Resisting Freedom ugene, Oregon. Sebastopol, California. Burlington, Vermont. Northampton (aka Lesbianville), Massachusetts. Ann Arbor, Michigan. Denver, Colorado. All of these cities and by now more, have passed resolutions calling for a full or partial repeal of the so-called Patriot Act. This act allows the U.S. government to detain without show- ing cause any person who is not a US citizen. It allows the federal government to enter any American’s home or office to search property and computers without a warrant, without probable cause, and without notifying the owner. The act declares that the Federal Government can listen in to client/counsel communications through wire taps that require no judge’s order, only a belief that someone is connected with foreign terrorists We’re notjust talking sus- pected terrorists, we’re talking about any one of _us who steps over a line drawn by the hands of unfet- tered power, something gay people do every time we fall love. The Bill of Rights and the Constitution have been found irrelevant in the current climate of fear and belligerence. We may not have struck against Iraq The Bill of Rights ' has been found irrelevant in the current climate of fear. We're deep into a war on freedom, and gay people have more to lose than most. yet, but we’re deep into a war on freedom. And gay people have more to lose than most when our govem- ment tells loses sight of protected rights because we are being attacked. And yes, the U.S. is being attacked, of course we’re being attacked, and like any other scared animal I want to be protected, to run and hide in my burrow until it’s over, until I feel safe. I had a physi- cal problem a few weeks ago that caused me more pain than l’ve ever felt before. Although I have no love for the medical establishment or the pharmaceutical industry, nothing would have kept me from that emergency room and from test results that calmed my fears. I was grateful to the point of tears when they jabbed that intravenous mor- phine into my hand and increased the amount until the pain stopped. So I understand the impulse of a nation suddenly in a world of pain, surprised by its vul- nerability and at last convinced of its own mortality. A virtual emer- gency room was set up in Washington, D.C. on 9/1 1/01 while most of the nation was focused on the recovery efforts in New York. For some months after, we Americans were in great pain, stunned to acquiescence by our wounds. We gave our- selves over to the supposed professionals who ran with our permis- sion and cre- ated not sane policies, but a reign of para- noia market- ed as the highest patri- otism. Goodness knows I’m glad to be an American and glad to be living in a country created as a democracy. What I can’t understand is how the enemy without formed a twisted enemy within. Did the initial urge toward protection somehow sour with a , desire for revenge? Did the power we gave the administration in our helplessness burgeon into madness? l’ve received the passage below from more than one e-correspon- dent since the passage of the Patriot Act and the escalation of the “War on Terrorism.” “Why of course the peo- ple don’t want war! But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democ- racy, or a dictatorship, or a parlia- ment, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.” This quotation is attrib- uted to Hermann Goering, I-Iitler’s designated successor. l’ve read that afier World War I, he was admitted to a mental hospital and, in September 1925, to an asylum for dangerous inmates, becoming a morphine addict in the course of his extended recovery. At the Nuremberg Trials he was found guilty of conspiracy to wage war, crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. We’ve seen the result of his particular combination of madness and power. The pain of the Patriot Act is not as immediate as the pain that put me in the hospital, but it’s bear- ing down fast. When will the stal- wart groups of pacifists be deemed too dangerous to be allowed our dissent? When will the entertain- ment mega-corporations be enlisted to flood airwaves with propaganda? Can public radio survive more cuts? When will the alterative press find our howls of objection censored? And when the right wing bulldozer rolls over our inalienable rights, who will lie among the crushed, patriot or not, Republican or Democrat, Muslim or Jew, but the time-honored scapegoats, gay Americans. We have a major stake in prodding our municipalities to pass more resolutions calling for full or partial repeals of the so-called Patriot Act. I suspect it’s no fluke that Lesbianville already has. This mostly symbolic campaign echoes the outraged cries that turned the country against the war in Viet Nam and against segregation. Whenever leaders abuse power it is only the voice of the people refusing to do their bidding that can stop their madness. V Lee Lynch is the author of eleven books including The Swashbuckler and the Morton River Valley Trilogy. She lives on the Oregon Coast and comes from a New England family. © Lee Lynch 2002 Belles cont'd from previous page died, Susan did not attend the funeral. Her husband, Austin, was in the middle ofhis very open affair with Mabel Todd, and although Mabel had never actually met Emily, she went to the funeral with Emily’s brother. It was Susan who washed and dressed the body, and who wrote the eulogy. Emily Dickinson left behind a huge number of letters and poems. I shall close with one of her most famous, exciting and problem- atic stanzas: Wild nights.’ Wild nights! Were I with thee, Wild nights should be Our luxery.’ Further Reading: V The Anxiety of Gender. by Vivian R. Pollack, Cornell University Press, 1984 V The Passion of Emily Dickinson, by Judith Farr, Harvard University Press, 1992 V Chloe P/us Olivia, edited by Lillian Faderman, Viking, 1994 Francesca Susannah is a writer interested in lesbians through histo- I‘)/. She lives in Burlington. ii»/vvw.GayAdventu reTravel.com ‘ALYSON ADVENTURES A Full Service Salon 150 Church Street Burlington 0 across from City Hall 864-2088 Joseph Kress, M.A. Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor Individual and Couples Counseling Adults and Adolescents 802-895-4993 55 Seymour Lane, Newport, VT