Sacked for Being a Lesbian

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who aren't necessarily activists in the women's movement, though reaching those women is important too.

What was discussed Open Meeting?

The first open meeting decided to set up working we want the GLC to Policy adopt - the idea is to produce a women's manifesto for London.

The GLC Manifesto was sadly lacking in policy on women and we want to do LONDON Workers' Socialist League educationals on basic Marxism. New series starting soon. Write for details and registration to WSL, PO Box 135, London N1 ODD.

HULL Socialist Organiser meetings:

July 7: Hull Unemployed Workers' Union: organising we've been doing all these years in the women's movement!

On housing for instance, a group has already been working for sometime and the women in it are much better qualified to produce a policy statement than any new working group would be.

Of course it will be the Labour Group that decides on the policy in the end, but I don't expect any major differences.

The working groups include employment policy Wakefield, Leicester, Long Lartin, Durham, Sunday July I: Wormwood Scrubs 3pm, Gartree 1pm.

WORKERS' march against Racism: FROM Brick Lane through Brixton to TUC conference in Brighton. September 4 to 8. Sponsors include: Jayaben Desai, Anwar Ditta, Nasira Begum, Tony Benn, Ted Knight, Ken Livingstone, Paul Boateng. Details 01-274-3951.

ACTION Committee for a Woman's Right to Work: national meeting Saturday July 3, from lam, UMIST • students' union, Manchester.

BLACK YOUTH conference organised by the Labour Party Young Socialists. Saturday/Sunday July 3/4, starting 11.30am, County Hall, London SEI.

CONFERENCE of Socialist Economists annual conference: Bradford University, July 1o to 18. Details: I Macdonald, 20 Stanky Rd, Ormskirk, Lanes 1.39 ZDH. JUDITH Williams has been sacked from the home for adolescents where she worked as a houseparent for being a lesbian.

Judith had worked for the agency Care Concern in the home in Ruthin, Clwyd, for five months. She was well-liked by both staff and residents. She had just been recommended for promotion by her group leader. Even her boss admitted that her work was "excellent' But her boss also added that Judith was 'temperamentally unsuitable" -and asked her to resign. When Judith refused, she was sacked. Judith's lesbianism was the only cause.

Issues

It is important that cases such as Judith's and that of Susan Shell, sacked a year ago by Barking (Labour!! Council for being a lesbian, are taken up in the labour movement,. both for themselves and for the issues they raise inside trade union and Labour Party branches. An example of what I mean by this comes from a recent meeting of our Branch at which a motion of support for Judith Williams was on the agenda.

Both CPSA nationally and our branch have formal policies of opposition to any discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, and if the motion had merely been one of principle there would have been no debate at all.

But because it was a concrete case of a gay person who worked with adolscents, there was strongly-voiced opposition from one member who raised sufficient doubt in the meeting to ensure that, though the motion was passed with a big majority, the number of abstentions was very high.

Children

This member's opposition rested on the fact that Judith was working with 'children" - 'vulnerable children" • as he put it. From this, he argued that, first, the agency's concern when it sacked Judith must have been with the children. They would have been acting with the children's interests at heart, so not woe we to entertare:

HOL knowing the facts of the case?

But second, he argued, the dangers had to be recognised. Gays, he said, must of course be 'tolerated" - he had nothing against that. But "children", particularly children in care, are vulnerable and to have someone around possibly "steering" them in the direction of being gay is likely to cause them harm.

So, terrible though it may be for Judith to lose her job, she should not have been working there in the first place.

These arguments from a quite intelligent, quite "liberal" man, who probably would genuinely support someone sacked for being gay from any other kind of job. Nor was he so unsophisticated as to use the classic gay-bashing argument of implying that all gays are child-molesters.

What he could not cope with was the idea that "children" should be exposed even to the idea of being gay. He would not recognise that adolescence. precisely the time when, on an individual level, kids are discovering or creating their ocial and sexual identiti : is precisely the time wh. they may well need to ki. w about and to understand hat being gay is.

Judith's ca. is being taken up widt v in the labour novement. NALGO's National Conference passed an emergency motion instructing its members not to place any kids with Care Concern La move that could threaten its existence.

Further information about Judith. Williams and donations (URGENTLY NEEDED!): Defend Judith Williams Campaign. 123 Greencroft Gardens. London NW6 3PE. Tel: 01-328 5007. The Campaign is jointly run by Gay Rights at Work Committee and Gay Welfare Workers Group.

BEN PLOUVIEZ Secretary, CPSA British Library (London)

Branch.