Jun 29, 2020
The best nonprofits tackle what lies beneath the economic and social wrongs that rock= our nation. They organize, litigate and advocate to undo discriminatory policies based on race, immigration status and sexual orientation. More recently, nonprofits, including The National LGBTQ Task Force, are using an intersectional prism to guide their advocacy. Intersectionality, a concept developed by scholar Kimberlee Crenshaw, refers to our overlapping identities, which shape how we view the world and how we are perceived. This prism also reveals how privilege and marginalization operate. As Meghan Maury, Policy Director for The Task Force explains, battling discrimination is not enough. LGBTQ people are also over-represented in homeless shelters and the criminal justice and immigration systems. And the Task Force is active on all fronts. Valuing intersectionality is reflected in a staff comprised primarily by people of color, people with disabilities and with lived experiences of homelessness and poverty. It informs the Task Force’s campaigns to increase the count of LGBTQ people in Census 2020 and to scuttle the Administration’s schemes to deregulate Obama era protections. And it shines through in Meghan, whose resistance is savvy, tireless and relentlessly positive.