BY DOUG JENNESS
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota -More than 75 supporters of women's rights held a rally here August 16 outside the Metrodome, where nearly 50,000 were participating in a two- day Promise Keepers conference.

Established in 1990, the Promise Keepers appeals to men to become "godly" by reasserting their traditional role as the dominant head of the family.

The group's gathering here, which drew men from throughout the Upper Midwest, was one of 22 such affairs organized in sports arenas across the country this summer. A national gathering is scheduled for Washington, D.C., on October 4.

"We won't go back!" the women's rights activists chanted. As one sign put it, "PK prayer: Women in the kitchen, Gays in the closet, Everyone else on their knees." Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of Minneapolis Jennifer Benton was among the dozen speakers. She pointed to the tens of thousands of women among the UPS strikers, who are disproportionately represented among the lower-paid, part-time workers, as the example pointing the road forward for women's equality and for all working people.

The action was organized by a broad ad hoc committee, initiated by the Minnesota chapter of the National Organization for Women.

The coalition included women's rights, gay and lesbian rights groups, humanist and atheist organizations, Socialist Workers Party, Women Against Military Madness, and the Young Socialists.  
 
 
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