Look beyond the news headlines about the gay and lesbian community.

That’s what Kenyon Farrow will encourage as he addresses the question of ‘Is Gay the New Black?’ on Thursday as the keynote speaker for Coming Out Month.

The event will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Gifford Auditorium. It is organized by the Syracuse University Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center. Farrow, the executive director of Queers for Economic Justice, will address some of the national issues that impact LGBT communities.

‘Selecting a speaker who could talk to a wide range of audience was really important,’ said Amit Taneja, associate director of the LGBT Resource Center. ‘I think his message will resonate with many different communities.’

Farrow was elected as this year’s keynote speaker by students who had attended the Creating Change Conference on LGBT equality, where Farrow was a speaker. He also spoke at an event held at SU about five years ago to promote the book ‘Letters from Young Activists,’ which he co-edited.

There has been a lot of excitement and conversation surrounding the choice, Taneja said.

‘For me, it’s a sign that we’ve picked a topic that is relevant to the issues that are important to students, faculty, staff and community members,’ he said.

A handful of students have expressed interest in attending the event.

Lorenz Chiu, a senior hospitality management major, said he will attend the event in support of his gay friends.

‘I am also trying to understand the crisis that has drawn much attention in relation to the bullying and death of a young gay man at Rutgers, which will certainly be discussed,’ he said.

Both Taneja and Farrow said one of the biggest challenges faced by LGBT communities today is reshaping the image of gays portrayed in the media. Traditionally, the role of gays in the media was, and still is, narrowly defined, Farrow said. Gays on television are, for the most part, white, upper-middle class males with no children, which is often not the case in LGBT communities, he said.

‘The mainstream media really politicizes LGBT rights as a marriage-only issue,’ Taneja said. ‘But we know that there are many other concerns that are faced by LGBT communities.’

The concerns that are often overlooked include issues like poverty, racial justice, health care, immigration, labor and the criminal justice system, Taneja said. Some of these issues will be covered at Wednesday night’s event, Taneja said. Taneja himself is a minority who experienced racial discrimination within an LGBT community while he was in college, he said.

Farrow’s organization, Queers for Economic Justice, looks into solutions for these issues, working alongside similar organizations across the nation.

His organization also started the Beyond Marriage Project, which aims to broaden the dialogue around same-sex marriage. It challenges the idea that marriage is the dominant LGBT issue today. Farrow called this ‘the other movement,’ referring to organizations focused on issues other than same-sex marriage, hate crimes and the much publicized ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy.

Farrow said he feels the subject for the keynote is relevant because the issues of race and gender identity are integral parts of conversations in United States politics, he said. He cited New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino’s recent comment that he does not want children ‘to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option,’ as an example.

There has also not been much outcry to the Obama administration regarding issues like poverty and unemployment in LGBT communities, which have disproportionately high homeless rates, Farrow said.

‘Given these issues, this is a great time to be engaged in conversation even if you’re not black or gay,’ he said.

Farrow said he hopes the audience will take home a valuable lesson.

‘We need to learn to look a little behind the headlines, and see how certain political organizations and social movements get developed,’ he said. ‘I sincerely hope that this conversation will generate more dialogue about race, class, gender and politics.’

atanying@syr.edu

Published on October 13, 2010 at 12:00 pm