From the Executive Director » Advocacy

Appointment to the Recreation and Parks Commission

Karla Rothan — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:02:24 +0000

I had a very exciting week as the newly appointed board member of the Recreation and Parks Department in the city of Columbus. At my first meeting, I read legislation introduced by the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging and later that next week, I attended the groundbreaking of the Scioto Mile project. In a few years, Columbus will have a beautiful city park which will attract visitors and residents to our downtown district. We have one of the best Recreation and Parks Departments in the nation and I am delighted to be able to serve on this commission. This is not something that I expected to happen and I was very surprised, yet thrilled by the appointment. I think it will be good for our LGBT community to have an advocate at the table during a time in history when our city is experiencing so much renovation, change and growth. Visibility is key to our success as a community and I encourage all of us to get out there and volunteer to make a difference whenever you can.

Advocacy and the Community Center Movement

Karla Rothan — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 21:32:54 +0000

Last week I was fortunate to be able to attend the first Executive Director Summit hosted by the National Association of LGBT Community Centers. I spent several days learning from the brightest and most dedicated LGBT leaders in our country. I did not realize that there were 168 community centers across the United States. Each of the centers have been created over the past thirty years and offer hundreds of programs and services for our community. The conference sessions contained information on how to strengthen the boards of our centers and how to stay healthy as an Executive Director. Fundraising was a hot topic and I received great advice from participants about linking our mission to our fundraising efforts. Lorri Jean, the Executive Director of the LA Center in California, gave an inspiring speech on the last day and talked about the future. The need for community centers is great and our existence is inevitable. She spoke about the grassroots community center movement and laid out an ambitious agenda and statement of purpose for our work. She covered questions like: "Why do we need LGBT community centers? What makes our mission different from others?" This was a small part of her speech:

"What makes LGBT community centers different from these more generic providers? After all, they are also making a difference in the lives of individual people. The difference is that WE are doing what we do for an even bigger purpose. We are helping individuals in order to make our communities healthy and stronger and more powerful. After all, a healthy, strong queer community has a greater ability to organize, build political power and make change. A healthy, strong community is better able to fight for civil rights. A healthy, strong community is better able to educate mainstream society about who LGBT people are and thereby change public opinion. A healthy, strong community is a better model for LGBT people of all ages who are struggling to accept themselves. A healthy, strong community can do so much more collectively than we could ever achieve as individuals. And community centers are the key link in that chain."

It was an eye-opening experience for me to learn that there is a new type of activism on the rise and it is the Community Center Movement. Grassroots activism is stronger than ever before and Stonewall Columbus is an important part of a larger purpose. Not every city or state has a community center. Stonewall Columbus is a pioneer and vital participant in the community center movement, a movement that is growing stronger every day and changing the history of our civil rights.

A Bittersweet Victory

Karla Rothan — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 18:19:55 +0000

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).
Although it is true that we are one step closer to our ultimate goal of ensuring that all GLBT Americans no longer live in fear of losing their jobs, the victory is bittersweet. We called, we wrote, we kicked and we screamed yet gender identity is not included in the bill. This is very disheartening to our community. Our transgender people are at the highest risk of discrimination.

Everyday at the Center on High, our staff and volunteers work with individuals in the transgender community who live in fear of losing their jobs or have already lost them. Imagine, also, if you are trying to get another job and you have to list your references. Obviously your name has changed. Your possible employer calls and there is no record of you. Your gender is different but your skills and work performance are the same, yet because of the way you look, you are fired.

As a spiritual person I believe in the existence of the soul. The body dies and the soul remains. The root of this discrimination is religious. The right wing fundamentalists have forgotten about the soul it seems and still deem it necessary to persecute those who are different. My colleague Shane Morgan, the leader of TransOhio, has helped me to grow as an activist. He placed a quote on his website that speaks the truth and touches me,

"I ask myself, in mercy, or in common sense, if we cannot alter the conviction to fit the body, should we not in certain circumstances, alter the body to fit the conviction?" — Dr. Harry Benjamin, M.D

If your "look" does not fit the company’s gender stereotype, watch out.

I commend all of the activists and organizations that came together to shed light on this issue and I look forward to the future fight.