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Open Letter to LGBTST Communities

"Within each one of us there is some piece of humanness that knows we are not being served by the machine which orchestrates crisis after crisis and is grinding all our futures into dust."

Audre Lorde (1934-1992)
Black, lesbian, poet, activist, mother

As Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, and Transgender (LGBTST) organizations and individuals of conscience in the U.S., we stand in opposition to the strategies, policies and practices of the U.S. government's "War on Terrorism". While the U.S. government prepares for an escalated, public and pre-emptive war against Iraq — and declares the doctrine of pre-emptive military strikes central to the national security strategy of the U.S. — we call on LGBTST communities to join with other peace-seeking communities in opposing war, and struggling for peace with justice. As residents in this country, we recognize our special responsibility to speak and act out against unjust and immoral U.S. government action (both within and outside the borders of this country).

This "War on Terrorism" will not create safety or security for people within the U.S. or elsewhere. It is an umbrella term that encompasses many unjust and dangerous strategies intended to silence dissent, while entrenching U.S. power throughout the world. The "War on Terrorism" is in reality a permanent strategy for flexible war, where:

1) targets outside and within the US change;

2) the US acts as a global police chief, judge, jury, and executioner — operating unilaterally whenever international consensus can not be arranged, and seeking to entrench its position as the only global superpower;

3) communities and individuals that are most marginalized within this country are faced with accelerated and deepened economic, social and political attacks; and

4) legitimate grief for those whose lives were lost on 9/11/01 is transmuted by the war machine into a permanent climate of fear, suspicion, and hatred.

WHY THIS IS AN LGBTST ISSUE

As Audre Lorde and others have said, we believe that "there is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives". Members of our communities and our loved ones have experienced the following since the launch of the "War on Terrorism" more than a year ago:

• Increased violence. The strategy and rhetoric of the "War on Terrorism" creates and relies on a culture of hate, resulting in increased violence against communities of color, immigrants, women, LGBTST people and others. Over the past year, this violence has included domestic violence and hate violence.
• Re-institutionalization of racial profiling. Racial profiling has been re-affirmed as policy and practice - in spite of a growing national consensus against it just before 9/11/01.
• De-prioritization of human needs and social programs (incl. HIV/AIDS, education, housing, welfare and other health & human services), to support increased military and so-called "security" spending. Conservative estimates of war with Iraq project costs at between $60 billion and $100 billion.
• Increasing militarization of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). This has resulted in massive abuses of human and due process rights, including: disappearances, secret detentions on the basis of no evidence, deportations, and chilling new "special" registration procedures that are justified by, and further institutionalize racial, religious, and cultural stereotyping. These measures all serve to support expansion of a profit-making prison-industrial complex.
• Political surveillance and attacks on human/civil rights through mechanisms enabled by federal and local so-called "anti-terrorist" legislation (e.g. USA Patriot Act and Homeland Security Act). This has included re-building dangerous public and now-legal surveillance strategies that echo the disgraceful COINTELPRO policies and abuses of an earlier era.

We continue to mourn the lives lost on 9/11/01. We also mourn the lives lost to U.S. military action and economic sanctions in countries including Afghanistan and Iraq — and that certainly will be lost elsewhere as the doctrine of pre-emption is implemented. We seek to prevent the loss of thousands of more lives in unjust, immoral wars that will only widen the spiral of retaliatory violence.

Politicians will try to sell these wars as U.S. missions of "liberation." But we know that militarism and war rely on and promote many forms of oppression — including homophobia, transphobia, sexism, and racism. As LGBTST people, we know what it means to be targets of hate and violence. We understand what it means to be scapegoated. We believe that the ever-changing targets of the U.S. government's "War on Terrorism" simply provide a permanent and unending list of scapegoats - distracting all of us from the challenging and necessary task of building communities and a world based on principles of peace, justice, self-determination and human dignity.

With care and respect, we call on LGBTST organizations and communities to join national and local coalitions to struggle for peace with justice — and actively and creatively oppose U.S. policies and actions of military/economic/political aggression and war.

ORIGINATORS

The Audre Lorde Project (ALP). ALP is a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit and Transgender People of Color center for community organizing, focusing on the New York City area. Through mobilization, education and capacity-building, we work for community wellness and progressive social and economic justice. Committed to struggling across differences, we seek to responsibly reflect, represent and serve our various communities.

LGBT Program, Community Relations Unit, American Friends Service Committee. The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace, and humanitarian service. Its work is based on the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.

ENDORSERS

(The following list is in formation as of 2-12-03. Groups/Individuals without locations listed are based in New York State, where this statement originated. To endorse this statement, please email: alpinfo@alp.org)

Organizational Endorsers (as of 2/12/03)

ACT UP NY
African Ancestral Lesbians United for Societal Change (AALUSC)
AFSC GLBTQ Youth Program [Seattle, WA]
AFSC Hawai'i Gay Liberation Program [Honolulu, Hawai'i]
AFSC LGBT Issues Program/Faith Action Network [Ann Arbor, MI]
AfroLez Productions [Philadelphia, PA]
Al-Fatiha Foundation for LGBTIQ Muslims [Washington, DC]
The Armchair Activist & Armchair-Activism LGBT [Baltimore, MD]
Astraea Lesbian Action Foundation
Austin Latina Latino Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Organization (ALLGO) [Austin, TX]
AXIOS Eastern Orthodox LGBT Christians
Beyondmedia Education [Chicago, IL]
Brazilian Rainbow Group (BRG)
The Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence [Corvallis, OR]
Chicago Anti-Bashing Network [Chicago, IL]
Colectivo Mexicano
Colombian Lesbian & Gay Association (COLEGA)
Community United Against Violence (CUAV) [San Francisco, CA]
Dyke Community Activists [Seattle, WA]
Ellas en Accion [San Francisco, CA]
FIERCE
Freedom Trainers
Gay Alliance of La Crosse Area Youth (GALAXY) [La Crosse, Wisconsin]
Gay And Lesbian Alliance of Alabama (GALAA) [Birmingham, AL]
Gay and Lesbian Association of Marianopolis (GLAM) [Montreal,PQ, Canada]
Gay Asian & Pacific Islander Men of New York (GAPIMNY)
Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC)
Illinois Gender Advocates [Chicago, IL]
Incite!: Women of Color Against Violence, Bisexual, Lesbian, Intersex and Transgender Taskforce
International Action Center - The LGBT Caucus
Jews Against the Occupation (JATO)
LAGAI — Queer Insurrection [San Francisco, CA]
Latino Gay Men of New York
LATITUD 0° Movimiento LGBT Ecuatoriano
Lavendar Youth Recreation and Information Center (LYRIC) [San Francisco, CA]
Lesbian Caucus of the National Association of Chicana & Chicano Studies (NACCS)
Lesbian Community Cancer Project (LCCP) [Chicago, IL]
Lesbian Community Project [Portland, OR]
Lesbian Resource Center [Seattle, WA]
The LGBT Committee of the National Lawyers Guild
Mano a Mano
Metropolitan Community Church of NY
National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) [San Francisco, CA]
National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP)
National Lavender Green Caucus of the GP-USA
National Youth Advocacy Coalition (NYAC) [Washington, DC]
NYC AIDS Housing Network
New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP)
New York Transgender Rights Organization (NYTRO)
The North Carolina Lambda Youth Network (NCLYN) [Durham, NC]
Open Letter Online [Philadelphia, PA]
Out Against the War Coalition [San Francisco, CA]
Out Now [Springfield, MA]
Puerto Rican Initiative to Develop Empowerment (PRIDE)
Pride At Work, AFL-CIO [Washington, DC]
ProGay Philippines [Philippines]
Q-TEAM [Los Angeles, CA]
The Queer Cultural Center [San Francisco, CA]
Queer Economic Justice Project
Queers For Peace & Justice
Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT!) [San Francisco, CA]
Richmond Queer Space Project [Richmond, VA]
Santa Fe Rape Crisis Center [Santa Fe, NM]
Sistahs In Search of Truth, Alliance & Harmony (SiSTAH)
Social Justice Center [Albany, NY]
South Asian Lesbian & Gay Association (SALGA)
Southerners On New Ground (SONG) [Durham, NC]
Spirithouse [Washington, DC]
www.temenos.net [Silver Spring, MD]
Taller Lésbico Creativo [San Juan, Puerto Rico]
Triangle Foundation [Detroit, MI]
Trikone [Bay area, CA]
University of Arizona Committee on LGBT Studies [AZ]
urbanPEACE / Spirited Action Network
Washtenaw Rainbow Action Project (WRAP) [Ann Arbor, MI]
Women's Circle [PA]
Women's Resource of Kern [Bakersfield, CA]
WOW Cafe Theater
Youth Gender Project [San Francisco, CA]
ZAMI: Atlanta's Premiere Organization for Lesbians of African Descent [Atlanta, GA]

Individual Endorsers (as of 2/12/03)

Jody Aliesan
Rev. Denise M. Allen [Long Beach, CA]
Steve Ault
Tommi Avicolli Mecca [San Francisco, CA]
David J. Baird [Tumwater, WA]
Rev. Steven Baines [Washington, DC]
Beth Berolzheimer
Anne Binninger [Missoula, MT]
Leslie Cagan
Marta Drury [Half Moon Bay, CA]
Leslie Feinberg
David Fuentes Jr.
Marcia M. Gallo
Teresa Gutierrez
Brooke Hammond [Florence, AZ]
Richard Haymes
Jesse Heiwa
Imani Henry
Phoebe Hunter [Missoula, MT]
Doug Ireland
Maya Iwata
eric kobesak [Chicago, IL]
Sean Kosofsky [Detroit, Mi]
Machu Latorre (CA)
Kerry Lobel [Pescadero, CA]
Rev. John Magisano
Douglas Mao
David Mariner [Silver Spring, MD]
Jeffrey Montgomery [Detroit, MI]
Holly Near
William Ngo [Irvine, CA]
Tony O'Rourke
Olga Orraca [San Juan, Puerto Rico]
Fausto Paez
Minnie Bruce Pratt
Dr. Vittoria Repetto
Arthur Richards
Scott Robin [Pleasant Ridge, MI]
Nancy Romalov [Iowa City, IA]
Gary Schuldt [Olympia WA]
Sheila Seclearr [Evanston, IL]
Aishah Shahidah Simmons [Philadelphia, PA]
Sandra Soto [Tucson, AZ]
Dan Spencer [Corvallis, MT]
Cedar Spring [Sausalito, CA]
Kathy Stayton [Wayne, PA]
Thomas Scott Tucker [Philadelphia, PA]
Michelle Quintus
Bonnie Tinker [Portland, OR]
Storme Webber
Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz [Washington, DC]
Eva Yaa Asantewaa & Deborah Feller

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