HISTORY

The Bush-Mallon Institute for Social Justice is celebrating it’s 15th year as the premier educational program and outreach activity of the NABWMT.

Our original name was the Multi-Racial, Multi-Cultural Institute (MRMCI). From the very beginning, our objective for the Institute has been to realize the mission of our organization to fight homophobia, racism, sexism, and other isms by providing information and resources, both internally to our membership, as well as externally to the greater LGBT community, and to society at large.

Our strategy has been to utilize interactive workshops to educate and activate our participants to understand the history, rationale, and destructive nature of these prejudices, as well as to impart strategies for fighting them. To achieve this, several workshops were developed that involved participation ranging from a half day to a full weekend; from being part of conferences and conventions, such as the NGLTF Creating Change, and the NABWMT Conventions, to all weekend Retreats, such as one held at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. The workshops included “Finding The ‘I’ In The Middle of RacIsm”; “Looking Beyond The Single Issue Lens; Understanding The Intersection Of Oppressions”; “The Intersection of Racism and Homophobia”; “Learning to Walk the Talk: Mobilizing Your Organization to Do Long-Term Antiracism Work” ; and “Healing the Isms as We Heal Ourselves” .

These workshops were gauged for audiences based on their prior levels of experience and knowledge of the issues discussed. Our growth and acceptance by the greater LGBT community was impressive: by our 10th anniversary in 2006, we had accomplished the following: ·

  48 workshop presentations during 44 events in 33 cities to over 1,700 people;

Presentations to chapters and at conventions: 25 ·
Presentations to other organizations and conferences: 23, including 9 at Creating Change; and 14 to 14 other community groups; • Cinema nights sponsored at NA conventions: 5 •
Creating Change accounted for 616 of our total attendance; NA membership attendance: 575; all other outside groups: 518. •

Average attendance per workshop: 35.6 including the mega Creating Change workshops; and 28.0 without Creating Change; 37.0 to outside groups only; and 23.0 for NA member presentations.

In 2006, the original name of the Institute was changed to the Bush-Mallon Institute for Social Justice (abbreviated to BMI) to honor two members of the NABWMT for their contributions to the fight against social injustice and their contributions to the NABWMT: Dr. John E Bush and Gerald A Mallon.

In the years since we have continued to present workshops at various conferences including Creating Change and our own annual conventions. But just as our political and cultural environments are constantly changing, fed by continuous technological innovation, we as an organization must change as well. The way that information is organized, presented and delivered has been greatly affected by the advent of instant communication technologies.

Information access is so much easier and faster that to continue to be effective at furthering the mission of the NABWMT, the BMI will change as well.

There is new leadership at the helm of the BMI; new information bytes, and workshops are being developed that can be as short as 15 minutes or as long as a weekend; delivery may be remote, or in a classroom; participation may be virtual or personal. The new political and cultural landscape call for new workshops.

The increased diversity of our society requires a more diverse BMI staff. We are working to bring this all to fruition. 

Contributed by Irwin Rothenberg, A long time BMI advocate and leader!