NEW YORK CITY
WW editor speaks at Pride rally
Speakers at this year's New York City Pride rally
included Dr. Carolyn Goodman, a social justice activist whose
son Andrew was one of three civil rights workers murdered by
the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi in 1964, and a gay firefighter
who pointed out that if he were killed in the line of duty his
partner would not receive spousal benefits. The
following excerpts from the talk given by Leslie Feinberg, a
managing editor of Workers World newspaper, were well received
by the Pride audience.
I want to thank Pride rally organizers for inviting me to
this stage, not just as a transgender lesbian, but as a
socialist, as a revolutionary. It was a brave decision for them
to make during a reactionary climate in this country, and an
important decision.
Whenever our movement finds itself in a new political
period, we have to discuss: Which way forward? So a rally like
this one is really a giant town meeting. What demands do we put
forward? Who is blocking our path and menacing us; who are our
allies?
We are a mass movement now, with many currents. We embrace a
vast segment of the population, including many nationalities,
economic classes, sexes, genders and desires; many religions as
well as non-believers. So, divergent political beliefs march
under the lesbian, gay, bi and trans movement banners.
I don't think anyone would disagree that we are in a changed
political period following Sept. 11. Perhaps nowhere is that
felt more acutely than here in New York. President Bush says
the solution to the Sept. 11 attacks is his "endless war." And
secret roundups of unknown numbers of Arab, South Asian and
Muslim people in the U.S., being held indefinitely without
charges--in many cases, incommunicado. And, John Ashcroft and
the FBI tell us, expect that all of our civil liberties may be
trampled for the sake of "safety."
But are bombs and racist repression the answer? Or will they
just make the situation worse? And is "peace" really what this
endless war is all about?
We won't all agree on how to respond to this new political
situation. But at a time when Bush has declared that anyone who
dissents and speaks up is a "terrorist," the health and
vitality of our struggle depends on every current in our
movement defending our left wing and its right to speak
out.
We have to put war, racism and attacks on civil liberties on
our movement agenda.
When World War I broke out, leaders of the German gay and
trans movement backed their own rulers in that bloody
inter-imperialist war and it derailed their struggle. Why?
Because it emboldened the most conservative, reactionary
currents; demoralized and isolated the most progressive. The
movement gave its proxy to the same reactionary rulers who
oppressed its ranks.
In the U.S., the 1950s anti-communist witch-hunts generated
an overall climate of fear and deepened anti-gay witch-hunts.
Eventually, this iron-fisted repression provoked a left-wing
upsurge that led to the Stonewall Rebellion.
After police violence ignited the 1969 uprising, the left
wing of the gay liberation movement stood up for the Vietnamese
against the Pentagon war. We fought Cointelpro--movement
sabotage by the FBI--of which we were a target. We defended the
Black Panthers, Young Lords, Chicano and American Indian
Movement and women's liberation movement from murderous state
attacks.
This expression of unity won tremendous respect and
solidarity with our movement from struggling peoples here and
around the world.
That is why today I am so proud to see growing ranks of
lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans activists help lead the
anti-Pentagon war movement, struggling to stop the racist mass
detentions of Arab, South Asian and Muslim people, and
demonstrating solidarity with Palestinian liberation.
Join me and many others when we protest at FBI headquarters
in Washington, D.C., on June 29 to say: "Hell no, we don't want
your Cointelpro!"
When we stand up and fight state repression, racism and war,
we are the spirit of the Stonewall Uprising.
Long live the spirit of Stonewall combatants Sylvia Rivera
and Marsha P. Johnson!
Long live the spirit of Stonewall!
Reprinted from the July 4, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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Email: ww@workers.org
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