Yesterday’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington included many amazing speeches, including President Obama’s — but for the purpose of this blog, I want to highlight two speeches by LGBT parents: Eliza Byard and Alan Van Capelle.
Byard is the executive director of GLSEN, which works to make school communities more respectful and inclusive of all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. She and her partner have two daughters.
Van Capelle is CEO of Bend the Arc, a Jewish social justice organization, and also represented the more than 30 organizations of the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable. He is the former executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, and is raising a son with his partner.
Their speeches remind me that social justice must work across lines of race, culture, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and more — that it is our combined weight, as Van Capelle says, that bends the arc of the moral universe. They remind me that as parents, much of the social justice work we do is with an eye to the next generation, even as we look to the past for inspiration.
Watch Byard’s speech below:
(You can also read the full text of her speech here.)
Video of Van Capelle’s speech doesn’t seem to be available yet; audio is below, courtesy of Good As You.
(Full text is here.)