NEW YORK
'Fight for socialism & LGBT liberation'
By Minnie Bruce Pratt
New York
John Parker, Teresa Gutierrez and LeiLani Dowell led a
dynamic Workers World Party contingent in New York City's
annual Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans Pride March on June 27. Parker
and Gutierrez are WWP's candidates for president and vice
president of the United States. Dowell is a Workers World Party
member running on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket for
Congress in the 8th District of California, which includes San
Francisco.
Organizers estimate that 1.5 million people marched the long
route from the Upper East Side into Greenwich Village and down
Christopher Street, past the site of the Stonewall Rebellion
that ignited the modern U.S. lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender liberation movements in 1969. This year's
celebration marked the 35th anniversary of the night that gay
and lesbian combatants, including transgender African American,
Latina and white homeless youths, fought back against police
brutality during a raid on the Stonewall Bar.
Behind a Workers World banner with their names and the call
to "Fight for Socialism and LGBT Liberation," the candidates
advanced through streets lined with tens of thousands of
spectators. They were met with enthusiastic applause, cheers,
and whistles of approval along the early route, and with huge
roars of excitement as they entered the Village.
Parker was the only presidential candidate to march in the
parade. In a statement of solidarity to the march, the
candidates said: "We are longtime fighters in the struggle for
LGBT liberation--two of us as lesbians, and the other as an
ally who has fought together, shoulder to shoulder with LGBT
people for his entire political life. We are also workers,
people of color, supporters of the labor movement, anti-war and
anti-imperialist activists."
The candidates praised the hard-won victories of the last
year: the U.S. Supreme Court's Lawrence decision
decriminalizing lesbian and gay lives, and the Mas sachusetts
Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage.
And they laid out their vision for a socialist future: "We
want more than the lifting of legal penalties and social
stigmas. We want a future where LGBT people and all people have
free health care and free education, free day care and elder
care, affordable housing and jobs--and vacations! We want a
society with equality for all--socialism."
No pride in war
Marchers in Workers World's con tingent carried signs
demanding same-sex marriage rights and an end to violence
against LGBT people, as well as an end to U.S. imperialist wars
and freedom for political prisoners like Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Marchers chanted, "U.S. out of our bedrooms! U.S. out of
Iraq!" and, "Money for AIDS, not for war, same-sex marriage is
what we're for!" One WWP banner featured a rainbow flag and the
call to "Unite to Fight for Liberation." Other groups marching
with the contingent included the International Action Center
and the People's Video Network.
Behind the steel barricades along the streets, onlooker
Natasha McHugh said: "I definitely believe an anti-war group
belongs at Pride. The U.S. does not need to be at war. There
are a lot of issues in this country that need to be fixed. But
the war is about U.S. interests in that region." McHugh, from
Puerto Rico, said, "I am the straight daughter of a lesbian
mother, here to stand up for her today."
LeiLani Dowell stressed the candidates' connections to LGBT
issues: "We're celebrating Pride 2004 as born from a movement
of struggle, and we're here to continue that struggle. The
capitalist candidates are not here. They are against same-sex
marriage. And they have said nothing about the violence against
LGBT people. We are here to stop that violence, to stop police
brutality, and to honor the lives of those who have died in the
struggle."
Voting for the struggle
Leading the march were the Veterans of Stonewall, together
with longtime acti vists. As always, the broad range of
organizations in the march showed how the LGBT liberation
struggle has expanded into a mass movement. Just a few of the
hundreds of groups participating were the African Ancestral
Lesbians, Gay Asian Pacific Island Men of New York, the Brazi
lian Rainbow Group, Latino Gay Men of New York, the Minority
Task Force on AIDS, the Butch/Femme Society, and the Lesbian
Herstory Archives.
In this year's march, political organizations, usually
placed far back in the line, were moved to third in the order.
At the head was a large "Kerry for President" Demo cratic
group. Other people wore stick ers picturing a dead elephant,
expres sing opposition to the Republican National Convention,
coming to New York City in late August.
But the waves of applause and cheers that greeted Parker and
Gutierrez revealed that people were hungry for struggle in a
year dominated by Bush and Kerry's capitalist election
politics.
All along the line of march, the candidates worked the
mikes, introducing themselves, explaining the purpose of their
socialist election campaign, and calling on the people to "join
us," as presidential candidate John Parker called out.
It amounted to a miles-long rally as the WWP contingent drew
waves of cheers and applause from the crowds lining the
streets. Excitement built as the thousands greeted Parker,
Gutierrez and Dowell and their message of struggle.
Parker said: "We represent the working people, not the
Halliburtons, the Enrons, the big companies. Where is the money
going in this country? For the war on Iraq! The people need
that money to get what we all need. And we in Workers World are
here in the struggle for health care, against AIDS, and to stop
this war. Bush won't stop this war, Kerry won't stop this war.
Only the movement can stop the war."
As the marchers turned into Chris topher Street,
vice-presidential candidate Teresa Gutierrez appealed to the
thick crowds, mostly young people of color: "Every four years,
some rich white man wants to take your vote, so he can take
your sisters and brothers and send them to war. It's time that
someone who looks like me, and who looks like you, is president
and vice president. Bush and Kerry are for the war. They don't
care about unemployment, the environment, LGBT rights or
women's rights.
"Our ticket is a Black man and a Latina lesbian. Don't you
think it's time that people who work for a living run this
country?"
Onlookers greeted her remarks with uproarious applause,
shouts and raised fists. Kema Mack, a 26-year-old African
American lesbian from Harlem who was attending the march with a
group of friends, called out: "She's telling the truth! She's
telling what's really going on in this country!"
Gutierrez continued: "If we were elected one of the first
things we would do is make same-sex marriage legal! I'm a
Latina lesbian and I don't want to wait one more day for this
basic right. Vote with your heads and your hearts, and support
us as candidates who believe it's time for a revolutionary
movement in this country. We're not saying we're going to run
so we can win. But if we can win you to the struggle, then we
have won."
Reprinted from the July 8, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
Commons License.
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