Manchester, N.H., protest slams racist, anti-gay
newspaper
By Gerry Scoppettuolo
Manchester, N.H.
Stonewall Warriors, ANSWER (the Act Now to Stop War and End
Racism coalition) and their partners in the Sept. 14 Coalition
brought a strong, statewide rally to Manchester, N.H., on Sept
14. Many communities were represented. All were there to show
outrage at the Manchester Union-Leader newspaper, the biggest
circulation daily in the state.
On July 9 the paper had published a racist and
anti-lesbian/gay/bi/trans editorial that endorsed quarantining
gay men with AIDS and implied that rising rates of infection
among women were not a real threat because they mostly affected
African American women.
In a stirring display of unity, speaker after speaker
denounced the newspaper. Alberta, a 51-year-old African
American grandmother with AIDS, moved the crowd when she
declared: "They want my son to go fight in their war in Iraq,
when they aren't even taking care of me at home. Mr. Bush
better listen to us. I wish I could meet him face to face and
tell him what I think of him."
Hank Gagnon of Living With HIV, a gay Vietnam Veteran and
grandfather, said: "We are here to speak truth. The Ryan White
Care Act is going to be level-funded by Bush this coming year.
All this money is going into the war effort and that's
wrong!"
Marta Roderiguez, a longtime fighter for Puerto Rican
liberation, opened the rally at Veteran's Park with her moving
and satirical anti-war songs. Other speakers included Wanda
Diaz, N.H. Minority Health Coalition; Frank Neisser, Stonewall
Warriors and ANSWER in Boston; the Rev. Tim Leighton, United
Church of Christ in Hudson, N.H.; Sean Donohue, co-director of
N.H. Peace Response; and Gerry Scoppettuolo, Gay Men Fight AIDS
in Portsmouth, N.H.
Protesters responded positively to calls for the October 26
March on Washington to Stop the War. Speakers pointed out that
the Bush/Cheney/Powell cabal want to divert hundreds of
billions of dollars to bomb people in the Middle East, from
Iraq to Palestine. At the same time thousands of people with
AIDS in the U.S. languish on waiting lists for the AIDS Drug
Assistance Program because they can't afford life-sustaining
antiviral medications.
This year Bush and Congress are offering $200 million to the
United Nation's global AIDS effort--less than the cost of one
Stealth Bomber, and just 5 percent of the Global AIDS
Appropriation requested by the UN.
Reprinted from the Sept. 26, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
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