TED2014
Yoruba Richen: What the gay rights movement learned from the civil rights movement
Filmed:
Readability: 4.7
778,145 views
As a member of both the African American and LGBT communities, filmmaker Yoruba Richen is fascinated with the overlaps and tensions between the gay rights and the civil rights movements. She explores how the two struggles intertwine and propel each other forward — and, in an unmissable argument, she dispels a myth about their points of conflict. A powerful reminder that we all have a stake in equality.
Yoruba Richen - Documentary filmmaker
In her documentary films, Yoruba Richen unites African-American, feminist and LGBTQ voices in a renewed cry for civil rights for all. Full bio
In her documentary films, Yoruba Richen unites African-American, feminist and LGBTQ voices in a renewed cry for civil rights for all. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
Election night 2008
0
671
2941
00:15
was a night that tore me in half.
1
3612
3359
00:18
It was the night that Barack Obama was elected.
2
6971
4389
00:23
[One hundred and forty-three]
years after the end of slavery,
years after the end of slavery,
3
11360
4373
00:27
and [43] years after the passage
4
15733
2277
00:30
of the Voting Rights Act,
5
18010
1740
00:31
an African-American was elected president.
6
19750
4040
00:35
Many of us never thought that this was possible
7
23790
3747
00:39
until the moment that it happened.
8
27537
2772
00:42
And in many ways, it was the climax
9
30309
3215
00:45
of the black civil rights movement
10
33524
1806
00:47
in the United States.
11
35330
2058
00:49
I was in California that night,
12
37388
1849
00:51
which was ground zero at the time
13
39237
1886
00:53
for another movement:
14
41123
1824
00:54
the marriage equality movement.
15
42947
2993
00:57
Gay marriage was on the ballot
16
45940
1806
00:59
in the form of Proposition 8,
17
47746
3084
01:02
and as the election returns started to come in,
18
50830
3705
01:06
it became clear that the right
19
54535
2116
01:08
for same sex couples to marry,
20
56651
2373
01:11
which had recently been granted
by the California courts,
by the California courts,
21
59024
3052
01:14
was going to be taken away.
22
62076
2289
01:16
So on the same night
23
64365
2183
01:18
that Barack Obama won his historic presidency,
24
66548
4282
01:22
the lesbian and gay community suffered
25
70830
2492
01:25
one of our most painful defeats.
26
73322
3278
01:28
And then it got even worse.
27
76600
3527
01:32
Pretty much immediately,
28
80127
1994
01:34
African-Americans started to be blamed
29
82121
2446
01:36
for the passage of Proposition 8.
30
84567
2332
01:38
This was largely due to an incorrect poll that said
31
86899
3597
01:42
that blacks had voted for the measure
32
90496
1759
01:44
by something like 70 percent.
33
92255
2485
01:46
This turned out not to be true,
34
94740
1715
01:48
but this idea of pervasive black homophobia set in,
35
96455
5574
01:54
and was grabbed on by the media.
36
102029
3257
01:57
I couldn't tear myself away from the coverage.
37
105286
2686
01:59
I listened to some gay commentator say
38
107972
3027
02:02
that the African-American community
39
110999
2389
02:05
was notoriously homophobic,
40
113388
2015
02:07
and now that civil rights had been achieved for us,
41
115403
3274
02:10
we wanted to take away other people's rights.
42
118677
2133
02:12
There were even reports of racist epithets
43
120810
2807
02:15
being thrown at some of the participants
44
123617
1917
02:17
of the gay rights rallies
45
125534
1666
02:19
that took place after the election.
46
127200
2619
02:21
And on the other side,
47
129819
1991
02:23
some African-Americans dismissed or ignored
48
131810
3821
02:27
homophobia that was indeed real in our community.
49
135631
3519
02:31
And others resented this comparison
50
139150
2650
02:33
between gay rights and civil rights,
51
141800
2330
02:36
and once again, the sinking feeling
52
144130
3545
02:39
that two minority groups
53
147675
2019
02:41
of which I'm both a part of
54
149694
2450
02:44
were competing with each other
55
152144
2942
02:47
instead of supporting each other
56
155086
2691
02:49
overwhelmed and, frankly, pissed me off.
57
157777
4526
02:54
Now, I'm a documentary filmmaker,
58
162303
3133
02:57
so after going through my pissed off stage
59
165436
3043
03:00
and yelling at the television and radio,
60
168479
3080
03:03
my next instinct was
61
171559
2290
03:05
to make a movie.
62
173849
2079
03:07
And what guided me in making this film was,
63
175928
4352
03:12
how was this happening?
64
180280
1798
03:14
How was it that the gay rights movement
65
182078
3200
03:17
was being pitted against the civil rights movement?
66
185278
3311
03:20
And this wasn't just an abstract question.
67
188589
3245
03:23
I'm a beneficiary of both movements,
68
191834
2355
03:26
so this was actually personal.
69
194189
3084
03:29
But then something else happened
70
197273
1595
03:30
after that election in 2008.
71
198868
2961
03:33
The march towards gay equality
72
201829
2388
03:36
accelerated at a pace
73
204217
2049
03:38
that surprised and shocked everyone,
74
206266
3022
03:41
and is still reshaping our laws and our policies,
75
209288
4622
03:45
our institutions and our entire country.
76
213910
3053
03:48
And so it started to become increasingly clear to me
77
216963
3865
03:52
that this pitting of the two movements
78
220828
2098
03:54
against each other actually didn't make sense,
79
222926
3582
03:58
and that they were in fact
80
226508
1232
03:59
much, much more interconnected,
81
227740
3321
04:03
and that, in fact, some of the way
82
231061
2190
04:05
that the gay rights movement has been able
83
233251
2319
04:07
to make such incredible gains so quickly
84
235570
3575
04:11
is that it's used some of the same tactics
85
239145
2048
04:13
and strategies that were first laid down
86
241193
3687
04:16
by the civil rights movement.
87
244880
1860
04:18
Let's just look at a few of these strategies.
88
246740
3753
04:22
First off, it's really interesting to see,
89
250493
2279
04:24
to actually visually see, how quick
90
252772
1968
04:26
the gay rights movement has made its gains,
91
254740
2070
04:28
if you look at a few of the major events
92
256810
3186
04:31
on a timeline of both freedom movements.
93
259996
3724
04:35
Now, there are tons of milestones
94
263720
3582
04:39
in the civil rights movement,
95
267302
1221
04:40
but the first one we're going to start with
96
268523
1893
04:42
is the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott.
97
270416
3896
04:46
This was a protest campaign
98
274312
2588
04:48
against Montgomery, Alabama's segregation
99
276900
2945
04:51
on their public transit system,
100
279845
2007
04:53
and it began when a woman named Rosa Parks
101
281852
2859
04:56
refused to give up her seat to a white person.
102
284711
3128
04:59
The campaign lasted a year,
103
287839
2278
05:02
and it galvanized the civil rights movement
104
290117
2099
05:04
like nothing had before it.
105
292216
2967
05:07
And I call this strategy the
106
295183
2852
05:10
"I'm tired of your foot on my neck" strategy.
107
298035
4927
05:14
So gays and lesbians have been in society
108
302962
4341
05:19
since societies began,
109
307303
2467
05:21
but up until the mid-20th century,
110
309770
2607
05:24
homosexual acts were still illegal in most states.
111
312377
4385
05:28
So just 14 years after the Montgomery bus boycott,
112
316762
4110
05:32
a group of LGBT folks took that same strategy.
113
320872
4404
05:37
It's known as Stonewall, in 1969,
114
325276
3219
05:40
and it's where a group of LGBT patrons
115
328495
3215
05:43
fought back against police beatings
116
331710
2682
05:46
at a Greenwich Village bar that sparked
117
334392
1956
05:48
three days of rioting.
118
336348
2192
05:50
Incidentally, black and latino LGBT folks
119
338540
2726
05:53
were at the forefront of this rebellion,
120
341266
1931
05:55
and it's a really interesting example
121
343197
2269
05:57
of the intersection of our struggles against racism,
122
345466
3211
06:00
homophobia, gender identity and police brutality.
123
348677
4693
06:05
After Stonewall happened, gay liberation groups
124
353370
3562
06:08
sprang up all over the country,
125
356932
2339
06:11
and the modern gay rights
movement as we know it took off.
movement as we know it took off.
126
359271
4620
06:15
So the next moment to look at on the timeline
127
363891
3194
06:19
is the 1963 March on Washington.
128
367085
3145
06:22
This was a seminal event
in the civil rights movement
in the civil rights movement
129
370230
3135
06:25
and it's where African-Americans called for both
130
373365
2748
06:28
civil and economic justice.
131
376113
2983
06:31
And it's of course where Martin Luther King
132
379096
2179
06:33
delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech,
133
381275
2263
06:35
but what's actually less known
134
383538
1995
06:37
is that this march was organized
135
385533
2335
06:39
by a man named Bayard Rustin.
136
387868
3310
06:43
Bayard was an out gay man,
137
391178
2723
06:45
and he's considered one of the most brilliant
138
393901
2632
06:48
strategists of the civil rights movement.
139
396533
2917
06:51
He later in his life became a fierce advocate
140
399450
2746
06:54
of LGBT rights as well, and his life
141
402196
2877
06:57
is testament to the intersection of the struggles.
142
405073
5077
07:02
The March on Washington
143
410150
1317
07:03
is one of the high points of the movement,
144
411467
2383
07:05
and it's where there was a fervent belief
145
413850
3170
07:09
that African-Americans too
146
417020
2195
07:11
could be a part of American democracy.
147
419215
2805
07:14
I call this strategy the
148
422020
1860
07:15
"We are visible and many in numbers" strategy.
149
423880
5010
07:20
Some early gay activists were actually
150
428890
2463
07:23
directly inspired by the march,
151
431353
2080
07:25
and some had taken part.
152
433433
3206
07:28
Gay pioneer Jack Nichols said,
153
436639
3021
07:31
"We marched with Martin Luther King,
154
439660
2027
07:33
seven of us from the Mattachine Society" --
155
441687
2602
07:36
which was an early gay rights organization —
156
444289
2451
07:38
"and from that moment on, we had our own dream
157
446740
3551
07:42
about a gay rights march of similar proportions."
158
450291
3149
07:45
Several years later, a series of marches took place,
159
453440
3690
07:49
each one gaining the momentum
160
457130
2345
07:51
of the gay freedom struggle.
161
459475
1806
07:53
The first one was in 1979,
162
461281
2437
07:55
and the second one took place in 1987.
163
463718
4549
08:00
The third one was held in 1993.
164
468267
3726
08:03
Almost a million people showed up,
165
471993
3265
08:07
and people were so energized and excited
166
475258
3541
08:10
by what had taken place,
167
478799
1100
08:11
they went back to their own communities
168
479899
2399
08:14
and started their own political
169
482298
1633
08:15
and social organizations,
170
483931
1690
08:17
further increasing the visibility of the movement.
171
485621
3891
08:21
The day of that march, October 11,
172
489512
1917
08:23
was then declared National Coming Out Day,
173
491429
2661
08:26
and is still celebrated all over the world.
174
494090
2894
08:28
These marches set the groundwork
175
496984
2521
08:31
for the historic changes that we see happening
176
499505
2720
08:34
today in the United States.
177
502225
2848
08:37
And lastly, the "Loving" strategy.
178
505073
3541
08:40
The name speaks for itself.
179
508614
2176
08:42
In 1967, the Supreme Court ruled
180
510790
2813
08:45
in Loving v. Virginia,
181
513603
1889
08:47
and invalidated all laws
182
515492
2120
08:49
that prohibited interracial marriage.
183
517612
3233
08:52
This is considered one of the Supreme Court's
184
520845
1915
08:54
landmark civil rights cases.
185
522760
3337
08:58
In 1996, President Clinton signed
186
526097
2913
09:01
the Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA,
187
529010
3571
09:04
and that made the federal government
188
532581
2339
09:06
only have to recognize marriages
189
534920
2387
09:09
between a man and a woman.
190
537307
3969
09:13
In United States v. Windsor,
191
541276
2414
09:15
a 79-year-old lesbian named Edith Windsor
192
543690
3147
09:18
sued the federal government
193
546837
1963
09:20
when she was forced to pay estate taxes
194
548800
2746
09:23
on her deceased wife's property,
195
551546
1502
09:25
something that heterosexual
couples don't have to do.
couples don't have to do.
196
553048
3317
09:28
And as the case wound its way
197
556365
2309
09:30
through the lower courts,
198
558674
1756
09:32
the Loving case was repeatedly cited as precedent.
199
560430
3837
09:36
When it got to the Supreme Court in 2013,
200
564267
2294
09:38
the Supreme Court agreed,
201
566561
1723
09:40
and DOMA was thrown out.
202
568284
2453
09:42
It was incredible.
203
570737
2394
09:45
But the gay marriage movement
204
573131
1647
09:46
has been making gains for years now.
205
574778
3587
09:50
To date, 17 states
206
578365
2565
09:52
have passed laws allowing marriage equality.
207
580930
2579
09:55
It's become the de facto battle
208
583509
2678
09:58
for gay equality,
209
586187
2523
10:00
and it seems like daily,
210
588710
1650
10:02
laws prohibiting it are being challenged in the courts,
211
590360
2880
10:05
even in places like Texas and Utah,
212
593240
2587
10:07
which no one saw coming.
213
595827
3318
10:11
So a lot has changed
214
599145
1995
10:13
since that night in 2008
215
601140
2262
10:15
when I felt torn in half.
216
603402
2458
10:17
I did go on to make that film.
217
605860
2350
10:20
It's a documentary film,
218
608210
1677
10:21
and it's called "The New Black,"
219
609887
2063
10:23
and it looks at how the African-American community
220
611950
2955
10:26
is grappling with the gay rights issue
221
614905
2013
10:28
in light of the gay marriage movement
222
616918
2446
10:31
and this fight over the meaning of civil rights.
223
619364
3561
10:34
And I wanted to capture
224
622925
1792
10:36
some of this incredible change that was happening,
225
624717
3081
10:39
and as luck or politics would have it,
226
627798
3092
10:42
another marriage battle started gearing up,
227
630890
2996
10:45
this time in Maryland,
228
633886
1624
10:47
where African-Americans make up 30 percent
229
635510
2487
10:49
of the electorate.
230
637997
1202
10:51
So this tension between gay rights
231
639199
3066
10:54
and civil rights started to bubble up once again,
232
642265
3964
10:58
and I was lucky enough to capture
233
646229
2063
11:00
how some people were making the connection
234
648292
3410
11:03
between the movements this time.
235
651702
3078
11:06
This is a clip of Karess Taylor-Hughes
236
654780
2598
11:09
and Samantha Masters, two characters in the film,
237
657378
3254
11:12
as they hit the streets of Baltimore
238
660632
2588
11:15
and try to convince potential voters.
239
663220
2337
11:17
(Video) Samantha Masters: That's what's up,
man, this is a righteous man over here.
man, this is a righteous man over here.
240
665557
4068
11:21
Okay, are you registered to vote?
241
669625
2285
11:23
Man: No.
Karess Taylor-Hughes: Okay. How old are you?
Karess Taylor-Hughes: Okay. How old are you?
242
671910
1180
11:25
Man: 21.
KTH: 21? You gotta get registered to vote.
KTH: 21? You gotta get registered to vote.
243
673090
1811
11:26
We got to get you registered to vote.
244
674901
1790
11:28
Man: I ain't voting on no gay shit.
245
676691
2316
11:31
SM: Okay, why? What's up?
Man: I ain't with that.
Man: I ain't with that.
246
679007
3034
11:34
SM: That's not cool.
247
682041
1309
11:35
Man: What made you be gay?
SM: So what made you be straight?
SM: So what made you be straight?
248
683350
5012
11:40
So what made you be straight?
249
688362
4813
11:45
Man 2: You can't answer that question. (Laughter)
250
693175
4147
11:49
KSM: I used to not have the same rights as you,
251
697322
1728
11:51
but I know that because a black man like yourself
252
699050
2254
11:53
stood up for a woman like me,
253
701304
1419
11:54
I know that I've got the same opportunities.
254
702723
1809
11:56
So you, as a black man, have the opportunity
255
704532
1876
11:58
to stand up for somebody else.
256
706408
1312
11:59
Whether you're gay or not,
257
707720
1199
12:00
these are your brothers and sisters out here,
258
708919
1481
12:02
and they need you to represent.
259
710400
1208
12:03
Man 2: Who is you to tell somebody
260
711608
1772
12:05
who they can't have sex with,
261
713380
1620
12:07
who they can't be with?
262
715000
1325
12:08
They ain't got that power.
263
716325
1899
12:10
Nobody has that power to say,
you can't marry that young lady.
you can't marry that young lady.
264
718224
2668
12:12
Who has that power? Nobody.
265
720892
1804
12:14
SM: But you know what?
266
722696
1047
12:15
Our state has put the power in your hands,
267
723743
2110
12:17
and so what we need you to do
268
725853
1577
12:19
is vote for, you gonna vote for 6.
269
727430
2480
12:21
Man 2: I got you.
270
729910
1585
12:23
SM: Vote for 6, okay?
Man 2: I got you.
Man 2: I got you.
271
731495
1914
12:25
KSM: All right, do y'all need
community service hours?
community service hours?
272
733409
2154
12:27
You do? All right, you can always volunteer with us
273
735563
1924
12:29
to get community service hours.
274
737487
1431
12:30
Y'all want to do that?
275
738918
1326
12:32
We feed you. We bring you pizza.
276
740244
2738
12:34
(Laughter) (Applause)
277
742982
2690
12:37
Yoruba Richen: Thank you.
278
745672
3268
12:40
What's amazing to me about that clip
279
748940
2058
12:42
that we just captured as we were filming
280
750998
3394
12:46
is, it really shows how Karess
281
754392
2768
12:49
understands the history
of the civil rights movement,
of the civil rights movement,
282
757160
3168
12:52
but she's not restricted by it.
283
760328
2166
12:54
She doesn't just limit it to black people.
284
762494
2303
12:56
She sees it as a blueprint
285
764797
2060
12:58
for expanding rights to gays and lesbians.
286
766857
3604
13:02
Maybe because she's younger, she's like 25,
287
770461
2929
13:05
she's able to do this a little bit more easily,
288
773390
2258
13:07
but the fact is that Maryland voters
289
775648
3139
13:10
did pass that marriage equality amendment,
290
778787
3126
13:13
and in fact it was the first time
291
781913
2420
13:16
that marriage equality was directly voted on
292
784333
2879
13:19
and passed by the voters.
293
787212
2369
13:21
African-Americans supported it at a higher level
294
789581
2964
13:24
than had ever been recorded.
295
792545
1186
13:25
It was a complete turnaround from that night
296
793731
2989
13:28
in 2008 when Proposition 8 was passed.
297
796720
4354
13:33
It was, and feels, monumental.
298
801074
3800
13:36
We in the LGBT community have gone
299
804874
3234
13:40
from being a pathologized and reviled
300
808108
3947
13:44
and criminalized group
301
812055
1804
13:45
to being seen as part of the great human quest
302
813859
4307
13:50
for dignity and equality.
303
818166
2724
13:52
We've gone from having to hide our sexuality
304
820890
3877
13:56
in order to maintain our jobs and our families
305
824767
2614
13:59
to literally getting a place at the table
306
827381
2855
14:02
with the president
307
830236
1284
14:03
and a shout out at his second inauguration.
308
831520
3126
14:06
I just want to read what he said
309
834646
1561
14:08
at that inauguration:
310
836207
1962
14:10
"We the people declare today
311
838169
2320
14:12
that the most evident of truths,
312
840489
3036
14:15
that all of us are created equal.
313
843525
3054
14:18
It is the star that guides us still,
314
846579
2480
14:21
just as it guided our forebears
315
849059
2226
14:23
through Seneca Falls
316
851285
1514
14:24
and Selma and Stonewall."
317
852799
4421
14:29
Now we know that everything is not perfect,
318
857220
3837
14:33
especially when you look at what's happening
319
861057
1913
14:34
with the LGBT rights issue internationally,
320
862970
2983
14:37
but it says something about how far we've come
321
865953
3551
14:41
when our president puts the gay freedom struggle
322
869504
3404
14:44
in the context of the other great freedom struggles
323
872908
1985
14:46
of our time: the women's rights movement
324
874893
2367
14:49
and the civil rights movement.
325
877260
2296
14:51
His statement demonstrates not only
326
879556
2343
14:53
the interconnectedness of those movements,
327
881899
2672
14:56
but how each one borrowed
328
884571
2248
14:58
and was inspired by the other.
329
886819
3265
15:02
So just as Martin Luther King
330
890084
2748
15:04
learned from and borrowed from Gandhi's tactics
331
892832
3060
15:07
of civil disobedience and nonviolence,
332
895892
2239
15:10
which became a bedrock of
the civil rights movement,
the civil rights movement,
333
898131
3099
15:13
the gay rights movement saw what worked
334
901230
3008
15:16
in the civil rights movement,
335
904238
1492
15:17
and they used some of those same strategies
336
905730
2229
15:19
and tactics to make gains
337
907959
1916
15:21
at an even quicker pace.
338
909875
3035
15:24
Maybe one more other reason
339
912910
2087
15:26
for the relative quick progress
340
914997
1795
15:28
of the gay rights movement.
341
916792
2175
15:30
Whereas a lot of us continue to still live
342
918967
2880
15:33
in racially segregated spaces,
343
921847
2669
15:36
LGBT folks, we are everywhere.
344
924516
2810
15:39
We are in urban communities
345
927326
2263
15:41
and rural communities,
346
929589
1483
15:43
communities of color, immigrant communities,
347
931072
2461
15:45
churches and mosques and synagogues.
348
933533
3564
15:49
We are your mothers and brothers
349
937097
3151
15:52
and sisters and sons.
350
940248
2808
15:55
And when someone that you love
351
943056
2626
15:57
or a family member comes out,
352
945682
1880
15:59
it may be easier to support their quest for equality.
353
947562
4504
16:04
And in fact, the gay rights movement
354
952066
2179
16:06
asks us to support justice and equality
355
954245
2675
16:08
from a space of love.
356
956920
2503
16:11
That may be the biggest, greatest gift
357
959423
2460
16:13
that the movement has given us.
358
961883
1855
16:15
It calls on us to access that which is most universal
359
963738
5083
16:20
and most intimate:
360
968821
1912
16:22
a love of our brother and our sister
361
970733
2737
16:25
and our neighbor.
362
973470
1925
16:27
I just want to end with a quote
363
975395
2803
16:30
by one of our greatest freedom fighters
364
978198
2134
16:32
who's no longer with us, Nelson Mandela
365
980332
2768
16:35
of South Africa.
366
983100
1303
16:36
Nelson Mandela led South Africa
367
984403
2901
16:39
after the dark and brutal days of Apartheid,
368
987304
3360
16:42
and out of the ashes of that
legalized racial discrimination,
legalized racial discrimination,
369
990664
4735
16:47
he led South Africa to become the first country
370
995399
2964
16:50
in the world to ban discrimination
371
998363
3109
16:53
based on sexual orientation within its constitution.
372
1001472
4154
16:57
Mandela said,
373
1005626
2655
17:00
"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains,
374
1008281
4926
17:05
but to live in a way that respects
375
1013207
2943
17:08
and enhances the freedom of others."
376
1016150
3249
17:11
So as these movements continue on,
377
1019399
4678
17:16
and as freedom struggles
around the world continue on,
around the world continue on,
378
1024077
2961
17:19
let's remember that not only are they interconnected,
379
1027038
3660
17:22
but they must support and enhance each other
380
1030698
3891
17:26
for us to be truly victorious.
381
1034589
3284
17:29
Thank you.
382
1037873
1975
17:31
(Applause)
383
1039848
5560
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Yoruba Richen - Documentary filmmakerIn her documentary films, Yoruba Richen unites African-American, feminist and LGBTQ voices in a renewed cry for civil rights for all.
Why you should listen
With her documentary film The New Black, Yoruba Richen celebrates the successes of the struggle for LGBTQ rights, while seeking to find common ground in all corners of the African-American community on this complex and contentious issue.
Raised in Harlem, Richen developed an early fascination with the disconnect between the worlds of poverty and wealth, and an awareness of how voices outside of the mainstream are often marginalized -- or excised completely -- from the democratic discourse.
More profile about the speakerRaised in Harlem, Richen developed an early fascination with the disconnect between the worlds of poverty and wealth, and an awareness of how voices outside of the mainstream are often marginalized -- or excised completely -- from the democratic discourse.
Yoruba Richen | Speaker | TED.com