Washington Blade - November 9, 2007
Joshua Lynsen

At a feedback meeting Monday in Baltimore, some attendees said they appreciate Equality Maryland's efforts toward marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples but such work has come at the expense of other needs.

"I'm very concerned because a lot of the attention that is focused on marriage has inadvertently taken focus off of a lot of things that the gay community needs, particularly here in Baltimore," said Meredith Moise, a longtime gay rights activist.

"As a person of color, so many of my friends are affected by HIV," she said, "and it is very painful to see a lot of the resources that could be going to really addressing HIV in our community go to other places."

Moise also said that homeless gay youth who aren't getting the help they need are turning to prostitution to survive, and many transgender adults are stuck in poverty.

"I know that you personally are thinking about these issues, but organizationally, I don't see a great movement to address this," she said. "Attention on the marriage issue, that's great. But I think the hard-core, real-life issues of just regular, everyday gay people that are struggling sometimes gets lost in the mix."

Carrie Evans, policy director for Equality Maryland, said the Baltimore Mayor's Task Force for LGBT Issues has sought to address such concerns, but met with mixed results.

"Those of us who have worked in the Task Force know it is challenging," said Evans, who is a member. "It's had its growing pains. And so with the mayor's announcement that there's a cabinet-level position now, I think that's our opportunity to address these issues."

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon last week announced plans to create a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues office as part of her administration.

"Hopefully with the cabinet-level position, Mayor Dixon is recognizing the Task Force may not be able to do all that it can do because there was never any staff, there was never any funding," Evans said. "It was sort of set up to not be effective in the first place."

But other meeting attendees, including gay youth advocate Phillip Lovett, said hopes for relief should not hinge on the administrative office. "We have to continue to work," he said. "We can't just wait for that cabinet position to be in place. We have to continue."

Lovett said Equality Maryland should be part of the solution, but is "too focused on this marriage issue."

Dan Furmansky, executive director of Equality Maryland, told the audience that the organization is "not a social services agency" and other agencies are better positioned to help people who are living with HIV or stuck in poverty.

He also said it's impractical to stop working toward marriage equality because such efforts are integral to Equality Maryland.

"The very fact that we are the size we are right now, it's because of marriage equality and it's because funders from outside the state of Maryland view Maryland as a [battleground] place," he said. "Whether that's right or wrong, there's money. And then we can take that money and we can have staff support. And, of course, we largely have to produce results on this core issue that people are funding us to work on."

Furmansky said in the aftermath of the Maryland high court's ruling against marriage rights for gay couples in September, Equality Maryland could lose significant funding.

He said the organization is "dealing with a situation now where we're concerned that we're going to lose a lot of funding over the next year," and "we're concerned about actually downsizing."

For these reasons, Furmansky said, Equality Maryland must prioritize the fight for marriage equality.

But near the meeting's end, Furmansky said he would talk with other organizations about how to work together to address issues such as poverty and homelessness.

"I feel comfortable sort of committing to being in touch with the heads of some of these organizations and sort of throwing out there, 'Do you think that we should come together - and talk about what all of our priorities are,'" he said. "Sort of looking at the prism of, 'What role, if any, could Equality Maryland play helping you?'"

Furmansky said if other organizations are interested in pursuing that conversation, a meeting could occur before year's end.

"I like that idea, personally," he said. "I think that could yield something."

But the plan did not assuage all concerns. Moise said after the meeting that while she appreciated Furmansky's pledge, that step alone would be insufficient.

"I think it's an appropriate step forward," she said. "I would hope that Equality Maryland would continue to develop a comprehensive agenda for LGBT Marylanders that extends beyond marriage."

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