Students to counter 'anti-gay' rally

A white supremacist group will hold a rally entitled "Gay Bash '93" on Saturday in Bucks County, Pa. and several groups – including at least 40 University students – are planning a counter demonstration. According to a message recorded by the self-described "white pride, white unity, white power" United States of America Nationalist Party, the rally will be for people who want to "come out and oppose homosexuality." "They're gonna be there, you can bet on it," the message says. "The queers are gonna be there and we're gonna be there.?The queers have got to be opposed." According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the rally is expected to be attended by party members, Ku Klux Klan members and members of the Aryan Nation. The rally will be held in Washington Crossing State Park, about 45 minutes from Philadelphia. The Nationalist Party had also planned a parade in nearby New Hope, Pa., but could not obtain a permit to march from the city. A group calling itself the "November 6th Anti-Fascist Coalition" will bus University students and community members to the rally. The group consists of the New York-based Anti-Racist May Day Skins, the Philadelphia-based Act Up, Grass Roots Queers and Anti-Racist Action, and the University's Lesbian Gay Bisexual Alliance. LGBA Co-Chairperson Stephen Houghton, a College junior, said he cannot believe the rally is happening so close to the Philadelphia area. "It just really hits home that there is this kind of hatred in the world," he said last night. "You get so used to people crying out that there's racism and homophobia out there and it numbs people. "There are people out there who are bent on killing and hurting people. They say 'the white revolution is the only solution'." Houghton added he expects at least 40 University students to attend the rally, including representatives from Hillel Foundation, the Undergraduate Assembly, the United Minorities Council and the Women's Center. He said the students hope to take a stand against bigotry and unite the University in combatting hatred. Though the Nationalist Party, known for its white supremacist views, is focusing on gays and lesbians this weekend, it also opposes other groups, including blacks. But the recorded message contends that the group is only trying to return America to its past state of mind. "The signers of the Declaration of Independence were slaveholders themselves – our Founding Fathers?were racist," the message says. "When people condemn our beliefs today, when they say we're sick, when they say we're strange, when they say we're abnormal, they're condemning our Founding Forefathers." Another message asks people to join the party "to provide a whiter and brighter future." Houghton said the student group will spend the morning in New Hope, where the parade was to have taken place, and will end up at Washington Crossing State Park. He added the group is prepared for possible violence. "I have to be ready for it?[and] I want to avoid it at all costs, but one would be foolish not to take it into consideration," he said. "It's a potentially explosive situation, and so there's going to be a lot of talk on the bus about how we can stay together and stay safe."