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SEATTLE GAYS CRASH RIGHT-WING EVENT
Chalk one up for Bigot Busters

By Kaz Susat
Seattle

Anti-gay bigots who came to the Oct. 23 founding meeting of the
Seattle chapter of the right-wing hate group Citizens Alliance of
Washington found themselves outnumbered--at least six to one--by
hundreds of angry gay-rights demonstrators.

Militant picket lines turned away several cars from the driveway
entrances. Dozens of police in riot gear were called in to
protect the neo-fascists.

The CAW and the Idaho Citizens Alliance are outgrowths of the
Oregon Citizens Alliance, which sponsored last year's
unsuccessful Initiative 9 in Oregon. The initiative was a ballot
measure to outlaw lesbian and gay rights and to declare
homosexuality "abnormal, unnatural and perverse."

A long and bitter campaign created numerous instances of violence
and harassment. A Black lesbian, Hattie Mae Cohen, and a gay
disabled man, Brian Mock, were murdered when anti-gay goons
firebombed their home.

Organizers of that hate campaign now seek to introduce similar
statewide initiatives next year in Washington, Idaho and again in
Oregon. Although Initiative 9 was defeated, many anti-gay county
and municipal ordinances in Oregon have been passed.

The CAW had predicted a turnout of 500 to hear Lon Mabon, founder
and leader of the Oregon Citizens Alliance. Instead, a mole
inside the meeting counted 61.

According to Terry Kennedy of Queer Nation, which called the Oct.
23 demonstration, every CAW meeting has met opposition. "We shut
them down entirely in Yakima--
they canceled their meeting rather than face our pickets."

Demonstrations have also taken place in Ephrata, Bellingham,
Quincy and Vancouver, Wash. Queer Nation is also organizing
"Bigot Buster" squads for when petitioning starts in January. The
squads will be deployed to confront initiative petitioners and to
convince people not to sign on to lesbian and gay oppression.

                               -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.)


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