Out In Front Co-Chair Receives Leadership Award

Out In Front Co-Chair Lonnie Lusardo receives Leadership Tomorrow Award. Read his remarks here:

It is fitting to celebrate this event at Woodland Park Zoo. This is where they send you after serving 7 years on the LT Board. The zoo staff couldn't decide whether I belonged with the Tasmanian Devil or the American Wild Ass.

I am deeply and profoundly moved, honored, and humbled to receive this award.

I share this award with every Leadership Tomorrow graduate and anyone who has ever sat on a nonprofit board, volunteered in support of their community, or has ever danced on the desk of a dense decision maker. To be LT's Standard Bearer for 2009 is an awesome responsibility, one I take very seriously. I hold this award for all of us -- proudly and humbly.

I DEDICATE this award to my family - to my late immigrant Italian parents, who taught me the values I live by: hard work, loyalty, and speaking freely - even when there's a foot in my mouth -- and to my three brothers, Frank, Fred, and Roger. Tonight I am enormously grateful to introduce my brother Frank and his wife Ginny and my brother Roger, all of whom came here from Florida to share this moment with me.

For the past 20 years, I have been a tireless Cheerleader for Leadership Tomorrow. LT is as close to a religion as I get. Aside from the challenging curriculum, LT gave me the self-confidence to do things for the communities I care about with more passion and intention-- and with my entire heart and soul.

My quest for social justice and human rights comes on the backs of people of color who have led the way for me. I assure you my goal is to build on the achievements of men and women of color and white women, not to diminish their work or in any way impact their progress.

Tonight I trumpet the cause that has taken much of my attention for the past six years -- Out In Front, a program shamelessly modeled after LT. I commend Michael Auch (LT 96), who helped craft the concept, Marsha Botzer (LT ) from the OIF Steering Committee and Mike Schaefer from Program Development who cultivated even more community support. In two days, Out In Front celebrates the end of our pilot project and graduates our first class of 15 remarkably inspired leaders.

Our focus is finely targeted. The OUT IN FRONT Mission is to foster the development of effective, engaged, and passionate leaders in order to build a thriving Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community. Our Vision is a strong LGBT community with equality that supports, nurtures and protects its diverse members and organizations. We do this with four values: Inclusion, Relevance, Inspiration, and Accountability.

Tonight I am not only a professional who happens to be gay - that I do every day. As such, I blend in with all rest of humanity. Tonight, I am your professional homosexual. The difference is an inescapable exposure and, to some extent, risk.

As you think of Out In Front, you may ask, “Why a leadership program for sexual minorities when we already have LT, Project Lead, the Asian Community Leadership Foundation, etc.?”

Here's why…

Because without equality, our dignity is beneath that of the majority culture. We are NOT treated as equals because the law does not recognize us as equals. Many gay people, myself among them, dislike talking about our sexual orientation in public, especially through the media. Talking about my sexual orientation makes me exceedingly uncomfortable. But I refuse to live a lie. I have to be true to myself. You can't inspire policy change from behind a closet door. We have to constantly dispel stereotypes and myths.

Why leadership for sexual minorities?
It took me 10 long and painful years to acknowledge my sexual orientation TO MYSELF. Through most of high school, four years in the US Navy, and my first few years of college, I felt alone, rejected, confused, and constantly surrounded by shame. During that time same sex couples demonstrating any open display of affection were an invitation for brutality.

How can a loving person maintain dignity by hiding her or his true emotions? You cannot. In the face of questioning friends, colleagues, and coworkers, and family - sometime we deny, we hide, we change the pronouns when talking about a date, or we just flat out lie. In the 60s and 70s, such behavior was routine. Contrary to popular opinion, the cultural dynamics in today's workplace are not much different than 30 years ago.

In short, being gay is not for sissies.
All of those years, before I realized it was no longer just a ophase, I honestly envisioned a future with a wife, kids, and a house in the suburbs. Even after I was able to deal with the issue in my heart and soul, it took another 20 years to come out to my family.

The internalized conflicts we cope with our entire lives is why we need a different leadership roadmap than our non-gay peers. Our issues are different. Our culture is different. Our institutions are different. To many of us, fairness and equality is a matter of life or death. At the federal level, we can stIll be fired without cause -- simply for being gay.

We have to catalog our own destiny.

Today the Obama Administration is struggling to extend partnership rights to federal workers. Even a toe in the water triggers a tidal wave against it. If federal employees can't be seen as equals, forget dismantling Don't' Ask, Don't Tell - a policy that is tantamount to government-enforced lying - a personal violation of honesty and integrity, basic human values to most Americans.

We need a leadership program for sexual minorities because if the most progressive presidency in the nation's history can't provide “Liberty and Justice for all…” who can?

One big stumbling block to the president is The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) passed by Congress in 1996 to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. Tell me how this law contributes to “…life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?” Where did Congress get the power to legislate who loves whom?

DOMA must be abolished. It is the first law ever designed to take rights away from a specific group of Americans. If that's not discrimination, what is?

The fear behind DOMA is reinforced whenever legislators, journalists, and opponents of fairness insist upon using the phrases “gay marriage” or “same-sex marriage” rather than MARRIAGE EQUALITY. Sexual Minorities do not ask for special rights. We expect and deserve EQUAL rights. Doesn't “…Liberty and Justice for ALL” mean something?”

The fears are false. Sexual Orientation is not a threat to the institution of marriage. The real threats to marriage are INFIDELITY and DIVORCE. Sexual Orientation is not a threat to the military. Real threats to the military are WAR and TORTURE.

Why a leadership program for sexual minorities? Because our state is now facing another battle against sexual minorities -- Initiative 71 -- (the referendum to put Washington State's new domestic partners law to a public vote). PLEASE DELCINE TO SIGN the initiative. Sen. Murrary and Rep. Pederson ahve worked too hard to lose ground to bigots and hatemongers.

When LGBT and Questioning students in middle schools and high schools are subjected to bullying and text books that fail to tactfully acknowledge LGBT history (as anything more than a footnote) - we need skilled leaders in organizations like the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the Safe Schools Coalition to push for justice and equality.

Why a leadership program for sexual minorities? When we consider fair health care options and public funding to help people living with HIV/AIDS, the staff and Board at Lifelong AIDS Alliance, AIDS Housing of Washington, Dunshee House, and other AIDS Service Organizations need trained and passionate leaders to navigate through the political maze, and through a highly diverse community in order to raise public awareness and manage a devastating epidemic.

These are just a few of the organizations that need knowledgeable and skilled leaders to ensure the survival of the next generation.

That's why we need a leadership program for sexual minorities.

And that's why I am committing the $1,000 contribution that accompanies the Carlson Award to a Scholarship Fund for Out In Front. My hope is that no individual with a passion to fight for social justice - and who goes through our rigid selection process -- may be denied because of a lack of resources to pay for tuition.

Thank you for this incredible honor.