US gay activist harassed

US gay rights activists say that police and corporate harassment continues of participants in the historic April 25 March on Washington for Lesbian/Gay/Bi Rights.

On the day before the march, gay rights activist Stephen Durham was booked for leafleting at a rest stop on the New Jersey turnpike. The leaflet, issued by the Freedom Socialist Party and Radical Women, was entitled “Operation Lavender Storm: To the Barricades for Lesbian and Gay Rights”. Ironically, the rest stop is named for the 19th century gay poet Walt Whitman.

The rest stop is owned by the Marriott Corporation, which has refused to negotiate a contract with the hotel and restaurant workers' union to which Durham belongs. “Marriott is a right-wing company notorious for squashing free speech in the workplace”, he said.

Durham is contesting the charge, which was to be heard on May 25.

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