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The Other Side
of Justice
To the Editor:
As Christina Cash wrote about in
Southern Voice (Vol. 1, #17), I also have
recently been an escort at several of the
Atlanta abortion clinics as part of the
GARAL-organizcd effort to insure women's
constitutional rights to abortion and
reproductive freedom in the face of
Operation Rescue's assault on Atlanta. The
experience has been politically affirming
and invigorating, giving me a chance to pull
my politics from my head and into concrete
action where the results (getting a woman
safely into a clinic) can be readily seen. It
has been emotionally intense, almost
beyond description, to be so face-to-face
with such overt and insidious woman-
hating, such religiously invoked bigotry and
such verbal and emotional violence as
displayed by the fundamentalist fringe.
I have been screamed at, chanted at, sung
at, witnessed to, and called sister by throngs
of mostly white, self-called Christian, bible-
toting, bible-waving, blathering fundamen
talist and Catholic dogmatists and others
somewhere in between. I have been called
murderer, a supporter of Satan, told there
was blood on my hands, told Jesus loves
me, Jesus forgives me by men and women
with pinched faces and eyes full of hate and
confusion, some with eyes glazed over as if
drugged. I have watched people who pro
fess god-given love and moral right verbally
assault and physically invade women on
their way into the clinics. All this has been
directed by Operation Rescue's leader,
Randall Terry, who walks around with a
mobile phone as if on a direct line to god
telling mobs of other white men how to tell
women-often women of color-what to do
with their bodies (be it not have an abortion
or get arrested if it’s one of his own women).
For assisting a woman who asked me to
help her get through the protesters and their
plastic fetuses and bloody pictures, I have
been accused of assault by a particularly
offensive "Sidewalk counselor" who dresses
in a nurse's uniform and wears a stethoscope
around her neck in her attempt to confuse
and trick women and their partners.
All this ugly, hateful behavior from a
group who also uses as tactics some of the
same ones I agree with for social
change-namely civil disobedience, sit-
downs, going Ump, giving symbolic names
to police when arrested. Confronting all this
by not actively engaging with those spewing
invectives and instead maintaining a calm,
mature, thoughtful presence to make the
situation safer for the individual women
trying to get into the clinics has been
empowering. At the same time it has been
very confusing.
To be "protected" by throngs of police, to
be behind the yellow police tape, to be
allowed to go back and forth across the
police lines with no questions asked
because I am wearing an appropriate T-shirt
(either one with the name of one of the
clinics or one of GARAL's, "I'm "Pro
Choice and I'm Southern") has felt very
strange. Much of my political activity has
been from on the other side of the line,
instead of this rare occasion where I am in
situational collusion with the police to
protect a woman's right. I have heard time
and again from others also involved in
escorting that the police are behaving
heroically, how they have been so
wonderful and helpful. In this situation they
have been helpful by enforcing the law. In
this situation they are doing their jobs well.
Yet how many times have I wished the
police had done their jobs as well by taking
violence against lesbians and gay men
seriously? How many times have I wished
that police had done their jobs so well by
protecting a woman's rights before she was
beaten up again by a violent husband or
lover, before she was finally killed? How
many times have I wished the police took
women seriously and did not blame them
for rape and sexual harassment by men?
My point is not to discredit the police for
the job they are currently doing. The
individual officers I have had contact with
have been professional and polite. My
point, however, is to remind us that we have
not always been and will not always be on
this side of the police line. At this time, on
this issue, we happen to be on the legally-
sanctioned side of justice. At some time in
the future because of issues that are not so
legally-sanctioned but just as morally
imperative we will be again at odds with the
powers that be. That time could easily be
tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Celeste Tibbets
Standing Up
for Our Own
To the Editor:
Recently, my patient and I were
discussing the shortage of male nurses. One
of his remarks was, "Well, I don't want any
of the male nurses here taking care of me!"
I asked him to explain. He replied with,
"Those limp-wristed queers, they're
attracted to men!" Although these remarks
were made with much bravado and little
forethought, I still felt fear, confusion,
disappointment and anger. I also marveled
at his presumed inalienable right which
allowed him to feel no danger in making
those remarks to me, thoughtlessly or
otherwise. Initially, I attributed his
statements to ignorance and youth. I
rationalized to myself that he really wasn't
talking about me, he was talking about
"them" (men). Then something, somewhere
inside of me shouted: "He is too talking
about you, and what is even worse is that
you are letting him!"
In those moments I concluded that: his
homophobic remarks hurt me, whether he
made them about me or about my commu
nity; if I did not question him about his re
marks I was allowing him to render me invi
sible and I was condoning his hateful beha
vior; and if I did not "come out" to him, he
would continue to believe all the negative
stereotypes because he had no knowledge
which might contradict his present belief system.
It then became very important to me to
let this young man know who I am, that the
nurse who is his health advocate, who daily,
calms his fears, wipes his tears, feces and
urine is not a heterosexual woman, but
instead and indeed a proud Lesbian.
After our exchange, there were no joyous
"Welcome-home-we-love-you-darling" type
feelings. There was only fear, justified or
otherwise, I fear reprisal. I may be jeopar
dizing my livelihood, I am obviously vulnerable.
I was also exhausted and I pondered how
often I realized and acknowledged the
courage, energy and creativity that it takes
for me to "come-out" each and every time in
an unsafe environment.
So I have promised myself that each time
I validate who I am by "coming-out," I will
celebrate. I will celebrate me and I will
celebrate us because for me, to paraphrase
from "La Cage aux Folles," life is not worth
a damn, unless I can say I AM WHAT I
AM.
Sincerely,
Lily Artemis
Shredded Wheat, It Ain't So Neat
To the Editor:
A Shredded Wheat commercial has been running the last week on T.V. It is my belief
this ad is a subtle form of gay bashing. Worse still, this ad teaches children it's O.K. to
make fun of homosexuality and, with rather obvious symbolism, condones violence.
The scene is two sailors are on shipboard. One is big, burley and says he's from
Brooklyn. The other man is rather young, naive. The young man is systematically breaking
up Shredded Wheat into a bowl. "Brooklyn" asks, "Where are you from?" "Illinois." "The
only people I ever say break up Shredded Wheat that way were from Kentucky. In
Brooklyn, we do it like this..." And, with those words, he smashes his cereal into bits. The
young man then asks, "What do guys in California do?" "They float it.” And, then they
give each other knowing glances and snicker.
I am totally opposed to violence, and in this instance I fear this ad teaches that violence
against homosexuals is O.K. While Shredded Wheat is aimed at an adult market, children
are tuned into commercials, especially for cereal. Certainly, they will hear their parents
reaction to this ad. Too many will give a similar message to their children.
I am a mother and a grandmother. I've never taught these attitudes and I don't believe
Shredded Wheat should either.
Sincerely,
Judy Collins
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