Panel Voices: Will LGBT people always be a “community” or will we splinter as we win acceptance?

Michael Carr, Jen Schumacher, George Gramer and ‘Shanida Lawya” weigh in on this week’s question. 

Michael Carr

Gay people will always form a “community.” Our common interests and identifications are greater than our shared inequality. Over time, communities climb up the rungs of society. Their rights or social standing may improve, but their group identity is constant.

Women, blacks, Catholics, Jews, Irishmen, all have experienced their own inequality and acceptance in American society. Great strides have been made in achieving greater equality and wider spread acceptance, and yet their communities endure.
Even groups that are generally perceived as having attained the highest level of equality and acceptance still identify as members of a community: old rich white guys, Christians, urban dwellers, soccer moms, cat ladies, the list goes on and on.
We don’t need adversity to unite us. As gay men we have other things to celebrate as a community, show tunes, drag queens, the gym, Sunday funday, and of course same-sex attraction.

The G’s in GLBT are united with common interests. However, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people have little in common besides our pursuit of equality and our shared disenfranchisement. Equality organizations, activists and political leaders have already thrown our T friends “under the bus” in the struggle for equal rights. Historically we’ve subdivided our GLBT community between gay bars and lesbian bars. Given the human tendency for us to associate with, form communities with, “people like us,” I doubt we’ll be using “GLBT,” or any other alphabet soup to describe a politically convenient and hopefully soon obsolescent movement.

Michael Carr is a member of the Log Cabin Republicans, President of Aspirant Marketing, former candidate for Colorado State Senate and resides in Cheesman Park with his partner, Fred.

Jen Schumacher

I think we will always be a “community” – because winning equality and acceptance doesn’t mean the world agrees we are equal. Acceptance will only happen if prejudice no longer exists. As much as I would love to erase prejudiced views, the beliefs of each individual person are carved into who we are.

We can change laws, but subjective opinions are very difficult to change. For this reason, LGBT people will always have their “community” to fall back on for acceptance when prejudice casts its dark shadow.

I do think that our community has improvements to make as I think we are prejudice within our own group, and it’s tough to be united if we are divided within it. We could have stronger bonds within our group, rather than rallying only when we are treated unfairly by outsiders.

Jennifer Schumacher is the VP of willpower & Grace fitness method, and co-owner of the FIT STUDIO in Denver. She lives in Denver and enjoys snow-boarding, all things fitness and philosophizing about the possibilities of creating a vibrant life.

George Gramer

Community: “a group sharing common characteristics or interests.”

So, does the Irish community continue to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? Does the Italian community celebrate Columbus Day? Does the LGBT community celebrate Pride? Of course. Moreover, there is no sign of any of the three (nor any other celebration of community) fading into the past.

Just as there is a wide array of Irish and Italians, the LGBT community is tremendously diverse, and finding unity among many diverging views, tastes, life choices, and preferences can be a challenge – but brings us together.

I was in Amsterdam last summer shortly after their annual Pride celebration, and the city still showed many signs of the event which concluded about ten days before. Most notable was the huge number of rainbow flags in all parts of town. The same applied to Antwerp, which I also visited last August.

Can you imagine Denver in 2050 without a June Pridefest? The pillars of the LGBT community in Denver will be standing strong. There will still be The Center, a PFLAG chapter, and LGBT affinity groups for sports, politics, social gatherings, and celebration.

Perhaps most importantly, once equality and acceptance come to fruition, LGBT people will still need social interaction – perhaps most importantly to meet the loves of their lives with whom marriage will be acknowledged by all levels of government. That normally comes only through meeting other LGBT folks as a community, not as a homogenized society.
The LGBT community’s greatest days are yet to come.

Iowa native George K. Gramer Jr. is the president of the Colorado Log Cabin Republicans.

‘Shanida Lawya”

An old saying goes, “You don’t know where you are going, until you know where you have been.” Sadly, for our modern community today, many have no idea where we’ve been. Our community has slowly been fading away for years now, and if we aren’t careful we will lose gay culture. You can see it when our local community bars, business, organizations and fundraisers go quietly into the night. However, we have a bigger issue to overcome than to win equality in our state and country – that’s to win equality and acceptance in our own community.

The beauty about our community is supposed to be that all are welcomed into it. We all want equality and acceptance regardless of your letter in our LGBTQIA alphabet soup – but we have to be in it together for the same reason. We are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer/Questioning, Intersex and Allied brothers and sisters and it is time we stop tearing each other down and separating ourselves. You might not always get along with your family – but it’s still your family!

Equality and acceptance in Colorado will be bittersweet if it means we didn’t come together. We need to accept that our community is made up of such beautiful diversity and unite – and maybe then we can truly achieve equality for all. Let every day be about our community. Keep that spirit of Stonewall alive in each of us daily!

Shanida Lawya’, also known as “the firey red head of the Rockies” is an activist, volunteer and entertainer in Denver. Shanida hosts Bingo at X-Bar every Wednesday, DREAMGIRLS every 1st, 3rd and 4th Fridays at Hamburger Mary’s and every other Sunday in Denver’s DIVAS at Charlie’s.