GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE NOVEMBER 12, 1993

EDITORIAL

A theocracy in America

Any sensible person in this country, and certainly all lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in Ohio, should be looking at the passage of Cincinnati's Issue 3 with horror and trepidation. This vile subordination of the rights of a certain group of individuals— prohibiting gays, lesbians and bisexuals from having any sort of legal protection-sets a dangerous precedent in this state and once again flaunts the Christian fundamentalist agenda as the law of the land.

Last year, Colorado and Oregon were the focus of this push by religious conservatives to remove basic human rights from a visible group of people they are not comfortable with. The state referendum in Oregon fortunately did not pass. In Colorado, where the concentrated, conservative bases in Colorado Springs spewed forth hate, misinformation, and thousands of donated dollars, voters were swayed and Amendment 2 was passed by a slight majority. No one who attended this year's March on Washington could forget the ominous and chilling sight as the first state contingent carried a huge black sign proclaiming itself as "COLORADO-GROUND ZERO."

Of course, Colorado is over 1,000 miles away; Oregon is farther; what immediate impact did that have on Ohio?

Plenty.

Cincinnati, as the state's most visibly conservative major city, was easy prey to these bigots and power mongers who hide their true intent behind pulpits and the Bible. The financing to pass Issue 3 came in large part from the same coffers that financed Colorado's anti-gay statute. The training, organization and agenda came completely from outside our state. Despite opposition to Issue 3 from a rainbow of unlikely allies, including the Catholic archbishop, the religious conservatives were able to make their false point that homosexuality is "sick" and "against the laws of God and nature." More "traditional" voters bought into the fear that homosexuals were after a special place at America's table to flaunt their "depraved" values.

Fresh from the kill, do you really think that this anti-gay activism will stop in Cincinnati? Do you really believe that Ohio will

never have to deal with its own statewide "Issue 3" or "Amendment 2"?

Think again. Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values and chairman of Equal Rights, Not Special Rights, the group that sponsored Issue 3, has pledged to get a similar proposal on the November, 1994 Ohio statewide ballot.

The religious conservatives have become much more polished and subtle. Yes, there are still the outraged talk-show preachers who shout and denounce the sins of Sodom-in between begging for donations. But far more prevalent, sinister and powerful are the "pleasant" influential leaders, the new-and-improved faces and statements of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Gary Bauer, Lou Sheldon, Donald Wildmon, Burress and others. They have shifted their approach and their activism, but not their overall agenda. It is a softer, more friendly and influential approach now, but the message is the same: the only good people are Christians who believe what these leaders preach.

It used to be that they would spend the bulk of their efforts decrying abortion, but years of stalemate and setback have tired the crusaders and it was time to find a new enemy of Christ to keep the propaganda and the money flowing.

What better target than the homosexual? There are centuries of examples of homosexual purges to justify a new crusade. With the larger gay visibility of the past decade, homosexuality as a threat to God and country was an obvious choice for a newlyfueled campaign of hatred, which is only just beginning.

The fundamentalist agenda is not just about eliminating gays from society's fabric; it's not just about controlling women's bodies; it's not just about demanding prayer in school. It is nothing short of converting America from its pluralistic foundations into a theocracy, a melding of church ("Christian," of course) and state. All of America's freedoms and values are the unwitting victims in this plan.

What is life in a theocracy like? Consider the Roman Catholic Church, which effectively ruled and manipulated Europe for

centuries. Kings, emperors and commoners were subservient to the pope. There was a sorry political history of Holy Wars, sinforgiving "indulgences" requiring the donation of wealth and property, and the hereticand enemy-purging excesses of the Inquisition.

A modern day example is Iran. Whatever ayatollah is in charge is how the country moves, Holy Wars included, in lock-step according to the interpreted will of Allah.

True, America has its own dirty laundry, but there is electoral and legal recourse. Our country's founders included religious radicals who wanted to keep church affairs separate from state and who included provisions for personal freedoms. Free thinking and alternative opinion are much harder in a theocracy where authority informs you that you're objecting to the Will of God.

The greatest irony, of course, is that while seeking to control people's lives, the religious fundamentalists embrace Christianity. Jesus, a radical in his time, stressed love of neighbor in all of his teachings; these are not his ideas that the fundamentalists are pushing.

How do we as lesbians, gay men and bisexuals fight this powerful, organized enemy to personal freedom?

The tactics employed by these religious conservatives to convince their followers and the unsuspecting are misinterpretation of the Bible and the raising of fear. Both of these can be countered by education. We need to understand this, organize ourselves, and educate whenever and wherever we can.

First, we need to end the self-destructive infighting as a community and come together to resist this very real threat to our lives. We need to concentrate our efforts on a statewide level to challenge the fundamentalists at their every turn. One example of an organization already in place is Out Voice. Provide it or another responsible activist group with your money and your time.

Next, as a group and as individuals, we need to educate the traditional and larger population. Our message must be clear: we are not a threat to people's lives and diversity is to be celebrated, not feared. Perhaps the greatest challenge is the education we

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Volume 9, Issue 10

Publisher: Martha J. Pontoni Business Manager: Patti Harris Managing Editor: Kevin Beaney Production Manager: Brian De Witt Reporters & Writers: Martha J. Pontoni,

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must do as individuals because it means that we all must self-identify as gay men, lesbians and bisexuals. Have you accepted yourself yet? If not, then how can you defend the need for your basic human rights? Our straight allies don't have a problem condemning bigotry and fighting for equality, because they are secure with their own sexuality. It's time each of us comes to accept ourselves and then step into the street to join the struggle.

•

It needs to be done, now more urgently than ever. The alternative is to lose 25 years of progress, to return to an underground society with furtive meetings, police raids and a reign of terror from a misguided society.

The time to procrastinate has passed. Join the cause now. We are already caught in the fallout from the devastation at Ground Zero.

SPEAK OUT

Responding to the Right and to racism

The author, pastor of Liberation United Church of Christ, gave this speech during the October 27 annual meeting of Cleveland's Lesbian-Gay Community Service Center.

by Rev. Dan Geslin

I have been asked by the leadership of the Center to speak to you tonight about the Religious Right and our response to itespecially about how to respond to the Rev. Marvin McMickle and the four self-identified "black churches" in Cleveland who have publicly come out against us.

First, one of the things I've learned from feminist theory is to name my own "personal location." This is to remind us all that I speak only for myself, not for anybody else, and also to give you a sense of the social context from which I speak, to help you analyze my perspective as you consider my comments for yourself. I grew up in Minnesota, in a middle-class Scandinavian-American family with parents who grew up poor during the Depression. I went to graduate school at a seminary in Berkeley during the late 1970s, and I'm an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ. The UCC is the

tradition of the Pilgrims, a tradition that understands spirituality in terms of social justice. We ordained the first African-American in this country in 1794, the first woman in history in 1857, and the first openly gay person in modern times in 1972. I have served as chaplain on the San Francisco General Hospital AIDS Ward, as founding pastor of the first lesbian-gay congregation in the UCC, and now as pastor of Liberation UCC here in Cleveland.

As far as responding to the Religious Right and the black fundamentalist churches, this is what I think we must do:

We must make the Center a safe place for African-Americans to come to and find the support they need to come out.

I hear white folks in our community ask, "Why aren't lesbian and gay African-Americans fighting back against these black ministers? Why aren't they coming out in their own community?"

I think it's because they don't have a Center.

When white folks in our community ask me, "What can we do to fight the fundamentalist ministers in the black churches?" I reply, "You can make the Center a safe place for African-American lesbians and

gay men, so that they feel safe enough there to organize for their own work in their own community."

I did not come out to my family-nor did I come out in the context of my wider cultural institutions-until after I had encountered and felt a part of a gay community. Part of our racist, colonialist programing as white people is that we are taught to take our own experience for granted and then to project it onto everybody else around us. But we don't even analyze our own process-that's why naming our "personal location" is so important. If you are white and another white person asks you why African-Americans don't come out, ask that white person in return: When did you come out? How long did it take you?-What systems of support were in place for you?and then: How can we recreate those systems of support without racial bias in our community now?

African-Americans already live in a besieged community because of race. We ask them to come out and risk rejection from their families and institutions on account of homophobia-only in turn to be rejected from our lesbian and gay institutions because of racism. The most effective thing

we whites can do to fight the Religious Right and the Rev. McMickle is to work on our own racism so that we can indeed be a multi-cultural lesbian and gay movement in Ohio. Much of what we're talking about is classism. All school children in this country are programmed to believe that "there is no class" in the United States. Who does that

Continued on Page 14

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