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Did Social Media Play a Role in Passing the Allegheny County Ordinance?

July 15th, 2009 View Comments

A little over a week has passed since the adrenaline -filled night of the County Council vote that brought protection from discrimination to the whole of Allegheny County. Since then, I’ve been thinking about two ideas that I wanted to blog about concerning the efforts to get the ordinance passed. I want to blog about the way various groups across Allegheny County worked together to support the passage of the ordinance. The cross section of groups and the way in which all played a role, is a process we don’t often see here (or anywhere for that matter. It is common many places for various groups to struggle working together). but before I pen ideas on that front, I was offered a guest post about that subject, so I’ll hold off and see what my guest blogger has to say.

But I want to begin to dig into the other topic, which is looking at what role social media may have played in the passage of the ordinance. In the statement released by the coalition of organizations, three blogs were thanks for their role in this process, Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents, The Pittsburgh Comet, and my own blog, so I decided to ask these bloggers for their ideas as to how social media played a role. Bram, of the Pittsburgh Comet sent me his thoughts, and Sue Kerr declined to comment directly, but said she would probably add comments to this blog post once published. And as important as it may be to look at what role social media did play, I want to open the floor for some dialogue about what we can do differently or more of down the road. How do we take this success, learn from it and use it in other GLBTQ rights struggles?

Social Media is a big, broad category of stuff, and far more people played a role than three bloggers. I hope that this post will generate a discussion and if you have stuff to add, please do.

Bram wrote:

I’d say this case was a good illustration of how social media can keep things on the front burner. It is a tactic of government officials — it’s not always nefarious, sometimes it’s a survival instinct — to put tough issues on the back burner until passions cool down, and maybe things get forgotten about. When you have someone like Sue [Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents] raising the alarm a couple times a week for everybody to read, it not only keeps issues front and center but makes the dilly-dallying politicians look kind of cheap.

Another way social media impacts obviously is mobilization. On Wednesday the room was packed at least 3/4 in favor of the pro-civil rights crowd, and I think that’s because that crowd skews a little younger and was made aware of the meeting swiftly and repeatedly through blogs, through Facebook, through Twitter. People were summoned to arms in a big big hurry. In addition, at the very last minute there was a flurry of amendments discussed on the matter, and in this case I actually think the electronic media allowed citizens to weigh in as the elected leaders were just becoming familiar with them, and as a result the amendment that the Steel City Democrats felt to be superior was enacted.

Bram’s comments highlight three ways that social media really was instrumental: Keep the subject in the spotlight; Assist with mobilization; Communicate what was going on and informing people as things were happening. But before we go any further, I want to draw some boundaries around the issue: what is social media? I want to do this, because while social media played a role, other tools were useful and helped with the success as well and those deserve acknowledgement as well.

Social Media: A category of sites that is based on user participation and user-generated content. They include social networking sites like LinkedIn or Facebook, social bookmarking sites like Del.icio.us, social news sites like Digg or Reddit, and other sites that are centered on user interaction. searchenginewatch.com/define

Over the course of the year that the County ordinance was being considered, about 14 blog posts exist between these three blogs which served to keep the issue in the spot light. Over 20 blog posts additionally serve the purpose of spreading information and mobilization, especially in the week or so before the vote. A number of other blogs also played a role. A quick Google Search for “Allegheny County Nondiscrimination” finds many hits, with blogs from he ACLU, Equality Advocates PA, 2 Political Junkies, Stonewall Democrats, Just Seeds, Pittsburgh Pride, among others. Queer news site across the state, such as Erie Gay News published information. However, unlike organizational blogs, which serve more as PR/information outlets, local independent bloggers also weighed in and offered critique and commentary. In these cases, bloggers served more as citizen journalists than information pushers. This may be one of the, both advantages and disadvantages to blogging. The blogger can wear multiple hats. More traditional news sources like newspapers, may split up news and commentary between different sections of the paper. Bloggers may have a tendency to throw it all in together, or go back and forth from playing one role or another. I don’t see this as a bad thing, but I believe it does create a responsibility for the blogger. The tone and message of their blog has much to do with how others will see them. This holds true for readers, as well as organizations, traditional news media, and other entities.

From my perspective, there was a real turning point in the 7-10 days before the vote, where the coalition of organizations worked to use social media and the local bloggers in ways that hadn’t happened before. Before that, even though I felt as if I was pretty connected to the activist community, as a blogger, I was still on the outside struggling to get information.

Bram comments on the number of people at the vote who were for the ordinance or against it. It may well be that the tools used including email blasts (not really social media, but related technology), Facebook and Twitter helped to bring so many ordinance supporters out. Without a doubt, these tools allowed more people within the GLBTQ communities to be aware of exactly what was going on as amendments were introduced and changes proposed especially in the week before the vote. Social media by its very nature, tends to be interlinked. Blog posts are published which generated a change to a Facebook status message, which is pushed out to twitter, assuring that a larger number of people become aware of the information.

However, I think other factors played a big role in this as well. The opposition to the ordinance had no real coalition of organizations behind it. While there were a few large organizations, such as the Catholic Diocese who expressed concern about the ordinance, most of the negative propaganda being published was by the American Family Association of PA (AFAPA) through their paper newsletter. Their strategy, was one of inundating the council members with phone calls. This was a successful strategy, in the sense that the council received more calls in opposition than in support of the ordinance, but we know that a count of phone calls itself does not determine the outcome of a vote. The opposition didn’t need the ability to alert their folks as to the amendments and changes in a timely manner, because their goal was to keep the ordinance, in any form whatsoever off of the books. I have more I can say about why their campaign was unsuccessful, but they can try ands sort that out for themselves.

The last way I ant to address how social media played a role, has to do with the night of the vote itself. A number of folks were at the Council meeting and sending out information via Twitter or Facebook, and while there were many GLBTQ folks and their supporters in the room, there was an even larger audience following along everything that was happening within the Twitter client, on their cell phone or via Facebook. I received a DM (direct message) before I spoke, telling me to let the council know that many outside of the room were watching what was happening there! Social media tools allow for interaction and engagement in a real-time way that has never existed before. Someone who is across the city (or across the state, or across the country) can be engaged, and that is an amazing thing.

I’d like to end this post talking about ways that social media could have been used, or can be used better in future advocacy/activist work. This is not meant as a criticism of what was done, more as a way to build upon it for the future.

Know what’s Out There: Social Media is a changing and growing arena. The more we are aware of what is possible, the more we can determine how to make the most of it.
More voices: I have heard Sue Kerr comment that we need more bloggers within the GLBTQ community, and that may be true, but more voices means more than just more blogs. There are many people within our community who blog, either on a personal level or with a more general focus who can help by adding a blog post or two once in a while. Additionally, we need people to be willing to comment on blog posts and join the dialogue. A blog isn’t just a way to push out information, but it can be an environment for discussion to occur. More voices also means adding questions to the table as well as commentary. I will never forget receiving a verbal comment from someone about the importance of using the phrase “gender identity and expression” more frequently. This was a valuable comment for me to hear! I tend to think any people may have comments that could be valuable, but are often kept to themselves.
Get the Information to Where the People Are: While news made its way to Facebook via status updates, there was no real Facebook presence for the Allegheny County Ordinance. Groups such as Steel City Stonewall Democrats have a Facebook group, but don’t utilize it very much as an avenue to push out information. Of the 18 “wall” posts there, not a single one is about the Allegheny County ordinance. I don’t mean to single out SCSD, but they were the most local, and possibly the largest local organization involved. Facebook groups such as “Day of Decision” and “Inclusive ENDA” demonstrate ways to really get the most out of the use of Facebook. While social Media is all about content- it is about Content within Community! GLBTQ organizations alone or working together can be more successful by using existing social networks in proactive ways. All organizations face the dilemma of too much to do and not enough time or people to do it all. But finding a member within an organization to spearhead a social media presence will pay big dividends down the road.
Hashtags: This one is geeky. A hashtag is a tag added to posts on Twitter predominately, but we are beginning to see them associated with other social media as well, that allow for easy searching across social media platforms. For example, if we had decided and announced the use of the hashtag #ACantidiscrim. Then everyone who was sending tweets, or Facebook notes, or photos to Flickr, etc, could have tagged with that hashtag, and then during and after the fact, it would be easy to pull all of this generated content together.

There may be far more than can be said on this subject, so what do you think? Leaver a comment and be a part of the dialogue.

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Categories: general Tags: Allegheny County, blog, blogging, Gay, GLBTQ, lesbain, nondiscrimination, Pittsburgh, Social Media

Now that it is signed, say thanks (or whatever is appropriate)!

July 10th, 2009 View Comments

I’ve never done this before, but for my post today, I want to redirect you to a post I wrote last week following the Allegheny County Council meeting where the county’s nondiscrimination ordinance was passed. I wrote this post to add some commentary about how various council members votes- those who our diverse communities need to now thank and those we need to, in thew short term, shame, and in the long term replace. The only addition, is Nicholas Futules, who was out of town for the vote, but who was supportive, and who was present last night at the signing ceremony. Please thank him as well.

Allegheny County Ordinance: Who to Thank and Who to Shame

I was a bit dismayed when speaking to Futeles last evening. The council persons are still getting lots of calls on this from the opposition who are claiming a slew of totally crazy stuff as to what this ordinance will mean. Here are my favorite two:

Men will be able to go into a restroom to be violent against women, and when caught, say they think they are women, and be let go. This is so ludicrous it isn’t funny. You know what is pathetic about this? First, is the fact that someone would ever suggest this is the case. We have groups like the American Family Association of PA (AFAPA) to thank for that part of it. But the really pathetic part is that anyone believes this hogwash enough to repeat it. Violence against women or children is never acceptable or “allowed” no matter who perpretrates it, how they are dressed, or what their gender identity may or may be suggested to be.
The bill protects sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. So crazy right wingnuts say that this means it protects those who have any assortment of philias (such as necrophilia). This would be funny if it too weren’t so sad. These wingnuts don’t seem to be able to discern the difference between sexual orientations (of which there are only 3- heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual) and psychosexual disorders.

Futeles is considering countering this with an op-ed perhaps, or at the least a form letter than can be mailed out. The role we can play- those of us who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered- is to be out of the closet, and let others know us for who we are. Some wingnuts are going to believe whatever they are going to believe, but there is a vast majority of people out there who can see us for who we really are, if we let them.

If you appreciate reading my posts, would you like to thank me with a coffee?

Categories: general Tags: Allegheny County, nondiscrimination

Equality Advocates PA Press Release about Allegheny County Ordinance

July 2nd, 2009 View Comments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 2, 2009

Allegheny County Passes Inclusive Anti-Discrimination Ordinance

Philadelphia – The Allegheny County Council voted Wednesday evening to approve the Allegheny County Human Relations Ordinance, legislation that will ban discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression with a limited religious exemption. Although similar protections have been in place in the City of Pittsburgh for over 20 years, this week’s ordinance marks the first time that these protections will be extended throughout the entire county.

The bill, which passed by an 8-6 vote, established a county-wide Human Relations Commission that will be responsible for investigating claims of discrimination.

“By passing the Human Relations Ordinance, the Allegheny County Council has made fairness a priority. The county will now be a better place to live and work for all residents, LGBT and straight alike,” Lynn Zeitlin, Executive Director of Equality Advocates Pennsylvania said Thursday.

The Coalition for the Allegheny County Human Relations Ordinance worked with Council members and County Executive Dan Onorato this week to modify the bill after a previous amendment was found to include an unreasonably broad loophole that would allow religious groups to discriminate against any job applicant on the basis of race, gender, disability and several other classifications, including sexual orientation and gender identity. The final amended language, which was endorsed by several LGBT rights groups across the state, includes a much narrower religious exemption.

LGBT rights organizations from across the state also praised the Ordinance for its inclusive protection of transgender individuals. The Coalition for the Allegheny County Human Relations Ordinance called the new legislation “the highest standard of trans-inclusive language in the Commonwealth.”

Next on the agenda for many Pennsylvania groups is working toward the passage of House Bill 300, a bill that would amend the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act to prohibit discrimination on the bases of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression in employment, public accommodations and housing statewide.

“We commend the Allegheny County Council for adopting this important ordinance,” Zeitlin said. “The county is now the fifteenth municipality in the state to grant such protection to LGBT individuals, and we are pleased that the two largest counties in Pennsylvania now provide inclusive coverage. We will continue to work throughout the state until all Pennsylvanians are treated as fairly as citizens of Allegheny County now will be.”

The ordinance is set to become law in a few weeks, and a private signing ceremony is currently being planned. The Office of the County Executive is accepting calls from individuals in Allegheny County interested in serving on the County Human Relations Commission and can be reached at (412) 350-6500.