BUFFALO WOMEN SAY:
'Boot the bigots out!'
By Ellie
Dorritie
Buffalo, N.Y.
"The bigots from the so-called Operation Save America are
going to be defeated once again," Buffalo United for Choice '99
organizer Barb Neth told Workers World. "We are closing ranks
here in Buffalo. Now is when we get to show the world our
unity."
Buffalo United for Choice '99 has been preparing for a
right-wing siege threatened for the week of April 18. The new
BUC '99 coalition is not only mobilizing to ensure access to
clinics that provide abortions. It is also mobilizing against
racism, sexism, anti-Semitism and bigotry against lesbian, gay,
bi and trans people.
A rally on April 17 will focus on the climate of unity that
the pro-choice community is determined to create: a climate
hostile to bigotry, hate, and the brutality and violence they
spawn.
"We are determined. We are organized. And we are strong. We
will keep the clinics open," said Darcy France, clinic defense
organizer for the coalition. "But we're closing the door on
these bigots. We want everyone to know who the right wing is.
Their program has nothing to do with saving babies or women, no
matter what they claim."
Neth explained: "They're linked to the white-supremacist
militias, the KKK, the racist and anti-gay killers, the bombers
of bars and burners of churches. Since the murder of Dr.
Barnett Slepian here in Amherst, many people have come to see
that connection."
In the April issue of VOICES, the publication of AIDS
Community Services of WNY, Marge Maloney urges: "We need to
form alliances with all progressive groups and people, which
scares the daylights out of these cowardly bigots. ... Unity
can send these thugs home fast and create an atmosphere where
intolerance, bigotry and violence are forever eliminated."
Maloney serves on the Gay and Lesbian Spring '99 Action
Committee of Western New York, part of the BUC '99 coalition.
The Action Committee has been energetically mobilizing groups,
individuals and publications in building unity and community
strength in preparation for the OSA assault.
Alliance with gay youths
Part of the Action Committee's work is training Rainbow
Peacekeepers. They will be assigned to gay and lesbian
businesses, events and activities during the week of April 18
to make sure that people can come and go safely. Everyone has
been welcomed to participate.
In the Action Committee's call, BUC '99 organizer Carol
Speser described events as "affirming, positive, empowering
ways for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered
people--especially youth--to respond to so-called Operation
Save America's agenda." She said that, besides trying to
obstruct women's health service providers, the bigots target
youths outside schools, picket major chain bookstores, and
picket bars and other gay-friendly spaces.
The organizing against Operation Save America in Buffalo
reflects a growing consciousness of the need for women's
organizations to make strong allies in the fight against
injustice.
For many years, the women's movement has been held back by a
prolonged period of reaction and what has been called
"backlash." During this time, most women's groups have felt
isolated. Many young women have grown up without a sense that a
real women's movement exists.
Now the current coalition in Buffalo is finding much
enthusiasm for unity based on opposition to the broader
right-wing agenda, rather than on a program limited to
defending abortion rights.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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