Harvey Milk
How does dedication affect a community's opportunities?
By Isabel Nerenberg
By Isabel Nerenberg
The third Saturday of every month at the Ken Cinema in Hillcrest attracts a diverse company. Even in San Diego, midnight is cold, but these people are dressed in fishnet stockings and corsets that look tight enough to break ribs. They wait outside the theater, lined against the brick wall, conversing loudly among themselves, unaware of the men and women staring at them as they head to the bars down the street. The bright white board above the entrance reads “Rocky Horror Picture Show” in large, red letters. A cast member emerges from the theater with a tube of red lipstick and approaches the ones cowering behind their friends. “Virgins,” they shout, “raise your hands!” This is the tradition. This is where it is safe to be an outsider.
The LGBT community, like many other communities, has a sort of boundary. An accepting, comfortable neighborhood where the majority of the group congregates. In San Diego, these would be Hillcrest, Kensington, North and South Park, Downtown, and Banker’s Hill. All of these centered in a certain middle class, yet comfortable area with booming businesses and bright lights. Many of these businesses attract and are meant for the LGBT community. This might sound like any downtown of any city, but San Diego is unique. Gay bars, costume thrift stores, and pride flags line the streets. Do you find men and women dressed in drag walking down the streets of just any city? Although, this kind of freedom did not come easily in a city even with such extravagancies. As in every LGBT community in this country, there are those who oppose them. Homophobia is common. This happens when people are unable to look past their religion or political ideals. This happens especially in politically conservative environments, and San Diego falls into that category. It is not uncommon for a city with such political conservatism to oppose the idea of having a conducive LGBT community. Unfortunately, even in a city that is well known for its tolerance of people in the LGBT community, San Diego has a past of discrimination. According to Ben Cartwright and Frank Nobiletti, society was less than accepting. During the entire twentieth century, homosexuality was frowned upon. When Frank Nobiletti went to college at Columbia University, he joined one of the first LGBT student organizations, called Gay Liberations. Homophobia was still dangerously common in the 1990’s when Ben Cartwright attended SDSU. During his time at SDSU, it was apparent that the campus was not gay-friendly. The LGBT community group had to literally beg for office space on campus. What changed? It starts with a name that built an entire community, advocating for the rights of those within that community. If you think that this person is Harvey Milk, it is not. Although Harvey Milk was a great asset to gaining the freedom of LGBT communities throughout the country, I want to focus on a local hero. His name was Jess Jessop, and he fought for the rights and opportunities of the LGBT community in San Diego. He became the leader of San Diego’s LGBT community and built the San Diego LGBT Community Center and LAMBDA Archives. Once these pro-LGBT organizations were established, some believed that the rest would soon follow, but an issue as complicated as the freedom of a community does not come easily. The San Diego LGBT Community Center does not only provide a place to meet, but provides support, mental health care, shelter, and nourishment. Currently, the mental health program is most important because even as it seems that situations are beginning to improve and society is beginning to accept, there are still many issues to be dealt with. The hypothesis of Ben Cartwright, the Director of Community Outreach at the San Diego LGBT Community Center, is that the larger and more extensive the LGBT community is, the more people will begin to accept them. If you know someone within the community that you care about, then you become more sensitive to everyone. This is the ideal, but it has yet to be reached, for there are still many prejudices that hold the LGBT community back.
Just like prejudices between races and religions, prejudices against the LGBT community can interfere with their lifestyles and well being. Some of the common issues rising from discrimination are health care, career choice, and housing. Community health is currently the most significant, because as well as having a large LGBT community and a rather tragic football team, San Diego is the center for many healthcare and biotech corporations. The San Diego LGBT Community Center works hand-in-hand with public health companies such as Planned Parenthood in support of women’s reproductive justice. In the future, San Diego may be the first to discover a cure for AIDS. This, according to Ben Cartwright, could happen in less than ten years if only there were more people in the medical community willing to conduct the needed research. Why aren’t health workers willing to research a disease as significant to communities around the world as AIDS? Other than devastating issues like AIDS, homophobia is much more evident in the health system than many people think. According to Daniella Matthews-Trigg, a Program Administrator at LGBT Health Link, a branch of public health funded by the CDC; doctors discriminate against their patients or even refuse to treat them because of their sexual orientation. This leads to the obvious outcome, distrust. If you do not trust your doctor, would you tell them that you are a constant smoker? This results in many chronic health issues within the LGBT community, which the San Diego LGBT Community Center and other healthcare organizations are working to improve. All of the talk of discrimination and prejudice against the LGBT community has been leading up to this one question. Is the LGBT community supported by the grander population of San Diego? Not only does the grander population accept the community, but does the LGBT community accept itself? In the past and currently, people have been told that they should not be gay. That it is unnatural, or even told it is a sin. With all of this negativity behind the idea, it is only natural to be afraid of abandonment. There is discrimination coming from within the LGBT community itself, mostly based on race, religion, and sex. Frank Nobiletti, former president of the LAMBDA Archives, who has been part of the LGBT community since 1971, believes that the change within the community started with Jess Jessop in San Diego. But what of the people outside of this community? Do they accept them for who they are? Some believe that San Diego is a wonderful environment for the LGBT community that it hosts, and what is not to agree with? On the other hand, some from within the community think differently. Ben Cartwright recently heard of an incident where members of the LGBT community were harassed on the MTS Transit System for how they dressed. The bus drivers, people who are supposed to be in authority and fair to all, incriminated them as well. It is obvious that discrimination is still common in San Diego, so for those who are members of the LGBT community. When asked the question, they answer that San Diego’s acceptance is split, fifty-fifty. The people who believe San Diego to be the ideal, accepting city do not understand that there are many hateful people, but they do not verbalize their prejudices. What is most important is that we find a way to make San Diego as accepting as possible. The common counter-argument is “How are we supposed to accept people who are already outsiders?” The answer is the same as it would be with any other decision to accept. You just accept. You do not let your religion or politics get involved in your judgement. This is obviously hard for many people, because bias and prejudice are rampant. So how do we accept? We interact. If only more people went to the Rocky Horror Picture Show every third Saturday of the month, then maybe we could make a difference. At a recent showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, I saw a father with his four sons sitting in the row behind me. I asked them if they had been before, and they said “Never.” As I turned to the father, he said, “It was about time.” |