What Does Inclusion Look Like To You?

This past week was and continues to be busy, including the Women’s March, the Creating Change Conference for the LGBTQ community and Martin Luther King Day. Clearly, Martin Luther King Day is to remind all of us of our humanity and our need to see ourselves as equal and cherished members of this large family of beings created by God who are to insure the well-being of each other. Yet, through his life, King had to fight for this basic element due to its absence. In the 1968 Campaign for the Poor, King was asked what about the Native American poor, could they join the Blacks who were marching? Absolutely, yes. What about the Hispanic poor? Yes. What about the White poor? Why not? He wanted all those who shared this concern to march for and with each other. In marching for inclusion, he wanted inclusiveness. That makes sense right? Of course, he did not live to see this ideal concretized as an assassin’s bullet ended his physical life, but not the work he had done, with all of its imperfections, missteps and such but notwithstanding the very correct ideas he upheld and for which he lived and worked. The difference he made was felt for many years, and now here we are in 2019.

So why did this not happen with the Women’s March of this past weekend? Commentary after commentary reports how this march intended to bring about unity brought disunity and discord. Women who were to focus on their shared humanity often chose to use this very vehicle to discredit the humanity of others, turning what was to be an experience of solidarity into a political view shout out and a podium for prejudiced views reflecting prejudged hatred and malignment. In California and New York as well as other locales, once again Israel was painted in horrible hues as a victimizer in a misguided application of intersectionality, by which all victims identity as such, stand together and paint the rest of the world in black or white. The presence of anti-Semitism, comments about different groups greatly offended Jews, Muslims, Blacks and others. Much is being written at this moment regarding this lack of appropriate use of the movement itself, which is so important at this point in time for self-evident reasons.

Then there is the Creating Change Conference, which has been touted as the most important gathering of LGBTQ persons and is occurring as I write this. I was actually supposed to be there to teach, but due to issues within the organization and the group it serves, those who are more religiously observant cannot actually attend at this point and have their safety assured. For that reason, I did not go. I am comforted to say that I am involved at this point in trying to address this and meetings are scheduled to begin this process after the end of the conference. I am hopeful that this will begin a year of growth and consideration and do hope that next year’s conference and those to come afterwards will look different and that ALL members of all of our communities who are LGBTQ and their allies can come together to learn with and from each other as well as bolster all members of all of our communities who should be part of this gathering of inclusiveness.

What is wrong with all of this? Why do we have to worry that inclusion may not actually be inclusive? Why can’t I go to various spaces and be assured that the cause that brings people together will be the unifying factor and on other issues, we will simply agree to disagree, but be civil towards each other and join hands to do such much needed work? Why can’t we talk about important and threatening issues in our world today without worrying that it will raise political ire and the issues themselves get eclipsed if not completely overrun by other concerns brought inappropriately to the table?

There is so much to worry about regarding women’s rights that the agenda is large enough to take center and all of the stage, and for those who came to rally around reproductive rights, equal pay, harassment in the work place and other such issues focus on them and not get blindsided by hate speech about other aspects of our lives. We know all too well the precarious nature of the rights of all people. As the Supreme Court of the United States has just revived the ban on transgender persons in the military, many of us are incensed and worried about what comes next. THAT should be the focus of gatherings of LGBTQ persons and ALL individuals in this community and allies and teachers (such as myself), yes, even if we are religiously observant and supporters of Israel, should be able to be present for those proceedings.

It is traditional to observe Martin Luther King Day as a Day of Service. I would suggest that it also truly needs to be a Day of Meaningful and Inclusive Conversations. We have forgotten how to speak with each other. We have lost our empathy for too many members of our human family. This is what is at stake at this moment in time. Would each of us be willing to include ALL members of a category in our gatherings and insure their comfort and safety as Martin Luther King tried to do in 1968? Can we all take a step back and pray that in 2020 when we reach this same season, it will look different? It will only happen with our collective hard work during the coming year.