Jewel of the Week: Pam Spaulding

In the blogosphere, success is often judged by the quality of the opposition.  By this standard and many others, Pam Spaulding, creator of the influential LGBT political blog Pam’s House Blend (née July 2004), is on top of her game.  Ex-gay “Christian” activist James Hartline called Spaulding “a twisted lesbian sister and an embittered lesbian of the self-imposed guttural experiences of the gay ghetto.”  On the so-called “Concerned Women for America” radio show, Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality called Spaulding “a vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist.”

Ouch! Spaulding might well look at this, blush and say, “I’ve done my job!”

“Fibromyalgia: when your brain is not your friend.”

It’s clear – even to the opposition – that Pam Spaulding is doing something right.  And folks, she is.  As the name of her blog suggests, loyal readers can count on Spaulding to stir up dialogue on politics and race relations in America, among other issues.  Spaulding has blogged about her battle with fibromyalgia, including a heartfelt April 2009 post entitled, “Fibromyalgia: when your brain is not your friend,” which discusses her battle with the disease even before her diagnosis:

“In my case, I’ve been battling this since early 2008 without a diagnosis, just when I began ramping up a ton of election year-related blogging and traveling.  Normal aches and pains were turning into debilitating fatigue, and pretty severe all-over aches particularly in the AM. I'm not talking about feeling the need to rest, I'm talking about you're in the middle of an activity and all of a sudden it's like a switch is flipped and you literally feel like you can't continue, as in drop dead tired.”

Her struggle, and that of her friends and family, has made her an advocate for health care reform, to a degree that if she weren’t running Pam’s House Blend, she’d be front and center advocating for health care reform.  Spaulding notes that “it’s a topic so confusing for many, and equally intimidating – no wonder everyone is mad at Washington; it shouldn’t be rocket science to eliminate people being dropped for pre-existing conditions or ensuring everyone has access to a decent standard of care without going bankrupt.”

Sources of inspiration

Spaulding is no stranger to blazing trails.  Being among the first LGBT minority bloggers is consistent with Spaulding’s experience as the first Black woman in quite a few past positions throughout her professional career – like her personal hero Jackie Robinson.

“Every time I thought about the pressure of being a ‘first’ and knowing others would be judged who came after me, fairly or unfairly, I thought of the hell Robinson experienced as the first Black player in Major League Baseball. … While I cannot imagine the depth of terror he must have dealt with on a daily basis, I certainly have found out that race-baiting, threats and demeaning language does come with the territory as a lesbian Black blogger – and it comes from a rainbow of sources, sorry to say.”

Her grassroots activism through Pam’s House Blend makes her other personal heroine, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and one of NBJC’s founders Mandy Carter, proud.  Carter has been a source of inspiration and a great mentor to Spaulding, who remarks:

“[Carter] has taught me that even introverts like me can find the gumption to speak out offline as well as online. The beauty of seeing Mandy's legacy of grassroots activism in action is essential for online activists to see because we have way too many armchair activists who aren't willing to test their mettle in offline organizing. My efforts to visit local GSAs, to write for the local newspaper as an out lesbian columnist, to speak at NC Pride, and to lobby my state legislators have been inspired by Mandy's courage to act when it was much less safe to do so.”

Direct line to President Obama

Among the avid readers of Pam’s House Blend are representatives from the White House, who seek out the Blend to keep their ear to the community.  And the community, admittedly, has grown impatient with the White House.

“He has run out of time to do little more than hate crimes and possible DADT repeal,” says Spaulding.  “While candidate Obama chided Sen. McCain for his inability to multitask, it’s quite apparent that this White House and advisers were banking on stringing our concerns out over two terms.”

If Spaulding had a direct line to the President, she would advise him to focus on education, and to support fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS, specifically addressing the misinformation in some segments of the Black Church; ENDA, which she says is “the single-most important piece of legislation that will free many from their closets;” and other pro-LGBT legislation. 

The Low Down on the Blend

Pam’s House Blend began solely for self-expression out of political frustration and has grown to expressing a point of view for an audience of more than 8000 readers a day – not including the people she reaches through Twitter and Facebook. 

“I find myself thinking about the various constituencies out there, from the religious anti-gay conservatives (who read the Blend too!) to LGBT organizations and movement leaders to politicians and the White House to LGBT youth trying to connect and find common experiences with other commenters. All will take away something different from what I write, so these days I'm more conscious of that, although it still surprises me that anyone really cares about ‘my two cents’ about current events,” Spaulding said. 

Her two cents is indeed valuable in a space that is largely devoid of prominent LGBT political blogs representing the views of people of color.  Spaulding tells us, “With so many blogs out there, the issue is getting the attention of larger LGBT minority bloggers so that they will link to you, driving traffic to that blog and hopefully earning a bookmark or addition to someone's RSS reader so they revisit.”  She benefited from early adoption, having launched The Blend when there were fewer LGBT blogs of any color, but understands that it’s much more difficult to break in now than back then.

And we sure are happy to have our daily dose of Pam’s House Blend.

We loved Spaulding long before, but seeing her write so openly and honestly about her battle with fibromyalgia and remaining committed to us loyal readers, providing witty and informative commentary on the right-wing’s anti-gay agenda – and also tackling important issues of the day such as the Henry Louis Gates affair last year, or the rank racism during the 2008 presidential race – all while maintaining a full-time job, is heroic in our eyes.

Sharon J. Lettman, NBJC’s executive director, recalls asking Pam what would it take for her to move to DC and be a force on the national scene.  Pam remarked that quality healthcare insurance with same-gender marriage recognition was one of the key elements keeping her where she was.  This was back in 2008. 

Lettman now has a little more insight on this conversation and states, “Advocacy is not a spectator sport, and Pam Spaulding lives and breathes justice for all.  It is our pleasure and honor to recognize Pam Spaulding as NBJC’s Jewel of the Week.”

Article by Stacey Gates, NBJC Communications Manager.