On the heels of the Supreme Court's historic ruling affirming the right of same-sex couples to marry, the LGBTQ rights movement is now pivoting to confront a multitude of other issues of concern to the LGBTQ community and the many smaller communities it comprises.
Harvard alumni, students, staff, and faculty recently came together in Cambridge to add their voices to this evolving discussion at "What Should We Do After 'I Do'?: Conversations on the Challenges That Remain for the LGBTQ Community." The weekend-long convening, cosponsored by the Harvard Gender & Sexuality Caucus and the Harvard Alumni Association, featured panel discussions on topics ranging from at-risk LGBTQ youth to health and aging to international activism.
Several participants shared their thoughts on the event and the challenges and opportunities facing the LGBTQ community.
Rob Fox AB '86
Chair, "What Should We Do After 'I Do'?"
"Although we can—and should—rejoice in the Supreme Court's decision and celebrate the number of other positive changes that have improved our lives in recent years, we must not lose sight of the countless other challenges, fears, and indignities that the LGBTQ community continues to face. There is still much left to be done, much unfinished work for each and every one of us to undertake. We must challenge society to go beyond mere tolerance of LGBTQ people and instead recognize our full acceptance and equal rights. Harvard's LGBTQ community is uniquely situated to engage in a significant way with these important issues."
Marco Chan AB '11, MPA '17
Co-President, Harvard Gender & Sexuality Caucus
"The LGBTQ community has long worked on many other issues that affect us and other marginalized communities, but marriage equality engaged a lot of resources. Now we have a bigger blank space to do soul-searching: What matters to us most? What are equitable, productive, and strategic moves for us to secure equality—not only in law, but also in lived experience? How will we deal with backlash to our rights gains? How will we proceed with extremely challenging situations abroad? Harvard is a locus of scholarship and activism that touch the LGBTQ community, so it seemed fitting to bring our community together now, here, to ask these complex and heavily consequential questions. Everyone together constructed an experience of genuine, wide-ranging, thought-provoking dialogue."
Priscilla Lee EdM '95, MC/MPA '16
Roy and Lila Ash Fellow, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School
Moderator, "Whose Lives Matter? LGBTQ and Intersectional Justice"
"The experiences of LGBTQI people as they relate to the marriage issue are so varied. I represent a certain perspective (as an Asian American female, LGBT parent from a Catholic family of origin, etc.), and all facets of my identity (and the relational circles connected to each facet) had an opinion on marriage. While the discussions were not always in harmony, they were an important part of moving the 'hearts and minds' along regarding marriage for same-sex couples. We need to bring everyone to the table, to keep them invested in and pushing along the larger campaign for equality, beyond and alongside marriage. We bring our personal stories and understandings of what strategies work (with hindsight) to inform work on the many issues remaining for the LGBTQI populations (and those who care about us)."
Danny Ballon MTS '16
Seminarian at the Memorial Church at Harvard
Panelist, "Does God Love the Gays? Religion and LGBTQ Equality"
"It hit me just how interconnected all the various movements within 'the movement' really are. The only way for the LGBTQ community to advance toward full legal recognition and equality will be for us to develop a profound sense of empathy—to fight just as hard and just as passionately about the causes that don't directly benefit us as those that do. Whether it's supporting queer people of color; fighting for trans justice; working to better conditions for LGBTQ youth, the elderly, or people living with HIV; or supporting the LGBTQ Christians I write about—none of these constituencies alone has the numbers or the political power to win the legislative battles to obtain the legal protections they deserve. If we are truly invested in the principle of equality, we're going to have to work together."
Ryan Thoreson AB '07
Former President, Harvard Gender & Sexuality Caucus
Panelist, "Queering Human Rights: Confronting Prejudice and Progress Across the Globe"
"LGBT groups focused a tremendous amount of time, energy, and resources on marriage. I think the post-marriage moment is daunting in part because groups are faced with a whole range of issues that have needed urgent attention for a long time, many of which are structural, intersectional problems that can't be resolved with a law or court decision. One of the biggest takeaways for me emerged from the final panel—that we can do good work by focusing on a piece of the agenda that speaks to us, in a way that affirms and supports the work that other folks are doing. It was energizing to be with so many passionate, thoughtful advocates who are tackling different issues, learning from each other, and thinking about the ways our goals can intersect."
Stephen Leonelli MPP '16
Research Assistant, Sexuality, Gender, and Human Rights Program, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard Kennedy School
Moderator, "Queering Human Rights: Confronting Prejudice and Progress Across the Globe"
"For me, the highlight of the weekend was moderating a panel about LGBTQ issues and global human rights. All four panelists brought a wealth of experience and knowledge about various aspects of 'queering human rights' at the domestic, regional, and international levels. We were able to discuss some of the tensions that exist when LGBTQ groups and issues begin to 'mainstream' their causes in traditional global governance forums, as well as the breakthroughs and backlashes that have occurred with the global trend of increased visibility for sexual and gender minorities. My hope is that we were able to contextualize the challenges and opportunities in global LGBTQ rights going forward."
Susan Marine
Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Women and Gender Studies at Merrimack College
Former Director of the Harvard College Women's Center and Assistant Dean of Student Life at Harvard College
Moderator, "TBLGQ: Trans*forming a Name and a Community"
"As I think about the future of our movement, I feel passionate about the need to expand our thinking, resources, and activism to the concerns that are most pressing right now—the survival of trans* and genderqueer folks of color. This community is targeted with alarming regularity. Eleven trans* women of color have been murdered since June 2015 in places across the country. Now that the question of marriage has been resolved, at least for the moment, we must apply the same energy and determination to the struggle for justice for trans* folk. It's way overdue. We can't let up our attention to justice, and we cannot be satisfied with what we have gained to date. We have so much more to do, and if we sit back and rest, we will lose ground."
Learn more about the Harvard Gender & Sexuality Caucus, one of the Harvard Alumni Association’s more than 50 Shared Interest Groups.