In the Life: Ep. 1904, "Profiles in Leadership"

[theme music w/ unidentified narration-voiceover...] 'In The Life' is funded in part by H. van Ameringen Foundation, Arcus Foundation, The Estate of Richard W. Weiland, The Ted Snowden Foundation, Newpol Foundation, and these funders. And by the annual support of IN THE LIFE members like you. Every civil rights movement needs leaders to create change, and the LGBT Movement is no exception. How do people become leaders? Are leaders born or chosen? What can leaders do to inspire, inform and engage others? Tonight on, In The Life, documenting the people, and the issues shaping the gay experience, "Profiles in Leadership", making strides toward LGBT equality. From the church pulpit, to the halls of congress, to the stages of Broadway, we look at individuals making a difference. [Theme music] [unidentified preacher] The damnation of your own soul, is it worth it? 'Sinful', is how conservative preachers describe, demonize and oppose full equality for LGBT people. Yet progressive religious leaders provide a counterweight, preaching full LGBT inclusion to their congregations. Next, two people of Faith. Reverend Dr. Welton Gaddy who put his career on the line writing a paper that looks to the US Constitution to make the case for equality. And when the evangelical Lutheran church in America was formed over 20 years ago, it suspended congregations that ordained openly practicing homosexuals. Emily Eastwood led the fight toward the 2009 vote for full inclusion within the Lutheran church. (ominous theme music) [Emily Eastwood] I'm an organizer. That's... I think if I had to say anything, that's about who I am. [Ann Craig] Emily is... really looked at as the elder stateswoman of the whole Faith... LGBT faith movement. When Emily speaks, people listen. [Eastman] I'm an organizer in the same way that Christ was an organizer. Christ wandered the countryside of Galilee gathering up people from unlikely places to spread the good news of healing to the biggest outcasts of society of the day [Herbert Chilstrom] She is a determined person. She is one who is deeply committed to her Christian faith. She is also one who believes that faith should work itself out in working for justice and fairness for people. [Javen Swanson] Emily Eastwood is just inspiring. She is such an example of what it means to really love the people you're working with. Even when you disagree with them. [Eastman] I grew up in Houston, Texas. I like to say I'm a genetic Lutheran. My mom was a full-blood Swede and my dad came from a good neighborhood. In my family, church and family were exactly the same thing. [church organ music] I stayed in the closet in college. I decided to go to seminary also in the closet. I was outed in my first year. I chose discretion is the better part of valor and did not pursue further pastoral education after I was outed My family had rejected me believing that homosexuality, my father said was the most heinous sin that there was. I was away from the church for probably three years. Then there was a Lutheran church in St. Paul that would welcome me as an openly lesbian person. And I had stopped going to church all together I walked in there on Ash Wednesday of 1983 and down toward the front there was a woman with short hair sensible shoes. And I thought, short hair, sensible shoes... might be one... I walked down and sat a discreet distance away from her. I began to look through the bulletin. In the bulletin was the welcoming statement. Down at the bottom it says gays and lesbians, their friends and family. And at that moment, I started to cry. [church organ resumes, continues...] I cried through most of the service and as I walked down the aisle to take communion and have this imposition of Ashes on my forehead they didn't put an 'L'. They put the sign of the cross just like they did for everybody else, and I knew I was home. In 2002, I left my career in corporate America to take a job with Lutheran's Concerned to try to rapidly expand the welcoming program which I had personally experienced as life saving. through this congregation. By 2009, we were looking at an official recommendation from the church that said after eight years of study, we believe that it's time to lift the ban on discrimination against pastors that are in same gender relationships. It's the largest denomination so far to take this step. There are four and a half-million ELCA Lutherans. [unidentified speaker] The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. When they voted for full inclusion of gay and lesbian people in the denomination this summer, it was historic, it was exciting, it was breathtaking. It was one vote after another. It wasn't just one vote. And they went our way. [church organ] [Eastman] Now that the policy of discrimination has been lifted. there are congregations that are ready to call, and have been ready to call, gay pastors for many years. So the practice will begin to emerge, and eventually, what used to be a sanctuaried environment, will be the center of the church. [undidentified speaker] This vote means that I will be able to continue through my ordination process, normally. It means that I won't have to lie, or tap dance around my relationship status. [Eastman] This was not about me. This is about all those other people who are going to come after these are about the little kids out there growing up in Lutheran churches. They will be able to be who they are and love whom they choose, and still be a pastor, or a bishop... Whatever they feel called to be. [Rev. Gaddy] Hello, and welcome. I'm Reverend Welton Gaddy. Well, let's face it. Religion and the LGBT community historically has not had a very good relationship. [Rachel Maddow] Joining us now is reverend Dr.. Welton Gaddy. He is a baptist minister in Monroe, Louisiana. Full disclosure, he's my friend... When we look at Welton, we sort of see Jerry Falwell, but then he starts to talk, and it's a whole new world. Ha-ha-ha. [Rev. Welton] ...national day of prayer had been hijacked by right-wing extremists... [Maddow] He's saying the exact opposite of what Falwell ever said in terms of the importance of the separation between church and state. And in terms of tolerance and respect for diversity. and that's powerful. [Rev Welton on radio] Welcome everyone... [narrating..] The State Of Belief is a radio program sponsored by the Interfaith Alliance. I've been at the Interfaith Alliance now going on almost 12 years. Interfaith Alliance is an organization that reflects the diversity of in this nation and advocates for religious freedom and works against the manipulation of religion by politics, but also the manipulation of politic by religion. [Maddow] When Welton did the Interfaith Alliance paper on same-sex marriage, he subtitled it A Call to Quiet Conversations and Public Debates. Welton's point is that religion and the state must be separate. Both for the health of the government and for the health of religion. To oversimplify grossly... One. It had to do with the nature of marriage, which in the United States is a legal issue not a religious issue. And it had to do with whether or not religious institutions have the right to either deny marriage to someone or engage in facilitating marriage because of the faith tradition. [Maddow] One of the points that Welton makes, and I think it's powerful coming from a minister, is that he says that... Listen, every religious faith has its own ideas about marriage. Every religious faith also has its own ideas about divorce. [Gaddis] The government grants divorces given the circumstances of a particular relationship. And, the government does not try to please any religious institutions in the decision it makes about divorces. [Maddow] Right now, there are a lot of religious traditions that say that divorce is totally verboten. But we go to the government to get divorced. We don't go to the church to get divorced in the same way. That sort of points for calling us out on our principles, about how we let religion and government handle different issues because they're good at handling different issues for the way for the way we get along as a society and a country, I think is basic, and interesting. And so that's why... 'Fine to have a discussion about the bible. But, when we're dealing with a legal matter, whether it's same-gender marriage or many of the other issues that are controversial in our nation, let's start with the constitution. which is the same document that gives us the religious freedom to say yes, or no, as religious people. And I want everybody in this nation whether they embrace faith or not to have the rights that are offered by the constitution... regardless of their position on a particular religious issue. One trait of authentic religion is freedom. So I won't ever try to drag a person kicking and screaming into a religious confession or a religious devotion. But I will say to everybody, the doors open, and you can be a religious person and be who you are. [picking/strumming guitar music] HAIR!... [Narrator] In the Broadway musical, 'Hair', young activists band together for social change. ...HAIR!... Offstage, life imitates art. In 2008, three young Broadway professionals, actor Gavin Creole, actor Rory O'Malley, and production and management assistant Jenni Canelo's decided to take action in response to Proposition 8. LET THE SUNSHINE!... Inspiring the Broadway community to raise their voice for equality, they organized Broadway impact. Their approach... keep it simple and fun and with a singular focus. Marriage equality in New York State. [Rory O'Malley] I want our industry, I want the Broadway industry to be in the history books. I want Broadway impact to be in history books. That we were there and we were part of it. [song conclusion, indiscernable] That's where we came with the Broadway impact. This is Broadway's impact on this movement. and hopefully other movements in the future. What our website hopes to do, is take all the information that's out there on all these other websites, and everything, and boil it down to one video or one action. [together] One thing. One action. [O'Malley] What are we doing today to get this accomplished? [narrator] With the motto, 'Action Equals Equality'... Broadway Impact has inspired thousands of new activists in New York. [unidentified] As a resident of New York City, I'm hopeful... [narrator] It started with a letter-writing campaign that delivered 3000 letters to the New York State senate. [unidentified] I thought well, I have a lot of friends in different Broadway shows, why don't we go to each company of a show and say hey, can you have everyone write a letter, and that would be like 40 letters per company. [O'Malley] If you want a law changed, you gotta knock on that door every day. You gotta send an email, make a phone call, write a letter... You gotta annoy these people. [Oskar Eustis] The thing that I think is special about Broadway Impact, is it's an organization that is really devoted to empowering the artists in the Broadway community, and I don't mean empowering them just to take care of themselves, but empowering them to be able to take care of all of us to be able to actually lead. [Cindy Lauper?] (unintelligible... applause) A enterpiece of Broadway impact is its monthly cabaret where musicians can help celebrate the growth of the community's activism. [unidentified singer] I'm still your baby... [Sara Bareilles playing piano] Love, love, I do it for love... [Bareilles speaking] To me it's about human rights. It's a way to reach out to not only the gay community, but to the straight community as well, and raise awareness about just wanting to gain equality. [Lane Beauchamp] I'm a big broadway geek. I am the one who sits in the audience and enjoys the show and I could spend my life standing in the wings. Yay! I've felt the energy and the empowerment and said, "I've got to be a part of this". [Narrator] From inspiring people to call voters, to organizing a marriage equality rally, [Singers] You may say I'm a dreamer... [narrator] Broadway impact clearly attracts a diverse group of activists. [Ron Zacchi] That fun, that energy that definitely helps helps motivate in the grass roots community. It definitely helps bring people together. [Anthony Hayes] I got a phone call from Rory O'Malley saying, you know there's going to be a rally outside the governor's office with the opposition. Opposition to marriage equality. [O'Malley] People were angry that these people show up on our turf and tell us that we can't have these rights... in Manhattan. We wanted to have something positive come out of the situation. Ha, ha... very daunted by the task on some level, we all just look at each other and said okay. Let's do it. [unidentified speaker] ALRIGHT, NEW YORK! I was two blocks away and I could still hear this ROAR! Like this scream in Midtown, Manhattan And I was like that is something that literally these two white boys from Ohio And they're straight friend literally had this idea and went, "Oh crap here we go". "Let's try to make this happen." [In unison] And it happened. It happened in 10-days. [Singing] All be proud... [Hayes] And it just snowballed into an unbelievable event with thousands of people. We had Cheyenne Jackson, Audra McDonald, the Mayor, Cynthia Nixon, David Hyde Pierce. Each day we would add someone to the list and then more people would show up to volunteer. [Singing] Let the sunshine in... [Will Swenson] When I met Gavin when we started, 'Hair', maybe he just talked about the idea of Broadway Impact... He's done amazing things that are literally, you know, changing our country. [Percussion music] One of Broadway Impacts most exciting moments was mobilizing 1400 activists and the cast of Hair for the National Equality March in Washington, DC. [Caissie Levy] The march, there were so many young people there, and it's kind of awakened this spirit of activism in this next generation. To be part of allowing that to happen is like the greatest honor you can imagine. Like Gavin and Broadway Impact and everything, that's kind of like lit a fire in all of us. I hope that it keeps going and I hope to be a part of more things, yeah. [Eustis] If all of their dreams are achieved, we not only are going to have a theater community that's active on this issue, we're gonna have a theater community that wakens up to the idea that we have a really significant role to play in the cultural dialogue of the country. [O'Malley] It's gonna take the visibility. People to stop whispering about it, or shoving us in the corner, or acting like it's a gay issue. It's a human rights issue. It's not a gay issue. Months from now, or nine nears from now... This is just the beginning. We're gonna be unstoppable. I know it . I know it. [Percussive theme music] [Narrator] Since 1981, Barney Frank has been representing, Massachusetts, 4th Congressional District. As Chairman of the Financial Services Committee and a prominent LGBT leader, Congressman Frank sits down with friend, author and Treasurer of the Democratic National Committee, Andrew Tobias. To discuss politics, coming out as a member of congress, and the future of LGBT leadership. [Andrew Tobias] As you well know I've been your friend and admirer, but a little afraid of you for 44 years. Ha-ha! And you've heard me tell the story a million times, but I thought I was the only person wired the way I was in the whole college, and probably the whole world I think it wasn't until junior year, maybe even senior year, I kind of noticed that you were looking at the same guys I was looking at. I said, 'oh my, there is somebody else'. I wasn't sure I could make it out of college in the world. Did you have those feelings that you just couldn't imagine where your career would... [Barney Frank] I did. I realized I was gay when I was 13, which was nineteen fifty-three. A year after I realized I was gay, Dwight Eisenhower, who was not a vicious guy, a mainstream conservative promulgated an executive order that said those of us who were homosexuals or whatever phrase they use... 'perverts' was actually the one they most used... couldn't get a security clearance. Here was my government, I'm 14 years old, and my government just announced that I am an unreliable person. I can't be trusted with any information on part of the government. At the time, I was also aware of the inhibition that came from being Jewish, because anti-semitism was still a factor I So, I had always been interested in politics. It didn't become clear to me that I could have a political career. So that's why instead of going to law school when I graduated from college, I had decided that I went on to graduate school to get a graduate thesis teaching in the academic world. [Tobias] And you never... you were just chaste, right? I mean... [Frank] I was afraid to tell anyone that I was gay. So yeah, I just avoided sexual activity... Because I was afraid to reveal myself. Because in 1968 January I became the chief assistant to the Mayor of Boston, and I had a particular portfolio for liberal issues. race and environment, women's rights... I was desperately eager to find a gay rights movement. Both because I wanted help and because frankly, I thought it was a way that I could meet other gay men. [Tobias] Having still never told anyone that you were... [Frank] Right, I was... I... I wrestled with it and said well... I don't have the courage to acknowledge to people that I'm gay, but I will never participate in perpetuating the hypocrisy of being anti-gay. [Tobias] This is the difference between a closeted Democrat, and a closeted Republican. [Frank] Exactly right. Very well put. [Tobias] What did you think... when did it occur to you that you would be in front of camera running for office? [Frank] I made the decision... this is now in June of '71, I made the conscious decision, I'm going to be in politics not in academia. But it's as a... an aid other people. And a couple of friends of mine called me and said, 'you should run'. I said, gee, I can't be a candidate. They said well, maybe not in a normal place. [Tobias] But this is Massachusetts. [Frank] This is the back Back Bay in Beacon Hill. It wasn't predominantly gay, but it was sort of early yuppie. It seemed like I could get a pass from the normal rules, and win there. What happened was, the Homophile Union of Boston, which was the men, and the Daughters of Bilitis or Boletus which was the women and they sent out a joint questionnaire to legislators running for office in 1972. Candidates (unintelligible) would you support gay rights? I got to be the main sponsor by process of elimination. I was the only one who said, yes. My vow to myself was I can't walk away from it. I became the first person in Massachusetts history to file gay rights legislation. It was during the mid-seventies, when a couple of people I was working with in gay rights issues made the same observation (that) you did... It was clear from who I was looking at, who I was interested(in), who I responded to... But I was gay so, in the late seventies, I started the 'retail, coming-out' process. The you tell this one, you tell that one, and the individualist says to you, thank you for telling me, and you shouldn't have worried. This is 30 years ago, I assume it's different now. I love you, I care about you, you shouldn't have worried... Why did you think anybody who loved you would care? Why were you worried, there was no reason (for) concern... Don't tell you father. Or don't tell your grandmother. There was always this, don't worry, except... [Tobias] 'That point. Now you're a congressman. How many people in the world... Did your sister know that you were gay? [Frank] Ya. So I got elected in 1980. It was a close race in both the primary the final. The fact that I was Jewish and gay and not a conventional politician, held me down. So I barely won, but I was able to get through. So I said, here's what I'm going to do in Washington. I'll be publicly closeted, but privately under the life of a gay man. I'll associate with and socialize with other gay men. What I found of course, was that didn't work. You cannot be somewhat prominent as you are automatically as a member of congress, even as a freshman, and then have a normal social life as a gay man. At one point in 1986, a gay... Republican former congressman, who'd been one of these closeted anti-gay conservatives, Bob Bauman, wrote a book, and he repented of his anti-gay activity. In the book he outed me. I went to Tip O'Neill and said, I want you to know that there's gonna be this book out that says I'm gay. He said, "Oh Barnie, don't be listening to that bs. I mean they're always spreading those rumors about us. Who cares?!" I said well the problem Tip, is that it's true. He sort of a recoiled, not personally, and said, "Oh Barney, Barney I'm so sad, I thought you were going to be the first Jewish speaker. Which is very flattering. He then went back to his office and told Chris Matthews who was then his press secretary over at MSNBC. 'We better get ready for dealing with the press. They tell me Barney Frank's gonna come out of the room. [Tobias] Come out of the room. Not the closet. Ha-ha! [Frank] He didn't know what the hell he was talking about. Until he sussed out that he meant the closet. [Tobias] So will you ever be the first Jewish Speaker of the House? [Frank] The problem with being the speaker is other members have to vote for you. We're not yet at the point American politics where people from Southern, and Mountain... and other states, conservative parts of the country, could vote for an openly gay speaker and survive. I was a closeted member of congress for seven years. Being a closeted member of congress is no way to live. Every human being has emotional and physical needs that if you deny them, I think they make it worse. Being openly gay, Being able to bring my party dream to the White House, have them as part of the congressional caucus, it's a great feeling. [Tobias] What advice do you have for young folks who were thinking, maybe LGBT folks, running for office at whatever level, but certainly Congress and Senate? [Frank] Very important, we need more and more people like that. Yes, we have a lot of friends, but there is something about being a member and committing yourself which helps your argument. We have this saying in congress, on an issue, "don't take it personally". It's not personal. Every time an LGBT issue comes up, I go to the floor and say, you know I know we say that we don't take things personally, but some things are personal. This is personal to me. If you vote no, You're saying I'm a bad person. You're saying that people ought to be able to fire me. Because Jim and I are in love, and etc... So it's important for us to be there. Here's the point. If you're gay or lesbian, don't worry about the people who are anti- gay and lesbian. They're not going to vote for you, the hell with them. Don't waste your time. The thing you have to deal with is this. There will be people who will say of you, as they used to say of black people, as they would say of women, as they would say of any member of a minority group at that point... It's a kind of a soft bigotry... "well, I'm not against him. But aren't you afraid that that's all he'll care about?" Show that the fact that you're gay does not mean that you only care about gay issues. Again the gay community has to be cooperative with that and say, yeah. We're supportive of you. So you go out you show these other people how much you can help on housing or the environment or transportation or health care or anything else! [exotic theme music...] [Narrator] Thank you for watching, In The Life. To find out more about tonight's show go to InTheLifeTV.org Where you can watch more from, A Call For Inclusion and Broadway Impact. Thanks for tuning in, and please join us next month. [singing] ...and that upper hand is going to bring you good fortune So we'll just keep quiet, and you'll hear what she'll say Yeah, the upper hand is going to bring you good fortune. All you do is stay out of her way Whoo-oooh-wooh-oooh... [Narrator] In The Life is funded in part by the H. van Ameringen Foundation Arcus Foundation The Estate of Richard W. Weiland The Ted Snowden Foundation Newpol Foundation and these funders [exotic theme music continues...] And by the annual support of In The Life members like you [logo theme] [logo theme]