Valentine's Day protest in Chicago
'Equal rights for same-sex love!'
By Bill Massey
Chicago
Valentine's Day has historically been associated with love,
and also with marriage. At noon on Feb. 14, some 100 supporters
of the Chicago Anti-Bashing Network gathered outside the City
Hall/County Building here. Many heterosexual couples come to
City Hall to get a marriage license or get married. CABN led a
protest to demand the same rights for same-sex couples.
CABN is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
organization that formed in response to attacks on members of
those communities. It has a proud record of opposition to
racism and is a leading force in Chicago's growing movement to
defend civil liberties and oppose the U.S. government's war
abroad. The group takes a stand against the racist disappearing
of Arabs, Muslims and South Asian people. And it demands money
for people's needs, not for war.
Members of the CABN Players provided imaginative theatre to
start the protest off. First, a white stretch limo pulled up to
City Hall. Two seemingly "traditional" man-woman couples exited
to the greetings of a "Jerry Falwell" type who extolled
capitalist society's bigoted values--that is, until the couples
rearranged themselves into two same-sex couples.
This drove "Falwell" into a state of hate. He was physically
removed and replaced by the Rev. Karen L. Hutt, an African
American minister from the Open Door Center for Community
Change.
Hutt affirmed that same-sex couples should have the same
full rights as heterosexuals. She stated, to the applause of
the large crowd of onlookers, that the government--local, state
and federal--should not allow the religious beliefs of some to
dictate the civil rights of others.
Protesters then marched inside City Hall, chanting that
lesbian and gay marriage "is our right!" The demonstration
wound up with a rally in front of the Marriage License
Bureau.
'Equal rights, now!'
Speakers at the rally included Bob Schwartz of CABN. He
spoke about Carla Grayson, Adrianne Neff and their 22-month-old
son, who were recently burned out of their home in Missoula,
Mont., after they became lead plaintiffs in a discrimination
suit against the state university system demanding equal
domestic partner benefits.
The lesbian couple had joined several other couples and
Pride Montana in an American Civil Liberties Union suit
charging the university system violated the state constitution
by denying domestic partnership benefits to lesbian and gay
employees. The defendants include the university system, the
state, the commissioner of higher education and the Board of
Regents.
The couple and their son survived the arson attack.
Neighbors and other townspeople rallied to their defense. More
than 700 people turned out at a rally to offer solidarity and
denounce the attempted murders by person or persons still at
large. CABN took up a collection at the Feb. 14 protest to send
to the family.
CABN speakers also delivered a set of demands:
* Full health benefits for same-sex couples and their
families. This should include equal access to employee health
care and an end to the discriminatory practice of making
same-sex couples pay out-of-pocket for care that is covered for
heterosexual couples.
* Visitation rights when a partner is hospitalized and the
right to be consulted in medical decisions when a partner is
unconscious.
* Equal immigration rights for partners who are citizens of
another country. Couples are forcibly broken up if one of the
partners is not a U.S. citizen because immigration law in this
country refuses to respect lesbian and gay relationships.
* Adoption and foster parent rights. Adoption laws and
foster parenting policies openly discriminate against gays and
lesbians. And same-sex couples are subject to the whims of a
bigoted judiciary.
* Social Security and pension survivors' benefits. Same-sex
partners--particularly the elderly--are potentially left
destitute if their partner dies or is disabled. Social Security
and pension survivors' benefits are denied. Discriminatory
inheritance laws also mean that, without a will, heterosexual
relatives who might have hated their lesbian or gay relatives
could grab their property after they die, while the surviving
lesbian or gay partner is left penniless.
Reprinted from the Feb. 28, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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