History of Stonewall Rebellion inspires Asheville commemoration

By Katie Mingle

June 26 (AGR)— On Saturday, June 29, Asheville residents will celebrate the 32nd anniversary of the Stonewall riots by gathering in Prichard Park decked out in their queerest gear and ready to parade through the city. The Stonewall riots, also remembered as the “Stonewall Rebellion” and simply, “Stonewall,” are considered to be a milestone in gay activism and are honored in gay pride parades and celebrations all across America each summer.

The fine details of the Stonewall Riots may vary depending on the account. The line between fact and fiction becomes a bit blurred under the weight of such a legendary event. However, some details of Stonewall and its consequences cannot be disputed.

The event took place June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn, a well-known gay bar on the west side of lower Manhattan. It started with a fairly routine police raid on the bar and ended after five days of rioting by thousands of people in the streets of New York. That the raid was “routine” implies only that these raids happened frequently, but it is not to imply that these raids at Stonewall and at other gay bars all throughout the US didn’t have dire consequences for the people arrested, for the drag queens and butches especially, who were often raped, beaten, and humiliated by the police.

June 28 was a night like any other at the mafia-run Stonewall Inn when eight police officers raided the bar and forced the patrons to stop dancing with each other (there were laws against same-sex dancing) and into the streets for ID checks. When they began to arrest some of the drag queens (there were also laws against cross-dressing), the crowd became heated and people started yelling and fighting. Some say the drag queens led the Stonewall Rebellion, others say it was the bull dykes. Most likely there was no one punch or single bottle thrown that spurred the melee that commenced that night. What is certain is that all hell broke loose on the street outside the Stonewall Inn and that the people fought back with a fervor that they hadn’t unleashed before. Eventually, the people forced the police inside the bar where they stayed locked up until back-up arrived on the scene and the riot was temporarily dispersed. Thirteen people were arrested and a handful of police were injured. The entire riot lasted only about 45 minutes, but it was what followed in the days after June 28 that turned Stonewall into a colossal event.

Over the next four days, about two thousand people came out into the streets of the West Village in what was less a protest than an explosion of rage against the oppressive conditions they had been living under for so long. Two thousand may sound small in light of what gay activism and gay pride have become, but in 1969 it was the largest ever public demonstration by lesbian, gay, and transgendered people.

Immediately following the days of rioting people began organizing and formed new activist groups such as the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA). However, Stonewall was not the beginning of gay activism, but a unifying moment.

Renee Vera Cafiero, a gay rights activist during the time of Stonewall, put it this way: “Stonewall was a spark. It was Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks was not the beginning of the black civil rights movement but somehow she was unifying. She was something that you could rally around. And Stonewall, for some reason, was the rallying point.”

Before Stonewall, New York, San Francisco, Chicago and other large American cities had well-organized and fairly extensive gay sub-cultures that date back to the late nineteenth century. Groups such as the Mattachine Society, a gay men’s organization, and the Daughters of Bilitis, a lesbian organization, came into being following the second world war. These groups would meet and publish newsletters and sometimes organize small demonstrations. They were generally interested in gaining acceptance into mainstream society for homosexuals.

After Stonewall, gay activism underwent a change in ideology. The language of the movement was one of the first things to change as people stopped strictly using the word “homosexual” to describe themselves. Instead, the new movement preferred the word gay and adopted the slogan “Gay is Good.” This slogan and others used by gay activists were inspired in large part by the civil rights movement which was unfolding at the same time. Many people in the movement became less interested in a culture they found to be bigoted, cruel, and ultimately a bit dull. They became engaged, instead, in forming their own culture which they hoped would be allowed to flourish and enjoy constitutional rights and freedoms.

Still, the progress effected by the original pioneers of gay activism cannot be denied. These individuals and organizations laid the foundation for the future of gay activism and the promotion of many social changes.

The history of the Gay Rights Movement is thick and complex. Like most political and cultural revolutions, it endured multiple schisms between men and women and conservatives, liberals, and radicals. Nevertheless, important strides have been made by the gay community in many realms. Great losses were suffered as well, among them the assassination of Harvey Milk, the openly gay superintendent of San Francisco; the death of 32 people in an intentionally set fire in a gay bar in New Orleans; and the millions of people who died of AIDS while the government denied them the proper funding and care.

“Still today there is so much to be done in gay activism,” said one of the organizers of the Asheville Stonewall event. “At least kids are learning about the civil rights movement in school. You never hear a thing about the Gay Rights Movement or all the horrible injustices people suffered. We want this parade to remember all the brave people in the past but also to acknowledge that gay issues are still pushed under the rug too often. On Saturday we won’t be under the rug, we’ll be out there having a fun time and being as queer as we please.”

NC Democratic Party calls for halt to nuclear shipments

Durham, NC -- The state Democratic Party has called for an immediate halt to shipments of high-level nuclear waste, and for measures to decrease the likelihood and consequences of an attack on North Carolina’s nuclear power plants.  Also, Attorney General (AG) Roy Cooper’s general counsel met this week with representatives of environmental group NC WARN to discuss a legal petition calling for the AG to use his authority to stop nuclear waste transports and stockpiling by Carolina Power & Light.

Delegates from across the state passed the resolution on Terrorism and Nuclear Safety at their annual convention in Raleigh last week after the document made its way through precinct, county and district levels.  On Tuesday, State Senator Ellie Kinnaird conveyed the party’s declaration to AG Cooper. Kinnaird’s district includes Chatham County, which is just across the county line from CP&L’s Shearon Harris.  The plant is one of five commercial reactors in North Carolina, and the only US plant importing nuclear waste fuel.

Jerry Markatos, Resolutions Chair for the Chatham Democratic Party, said today, “With the state budget in shreds, we must reduce our exposure to risk everywhere we can.  Insurance requirements for the nuclear industry are capped and homeowner policies exclude nuclear releases.  An accident could permanently damage the state economy.”  He added that the resolution spells out specific steps that common sense and prudence, and the NC Democratic party, urge upon all responsible NC public servants.

The resolution calls for improved emergency planning around each nuclear plant, and for dry storage of waste fuel.  Experts and environmentalists argue that thick steel canisters surrounded by earthen mounds would be far safer than the enormous cooling pools packed with waste.  All the plants will be storing large amounts of waste for decades.  Terrorists have threatened to attack US nuclear facilities.

The party’s move adds to the growing pressure on Governor Mike Easley and US Sen. John Edwards, both Democrats.  Both have refused to support NC WARN’s insistence that the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission  suspend CP&L’s nuclear transports pending a first-ever evaluation of terrorism risks. However, Edwards and Easley were urged to take action again last month this time by a Chatham official with an extensive military and airlines background who says CP&L’s unique transports are too risky.  Chatham Commissioner Rick Givens’ action followed a serious security breach on a waste train recently bound for Harris.

Cooper, on the other hand, has expressed concern about the nuclear transports and the build-up of waste fuel rods at Harris, which already has one of the nation’s largest concentrations of nuclear material. On June 25, the Attorney General’s general counsel, J.B. Kelly, held a 90-minute meeting with public interest lawyer Lewis Pitts and NC WARN Director Jim Warren.  Cooper continues to review a legal petition from 18 citizen groups calling for him to stop the trains based on the state’s control over CP&L/Progress Energy’s corporate charter.

Source: NC WARN (North Carolina Waste Awareness & Reduction Network)

South Carolina losing fight against nuke shipments

By Cat Lazaroff

Richmond, Virginia, June 21 (ENS)-- A federal appeals court has denied South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges’ request to bar plutonium shipments from other states, dealing another blow to the state’s suit against plans to send tons of surplus nuclear materials to South Carolina for reprocessing. The court agreed to fast track Hodge’s appeal, but the Energy Department has said the shipments could begin as early as Saturday.

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LOCAL & REGIONAL BRIEFS

Jury convicts Y-12 protesters
It took jurors only 30 minutes June 20 to return a guilty verdict for three protesters charged with trespassing at Y-12, the Oak Ridge nuclear weapons plant.

The trial was the first-ever prosecution in federal court of protesters charged with trespassing at the facility.

Mary Elinor Adams, 61, of Bisbee, Ariz.; Elizabeth Ann Lentsch, a Catholic nun known as Sister Mary Dennis, 65, of Apison, Tenn.; and Timothy Joseph Mellon, 46, of Oak Ridge were arrested April 14 and charged with federal trespassing violations after they climbed over a metal barricade blocking an entrance to Y-12.

Lawyers for the defendants argued that the defendants didn’t trespass into an “enclosed” area.

The boundary of the Y-12 plant is surrounded by a barbed wire fence that is open in several places where traffic can pass through. (Knoxville News-Sentinel)

Local food guide published
 Where can you find locally grown food? Many people want to buy locally grown food but just don’t know where to look. They know that eating local food is fresher, healthier, and supports the local economy and local farms. Now they have a way to find local food. The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) has published the Buy Appalachian Local Food Guide, a guide to fresh locally grown foods from the mountains of western North Carolina. This free guide can be picked up at area businesses that support local agriulture and on the web at www.buyappalachian.org.

This forty-page guide includes listings of local farms, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), tailgate markets, restaurants, grocers, and other businesses that sell or process local farm products.

Number of I-240 lane still in question

By Sachie Godwin

The Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) voted 7-3 on June 20 to accept a state Department of Transportation recommendation that I- 240 be widened from four to eight lanes between the west end of Smoky Park Bridge and the Interstate 26/I-40/I-240 interchange.

City Council members Brian Peterson, Holly Jones and Terry Bellamy attempted to adopt a resolution stating Council’s preference for the widening of I-240 be limited to six lanes, on June 18. The measure was blocked by other council members who cited “procedural” concerns.

However, organizers of the I-26 Connector Awareness Group refuse to be dissuaded by the recent development, according to a spokesperson for the group.

After over three years of involvement, the group highlighted its successes, rather than setbacks.

The spokesperson stressed that although the TAC vote has some effect on the process, nothing final has been decided by the DOT and that they have assured the group that they would review systems analysis reports before making any further decisions.

The group cited an added interchange at I-40 and facilitating an “inclusive” process open to citizens, Council members and the DOT as some of its achievements.