I've gotten alot of questions recently about exactly what the direction and nature of our organization is. In case it has remained unclear even after these few Xanga posts, let me clarify.

HRC and many other gay rights groups in the United States have taken a frighteningly passive stance toward the equality of the GLBT community. When you go to HRC's website you see an awful lot of information on writing petitions, making websites, lobbying congressmen, and forming discussion groups. This has become the trend. The same group of society that brought about Stonewall now finds itself sitting around and discussing while many of us must daily deal with discrimination and hate. Just yesterday morning I awoke to find "FAGGOT" spray painted on my front door. Have we grown so blind that we can now truly believe that discussion is an appropriate response to situations like Matthew Shepard? We certainly would never advocate the use of violence, but we also cannot simply rely on a system that has done nothing but beat down the homosexual, bisexual, and transgender communities for as long as anyone can remember. Stonewall was the beginning, but regardless of what HRC, GLSEN, and other such organizations may preach we are nowhere near the end. It saddens me to look back on an age where groups like the Gay Liberation Front and the Lavender Menace stood up in open defiance to the destructive social system that had forced generations upon generations to live in self-loathing, and then to look at the state of the gay rights movement today and see a complete retrograde back to an age where the GLBT community cowered in whimpering pathetic shame before the monolithic establishment

What does Mattachine stand for? Everything these organizations DONT. We believe that it is not the responsibility of the GLBT to alter his/herself in order to be accepted by society  It is society's responsibility to accomodate the GLBT. The United States Consitution is a contract. Our loyalty is pledged to our nation under the condition that our government provides for our general welfare and freedom. The government of the United States has time and time again breached this contract, and we believe its time to renegotiate. We stand for change and we demand that it happen immediatley. Many say that patience is neccessary in order to resolve the conflict between mainstream society and the so-called "gay subculture", but patience is never demanded in a situation where a human being is being denied equal rights. Regardless of what many concessionists may say, the GLBT is still a second-class citizen, and this condition of living is unacceptable. We do make submissive requests to an uncaring government, we demand those things that are due to a still oppressed minority in what so many consider an age of enlightenment. During the civil right movement of the 1960's the homophile organizations were all but forgotten, but now our time has come. The liberation of the GLBT community is at hand, but in order to bring about this new era we must be committed to the fight. If history proves to be any indication, then active attack on the established ways of thinking of and viewing sexuality are the only method by which we can acquire liberation. The passing of empty meaningless legislation serves no useful purpose when the hearts and minds of American citizens are still stuck in the hateful and discriminatory line of thinking that breeded such horrible incidents like the death of Matthew Shepard. We stand for change, change in government, change in society, and change in the hearts of the people. We do not stand for passive discussion, because in the face of a tyrannical and oppressive regime this does nothing but express impotence. Be a part of history. Join the movement.

With pride,

THE MATTACHINE SOCIETY

One of the most disturbing trends that I have noticed is the tendency of members of the Queer community to enter the line of thought that as long as they don't feel the discrimination that some of us are forced to deal with daily in their lives then they won't bother to concern themselves with the Queer rights movement. The only way that we can successfully evoke change in the current social structure is to stand against it in unity. If there is an overwhelming sense of dissent within our ranks then not only are we subject to sabotage by the Right, but we will not be taken seriously by those who currently hold sway over national policy. There must be an unwavering image of unity. Although there will, of course, be differing opinions which will demand authoritarianism to defer to brotherhood, we must always stand unified on at least the concept that we deserve those same basic rights guaranteed to the heterosexual community. If we are to be successful in this fight for freedom, then we cannot stoop to the same level of division and bickering that exists within the Right.

Today, the State of Texas votes on Proposition 2. This is a constitutional amendment that declares, officially, that the marital union may only exist between one man and one woman. I think more than a few Queer men and women fail to understand what this means. This is not a simple prohibtion, or an assertion of a necessary moral principle that maintains the fabric of our society. This amendment is nothing less than a proclamation by the government that we have entrusted with our livelihood that our way of life, our way of loving, is an abomination. The most profound and life-changing emotion a human being can feel is love, and your government is saying that one of the things that makes life worth living is a perversion of nature. We can look back and see the hatred with which the US Government attacked Black America over the past 200 years, but now we find a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT being passed that is a DIRECT attack on Queer America. If the black man had to fight so hard for equality, then imagine how far we have left to go. So, let it begin. Let men and women who feel the oppressive burden of a heterosexually dominated society across this nation stand up and FIGHT for those basic human rights to which all people are guaranteed. Until we rise as a people and declare that we will no longer stand this open and flagrant violation of our human rights then it will continue on and on until we recede back into an age where the Queer American is not only afraid to be proud of who he is, and to me there is no greater abomination to a free and democratic society than making an individual in ANY WAY ashamed of his individuality.

Welcome to the Mattachine Society. We are a Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Trangender rights organization founded for the purposes of furthering the freedom of the Queer community in the United States. Although great progress has been made in this area, quite a bit by our namesake, The Mattachine Society (1961-1989) that arose after the famous Stonewall Riots of 1969, we believe that until the government fully recognizes the legitimacy of the GLBT lifestyle we have not gained enough. When the legislatures refuse to acknowledge gay marriage, and our national congress refuses to pass an anti-hate bill that includes discrimination based on sexual orientation then the men and women that are sworn to defend the constitution forged in the blood of oppressed men and women like ourselves are doing nothing less than officially declaring our way of life a perversion and an abnormality. So many sit idly by and watch this happen with a hope that maybe one day the Heterosexual community, in their benevolence, will allow us to have a half-breed form of marriage than have deemed a "civil union". This is not only a sign of self-loathing and an insult to those of us who today fight with such passion for the freedoms guaranteed to us under the US Constitution, but it is a disrespect to the many who have died because they were proud of who they were and would not simply conform in silence but stood up and declared "WE'RE HERE! WE'RE QUEER! GET USED TO IT!"

Welcome to the Mattachine Society. Join the movement.

TheMattachineSociety@yahoo.com