[lavender] (Fwd) An open letter on the McReynolds SenateCampaign - for the GLBT Community

Mon Oct 18 13:19:08 EDT 2004

----Original Message Follows----
From: amduncan <amduncan at mindspring.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2004 13:07:08 -0400 (GMT-04:00)

The person who is compiling all the signatures is Dan Schaeffer.  If you 
would like to endorse David McReynolds (which I heartily encourage) please 
email Dan at le_gal at earthlink.net

-Alison Duncan

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott McLarty <scottmclarty at yahoo.com>
Sent: Oct 14, 2004 11:27 AM
To: lavender-caucus at green.gpus.org, lavender-discussion at green.gpus.org,
	lavender-info at green.gpus.org
Subject: [Lavender-caucus] (Fwd) An open letter on the McReynolds 
Senate	Campaign - for the GLBT Community

From: "David Mcreynolds"
<david.mcr at earthlink.net>
Subject: An open letter on the McReynolds Senate
Campaign - for the GLBT Community
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2004 20:13:09 -0400

Friends,

Not all of you getting this agree with my
politics (and why should you - I don't always
agree with myself) but all of you are friends,
members of the GLBT community.

Please look through the enclosed statement, which
was drafted with the help of Dan Schaffer and
Alison Duncan. We want to get signers - any of
you getting this - who are members of the GLBT
community. It will be sent out widely to the GLBT
press and contacts.

You can respond with an affirmative "yes" to Dan
Schaffer (the first address in the "to" list).
I'm leaving town Friday morning for three days of
campaigning in upstate New York. It is urgent we
get this out as quickly as possible, so I don't
want to wait until I get back.

Please look this over and if possible sign it.
You don't have to live in New York. You can
certainly send it, now, to any friends and
contacts you have. And we do need contributions -
if you go to the website you can get details on
how to make out a check and where to send it (I
think we also have a "paypal" arrangement). That
site is: www.mcreynoldsforsenate.org

Peace,
David McReynolds

Statement to members of the Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual and Transgender Community

We have long since passed that magic moment in
our history when the fact a person was "openly
gay or lesbian" was a reason to support their run
for public office.

Thus, while we welcome the fact that David
McReynolds is the Green Party's candidate for US
Senate in New York, and note that when he "came
out" thirty five years ago (1969) in an historic
article in the magazine of the War Resisters
League, what moves us to support his campaign is
the fact that on several crucial issues of
important not only to members of the Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community, but to
the wider public, he has taken clear stands not
shared by the incumbent, Chuck Schumer.

Of course he supports the rights of members of
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
communities to marry and enjoy all the rights of
any other group in society. It is surely ironic
that Schumer, running as a liberal, still opposes
so basic a right and voted for the Defense of
Marriage Act. David McReynolds also supports the
Permanent Partners Immigration Act, a transgender
inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and
extending Social Security and other benefits to
surviving partners in same-sex relationships.

While David McReynolds is a pacifist, opposed to
wars on principle, and to any form of the draft -
including the present "economic draft" that
brings so many working class of youth of color
into the military in search of jobs they cannot
find elsewhere, and training they can get
elsewhere - he is bitterly against the current
"don't ask, don't tell" policy, under which so
many men and women live in fear of discovery of
their sexuality, or have been hounded out of
military when it became public.

There are three immediate issues where we believe
many of us in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender community need to ask hard questions
of Chuck Schumer, who is running for re-election
- issues where the stand that David McReynolds
has taken has led us to support him in this race.

First is the war in Iraq. Chuck Schumer voted for
this war. It is a war which has already cost over
a thousand American lives and many thousands of
Iraqi lives. It is a war where the best than the
Democratic candidate for President, John Kerry,
can say is that it was the wrong war, in the
wrong place, at the wrong time - but not now we
are there we must win it. David McReynolds does
not believe the US has the right to compound of
criminal error of going to war by keeping our
troops there.  He has called for the immediate
withdrawal of US forces. Chuck Schumer supports
an indefinite US military occupation of Iraq.

Second is the "Patriot Act". Chuck Schumer voted
for this act. David McReynolds believes the
"Patriot Act" is a shocking violation of the Bill
of Rights, enacted in the hysteria immediately
following 9.11. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender community, precisely because it has
lived for decades with painful violations of its
own human rights, should lead the way in opposing
this invasive extension of the police powers of
the Federal government into our private lives.

Third is the issue of dealing with terrorism.
Chuck Schumer has given unconditional support to
the current Israeli government and its policies
toward the Palestinians - policies which have
helped fuel very deep misgivings in the Islamic
world. David McReynolds believes in the rights of
Israel to exist within secure borders, - but he
also believes in the rights of the Palestinian
people, including their right to a State of their
own. He opposes the settlements in the West Bank
and in Gaza - settlements which are illegal under
international law, as is the present "security
barrier" Israel is erecting in large part on
Palestinian territory. We cannot "fight
terrorism" without also dealing with the causes
of terrorism. These are positions held by many
within the Israeli and Jewish peace community,
and widely within the Arab world. Chuck Schumer
opposes these positions. David McReynolds
supports them. David McReynolds believes the US
and Israel should respect international law.
Chuck Schumer does not.

Beyond these points, David has challenged voters
to "imagine an alternative future" in which the
US gave up its military bases on foreign soil,
began the search for alternative energy sources,
used funds saved by drastic cuts in the military
budget to provide universal health care, vastly
improved mass transit, decent low income housing.
David is aware that the pandemic of AIDS, which
has infected tens of millions of people - many of
them children - in Asia, Africa, and Latin
America, is the world's greatest health problem,
and the greatest single threat to the fragile
social structures in many of these countries.
Most of those infected are heterosexual, but the
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community,
because of its own horrific, shattering
experience with AIDS, demands that resources go
toward combating this disease, not for more
military ventures.

We urge you to take a look at the full program of
David McReynolds and the Green Party by visiting
his website. More than that, in a campaign where
there is little money Schumer, we appeal to you
to share this open letter with your friends. For
full information: www.mcreynoldsforsenate.org

Thanks,
Signed
(and if you want to sign this you should also add
any "ID" by which you want to be known)

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