To Know

A Written Interview with

Lesbian Political Prisoners:
Linda Evans,

Laura Whitehorn,
& Susan Rosenberg

Queers Unitedin Support of Poltical Prisoners
I'm an activist,why haven't | heard of you before?

LAURA: I think it’s because theres been a long time during which the
*lefi” and progressive movements havent really tred to know who' in
ison — including but not limited to political prisoners and POW'.
orinstance, how many AIDS actvists know shout the any PWASin
prison, and the horrible conditions they liv in? Aside from Mike
at GCN (Gay Community News), how many writers and media folls in
our movements try to reach into the prisons o support lesbian and gay
‘prisonicrs, whose lives are ofien made ety oughty thepigs. 1o geeral,
this country tries to shut prisoners away and make people outside farget
about us. T the case of political prisoners, multiply that times X for
simple fact that our existence is a_ danger to the smooth, quiet runzing of
the system: our existence shows that this great demokickracy is a lie. The
goremment docsa vant jou to know o we are —that' why they 0y so.
ard to label us “terrorists” and “criminals”,

LINDA: Political prisoners have been purposely “disappeared” by the ws.
‘govermment, whose official position s that “there are o politcal prisoners
mside the v This is the way that the government denis both that the
‘motivations for our actions were political and that the movements we
come from are legitimate, popular movements for social change. The prison
system isolates al prisonezs from their communities,but especially harsh
isolation i institured against political prisoners: restricted visting lists,
frequent wansfers o prsons he awrey Som our home. compmunings, mil
censorship, ‘maximum security conditions”,long periods of fime in soltary
confinement

But our own political movement, too, has ignored the existence of political
prisoner. 1 think ti ha gy b & s of e or P
f‘o!irif:a.l prisoners/POW’s are Black and Puerto Rican comrades who

ave b locked up for ove 2 decade. Unfornately e bas e e
‘widespread support among progressive white people for the Black Libera-
tion siruggle o Puerto Rian ndependence o oy Nt Ao
sovereig !ymn;u‘fglcs = and these are the movements that the Black/
Pcro Ricun/Nsive Amercan pobiclpraoncas BOW e sy

Also, many political acivists have actually withheld support for politi-
lprisoncr/POWs becuseof digreements with tactics i were
employed, or with actions of which the political prisoners have been
accused or convicted These dissgresments are tactical in nature, and
shoulde't be allowed to obscure the fact that we all have been Sghting

for justice and social change. This withdrawal of support leads t falsc
divisions amongst us, and actually helps the state in its sicgy o ot
political prisoners/POWs from our communities and political movements.

SUSAN: The activists/radicals of the late 1980's and 1990's have to reclaim
the history of resistance that emerged and continued hrough the 19705
a0 805 As long 8 the goveenement nd s et get 1o define who

and whatis importint then the el hmml:;x;?me(d inours and others
experiences wil get lost. People haven't heard of us (except as 2 vagu.
mémory ofa. hesdine - uzflz) Decause there i vy scious e
ment counter-insurgency micgy o bury che revoluonies who have
been captured in prison. 1 have been in prison 6 years and over hatf of that
time was spent in solitary confinement or small- group isolation 1000’ of
miles away from my community and family Myer s similar to
the 100/150 other political prisoners in the U.S. I the indovia uals from
diffrent movement (. e Bick. Pusayy Rican, Native American and
white movements who have seen the need for organized resistance ro
oppression) are destroyed itis away to delegitimize the demands of the
‘movements

Did you do t? Did the government misrepresent what you did?
If s0, how?

LAURA: Yes, 1 did it did (do) resist racism, sexism, imperialism with
pery fibesof my queer being, and T believe we need 1o Sght for Justice
The govemment} ersion” of what Liwe did i & complete e, thaogh. n
that they call esstance a crime. I¢s sort of ke the way Jesse Helnt sl
us sick” he's assick 2 you can get. On the mordlity meter he docsgt
eren make the needie move. Same way the ULS. government, a gepocidel
system, calls acts of revolutionary struggle “terronet violonce?, 1od dhes
system of aw, ustice”.

LINDA: Yes, I'm proud that T've been part o the strugele o build an
frmed clandestine resistance movement thar can figh to support pasional
liberaton struggles, and that wil fight for revolution in the LS. OF con
the government mistepresented what we did first of al by cllng s “en-
rorists 10 make peol thinlk we were 2 danger to the communics s i s
purpose was to terrorize or kill people. Quite the contrary: al the ammeg
csions of the last 20 yeas have becn planned to minimise any Fek of
human life. This, of course, i i stark contrast to the actions of the rerorist

‘and mercenary armies like the contras and Savimmbt in Angola,
which supports the Israli war of genocide aguinst the Palestiniuns oy
the b e o apathes e supports daily police brurality
in Black and Thied Word communtties hese ooy i Lo o7 aerinl
bombing of MOVE in Philadelphia in 1983, which kiled 11 pesple and
created a firestorm that left over 250 people homeless.

SUSAN: have been a revolutionary fo much of my lfe. & evolutionary
inthe sense that | believein the nced for profound social change that goss
o the 10015 of the problem, Which I believ is systenaic eaty T

have along vith thers tricd many

10 win liberation and attack the state
. Firstas a peace activis in the ke 607,
the 70% and then in joining the armed cland;

that was developing i the 805. T s gl of revolurionary ant imperial-

ist esistance. Of course the goverment has mistepresented me and all of
us. The main form thac has taken i to call us terrorists, which s so

that couldsit be further from the truth. Juse ke all opposition o the cold
war of the 50's was labeled communist, the 80's equivalent is terrorist. Now
theze ar all Kinds o tertorists sccording tthe U8, al of i buiehi. 1
don't mean to beg the question in the specifi. 1 beliove that no revolution-
ary captured comrade says what they have or havent done within thei
revolutionary work

Audre Lorde says the master’ toos (violence) il
SEmate e hasert hosse (he o b e et 10

this:

LAURA: 1 don't think “violence s just one thing, so T don't think it's
necessaxily “the master's tol". If revolutionaries were as vicious and
cxu;!::lorhurui l;nd innocent human r;‘m as the ;d S. gevunmcnzfo
is, then I think weld be doing wrong. But when oppres e fight for
il rcrteding g Bl popk e
them, Would you hve condemned Afriean saves n the (18 for [
theis slave masters,or for using violence in a struggle for freedom? To me,
the issue is how do we fight effectively - and humancly — for liberation.
As we build the strugele, we Bave to be very self-ritical, very self-conscious
about how we struggle as well as what we struggle for. But | think we also
need to fight to win — and I think that means engaging in a fight for
porve: Fof the put S+ year, Lve witnessed close up he violence - siow,

rutal, heartless of genocide aguinst African American women. To refusé to
fight to change that (and I dorit believe we can fight for poveer completely
“non-violently") would, I think, be to accep the violence of the state in the
‘name of rejecting the violence of revolutionary struggle.

LINDA: I disagree with posing the question in the way she does (or how
the question does). I dorit the issue is violence, bur rather politics
and pover Arourd the world imperialis mainting el - kicps
itselt in power - by military power and the threat of violence wherever
people struggle for change. Liberation movements have the right to use
every means available o defoat the system that is oppressing and Killing
people. This means fighting back n Slf-defense, s i meinsan offosive
struggle for peoples power and self-determination. But reducing i to &
tactical question of “violeat means” doesnt recognize all the aspects of
building a revolutionary movemen that aze crucial to actually mobilizing
le, developing popular organizations, empowering oppressed groups
i hepeoplel movesens e womeh 1ad indigns o deciop-
inga revolutionary program that can realy meet people’ needs and that.
people vl igh to make real A slogan that embodies this for me comes
om the Chinese Revolusion: “Without mass struggle, there can bé o
sevolution. Without armed struggle,there can be no vietory.”
SUSAN: Labways took the quore from Audre Lorde to mean the opposite
cfwhat you say. Funn, no* | sbware it s saying that to mean
the masiers' tools being electoral/slow change. Well - thege you go!

Why is it important o s. ort political as opposed to
nn_ny-fiohtigal ‘prisoners? Shouldn't we. be concerned about il
prisoners?

LAURA:1 think we should be concerned about all prisoners, and T dort
think ' ever been us political prisoners who have promoted any iresolv-
2ble contradiction between us and the rest ofthe prisonees in the U8, Bt
‘within that, I think there is a particular need for mizss)v: movements

0 defend poliical prisners, because ¥ par oF b B e e
pcats e come o Iy are ightin raciom and hormephabi, ind
here are peopl serving long sentences in prison for fighting those things,
Tthink you advance the gos by- gupporingthe prisonces ko hink hae
supportfor politcal prisoners hlps expose how epressive and unjust the
e system i That can also be an avenue to supporting all prisoners,

Support for political prisones is concrete act of resistance to the control
e fovernment eegh over s oo s fights the isolation and silene-
g of politcal prisoners and POWs. I asserts the legitimacy of redtuns.
And in my experience it is major way that people cutside hesam co
of the purpose and nature of the prison systenn ae 2 whole,

LINDA: Yes -- it’s important for our movement 1o be concerned about

all prisoners, and I think it especially important for the lesbian and gay
movement t concer ourselves with combating attacks or esban) g
‘prisoners, and supporting all prisoners swith ATDS. Concerning ourssives
‘ith all prisones, and with the repressive/warchousing role of risons in
Qur sociery s anothe way of Sighting racim, since the majorty of prsopers
are from Third World communities. Prisoners get locked. away — out of
sight, out of mind —- and the few prisonersrights that were won in prison
struggles are being undermincd and cut back: Human rights are neidly
non-existent in prison, and without community suppor and awareness, the
government can continue to escalate i repressive polices,and condiions
il juststeadily worsen. This is pecilly mue for prisonerswith AIDS,
since the stigma attached to ATDS in sociery generally heightencd oy
prison. Prisoners with AIDS die at an even s
the outside because treatment is so sporadic, limited, and conditiony are
50 bad. So T would never say for people fo. support political

fight for prisoners rights,and fo changes n condlitions that willbanehy
prisonces.But its important t buld suppors speciits . political
prisoners because we represent our movements, and its a ey o us o
protect and defend the policical movements we come from gainet govern-
ment repression. For the movement on the outside to embrace and sopoort
polin:l? prisoners/POWs makes it possible for us to continue to. participate
in and contribute to the movement we come from and it makes it impos-

sible for the government to isolate and repress us in their efforts to destroy
our political identites.

SUSAN: Al prisoness e in desperateneed of support 0d s the popui-
tion gers greates (in prison) and the repression get heavier the prisons

il become majorconfrqaton wili e ey T e prisons are

0 become 2 social front of strugge then there must be a consciousness
developed 1o fight the dehumanization and criminalization that prison
intends. Poltical prisoners are important o support because we are in
prison for explicitly social/political/p ive goals. Our lack of freedom
does affect how free you at. If we can be violared, so can you. There is no
contradiction between politcal and social prisoners.

How does being a lesbian fit in with your work?

LAURA: The same way it fits into my lfe — it i a basic, crucial part of my
charactes, my outlook on things, my personality. Because Im 2 lesbian, the
fight :fainsf ‘homophobia and sexist take on particular importance. But
seally Lhink my lesbianism helps e care about the oppression of others
by the imperialist system. So T ik my lecbianiom ‘makes me a better
anti- impeialist - it makes me fight all the harder. Being 2 lesbian in
prison s often very hard, but being “out” gives me a lot of surengeh. | have
0 ay that L am very proud when T her o read about she sgles queen
are waging out there.

LINDA: B:in? a lesbian has always been an important part of the reasons
‘why T'm a sevolutionary - even before 1 was self-conscions about how
important this i to me! I don' separate “being 2 Iesbian” from any other
part of my lfe, o from my politics Because I experience real oppression as
& lesbian and a5 2 woman, 1 am personally committed from the sery core
of my being — to winning Liberation for women, lesians, and a1l oppresecd
cople. This makes me more willing to take risks and o Aght, becante I
Fovt avison of s socesy Twant o e e ks and fo fight, generations,
‘where these forms of oppression don't exist.1 think being 4 lesbian has
also helpe me recognize the importance of murual soliaity and support
benween the struggles of oppressed people, despite the sexisma, heterocodem
and racem thar oen i in the process of building thése lliances.
Lireally believe that we have a common enemy — the imperialist system
~-and tha we have to support each other in all the forms ous struggies
againstthatcnemy may ik, These llances nead 1 be bk 1 -
respects the integrity of our various movements.

SUSAN: Well Being a lsbian is part o the very fabric of my being — s0
the question is not really how it fits into my work rather how conscious do
Tinake my

lesbianism in living in prison or in the lfe of reistance | lead.
It alternates depending on what the conditions are. Recently T have “come

out”becanse at this point | have chose to be more consciously lesbian-.
ideatified. T have done this because 1 believe that as gay people we need
more revolutionary visions and strategiesif our movement s 1o become
sgnificnt n Linking the overturning of sexual oppression with other forms

prison.In recognition of Pete, Cowboy;Julu,Slmie, and all dhe oy cers
2 seems only right. Finally — Laura and Linda have been out sinee
RCC6 began and i has been very important poltical and posioss)

sience for them, and for us all. They have through their struggles sred cn
enonment ofove and solidrity taat cnsbied me t subecguntly o

How have you struggled with sexjsm and heterosexism in the
Eroups A which 15 hove e heteroseism in

LAURA: Mostly by confronting people when I think they are being sexst
or heterosexist, and by fighting for womeris iberation and lesbizg and gay
iberation to be included ot justas words but as real goals. The sades
times for me have been those times when 1 was in groups where e didic
do this 1 hink i's vy impertant for people to be abl 1 el or

a vasiety of goals without setting up hierarchy or exclusive Lk ] wil
continue to join groups whose main program is, for example, ani- sacist
ox support for Palesting or Puerto Rico, because those things arejust a3
necessary for my liberation as women's and lesbian beration are Aund 1
‘won't demand that my Liberation be made s i ofevery agenda Bue
ront ever deny my identiy,my right to be zespected, ancl the urgeney and
legiimacy of esban g2y Sad liberation, either. "

SUSAN: 1 have become much more ofa einist over the last number of
years ~ and by that I mean ideologically and poitically T believe we ha:
o Sxamine the position of yomen, the structures of the sociery and how
male dominance defines womer's position in al things. 1 dori? thinlk o the
st fought against the subjugation of women and gy people com;
bl my own ndependence o o i St ey
against political and social forms of oppression. For exsmple. i} caragua
new the women miliants of the FSLN are eevaluating thei practie
of strug 'niz st sexism, and some of them are self-critical that. they
subordinered She St o v ot needs of the so-called greater
societal good. What it means now is that abortion 2nd the stragas £

(at this point) strong enough to effectively challenge this development. 1
beire Eato Siboriimae trie o] argay people and our s
isa big mistake.

What is the connection between the primarily white middle
class gay rights movement and the struggles’of other
ppressed people? How do we emvision & gay movemment that
encompasses other struggles?
LAURA: T believe tha any struggle of *primarily white middle class”
people has the danger of being irrelevant to real social change unless it
alles iself with the stxoggles of oppressed people. T country s great
track ecord forbuying i sector (at hav pebiege, One thi happens,
59t only do things stay the same, they get worse. But even more then
that, T feel that we cannot be full human beings unless we fight for all the
oppressed. Otherwise, our struggle is just as individualit and racis as the
dorsinant soiey Tn ot csoe S s i anyzhing worth fightin
for T think che queer movement nceds o talk to other fnovemerts sac
communities, in_order to work out common strategies and figure out how
1o support one another: I think we need to talk to groups in the national
liberation struggles in order to figure out how to sef our agenda and

strategy - like what demands can we raise in the fights about AIDS that
can help other communities ring AIDS? s a struggle, ot ncesrc
an easy process, but its crucial. Its also true that our movement has.

adopted lessons from other movements -~ ofien without cven realizing of
iecommizing it We'e espciallyincorporatedsategic concepts deve

(at s high <o) by the Back Liberaton secegle o o o Rights
motement to the Black Power and human fibte struggle. Itk no accident
that Stonewalls leadership was Third World gey men and fesbians, So 1
think it’s importan to recognize that whenever we pose the question of
liances and. eoaiions, we Aont need 4y “encompass” other people,we
need t ally with them, earn from, and struggle §de by sde with thern.
‘We need to support them. And we need 1 fight for them s well 2 for
Qurselves, because the second we accept divisions or ignore the urgeney of
fighting racism, we lose.

LINDA: I don' think that struggles against sexism or homophobia or
racism can be &lm, because e are forms ofdlscn'mimwn/oppmv
sion that actively disempower individuals and_ groups of people who can
be mobilzed to actively participate in the strugele Racisin, coism and
hetecosexism canot be tolerated in our movement o in oue alliances
because we don't want to_duplicate the oppression that we're fighting
fginst Of course the proess of buiking hese llances s il and
long-term, because building trust and espect requics building relaion
ships that zxe really different from those that exist in sociecy in general. So
Tdon' think the primarily white middle-class gay rights movessent can,
or should, “encompass” other struggles. White middle class gay men and -
‘Women cannot set the agenda for other movements or for other communi-
ties. Rather, I think that this movement should actively support struggles
against other forms of oppression as a way of making our own movement
stronger, more revolutionary, less selfeentered; and more supportive of the
ol of beration el determimation for 41l appressd ol

SUSAN: This is a big question and has many aspects toit, I can only offe
2 small answer, as | believe that prisoners who have no socal practice

in 2 movement because of being locked up have @ warped or fimited
understanding of the real dynarics in the free world movements. The gay
movement a5 it i currently constiruted has reemerged since 1 have been i
prison so T have not been 2 part ofis development. I dori think the gy
movement can be relevant to other oppressed peoples and their struggles
without an anti-imperialist analysis of the roofs of gay oppressior and
then correspondingly & practice that implements thac. In other words 2
movement that s Ied by white middle class men -- even those oppressed.
because of their sexual identification/orientation -~ without ceding power
(within the movement) to Third World women and men, and dealing with
theis agendias will ever b anything but reforma-oriented. To only strggie
for gay rights without struggling for the rights (buman and democrati)
of all hos in need, and specifically those who_are nationally oppressed
¢t up Compering struggle rathes thrs cohesve Fidienlopponon o the
govemment.

What was going on in your life that led you to participate in or
suppanan%luegg;tmggfé i youto particip

LAURA: I began supporting armed struggle in the late 60%, when T
realized the governmnt would kecp on Flling Third World pople iflef
i decs. Toe e o Fied Hampton (chamanof e linoie
by the Chicago pigs wras 2 tuming point, not only because it
s 0 esintion, ooy becae (. . S et g b s
because t made me ‘understand that the U.S. would never agree to give"
oppressed nations their human rights. That's why the government had o
KT Fred an Mo X, and s sy ot e
Td hated the injustice of this society for years, ut it was i the 60' when T
supported the Vietmmese Notve Amcacan sroggin the Black St
Puerto Rico and saw those nations waging strugeles ot frecdom that
includd semed vl thar Lt e o there could bea
struggle © win. Once supporc forld nations'right to
o ol o i S et T World aons ittt |
should be wiling 1o use many forms of sruggle to fight, to.

Mostiy, I think that i’ my vision of what a wonderful thing it would be to
ive in 3 just, humane, creative world that motivates me o embeace arméd
struggle as one past of what it takes to. fight for & new sociey.

LINDA: When 1 first became a political activist, I was a pacifist. I had
neves experienced el violence in my own i, and naivel hoped that
the changes I envisioned could come about non-violently. Then, I got beat
over the bead and teargassed by cops guarding the Pentagon at my first
major demonsiraton. came “head-(6-héad" with the e ot e e
maintsins its power through violence on every level - from beating up
protester, to genocide against intemallycolonized nations, o waging viar
zgaim nationally-colonized nations, 1o waging war against the people of
etmam,

Tbecame an activstin a time that was defined by the victories and
development of national liberation strugeles around the world and inside:
the US. I was especially inspired by the Vietamese and by Black people
siragling o ok ighs vl e o Bl Power/Black Libecation,”
Vietmamese women highters and Black womes in the strggle e aele
modelsfor me - becae they vere dedicate o Sighting smcl it s
rom, Theircoursge and dediction, theirwillingres t 1k everything e

So by supporting these national liberation muggn T came 10 support the
igheof oppresd people to Sghtforberaton by any means neceesry
ol X, Che Guevara, and Ho Chi Minh were sportant 1afacnis
in my ife and political development. But T actually became. detesmmiony o
pacicipate in drmed sruggle because of therage [ el atr the FBL jpopie
raids on Black Panther Farty offices and homes all ovr the U1, anct

particulary the murde of Fred. Hampton and Mark Clark by Chicago
police.

The intensiy of this polic terrorsmyagainstthe Black commanityin so
many cities made me realize that whenever a political movement sven
begins 1o threaten the stablity of the starus quo, the stite wil ey
‘whatever ways it must to destroy it. In order for 4 revolutionary movement
and vision to prevail, therefore, it's necessary for us to defend ourectves s
Qe comradetand to build our v apaites tovarda duy wher e
seriously challenge the ssive power of the state, so that state.

an bk ot o e L of o why o g POV
instead, by the people themselves, know this sounds ealinic, s
struggle that has succeeded in many countries around the esld:

T believed then - 25 1 do now — that U, imperialism was the main
enemy of the people of the world, and I wanted to fight o the side of the
oppressed to build a better world for all. This was the era of Che Guersess
irseRy many Victnams”, and I recognized that the US, govern-
ment depends on the *domestc tranquillty” ofits population xo sl for
imy interventions atdl:und the \v-‘;’zfl h‘nm Js one reason the Black
tion struggle was such a threar, and why white people in
olidarit with national beraton gl were reatening fi%fignm
partof the teason that the repression of the internal iberation movemenss
iras $o immediate and devastating, ind why there were such effopts oy
divide off white strugeles from these srugges

SUSAN: The war against the Black Liberation movement by the FBI/US,
govemment was most influential for me i the necessity for

ammed slf-defense. The challenge placed on us who were n 1 posiion

of solidariey with revolutonary nationalist Black organizations e iy
uphold self-determination and to fight for it The cxher clement fas most
feasonally propelled me inte armed clancestine resstance was witnersimg
the genocide ofthe chemiot waged in the South Bronx sgai

Black and Puerto Rican people.As 2 docig of aeppurane a2 50
ity health worker I watched s fail o sop the plague

What do you do all day?

LAURA: My time is divided among: fighting for decent conditions and
against the prisoris denial of those iings (:fiai!y ‘necessity!), working on
my political and legal work, communicating with people vi letters and
‘phone calls, talking to other prisoners (and working ith them to try to
dea with gl i, heleh sy ) meeting With my CodeRenducs,
trying to find out how my comrade Alan is (he’s engaged in 2 hard, life-
anddeatk bactle with canees,shackled 103 bed in he 1 C.U. oncology unit
at D.C. General Hospital [Editor’s Note: Since this interview took place,
Alan has recovered and was released from prison in June 1992]). 1 spend &
ot of time talking to yomen about AIDS -- by oné cstimate, 40-509% of
the women in here are HIV, yet there s no program, no education, no
counseling provided. Like my other comrades, I spend a lot of time doing
informal counseling and education on ths.

LINDA: Work and work out.

SUSAN: Because I am a doctor of acupuncrure and a conscious person T
have become (in addition to a poltical prisoner) a peer advocare/AIDS
counselor It is not recognized by the jail but spend 75% of my time
conlngpeple - vemen vbo u 1V The othe i s entding
my other work. and talking with others. W spend lot of the day o
down in our cells. Because of the overcrowding, and lack of programs the
administration keeps us locked down 2n enormous amount of time.

How do you deal with your white priviege in jail?

LAURA: struggle to be aware of i I fight racism actively and organi
forthat fight 1 to make the reource thar| e acces 0, vaable o
others. Educating people about how to fight AIDS is another way, because
tha’s information that the gay and lesbizn movement have that women in
the D.C. JilLack -- and it means that women are continuing t contfact
the HIV every day. That is a crime.

LINDA: I try to use the resources and education I've had access to as a.
ol white privege © benfit ll he risomes e ith and o
fight for our interests. This takes many forms, from struggling as # prisoner
e the ituson of AIDS cducation and couselig progams 0 heping
individual women with legal problems or abuses of their ights by the Jal
When I was in il in_ Louisiana, we were able to win a jailhouse lawyer’s
egal suit forcing the jail to give women glasses and false teeth (all jail
dental care amotints to s pulling teeth, and few jalsseplace them). One of
the conflics 1 confront is berwen deling with immecinte needs it oes
25 an individual counselor/agitaror/julhouse lawyer, and always pushing
the institution t provide the servicés andprograms that prisoners should
be enitled to as a basic human right — educarion, medicalcare, exercise,
mental health and ATDS couns

SUSAN: Well! I strugele against racism in evecy way T can. T have learned
patience, and how to be quict, nd how to realy listen to who s faling,
and what they are saying.

Wbat observations or advice do you have for lesbian/say an
AIDS activists as we start to experience police sur ince,
‘harassment and abuse?

LAURA: Fight it. Don't back away. Develop clandestine ways of operati
50 thatthe stse ot know vyt youte doing Supportone
another 5o that, when anyone is d for state attack, they can resist

-~ that resistance will build us all Jorit ever give information -- even if
you thiak it *safe” information -~ to the sate. Do I the svate divile
the movement by calling some groups “legitimate”and others not. Uity
isous swengeh, Support other morcanentsand people whoars aso
ofstate artack. When the sate calls someone a terrorist”,or violent oy
[ayor anything, think hard before ever belicving it o b tre. Resit
Resist. Resist.

LINDA: Be cool. Derelop 2 clandestine consciousnes. Value you work
hoagh that you don' talk t the enemy about i (Lke over tapped phones).

on't underestimate the power and vidiousness of the state, sl deud
gxpect white privilege to make you exempt from repression. Take the
lessons of past repression against political movements seriously - ngt
10 demobilze you or make you afrid, but to safeguard and defend your
work. Remember you're building for the furure, not just for today, and
keep struggling 15 broaden your vision. Remember that reforme e o
femporary concessions, tha they'e. neithez permaneat nor 4o they
solve fundamental problerms.

SUSAN: Study other movements here and around the world and examine
the state’s m ods i onde o develop actcs hat allow o keep
functioning Very importua, if onc slf-consciously is bilding a move-
ment thatknows the sate il destro it f the movemen begis o pose a
real or perceived threat.

What is your position on go-go girls in womens’ bars?

LAURA: Take me to 2 bar and we'll have a scintillaing discussion of this
issue, OK>

LINDA: Take me to a bar and I'll ket you know!

SUSAN: 1 think that anything tha objecsifes women as sexul objects
(versus sexual beings) is anti-woman. Even in an ll-womn canucls.
Iesbian s subversive because women loving women it 2 crime. against the
,and agtinst the bourgeos ptsiarchal moray of sk Lo
being subsersive docor't necesarly mean s abou lberation, If aothing
clse Thave learned that iberation and the need for it begind in oneself

bfecifeaton/ sl seresrypes/misogyny notonly destroyus n the
‘world, they corrode our own bearts. 1 am mot in in 2 society that
promores those things. Although I dor believe that they il be ended
ol e decide o en hem ~ they cannot be vertumed through th v
of this state.
ReoBiepFhisoy Absinen, oRe

Po BoOX (24(
Calmdvs o §3216