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Printer-Friendly ModeTriangle Foundation lecture promotes GLBT equality
April 4, 2005 —
Sean Kosofsky visited SVSU Wednesday, March 29 to discuss the Triangle Foundation, Michigan's statewide civil rights, advocacy and anti-violence organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons, or GLBT.
Kosofsky, director of Policy for the nonprofit organization, was introduced by Steve Lewitzke, a member of the Gay-Straight Alliance at SVSU. He stressed advocacy throughout his speech.
"We come up with creative ways to solve problems through advocacy since the law is not always in favor of the GLBT community," Kosofsky said. He explained that the Triangle Foundation worked at the municipal level, or just in Michigan, as opposed to nationally.
Locally, the Triangle Foundation organizes diversity training for teachers, law enforcement officials, and other white collar positions. They organize a Pride Festival in Ferdale, MI, which is scheduled for June 5, 2005, and the Reel Pride Film Festival, which is one of the largest in the state.
After a brief synopsis of the Triangle Foundation, Kosofsky shared some of his own personal experiences about "coming out" and how he felt a need to help others as a role model and through advocacy so no one had to feel as depressed and alone as he did. He said he wanted to show people that not all GLBT people "live in San Francisco, cut hair, get AIDS, and die," which is what he originally thought at age 16 when he heard the word "gay."
Kosofsky went on to define a number of terms by using the audience of mostly Social Work students. He clarified some differentiations between the words "gay" and "homosexual."
Kosofsky defined "homosexuality" as more clinical and more of a definition of behavior and attraction. He defined "gay" as more of a group identity and a political identity and a community or culture. He explained how people identify themselves and how often GLBT youth do not have a community to identify with as other minorities, like African-Americans or Latinos, may find through their families and neighborhoods.
"The GLBT youth aren't as likely to see themselves reflected in their family or church communities," Kosofsky said. He added that community and support are very important in creating an identity.
A gender identity was explained as different from a biological sex.
"Sex is between your legs and gender is between your ears," Kosofsky said. This is where the transgender section comes in; transgender people have the biological makeup of one sex, but, in their mind, they have the personality and emotions of the other sex. This is why most transgender people are actually heterosexual. Transsexual people take it one step further and takes steps to physically alter their sex to become more like the other sex through hormones, implants, surgery, etc.
Besides clearing up many terms, the lecture strove to promote tolerance by helping attendants to better understand the GLBT community and their struggles with discrimination.
The civil rights laws of the Constitution make no mention of sexual orientation.
"So, unless you are in one of eleven cities in Michigan, your boss can say, 'You're fired because you're a fag,'" Kosofsky said.
The Triangle Foundation can be found at www.tri.org. Kosofsky can be contacted at (313) 537-3323 or sean@tri.org.