From: Blythe Systems <nytransfer%igc.apc.org@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Subject: "Democracy" & Gay Rights
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 21:55:05 GMT


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
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive