Jes' Story: Secret Lust For Low-Wage Work

By: , On: Monday, 9 Mar 2009

Overview:

This article thanks to: Jessica Burgan, Media Associate for Pride At Work, AFL-CIO

Description:

Jes' Story: Secret Lust For Low-Wage Work

I can’t lie. I like knowing that I’ve been there. That I can make it on six bucks an hour and three hours of sleep. That I was (usually) able to take pride in work that most people overlooked or underappreciated. That I met some of the most amazing people working alongside me.

But my secret lust for low-wage work just about ends right there; what somehow manages to translate itself into feelings of dignity at the end of the day, is by far outweighed by the reality of the very lack of dignity such work, provides.

Afterall, yes, I have been there: full time school, two full time jobs, on and on. And sure, I’ve sent money home when the family is really broke, and I’m sure to treat my brothers to a ‘really nice’ restaurant like TGIFriday’s whenever we’re together. But I haven’t even come close – can’t even imagine – working like this with a family of my own, trying to carry kids on my shoulders with that same six bucks an hour. And, while my time at school was certainly different than many of my peers, I at least had that notion of a so-called light at the end of the tunnel.

That light, unfortunately, is little more than a hallucination for most of the people I worked with; surely, for millions of working Americans.

If you’ve gotten this far, you may be wondering what this essay is doing in a queer publication. I haven’t mentioned that I’m a lesbian, spoken of my partner, or touched on any ‘major’ LGBT issues.

That’s because you don’t have to come out to the veracity of working class issues.
Alas, despite rampant rumors of our community consisting almost exclusively of
wealthy DINK’s (Dual Income, No Kids), it doesn’t require looking very hard to notice the
many working class LGBT families out there.

And it doesn’t require much more to realize that this talk about the minimum wage we’ve been hearing also directly affects our community. That while LGBT workers may face plenty of discrimination on the job, the difficulties which accompany working for merely $5.15 an hour do not discriminate, and are just as likely to hurt LGBT families.

Maybe imagining life at that wage isn’t something you can easily grasp; maybe you are someone who is struggling to do just that. Whichever the case, take a minute, give your Senator a call, and remind him/her that yes, the minimum wage is an LGBT issue.

And yes, my community deserves a raise.