Following a trend spreading to many other national assemblies, Monday’s Denver General Assembly unanimously passed the following recognition of the need to protect and respect women and members of the LGTBQ communities who are actively demonstrating at the Occupations.

For as long as public space has existed, women and LGBTQ people have been trying to “occupy” it safely — with distressingly little success. Harassing comments, groping, flashing and assault are a daily, global reality for women and LGBTQ individuals. Too often, these injustices are met with little or no response, regarded simply as “the price you pay” for being female, trans, or gay in public. As supporters of the Occupy movement, we believe that a world where everyone has the right to occupy public space safely is not only possible – it is essential to building a strong and lasting movement.

It’s no secret that the Wall Street 1% who wrecked our economy are disproportionately straight and male, despite countless studies showing the less organizations look like the 99%, the less effective they are. As we quicken the pace of social change, we must be careful not to replicate Wall Street’s mistakes. The message is clear: equality means impact.

But for women and LGBTQ people to participate equally in the Occupy movement, we must be safe in occupied spaces. We know that harassment and assault happens everywhere — and that the Occupy movement is no more immune to it than our nation’s parks and parking lots — but we also know that a movement where women and LGBTQ individuals are not safe is not a movement that serves the interests of the 99%.

In solidarity with those who are already working on the ground to make safer spaces, we call on all General Assemblies of the Occupy movement to adopt anti-harassment and anti-assault as core principles of solidarity. To realize these principles within the movement, we call on General Assemblies in every city to empower women and LGBTQ occupiers with the time, space, and resources necessary to ensure that every occupied space is a safe space.

Also passed on Monday evening was a good neighbor policy that reads as follows:

Occupy Denver Good Neighbor Policy

1.Occupy Denver has zero tolerance for drug or alcohol abuse anywhere in Occupy Denver.

2.Occupy Denver has a zero tolerance for violence or verbal abuse towards anyone.

3.Occupy Denver has a zero tolerance for abuse of personal or public property.

4.Occupy Denver encourages all participants to respect health and sanitary regulations, and will direct all participants to respectfully utilize appropriate off-site sanitary facilities.

5. Occupy Denver will display signage and have a community relations and security monitors in the park, in order to ensure awareness of, and respect for, our guidelines and good neighbor policy.

Since proposals like these interest you so much, take the time to come down to a General Assembly and make and vote on your own proposals. This is what democracy is like.