IRSCNA: LGBT Solidarity Statement 2012

international | gender and sexuality | press release

Wednesday June 27, 2012 22:21

by IRSCNA - IRSCNA

irscna at irsm dot org

The IRSCNA's LGBT Solidarity Statement for 2012, issued to mark the 43rd anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

27 June 2012
Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America

LGBT Solidarity Statement 2012

On behalf of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement, the Irish
Republican Socialist Committees of North America send solidarity
greetings to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people on the
occasion of the 43rd anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion that
marked the birth of the gay liberation and gay pride movements.

The Stonewall Rebellion began on 28 June 1969 when New York City
police raided the Stonewall Inn, a bar in the Greenwich Village
neighborhood that catered to gay and some transgender customers.
Unlike previous raids, this time the patrons fought back. The
Rebellion grew to involve 2,000 protesters doing battle with 400
police officers over several nights. The chant of "Gay Power!" became
a rallying cry for oppressed sexual minorities worldwide.

Some of the patrons of the Stonewall Inn were Black and/or Hispanic,
placing the Rebellion firmly in the broader context of the social
uprisings of Blacks and Hispanics against oppression in 1960s
America.

Some LGBT activist groups formed in the immediate aftermath of the
Stonewall Rebellion, like the Gay Liberation Front groups in both the
US and Britain, were also anti-sexist, anti-racist, anti-imperialist,
and anti-capitalist, arguing that the liberation of LGBT people, and
the sexual liberation of all people, could only happen as part of a
broader liberation struggle.

For thirty-seven years, the Irish Republican Socialist Party (the
main political component of the IRSM) has supported equality for gays
and lesbians, beginning with the party's first convention in 1975,
when it became one of the first political parties in Ireland to
support gay rights.

The IRSP became the first political party in Ireland to explicitly
support equality for bisexuals and transgender people in a motion
passed at its 2000 convention, which stated, "The IRSP affirms its
commitment to full equality for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and
transgender people."

On behalf of the IRSM, the IRSCNA demands full equality for lesbians,
gays, bisexuals, and transgender people in all spheres of life, in
America, Ireland, and worldwide.

Full equality in all spheres of life means we support the rights of
LGBT people to adopt children and to marry, rights which are taken
for granted by heterosexuals.

Further, we believe that rights and privileges must ultimately be
detached from marital status, so that family relationships are
defined by the people in them, not the state or the church. People's
rights should not be determined by their willingness or ability to
participate in state or church sanctioned arrangements.

As revolutionary socialists, we recognize that LGBT liberation
requires more than just reform, it also requires a revolutionary
change in society. Full sexual and gender liberation for all people
can only happen if existing social institutions are abolished and the
archaic values they represent are swept aside with them.

In Ireland, the US, and elsewhere, the Catholic Church has exerted
its influence to oppose civil laws promoting LGBT equality, while
promoting homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia. This is an example
of the archaic values which must be swept aside.

We demand an end to all homophobic, biphobic, and transphobic
religious bodies attempting to impose their beliefs on society as a
whole. As socialists, we stand against theocracy and for secularism.
Religion is a private matter, and should not be imposed on anyone nor
used to justify the dehumanization of LGBT people.

We understand that revolutionary change will affect our understanding
of family, relationships, sexuality, and gender, as those all reflect
the nature of the society they exist within. Under capitalism,
relationships and sexuality are commodities. Marriage and family
reflect existing property relations. Under socialism, they will
reflect new social relations.

We condemn all physical and legalistic attacks against LGBT people,
and we stand in solidarity with the victims of homophobic, biphobic,
and transphobic violence. We demand an end to all violence and
intimidation against LGBT people, including mistreatment by police
and other authorities.

We demand an end to biphobia from some gays and lesbians, and we
demand an end to transphobia from some gays, lesbians, and certain
feminist tendencies.

We demand that all people regardless of age have free access to
information about their bodies and sexual health, unfettered by
political and religious doctrines that transform natural human bodily
functions into matters of "sin" or disease.

We demand that the medical and psychiatric establishments stop
enforcing sex/gender apartheid through the creation of false diseases
and the denial of medical care. We oppose so-called "reparative
therapies" which propose to "cure" sexual and gender diversity,
seeing them as another form of violence against LGBT people.

Further, we believe that the social pressures placed on people to
conform to narrowly defined gender roles must be combatted and
eliminated, to advance the liberation of all people.

We believe each human being has an inherent right to define their own
sexuality, whether it's lesbian, gay, bisexual, heterosexual,
asexual, or whatever label they choose to apply to themselves, and we
believe each human being has an inherent right to define their gender
and to make decisions about their bodies based on those definitions.

Neither the state nor the church should have the authority to deny
these rights.

Further, these rights are non-negotiable. No concessions should be
made to bigots, no matter who they are or how they cloak their
prejudice.

Onward to full liberation for all sexual orientations and genders!

###

Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America
PO Box 5174
Champaign IL 61825
USA
irscna@irsm.org
http://www.irscna.org/
http://www.irsp.ie/irscna.html

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IRSCNA: LGBT Solidarity Statement 2012