We’re All In This Together

I was thrilled to see that the same book won the American Library Association’s top honors Monday for both the LGBT- and Latino-related children’s book awards, proving that one book can address multiple aspects of identity (and countering the prevalent media impression that the LGBT community is predominantly White). It just so happens, too, that the intersecting of identities is a major theme in LGBT politics this week.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe won the Stonewall Book Award for a children’s or young adult book depicting the LGBT experience, and the Pura Belpré Award for a Latino author portraying the Latino experience. (Additionally, it won the Michael L. Printz Award for overall excellence in literature for young adults.)

This week, too, LGBT leaders—from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Rea Carey to the National Center for Lesbian Rights’ Kate Kendell—have emphasized people’s multiple identities, reiterating that immigration reform is an LGBT issue. As the proud lesbian granddaughter of Eastern European Jewish immigrants, this makes me very happy. Many of the speakers at the Task Force’s Creating Change conference I attended last week also spoke of the need to work (not only on immigration, but on many issues) across the traditional lines of the various civil rights and social justice movements.

Looks like their ongoing work in that regard is paying off. If you’ve been anywhere near the LGBT blogosphere in the last 24 hours, you likely know that President Obama yesterday announced a proposal for LGBT-inclusive immigration reform.

We’re all in this together, because very often, “them” equals “us.”

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