Damn right we support a woman’s right to choose
By Matt Foreman, Executive Director, May 14, 4:53 pm
To the Editors:
James Kirchick accuses the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force of speaking out on an issue that is “at best tangential to the community” when we criticized the Supreme Court’s recent decision upholding legislative bans on late-term abortions.
Kirchick says “the only way in which abortion could ever be tied to gay political concerns is in the rare case when a surrogate or lesbian mother decides, for whatever reason, to abort the fetus that she agreed to carry prior to insemination.”
It is difficult to discern in what universe he’s living: the one full of men, gay and not, where the unwanted sexual violence of rape and incest could never result in unwanted pregnancy, or the one where the unwanted sexual violence of rape and incest magically never results in unwanted impregnation of women.
Either universe is far away from the place where women — lesbian, bisexual and straight — live today. Moreover, nature dictates that even wanted pregnancies can produce deformed and diseased fetuses. Any woman needs to be able to terminate a pregnancy when her life will be degraded on account of it, no matter her sexual orientation, no matter how she became pregnant.
This is about much more than access to abortion, as important as that is. It is about who controls our bodies and our sexualities. Reproductive freedom and gay rights are inextricably intertwined. Simply put, we would not have Lawrence but for Roe.
Longer than any other national LGBT organization — more than 34 years to be exact — we’ve been advocating equality within a larger social justice framework. Do we support a woman’s right to choose? Damn right. Always have. Always will. No apologies. No regrets.
Matt Foreman
Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
This letter appeared in the May 11 issue of the Washington Blade, in response to a May 4 Blade commentary by James Kirchick titled “It’s not a gay issue.”
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Wednesday, 5/16/2007, 1:30 AM (EST) I disagree. Who do you think will be the likely candidates for abortion? Gay and Lesbian Babies in utero. When you advocate freedom to choose I think you must give the verb an object and say “freedom to choose to end a life”. No one wants to see a woman managed by another. I think that abortion is a man’s solution to a woman’s condition. Violence in any case is repugnant to me whether in the termination of a conceived child or the destruction of civilians in military action. And Who is going to pay into social security in the future if we shrink the work force so drastically? Jack McNulty Thursday, 5/17/2007, 3:34 PM (EST) I am an openly queer male. I’m proud of that. I do work for a reproductive health clinic. And you know, I think I might be even more proud of that. Everyday, I see how intertwined — as was said in the letter — the work I do for reproductive freedom is to the work I do for LGBT rights. The government intrusion into a woman’s personal medical decisions which was both allowed and applauded by the Supreme Court decision affects far more than women who are looking at an unwanted pregnancy or one that could be detrimental to their health and wellbeing. This type of government intrusion supports situations in which some lives are considered more precious and more worthy of being born. I applaud the Task Force for their continued support of women’s rights and reproductive freedom. Tyler Richard Abortion rights and gay rights.Friday, 5/18/2007, 11:44 AM (PST) Well, Matt, THANK YOU for that. So many lesbians have supported our sisters around their abortions, around violence against womyn, and have at times before they came out needed an abortion themselves. It’s about time the LGBT movement and a leader like yourself put together that womyn’s issues ARE also Lesbian issues. Sometimes our issues differ, sometimes not. Many womyn, including lesbian and bisexual womyn have been physically assaulted, but that’s not the reason why abortion should be allowed. It is because we have the right to OUR OWN self determination over OUR OWN bodies. Thanks for standing up to Jerry Falwell and his anti-gay message. I saw him myself as part of a lesbian/gay contingent in Colorado in the 80’s along with the feminists and other folks for personal freedom, and held up a sign, “Moral Slavery your choice, Self-determination our choice”. His anti-gay messages are no different than his messages against abortion. It’s all about social, religious and political control over others and shaming if you do not conform. The same forces that work against abortion rights and access to birth control for womyn, are the SAME forces that spread hate and lies about lesbians, gays and other queer folks. They are the forces that would limit who we could love, how we can love, and whether we choose to have a child or not, in other words the very basic feminist tenet that we do not have rights and freedoms over our own bodies. One Muslim lesbian spoke on a show that I saw, drawing strong conclusions that “Womyn’s bodies are subject to alot of policing.” I for one, as an out loud and proud dyke want no man, or no womon for that matter to control or police my body, or that of my sisters...I choose whom I love, and how I express it, and I teach classes to womyn, especially to lesbians but straight and bisexual womyn as well that we have the ultimate control over our OWN bodies, and we will defend ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually if we need to. Let go of the shackles and the shame, and let each of us decide for ourselves our OWN choices around our bodies, our sexuality, and our spirituality. In Freedom,
Artemis Passionfire |
