	Workers Solidarity No. 42
	  Irish Anarchist Paper

              Net addition


                          Shout it out
                         Loud and Proud

ANARCHISTS believe that most people want to live in a 
society better than the one we live in now. 

The coming into effect last June of legislation which 
decriminalised certain male homosexual acts was the 
subject of much celebration in the gay community. The 
Minister who introduced the legislation, Maire Geoghan 
Quinn was awarded the Magnus Hirschfield award for her 
contribution to the gay community by the National 
Lesbian and Gay Federation. For many it was felt the 
battle for equality had been won. This was certainly 
the outlook in the national and international press. 
Champagne flowed freely in the capital's gay pubs and 
clubs.

The period since then has been virtually silent in the 
gay political movement. The one exception was the Donna 
McAnnellan affair. Donna was sacked from her employment 
in a gym in Cork because she was a lesbian. She lost 
her appeal in January to the Employment Appeals 
Tribunal (EAT). Apart from a couple of half hearted 
press statements from the NLGF, publicity Donna 
organized herself and a very small demonstration, 
activity was negligible. 

Admittedly cases such as Donna's are now covered by a 
provision in the Unfair Dismissals legislation which 
place a sacking because of somebody's sexuality on the 
same level as sacking because of sex, race or religion.

In effect dismissal in such situations is presumed to 
be unfair but the maximum the employee can obtain is a 
year's wages. The usual award made by the EAT is a lot 
less than that. Re-instatement is very rare. Most young 
gays, lesbians and bisexuals work in poorly paid jobs 
like most young people in Ireland so even a year's 
wages will not amount to very much.

What Donna faced is the reality for working class gay 
people. Being gay in working class Ireland is not a lot 
easier after the legislation than before. Employment 
appeal legislation only works if you succeed in getting 
a job and holding onto it for a year. A young "out" gay 
person is unlikely to succeed in doing that in their 
local community.

Gay social venues, at least in Dublin, tend to be 
dearer than almost any other venue and they only exist 
so long as the people running them are making enough 
money. Hence rumours that the owner of "The George", 
Dublin's only major gay bar, is about to sell for a 
million pounds. Fifis, a gay club, has already been 
sold for a large sum. The concept of the "Pink Pound" 
is lauded in the gay press in Ireland and England. 
Basically the idea behind this is that capitalists 
should welcome gay people because they have more money 
to spend on consumer items, expensive holidays, etc., 
because they don't have children. This idea is largely 
irrelevant to working class gay people

Most young gay people keep their sexuality to 
themselves for fear of being kicked out of home. They 
know that support from the State in such situations is 
minimal and inadequate. A large proportion of young 
homeless men are on the street for this reason. In fact 
one of the ironies of the Emmett Stagg affair recently 
was that he is the Minister with responsibility for the 
homeless. A large number of homeless become rentboys to 
survive. He should have been hounded because of his 
record in housing, not because of his sexuality.

The reality is that a lot more battles have to be 
fought before gay liberation is won. Even the new 
legislation is not irreversible. Equality legislation 
gained in the 1970s is now being rolled back in the 
United States. 

The gay political movement did not always see its 
interests as lying with the government of the day or as 
being a single issue unrelated to other issues of 
oppression. They saw the struggle as being linked in 
with other oppressed groups. For example, Gays against 
Imperialism was formed in 1981 and identified the 
struggle for gay liberation with the struggles for 
"national liberation" around H Block and Armagh prison. 
Following the Charles Self Murder case in 1982 and the 
subsequent harassment by Gardai of hundreds of gay men 
the Gay Defense Committee was set up. 

It was people like that who organised the 1,000 strong 
demonstration in protest against the judgement in the 
case of Declan Flynn who was murdered in a queer 
bashing incident in Fairview Park in 1983. The gang who 
admitted to killing him and assaulting other gay people 
were given suspended sentences. This march attracted 
the support of trade unions, civil rights and left wing 
groups. At that time the issue of gay rights was taken 
up within the unions, the result being an ICTU policy 
document with detail as complete as pension rights for 
surviving partners. These negotiation guidelines have 
been incorporated into much of the civil service as 
well as some private sector companies.

For the gay movement to see its interests as lying 
completely with the government and the introduction of 
progressive legislation is a mistake. The struggle for 
real gay, lesbian and bisexual equality is far from 
over. Tactically the real needs of the gay community 
will not be met by relying on the government but the 
issue is wider than this. Oppression because of sexual 
identity is but one facet of state oppression. 

Gays are not oppressed on of a whim but because of the 
specific need of capitalism for the nuclear family. The 
nuclear family, as the primary - and inexpensive - 
provider and carer for the workforce, fulfilled in the 
nineteenth century and still fulfills an important need 
for capitalism. Alternative sexualitie represent a 
threat to the family model because they provide an 
alternative role model for people. Gays are going to be 
in the front line of attack whenever capitalism wants 
to reinforce "family values". The introduction of 
Clause 28 in England is a good example of this. The 
government made it illegal for public bodies to 
"promote' gay sexuality (i.e. to present it as anything 
other than a "perversion").

This oppression is one reason why the gay and lesbian 
movement is of particular interest to Anarchists. It is 
not that we believe that all gays and lesbians are 
revolutionaries. It is because we believe that the 
experience of fighting oppression can show people the 
nature of the state and that it is possible to fight 
it. It is through fighting that people learn it is 
possible to win. One group winning a battle gives other 
oppressed groups confidence. People gain confidence 
through winning struggles. 

NLGF feels quite confident with the coming to Dublin 
this summer of the International Gay & Lesbian Youth 
conference, and the sending of an Irish delegation to 
the twenty fifth anniversary march in commemoration of 
the New York Stonewall riots, which kicked off the 
modern gay movement. It should take advantage of this 
new found confidence to rethink about its politics.

Louise Tierney


                  Their Morals and Ours

            The reasons why Emmet Stagg should resign

In February 1992, Emmet Stagg - a self-proclaimed 
"socialist" closely identified with the left wing of 
the Labour Party - resigned from Labour's Parliamentary 
Party, claiming that Dick Spring was preparing to lead 
the party into coalition and proclaiming that he would 
"never vote for a right wing Taoiseach from Fianna Fail 
or Fine Gael."
In January 1993 - less than eleven months later - 
this opponent of coalition stood up at Labour's Special 
Conference to second the motion that they enter a 
"Partnership Government" with Fianna Fail and duly 
trooped through the lobbies to vote for Albert Reynolds 
as Taoiseach.
On formation of the government he was rewarded for 
his change of heart by being appointed Junior Minister 
with responsibility for Housing.

*2   In May 1993, in his capacity as minister for 
Housing, Stagg was criticised for failing to provide 
adequate funding for the maintenance of Dublin 
Corporation housing. His response was to blame the 
"restrictive union practices.." of Corporation 
maintenance workers and to threaten privatisation of 
the maintenance work. When it was put to him by a 
"Sunday Tribune" journalist that this statement was 
somewhat at variance with his previous supposedly 
"socialist" views, he responded - "maybe I wouldn't 
have said something like that two years ago, but I 
wasn't a Minister two years ago."

*3   Stagg's appointment as the first ever Junior 
Minister with direct responsibility for housing was 
hailed by supporters of the Fianna Fail/ Labour 
coalition as evidence that the new government marked a 
new departure and was placing the homeless crisis at 
the top of its' agenda. However the number of people on 
housing waiting lists throughout the state has 
continued to climb and Eastern Health Board Social 
Workers have been in dispute since last year in an 
attempt to highlight the lack of crisis accomodation 
for homeless teenagers in Dublin. Stagg's appointment 
has merely been a window- dressing exercise and the 
housing crisis continues unabated (See "Waiting on the 
Waiting List", Workers Solidarity no.41)

*4   Emmet Stagg's sexuality is indeed a matter for 
himself. However a positive statement from him 
following the Phoenix Park controversy confirming his 
bi-sexuality could have done a great deal to challenge 
the homophobic nature of sections of our society. He 
clearly decided that his position in government was 
more important to him.
He is a member of a government which has introduced 
tax on certain social welfare payments, brought in the 
draconian Public Order Bill, stitched up workers yet 
again through the "Programme for Competitiveness and 
Work" and failed to tackle the twin crises of 
unemployment and poverty. Yet Stagg still claims to be 
a "socialist". Who's he trying to fool?

Gregor Kerr

This is the first part of the latest issue of Workers Solidarity, 
produced by the Irish anarchist group, the Workers Solidarity 
Movement.  We are changing the format for this posting to 
two parts consisting of short articles and then posting longer
 related articles separately.  They should arrive on this 
list/newsgroup over the next few days.  Some lists/
newsgroups will only get postings relevant to them.  To
get other parts reply to this address with a request or
watch out for them on alt.society.anarchy between the
13th and 24th of June.


The parts and their contents are.

Workers Solidarity 42 (Editorial and shorts) 1/6    
   For starters
   That's Capitalism
   Stake your claim to cash
   PLC students demand grants
   Telethon - A hypocritical sham
   If the cops don't like you
   French show how to fight... and win!
   Bosnia, Rwanda and UN intervention.

Workers Solidarity 42 (More shorts) 2/6

   Significant minority say NO to union leaders
   Don't vote...it only encourages them
   Letter
   Prepare to Sink the service charges
   Find Out More

WS 42 Gay Pride 3/6         <-This mailing

   Loud and Proud
   The reasons Emmet Stagg should resign

WS 42  Ireland, Sinn Fein and the peace talks. 4/6

   Yes to peace

WS 42 Year of the Family 5/6

   Parents, puritans and poverty
   Gas masks and pantyhose

WS 42 Evolution and revolution 6/6
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Workers Solidarity Movement can be contacted at 
     PO Box 1528, Dublin 8, Ireland

Some of our material is available via the Spunk press electronic archive

             by FTP to etext.archive.umich.edu or 141.211.164.18
              or by gopher ("gopher etext.archive.umich.edu")

in the directory /pub/Politics/Spunk/texts/groups/WSM
