All politics is local

This week I attended a town hall meeting by Congresswoman Judy Chu on the issue of repealing the discriminatory policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in the United States Armed forces and the negative impact that this unfair policy has had on the lives of so many of our brave men and women serving in the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force.  I was moved by the stories of those on the panel who spoke about their commitment to protecting this nation and the pain of having to conceal their sexual orientation in order to serve. 

This town hall was the first of its kind in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County and I am very proud that my congresswoman, the first Chinese-American to serve in the United States House of Representatives, for her courage and commitment to progressive ideals in holding this event.

We are lucky in our community to have progressive Asian-Americans like Judy Chu who are serving in Congress along with progressives in Sacramento like Assemblymember Mike Eng.  Yet, pushing for progressive issues in many of our Asian-American communities is a challenge, especially at the local level.

The San Gabriel Valley is home to 2 million people in Los Angeles County.  It is also home to one of the largest concentrations of Asian-Americans in California, where nine of its cities and two unincorporated areas have Asian-American populations that make up half or more of the local population.  Yet, in 2008 over 77% of voters in these cities and communities voted “yes” for Proposition 8.   That is unfortunate and shows the challenge in winning over hearts and minds in this very important demographic and cultural center of the Asian American community.  In the San Gabriel Valley, many Asian-American local elected officials serving on city councils, school districts, and water boards were unwilling to take positions opposing Proposition 8. 

In addition to building grass roots support for issues such as marriage equality and other issues important to API LGBTQIs, we need to also hold our local elected officials accountable and educate them on the importance of not treating LGBTQI issues as secondary issues.  Many Asian-American elected officials run at the local level because they have either been subject to racial discrimination or perceive that the Asian-American community needs to have a political voice at the local level of government.  Once in office, we need to remind them that discrimination against any group in any form is wrong.  We need to also thank and support those local API elected officials, gay and straight, who have continuously championed our issues.  We have many great examples of people who are our advocates serving locally throughout this nation.  All politics is local and we need to make sure that the LGBTQI takes its issues and makes them local everywhere in every city and community. 

Henry Lo,

Garvey School Boardmember

Monterey Park, CA