Join The Impact MA

Protest the Religious Right-Inspired Anti-Homosexuality Bill,

Boston Action

Thursday, February 4, 2010

5:30PM

The John F. Kennedy Federal Office Building

(15 Sudbury St. at the corner of Cambridge St., Government Center)

Join the Impact MA and the Anti-Violence Project of Massachusetts are calling for a day of action on February 4, 2010 to protest the American-inspired Anti-Homosexuality Bill (“AHB”) pending in the Ugandan Parliament. That day a politically-connected, far-right coalition known as “The Family,” linked to the Ugandan legislation, will be sponsoring the “National Prayer Breakfast” in Washington, D.C., their only annually publicized meeting. This secretive, yet powerful group of anti-gay extremists, which includes Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich), Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-Pa), Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), Sen. James DeMint (R-SC), and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), supports discriminatory policies at home and fuels hatred overseas.

The AHB intensifies existing persecution of LGBT people in Uganda:

• Gay men and lesbians convicted of having sex would be sentenced, at minimum, to life in prison

• “Aggravated homosexuality,” which covers people with HIV and “serial offenders” who have sex more than once, carries the death penalty

• Citizens would be required to report homosexuals to the police, on pain of three years imprisonment

• “Promotion of homosexuality” would carry a seven-year prison sentence

The AHB grew out of a March, 2009 anti-gay conference in Kampala sponsored by the religious-right-funded “Family Life Network.” Entitled “Exposing the Truth behind Homosexuality and the Homosexual Agenda,” the seminar was led by American anti-gay activists Scott Lively, a Holocaust revisionist; Don Schmierer, Board Member of the ex-gay group Exodus International; and Caleb Lee Brundidge of “Extreme Prophetic” and quack psychotherapist Richard Cohen’s “International Healing Group.” On offer were preposterous claims about homosexuality and tall-tales of an international gay conspiracy to lure young Africans into homosexual activity.

In attendance at the March conference was Ugandan MP David Bahati, a member of the US-based fundamentalist network “The Family” and a lead organizer of the Ugandan National Prayer Breakfast. In October of 2009, Bahati introduced the AHB into Uganda’s Parliament. In justifying this attempt at legislated genocide, Bahati recycles worn-out lies about gays and lesbians from the American religious right. He alleges that “‘there is a lot of [gay] recruitment in single [sex] schools and a lot of promotion of homosexuality by non-governmental organizations including UNICEF (United Nations Children Fund).’” He accuses LGBT rights advocates of “‘engaging in a game of manipulation, deception, and control. We are going to focus on protecting children and the family in Uganda,’ he added.” See “Ugandan MP Defends Controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bill,” Voice of America 12/12/09. Bahati is expected to attend the February 4, 2010 “National Prayer Breakfast” in Washington, as he has in the past.

In addition to facing penalties up to and including death, LGBT Ugandans would expose to risk friends and family who are merely aware of their homosexuality. Even if the death penalty is dropped from the AHB, as some reports have suggested, LGBT people are being threatened with forced quack therapy despite the fact that sexual orientation cannot be changed.

Far from being an overseas aberration, the AHB represents a foreseeable outcome of the homophobic rhetoric employed by the religious right in America’s Culture Wars. Ugandan proponents of the AHB have simply made American-manufactured hate their own.

LGBT people and our allies around the world must take a decisive stand against the AHB and confront the American authors of hate which threatens LGBT Africans with such ferocious persecution. The organizers of the “National Prayer Breakfast,” the so-called “Family,” have blood on their hands. Their malevolence, which they mask with sham platitudes about tolerance, must be exposed for the entire world to see. They cannot escape accountability for their hate by self-righteously invoking a God of Love

We stand in solidarity with LGBT people in Uganda and all Africans who oppose the AHB. American law promises asylum to refugees escaping because of “a well-founded fear of persecution.” Exported American homophobia has put LGBT Ugandans in grave peril; America must open its doors to LGBT refugees who are casualties of our own Culture Wars.

Join LGBT and allied citizens on February 4, 2010 in taking a stand against the Made-in-America hatred reflected in the AHB. Demand that the Obama Administration grant asylum to LGBT Ugandans forced to flee bloody persecution instigated from this country.

Join the Impact MA Vigil in Memory of Jorge Mercado

November 22, 2009

Remarks of Don Gorton,

Chairperson of the Anti-Violence Project of Massachusetts

The gruesome murder of Jorge Mercado in Cayey, Puerto Rico wasn’t an isolated event. Far from it. The revolting crime last Friday night, and the grisly discovery of Jorge’s desecrated body last Saturday tell us of a virulent, rage-filled hatred that is still a commonplace.  The Trans Day of Remembrance focused on over 150 murders of trans and gender queer individuals in the past year, that we know about. The recent passage of the Matthew Shephard Act is scant solace for the brutality with which Matt’s life was snuffed out 11 years ago. There are too many people like Jorge and Matthew. The case that first moved me to take action against the hate crimes against our community was the bashing and murder of openly gay and gender non-conforming Charlie Howard in Bangor, Maine in 1984. Here we are 25 years later.

Cases like Jorge’s and Charlie’s illustrate two salient facts. First, that bias based on gender, gender identity and expression, and sexual orientation are interrelated. Misogyny, homophobia, sexism, and trans phobia have common roots. Oftentimes repressed homosexual desire in conflict with internalized homophobia fuels the appalling violence; other times it’s dysfunctional heterosexuality in which aggression and the sexual impulse are interwoven. Juan Matos, the accused murderer, was reported to have had a record of domestic violence, which is consistent with this ugly psychological profile. Psychodynamics of this sort overdetermine the hatred which is acted out; accordingly, anti-trans, anti-gay, and anti-woman hate crimes stand out for excessive brutality with aggression disproportionate to any motive except sexualized rage. Overkill is the m.o., even when murder is not the result.

Second, hate crimes laws are part of the solution, but our larger challenge is nothing less than cultural transformation. We have to confront society’s devaluation of the feminine, gender-nonconformity, the gay, lesbian, and the trans. Defamation of the LGBT community creates a climate in which homophobia and transphobia are nurtured and flare up in manifestations of violence.  Expressions of homophobia and transphobia which infect the marketplace of ideas, although protected by the first amendment, tell individuals with poor impulse control and a lack of empathy that it’s OK to beat up LGBT people. We cannot silence our enemies whose words are to hate crimes what warm water is to hurricanes. But we can vociferously oppose hate whenever we encounter it. Challenge homophobia, do not let it pass. And support the Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Oscar Wilde that speaks to our common path today as much as when he wrote it: “I have no doubt that we shall win, but the road is long and red with monstrous martyrdoms.”

Sunday, November 22

7pm

Copley Square in front of Trinity Church

“19 year old aspiring fashion artist Jorge Steven López Mercado was found on Friday night decapitated, dismembered and partially burned. According to authorities, the investigation has shown that it is indeed a hate crime.” (source: Current)

“The police investigator suggested that he deserved what he got because of the ‘type of lifestyle’ he was leading.” (source: Towleroad)

Please join us on Sunday, November 22, for a Candlelight Vigil to honor the memory of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado along with the countless others who have gone before as victims of terrifying and brutal crimes; brazen and terrible acts visited upon these poor souls for the sole reason of their differences.

We will stand united in grief and in outrage in cities across the country. And we will stand united in hope that one day soon these horrifying acts of violence will be no more.

We also must demand that the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, recently signed into law by President Obama, is used effectively to bring Jorge’s killer to justice. Join us and make your voice heard, so that one day, no one will have to live in fear of being who they are.

Please bring a warm jacket and candles.

For more information, the Facebook event page is located here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=183114031828

JTI-MA Protest in Response to the Passage of Question 1 in Maine

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Report on the National Equality March

National Equality March Mobilizes New Wave of Activists

Boston, MA/October 12, 2009

An estimated 150,000-200,000 LGBT people and straight allies filled the streets of Washington and the Capitol Lawn for the National Equality March on Sunday, October 11, 2009. The turn-out was remarkable given that the event had no marketing budget and minimal institutional support: it was promoted through Facebook, the Internet, and word-of-mouth. Locally, Join the Impact MA took the lead in generating interest, chartering 5 buses to make the trip including a “youth bus” for high school students co-organized by Project 10 East and GLSEN. The March, which took place in sunny 70-degree weather, marked a crescendo for the nationwide wave of grassroots activism that began last November.

If I had to describe the marchers in one word, I would say “young.” While there was a sprinkling of gray hair, the median age had to be under 25. Most attendees were part of the Millennial Generation that has come of age since 2000; many were standing up for equality for the first time ever. Relatively few attendees’ names would be likely to appear on the lists of established LGBT organizations. And yet if this highly-motivated generation is somehow engaged in work for equality across America , the Movement that began at the Stonewall Inn 40 years ago will grow by leaps and bounds and double its longevity.

Marchers gathered at the Ellipse, McPherson Square , and along 15th Street in the heart of Washington , stepping off at Noon. On the sidelines the Daily Show’s John Oliver interviewed marchers with his characteristic whimsy. Symbolically the parade was led by a mass of high schoolers from across the country. Join the Impact MA marched alongside sister organizations Broadway Impact, Join the Impact Chicago, and Join the Impact Texas. The parade passed by the White House, then proceeded down Pennsylvania Ave. to the Capitol Lawn where speakers addressed the crowd from a stage on the steps of the Capitol.

The speeches evoked the implacable intensity of Act Up and Queer Nation a generation ago. Movement visionaries Cleve Jones and David Mixner, who called for the March earlier this year, each spoke in the thundering voices of Old Testament Prophets about the need for a comprehensive equality strategy that eschews incrementalism and encompasses the whole country.

The icons of the new generation of activists are people like Lady Gaga, Dustin Lance Black, Judy Shephard, Lt. Daniel Choi (ret.) and Sherry Wolf (author of Sexuality and Socialism), all of whom spoke, along with lead organizer Kip “Equality” Williams of San Francisco and civil rights leader Julian Bond. A hagiographized Harvey Milk lives on in memory for thousands whose impetus to community action came as a result of watching the film Milk.

The most moving experience of the March for me was sitting in while 50 Massachusetts high schoolers shared their experiences at the March in a group discussion afterwards organized by Ed Byrne of Project 10 East. The phrase “life-changing experience” aptly summarizes the reactions of the teens who spoke up. Contrasting the buoyant enthusiasm of the under-30’s who turned out in force on Sunday with the negativity toward the March on the part of some older Movement worthies, I might have worried about an emergent generation gap in the LGBT Equality Movement. But I know from the welcome I received on Sunday and in Join the Impact MA that activist youth are only too happy to collaborate with movement veterans and other LGBT people generally toward common objectives. Blessedly Movement 2.0 lacks the rancor which has marred so many other community enterprises since Stonewall.

Everyone, whether they supported the March or not, now has an interest in keeping these new and capable Movement stake-holders involved in pro-equality work across the country, especially in Maine and Washington State this year. Join the Impact MA is hosting a community meeting on Friday evening, October 16, at 7 PM in the Democracy Center, 45 Mt. Auburn St. in Harvard Square, Cambridge to debrief about the March and plan local next steps.