Come Out and Win Organizing Yourself, Your Community, and Your World

by Hyde, Sue

• ISBN13: 9780807079720
• ISBN10: 0807079723
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-05-15
• Publisher: Beacon Press

Summary

Part of the Queer Action series, edited by Michael Bronski Come Out and Win will educate, engage, and agitate LGBT and straight activists to become involved in the political movement to win full equality under the law and sexual/gender freedom. Spurring a new generation of activists to positive social action, it not only tells the history of gay liberation but, crucially, offers guidance and practical advice for building organizations and taking concrete action to eradicate homophobia. From starting a gay-straight alliance in your high school to the most effective way to lobby your state representative face-to-face, Come Out and Win explains how to organize and become politically engaged in a clear and user-friendly manner. Other issues explored include youth organizing, marriage equality, legislative change, public relations, having a voice in the mainstream press, putting on a street demonstration, and political organizing from local to national levels. Grappling with the complexity of grassroots political interactions, Come Out and Win suggests ways for LGBT communities to form coalitions with women's organizations, communities of color, and faith communities. "Sue Hyde's book answers the plaint, 'What are we gonna do?'So quit whining, get her book, pick a chapter, do the workbook. Repeat. Create change. Badges not included." -Kate Clinton, humorist and author of What the L? "Sue Hyde has demonstrated in her own life that winning equal rights for LGBT people is not a spectator sport. Now she has taken this one step further and provided a guide for other LGBT people so that they can join her in this effort." -Congressman Barney Frank A longtime LGBT activist and organizer, Sue Hyde has worked with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) for over twenty years. As director of NGLTF's Creating Change conference, Hyde has trained thousands of queer activists. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her wife and two children.

Author Biography

A longtime LGBT activist and organizer, Sue Hyde has worked with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) for over twenty years. Prior to her work at NGLTF, Hyde served as news editor at Gay Community News in Boston from 1983 to 1985 and was a leader in the community-based campaign to defend lesbian and gay families in Massachusetts when state lawmakers banned the placement of foster children with lesbian and gay parents.

Since 1986, Hyde has served on the staff of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, leading the fights to repeal sodomy laws, rescind the military's ban on openly lesbian, gay and bisexual servicemembers, and to pass non-discrimination laws in cities and states. The Task Force in 1994 appointed Hyde to direct the Creating Change Conference, the LGBT movement's annual skills-building and strategy forum. As director of NGLTF's Creating Change conference, Hyde has trained thousands of queer activists. Hyde is a leader of the battle to preserve marriage rights for same-sex couples in Massachusetts. She was bestowed the prestigious Stonewall Award in 2002, recognizing her for a lifetime of dedication and service to the social movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender freedom, justice and equality. Hyde lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her wife and two children.

Table of Contents

Foreword : forward!
I/you/we : the three pronouns of coming out	p. 1
What we want and what we need	p. 26
How we became god-fearin', kid-rearin', upstandin' citizens	p. 46
Tools of our trade	p. 66
Know our friends, stand with our friends	p. 90
God is a weapon	p. 117
Sex, sex, always sex	p. 137
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