BY ELENA TATE
This column is written and edited by the Young
Socialists (YS), an international organization of young
workers, students, and other youth fighting for
socialism. For more information about the YS write to: Young
Socialists, 1573 N. Milwaukee, P.O. Box #478, Chicago, Ill. 60622.
Tel: (773) 772-0551. Compuserve: 105162,605
BOSTON - Some 7,500 young people marched here, May 16, for the fourth annual Gay/Straight Youth Pride Day. The event featured a rally and a march through the city. The participants were overwhelmingly high school students, many representing Gay/Straight Alliances in high schools throughout Massachusetts. Student groups carried banners and marched in contingents.
Chants included, "Gay, straight, Black, white; same struggle, same fight!" and "What do we want? Equal rights! When do we want them? Now!"
One of the groups that generated the most excitement among participants was a delegation of 13 students from Salt Lake City, Utah. The students were all involved in a fight against their school district for the right to have a gay/straight student organization. Holly Peterson, 18, the co-president of the Utah Gay/Straight Alliance, explained that the school district banned all extracurricular activities in the fall of 1996, a year after the Gay/Straight Alliance was formed. Students protested by staging walkouts at their high schools, and by organizing three marches through the city. "The largest, with 2,000 people, was one of the largest protests Salt Lake has ever had," said Peterson. Currently, students in the Salt Lake area hold meetings off campus because after-school clubs remain banned.
Young Socialists at the rally campaigned for Andrea Morell, the Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Congress in the 8th Congressional District and distributed campaign statements supporting the struggle by students at nearby Roxbury Community College against attacks on education.
Young Socialists also staffed a campaign table with a sign that read: "Defend gay and lesbian rights. Support students' struggles from Roxbury to Indonesia." From the table, campaign supporters sold eight copies of the Militant, and two Pathfinder titles: Abortion is a Woman's Right, and Women's Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle. Eighteen participants signed up for more information on the Young Socialists.
Stephanie Pereirax, a 17-year-old high school student, wanted more information about the YS. She had been to several demonstrations in February protesting U.S. war moves against Iraq, and wanted to stay more involved in politics. Pereirax added, "Going to a protest is more effective than just sitting around and being against something. You can't just be passive."