Just out., April 18, 2003, Page 26, Image 26

hat exactly does
sexual oriental
tion have to do
with war?
Nothing, really,
except that it does lend itself
to some amusing innuendoes.
(Insert your favorite rocket
launcher and/or “Lick Bush”
joke here.)
Seriously, though, it stands
to reason that the gay rights
movement has crossed paths
with the peace movement.
Both are concerned with
achieving justice for all,
whether you’re a queer student
killed in a Midwest hate crime
or an Iraqi mother killed in a
Mideast war crime.
According to a nationwide survey conduct­
ed in February, only 31 percent of sexual
minority adults have confidence that the
White House will “make the right decisions”
regarding the use of U .S. troops in Iraq. (Het-
ero support was twice that amount.) More than
two-thirds of queer respondents believe Presi­
dent Bush prefers a war rather than trying to
achieve his main goals without a military
attack. (Barely half o f the straight folks felt the
same way.)
Last month the Am erican Friends Service
Com m ittee and N ational Youth Advocacy
Coalition released the issue brief “ Is O ppos­
ing the War an L G B T Issue?” T he publica­
tion examines the side effects o f the U .S.
response to terrorism— racial profiling, a
crackdown on immigration, loss o f privacy
rights— and concludes that “ if ever there
were a time for L G B T organizations to under­
stand, speak out against and resist the vio­
lence of law enforcement and militarization,
that time is now.”
Locally, several queer groups have taken
official stances against the war: Basic Rights
Oregon, Pride at Work Oregon, Love Makes
Sexual minorities community
reacts to the conflict in Iraq
by Jim Radosta
a Family and the Lesbian Community Proj­
ect. N ation al organizations such as the
N ational G ay and Lesbian Task Force and
Soulforce also are lending their voices to the
push for peace.
Although these nonprofits might he stray­
ing from their mission statements by publicly
opposing the war, they are part of a growing
trend in the gay rights movement to work in
“coalition” (not that coalition— the good kind)
with others in
seeking common
goals. For example,
last year’s Creating
Change
confer­
ence in Portland
addressed racism—
not a queer-specif­
ic issue, hut a prob­
lem that activists
believe must he
tackled in order
to build bridges
with like-minded
progressives.
rank
Dixon
serves as co-
chairman of the
Basic Rights Ore­
gon hoard, which
voted Feb. 26 to
join the Win With­
out War coalition.
The gay man—
who spent 20 years
in the U.S. Army
Reserve, retiring as
a major— also is
F
involved in Veterans for Human Rights, a non­
profit formed in 1992 to promote equality for
active, reserve and veter­
an members of the U.S.
Armed Forces.
D ixon
supported
B R O ’s decision because
o f the “radical nature”
o f President Bush’s insis­
tence on ignoring the
U .N . inspection process
and launching a pre­
em ptive strike on a Frank Dixon
nation. He says this type
o f foreign policy runs counter to U .S. military
tradition.
“That was a close call," he admits. “But this
was, in my mind, a dramatic turning point in
the country and potentially has ramifications
for years for the gay and lesbian community....
You can't morally justify war in that manner,
and I think over the long run it’s a very dan­
gerous place for the United States to be in
terms of foreign policy and its relationship with
the rest of the world.... Who knows what’s
next. There’s Korea...Iraq, Iran. Where is it
gonna end?”
Dixon says the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist at­
tacks created an atmosphere that allowed oppor­
tunistic politicians to exploit the fears of U.S.
citizens. Now that the war is under way, he pre­
dicts people will he pressured to remain silent.
“There is a strong tendency on the part of
Am ericans to just sort o f circle the wagons