Coming Out of the Closet; Coming Out as Environmentalists (Pre-Recorded)

• In Event: Movement and Mobilizing

Abstract

Environmental and queer issues are low priorities for US national queer and environmental organizations, respectively. In the past half-decade, however, national interest groups in both the environmental and queer movements have increasingly acted in support of each other. Queer and trans staffers helped climate organization 350.org “come out” in a solidarity letter following the Pulse nightclub shooting; environmentalists in the National LGBTQ Task Force, among other groups, opposed Scott Pruitt’s nomination to direct the Environmental Protection Agency. These catalyzing events—mass violence toward queers of color and the Trump administration’s unique threat to the environment alongside the increased salience of the climate crisis—partially explain cross-movement action. But what were the organizational changes, coalition meetings, and internal efforts that made these cross-movement actions possible? What impact do cross-movement actions have and how do they shape future organizational agendas? Focusing on the Sierra Club, 350.org, the National LGBTQ Task Force, and the Human Rights Campaign, I analyze staffer and activist interviews, press releases, and archival documents to trace why environmental organizations came out of the closet and why queer organizations came out as environmentalists. The study contributes to our understanding of how intersectional coalition building works, why agenda-setting for low-priority organizational issues still matters, and what barriers constrain solidarity between organizations.

Author

• Jeff L Feng, UC Santa Barbara