Read NOW's 1980 CONFERENCE RESOLUTION and the CONCEPT PAPER which condemns women's right to chose any safe, sane and consensual sexual expression she desires, specifically S/M, contradicting the wording of the 1980 resolution itself which states: "In affirming each woman's right to control her own body, NOW also affirms each woman's right to the actualization of her sexuality -- her fundamental right to be herself."
Please help the NOW-S/M Policy Reform Project change this fundamental contradiction at the heart of NOW's "Delineation of Lesbian Rights"
DELINEATION OF LESBIAN RIGHTS ISSUES 1980
WHEREAS, the National Organization for Women's Commitment to equality, freedoms justice and dignity for all women is singularly affirmed in NOW's advocacy of lesbian rights; and
WHEREAS, NOW defines lesbian rights issues to be those in which the issue is discrimination based on affectional/sexual preference/orientation; and
WHEREAS, there are other issues (i.e., pederasty, pornography, sadomasochism and public sex) which have been mistakenly correlated with lesbian/gay rights by some gay organizations and opponents of lesbian/gay rights who seek to confuse the issue, and
WHEREAS, pederasty is an issue of exploitation or violence, not affectional/sexual preference/orientation, and
WHEREAS, pornography is an issue of exploitation and violence, not affectional/sexual preference/orientation, and
WHEREAS, sadomasochism is an issue of exploitation and violence, not affectional/sexual preference/orientation, and
WHEREAS, public sex, when practiced by heterosexuals or homosexuals, is an issue of violation of the privacy rights of non-participants, not an issue of affectional/sexual preference; and
WHEREAS, NOW does not support the inclusion of pederasty, pornography, sadomasochism and public sex as lesbian rights issues, since to do so would violate the feminist principles upon which this organization was founded:
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Organization for Women adopt the preceding delineation of lesbian rights issues and non-lesbian rights issues as the official position of NOW; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NOW disseminate this resolution and the Resolution Concept Paper on Lesbian Right Issues 1980 attached hereto throughout the national, state and local levels of the organization; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NOW will work in cooperation with groups and organizations which advocate lesbian rights as issues as defined above.
4/82
Motion adopted that the Board wishes to clarify the 1980 Lesbian Rights conference resolution that the position paper developed and circulated with the resolution was included in the resolution by reference and was intended to be an integral part of the resolution. The resolution is not complete without it; therefore, in all cases of circulation or publication of the resolution, the position paper must be printed as well.
CONCEPT PAPER ON 1980 CONFERENCE RESOLUTION
The rationale for the advocacy of lesbian rights by the National Organization for Women has been well documented through National NOW conference resolutions since 1971 and in position papers such as "Demystifying the Lavender Menace." In working to achieve the goal of lesbian rights through education and legislation, it is often beneficial and/or necessary to work in single-issue coalition with lesbian and gay rights organizations. Such cooperation can be of great help to all parties concerned as long as the issues that are jointly supported are issues that all member organizations of the coalition advocate.
Difficulties arise when organizations, many of which are exclusively composed of or dominated by nonfeminist gay men, seek to raise non-lesbian and gay rights issues as legal or legislative goals toward which all members should work. Often spokespeople for these issues are put forward as spokespeople for the coalition as a whole, thus implying tacit approval by all coalition members.
Finally, the advocates of these issues seek to coerce members who do not agree with them by accusing those members of being fascist, of trying to destroy the lesbian and gay rights movement, of trying to sanitize lesbians and gays to fit middle-class morality, and of being "stupid women." It should be noted that there are many feminist gay men who support a feminist analysis of lesbian and gay rights issues, and who support NOW’s definitions of those issues.
What, then, are lesbian rights issues? Exactly what does NOW want when it advocates lesbian rights? There are three major areas of legislation which NOW believes to be necessary to ensure lesbian rights. First, NOW supports legislation which prohibits discrimination on the basis of affectional/sexual preference in such areas as employment, housing, education, public accommodations, military service, social welfare, health sciences, and immigration and naturalization.
These should be civil rights guarantees for every citizen of the United States. Amending the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include the words "affectional/sexual preference" would provide a nationwide foundation for the guarantee of lesbian and gay rights. In addition, state statutes and local ordinances should be amended to include "affectional/sexual preference" in whatever civil rights legislation falls within their jurisdiction.
Second, NOW supports the repeal of any laws which criminalize sexual activity between consenting adults in private (such laws are often referred to as consensual sodomy laws). The U.S. Supreme Court in March 1976, affirmed the right of states to make laws regulating sexual conduct if the state chose to do so.
Some state courts, most recently in New York (People v. Onofre 1980), have ruled that the consensual sodomy laws, which are used to harass and imprison gay men, and under which lesbians are presumed felons, are unconstitutional because they violate the basic Constitutional principle which was the basis for the Supreme Court decisions Roe v. Wade. 1973, which upheld the right of women to safe, legal abortions, and Griswold v. Connecticut 1965, which upheld the right of persons to procure contraceptives.
The third area of lesbian rights legislation which NOW supports is, that of custody and/or adoption rights for lesbian mothers. State laws regulating the determination of child custody and visitation usually use "the best interest of the child" as the criterion for judicial decree.
However, in most states either parent can be declared unfit on the basis of affectional/sexual preference. In many instances, the child is thus deprived of the custody or visitation of the more nurturing parent. NOW believes that no presumption as to the fitness of either parent should be based on her/his affectional/sexual preference, and that no single model or definition for family life can be justly applied to a diverse citizenry through legislation or the court system.
These are the lesbian rights issues to which NOW is committed -- the issues of privacy and justice. In affirming each woman's right to control her own body, NOW also affirms each woman's right to the actualization of her sexuality -- her fundamental right to be herself. The passage of the legislation described above provides a legal basis to sue for redress of discrimination when the issue at stake is one of affectional/sexual preference.
There are concerns that are often raised as part of the gay rights movement which advocates of civil liberties are asked to defend and for non-support of which NOW is often castigated. These concerns are not germane to the goals of lesbian and gay rights. They involve exploitation, sexual objectification, violence and invasion of privacy. Thus, by their very nature, they are anti-feminist. These issues include pederasty, pornography, sadomasochism and public sex.
Pederasty is the involvement of children by adults in sexual activity. Advocates of the decriminalization of pederasty favor removal of the age of consent laws, a move which would catastrophically affect minors of either gender by removing legal guarantees for their physical and psychological well-being.
School boards erroneously use the issue of pederasty to discriminate against homosexuals in their hiring practices, although it is well known that over 90% of all pederasts are heterosexual males who seek out young girls as their victims (Sexual Assault Center, Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA 1978; Sexually Abused Children, Roland Summit, 1979).
The psychological and often physical damage to the children involved is the same regardless of gender, since pederasty is, by its very nature, exploitative. Pederasty creates a fundamental unbalance of power which is easily manipulated by adults for their pleasure. Adult/child sex is a civil rights issue only from the standpoint of the child's right to freedom from sexual oppression.
Advocacy of pornography (the sexual objectification of the individual which results in the removal of personhood) is neither a feminist nor a lesbian rights issue, and as such, is not supported by NOW. Pornography encourages both exploitation and violence whether or not it is heterosexual or homosexual in content. Pornography is not art issue of affectional/sexual preference.
A third non-feminist, non-lesbian rights issue is sadomasochism. Although sadomasochism is practiced among a small percentage of the overall population, it has been grossly misrepresented as an integral part of gay lifestyles. The attempt to identify sadomasochism as a lesbian and gay rights issue serves primarily to confuse issues and to thwart the drive for lesbian and gay rights.
Sadomasochists seek to legitimize and provide a premeditated structure for violence. NOW opposes any repressive legislation concerning private consensual sexual activity between adults. Nevertheless, NOW opposes institutionalized violence as well as social structures which encourage or advocate the use of physical and psychological violence or domination among individuals. This opposition to violence precludes support or advocacy of sadomasochism as a feminist issue.
Situations in which open displays of affection are appropriate are applicable to all persons, regardless of affectional/sexual preference. Sex acts in public are inappropriate. Although NOW supports the right to sexual activity between consenting adults in private, it does not support the violation of the privacy rights of other citizens when sex acts are brought into the public sphere.
NOW is unequivocally committed to lesbian and gay rights -- issues of freedom from discrimination based on affectional/sexual preference. NOW refuses to submit to coercion by those who advocate pederasty, pornography, sadomasochism and public sex as integral parts of, and the price of, lesbian and gay rights.
Human Rights Organizations Psychiatrists and Physicians
Policy Presentation Quotes from Authors Form for Support Links
For more information on the NOW-S/M Project e-mail NOW SM@AOL.COM
Created Saturday, March 22, 1997 11:23:58 PM