Veteran political dissenters and anti-war activists no doubt remember the disclosure in the 1970's of the widespread domestic surveillance conducted to collect information on those that didn't agree with the status quo of the government's ideology. It is well known that the FBI tapped the home phone lines of civil rights leaders including Malcolm X and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Not only were their personal conversations secretly recorded by the FBI, but government officials frequently infiltrated private meetings and gatherings to collect information on the activities of those deemed "anti-American." The surveillance didn't just include anti-Vietnam war activists and civil rights leaders, but the secretive investigations even included gay and lesbian pioneers who organized the first homosexual civil rights demonstrations in the United States from 1965 to 1969, prior to the Stonewall uprising in New York. In light of such revelations and calls for government accountability, federal laws were passed in the late 1970s that strictly prohibited any government agency to spy on American soil without permission from a special federal court.

The New York Time's disclosure last week doesn't mark the first time that US government officials have secretly investigated the activities of Americans and the many "anti-patriotic" organizations they belong to. Soon after the US-led war in Afghanistan in late 2001 that sparked the beginning of the current anti-war movement in this country, media reports came in from urban and remote areas alike, confirming suspicions that local and state police had started collecting information on American citizens and organizations deemed to be a threat to the government. For example, the Portland Police Bureau's Intelligence Division kept files on organizations and groups in Oregon including American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Americans for Peace, Armenian Revolutionary Democratic Movement, and Amnesty International. It seems that no one was spared scrutiny. Even organizations such as Christian Conservative Churches of America, American Foundation for the Handicapped and Citizens Allied for Responsible Energy were targets government surveillance and investigation.

After the attacks on September 11, American Muslims, LGBT and straight witnessed an unprecedented assault by US government officials and the Department of Homeland Security. Muslim charities suspected of funding terrorist groups were shut down and mosques across the country were raided in late 2001. In early 2002, our government started its "volunteer registration" and "special registration" for citizens from countries deemed to be breeding grounds for terrorists. This process led to hundreds of men being detained and deported, the majority of whom had no ties to any terrorist organizations and only had minor immigration infractions that were often the fault of US red-tape and the immigration bureaucracy. The impact that these "volunteer" and "special" registrations had on gay and bisexual men who are also Muslim, Arab and/or South Asian will never be fully known. Dozens of friends and loved ones have been arrested, detained in federal prisons, deported and many continue to wait in over-crowded detention centers for their immigration hearing.

Since the attacks on September 11th, our country has gone down a path that is against every ideology and philosophy the United States was founded upon. This latest revelation about the Bush administrations secret surveillance is yet one more indication that we are increasingly becoming a police state. And while we boast about bringing democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan, we are destroying every ounce of freedom that we have ever had. We are slowly becoming those very countries that we are trying to "liberate." Countries were government informants are everywhere and phone and email communications are systematically monitored through technologically advanced equipment - ready to weed out anyone suspected of being disloyal to the government.

LGBT people across this country must begin to wake up and understand that our freedoms and our liberties are as much at stake as other marginalized communities. It was not long ago that police were raiding gay bars and arresting dozens of people deemed to be "uncivil."

We must join together with civil liberties and civil rights organizations and form progressive coalitions to fight back. We must unite our resources to alert Americans of the grave consequences that lie ahead. And we must stand up and demand that our government stop its attack on the freedoms that the founders of this country fought for. The consequences of allowing our government to continue its campaign to impede our rights will lead to the unraveling of American democracy as we know it. That is a future that we will all regret.

To learn about ways that you can begin to stand up and speak out against our government's crackdown on civil liberties and freedom of speech, please visit the following organizations working on these issues:

People for the American Way - www.pfaw.org
ACLU - www.aclu.org
Center for Constitutional Rights - www.ccr-ny.org
MoveOn.org - www.moveon.org
Americans United - www.au.org
Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund - www.aaldef.org
Council on American-Islamic Relations - www.cair-net.org
Muslim Public Affairs Council - www.mpac.org

Copyright © 2005 Faisal Alam

Faisal is a queer-identified Muslim activist of Pakistani descent. He is the Founder and President Emeritus of Al-Fatiha, a US-based organization dedicated to supporting and empowering LGBTIQ Muslims and their Allies. Faisal's work with Al-Fatiha has been featured in newspapers and magazines around the world. Since founding Al-Fatiha in 1998, Faisal has traveled across the country speaking on the concerns facing the queer Muslim community. Faisal's activism has also included LGBT political rights, promoting international human rights and advocacy, LGBT youth organizing, immigration and asylum rights, and HIV/AIDS education and prevention. Faisal grew up in New England and recently moved from Washington, DC to Atlanta, GA where he continues his activism.