Orman has likened to a patient in the ICU. We talked about the growing number of people who are living in their cars (see the documentary “Half-homeless”:http://www.californiaconnected.org/tv/archives/420) as mortgage foreclosures continue to force people out of their homes all across the country.
This conversation led me to think about how this impending depression (although many would argue that a financial crisis is nothing new for many of us) is going to affect our community, the LGBT community. A friend told me of the growing concern of unemployment among workers in North Carolina (http://www.eegl.org/), one of few states that does not offer protection from employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. With a steady climb in unemployment (up 1.4 percentage points in the past year according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics) it is understandable that those most vulnerable, the underprotected, would be concerned. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is still working hard to see the ENDA is passed, and that it is inclusive of all of the members of our community. It is now, more than ever, urgent that LGBT employees, across the nation, receive the same protections as all other employees. I would encourage you to get involved (http://www.thetaskforce.org/enda07/tools/action_steps.pdf).
Among the dismal laundry list of facts and fears we shared yesterday one of my co-workers offered an encouraging aspect to this chaos, a shining, however small, beacon of light. If the predictions are right, and we find ourselves in dire straights, we are ALL going to have to move beyond the individualism that has come to characterise the purported “freedom” afforded to certain citizens of this country. The aspiration of “self-determination” which has become so intricately connected to financial gain is a pursuit very few of us really are ever afforded. It may come to a point where, if we hope to collectively survive, we are all going to have to know what it is to reach out to each other. We are all going to have to learn about asking for, and offering help. We just might see the development of community that pushes us all outside of our comfort zones, that requires us to understand the impact we can and do have on the lives of others. Its reaching and granolaish I know, but its the silver lining that I for one am going to have to cling to.
