> Anti-abortion fanatics and anti-gay bigots organized by the militant
> fundamentalist Christian group Operation Rescue are in Orlando from
> May 31-June for what they call "Operation Push Back." Their targets
> are a) local women's clinics (abortion and birth control); b) Walt
> Disney World (because of Gay Day at Disney--June 6--and its policy of
> employee benefits for same-sex partners, which OR claims is "promotion
> of the homosexual lifestyle") and c) local Barnes and Noble bookstores
> (because they sell art photography books with nude pictures of
> children, which OR terms "child pornography.") In addition to OR
> members, these forces include members of the fundamentalist
> American Family Association, followers of the racist Christian
> Identity movement and "straight-edgers." Many of these people are
> potentially violent thugs and convicted criminals who have often been
> arrested for illegal actions around the country.
>
> The local chapter of the National Organization for Women, and
> members of local peace and social justice groups (Voices for Justice),
> progressives, youth (Food Not Bombs), gay/lesbian/bisexual community,
> and other concerned citizens are standing between women and their
> harassers by escorting women at clinics. This issue isn't just about
> abortion--it's about everyone's right to choose for him-- or herself --
> free of coercion, and supporting diversity and tolerance in our
> community. And it's about standing up in an organized manner to
> outsiders who want to impose their right-wing, repressive, religiously-
> inspired agendas on our community.
>
> It is time to make the connections:
> "From the beginning when I founded Operation Rescue, the vision was not
> solely to end child-killing: the vision was to recapture the power bases
> of America, for child-killing to be the first domino, if you will, to
> fall in a series of dominos. My feeling was, and still is, once we
> mobilize the momentum, the manpower, the money, and all that goes with
> that to make childkilling illegal, we have sufficient ... moral force
> and momentum to get the homosexual movement back in the closet, to get
> the condom pushers in our schools to be back on the fringes of society
> where they belong. ... We want to recapture the country."
> --Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry
>
> Freedom of choice must be a basic right in any society which hopes
> to advance human dignity. Freedom of choice goes beyond women's
> right to choose an abortion. As socialist feminists we work to
> build a society where there is no economic, legal or other coercion
> to force women to bear children.