Received from russell@cpp.pha.pa.us  Sun May  8 22:06:08 1994

Subject: Spirit of Stonewall


                               SOS

                       Spirit of Stonewall

                       c/o Gayme Magazine

                          PO Box 15645

            Boston, MA  02215     Tel.(617) 695-8015

                       Fax (617) 266-1125

                     NAMBLA MARCHES WITH US

                 AT STONEWALL 25, JUNE 26, 1994


Spirit of  Stonewall (SOS)  calls on Stonewall 25 and the gay and

lesbian movement  to return  to its roots. The Christopher Street

uprising was  an outcry by those at the bottom and on the margins

of society  against puritanical  self-righteousness and  bigotry.

It was  a cry  for full sexual liberation as part of the struggle

for social  justice.   Stonewall was  the spontaneous  action  of

marginal people  oppressed by  the mainstream  - of teenaged drag

queens, pederasts, transsexuals, hustlers, and others despised by

respectable straights  and "discreet"  homosexuals.  They did not

call for  their rights,  they seized their own freedom.  They did

not ask  for integration into middle-class America, they screamed

against its pretensions of propriety.


SOS is  an ad hoc committee of lesbian, gay and other individuals

and groups formed to bring Stonewall 25 back to the principles of

gay liberation.   We  focus on one of the most glaring departures

from those principles:  the attempt to exclude the North American

Man/Boy Love  Association (NAMBLA),  and possibly  other  groups,

from  the   Stonewall  25  March  and  from  their  place  within

gay/lesbian space and discourse.


Red-baiting, scapegoating,  censorship and  exclusion  have  been

hallmarks of  American society.  Just as unions, the civil rights

and peace  movements were  pressured  to  cleanse  themselves  of

suspected "communists,"  the lesbian/gay movement is now expected

to rid  itself of  social misfits, the vulnerable pederasts first

of all.  Never before has such an ostensibly progressive movement

jumped so  quickly through  the hoops  of its  enemies.  At least

there  were   years  of   debates  among  activists  before  some

capitulated to  McCarthyism.   ILGA, the  Human  Rights  Campaign

Fund, Stonewall  25, and  others  who  claim  to  support  sexual

minorities and human rights have stumbled over each other as they

rush to deny these rights to those deemed unacceptable.


We find  this the  height of  hypocrisy -  to invoke  the name of

Stonewall to  cast out the alleged molesters among us.  The issue

is not,  first of  all, intergenerational  sex - although that is

one the  movement needs  to confront  honestly rather than avoid.

SOS takes  no stand  specifically on  age of  consent laws or sex

between adults  and those  deemed legally "children."  The issues

that now  confront Stonewall 25 are free speech, free association

and inclusiveness.


NAMBLA's record  as a responsible gay organization is well known.

NAMBLA was  spawned by  the gay  community and  has been in every

major gay  and lesbian  march.  It has demonstrated in solidarity

with people with AIDS, and for lesbians in custody cases.  NAMBLA

takes progressive  positions  on  U.S.  intervention  in  Central

America, the  military  draft,  reproductive  rights,  the  death

penalty,  corporal   punishment  and  racism.    NAMBLA  publicly

condemns the  exploitation of  children, including genuine sexual

abuse.   NAMBLA believes the interests of young people demand not

paternalistic protection,  but empowerment  to make real choices.

Every organization within Stonewall 25 need not endorse every one

of the  other organization's  positions.   NAMBLA's call  for the

abolition of  the age  of consent  is not the issue.  NAMBLA is a

bona fide  participant in  the gay  and lesbian movement.  NAMBLA

deserves  strong  support  in  its  rights  of  free  speech  and

association and  its members'  protection from discrimination and

bashing.


     Unless we return to the principles of Stonewall, the fate of

NAMBLA  today   may  be   the  fate   of  other  "different"  and

"controversial" causes  tomorrow.    Gay  and  lesbian  activists

before Stonewall  understood the  task of  liberation.   We agree

with the 1951 Mattachine Society slogan:  "We will integrate as a

group on  our own  terms, or  we will  not integrate at all."  We

will define  our own  agenda and decide for ourselves who we are!

Within our  movement, if our brother or sister self-identifies as

gay, we  will march  with them  and they  with us.   We  call  on

Stonewall 25  to rescind  its attempt  to ban NAMBLA.  Meanwhile,

SOS announces:  NAMBLA marches with us!


SIGNED:  Harry Hay, Pat Califia, Gayle Rubin, Chris Bearchelli,

Scott O'Hara, Charley Shively, David Thorstad, Tom Reeves, Jim

Becker AND:


NAME:___________________________________________________________


ADDRESS:________________________________________________________


________________________________________________________________

Telephones:


(h)__________________(w)________________(FAX)___________________


Identification:  (Writer, Activist, Professor, Name of

Organization or Publication, etc. - does not imply endorsement):


________________________________________________________________


GROUP ENDORSEMENT:  (if a group officially endorses the SOS call)


________________________________________________________________


I (WE) WILL MARCH IN NEW YORK, SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 1994 WITH

SOS:________________________________

WE CANNOT MARCH, but we will march "in spirit":_________________

WE NEED HOUSING (Limited Availability at $30 per night, two to

three persons per room):______________________