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Op-Ed: Why War with Iraq is a Queer Issue
By Faisal Alam
October 1, 2002
This past weekend marked a remarkable day in history
where hundreds and
thousands of people around the world joined forces in
voicing their
opposition to a US-led war with Iraq. Protesters also
called for an end
to sanctions, implemented more than a decade ago, that
have cost the lives
of more than 500,000 men, women and children across
Iraq and have brought extreme poverty and malnutrition
to thousands of others.
More than 50,000 people took to the streets in
Washington,
DC, more than 200,000 in London, and thousands more
across
the European continent - to express outrage at the
United States'
government and its unilateral and imperialistic
foreign policies. Amongst the
dozens of groups that endorsed the protests a
cross-section of liberationist
movements were represented under one umbrella. But
one community was
notably missing. The lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender movement.
There was no visible queer presence at any of the
protests and to date no
major national LGBT organization in the United States
(except for the
Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community
Churches) has spoken out against an impending war with
Iraq.
Many ask the question, "What does a war with Iraq have
to
do with queers? And why does opposing a war with
Iraq, or
any other country for that matter, have anything to do
with the 'gay agenda?'" The answer is - EVERYTHING!
Since September 11th,
2001, the United States has more than tripled its
national defense budget in
the name of "security," and in the name of a "war of
terror." The
consequences of our national attention being focused
on war has led many to lose focus on the critical
issues facing some of the most vulnerable in our
society, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender people, people living
with HIV and AIDS, homeless youth, and low-income
families, amongst others.
Federal resources are already being limited every day
under the Bush administration. Government funding for
HIV prevention and education remains stagnant at a
time when more than one quarter of our young people
are being infected with the virus that causes AIDS.
While this
alarming rate continues to rise, our government
insists on cracking down
on organizations that continue to provide messages of
safe sex, and the
Department of Health and Human Services has officially
taken an
abstinence-only policy, making the sex lives of most
queer people almost
invisible.
Poverty amongst low-income LGBT families remains far
from
our radar screen, as though all of us can afford to go
to
$250 tuxedo dinners to watch straight celebrities get
an "Equality
award." More than 40 million people in our country
live every day without basic health insurance.
Universal health care that would guarantee every LGBT
person insurance and the right to live a healthy life
remains far from reality, and the United States
remains the only industrialized nation in the world
without a national health care plan.
Our inner cities remain some of the most destitute
places where thousands of our young queer people of
color live, grow, and thrive. Social and economic
justice, basic human rights, life, liberty, dignity,
remain far away from our $250 dinners, our $150
circuit parties, or our $2,000 gay and lesbian cruises
to the Mediterranean and Cancun.
Meanwhile the Bush administration continues to beat
the drums of war, rallying Americans across the
country to support the ousting of the "axis of evil."
But the truth of the matter is that a war with Iraq
will only mean that more funding will be taken away
from the issues that affect all of our lives and the
lives of our loved ones - both queer and straight.
Only a few decades ago, at the birth of our movement
for freedom and
liberation, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
people understood
that single-issue politics would not win us any thing.
Decades ago when we
took to the streets to fight police brutality we
understood that fighting
multiple oppressions through a multi-lateral,
multi-issue platform was
the only way to gain our liberation. But today, few
of us remember this
history.
Queer people have been at the forefront of social and
economic justice struggles since the beginning of our
fight for equality. The feminist movement, the labor
movement, the struggle for civil rights, the struggle
for immigrant rights, and economic justice for poor
people - all have actively involved lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender people. Only a few decades
ago LGBT people were likened to Communists, and the
Department of State was on a witch-hunt to weed out
queers from its ranks liking them to Cold War spies.
Today, we have fallen victim to our own "comfort," the
majority of us living in urban cities where we are
seemingly "safe," under the guise of laws that protect
our sex lives, our jobs, our relationships, and our
homes.
Today, LGBT people across the United States live in a
world where our
acceptance has almost been won, where our freedom is
strong in almost
every major city, and in a society that understands
our lives better than ever before. But while we have
grown accustomed to being "accepted" many
members of our community have forgotten that most of
this country remains a haven for homophobia and
intolerance. Ironically most of this oppression is
supported and in some cases funded our own government
through
institutions like schools and the church (and mosques
and temples).
This is the same government that now wants to lead our
nation into a war that the majority of the world
opposes. But how easily we forget that the same Iraqi
president that we are now fighting against was put in
power by our own government. Many of the governments
that we are now allied with in our fight against
"terrorism" continue to perpetuate horrendous abuses
of human rights against sexual and gender minorities
living in their countries. And while we sit happy and
free in our bars, our tennis clubs, at our annual
benefits and dinners, and in our LGBT centers around
the country, the real fight for freedom and struggle
still continues around the world.
The LGBT community in the United States has abandoned
its roots. When
national lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
organizations fail to
voice their opposition to government policies that
clearly impact the lives of
so many queer people in this country, our movement has
failed. When we as a community cannot join together
and ally with the wider progressive
movement, a movement that so many of our elders came
from, we have collectively failed and have lost our
battle for freedom and liberation.
The war on Iraq IS a queer issue, not only because it
will affect LGBT
people in the military, an item high on our "gay
agenda," but also
because it will take away from social welfare programs
that we as a community rely on the most, and because
it will impact each and every one of our lives.
The great Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "A nation
that continues year
after year to spend more money on military defense
than on programs of
social uplift is approaching spiritual death."
Let us embrace the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. who
envisioned a world
where human beings lived side by side in peace and
harmony without death
and destruction at our doorstep each and every day.
Let us envision a
society that invests in its people, ensuring them
their basic human rights - to
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The answer is not war. The answer lies in building
and promoting social,
civic, and governmental institutions that promote
peace and tolerance.
That is the only answer if we are to see social,
racial, economic, gender, and
sexual justice ultimately prevail. That is the only
answer if we truly
want to see the liberation of lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender people
in this country and around the world.
I urge all of us to stand up today and join the fight!
Join the struggle for liberation and freedom, and let
our government know that war is not the answer to the
struggles that our world faces. Our destiny is
ultimately doomed if we let anger, hatred and
prejudice, all of which are rooted in war, take over.
The alternative to war is rooted in our hearts, our
souls and in our minds. Are we that afraid to delve
deep inside and search for the truth?
Faisal Alam is a 25-year old queer-identified Muslim
of Pakistani descent. He is the founder and director
of Al-Fatiha, an international organization dedicated
to Muslims who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender (LGBT). Faisal has been an activist for
almost 10 years, first in the mainstream Muslim
community, and now in the LGBT movement. He is
currently active in LGBT faith-based organizing, human
rights work, immigration and asylum rights, and queer
youth organizing. Faisal lives in Washington, DC, and
works in the field of HIV/AIDS.
Email: FaisalAlam@aol.com |