a g i 1 fl. 2003
and support the troops, and to some degree
that’s always been the case. There was a
strong pacifist m ovem ent before World
War II, hut once Pearl Harbor h it...th e coun
try was united for that period o f time,” he
says. “ It will take some time for this to play
* **
out.
Dixon sees the connection between his sex
ual orientation and his opinion about the war.
“ I may he a little more skeptical about
accepting the position o f my government,
because I know there’s a huge amount of
hypocrisy involved in how the government
treats gays and les
bians and, in particu
lar, gay and lesbian
servicem em bers,” he
says. “S o I suppose it’s
easier for me to ques
tion the official line.”
R eady
FOR A
T
tC X ).
“We have got to connect up with other
movements and specifically with the peace
movement if our work is going to have any
meaning at all,” she says. “Queer people are a
people who are defined by the way we love, and
I think that it therefore falls to us to take leader
ship in this peace movement.”
hree months ago Catherine Sameh, founder
of the women’s bookstore In Other Words,
formed a new group to give activists a forum
where they could discuss the connections
T
between radical queer politics and the peace
movement and learn how to become more visi
ble advocates for change. Out Against the
War’s first meeting Jan. 19 drew a wide array of
people, including anar
chists, socialists, femi
nists and unionists. Par
ticipants critiqued capi
talism, linked cuts in
social services to esca
lating militarism and
called for a practical
organizing response.
Barbara Turrill, Les
bian Community Project Barbara Turrill
board chairwoman, has
been involved in Out Against the War ever since.
She believes queers, as a marginalized community,
can relate to what the Iraqis are enduring.
“We have a lot in common with some peo
ple who are dealing with poverty issues, with
issues related to racism and gender issues and
all the social service cuts that have happened
over the last couple of months,” she says.
“We’re really familiar with being pushed to the
edge like that, of being perceived as a commu
nity that can be almost disregarded.... The war
seems to be an effort to do the same, only in a
different country.”
Out Against the War made its presence
known to the “mainstream” peace community
by holding a feeder march during one of last
month’s peace protests downtown. According
to Turrill, the group has given activists a much-
needed space to talk about their personal
beliefs, the war and the increased stress they are
feeling right now.
“In general, I think whenever civil rights are
threatened, the queer community is threat
ened,” she says. “ It’s much easier to control peo
ple when they’re afraid, so anyone who lives on
a margin or is perceived as being different has
much less security.” J H
P ride at W ork O regon will hold its monthly
meeangfrom 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. April 22 at O k
Communication Workers of America Local 7901 ,
2950 S.E. Stork St. For more information call
503-5 16-2498 or e-mail prideatworkpdx@yahoo.com.
O ut A gainst the W ar will meet 7 p.m.
April 27 at the Bread and Roses Center, 819 N.
Killingsworth S t., and 7 p.m. May 4 at In Other
Words, 3734 S.E . Hawthorne Blvd. For more
information call Catherine Sameh at
503-335-8306 or Cheryl Nolly at 503-238-8591.
The L esbian C ommunity P roject and the
W omen ’ s I nternational L eague for P eace
AND F reedom will co-sponsor a forum on how the
Homeland Security Act affects women and queers
from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. May 23 at the Northwest
Cultural Center, 1819 N.W. Everett St. For mefte
informatum call 503-227-0605.
PHOTO BY
s onnie Tinker says she
i was a peace activist
long before she became a
Bonnie Tinker
lesbian activist. But then
her attention was diverted to her role as executive
director of Love Makes a Family, which advtxates
for queer parents.
|
“There really wasn’t room in the
o peace movement for people who were
| out queer activists 10 years ago,” she says.
“Queer people are so busy trying to just
® maintain survival rights ourselves that we
“ haven’t had a lot of energy to put into the
‘other issues.’ ”
During 1991’s Gulf War most gay
men and lesbians had other things on
their minds— namely Ballot Measure 9,
which would have specified that they
were “perverse” and “abnormal” in the
Oregon Constitution. Tinker likens the
current war on terrorism to the “cultur
al war” declared by anti-gay leader Lon
Mabon.
“It’s essentially those same people who
are now pushing the military invasion of
Iraq,” she says. “It’s the Oregon Citizens
Alliance and the Christian C oali
tion... who are sponsoring the pro-troop
rallies. Their agenda is, quite simply,
Christian dominance of the world, and
they see that as a good thing.”
Tinker realizes that not all gay, les
bian, bi and trans people are opposed to
the war and that she could losing funding
from donors who disagree with her orga
nization’s stance. But when the future of
the planet is at stake, she believes it’s
worth the risk.
“For LG BT people it really behooves us
to remember that if we don’t maintain a healthy
respect for diversity and a healthy respect for the
nonviolent resolution of conflict, we don’t sur
vive,” she says. “The attack on Iraq is fundamen
tally an attack from people...who do not respect
even diversity of religion, much less sexual orien
tation. And if they take over the world, we’re not
gonna come out on top.”
Love Makes a Family held a workshop
April 12 to teach activists how to practice nonvi
olent communication skills when speaking up for
peace. According to Tinker, the program origi
nally was developed as a way to talk to homo-
phobic people during ballot measure campaigns
but can be applied to the anti-war movement,
c t io n ?
he war on Iraq has left many members of the sexual minorities community feeling power
less about what they can do to get their message through to the U.S. government. Here is
some advice provided by leaders of the queer peace movement to help remedy this:
• Express yourself. Identify yourself as a pacifist by talking to friends, participating in rallies, wear
ing buttons, posting bumper stickers, contacting elected officials and writing letters to the editor.
• Open your mind. Read international news sources and attend lectures, films and workshops
related to the war.
• Family matters. Help gay and lesbian servicemembers’ relatives, who can’t seek assistance if
their loved ones are killed, injured or captured on the battlefield.
• Give a little bit. Organizations like Servicemembers Legal Defense Network need financial
support. But don’t forget all of the community groups that are doing day-to-day work in fighting
AIDS, discrimination, etc.
• G o online: Electronic activism is thriving at MoveOn.org and TrueMajority.org.
• Vote. For registration information visit www.sos.state.or.us.
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