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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 1995)
just out ▼ soptom bor 19. I M S ▼ 9 world news IS YOUR PET PART OF THE FAMILY? Tender, loving care for the furry and feathered members of your family! Action in Chinn The lesbian contingent at the U.N. women’s conference held a march staged demonstrations and had their literature confiscated by Chinese authorities , ▼ by Rex Wockner undreds of lesbians from 57 coun tries staged a march through the site of the Non-Governmental Organi zations Forum on W omen in Huairou, China, Sept. 5. They were tailed by hundreds of reporters and by amused Chinese security agents, who did not interfere. Three days earlier, security officers con fiscated Chinese-language literature from the Forum’s lesbian tent. Chanting in English, French, Spanish and Zulu, the marchers passed by regional tents before con verging on a tent occupied by Arab and African Muslim women. There they sang, danced, pounded drums and chanted “Lesbian rights are human rights” and “Liberté, égalité, homosexualité,” a popular slo gan among French lesbi ans and gay men. Afaf Ahmed of the In ternational Organization of Moslem Women re sponded: “They are sick.... If they think this is the way for living, hu manity will stop.” Co-organizer Rachel Rosenbloom called the march “an incredible ad vance for us.” “People have come to the [lesbian] tent and have seen us, but today everybody saw us,” she said. “Everybody heard what we had to say.” More than 25,000 women attended the NGO Forum. On Sept. 2, lesbian delegates had formed a security team to guard their tent after Chinese officiais took away lesbian literature, said Julie Dorf of the San Francisco-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. “We will not be silent,” Dorf told a packed press conference at the tent. Bev Diski of South Africa’s Gay and Lesbian Organization of Witwatersrand told reporters the Western lesbians were “networking with Chinese lesbians.. .to share information and strengthen the Chinese lesbian movement here.” Thai lesbian activist Aijana Suvamananda added, “I can tell you lesbians are everywhere, including in China.” In fact, virtually nothing is known in the West of Chinese lesbians. The lesbian NGO contingent presented its de mands to the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women, which ran through Sept. 15 in Beijing. “We demand the right to determine one ’ s sexual identity; the right to control one’s own body, particularly in establishing intimate relationships; the right to choose if, when and with whom to bear or raise children; as fundamental components of H the human rights of all women, regardless of sexual orientation,” the document read. Eleven lesbian or gay and lesbian organiza tions were accredited for the main conference, where they intended to lobby for lesbian-affirma tive language in the confab’s final “Platform for Action.” At press time, references to “sexual ori entation” remained bracketed in drafts of the docu ment, meaning some nations wanted to see the references removed. The governments of Nor way, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, South Africa, Israel, Canada and Australia inserted the language. On Saturday, Sept. 9,30 lesbian activists staged a demonstration with signs and a banner proclaim ing “Lesbian rights are human rights” at the main conference site. Bonnie Tinker, the executive di rector of Love Makes A Family, based in Port land, Ore., had a sign ripped from her hands by a plain-clothes security guard and another guard confiscated a banner while Tinker and other demonstrators were hold ing it, according to an ar ticle in The Oregonian. The demonstration was effectively squashed by security guards. The dem onstrators were callin g for the U.N.’s “Platform for Ac tion” to include language protecting lesbians. Another force at the ” NGO Forum was the U.S.-based Dyke TV. “W e’re making an hour-long video...which we hope to distribute widely and at low cost,” the crew said on their Internet World Wide Web site, which offered daily press releases. Chinese media coverage of the lesbian inva sion tended toward the sensational, focusing on the possibility of “topless” protests. Newspapers said security agents would throw sheets over dykes who disrobed. “Newspapers in China and elsewhere focused on the lesbian issue in a negative way,” said Rebeca Sevilla of Peru, the International Lesbian and Gay Association’s delegate to the World Con ference. “Lesbian information in Chinese was removed from the tent. The European/North Ameri can tent did not want to announce a lesbian work shop. “But,” Sevilla said, “the Cyprus tent invited all the lesbian caucus to join their party. And young Chinese volunteers were interviewed and said they knew from The Hite Report that homosexu ality exists, that they had learned a lot from the lesbian tent, that lesbians are humans and that repression is not a solution.” “We demand the right to determine one ys sexual identity; the right to control one’s own body, particularly in establishing intimate relationships; the right to choose if, when and with whom to bear or raise children; as fundamental components of the human rights o f all women, regard less o f sexual orientation. September lias five Fridays, so just out: gets a week off. Our next issue is Oct. 6. Dr. Patricia E. Huff, D.V.M . and Associates 2 5 1 9 E. BURNSIDE, PORTLAND CALL 233-5001 "Servirr/j Our Co/n/niwifi/ ... f t if Alccfinsj Your N ccft FREE Air to Hawaii plus FREE CAR!!! 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