from Kurwa Bulletin #3

Against Homophobia, Sexophobia and Gender Assumptions

As anarchists, we believe that all people on the earth deserve equal human dignity and the same opportunities to discover themselves, freely develop their personalities and pursue happiness. But how can homosexuals be guaranteed those rights and dignity in cultures which degrade them on a daily basis? The fight to obtain universal human dignity must be a fight not only for our vision of a worthwhile human existance but against the thought systems and practices (official and unofficial) which degrade people, whether it be racism, homophobia, sexism or anything else.

Why does the society around us hate or fear homosexuals, transexuals, why does it teach young people to fear sex and why does it try to squeeze people into gender roles that it deems acceptable? There isn't enough space here to go into all the historical details but it has to be mentioned that this hate and fear is not a universal phenomenom - that in some cultures homosexuality is looked upon fairly normally, that in some cultures there is a "third" gender, that some cultures look on sex as a more natural thing and that in different points in history, Europeans did not have the same cultural values as today, meaning that homosexuality was seen without particular prejudice. A lot of this prejudice came from the church and from the noble, propertied classes; many churches to this day continue to present their weak ideological justification for homophobia, sexophobia and anti-woman ideas and present sex as a perversion instead of a healthy, natural human force. Ignorance breeds fear, fear breeds intolerance and that breeds hatred ... and all the while, the idea of loving and accepting people gets swept away because the message of ignorance and fear is louder than anything else and has more resonance in society. We are therefore against the teaching of any church whose doctrines are lined with such ignorance, against any institutions, political or otherwise that perpetuate this hatred and fear and have the audacity to label this some sort of "values".

We strive to create an environment in which the ignorance, fear and hatred of the old world crumble away.

Sexual urges are natural and healthy and we would like to deconstruct the tabus around them so that young people can express their sexual desires without suffering emotional angst, so that they are informed about sex, can protect themselves from unwanted pregnacies and diseases and are encouraged to act responsibly and make their own choices. Homosexuality is also natural and we would like to banish the fear so that people can live without harrassment and feel free to pursue relations as they wish. We also feel that the idea of gender roles force people into feeling like they have to act like girls or boys and we'd like to rip those apart so that people can act as they feel without hearing society's reprisals for crossing gender lines.

We urge people who feel the same to join us in a frontal attack of these phobias.

Laure