Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians

Last updated

Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance
Formation1990
Purpose LGBT organization opposed to the legalization of abortion
Region served
United States
Leader Cecilia Brown
Website www.plagal.org

The Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance, formerly known as the Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians (PLAGAL), [1] [2] is a United States-based interest group opposed to legalized elective abortion and supportive of alternatives to abortion.

Contents

The group was founded by Tom Sena in 1990 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Washington, D.C., under the name "Gays Against Abortion". The name was changed to "Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians" in early 1991. Despite both names, the group is inclusive of all LGBT people, as well as straight allies. Its first President was Philip Arcidi, who was elected in 1994.

Positions

The Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance has pointed to some research that shows a link between abortion and breast cancer that has generally been rejected by the medical community.[ citation needed ] 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. They support expanding access to antiretroviral drugs for all people who need such treatment, including pregnant women and their fetuses. In March 2005, the Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance came out in support [3] of legislation introduced by Maine state legislator Brian Duprey, which assuming that science would discover a significant genetic component to homosexuality, would make it illegal for a woman to selectively abort a fetus based on predicted sexual orientation.

Reaction from the gay community

Since the religious right is perceived as dominating the anti-abortion movement, LGBT supporters of legal abortion care question why any LGBT person would want to align themselves with a social movement that has traditionally opposed not only legalized abortion, but often also LGBT rights.

LGBT opponents of legal abortion counter that their beliefs on abortion derive from beliefs regarding nonviolence, human rights, and the interconnectedness of human rights. Although some Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance members are otherwise conservative, they span the entire political spectrum. Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance President Cecilia Brown, for example, is a member of the Green Party. Another national officer, Jackie Malone, is outspoken on disability rights.

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. [4]

Most of the debate within the gay and lesbian community remains peaceful, if not always civil. However, in 1995 the Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance applied for participation in Boston's annual Pride parade and was denied. The Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance set up a table along the parade route, where members distributed literature. During the parade, the table was surrounded by angry hecklers who tore up their leaflets, leading to police asking the Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance to leave the parade area to restore order. [1]

At the 2000 Millennium March for Equality, major gay rights interest groups such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the Human Rights Campaign endorsed pro-choice public policies, despite the protests from the Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance. [5]

Reactions from the anti-abortion community

The reaction from the anti-abortion community is divided. Some opponents of legal abortion see their position as part of a more secular, human rights position and sent letters of support for the Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance. [6] Some of these individuals and organisations affiliate their opposition to abortion as part of a consistent life ethic. Others see the struggle against abortion in more pragmatic terms and welcomed the support of the Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance, without care for their positions on other issues.

Still other abortion opponents that see their position as part of a broader conservative religious movement, opposed the inclusion of an LGBT organization at anti-abortion events. The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., denied a request to allow the Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance to cosponsor an anti-abortion conference in January 2009, citing the group's support for same-sex marriage and condoning of homosexual sexual activity. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT movements</span> Social movements

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Although there is not a primary or an overarching central organization that represents all LGBT people and their interests, numerous LGBT rights organizations are active worldwide. The first organization to promote LGBT rights was the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, founded in 1897 in Berlin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Societal attitudes toward homosexuality</span> How societies view, stigmatize or value homosexuality

Societal attitudes toward homosexuality vary greatly across different cultures and historical periods, as do attitudes toward sexual desire, activity and relationships in general. All cultures have their own values regarding appropriate and inappropriate sexuality; some sanction same-sex love and sexuality, while others may disapprove of such activities in part. As with heterosexual behaviour, different sets of prescriptions and proscriptions may be given to individuals according to their gender, age, social status or social class.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights opposition</span> Opposition to legal rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people

LGBT rights opposition indicates the opposition to legal rights, proposed or enacted, for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Laws that LGBT rights opponents may be opposed to include civil unions or partnerships, LGBT parenting and adoption, military service, access to assisted reproductive technology, and access to sex reassignment surgery and hormone replacement therapy for transgender individuals.

"Gay agenda" or "homosexual agenda" is a term used by sectors of the Christian religious right as a disparaging way to describe the advocacy of cultural acceptance and normalization of non-heterosexual sexual orientations and relationships. The term originated among social conservatives in the United States and has been adopted in nations with active anti-LGBT movements such as Hungary and Uganda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Serbia</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Serbia face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are legal in Serbia, and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is banned in areas such as employment, education, media, and the provision of goods and services, amongst others. Nevertheless, households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Ukraine</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Ukraine face legal and social challenges not experienced by non-LGBT individuals; historically, the prevailing social and political attitudes have been intolerant of LGBT people, and strong evidence suggests this attitude remains in parts of the wider society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Ghana</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Ghana face legal and societal challenges and discrimination not experienced by non-LGBT citizens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Costa Rica</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Costa Rica have evolved significantly in the past decades. Same-sex sexual relations have been legal since 1971. In January 2018, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights made mandatory the approbation of same-sex marriage, adoption for same-sex couples and the removal of people's sex from all Costa Rican ID cards issued since October 2018. The Costa Rican Government announced that it would apply the rulings in the following months. In August 2018, the Costa Rican Supreme Court ruled against the country's same-sex marriage ban, and gave the Legislative Assembly 18 months to reform the law accordingly, otherwise the ban would be abolished automatically. Same-sex marriage became legal on 26 May 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Albania</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Albania face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents, although LGBT people are protected under comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation. Both male and female same-gender sexual activities have been legal in Albania since 1995, but households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-gender couples, with same-sex unions not being recognized in the country in any form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Slovenia</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Slovenia have significantly evolved over time, and are considered among the most advanced in Eastern Europe. Slovenia was the first post-communist country to have legalised same-sex marriage, and remains the only Slavic country to have done so.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Haiti</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Haiti face social and legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Adult, noncommercial and consensual same-sex sexuality is not a criminal offense, but transgender people can be fined for violating a broadly written vagrancy law. Public opinion tends to be opposed to LGBT rights, which is why LGBT people are not protected from discrimination, are not included in hate crime laws, and households headed by same-sex couples do not have any of the legal rights given to married couples.

The Rainbow Alliance of The Bahamas was a support and advocacy group for persons in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance</span>

The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance (GLAA) of Washington, D.C. is a United States not-for-profit organization that works to secure legal rights for gays and lesbians in the District of Columbia.

This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the 1970s.

MassResistance is an American organization that promotes anti-LGBT and socially conservative positions. The group is designated an anti-LGBT hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, in part for claims linking LGBT people with pedophilia and zoophilia, and claims that suicide prevention programs aimed at gay youth were created by homosexual activists to normalize and "lure" children into homosexuality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Center for Family and Human Rights</span> American nonprofit organization

The Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam) is a right-wing United States-based advocacy group, founded in 1997, in order to affect policy debate at the United Nations and other international institutions. It was formerly known as the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute. The 501(c)(3) organization is anti-abortion and anti-LGBT.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education and the LGBT community</span>

Historically speaking, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people have not been given equal treatment and rights by both governmental actions and society's general opinion. Much of the intolerance for LGBT individuals come from lack of education around the LGBT community, and contributes to the stigma that results in same-sex marriage being legal in few countries (31) and persistence of discrimination, such as in the workplace.

The major religions in Taiwan are Buddhism and Taoism. In these religions, the Holy Books present no arguable issues about LGBTQ people. There are no laws about punishing sodomy, which means a sexual relationship between males is not considered an abomination, unlike in many western and abrahamic religions. However, it was long considered a taboo issue. When human rights issues were discussed in political arenas, the concept of “Tongzhi” became a key term among the politicians in Taiwan. When it emerged in political forums, Taiwanese people began to become familiar with the idea that “Tongzhi" people being a part of their culture. Yet still, LGBTQ people were not mentioned in Taiwanese law. Punishment for being part of the LGBTQ community did not exist, yet there was also not any welfare or protection for LGBTQ people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rainbow capitalism</span> Capitalist appropriation and assimilation of sexual diversity

Rainbow capitalism is the involvement of capitalism, corporatism, and consumerism in appropriating and profiting from the LGBT movement. It developed in the 20th and 21st centuries as the LGBT community became more accepted in society and developed sufficient purchasing power, known as pink money. Early rainbow capitalism was limited to gay bars and gay bathhouses, though it expanded to most industries by the early-21st century.

References

  1. 1 2 Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance (January 1, 2023). "Name Change Announcement". Instagram. Retrieved June 29, 2023.
  2. ↑ Graham, Ruth (January 20, 2023). "March for Life Kicks Off in Washington, Setting the Stage for New Ideas". The New York Times. Retrieved June 29, 2023.
  3. ↑ "PLAGAL Supports Bill to Prohibit Abortions of Gay Unborn Children; Media Release, 7 March 2005". www.plagal.org. Archived from the original on November 27, 2010. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  4. ↑ "September 14, 1994, AIDS Walk Funds Diverted to HIV+ Abortions". Archived from the original on May 18, 2006. Retrieved March 29, 2005.
  5. ↑ "PLAGAL Opposes Gay Sponsorship of Women's March; Media Release, 24 April 2004". www.plagal.org. Archived from the original on November 27, 2010. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  6. ↑ "Letters of Support for PLAGAL Regarding the Arrests of 22 JAN 2002". www.plagal.org. Archived from the original on September 25, 2010. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  7. ↑ "Catholic University Rejects Campus Activity by Gay Rights Group - Catholic PRWire and Events Calendar". Catholic Online. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.