FAMILY VALUES?
Statement from ACTUP SF
The Christian Right
wing speaks of returning Amerika to a bygone era of family values. But
let’s face it! When the right wing speaks nostalgically of the
past we know they are speaking of a time when a woman’s place
was in the kitchen, blacks rode in the back of the bus, Mexicans did
the yard work, and queers remained in the closet. To such wishful thinking
on the part of the reactionary conservatives we say, GET OVER IT!
It is bogus to speak
of the “sacredness” of marriage or family. Historically
marriage is based on the male private ownership of women and children.
Up until the suffrage movement of the late 19th century, women had neither
voting nor property rights nor any legal recourse to protect themselves
from abuse and economic dependency. Like every other minority in US
society, women had to demand their basic human rights from the white
male establishment. In the 1970s the feminist movement boldly proclaimed
“Our Bodies, Ourselves” setting the stage for the right
to choose. This basic first step towards women’s emancipation
rocked society to its foundation sending the Christian Right wing reeling.
Conservatives blame the so-called “breakdown of the family”
on such advances as a woman’s right to choose, gay rights and
the sexual freedom movement. But in truth the “breakdown of the
family” is only a reflection of the general breakdown of class
society. Just as the era of the abusive father needs to come to an end,
the top heavy CEOs of corporate Amerika need to be shown the door. Nothing
less than a social order free of bosses, generals, priests, kings, prime
ministers, presidents and other authoritarian father figures can insure
our freedom.
That reverends,
coaches, parents, sergeants, teachers, television producers and other
responsible members of society continue to condemn homosexuality is
inexcusable. To pretend that such people are not responsible for the
mounting violence against queers is out of the question. Gay people
who attempt to fit into the constrictions of marriage, family and military
service are selling themselves short. It is both cliché and oxymoron
to speak of the dysfunctional family. There is a fifty percent divorce
rate among heterosexuals. The number of divorces, like the number of
teenagers suffering from drug abuse, alcoholism, bulimia, suicide, and
illiteracy, is indicative of the general failure of the family unit.
Shootings by children in public schools culminating in the Littleton
debacle, both shocked the world and, like the continued bombing of the
civilian populations of Iraq and Afghanistan, exposes the true nature
of the country’s macho militaristic ethic of blind aggression.
We are told Hopi prophecy warns when children begin killing it is a
sign the world is ending. Amerika’s gas guzzling, animal eating,
plutonium fueled, love-hating society, founded on land theft, the extermination
of Native people, the enslavement of African people, the subjugation
of women, and consequently the condemnation of homosexuality, continues
to drive the world towards nuclear catastrophe. So much for family values!
And so much for the morality of the Christian Right wing!
1884 Market St 
