Subject: FL AIDS ACTION ALERT
From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 25 Apr 1996 10:30:31 -0400

Please take action on this, especially if you are in Florida. The forwarded
message is self-explanatory. Sorry for any duplications.
Rena

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Forwarded message:
Subj:    ACT UP/Fort Lauderdale
Date:    96-04-22 01:43:52 EDT
From:    Speakpos
To:      Lizmcmast

Please forward this e-mail to concerned others -- Thanks very much!
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ACT UP/Fort Lauderdale
P.O. Box 7437, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33338 Tel/Fax (954) 764-7670

For Immediate Release... April 20, 1996
Contact: Juan Fuentes (954) 791-9399

ACT UP/FORT LAUDERDALE DEMANDS
IMMEDIATE FIRING OF FLORIDA AIDS TERRORIST...

 ACT UP/Fort Lauderdale demands that Governor Lawton Chiles (Dem - FL) fire
immediately Leanne O'Connell, a Florida Dept. of Transportation (DOT)
employee who, on official DOT stationery, wrote the following letter to the
Orlando pledge office of The Florida AIDS Ride, a mega-fundraiser of 1,000
bicyclists who May 17-19 will peddle 275 miles from Orlando to Miami Beach
raising money for desperately needed HIV/AIDS services.  O'Connell received a
heartwarming letter from a Florida AIDS Ride participant soliciting pledges,
and on April 15th she responded thusly on Florida Dept. of Transportation
letterhead:

  "I will get straight to the point with this letter.  I do not appreciate
mail such as you have sent (see attached) coming to me at the office.  In my
capacity with the Florida Department of Transportation, I have no
professional interest in your Aids Ride.  In my capacity outside the office,
I again have no interest in your Aids Ride.  It is my personal belief that
Aids as a disease was created as a punishment to the gay and lesbian
communities across the world.  Unfortunately, due to their lifestyles, many
innocent people have also had to suffer.  For these people, I am truly sorry
and hope that one day we can cure this disease.  As far as the gay and
lesbians of this world...let them suffer their consequences!  I ask that you
take me off your mailing list immediately!  Signed -- Leanne O'Connell, Youth
Traffic Safety Program Coordinator, State Safety Office"     

 ACT UP/Fort Lauderdale says nothing short of her immediate dismissal is
satisfactory!  "After nearly 20-years into the world's worst health epidemic
of the twentieth century, such rabid bigotry and mind-boggling ignorance is
clearly a hate crime against all humanity," said Barry Teeters, co-founder of
Ft. Lauderdale's ACT UP chapter.  "...I would strongly urge you to take
appropriate action immediately," wrote Fla. Rep. Tracy Stafford to Dept. of
Transportation Secretary Ben Watts.

 ACT UP/Fort Lauderdale urges all concerned to flood the offices of Governor
Chiles with phone calls and faxes demanding that Ms. O'Connell be fired
immediately -- if not sooner!

Register your anger and outrage now, contact:
Gov. Lawton Chiles * Tallahassee, Florida
Tel: (904) 488-2272 * Fax: (904) 487-0801
 
--  ACT UP!  --  FIGHT BACK!!  --  FIGHT AIDS!!!  --
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