Pictures and story of the 8th Annual Matthew Shepard
March can be found on the Gay Liberation
Network (GLN) website at the following URL:
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Reminder:
The next Gay Liberation Network meeting is 7 PM
this Wednesday, Nov. 1st at Gerber Hart Library, 1127 W.
Granville Street, Chicago (1/2 block west of the "Granville" stop on the Red
Line "el").
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Defeat in Civil Liberties
Trial
Statement from the defendant, GLN's
Andy Thayer
Last Thursday I was found guilty of
disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in a trial stemming from my arrest at a
press conference on March 19, 2005, the second anniversary of the
U.S. invasion of Iraq.
On behalf of a broad anti-war coalition, I
had applied for a permit to march on Michigan Avenue in protest against the war
and the steady erosion of civil liberties in this country, exemplified by the
mass arrest of over 800 people at Michigan and Chicago Avenues the night after
the invasion began, March 20, 2003 (all of those 800+ charges in those cases
were dismissed in manners indicating innocence and are currently the subject of
a class action lawsuit spearheaded by the National Lawyers Guild).
The
permit application for the March 19, 2005 protest march on Michigan Avenue was
rejected by the rubber stamp Mayor's License Commission, and also in federal
court by a judge who used to work for Daley when Da Mare was the Cook County
States Attorney.
Faced with a situation where our 1st amendment right to
peacefully assemble and protest was just given the kabosh by the Chicago
Machine, we felt it was important to not take this frontal attack on our civil
liberties lying down, but to speak out about it and the criminal war which
benefited from the squelching of opposition voices. We organized a press
conference on the sidewalk at the location where the march was to have started,
fully knowing that we would likely be arrested for doing so.
Press
conferences are very commonly held on public sidewalks, including by the mayor
himself, and as numerous city officials themselves testified at earlier
hearings, never has any permit been required for them. Nonetheless, two days
before the event, one of our scheduled press conference speakers, Alderman Joe
Moore, was informed by a police officer assigned to the City Hall Task Force
that he and others would be arrested if we attempted to hold our press
conference.
While Alderman Moore chose not to speak at the press
conference, others did. Chris Geovanis, a media and anti-war activist, Rev. Paul
Jakes, Jr., a civil rights and police accountability activist, Bill Massey, a
Korean War veteran who marched with Dr. King and is a member of the ANSWER
Coalition, and I spoke to the press. As Massey said, "We have been threatened
with arrest for holding this press conference. We are holding this press
conference." After the others had spoken, I began to speak and got out about two
sentences before Deputy Commander Ralph Chiczewski grabbed me and placed me
under arrest.
Through the course of the trial itself, Judge Mark Ballard
prevented my National Lawyers Guild attorneys, Jeff Frank and Charlie
Nissim-Sabat, from entering any evidence bearing on the 1st amendment rights to
speak or assemble. Rev. Dan Dale, who was arrested later that day, was prevented
from entering into evidence a conversation he had with Officer Nenad Markovich
of the Town Hall District wherein Markovich bragged about the police targeting
me for arrest that day, saying that they would "wade into the crowd" to arrest
me. Earlier that day, at a protest sponsored by the Gay Liberation Network,
Chiczewski threatened me with arrest if I so much as showed up on Michigan Avenue.
It's nice to be loved.
While due to our inexperience we certainly made
mistakes during the trial that hindered my defense, particularly on the
resisting arrest charge, the wholesale banning of discussion of 1st amendment
issues meant that we had to base my defense upon a narrow, technical
interpretation of the law, rather than broad principles of freedom of speech and
the right to assemble. The upside of this banning of a 1st amendment defense at
my trial is that it has provided us with excellent grounds for appeal. We are
currently exploring such an appeal to the Illinois State Supreme Court.
Finally, I want to profusely thank my many friends and colleagues who
stood by me during this effort, taking the time to attend my trial, testifying
on my behalf, and contributing to my defense fund. We couldn't have sustained
this effort without you. Most of all, I want to thank my pro bono attorneys,
Jeff Frank and Charlie Nissim-Sabat, who devoted countless hours of their time
to my defense.
I was proud to be at that anti-war, pro-civil liberties
press conference on March 19, 2005. I would do it again. This war, launched on a
tissue of lies and slavishly supported by the leaders of both political parties,
has now killed hundreds of thousands of people according to multiple scientific
studies. The anti-civil liberties efforts of the Daley administration and its
allies in Washington, aimed at marginalizing anti-war
voices, must be opposed at every turn.
In the event of an attack on
Iran by the
United States or a proxy,
there will be an emergency response protest at Chicago's Federal Plaza, corner of Adams and Dearborn
Streets, at 5 PM on the day of the attack, and 5 PM on the day after. For more
information, go to www.CCAWR.org
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GLN Calendar
Wednesday,
November 1 - Monthly Gay Liberation
Network general
meeting. 7 PM at the Gerber Hart Library, 1127 W. Granville (just west of the
"Granville" Red Line el station). We meet the first Wednesday of each
month.
Sunday, November 19 - Gay Liberation Network at the
PFLAG Du Page meeting. 2 PM,
St. Paul Lutheran Church, 515 S. Wheaton Avenue (1 block north of Roosevelt and
1-1/2 blocks west of Main Street), Wheaton, IL.
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"Formed in response to three
September '98 anti-gay bashings in the "Boy's Town" neighborhood...[we] respond to
all serious hate crimes, no matter which scapegoated group is targeted. We will
actively seek out and work with individuals and organizations in other
communities to assist them in responding to hate crimes that target them. Only
by the active involvement of grass roots people from all communities can we
isolate the bigots and thus lessen hate
crimes."
-- from the GLN/CABN founding statement
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Gay Liberation Network
a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgendered Direct Action Group
(formerly known as the
Chicago Anti-Bashing Network)
Subscribe/Unsubscribe/Feedback: LGBTliberation@aol.com
Check out our newly revamped website!: www.GayLiberation.org
Part of the DontAmend.com network: www.DontAmend.com
