Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians (PLAGAL) is an interest group of gay and lesbian Americans that support the pro-life position that life begins at conception and thus abortion is murder. However, they differ from most other pro-life interest groups because they also support gay rights. [citation needed]
Contents |
[edit] History and evolution
The Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians was founded in 1990 in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Washington D.C. under the name "Gays Against Abortion" by Tom Sena. Its first President was Philip Arcidi, who was elected in 1994. "Gays Against Abortion" changed its name to the current "Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians" in early 1991 to better reflect its membership of gay men and lesbians.
PLAGAL point to pro-life research that shows a link between women abortions and breast cancer. They have also taken the position that even if a woman is infected with HIV she should not abort the fetus because there are ways to prevent the transmission of the virus from the mother. In March of 2005, PLAGAL came out in support of legislation introduced by State Rep. Brian Duprey of Maine which, assuming that science would discover a significant genetic component to homosexuality, would make it illegal for a woman to abort her unborn child based on the child's predicted sexual orientation.
Recent years have brought some changes to PLAGAL. Tom Sena, PLAGAL's founder, died in June of 2001. Joe Beard, another prominent PLAGAL member, also died in July of the following year. Nevertheless, the group remains active under the leadership of its current President, Cecila Brown.
[edit] Reaction to the organization from gays and lesbians
As upholding a pro-life position is associated with the political ideology of the religious right, most gay and lesbian people consider themselves to be pro-choice and view pro-life gays and lesbians with a similar type of disdain that is given to gay Republican interest groups such as the Log Cabin Republicans and the Independent Gay Forum.
As early as 1994, Chuck Volz, co-founder of the now-defunct Delaware Valley PLAGAL chapter, started a row in the local gay media when he condemned the sponsors of the Philadelphia AIDS walk for diverting "crucial funds" to assist in the abortion of HIV positive children. Most of the debate within the gay and lesbian community remains peaceful, if not always civil. However, in 1995 PLAGAL members at a gay pride event were assaulted and their booth overturned by a crowd of angry pro-choicers. [citation needed]
PLAGAL has had little success in persuading the gay and lesbian community of its arguments, and most gay and lesbian rights organizations have entered into a coalition with pro-choice interest groups in large part because most interest groups and politicians that identify as being pro-life oppose gay rights, and some even go as far to support government prohibitions on birth control, condoms and homosexuality. PLAGAL has never explained to the mainstream lesbian and gay communities what their stance on condoms and "abstinence-only" "sex education" is, leading to further criticism from that quarter.
At the 2000 Millennium March for Equality, the major gay rights interest groups such as the GLAAD and the HRC endorsed pro-choice public polices, despite the protests from PLAGAL [1].
[edit] Reactions to PLAGAL from the pro-life community
In the United States many pro-life interest groups tend to oppose gay rights along with providing access to birth control and condoms in favor of a position that sexual activity should only occur within a traditional, heterosexual, marriage. As such many pro-life interest groups are uneasy with an interest group that is both pro-life and pro-gay rights.
In 2002, Ms. Nellie Gray, the President and permit holder for the annual March for Life, denied a permit to PLAGAL and ordered its members to be arrested rather than participate in the ninenteeth annual parade. The incident sparked a debate within the pro-life movement as to the ideological reasons for opposing abortion and whether not that ideology could be both pro-life and pro-gay rights. The religious right is a powerful force within the pro-life movement and sees its opposition to abortion as tied to its opposition to gay rights.
At the time, the verdict of the pro-life community was divided. Some pro-life advocates that see their position as part of a more secular, human rights position sent letters of support for PLAGAL while other pro-life advocates that see their position in a more religious context opposed the pro-life movement allowing a pro-gay rights organization to be associated with their movement [2]. The debate is still on-going, but as the pro-life movement is not solely a religious movement, PLAGAL has been allowed to march in subsequent marches.
