Subject: CHINESE CENSORS TARGET LESBIANS
From: [email-masked] (Rex Wockner)
Date: Thu, 7 Sep 1995 13:18:50 -0700 (PDT)

CHINESE CENSORS TARGET LESBIANS
                       by Rex Wockner

	Lesbians attending the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) Forum on
Women in Huairou, China, had their literature seized by Chinese security
officials Sept. 2, reported Julie Dorf, executive director of the
International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission, based in San
Francisco.

	"We have formed our own security team in the [lesbian] tent," Dorf
told a packed press conference in the tent. "We will not be silent."

	Bev Diski of South Africa's Gay and Lesbian Organization of
Witwatersrand told reporters the Western lesbians "are networking with
Chinese lesbians ... to be able to share information and strengthen the
Chinese lesbian movement here, which on its own will be able to make more
and more lesbians come out in fighting for their rights."

	Thai lesbian activist Arjana Suvarnananda added, "I can tell you
lesbians are everywhere, including in China."

	In fact, virtually nothing is known of Chinese lesbians.

	The lesbian NGO contingent presented their demands of the U.N.
Fourth World Conference on Women which opened in Beijing Sept. 4.

	"We demand the right to determine one's sexual identity, the right
to control one's own body, particularly in establishing intimate
relationships. The right to choose if, when and with whom to bear or
raise children as fundamental components of the human rights of all
women, regardless of sexual orientation."

	The words "sexual orientation" are included in the drafts of the
World Conference's formal documents, thanks to the governments of Norway,
the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, South Africa, Israel, Canada and
Australia.

	But they are bracketed, which means other nations do not want them
there and they could end up being excised.

	Another force at the NGO Forum is the U.S.-based Dyke TV.

	"The purpose of Dyke TV's presence in Beijing is to further document
the international lesbian feminist movement," said an Internet World Wide
Web NGO Forum site. "Although we freely use the word 'lesbianism' to
describe a primary relationship between two women, we want to connect
with women who signify the movement towards sexual orientation/autonomy
differently. We're making an hour-long video about Beijing which we hope
to distribute widely and at low cost."

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