Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit MISSISSIPPI LESBIAN ACTIVISTS STAND STRONG By Leslie Feinberg "This is my Mississippi Stonewall," says Brenda Henson. "We are not moving off this land." Henson and her lover Wanda Henson are fighting back against a terror campaign. The anti-lesbian offensive is organized by fire-and-brimstone Bible thumpers and Klan-type thugs determined to drive the Hensons from their 120-acre farm in Ovett, Miss. The Hensons call their land Camp Sister Spirit. They plan to turn it into a feminist center for anti-poverty and anti-racist organizing and literacy training. The farm has been under siege--firebombs, gunshots, threats on their lives--for over four months. But Henson says: "I'm not going anywhere. They're not gonna beat me down. "That's our commitment. We've done everything as an out lesbian couple. We've never been closeted." WHITE SHEETS, BLUE UNIFORMS The reactionary campaign has been focused on the fact that both women are lesbians. But the Hensons, who are white, are also anti-racist activists. That, too, makes them a target for the ultra-right. At a December meeting of 250 terrorists organized into something called the Opposition Group, several men were heard to comment, "It's time to get out the white sheets again," invoking the bloody Klan history in Jones County, Miss. The Hensons's battle has drawn strong support from civil-rights activist Ben Chaney. His brother James Chaney was one of the three civil-rights workers murdered in Philadelphia, Miss., in 1964. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference has also issued statements of support for Camp Sister Spirit. The Hensons know better than to put their faith in the police. Jones County Sheriff Maurice Hooks spoke out against the Hensons at the Opposition Group meeting in December. In January he was seen collecting money to launch a court effort to oust them. "We went and did the Jerry Springer TV show in Chicago," Brenda Henson told Workers World. "And there in the audience was the deputy sheriff that gets sent out to investigate incidents on our land. "He was leering and sneering and acting like the rest of the 40 of them that came up on the bus to be in the audience. He's a real turkey." The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force appealed to the federal government to intervene to protect the Hensons' civil rights. But the Justice Department has washed its hands of any responsibility, since there is no federal law banning discrimination or violence against lesbians and gay men. GAY MEN OFFER AID Lesbians have traveled to Ovett from New Orleans, New York, and elsewhere to help protect the Hensons. More help is needed, especially with construction and security. Henson says supporters should contact her before making travel plans. "The bastard next door just put up a firing range right on the southern edge of our property line as an excuse to hang out in the field," Henson says. "Those 3,000 feet are mostly wide open. It's real scary. "We're buying used tin to put up a fence so they can't see over. We need people to help as soon as possible with this damn fence. We need electricians, carpenters, plumbers. "We've invited gay men to come and work. Gay guys in Hattiesburg have offered to house them. "Nine to one it's been gay men sending in $10 and $20, words of support, postcards. They're saying this is an opportunity for them to do something for the women to show respect and support for what we've done during the AIDS crisis." Since no one at the camp is drawing pay, high heating and phone bills weigh heavily. The Hensons request that supporters send canned food, postage stamps and used books to Camp Sister Spirit, PO Box 12, Ovett, Miss., 39464. Camp Sister Spirit will host the Gulf Coast Women's Festival May 26-30. Henson says that will "nourish our souls and spirits." The event will coincide with the Hensons' 10th anniversary as a couple. It will also underscore their determination not to be forced back into the closet. Henson says: "A game warden who is supportive of us told me, 'The silent majority here welcomes you. It's not the silent majority making all this noise.' "Lesbian and gay people have got to stand up--I mean on the job, in the classrooms and in our communities. We've got to come out and speak out. "We're asking friends and families and allies to stand with us." -30- (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World, 55 West 17 St., New York, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@blythe.org.) +----------------------------------------------------------------+ + 212-675-9690 NY TRANSFER NEWS COLLECTIVE 212-675-9663 + + Since 1985: Information for the Rest of Us + + e-mail: nyt@blythe.org info: info@blythe.org +