OBDSM expresses support and solidarity for queers

To the Editors:

The past few weeks have seen a rise in the number of hate crimes directed against queers across the nation. We are writing to raise concern for the safety offered by Oberlin College to our own queer community.

Students on this campus have been harassed both in person, as well as online, on the basis of their sexual preferences - this in and of itself is both disturbing and unsurprising. Of equal concern, however, is the lack of support from the College felt by some members of our community. All of us - students as well as faculty, have a need to feel safe and supported in their day-to-day lives. It is our hope that we, as a campus, will take steps towards better answering that need.

Matthew Shepard's death and its aftermath have thrown into relief the ongoing reality of homophobia. In response to bigotry, there is a need to be both visible as well as vocal in condemnation of intolerance. Consequently, we of OBDSM wish to express our solidarity and support for both queers in general, and the LGBTU, with regards to the past weeks, as well as the ones to come.

--Kerry Lazarus

, OC '98

-Ian Macdonald

, College junior

-The Members of the Oberlin BDSM Club

Use response to broaden struggle against bigotry, oppression

To the Editors:

All of us wish that it did not take the death of a James Byrd, Jr. or a Matthew Shepard to prompt a national response against hate crimes. Clearly, hate crimes against people of color as well as those based on sexual orientation happen on a daily basis without being reported, receiving mention in the media, or being recognized in public protest. Nevertheless the brutal homophobic killing of Matthew Shepard was responded to in vigils, protests, and demonstrations by thousands of people around the country because his death struck a chord in people and provided an opening for expressing accumulated frustrations about bigotry and scapegoating.

John Partridge's essay "Matthew Shepard and the True Implications of Anti-Hate" put forward the false notion that the response to Matthew Shepard's death was just about hate crimes against white people, and suggested that most people in the country and on this campus are only willing to respond to hate crimes when the victim is white.

In fact, around the country, the outrage expressed against the brutal homophobic killing of Matthew Shepard has been generalized to include opposition to racist hate crimes and police brutality. At one rally I attended at the University of Illinois, Chicago, large signs above the speakers' platform read "No more Jaspers, No more Laramies," immediately identifying the murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming with the racist murder of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, Texas. Similarly, at the vigil in New York City called in response to Shepard's death, one sign read "Jasper, Laramie, NYC: Hate Kills Again" and another contained just a giant photo of James Byrd. At the "Political Funeral" held for Matthew Shepard in Central Park, whose organizers had expected only 500 people, 5,000 showed up. Protesters decided to take their message into the streets, and the NYPD immediately began arresting the protest's leaders, because they "didn't have a permit" to march. Outraged by this police response to a rally protesting hate crimes, marchers began the chant, "Racist, Sexist, Anti-gay - NYPD Go Away."

Some members of the ISO in New York City spent the night in jail for their role in that protest. One of them told me about a Black woman she met in jail who had been arrested on a police sweep of her neighborhood that same night (a victim of the kind of hate crime that happens on a daily basis to people who are Black and poor in this country). When the woman found out why the protesters had been arrested, she said, "That's right - just like James Byrd. I'm proud to be here with you." On this campus as well, speakers at both the vigil and the speak-out drew parallels with James Byrd's death and with police brutality. As these examples show, ordinary people understand that hate crime is not just about Matthew Shepard, and are willing and able to generalize if activists make it a priority to push this movement forward, rather than criticizing it for not yet being fully formed.

The sentiment that killed Matthew Shepard is the same one responsible for racist hate crimes. When out on parole, Shepard's accused killers Arthur Henderson and Aaron McKinney assaulted two Latino men. For them, people of color and gays and lesbians represent the same threat to existing structures of power. Homophobia and racism serve the same function for the rulers of our society: to keep working class people divided and scapegoating each other rather than uniting to challenge a system which is run in the interests of a small minority. This is why movements against oppression have been the most powerful and most threatening to the system when they have forged alliances, like that between the Gay Liberation Front and the Black Panther Party in the early 1970s. The GLF was formed out of the Stonewall Rebellion in New York City in 1969, whose slogan of "Gay Power" took inspiration from the Black Power Movement. The GLF gave both monetary and organizational support to the Black Panthers, and Huey Newton of the BPP issued a statement of solidarity with the GLF, condemning gay oppression and declaring common cause between Blacks and gays and lesbians in the fight for liberation.

We should see the death of Matthew Shepard as an injury to all, and the national and local response which arose in opposition to it as an opportunity to broaden, not divide, the struggle against bigotry and oppression in our society.

-Gillian Russom, College junior, International Socialist Organization

Speakers will be beneficial

To the Editors:

In the wake of the brutal murder of the University of Wyoming student, Matthew Shepard, and the publicity of his death, I would like to highlight a couple of things. First of all, hatred and violence against anyone is of course wrong. We all know this. It doesn't matter what underrepresented group receives the most hate, nor the most brutal hate, nor the most publicity. I hope students and faculty alike can open dialogue about this in their classes and learn more about hate crimes, racism, homophobia and the thoughtless acts perpetrated against people and groups in this country.

Additionally, the Oberlin LAMBDA Alumni reunion/conference is coming up November 13-15, 1998. The keynote address will be given by Keith Boykin, author of "One More River to Cross: Black and Gay in America." I think this would be a great place to discuss some of the things going through people's minds about homophobia within the Black and African-American communities as well as the racism within the "gay" or queer community. His book discusses his first hand experiences with both of these issues.

Additionally, on Dec. 5, 1998, Gregory Herek, Ph.D. will be on campus to speak on "Sexual Prejudice: The Psychology of Homophobias and Heterosexisms." He is a research psychologist from UC-Davis.

At any rate, I think both of these speakers will bring beneficial presentations to our communities here. Please feel free to stop by my office in Wilder 208 or e-mail me about program ideas and concerns. I would like to hear from our diverse student body, not only about these issues, but whatever else may be on your mind.

-Angela Nichols, LGBT Community Coordinator