Pasadena Forum: All They Need is Love

“How you feel about your child should not change once they tell you they are gay,” said Ari Gutierrez, co-founder of the Latino Equality Alliance, at Thursday evening’s “Love is Love” forum at All Saints’ Church. The forum, part of the Pasadena-Foothill Valley YWCA “Talking the Talk” series,  was a cooperative effort  by the Alliance, the Pasadena YWCA, and Pasadena Pride.

The event, moderated by Ernst Fenelon, Jr.,  was inspired by the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida last month, covering three major topics — homophobia, Islamophobia, and gun control. Gutierrez, Pasadena attorney Tarek Shawky, media consultant Edina Lekovic, and Pasadena Pride President Aaron Saenz, served as speakers for the open forum discussion.

Guiterrez continued on her theme of “unconditional love,” explaining that homophobia and Islamophobia are created when “people lack access to information.”

“These are not age issues, these are information issues,” she said. “Anyone can be uninformed.”

Gutierrez recalled her mother phoning her late on the night of the shooting in Orlando, saying, “I know you’re always out there, and involved in things, and I just wanted to make sure you were okay.

“Now, that’s my mother talking to me, and she is worried,” Gutierrez continued, “and I am not even there. Imagine the parents of those who were.”

As Gutierrez explained, “California is one of the most progressive states in the nation, but we are still vulnerable to hate. And that is what we must change.”

Seanz discussed his reaction as he and other gay men were “diverted” from giving blood at blood donation centers, following the shooting, something he had done many times before.

‘There is a blanket ban on gay men giving blood,” Saenz, explained, sadly. “The Federal government has only recently allowed gay men who have been abstinent for a year to donate, but the ban should be about behavior, not about labels. If the law were to be changed, said Saenz, 4.2 million more donors could be accepted.

Lekovic, co-founder of New Ground, described as a Jewish-Muslim partnership for change, talked about  the US’ continuing fear of Islam, saying, “We have had some intense eye-opening exchanges in this country, and lots of painful conversations over the past few years.”

Lekovic said, “Cultural taboos are deep and heavy in the Muslim culture, and sometimes coming out as a Muslim is as difficult as coming out as gay,” even though many Muslim-Americans are actually in favor of same-sex marriage.

“It’s all about fear,” said Lekovic. ‘We have so much more data now, but we still have fear.”

Attorney Shawky again hammered home the idea of fear in the US, explaining how many Americans have an inordinate fear of Sharia Law, along with the idea that every Muslim in the US, is ready to commit violence.

“Sharia Law is one of the oldest laws in the world, and is based simply on the notion of justice,” he said.

As he explained further, “Muslims themselves don’t want one religion or one law here. They don’t want a one-religion state. That’s not why they came to America.”

More information on the “Talking the Talk” series is available at http://tinyurl.com/h8dpkbl.