Date: Tue, 8 Nov 1994 22:47:38 -0500
From: DIETPEPSI6@aol.com
Subject: Idaho-Must we wait for our liberty?

Reprinted with permission from "The Alliance" - Newsletter of the Inland
Northwest Gay People's Alliance.
October,1994 Moscow, Idaho

DO WE HAVE ANOTHER TWO-HUNDRED YEARS TO WAIT FOR OUR LIBERTY?
By Rob Painter-Johnson

I have really been struggling with what to write about this month.  With so
many things happening in the local community it becomes not only hard to
decide what might be of the most significance, but also how might I address
such an issue with an amount of eloquence with which it deserves and is just.
 I have concluded this issue must be with the direction Boise's No On One
campaign is committed, thus affecting the struggle in Idaho over Proposition
One.  I must also admit my decision to address this topic has caused me an
extensive amount of personal anguish as I have felt torn between supporting
the very community I so cherish and expressing an opinion I hold so strongly.
The No On One campaign is homophobic.  I say this without reservation and
without doubt.  The focus of the message No On One is pushing is government
intrusion, cost, and censorship.  Unconstitutionality also comes into play,
even though the literature I have seen often fails to point out why and
against who Proposition One is unconstitutional, and if it does it is only of
secondary significance and in small print.  It seems overly obvious that this
campaign is concerned in the extreme of putting a straight face forward, and
downplaying any "gay" elements within.  I see very little tolerance for any
openly gay involvement in this campaign, and I find this to be of the utter
and most distress.

Additionally, I am also concerned about writing on the topic due to the
emotions which surround the issue, both on the outside and inside of the gay
community.  I surely agree that I don't want to see the voters of Idaho
approve this initiative.  However, at what cost are we as gay persons willing
to compromise who we are to see this through to such an end?  Have we not
compromised ourselves enough, and in nearly every way, for the past hundred
or so centuries?  Win or lose wouldn't it be better to shake the stereotypes
of the closet, the myth that we are not to be trusted and that we cannot
speak the truth, and stand up for who and what we are?  Is not this finally
the opportunity we have compromised so much in the past and waited so long to
achieve?  How many of us must be beaten into submission before we are willing
to stand up and be counted?

At the October 1st INWGPA executive meeting the point was brought up by a
Boise representative of No On One that the passage of such a law, as Prop.
One, might be a lethal blow to a teenager struggling with the issue of sexual
orientation and that is why the means justifies the ends.  The argument was
that under no circumstances could it be just that we allow the passage of
this initiative for the message it might send to said teenager.  I agree with
the passion of this plea, however, in attempting to divert from the issue of
homosexuality at every turn, are we not, as a community sending the very
message we are so endeavoring to provent?  Is this not much worse that we as
homosexuals should send such a message, rather than having the message sent
by a voting population who have no understanding of who we are and what we
represent?  And, if indeed, Prop. One passes because the voter's don't
understand the issue, is it also not us whoare ultimately responsible for its
passage?  Where are the ethics, mostals and values of such a stance as it is
held by No on One?

Abraham Lincoln was faced with an abhorrent decision upon his taking the
rpesidency in the spring of 1861.  He could stand on principle and all that
was sacred to him, or he oculd perhaps aver the bloodiest was in the history
of this nation.  He chose principle and thousands died, however few would
argue whether his principles were just.  Millions now enjoy a freedom they
would have never had under the bondage of the old South.  How are we
different?  The differences lie in our ability to hide, to disappear.  But in
reality this is no different indeed.  Our hcains are bonded to the very
essence of who we are, and their stength keep our cause restrained and all of
us going through the revolving door of the closet.

Again, I cite the Black civil rights movement as justification for my
argument.  This "movement" started near the turn of the 18th century.  It was
initially called the abolitionist movement but the message was the rights of
the oppressed, the rights of the bonded slaves of the South.  Not utill the
movement gained the power and support of the Black people themselves did the
movement evolve into the granting of any civil rights.  Not until people like
Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X stood forth and told their people to
take pride in who they were and take charge of their own lives did the
movement progress.  As we near the turn of the 20th entury, nearly two
hundred years later, their truggle continues.  Is there not something to be
learned from this?!

The homophobia surrounding No On One is humiliating to us all.  And while I
have nothing more than the most respect for those who have committed long
hours to the cause and actually been the physical force behind the campaign,
I do not respect the leadership which pit us on the path of destruction.
 For, in closing, I must ask the final question, what have we won?
Rob's article