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Is War with Iraq a Gay Issue?

By Jesse Monteagudo
Jesse's Journal

Anti-war protesters demonstrate in Italy

Faisal Alam is the founder and director of Al-Fatiha, a group of gay and gay-friendly Muslims. Last fall Alam wrote an article, "War with Iraq is a gay issue," that was published in several publications. His argument was that the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities should join other progressive movements to oppose the George W. Bush administration's impending war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

"On Saturday, Oct, 26, thousands of people from across the United States will descend on Washington and voice their opposition to a U.S.-led war with Iraq," wrote Alam. "But one group is notably missing from this coalition for peace: the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement. . . . While our allies make no issues out of their position, many in the LGBT community will ask the question, "What does a war with Iraq have to do with queers? And why does opposing a war with Iraq, or any other country for that matter, have anything to with the 'gay agenda?'"

Alam's answer, of course, is that the war with Iraq has "everything" to do with the gay agenda: "The war on Iraq is a queer issue, not only because it will affect LGBT people in the military, an item high on our "gay agenda," but also because it will take away from social welfare programs that we as a community rely on the most, and because it will impact each and every one of our lives."

At the time Alam wrote his piece, the only queer group in America that had spoken out against the war was the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. Since then other groups have joined the fray. The Green Party's Lavender Green Caucus, "representing lesbian, gay, bi, trans, and intersex Greens," issued a sharp statement criticizing American military policies, in Iraq and elsewhere.

"The Lavender Caucus of the United States Green Party stands united in opposition to military aggression and war against Iraq and her people," said the statement. "As the Lavender Caucus, we call upon the people of the United States to stand together in a united front against the war machine of the Bush-Cheney Administration," it added. "We urge the United Nations, as the sole international body mandated to protect the legal and human rights of the several nations of this world community, to resolve to affirm the integrity, sovereignty, and the right to self-determination of Iraq and her people."

One might expect the Lavender Greens to oppose America's military policy. It was quite another matter when the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) officially joined (Dec. 26) a coalition organized to oppose the Bush war plans. In this the NGLTF of 2002-03 was no different from the NGLTF of 1990-91, which had opposed George Bush, Sr.'s first Gulf War.

This coalition, called "Keep America Safe: Win Without War.' is a "broad coalition of major progressive civil rights, business, religious, and environmental leaders" that includes such entities as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Organization for Women (NOW), Move On, the Sierra Club, the National Council of Churches, Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities, Working Assets, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Rainbow Push Coalition, and Women's Action for New Directions. "The goal of this coalition is to mobilize a broad cross section of American society in opposition to Bush Administration calls for a unilateral invasion," said NGLTF Executive Director Lorri L. Jean. "This is a goal that the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force wholeheartedly supports." Now joined by the NGLTF, the coalition issued the following statement:

Anti-war picketers
outside the U.S. Embassy in London

"We are patriotic Americans who share the belief that Saddam Hussein cannot be allowed to possess weapons of mass destruction. We support rigorous UN weapons inspections to assure Iraq's effective disarmament. We believe that a preemptive military invasion of Iraq will harm American national interests. Unprovoked war will increase human suffering, arouse animosity toward our country, increase the likelihood of terrorist attacks, damage the economy and undermine our moral standing in the world. It will make us less, not more, secure.

"We reject the doctrine -- a reversal of long-held American tradition -- that our country, alone, has the right to launch first-strike attacks. America is not that kind of country. We can achieve the valid U.S. and UN objective of disarming Saddam Hussein through legal diplomatic means. There is no need for war. Let us instead devote our resources to improving the security and well being of people here at home and around the world. As the Bush Administration prepares for battle, religious, civil rights and citizen organizations have banded together to promote disarming Iraq without war."

Following the NGLTF decision, other LesBiGay and Trans individuals and organizations joined the antiwar movement. According to the online magazine Gay Today, "strong anti-war sentiment and activity is clearly on the rise in America's gay communities. Local gay newspapers in Chicago are running ads warning that the casualties of the war would include lost funding for HIV/AIDS services as well as loss of life. One ad, paid for by the Chicago Anti-Bashing Network, states: 'A new US war will indirectly kill people in our community here at home by diverting necessary funds away form already scaled-back social service programs.'"

Not all gays are willing to jump on the antiwar bandwagon. Richard J. Rosendall, in a reply to Alam's article, noted that Alam "manages to write an entire column opposing war with Iraq without once mentioning Saddam Hussein. . . . The only country he is willing to blame for anything is the United States. This upside-down world view would be comical if Alam and others on the anti-American left were not in dead earnest. And because he includes every conceivable issue in the gay agenda, he declares the war with Iraq a 'queer' issue, without showing the slightest awareness of which side actually treats gays better. (Hint: It's the one that allows gay Muslims to organize and publish op-eds.)"

"It's fine if NGLTF wants to be the lavender strip in a broad left-wing coalition, but I wish these people wouldn't pretend that they speak on behalf of a wider gay constituency," said Stephen H. Miller, in the Independent Gay Forum Web site, (www.indegayforum.org). "While NGLTF seeks to ingratiate itself within the increasingly marginal political left (which seems more and more fixated on trying to re-enact Vietnam-era protests), such an identification doesn't help gays and lesbians achieve our long-term objectives, which have all to do with full equality under the law, rather than dreams of forced economic redistribution de-militarizing America, undermining the nation state, or whatever contradictory panaceas are being ballyhooed at the moment."

Some gays have voiced support for U.S. and British military action in Iraq

Is opposing the war a "gay issue"? Strictly speaking, of course not. But it is a human issue, which affects all of us who live on this planet. The fact that Saddam Hussein is a power-mad despot with weapons of mass destruction does not justify the Bush Administration's plan to "preemptively" blow the Iraqi people to smithereens.

Well-grounded fears about terrorism here and abroad should not give the world's only superpower the excuse to unilaterally wage war against other countries, no matter how despicable their rulers might be. With both the Congress and the media in Bush's pocket, it is up to us who are progressive individuals and organizations to take to the streets and express our opposition, firmly and loudly.

Jesse Monteagudo is a freelance writer and activist who lives in South Florida with his life partner. He can be reached at jessemonteagudo@aol.com.

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