Speech by #Frauenlandretten activists at the Pride Parade on June 30, 2018 on Linz's main square

Dear community,

We are also lesbian and gay people, trans* and inter people, bi and queer people and not just women and men. Yesterday, the Constitutional Court finally confirmed the right to a third gender. Alex Jürgen fought the battle. He represents civil society and has fought for this right for all of us. Thank you Alex!

We say: Thank you Alex!

We stand here before you today as queer feminists. As women with asterisks with different genders and preferences. And yes, we are happy that the third gender has finally been recognized. It's a reason to celebrate.

But we also know:
The fight must go on!

But this government doesn't really give us time to celebrate.
On the same day that a small step towards greater gender equality was taken, human rights are simply being abolished elsewhere.
Dozens of women, men, women and children died again yesterday in the Mediterranean. At the same time, EU rulers are discussing whether people who are in need of protection and have been forced to flee will in future be held captive in arrival centers outside the EU.
"Loading centers" sounds to us like "detention camps" - that's what the fascists called their internment camps! And all people living in Austria should know from our history what such camps lead to.

We demand
No camps in our name

In over 70 countries, homosexual, trans and intersex people are criminalized and threatened with violence, including the death penalty. Countless people are forced to flee in order to protect their own lives

We demand:
The protection of human rights for all and everywhere

We are in the midst of a global political crisis and the consequences cannot yet be predicted. The attacks have already begun. Privileges that have been fought for are being abolished again.
White heterosexual men arbitrarily decide what is best for "us". Whether Putin, Trump, Kurz, Orban or Erdogan. They are racist, fascist, homophobic, neoliberal and unacceptable!

We demand:
Women, queers and inter to power!

Everyone, including heterosexuals, has benefited from the freedoms of queer feminism and the LGBTQIA movement.
The ministers of the federal government have also benefited. But the majority of them do NOT sign the women's* referendum.
They do NOT sign that - girls* and women* are allowed to decide on their sexuality free from constraints.

We demand:
To be free to decide about our bodies

We will not allow this government to simply eliminate the rights we have fought hard for.
This is the exclusion and discrimination of those who are already experiencing systematic and capitalist exclusion and discrimination. This is ethically unacceptable and must not become a matter of course.
As Hannah Arendt said: "Everyone has the right to have rights!"

We demand:
Equal rights for all!

And we also have this demand at state level. Women's State Councillor Haberlander is destroying queer-feminist projects that focus on empowerment and self-determination.
But unfortunately she forgets. Only through decades of struggle by emancipists and feminists like us could SHE get into the position she enjoys today. And now - she is helping - to turn us feminists off.

We demand:
Save women's land instead of puppets

Civil society is called upon more than ever to resist.
We must not stand by and watch how this cruel policy operates.

A strategic WE is needed NOW!
Solidarity and alliances!
We will not be defeated, let's unite!

Photo: http://www.hosilinz.at/aktuelles/linzpride2018/