A-Infos (en) Gay Lesbian Freedom 2000

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Gay Lesbian Freedom 2000
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Visionary Politics For A New Generation

Gay Lesbian Freedom 2000 wants to change the world, to create a humane,
peaceful, just society for all people. Certainly this includes the freedom to
have sex with others of the same gender, but even more important is the way we
treat one another in all aspects of our lives, especially those we were
sexually and emotionally involved with.

We are not interested in reforming an unjust socioeconomic system to
accommodate homosexuals. We are critical of consumerism and the exploitative
nature of capitalism. We applaud advances in education, health care, housing,
etc in socially progressive countries, but are painfully aware that
homosexuality is condemned by both left and right governments. We seek
coalitions with other progressive groups working for social change both here
and throughout the world.

Now in the mid-nineties there seems to be an erosion of human values
accelerated by those more interested in rewarding the greedy at the expense of
society as a whole. The economic wealth of the US is concentrated in the hands
of a few, and public funds are lavished on the arms industry, while education,
health care, housing, transportation, infrastructure, and the environment are
denied adequate resources. Quality of life and ethical considerations are
ignored. Everything has been sacrificed to a market mentality.

The market reduces people to the twin functions of work and consumption.
Nothing else matters. An individual who  does neither is considered worthless,
to be thrown away. Television shows us what we must own in order to be
successful. Schools train us for careers. Society demands we produce goods and
babies to keep the wheels spinning. We sell the use of our hands, eyes, feet,
mouth, brain to survive in the material world.

For centuries, organized religion has also been used to control and manipulate
people for the benefit of a few. Church leaders preach fear and hatred,
pitting their followers against nonbelievers, claiming some are blessed while
others are doomed. The physical is denied for the promised rewards of an
afterlife. Unfortunately, neither blind faith in religion nor the limited
trust in science provide adequate meaning in our lives today. Struggling to
guarantee the basic material needs of food, housing, clothing, education,
health care does not negate deeper spiritual needs and such things as love,
hope, friendship, peace, joy, and community.

The radical agenda of Gay Lesbian Freedom 2000 is critical in the nineties.
Hopefully the means of pursuit will be in harmony with the ends we desire or
we will fail to achieve our goals, our efforts merely replacing one problem
with another, exchanging one injustice for another, installing the previous
victim as the new oppressor.

One goal is to eliminate all violence. To outlaw corporal punishment by
parents. To stop child abuse, whether physical, emotional, or sexual. End
domestic violence. Stop rape. To ban guns. Disarm law enforcement. To repeal
the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. End capital punishment. To
renounce war. Close military bases. To disarm the tremendous arsenal of
weapons our country has amassed. Cease the further production of instruments
of death made for use both here and abroad. To seek peaceful resolutions to
all conflict. Utilize the resources once devoted to defense to create a more
humane society.

Gays in the military was pushed as a top priority by some lesbian/gay
activists after the Clinton election. Others in the community demand more AIDS
funding. There is a move to legalize same-sex marriages. Also there is
continued struggle against job discrimination. For me the most pressing issue
affecting lesbians and gays is the establishment of single-payer health care
coverage for all people in the US. Despite recent setbacks, it can unite not
only our community, but align us with progressive groups in many other
communities to benefit the entire nation.

There is something drastically wrong with a country which has a prison
population of a million. To encourage prison building as another growth
industry while ignoring the educational needs of our children is not
acceptable. Racism, primarily directed against blacks, but secondarily against
latinos, and various other ethnic groups, is part of the problem, which will
not be solved until we stop thinking in terms of them and us, encourage honest
dialogue, seek and implement measures to resolve the injustices of economic
inequality and community disenfranchisement.

We need to sit down with our neighbors, our community, to discuss the kind of
society we want. It will not happen if left to the maneuvering of special-
interest groups each carving up their share without concern for the general
welfare of all. Presently a small minority of individuals controls the
majority of the wealth, an increasing majority is destitute, while those in
the middle are steadily loosing ground economically.

I would like to see both a minimum and maximum income established. A guarantee
of $10,000 and a limit of $5,000,000 per person. No employee of a company
would be allowed to receive a salary more than ten times that of the lowest
paid employee in the same organization. We cannot afford to indulge the
neurotic obsession for unlimited wealth and power of a few while the basic
needs of many remain unfulfilled.

As a step toward gender equality, since each state is entitled to two
senators, one should be a woman and the other a man. That is the least we can
do to encourage balance in the US Senate. The same principle might be applied
to bicameral state legislatures which have two elected officials from each
county in one of the houses. 
 Gay Lesbian Freedom 2000 is a vision requiring the input and participation of
all gays and lesbians to make it happen. There are no leaders, we are equal
partners in this great venture, and together we can make it a reality.        
________________________________________________
N. A. Diaman
Persona Productions
PO Box 14022
San Francisco, CA 94114-0022
personapro@aol.com
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Gay Lesbian Freedom 2000
http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Stonewall/5835/ 
glf2000 mailing list at http://www.onelist.com
for more info contact personapro@aol.com
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