'Before the War' is a collection of articles published on Temenos before the War in Iraq began. These pieces are being re-published to remember where we have been and reflect on where we're going.

This past weekend marked a remarkable day in history where hundreds and thousands of people around the world joined forces in voicing their opposition to a US-led war with Iraq. Protesters also called for an end to sanctions, implemented more than a decade ago, that have cost the lives of more than 500,000 men, women and children across Iraq and have brought extreme poverty and malnutrition to thousands of others.

More than 50,000 people took to the streets in Washington, DC, more than 200,000 in London, and thousands more across the European continent - to express outrage at the United States' government and its unilateral and imperialistic foreign policies. Amongst the dozens of groups that endorsed the protests a cross-section of liberationist movements were represented under one umbrella. But one community was notably missing. The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement. There was no visible queer presence at any of the protests and to date no major national LGBT organization in the United States (except for the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches) has spoken out against an impending war with Iraq.

Many ask the question, "What does a war with Iraq have to do with queers? And why does opposing a war with Iraq, or any other country for that matter, have anything to do with the 'gay agenda?'" The answer is - EVERYTHING! Since September 11th, 2001, the United States has more than tripled its national defense budget in the name of "security," and in the name of a "war of terror." The consequences of our national attention being focused on war has led many to lose focus on the critical issues facing some of the most vulnerable in our society, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, people living with HIV and AIDS, homeless youth, and low-income families, amongst others.

Federal resources are already being limited every day under the Bush administration. Government funding for HIV prevention and education remains stagnant at a time when more than one quarter of new HIV infections are among our nation's youth. While this alarming rate continues, our government insists on cracking down on organizations that continue to provide messages of safe sex, and the Department of Health and Human Services has officially taken an abstinence-only policy, making the sex lives of most queer people almost invisible.

Poverty amongst low-income LGBT families remains far from our radar screen, as though all of us can afford to go to $250 tuxedo dinners to watch straight celebrities get an "Equality award." More than 40 million people in our country live every day without basic health insurance. Universal health care that would guarantee every LGBT person insurance and the right to live a healthy life remains far from reality, and the United States remains the only industrialized nation in the world without a national health care plan.

Our inner cities remain some of the most destitute places where thousands of our young queer people of color live, grow, and thrive. Social and economic justice, basic human rights, life, liberty, dignity, remain far away from our $250 dinners, our $150 circuit parties, or our $2,000 gay and lesbian cruises to the Mediterranean and Cancun.

Meanwhile the Bush administration continues to beat the drums of war, rallying Americans across the country to support the ousting of the "axis of evil." But the truth of the matter is that a war with Iraq will only mean that more funding will be taken away from the issues that affect all of our lives and the lives of our loved ones - both queer and straight.

Only a few decades ago, at the birth of our movement for freedom and liberation, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people understood that single-issue politics would not win us any thing. Decades ago when we took to the streets to fight police brutality we understood that fighting multiple oppressions through a multi-lateral, multi-issue platform was the only way to gain our liberation. But today, few of us remember this history.

Queer people have been at the forefront of social and economic justice struggles since the beginning of our fight for equality. The feminist movement, the labor movement, the struggle for civil rights, the struggle for immigrant rights, and economic justice for poor people - all have actively involved lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. Only a few decades ago LGBT people were likened to Communists, and the Department of State was on a witch-hunt to weed out queers from its ranks liking them to Cold War spies.

Today, we have fallen victim to our own "comfort," the majority of us living in urban cities where we are seemingly "safe," under the guise of laws that protect our sex lives, our jobs, our relationships, and our homes.

Today, LGBT people across the United States live in a world where our acceptance has almost been won, where our freedom is strong in almost every major city, and in a society that understands our lives better than ever before. But while we have grown accustomed to being "accepted" many members of our community have forgotten that most of this country remains a haven for homophobia and intolerance. Ironically most of this oppression is supported and in some cases funded our own government through institutions like schools and the church (and mosques and temples).

This is the same government that now wants to lead our nation into a war that the majority of the world opposes. But how easily we forget that the same Iraqi president that we are now fighting against was put in power by our own government. Many of the governments that we are now allied with in our fight against "terrorism" continue to perpetuate horrendous abuses of human rights against sexual and gender minorities living in their countries. And while we sit happy and free in our bars, our tennis clubs, at our annual benefits and dinners, and in our LGBT centers around the country, the real fight for freedom and struggle still continues around the world.

The LGBT community in the United States has abandoned its roots. When national lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender organizations fail to voice their opposition to government policies that clearly impact the lives of so many queer people in this country, our movement has failed. When we as a community cannot join together and ally with the wider progressive movement, a movement that so many of our elders came from, we have collectively failed and have lost our battle for freedom and liberation.

The war on Iraq IS a queer issue, not only because it will affect LGBT people in the military, an item high on our "gay agenda," but also because it will take away from social welfare programs that we as a community rely on the most, and because it will impact each and every one of our lives.

The great Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

Let us embrace the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. who envisioned a world where human beings lived side by side in peace and harmony without death and destruction at our doorstep each and every day. Let us envision a society that invests in its people, ensuring them their basic human rights - to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The answer is not war. The answer lies in building and promoting social, civic, and governmental institutions that promote peace and tolerance. That is the only answer if we are to see social, racial, economic, gender, and sexual justice ultimately prevail. That is the only answer if we truly want to see the liberation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in this country and around the world.

I urge all of us to stand up today and join the fight! Join the struggle for liberation and freedom, and let our government know that war is not the answer to the struggles that our world faces. Our destiny is ultimately doomed if we let anger, hatred and prejudice, all of which are rooted in war, take over.

The alternative to war is rooted in our hearts, our souls and in our minds. Are we that afraid to delve deep inside and search for the truth?

Faisal Alam is queer-identified Muslim of Pakistani descent. He is the founder of Al-Fatiha, an international organization dedicated to Muslims who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT). Faisal has been an activist for almost 10 years, first in the mainstream Muslim community, and now in the LGBT movement. He is currently active in LGBT faith-based organizing, human rights work, immigration and asylum rights, and queer youth organizing.

• For more information on the LGBT community's efforts to stop the war on Iraq, click here.