Library:In the Spirit of Stonewall/Gay people fight back!

Gay people fight back!

April 20, 1972

The U.S Supreme Court, that most prestigious of judicial bodies, decided recently to let stand a lower court ruling which condones the firing of an openly homosexual librarian in Minnesota. The justices wanted their decision clearly understood. They were not against gay people having jobs. What disturbed them was that the librarian made no effort to hide the fact of his "reprehensible" sexual orientation. Under these conditions, they reasoned. his firing was completely justified. Several days later the New York Daily News, not wanting to be outdone by the Supreme Court, ran an editorial entitles "Any Old Jobs For Homos." Their thorough misrepresentation of the facts was predictable; their sexist attitude was a direct challenge to New York City's large gay community.

On Monday, April 10, several hundred demonstrators, organized by the New York Gay Activists Alliance, converged on the Daily News Building to demand a retraction. Inside the building, other gays spoke to the workers, requesting their support against the editorial. These organizers later reported that about 90 percent of the workers they spoke with supported the rights of gay people and opposed the newspaper's reactionary policy. On one floor, several workers offered to start a petition campaign against the offensive editorial.

In a related development, 800 gay people from all over New York State converged on Albany on Saturday, April 15, to demand passage, during this session of the state legislature, of gay rights bills that were defeated last year. The Gay Caucus of Youth Against War & Fascism participated in the spirited march and rally with a banner reading "End Gay Oppression Equal Rights Now!"

On Saturday evening, about 20 participants in the afternoon march went to a banquet of bourgeois press and media officials at the New York Hilton Hotel. Their purpose was to protest the perpetual ban on news relevant to the gay community, As they began passing out leaflets inside the hotel, the sisters and brothers were attacked and beaten by silk-suited thugs reportedly including the New York City Fire Commissioner. This new attack on gay activists will not go unchallenged.

It becomes increasingly evident, as repression follows repression, that the billionaire rulers of this society have no intention of ending the Viet Nam War and no intention of meeting the desperate needs of the masses of American people. The idea of freedom for people who refuse to submit to the rigid stereotypes of "male" and "female" is a very real challenge to the sexual oppression of class society. The rulers would like nothing better than to force us back into hiding. But the existence of homosexuality has been demonstrated in almost all human societies. We will no longer submit to the hypocrisy of non-existence. No more closets for out love!