Following a decision taken at a National Forum meeting of the Radical Independence Campaign in December 2019, Radical Independence Queers, the LGBTQ+ wing of RIC, was established at a meeting in March 2020. While the pandemic has made organising in a substantial fashion difficult, we are still committed to our goal of establishing a space within the independence movement for LGBTQ+ people to come together and make sure that the cause of queer civil rights is firmly linked to the struggle for an independent Scotland that benefits the working class, not the wealthy and powerful. In times of rising transphobia and homophobia in Scottish society, we feel it would be a terrible time to dissolve. Scotland needs militant, autonomous, socialist LGTBQ+ activism more than ever.
It is for these reason that we are disappointed by the decision taken at the recent RIC AGM to dissolve the Campaign as a national body, and here announce our intention to continue on as a group regardless. Furthermore, we welcome the decisions made by local RIC groups such as Dundee, Angus and Mearns, East Kilbride and Glasgow to continue, and we will be glad to speak and collaborate with local RIC branches and affiliated groups in the months to come as we work out a way forward for RIC on the national level.
If you self-identify as LGBTQ+ and support our aims, then join us, and help bring the struggle for queer civil rights into every corner of the fight for self determination: https://riq.scot/join-radical-independence-queers/
The rainbow and the red flag go forward together!
Main Photo: Craig Maclean