(1686)  Fri 28 Jul 95 16:34
By: Sean McCullough
To: All
Re: Sister Spirit victory
St:
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@EID:44c4 1efc8440
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 * Forwarded from "Alternative News"
 * Originally by eskinews!nyxfer.blythe.org!ww
 * Originally to All
 * Originally dated 25 Jul 1995, 22:41

From: eskinews!nyxfer.blythe.org!ww (Workers World Service)
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1995 02:41:30 -0400 (EDT)
Reply-To: eskinews!wwp.blythe.org!ww


------------------------
Via Workers World Service
Reprinted from the July 27, 1995, issue of Workers Worldnewspaper
-----------------------

VICTORY FOR LESBIANS AT SISTER SPIRIT

By Kristianna Tho'Mas

Despite the ongoing right-wing juggernaut against all every
form of social progress, the lesbian and gay rights movement
continues to win support--even in what is supposed to be the
solid core of reaction, the South.

Mississippi, to be exact.

There, in the small rural community of Ovett, a lesbian
couple has persevered for two years in their fight to create
an anti-racist, feminist gathering site on their farmland.

It hasn't been easy. Klan-type forces have waged an endless
campaign of violent terror trying to drive them away.

But they have won important support, locally and nationally.
Ben Chaney, brother of slain civil-rights worker James
Chaney, has lent a hand physically defending Camp Sister
Spirit. Women from Georgia, Texas, New York and elsewhere
have traveled to the property to help.

As word of the siege against Camp Sister Spirit spread and
the campaign of support swelled, the forces that thrive on
creating divisions and hatred couldn't help but realize that
their efforts weren't working. Now, in the face of the
homophobia and anti-lesbian bigotry, Camp Sister Spirit has
scored another victory in its right to serve the lesbian
community of Mississippi.

On July 5, Jones County Chancery Court Chancellor (Judge)
Frank McKenzie refused right wingers' petition to close down
the camp. The anti-lesbian plaintiffs--most of whom had
removed their names from the petition by the time of the
hearing--had claimed Camp Sister Spirit disrupted
neighborhood life and therefore posed a "private nuisance."

McKenzie, no doubt well aware of national attention,
rejected that notion.

Since Camp Sister Spirit opened its owners, Brenda Henson
and Wanda Henson, have turned the site into a symbol of
resistance to anti-gay, right-wing assaults. Clearly,
nationwide support for the two women, who are lovers, has
proved pivotal in the struggle for lesbian liberation and
pride.

ADOPTION RIGHT VICTORY

On another front, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals
ruled June 30 that unmarried couples in a "committed
relationship"--including gay and lesbian couples--are
permitted to adopt children under Washington law.

The two-to-one decision was a victory for a gay couple known
only as Mark and Bruce who want to jointly adopt a 3-year-
old girl named Hillary. Bruce had already legally adopted
her.

In the summer of 1994, a Superior Court judge had ruled
against Mark and Bruce's adoption petition. The June 30
Court of Appeals ruling sends the matter back in the
Superior Court for final action.

Associate Judge John M. Ferren wrote the June 30 majority
opinion. His ruling read in part, "If children available for
adoption are likely to be denied permanent, loving homes
when unmarried couples are refused the opportunity to adopt
... we would have to say it would be absurd and unjust if
the adoptions were denied."

Legal experts said the ruling has national significance.

So does this: Most young people in this country believe
same-sex couples should be allowed to get married.

On June 21-26, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
conducted a nationwide telephone survey of 1,000 voters.
One-third of those polled said they believe that two people
of the same sex should be able to get married.

That alone would be quite significant. Trudy Rudnick,
president of Federation of Teachers Local 3882 and a
longtime lesbian activist, told Workers World: "For well
over a millennium lesbian and gay oppression has been
buttressed by the overwhelming weight of homophobia
propagated via every possible official and religious source.

"The modern movement to counter the old ideas is only 26
years old. It's amazing and really encouraging how quickly
people are not only dropping their prejudices but moving
beyond that to accept what would have been an unbelievably
radical idea just a few years ago--gay marriage."

But there's more. Although those who support gay marriage
don't yet make up the majority of the whole population, they
are the majority of younger people.

Fifty-six percent of the 18-to-24-year-olds polled approved
of gay marriages.

This is due both to the strength of the gay movement and to
the growing number of youths involved in the progressive
struggle, of which the fight for gay liberation is an
integral part.

Popular culture also plays a part. Jeffrey Montgomery,
president of Detroit's Triangle Foundation, told the
Associated Press, "Younger people are seeing more and more
popular entertainers who are willing to come out and have
done so and seeing other entertainers who aren't gay or
lesbian who are giving strong messages that it doesn't make
any difference."

About a dozen U.S. cities, including New York, San
Francisco, Minneapolis and Madison, Wisc., now allow lesbian
and gay couples to register as domestic partners. However,
in most places domestic partnership is only a symbolic
recognition of same-sex relationships and doesn't entail the
same legal rights as marriage.

                          -30-

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint
granted if source is cited. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
ww@wwp.blythe.org. For subscription info send message to:
ww-info@wwp.blythe.org.)




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