AUGUST 1976

HIGH GEAR

WOMEN SHOW SUPPORT FOR SUSAN SAXE

6.:

by Martha Watson CLEVELAND-Fri., Aug. Over a dozen women, mostly gay, gathered together to express their solidarity with Susan Saxe. Four women from the Susan Saxe Defense Committee came from Philadelphia to talk about Susan's case and read some of her poetry. A woman from the Gay Caucus of Youth Against War and Fascism chaired the meeting, pointing out several reasons why gay women need to learn about and defend Susan Saxe: that her case has been used by the government to harass the lesbian community as a whole, that her's and other women's refusal to testify against their sisters serves as an example to all of us as to what sisterhood is, and that we have learned through her case and resulting harassment what we have in common with all oppressed peoples: the same enemy. Janet Cooper began by sharing her own experiences when her "crime" being gay and female in the early sixties--was punished by threats of expulsion from CWRU and name-calling and worse from fellow students. She explained that these experiences led her to identify with a victim of similar violence: Susan Saxe. The women went on to describe Susan's "crime", and how she is being punished for it. In 1970, she "stole" from the government secret documents

for "Operation Geronimo-Bravo' plans for martial law against the civilian population of Boston. She has agreed to serve 10 year and 2 year jail sentences so she will not have to testify against Kathy Power, her co-defendant, who is underground. Also in 1970, a bank robbery, resulting in the death of a policeman,occurred, for which Susan is charged with two counts of armed robbery (life sentences), and one count of first-degree murder. Under the felony murder law she faces a life imprisonment with no possible parole for having allegedly been involved in a felony in which killing occurredUnder this law it is considered irrelevant that she herself didn't commit the murder.

After learning of Susan's situation, we were able to listen to her response: a collection of very moving yet highly political poems. The poems dealt. with the difficulties and hardships of life behind bars.

In between two readings we discussed in length the FBI harassment of the lesbian community. For refusing to testify before a grand jury Ellen Grusse and Terri Turgeon spent nine months in prison and Jill Raymond spent fourteen. Five other women in Lexington and two in Hartford, Connecticut, now face imprisonment for the same reasons. The women of the defense committee have made an all-out effort to prevent

women in the community from talking to FBI agents or before Grand Juries unless faced with jail. Now, a woman pointed out, agents are not only making countless home visits to members of the women's community, but are seeking out sources of information in the gay bars. In the course of this discussion an older woman from Worker's World Party described the countless encounters she had with the FBI under McCarthyism for being a socialist and for opposing the Korean War. There was a warm feeling of sisterhood expressed between

lesbians and women from the anti-war movement who had received similar treatment in the hands of the state.

On the whole, the political consciousness of the women attending was undoubtedly raised. This raised consicousness was shown by a desire to continue working in Cleveland to free Susan Saxe.

CASUALTIES

By Susan Saxe

Torn from our side

by an inability to satisfy their longing,

our sisters and brothers are

lured by false prophets. The high prices of instant karma snatch at their souls,

offering answers when we cannot.

What future can we promise our gentle friends?

Resistance and confrontation to those whose greatest love is peace.

How much better to believe that peace will come without struggle.

How much easier for the good to believe

that there is no true evil in the world,

that ignorance can be overcome

by love,

love without its terrible justice, love without its sister, rage. How do we begin to win them back,

our friends who once were by our sides,

singing songs against the

enemy,

getting high against a sky of gas,

strong, planning the future of our struggle?

And then what happened? Somehow it became to hard and

too hopeless.

Why didn't we notice when they drew into themselves? Why was it such a surprise when one day the sister had changed,

to meet us with the smile of a true believer,

to casually say:

"Yeah, I used to be into a political trip once."

Copyright 1976 by Susan Saxe from TALK AMONG THE WOMENFOLK. Order by sending $2.00 for each copy to Susan Saxe Defense Fund, c/o National Lawyer's Guild, 1427 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19102. Reprinted with permission.

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