'Boot 'em out of Buffalo--again!'
Coalition challenges anti-abortion campaign
By Ellie
Dorritie
Buffalo, N.Y.
Progressives in Buffalo are in full-scale mobilization. They
are responding to the threat of a right-wing siege here during
the week of April 18. A new coalition, Buffalo United for
Choice '99, has formed to meet the challenge.
BUC '99 has created unprecedented unity based on its goal:
ensuring access to clinics that provide abortions. It is also
mobilizing against racism, sexism, anti-Semitism and bigotry
against lesbian, gay, bi and trans people.
BUC '99 held its Mobilization Kickoff on March 13. Work has
begun on events planned for the week of April 18 and the period
leading up to it. A national rally is scheduled here on the
17th.
The coalition announced its formation at a March 10 news
conference. Speakers talked about the events that led to its
origin.
In October, Dr. Barnett Slepian was assassinated. He was the
area's last provider of abortions for Medicaid patients.
Reeling with anger and grief at the murder of this beloved
physician, the pro-choice community came together in a show of
strength and determination at a downtown rally held one week
after his death.
On the same day, a trio of bigots appeared in front of the
murdered doctor's office. They announced a planned reunion of
those on the right who had tried to assault Buffalo women's
clinics in April 1992 in the misnamed "Operation Rescue." This
time, they are calling their reactionary offensive "Operation
Save America."
"We know who they are, and we know how to stop them,"
declared many of the pro-choice forces who had booted Operation
Rescue out of Buffalo in 1992.
And they began to plan their response.
`From Jasper to Laramie
to Buffalo'
From the start, leaders and supporters of BUC '99 drew the
connection between the murder of Dr. Slepian in Western New
York, the racist lynching of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, Texas,
and the anti-gay lynching of Matthew Shepard in Laramie,
Wyo.
They pointed the finger of blame for violence at the right
wing's ideology of racism, sexism and anti-gay bigotry.
Buffalo United for Choice '99 spokes person Sharon Fawley
made this clear when she told the news conference that the
coalition is "planning activities through out the week of April
18 that will highlight our pride in the diversity of our
community and provide a safe, positive response for everyone
who is angered by the blatant threats of coercion, intimidation
and violence."
Fawley, past president of New York State NOW, was one of the
coordinators of the previous coalition--Buffalo United for
Choice-- in 1992. That coalition had organized clinic defense
and stopped the nationally orchestrated "Operation Rescue"
assault.
Together with thousands of determined defenders of a woman's
right to choose--hundreds of whom had traveled to Buffalo from
all over the country--BUC prevented the right wing from closing
a single Western New York clinic.
That win has helped develop a sense of confidence and trust
between activists. Today, even more organizers are uniting to
defend the clinics. The BUC '99 coalition has gained experience
from the 1992 victory. In addition, BUC '99 has great strength
because its issues and its membership include all the groups
targeted by the right wing.
This broad diversity was reflected at the Mobilization
Kickoff by the speakers as well as the composition of the
workshops.
Speakers included Tina Banchero, a youth educator
representing Planned Parenthood of Buffalo; a member of the
national organization Medical Students for Choice, whose name
is not being printed for her protection; Erica Williamson, a
young African American community organizer for the April 24th
Coalition to Free Mumia; and Marge Maloney, a long-time
activist who represented the Gay and Lesbian Spring '99 Action
Committee of Western New York.
Other speakers included Carolyn Taggart and Darcy France,
two organizers of the 1992 clinic defense; Barb Neth of the BUC
'99 steering committee and the National People's Campaign;
Linda Shamrock, vice-president of Buffalo NOW; and Helen Dalley
of the Pro-Choice Network.
Also represented were other endorsers of the coalition:
Buffalo Womenservices, Concerned Citizens Against Police Abuse,
Empire Pride Agenda, Jewish Gay and Lesbian Mishpachah, UB
Coalition for Peace in April, Workers World Party and YWCA of
Buffalo.
Workshops on clinic-defense training and countering racism
and violence were both enthusiastically well attended.
For updated information on planned events call BUC '99 Hot
Line at (716) 857-2001. Donations can be sent to Buffalo United
for Choice '99, PO Box 871, Buffalo, NY 14226.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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