Last week on Democracy Now, we discussed how gay men and lesbians fit into the new world chaos, after the release ofan AP photograph of a bomb on the USS Enterprise scrawled with the words: ”HIGH JACK THIS FAGS” Within hours of the photo’s worldwide release, GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation was on the case. Almost every major US gay, lesbian and transgender human rights group-including the Service members Legal Defense Network—mounted a campaign against homophobia during wartime. The AP removed the photograph from the wires a day later. But what these groups did not mention was that the bomb was going to be dropped on the Taliban.

Democracy Now spoke to the gay rights groups GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign, and Empire State Pride yesterday ­noneof whom have taken a position on the bombing and none of whom wanted to appear on the show today. The NationalCoalition of Antiviolence Groups, which primarily takes up gay bashing cases, has also not taken a position on theUS-led attacks on Afghanistan yet.

But some gay rights groups, including the Queer Economic Justice Network and the Audre Lorde Project, have issueddeclarations calling for an end to the bombings in Afghanistan.

Guests:

• Bill Dobbs, Queerwatch.
• Joo-Hyan Kang, Executive Director Of The Audre Lorde Project.
• Jeffrey Montgomery, National Coalition Of Antiviolence Programs, a group that has not yet taken a positionon the US bombing of Afghanistan.

Related links:

• Queerwatch
• Audre Lorde Project