Labor and LGBTQ Rights

What are the Stonewall Riots?

On June 28, 1969 the New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay and lesbian club in Greenwich Village, and LGBTQ people decided to fight back in a series of demonstrations known as the Stonewall riots. These riots were a turning point in the LGBT rights movement, and it forced LGBT rights into the spotlight in the US and around the world.

What is the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR)?

STAR was a street activist organization founded by Sylvia Rivera and Martha P Johnson following the Stonewall Riots. Rivera said that "STAR was for the street gay people, the street homeless people, and anybody that needed help at that time" and provided housing, food, and education to youth.

In 1970, which union passed a resolution protesting the firing of workers for being gay?

the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) said "the American Federation of Teachers protest any personnel actions taken against any teacher solely because he or she practices homosexual behavior in private life." The National Education Association, the largest labor union in the US, stood by this decision and included sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination policy in 1973.

What was the Coors Boycott?

In 1974, the Teamsters approached Harvey Milk and Howard Wallace, two openly gay politicians and activists in San Francisco, to support a boycott against Coors. Coors was an anti- union beer company, which screened potential

employees with a lie detector test asking their

opinions on unions, as well as whether they

were a "homosexual." Milk and Wallace

supported the boycott on the condition that

the Teamsters advocate for hiring openly gay

truck drivers

Have there always been LGBTQ workers?

Yes! There have always been LGBTQ workers attributing to the rich history of the working class. Many LGBTQ workers have been invisible due to oppression which keeps workers quiet about their identities or because they have been pushed into less visible or credible forms of work.

In 2018, Unions in Massachusetts urged voters to vote "Yes on Question 3" which prohibited...

discrimination in public accommodations based on gender identity. The question passed effectively keeping transgender rights protections in place in Massachusetts.

What is "Pride at Work"?

Pride at Work is a constituency group of the AFL-CIO founded in 1997 that fights for LGBT workplace rights by mobilizing LGBT union members and forming chapters all over the country.