‘We need a movement that fights for all our rights’

FIST

LeiLani Dowell, a national leader of the group Fight Imperialism, Stand Together— FIST—spoke June 4 in Boston about lesbian/gay/bi/trans oppression and the war, domestic and abroad. The Pride meeting was organized by the Boston branch of FIST, Stonewall Warriors and Workers World Party.

Dowell began her talk with a history of the roots of LGBT oppression. She explained that the capitalist class, and ruling classes before it, upheld the “sanctity” of marriage and the traditional heterosexual nuclear family in order to assure that wealth is passed down to male heirs in an orderly manner. Anything that threatens this structure is a direct threat to the ruling class.

“An end to state discrimination against same-sex couples threatens the ability of the ruling class to sow divisions,” said Dowell. But, she added, “We will not be divided.”

She also reminded those gathered that capitalism—like feudalism and slavery before it—will not last forever, a fact that the ruling class tries to mask. Dowell explained that if a timeline of the history of humanity was a yardstick, patriarchy would cover less than an inch. She pointed out that the long history of pre-class, communal societies did not end until human labor became so productive that wealth began to accumulate.

Dowell said it is necessary for the women’s and LGBT struggles to refute the lies and proclaim the right to equality, acceptance and self-determination. “The system of capitalism is untenable,” she asserted. “We need an independent movement that fights for all of our rights.”

She emphasized that Massachusetts is at the forefront of the fight for equal marriage rights. There are more than 2,000 marriage benefits not paid to same-sex couples, Dowell said, and these benefits should be available to all.

She pointed toward another struggle against LGBT discrimination at the hands of the state: the military. She said it’s a complex subject, but that struggle against Pentagon discrimination and at the same time against U.S. wars are not incompatible. Both, said Dowell, are necessary to expose the nature of the capitalist military.

She also related her experiences in counter-recruiting as a representative of FIST. She said she reminds young people that even though there is no formal draft at present, there is already a very real poverty draft operating, driven by the military-industrial complex. Also, a formal draft can be fully operational within 90 days of the president’s approval.

Dowell said that young people need to kick the recruiters out of their schools. Apparently, efforts of this sort are having an effect: Recruiting numbers are down for all the armed services, despite the fact that schools are at the mercy of a state that wants youth for cannon fodder.

Dowell reported that FIST and the group “No Draft, No Way” are producing a “Guide to Counter-Recruiting and Draft Resistance.” This will be a primer that covers how to organize in a school setting, fighting discrimination in the military, and other important information—in an easy-to-carry pocket size. It should be out in time for the upcoming school year.

Fighting HIV/AIDS and capitalism

Mia Campbell from “Politicin’ with the Sisters” also spoke at the June 4 meeting, about HIV/AIDS. She explained that the LGBT and Haitian communities were instrumental in getting the public to realize that HIV/AIDS is a threat to everyone. Also, she said, women were often misdiagnosed, which resulted in higher death rates. They had to fight for research to determine how HIV/AIDS manifests itself in women specifically, and for treatment.

Campbell also discussed how imperialism undermines efforts to combat AIDS in impoverished countries, using aid money as a political lever against oppressed nations. She specifically mentioned the case of Uganda, which had a comprehensive program to combat HIV/AIDS.

Uganda provided proper sex education, distributed condoms to all sections of society and, even with meager resources, managed to lower infection rates.

The United States, however, takes a far different approach. In order for a nation to receive aid, it must teach abstinence. It must not distribute condoms or give proper education to sex workers. And the aid comes with stipulations against treatment of LGBT people or education about same-sex love.

“We have to have a unified front to fight HIV/AIDS,” concluded Campbell.

Gerry Scoppettuolo, a member of the Boston branch of WWP, talked about how for gay and lesbian people, “our love is a natural, objective reality.”

He added: “Often, we are also rejected by friends and family. This estrangement has a price. Our suicide, alcohol- and drug-abuse rates are three to five times higher than that of the rest of the population.

“Still, our love helps us to survive and to fight back. ...

“What distinguishes WWP is our dedication to end all oppression, including its source. Socialism is the only realistic ans wer to capitalism,” Scoppettuolo concluded.