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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1985)
US fundamentalists fund New Zealand anti-gay cam paign O n March 8,1985, the Homosexual Law Reform Bill was introduced into the New Zea land PariiamenL This bill would decriminalize homosexuality and indude sexual orientation in the N Z Human Rights Act to give basic protection in areas o f housing, em ploym ent and access to goods and services for les bians and gay men. Currently gay men are subject to seven years imprisonment for anal intercourse, and there is no human rights protection for gay men and lesbians. Th e Law Reform Bill which was introduced by Labor Party m em ber o f Parliament Fran W ilde is subject to a “conscience vote,” not a party vote. On its first reading (three readings are necessary for passage) the bill passed with a large majority. It is presently before a Parliamentary Select Com m ittee which is hearing submissions both for and against the BUL This com m ittee will report back to Parlia ment, either recom m ending that the BUI pro ceed unamended or with a recommendation for amendments. The bill wUI then return to Parliament for a second and third reading. Th e Gay Task Force o f N Z and a number o f other lesbian and gay groups have been preparing for the introduction o f the bUI for som e time. Public opinion surveys indicated that reform would receive widespread sup p o rt Gay and lesbian grou p» have been poli tically active in N Z since the early 1970s. T o the surprise o f the lesbian and gay com munity, a well organized and financed attack against the BUI was launched by four MPs and by right wing religious group». A petition op- posing the Bill is being taken door to door throughout N Z by the Salvation Army (the N Z branch ofth e organization which in New York G ty has refused to com ply with NYC Executive Order 50 which requires group» or businesses doing business with the dty to sign a non-discrimination statement regard ing sexual orientation), supjported by the Re form ed Church, the Assem bly o f G od and other fundamentalist sects. This petition is also being taken to work places, schools, hospitals and hom es for the aged with peti tion stands being set up in shopping centers and other public places. The petition cam paign has so for gathered 750,000 signatures and aim s for one million. N Z has a popxria tion o f three million. Many people including gays and lesbians have been pressured into signing the petition in workplaces for fear o f losing their jobs, and 60% o f the students at a teachers training college signed under the threat o f being con sidered unsuitable as teachers if they did not A clim ate o f hom ophobia is being created which is intimidating people who are called “ anti-petition.” The religious right is also running full page ads throughout N Z in newspapers and m agazines which carry headlines such as “ D on’t legalize the spread o f AIDS” or "W e’ve had enough — this bill is an attack on family life.” Literature is also being printed, most of it CIS.-sourced, with misinformation about AIDS, lies about the lesbian and gay com munities in the (IS ., and quotes from people such as Judge Murtagh and Dr. Paul Cam eron. Further, hundreds o f anti-lesbian and gay rallies and meetings have been held featuring cam paigners such as Pastor Richard Flinn who is calling for the death sentence for gays and lesbians, and Keith Hay who is demand ing quarantine on a waterless volcanic atolL Th e petition, the ads, the literature and the m eetings are costing huge sums o f money which the right in N Z does not have. The Gay Task Force o f N Z does not believe that this cam paign is being funded from within. "W e think,” said Alison J. Laurie, spokes person for the Gay Task Force o f N Z , “that this cam paign is being financed and organ ized by (IS . fundamentalist group» including the Salvation Army. Ap»art from the use of Am erican material, the sums o f money in volved and the style o f the campaign bear all the hallmarks o f the (IS . moral imperialism.” “ Furthermore,” she said, “ it is hardly coinci dental that this campaign was started so soon after N Z ’s implementation o f our anti nuclear policy which forbids G.S. naval ves sels carrying nuclear weapons access to our ports. This decision is said to have placed the ANZCIS Treaty (mutual defense treaty be tween N Z , Australia and the (IS .) in jeopardy, and (IS . Secretary o f State Schultz stated, ‘New Zealand has weakened regional stability.' ” The policy o f N Z is considered very dangerous by the G.S. government as it sets a precedent which may be followed by several NATO member nations including Holland, Denmark and Norway. “ Is the (IS . religious right attempting to destabilize the N Z government by scape goating gays and lesbians?” asks Laurie who noted that N Z Prime Minister David Lange, a N obel Peace Prize nominee, debated Jerry Falwell at Oxford on the issue o f nuclear p>olicy. (Lange won) “Could such a campaign have received the approval and covert support o f the (IS . government?” con tinued Laurie. T h e accumulating evidence and the record o f (IS . interventions around the world lead to the conclusion that the involvement o f the (IS . governm ent in this matter is notout o f the question," concludes Leslie Cagan, Program Coordinator o f the Mobilizaton for Survival BWMT convention sparkles by Morgan Pirmey John Bush, a black professor from Boston, was re-elected co-chair o f the Na tional Association o f Black and White Men Together at its fifth annual convention in Los Angeles, July 20. He em phasized a platform o f renewed militancy for the organization. Tim Wilson, o f Denver, re-elected as the white co-chair, said that several m em ber chapters are now positioned for direct action after extensive documentation o f racial dis- criminaton at gay bars in their cities. Seventy-five year old veteran black civil rights activist Bayard Rustin told the delegates that gay rights is the m ost difficult struggle o f all because it is labelled anti-God, anti-family, and anti-children. “ N o other civil rights m ovem ent faces such heavily em o tional charges from its enemies,” he said. Rustin, whom Bush described as a role model for black gay youth, emphasized the need for hom osexuals to build coalitions with other minorities — and with the vast wave o f work ers displaced by "an econom ic system which must be re-ordered to provide jobs for all." THE FEMINISM LIVES 227-1234 L?' /\ PROMPT COURTEOUS SAFE Legs as soft and smooth □s the day you were bom. 50 YEARS • Parcel Pick-up & Delivery vou T ant • Jumper Jumnpr Pahla Cable Çarui/'o Service • W h e e lc h a ir/H a n d ic a p p e d Transportation . 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