Week of Mobilizing
Gay movement pushes for legal equality
By
Shelley Ettinger
People around the country took part in more than 350 events
the week of March 21, in what the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force characterized as "the largest grassroots mobilizations in
the history of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
movement."
The week of coordinated activities to demand full rights was
dubbed "Equality Begins at Home." Organizers tailored actions
state by state. Local activists shaped each program based on
what they deemed the most pressing demands.
In Maryland, for example, attention was focused on the push
to add sexual orientation to the protected categories in the
state's civil-rights law. The House of Delegates passed such a
measure on March 24. The bill is now before the Maryland
Senate.
Events in several other states also highlighted the demand
for laws banning discrimination against lesbians, gay men,
bisexuals and transgender people. Hundreds rallied angrily in
Springfield, Ill., where the state legislature had just
defeated a gay-rights bill by one vote. In Harrisburg, Pa., 500
demonstrated inside the State Capitol.
In Arizona, participants delivered petitions demanding equal
rights and repeal of the state's "sodomy" law to legislators.
The State Capitol in Raleigh, N.C., saw its first-ever
lesbian/gay/bi/trans rally. Demonstrators demanded repeal of
the "sodomy" law and passage of hate-crimes legislation to make
anti-gay violence a crime.
Many of the Equality Begins at Home actions included the
demand for hate-crimes laws. In the wake of the Matthew Shepard
murder last October, many people hope such laws will discourage
"hate-based" violence.
Others say the best way to beat back the bashers is to build
a strong, united movement against police brutality and all
racist, anti-gay and anti-trans violence. These activists
include those organizing the Rainbow Flags for Mumia
contingents set for the April 24 demonstrations in Philadelphia
and San Francisco.
They link the New York police slaying of Amadou Diallo and
the KKK-style lynching of James Byrd Jr. with the killings of
Matthew Shepard, Billy Jack Gaither, Rita Hester and other gay
and trans people. All this violence, they say, is not just
about "hate."Rather, it serves the agenda of political
reaction, which is to divide and weaken all the movements
fighting for justice and equality.
On March 15, there had been news about another bastion of
racist and anti-gay reaction: the Pentagon. The Servicemembers
Legal Defense Network published "Conduct Unbecoming: the Fifth
Annual Report on `Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue.'"
The report documents how anti-gay harassment in the military
has more than doubled since a year ago. More service members
are being discharged for homosexuality. The proportion of women
among the total discharged for homosexuality--27 percent--is
now double the proportion of women in the armed forces.
According to the SDLN report, anti-gay discharges "have
increased 86 percent over the past five years."
"Don't Ask Don't Tell" was President Bill Clinton's 1993
creation. It has made life in the military--already hellish for
lesbian, gay, bi and trans servicepeople--even worse. Then, in
1996, Clinton signed the vicious "Defense of Marriage" Act
barring federal recognition of same-sex marriage should any
state extend that right.
One of the key Equality Begins at Home demands in many
states was the repeal of DOMA-type state laws. In others,
including New York, people mobilized to defeat pending DOMA
legislation.
This article is copyright under a Creative
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