PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

President Bush will make a brief appearance in Pittsburgh on Monday 28 July, and Pittsburgh will be ready to greet him. Many plan to join a protest within sight of the David Lawrence Convention Center, where Bush will be speaking at the Urban League conference, at about 1:15. Protestors plan to gather at noon on the sidewalk outside of the convention center on Penn Ave.

Local activists were caught by surprise with the announcement of Bush's visit, but have quickly organized a response. The Thomas Merton Center has been in contact with the Pittsburgh Police, who have said that they "do not want a repeat of what happened at Neville Island." That is in reference to a Labor Day 2002 visit by Bush to the nearby town, during which protestors were fenced off far from sight of Bush and one protestor, 65 year old Butler resident Bill Neel, was arrested for going outside of the barrier. This time, expect organizers, the protest site will be closer to what they are protesting -- and police will respect protestors' First Amendment right of assembly.

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The Pittsburgh Bill of Rights Defense Campaign (PBORDC) held its first press conference on Thursday, July 3 at the City-County Building in downtown Pittsburgh. The group is asking the City Council to pass a resolution that would make Pittsburgh a "civil liberties safe-zone," a city that refuses to enforce unconstitutional provisions of the USA Patriot Act and the proposed Domestic Security Enhancement Act. PBORDC is a newly launched project of the Thomas Merton Center.

A man dressed as Uncle Sam and another wearing a Bush mask shredded copies of the Bill of Rights to demonstrate that our civil liberties are being systemically destroyed by Federal laws such as the USA Patriot Act, the Home Security Act, and various Executive Orders, while speakers urged listeners to sign a petition in support of the resolution and against the USA PATRIOT Act.

The press conference was part of a national day of action called by the National Coalition for the Repeal of the USA Patriot Act. Pittsburgh joined cities across the country that held independent public hearings in which people shared their testimony of how the Patriot Act has infringed on their civil liberties.

The dangers are serious, says the group. For example, without a warrant and without probable cause, Section 215 of the the Patriot Act grants FBI the power to access your most private medical records, your library records, and your student records...and can prevent anyone from telling you it was done. They will only be more serious if the Domestic Security Enhancement Act passes. Among other things, the DSEA would allow the state to collect and keep DNA samples of everyone.

Groups in Three States Rally for Coalfield Justice

Pittsburgh-based CONSOL was the target of a multi-state protest on June 23rd dubbed Coalfield Justice Day of Action. Their focus was the Coal Mining corporation's devastation of mountain tops and its creation of hazardous pollution. Coal mining centers of Charleston, WV, Pittsburgh, PA, and Lexington, KY saw significant and creative civil disobedience by folks sick of being disregarded by government and big business in the name of energy demands. There were arrests, banner displays, a hunger strike, and appeals to both CONSOL and the federal Office of Surface Mining for its lax enforcement of environmental laws. Street theater used satire to harken back to the old days of robber barons when magnates ran roughshod over ordinary people. People are asserting their democratic rights over their health as runoff threatens water supplies.

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The stonewall rebellion in 1969 is heralded as the birthplace of gay activism, but are gay activists really following in its tradition?

The gay activist movement sparked from a riot between NYC morality police and the Stonewall Inn's patrons who were mostly poor, mostly trans, and mostly people of color. It seems like gay activists who are "just like everyone else" have co-opted and privatized the queer rebellion that took place on that humid summer night.

A queer revolutionary group known as RESYST questions the actions of the gay activist movement and urges gays to embrace the roots of our movement and "resyst all forms of oppression." In an effort to outline struggles against assimilation, corporatization, and classism within the gay movement organization such as Gay Shame SF have held events to bring these struggles to the attention of Pride Fest attendees. This year, RESYST is planning Pittsburgh's first gay shame called queer as fuck 2003.

queerasfuck 2003 is a weekend of radical events surrounding Pride Fest. The main march will meet on Saturday, June 21 at 10am at Westminster Place in Shadyside. See www.thomasmertoncenter.org/RESYST or call 412-363-1877 for detailed schedule information.

[ Local event info ] [ Photos from Saturday march: 1 2 3 ]

What if police barged into your home and arrested you and your partner for having consensual sex?

That's exactly what happended to John Lawrence and Tyron Garner on on September 17, 1998. They were two adults having consensual sex in the bedroom of John's apartment in Houston. The two men spent the night in jail and are now considered sex offenders in several states. Texas is one of 13 remaining states that still have sodomy laws on the books; in the past 30 years, many states' sodomy laws were either repealed by state legislation or else invalidated by state courts. Pennsylvania's sodomy law was struck down by the PA State Supreme Court in Commonwealth v. Bonadio, 415 A.2d 47 (1980).

In 1986 a Georgia sodomy law was challenged all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in Bowers v. Hardwick. Michael Hardwick was a bartender in a gay bar in Atlanta and targeted for harassment by the police. In 1982 officers were let into Hardwick's apartment to serve a warrant and found him in his bedroom having oral sex with another man. Both were arrested and charged with sodomy. The Court ruled 5-4 against Hardwick, a major milestone in history of queer liberation. Ever since that case, courts and legislators have used the excuse of the Hardwick decision to take children away from same-sex couples, to deny equal access to jobs, housing, public accommodations and more.

Now, 17 years later, the Supreme Court has a chance to revisit the Hardwick decision. The plaintiffs contend that the sodomy law should be struck down not only on privacy grounds, but also because it violates the Equal Protection Clause by permitting sexual intimacy only for heterosexual couples and therefore turns queers into a sexless second class with less rights than other citizens. Texas' District Attorney argues that the law is aimed at protecting marriage, family, and children asserts the state's right to regulate any and all sexual practices, even those taking place behind closed doors and among consenting adults. Recall that earlier this year PA Sentator Santorum defended the Texas sodomy law and argued that homosexual consensual sex "undermine[s] the fabric of our society."

This historic case will affect the rights and lives of LGBT people for years to come. The Supreme Court is expected to announce its decision on either Monday, June 16 or Monday, June 23. Their ruling can go either way.

Protests in Pittsburgh and elsewhere on the day of the decision

Protests are planned in Pittsburgh and at least 15 other cities on the day of decision, whether or not the Court rules in favor of Lawrence and Garner. The Pittsburgh protest will start outside the Pittsburgh office of Santorum (1 Station Square) at 5pm.

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