McReynolds Calls for Halt to US Aid to Israel over Construction of the Wall and Illegal Occupation of the Gaza strip and the West Bank
Supports Making the Middle East a Nuclear Free Zone

David McReynolds, the Green Party candidate for US Senate, said today that peace in the Middle East would not be possible until the US became an honest broker in the dispute.

"The US cannot tell Israel and Palestine how to solve their conflict; that is for them to figure out. But for the US to become neutral in this dispute means we must cease all economic and military aid to Israel, particularly when they continue to build the illegal separation wall on Palestine territory and continue to impose an illegal military occupation in the Gaza strip and the West Bank," stated McReynolds, who was a senior staff person with the War Resisters League for 39 years.

McReynolds opposes all military aid to countries in the Middle East.

McReynolds also called upon Israel to support the creation of a nuclear free zone in the Middle East. "It is in Israel's interest to agree that no country in the Middle East, including them, can possess nuclear weapons. This would need to be backed up by strong international inspections," noted McReynolds. Israel is widely thought to already possess nuclear weapons. Iran and Iraq have been cited as countries that have been interested in obtaining such weapons.

McReynolds said that he supports groups within both Israel and Palestine that are willing to discuss peace. While he said that any solution needed to guarantee the right of Palestinian to their own state, he said that the issue of one state versus two states needed to be decided by the two groups.

"If Israel isn't willing to leave the occupied territories, it would have to be a one state solution. Such a one state solution however will not be possible unless it was secular, without granting special rights and power to only one religious group. Any solution would have to guarantee the security of both Israelis and Palestinians," McReynolds added.

"Both sides must renew their commitment to end violence. Israeli must end the occupation of Palestinian territories. The soul of any nation, particularly one espousing democratic ideals, is invariably stained through the act of enforcing a military occupation. One might strongly hope for a leader such as Gandhi or King to emerge within Palestine, but the tragedy of the violence we have seen, including the heartbreaking suicide bombings, are a response to Israeli Occupation," added McReynolds.

McReynolds said however he opposed the deployment of international peacekeepers to effect an end to the Israel occupation of Palestine.

The national Green Party has adopted a similar position on the Middle East."We reaffirm the right of self-determination for both Palestinians and Israelis, which precludes the self-determination of one at the expense of the other. We recognize the historical and contemporary cultural diversity of Israeli-Palestinian society. We support equality before international law rather than appeals to religious faith as the fair basis on which claims to the land of Palestine-Israel are resolved. We recognize that Jewish insecurity and fear of non-Jews is understandable in light of Jewish history of horrific oppression in Europe. However, we oppose as both discriminatory and ultimately self-defeating the position that Jews would be fundamentally threatened by the implementation of full rights to Palestinian-Israelis and Palestinian refugees who wish to return to their homes.

"As U.S. Greens, we refuse to impose our views on the people of the region; rather, we would turn the U.S. government towards a new policy, which itself recognizes the equality, humanity, and civil rights of Jews, Muslims, Christians, and all others who live in the region, and which seeks to build confidence in prospects for secular democracy," states the national party platform.

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David McReynolds is 1980 was the first openly gay individual to run for president of the US. While David downplays this, an article he wrote in the 70's about being gay is considered an important document in gay liberation. Below is a short paragraph about that article, along with this week's story from Gay City News. At the end is the first few paragraph about the relationship between gays and lesbians in the peace movement; I have highlighted they key role that gay have played in the War Resisters League, where David worked for 39 years.

David will be on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman this Friday.

From Marty Jezer - Many of the leaders of the War Resisters League were gay, while Paul Goodman was openly bisexual. One of the things I am most proudest of as an editor of
WIN Magazine was a special issue we devoted (pre-Stonewall) to homosexuals.
It featured personal essays by Paul Goodman and David McReynolds, who was
national director of the WRL. Goodman was "out" of course, had written
about his homosexuiality in "Five Years." Dave, who was a prominent leader
of the anti-war coalition, was out only to WRL and WIN staffers and his
friends. In the essay he talks about being gay and in the closet within the
movement. He felt sure that publication of this essay ("coming out," for
him) would mean the end of his role as an anti-war leader. He feared that
WIN would lose its readership for publishing the essay. The opposite
happened. The reaction was wonderful. David was rightfully given credit for
his courage and honesty. And he stayed a leader -- and an excellent at that.

Election Choice on Marriage and War
Green’s out gay McReynolds urges voters to send Schumer a message

By ANDY HUMM
www.gaycitynews.com/gcn_344/electionchoice.html

David McReynolds, the Green Party candidate for the U.S. Senate from New York, thinks there are several good reasons lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender voters should make a statement by voting for him on Election Day, not the least of which is that “Schumer is certain to win and there is no reason to vote for him if you have disagreements with him.”

McReynolds, who just turned 75, has been out as a gay man since the late 1960s but is mainly known as a peace activist and Socialist leader, having worked with such pacifist luminaries as Bayard Rustin, Ella Baker, A.J. Muste and Dave Dellinger. He worked with the War Resisters League from 1960 until his retirement in 1999, including lead roles in organizing opposition to the Vietnam War. He has been a Socialist candidate for the Congress and for president of the United States.

“Schumer has not come out for gay marriage,” McReynolds said. “For the life of me, I do not understand the opposition to it. I don’t know why people are so frightened.”

He also faults Schumer for not only his vote authorizing the use of force in Iraq, but his continued support for the war and the Patriot Act. McReynolds was cited in The New York Times as running on those issues and a call for an end to aid to Israel, but he said that his opposition to the Sharon government’s violation of U.N. resolutions “is very much in line with the Israeli peace movement and American Jews working for peace.”

On Iraq, McReynolds wants to “get our troops out of there.” He said, “I don’t have a solution for Iraq and I don’t know anyone who does. The solution will come when we withdraw. And if there is justice, we will pay them reparations. The U.N. could play a role if Iraq wants.”

He added, “My program is a sad one of saying we made a terrible mistake, committed a crime, and need to get out. Schumer says he still would vote exactly the same, despite all that has come out.”

On the economy, McReynolds is calling for a massive government jobs program, particularly focusing on the expansion of the Amtrak rail system and low-income housing.

“I’ve traveled around a lot in the country, but now you can’t get around except by plane or car,” he said.

McReynolds also emphasizes his foreign policy experience, with trips to Iraq, Libya, Vietnam, the former Soviet Union and throughout Europe. “I think I have a better grasp of foreign policy than Schumer and the other candidates do.”

The gay Democratic clubs that have endorsed a candidate are sticking with Schumer, as is the Human Rights Campaign, citing his opposition to the Federal Marriage Amendment and lead role in blocking the confirmation of right-wing judges. The Log Cabin Republicans embrace Republican nominee, Assemblyman Howard Mills, whose positions on LGBT issues are so close to Schumer’s that the Conservative Party is running their own candidate, Marilyn O’Grady, who has been running ads featuring Schumer and Mills atop a wedding cake, mocking their support, though limited, for gay relationships.

Dan Schaffer, who works with McReynolds on LGBT issues, said, “We’re hoping to make a statement that is heard by Chuck Schumer and other politicians—candidates should have a complete stand on LGBT issues,” including support for marriage rights.

Bill Dobbs, an independent gay activist who works with United for Peace and Justice, which does not make endorsements, said, “Schumer’s positions on civil liberties is frightening,” citing especially his lead support for the 1993 Anti-Terrorist and Effective Death Penalty Act that is “being used in the roundups we now see,” as well as to limit federal appeals of death sentences.

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Peace Activism and GLBT Rights

by Liz Highleyman

glreview.com/11.5_Highleyman.html
Gay and Lesbian Review

AS GAY MEN AND WOMEN have come out of the closet and achieved basic civil rights, many in the movement have focused most of their attention on gaining full equality, including the right to serve in the armed forces. But GLBT people have also played a vital role in peace and antiwar activism, speaking out against military conflicts from World War I to the current war in Iraq.
One of the earliest U.S. antiwar organizations, the War Resisters League (WRL), was formed in 1923 by activists opposed to World War I. Among its founders were Tracy Mygatt and Frances Witherspoon, two Bryn Mawr graduates who lived together in a romantic friendship for more than sixty years and devoted their lives to women's suffrage, peace, and social justice activism.
World War II was a massive coming-out experience for homosexual men and women, many of whom left their hometowns and found same-sex relationships and communities in the military. But others firmly opposed the war. Bayard Rustin, a gay African-American activist who would later organize Martin Luther King's 1963 March on Washington, defied a draft summons and served more than two years in prison. Arrested on a morals charge in 1953, Rustin was pressured to resign from the Christian-pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation and subsequently joined the WRL staff, a job he held for over a decade. Rustin helped launch the social justice magazine Liberation, which published works by queer pacifists such as Paul Goodman.