GAY, LESBIAN & BISEXUAL
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
JULY 4, 1993

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to 
dissolve the political bands 
which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of 
the earth, the separate and 
equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them, a 
decent respect to the opinions of 
mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to 
the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, 
that they are endowed by their 
Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among them are life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness.  
That to secure those rights, governments are instituted deriving their just 
powers from the consent of the 
governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these 
ends, it is the right of the 
people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying 
its foundation on such principles 
and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely 
to effect their safety and 
happiness.  Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long 
established should not be changed for 
light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that 
people are more disposed to 
suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing 
the forms to which they are 
accustomed.  But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing 
invariably the same object evinces 
a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is 
their duty, to throw off such 
government, and to provide new guards for their future security.  Such has 
been the patient sufferance of 
the gay, lesbian and bisexual people of the United States of America.  The 
history of the government of 
the United States and of the United States Armed Forces is a history of 
repeated injuries and usurpations, 
all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over 
the lives of gay, lesbian and 
bisexual people.  To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

They have established orders and regulations requiring that, no matter how 
professional we are in our 
military bearing, personal behavior and professional performance, in order 
to serve in the Armed Forces 
we must:

*	Have no feelings of romantic affection or sexual attraction to any 
person of our own general feelings 
which are inherent in us by the nature of our being and without which many 
of us would have no 
romantic or sexual feelings at all;
*	Deny to all people that we have such feelings and lie about who we 
are;
*	Refrain from expressing our feelings of romantic love or affection 
at any time in any place in any 
way, be it by words in a letter, a gentle kiss, a hug, or a sexual union;
*	Never have had or expressed such feelings prior to entering the 
military service, except if we deny 
that the feelings or expressions were true or genuine;
*	Never enter into a formal religiously sanctioned union with the 
person we love;

To enforce these orders and regulations, they have:

*	Read our mail;
*	Read our diaries;
*	Listened to our phone calls;
*	Watched places where we live, socialize, and worship;
*	Followed us when we travel, even into the halls of the United 
States Capitol as we presented our 
grievances to our elected representatives;
*	Interrogated our neighbors and families;
*	Terrorized us with threats, lies, day-long interrogations, 
imprisonment in tiny closets in our own 
excrement;
*	Investigated and terrorized military people who simply associated 
with us or expressed support for 
ending such official abuse;
*	Labeled us 'undesirable' and discharged us based on concocted 
evidence using a procedure that 
requires no rules of evidence or judicial protections;
*	Colluded with federal and civilian employers to deny us employment 
subsequent to our discharge;
*	Refused to investigate when we have been raped, but often turned 
around and investigated and 
discharged us;
*	Used provisions of Articles 125 and 134 of the Uniform Code of 
Military Justice to imprison us for 
behavior which 90% of heterosexual members of the military engages in and 
often boasts about 
without any fear of disciplinary action;
*	Refused to take action to prevent or stop verbal and physical 
abuse against us by other members of the 
military;
*	Attempted to cover up the murder of Allen Schindler and permitted 
one of his murderers to go 
unpunished;
*	Concocted evidence and browbeaten witnesses to blame the explosion 
and deaths of over 40 sailors 
aboard the USS Iowa on a supposedly gay sailor, when the facts showed that 
the probable cause of 
that accident was the improper use of unstable and oversized explosive 
charges in the ship's guns;
*	Sacrificed the good order and mission capability of countless 
military commands in order to conduct 
witch hunts to find, abuse and discharge gay, lesbian, and bisexual service 
members whose 
performance and behavior were nothing but impeccable;
*	Lied to the President, the Senate Armed Services Committee and the 
American People regarding the 
capability of the military system to accept an end to discrimination 
against us without disruption to 
unit cohesion or good order and discipline.  Even General Colin Powell has 
quietly acknowledged 
that the application of basic leadership skills can successfully implement 
such a policy, just as was 
done in the case of racial integration.

In every stage of the oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the 
most humble terms: our repeated 
petitions have been answered only with repeated injury.  Military 
Commanders have refused to enforce 
regulations requiring that all members of the military treat each other 
with respect.  The courts have 
denied us the protection of the Constitution for whose defense we have 
given our lives.  Members of 
Congress have scorned us and encouraged members of the military to abuse 
and beat us.  The 
Commander-in-Chief has deferred to the very military commanders responsible 
for these policies and 
practices of abuse.

We, therefore, lesbian, gay, and bisexual people of the United States of 
America, appealing to the 
Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do solemnly 
publish and declare that we 
are, and of right ought to be, free and independent people absolved from 
any obligation to adhere to any 
law or regulation which abuses or oppresses us.  And for the support of 
this declaration, with a firm 
reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each 
other our lives, our fortunes, 
and our sacred honor.