APSA, New Orleans, and Gay Rights
The current issue of Inside Higher Ed has a good overview of the current brouhaha over whether the American Political Science Association’s 2012 meeting should be moved out of its designated site, New Orleans, due to Louisiana’s anti-gay and lesbian policies. APSA President Dianne Pinderhughes, speaking for the APSA Council, recently reaffirmed the Association’s intention to meet in New Orleans, pointing to local conditions and policies rather than state-level ones, the role that holding meetings in New Orleans can play in restoring the city, and APSA’s self-imposed prohibition against taking stands on policy issues. This reaffirmation has distressed many gay and lesbian activists, who are concerned not only about the hostile atmosphere for them in Louisiana but also about potential health risks of being in a place where the health care benefits that are available to family members would not be available to them or their partners. Talk of a boycott of the meeting is in the air.
For the Inside Higher Ed coverage, click here.
Comments
Of the three arguments for keeping the meeting in New Orleans, only one makes any sense: focusing on the city rather than the state.
1) I don't buy that APSA should support the city for its own sake, if it means failing to protect its own members, since its mandate is to its membership not the people of NOLA.
2) I don't buy that this would be purely a matter of taking a stand on a policy issue. It boils down to whether APSA will fulfill its requirement in the bylaws to avoid holding conferences where any of its members may be discriminated against.
3) If the real argument is that APSA has concluded it does have this responsibility but the risk of actual discrimination is nil, then it should provide an explanation to the membership of the measures it undertook to make that determination, and the evidence on which they concluded that GLBT APSA members will indeed be protected if they go to NOLA.
Posted by: Charli Carpenter | June 30, 2008 10:00 PM
In terms of strategy for targeting New Orleans, did those wanting site relocation target Louisiana instead of APSA's in other less gay-friendly locations?
Did anyone consider it will be AUGUST in New Orleans? High humidity + high temps might make attendance lower, and advocates of a boycott can claim a victory if fewer people show.
Posted by: Smart move | July 2, 2008 11:42 AM
Not to mention, August+NOLA means APSA attendees might well get to experience Katrina 2: Electric Boogaloo live and in person.
Posted by: Optimus Prime | July 2, 2008 02:15 PM