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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!haven.umd.edu!darwin.sura.net!wupost!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!daemon
- From: Blythe Systems <nytransfer%igc.apc.org@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
- Subject: "Democracy" & Gay Rights
- Message-ID: <1992Aug25.215505.14418@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
- Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
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- Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
- Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 21:55:05 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Lines: 81
-
-
- Via The NY Transfer News Service ^ All the News that Doesn't Fit
-
-
- "Democracy" and Gay Rights
-
- Democracy U.S.-style is on putrid display right now in Oregon.
- This fall "the people" in that state will have "the right" to
- vote on whether to enshrine a sweeping anti-gay measure into
- their constitution.
-
- Meanwhile, the Republican Party appears ready to launch what Pat
- Buchanan actually calls "a religious war" against lesbians, gays,
- transvestites and transsexuals. Judging by his spew at the
- convention, reactionaries hope to rally their troops around
- anti-gay hatred as a central theme.
-
- The ruling class is desperate to manufacture a "backlash" against
- the lesbian and gay community's struggle for full rights. The
- purpose? To prevent working-class unity at all costs.
-
- So the Oregon amendment would rescind every current -- and bar any
- future -- lesbian and gay civil rights law in the state. Its
- sweeping language covers every state, local, regional or
- educational government entity or employee. It would basically
- outlaw any speech or behavior unless it is anti-gay.
-
- This twisted spectacle must be a little embarassing for liberal
- defenders of the system. After all -- a referendum to ban basic
- human rights? How can the fundamental right to freedom from
- discrimination even be open to debate -- let alone decided by a
- show of hands?
-
- Under capitalism, "the people" are only useful when there's a
- chance to corral them, through the most vicious right-wing
- propaganda, in a reactionary direction. If that effort succeeds,
- the ruling class and its government achieve their goal.
-
- In this case the goal is to intensify -- actually to further
- institutionalize -- lesbian and gay oppression, and to heighten
- divisions in the working class. The politicians and bosses can
- deny responsibility and claim "the people" have spoken. Last fall
- in Louisiana David Duke's Senate candidacy had a similar goal -- to
- divide the working class, primarily on the basis of racism, as
- well as through homophobia, sexism and anti-Semitism.
-
- Of course, the government could have used all kinds of technical
- legal maneuvers to block the amendment from the Oregon ballot. It
- did not.
-
- In a bourgeois democracy like this country, "rights" are not the
- absolutes they're supposed to be. They are meted out as stingily
- as possible, only when they're necessary to keep class peace and
- only after big battles demanding them. A quick look at the
- history of slavery, the civil rights movement, the unions and
- women confirms this.
-
- History also shows nothing can hold back the struggle for human
- liberation. Not even the AIDS crisis, while devastating so many
- lives, has defeated the lesbian and gay community. No puny
- electoral maneuver can, either.
-
- Anita Bryant tried this sort of thing about 15 years ago. The
- main result -- even though some anti-gay referenda passed -- was a
- bigger, stronger, angrier lesbian and gay movement, with more
- allies and supporters.
-
- Now the Oregon amendment must be defeated. But whatever happens
- on election day, working-class fighters can be confident that
- nothing can stop the ultimate triumph of the struggle for lesbian
- and gay liberation.
-
- -30-
-
- (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted
- if source is cited. For more info contact Workers World,46 W. 21
- St., New York, NY 10010; "workers@igc.apc.org".)
-
- -----
- NY Transfer News Service
- Modem: 718-448-2358 nytransfer@igc.org nyxfer@panix.com
-