Join the Impact presented an Occupy Chicago teach-in Saturday, sharing information about how Occupy can become more inclusive of LGBT people and the way that the struggle for gay rights complements Occupy’s overall goals.

Twenty-two people attended the event, Out of the Closets into the Occupation, held at Occupy Chicago’s indoor headquarters at 500 W. Cermak in a loft space. The panelists spoke on three topics: LGBT-inclusive terminology, the history of LGBT oppression and then its connection to a capitalist society organized around the nuclear family.

One of the panelists, Ryne Poelker, spoke on the many ways that income inequality affects the LGBT community. He said despite the double-income-no-kids stereotype, teen homelessness, unequal healthcare access and employment discrimination are all problems facing the LGBT community that Occupy protesters can connect with.

“The majority of LGBT people are working class,” Poelker said. “They are not lawyers. They are not business people. It’s like women are depicted in Sex and the City. Those do not match the majority of lives of women”

(via occupywallstreet)