Community and Integrity

Donna Rose’s beautiful, passionate, and heartfelt resignation letter from her position on the board of the Human Rights Campaign (Rose Letter ) begins with two words: “Community.” and “Integrity”. She writes of her hurt and sense of betrayal as well as her ongoing commitment to equality and basic human rights. It is an outstanding letter from the hands, heart, and mind of a very beautiful person.

Part of Donna’s beauty is her focus on the community and integrity which are such core values for the LGBT equality movement. It is a movement – with rolling momentum in both governmental and corporate halls of power – but, a movement that becomes shallow, cold, and cynical without community and integrity.

All of us have a desire to belong; to be in a sharing and caring relationship with others. We want to be in community. Many of us have lost communities: family, friends, churches, jobs in the coming out process. At the time, the losses seemed fathomless in the void they left. Many are still working through some of that pain. Yet, we have found new communities of love, hope, and faith that a better future is possible.

In the last few weeks I have been at two different events: the largest conference in the country for transgender people and a large state dinner for LGBT people and their allies. The pervasive sense of love and belonging – of family – at these gatherings confirms the sense of belonging and “rightness” in our openness and, for some, “outness” to the world about who we are. Our sense of family, our community, comes from our shared integrity.

The sense of oneness and wholeness that comes from seeking to live a life of integrity does not replace the losses we feel. We still grieve losses, but our new community and the energizing power of integrity not only “get us through”, but they bring love, laughter, and peace to our lives. As corny as it sounds, this integrity is about “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. These core American values are what bring passion to our movement. They are inalienable rights for all . . . even us. That is why ENDA deserves your unwavering, whole-hearted, inclusive support.

Thanks Donna.