In preparation for the upcoming Pride at Work national convention being hosted in San Diego in September, and in conjunction with the annual American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) Pride at Work board meeting, a reception took place at the home of Bill Beck and David Huskey on Feb. 24. Honorary chairs were state Senator Christine Kehoe and San Diego City Councilmember Toni Atkins. The purpose of the event was to raise awareness not only of the upcoming convention, but also of Pride at Work’s mission.

Pride at Work chapters seek to advance the civil and human rights of GLBT workers and build solidarity through coalitions of various groups. The organization works together within labor and with other allies on issues involving social and economic justice.

Pride at Work is committed to demanding full inclusion and equality of GLBT workers in their unions and workplaces, said Nancy Wohlforth, secretary-treasurer of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) of the AFL-CIO and national co-president of Pride at Work.

“What we do is build alliances to protect human rights,” said Wohlforth, who is the first openly lesbian secretary-treasurer of an international union, as well as the first openly lesbian member of the AFL-CIO executive board. “We help LGBT groups partner with labor groups to oppose discrimination. By partnering with labor, the LGBT community can use labor’s clout to make sure all workers have equal benefits, gay or straight.”

Dan Sturgis, board member for the Michigan chapter, was instrumental in challenging Michigan Proposal 2, last year’s proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and roll back existing partner benefits for state employees.

“We were thrown into this cold turkey, really,” Sturgis said about the struggle to oppose Prop 2. “But Pride at Work built a coalition with local labor and LGBT groups, and, along with the ACLU, worked to counter the legislation.”

Ultimately, Proposal 2 passed. However, Sturgis and his coalition would not concede. With the help of the ACLU, the initiative was challenged in court and the proposal was declared unconstitutional under the state’s Equal Protection Clause. While the Michigan attorney general is currently appealing the ruling, benefits have been temporarily re-instated to employees.

“This is politics, pure and simple,” Sturgis said. “We have a Republican attorney under a Democratic governor who is looking to run for office. The way the circuit judge replied, by going line by line through the suit, gave the attorney general very little to work with, but the attorney general will take this to the federal Appeals Court.”

And that, Wohlforth said, may prove more difficult.

“The attorney general has announced that he will appeal the decision, and the federal Appeals Court is far more conservative than the Circuit Court,” Wohlforth said. “And I think the judge in the Circuit Court understood that, and that’s why there was so little wiggle room.”

For Sturgis and Wohlforth, though, that only makes them more passionate about fighting the battle. And the stakes, Wohlforth said, are not just Michigan. It is a matter of national concern.

The timing of the national convention in San Diego could not be better, said Brian Polejes, senior field representative for San Diego’s Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 535, since the same proposal is coming before California voters in 2008.

“Initially, we thought it was going to come in 2006,” said Siam Lewis, membership coordinator for Pride at Work’s national office in Washington, D.C. “This gives us more time to prepare for the fight.”

Wohlforth explained that lessons can be learned from other states’ battles.

“What we have to do is look at how the coalitions came together and unite to fight these areas of mutual concern,” Wohlforth said. “By bringing our forces together, we can win battles like the Los Angeles mayoral election. Labor has a lot of clout, and they have a huge get-out-the-vote program. We can piggyback on that, you see.

“Workers rights and LGBT rights are not different,” she continued. “We are all families, and there is a growing understanding that by coming together, we have a better bargaining hand.”

Marriage equality is not the only issue that Pride at Work confronts, Sturgis said.

“The same group that pushed the affirmative action ballot in California has moved to Michigan now, and it will be on our ballot,” he said. “So you can see why we need national organizations like Pride at Work.”

And that is no coincidence, he said.

“Take South Dakota, for example,” Sturgis said. “Abortion groups are preparing initiatives for the ballot in hopes that they will pass, and then get challenged in the courts. The ultimate goal is to get the case before the Supreme Court in hopes of overturning Roe v. Wade. We have to be smart in our counterattacks. But more than that, we have to be united – not just within one community, but across communities.”

Wohlforth explained that the appearance of the same groups cropping up in different states requires a unified front. And Pride at Work is set to defend marriage equality and affirmative action initiatives in California, Michigan, South Carolina and many other states around the country.

As part of those efforts, Pride at Work has organized a Work Marriage Tour, led by Sandra Telep, organizer for marriage equality. At Friday’s reception, Telep said: “I’m all marriage all the time. Families are families, and whether you are gay or straight, families deserve protections, not discrimination.

“We built the labor movement on values of fairness and equity,” Telep said. “Our straight co-workers and friends believe in those ideals. These folks understand the connection between marriage equality and work equity.”

Bringing on someone full time devoted to marriage equality is a sure sign of labor’s commitment to supporting equal protections for all workers, Polejes said, and added that the AFL-CIO has come out strongly against the Federal Marriage Amendment.

Wohlforth also spoke about the group’s efforts within the labor community. Traditionally, Wohlforth said, labor leadership has been a white male-dominated group.

“We are fighting to change the leadership, too,” said Wohlforth, who acknowledged Jerry Butkiewicz, the CEO of the San Diego-Imperial County Labor Council, as a strong ally in equal rights for GLBT workers. “We not only want a seat at the table, but we also want a voice. And thanks to people like Jerry, we’re getting it.”

Pride at Work’s national convention is set to run Sept. 7-10 at the Hilton San Diego Resort. More information on Pride at Work and this year’s national conference can be found on the organization’s Web site, www.prideatwork.org.