Queer Rights are Labor Rights: LGBTQ+ Trailblazers in the Labor Movement
Within some of the most accomplished pockets of the American labor movement, you can find LGBTQ+ union leaders strengthening worker solidarity, securing provisions for LGBTQ+ workers in union contracts, and truly embodying the phrase “An injury to one is an injury to all” through their activism. These individuals powerfully harnessed eclectic tools for change, including development of caucuses, internal organizing, and legal action, to further protections for LGBTQ+ workers. Their stories are a testament to the power that activism for marginalized groups can have, especially if it treads paths not previously taken.
Here are a few LGBTQ+ union leaders you should know.
José Gómez
José Gómez was a dedicated member of the United Farm Workers (UFW), helped facilitate boycotts on the east coast, and administered services for farm workers. after leaving UFW, he went on to obtain a degree at Harvard Law School where he founded the Committee on Gay and Lesbian Legal Issues (now known as Harvard LAMBDA) - the first organization of its kind at a law school in the United States. He went on to become a co-chair of the Gay and Lesbian Task Force, a professor at Evergreen State College, and an officer at the United Faculty of Evergreen.
Bayard Rustin
Bayard Rustin was a tactician and organizer for both the labor movement and the civil rights movement. He was a youth organizer for the March on Washington movement, assisted James Farmer in founding the Congress of Racial Equality, and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. to organize the successful bus boycotts in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1963, Rustin was asked by A. Phillip Randolph to help organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Later, Rustin became the first executive director of the A. Phillip Randolph Institute to forge an interracial coalition for racial equality and economic justice.
Nancy Wohlforth
Nancy Wohlforth was a co-founder of Pride at Work - a constituency group of the AFL-CIO that focuses on solidarity efforts between the labor movement and the LGBTQ+ community. Her focus on the intersection between these groups began when she organized "a growing concern" - a caucus within OPEIU Local 3 that demanded the union prioritize gay rights and women's rights. Her organizing has helped usher in a more inclusive and accepting labor movement.
Joni Christian
Joni Christian was an assembly line worker at the General Motors (GM) plant in Lordstown, Ohio. After coming out as a transgender woman, she experienced a hostile work environment within the plant. To fight back, Christian went to her UAW Local and used her legal services benefit to sue GM. She won her lawsuit and experienced a significant improvement in her workplace conditions. Afterward, she spent 30 more years at GM until her retirement in 1999 with a pension. Currently, she continues advocating for the transgender community nationally and in Ohio.
Howard Wallace
Howard Wallace was a Teamster, anti-war activist, and co-founder of Pride at Work. In 1975, he founded Bay Area Gay Liberation, which built a coalition spanning the labor movement, feminist movement, and movements of people of color. From the 1970s to 1980s, Wallace successfully helped organize a multi-state boycott of Coors beer in response to its anti-gay hiring practices. He went on to have a 14-year career as an organizer and community representative for SEIU Local 250. Wallace's work demonstrates how labor rights and LGBTQ+ rights are intertwined.