QEJ Mobilizes Queer Left on Health Care Reform

Back in May when we launched our Act Queer Monthly Teleconference Series on Racial & Economic Justice issues and the Queer Community, we had no idea that our first call on health care reform, was going to be one of the first of such calls open to the LGBT community to discuss the impact of the upcoming health care reform’s impact on queers around the country.

Just a few months later when the “townhall meetings” on health care reform happened in August, Interim Executive Director Kenyon Farrow began a series of conversations with Suzanne Pharr,  long-time anti -right-wing strategist and member of Southerners on New Ground (SONG) and Rebecca Fox, Executive Director of the National Coalition on LGBT Health. Not only were we outraged at the racism being exhibited at the townhall meetings and dis-information campaign being waged by the Right, but also at the lack of a response from the LGBT community on this issue, given the impact of health care on LGBT folks.

We convened several national calls in August and September to strategize what to do. We ultimately decided to call for all queer organizations, large and small to organize their bases to call their Congressional Representatives to push for a public option in the final health care proposal, and to create or join existing progressive health care mobilizations happening around the country. We  created and collected several resource materials for groups to use, including fact sheets, call script, sample letter, and got a convenient 800 number from Health Care for America now which will allow people to call toll-free to their representatives offices without having to know their local or D.C office numbers. We also requested that the National Equality March organizers include a speaker on the importance of healthcare reform to LGBTQ communities, a request that was declined.

Some of the groups that have been involved in this work include QEJ, The National Coalition on LGBT Health, Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, Astraea Foundation Movement Building Project, Gender JUST, Equality California’s Health & Human Services Network, National Gay & Lesbian Taskforce, Family Equality Foundation, Triangle Foundation, QueerToday.com,

We are also collecting some of the work that queer organizations and organizers are doing on the issue, that has not been very visible, so check out our page How Queers Are Mobilizing Around Health Care Reform!