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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (April 22, 1992)
SPECIAL FEATURE THE CLACKAMAS PRINT Page 5 asic human rights abuse brought upon American h*mpting to proliferate their au- ionof God. Also, the burning a®izations (such as the KKK) to of the small piece of pie that getting widespread publicity. African-Americans earned the The sexist agenda was tested hard way. in Wichita, Kansas, with the highly The Christian Right’s cam orchestrated attack on abortion paign against homosexuality and clinics by Operation Rescue which for “traditional family values” il bussed in thousands of people for lustrates clearly the use of misin street activism. Thanks to a prin formation to support the idea of cipled federal judge, they were morality as the central issue in- thwarted. However, immediately ___________ st^ad of civil rights. Lesbians thereafter, Operation Rescue ___ held r a press conference to say that their ^and gays are particularly vulner- / Jb__________________________ able because, eventhough in ex istence for^enturies) there has next targets would be two sites in North Carolina, and one each in Massachusetts, Louisiana and Ar kansas. They had established a successful model. The homophpbic agenda is being tested in Oregon through city initiatives and a state initia tive for a constitutional amend ment to declare homosexuality, sadism, masochism and pedophilia to be “abnormal and perverse” behavior. This initiative calls for two primary restrictions: for all policies and laws offering protec tion and access for homosexuals to be eliminated and for all state and local governments (includ ing schools) to eliminate funding that would “promote homosexu ality.” In each of these sites major strategies or tactics of the Chris tian Right can be observed. The “wedge approach” is a central strategy. The point of the wedge, or the point of entry, is on an emotionally charged issue such as abortion, homosexuality or the faUing economy. The Right then uses this issue to gain widespread support and to build a broad con stituency base that can then be expanded to include the other is sues on its agenda. For example, they provide information about abortion, affirmative action, pa rental leave, welfare, etc., to the membership and voting base built around the issue of homosexual ity and then organize them to vote on these issues. The second way the wedge is used is to divide communities against themselves and to break up the progressive base for social change. For instance, in Port land, the OCA is entering Afri can-American churches and writ ing letters to the African-Ameri can newspaper to say that homo sexuals are trying to take a share By Greg Tully Staff Writer Does anyone here remember the separation of church and state? Or the Bill of Rights? The efforts of the OCA, the candidacy of Pat Robertson and several other political movements in the past few years have amounted to nothing but infringing on the rights of those who do not belong to certain wings of the Christian religion. been group visibilit^yonly since Take, for example, the ballot j the beginning ofthe lesbian and measure in Washington state last j^ay movement with Stonewall in fall. It sought to give people the *1969J Th is brief period of visi right to die if they were termi bility creates vulnerability for two nally ill. It was defeated, solely primary reasons. Lack of visibil due to the efforts of religious groups ity means that there is widespread who felt it was sacrilegious to do igrtorancejRjn the part of the gen so. eral public concerning this area This basically forces fami of sexuality and culture. Thus, lies, who may have differing views when the Right puts out the infor with their church, or be Jewish, or mation that lesbians and gay men atheist, to spend their entire life are child molesters, the public savings, or more, to keep a rela accepts it as truth, despite the tive alive and suffering. data that demonstrates that 95% This is nothing more than re- of those sexually abusing chil ligious persecution. The very rea dren are heterosexual men. son this country was formed was An insistence upon democ so that our forefathers could es racy as named by the Civil Rights cape such tyranny. Movement-requiring justice, lib To tell me that I have no right eration and participation-is the to let a loved one die, but that I greatest threat to the Christian must spend money in vast quanti authoritarian agenda. It is the ties so that that loved one may work of those of us who believe suffer incredible agony for a few in freedom to develop a local and weeks longer, just because that is national movement of liberation the belief of YOUR church, is that claims our communities in criminal. the name of all the many diverse The pro-choice m o veme n t has peoples who occupy them. It is been largely funded and manned incumbent upon us at this crucial by the same people who defeated juncture of history to establish that ballot measure. the values that are inclusive of You may believe what you everyone and to reject the values wish on abortion, but to go around of exclusion and repression. telling others that they must sub The Christian Right’s vision mit to the religious beliefs of the is modeled on the past, the time majority is another example of of the television Cleavers, when religious persecution. the power to exclude gave a few Further, the tactics, which white people security. The lib have included abusing young girts eration vision has no model be and acts which are illegal, is a cause it looks to the present di good example of just what type of versity and to the future which people we' are dealing with here. requires building a democratic A good example of just how society that includes everyone. ridiculous the beliefs of some of We have to protect the democracy these people gets, take the words that we have in the present while of Robertson. Good ole’ Pat said building the new inclusive society. in 1988 that abortion was wrong because it “robbed the country of potential taxpayers.” Good thinking, Pat. It is also interesting to note that the party the religious groups flock to is the Republican party. Isn’t it odd to back the party that has done nothing for the environment? This has led to the destruction of “God’s” Earth and the genocide of “God’s” creatures. I say all this not to put down Christian religions, but to show my disgust at what the leaders of some of these religious groups have done. These people seem to think that their beliefs are correct and that gives them a li cence to trample on the rights of religious minorities. If this continues, we will be no better than the govern ment of South Africa. As they believed that blacks deserved no rights, we will destroy the rights of those who don’t con form to the religious mainstream. The latest example of this oppression is the OCA. Using the same propaganda that’s been used by other Christian Right political movements, they seek an agenda that amounts to noth ing but a religious fanatic man date. In a campaign reminiscent of David Dukkke’s, they seek to have the Oregon Constitution amended to declare that homo sexuality is an abnormal be havior, and they want to defeat parental leave rights (which sounds like forcing women to be “barefoot and pregnant” to me) and to abolish state-aided pre-kindergarten programming because it was not “traditional family values. AU this group stands for is a far-right, gay-bashing, reli gious persecution movement Just as the youth of this country got behind Martin Lu ther King in the ‘60’s, it is now time to stand up for the rights of religious minorities in the ‘90’s. Support the Citizens for a Hate Free Oregon.
