Labor Gets Its First Openly Gay National Union President

[mitchtv]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3397117#3397314

Read more: http://www.laborradio.org/node/8992

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

1. Just the first now?

I would think somewhere by now, a union would have elected an openly gay president. But I guess if it's a "national union" then it's not too surprising.

[readmoreoften]

2. Plenty of locals have gay and lesbian presidents. But I'm not sure about nationals/internationals.

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. Don't expect much from Randi on GLBT issues.

NYC went thru a titanic struggle in the early 90's when a progressive chancellor tried to phase in a moderately gay-friendly curriculum ( elementary school teachers , for example, *could* at their discretion, read selections from a bibliography such works as "Heather has Two Mommies)in the public school system.

A coalition of tabloid hacks and "religious" conservatives raised holy hell and ran said chancellor out of town. The teachers' union stayed dead silent throughout the controversy. Randi was effectively number two in the union then.

Since then, the city has avoided GLBT issues like the plague and... far as I know..., that's been cool with Weingarten. She's been union president for 10 years.

It's nice she's out. It's nice she's moving up. Just don't expect much beyond that.


For instance, it would be nice if she backed some initiatives to benefit GLBT kids in the schools. Something that would maybe.... for starters... recognize that they exist.