Subject: Action Alert...Zap Florida's DOT!
From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 04:30:35 -0400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE:  May 1, 1996

CONTACTS:
Michael Bellefountaine:  (415) 487-9954
Todd Swindell:  (415) 864-8355 
 
ACT UP SF Demands Action Over Florida DOT Anti-Queer Bigotry
---------------------------
AIDS activists zap state agency to demand firing and implementation of
sensitivity training.

San Francisco -- On Monday, April 29th, 1996 San Francisco's chapter of the
AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP) voted unanimously to join ACT UP
Fort Lauderdale in publicly condemning the Florida Department of
Transportation and issued a list of demands that included the firing of Youth
Traffic Safety Program Coordinator Leanne O'Connell for her recent public
display of AIDSphobia and homohatred.

Ms. O'Connell, in her capacity as a DOT employee, sent a hate-filled,
threatening letter on DOT letterhead to the Florida AIDS Ride office that
stated that AIDS is "a punishment to the gay and lesbian communities across
the world." O'Connell also violently proclaimed that gay PWAs should "suffer
the consequences" for their implied crimes.

AIDS activists from ACT UP SF expressed outraged that O'Connell's supervisor
George E. Rice, in what they term "a pathetic attempt at spin control",
issued an apology letter that refused to address the blatant homophobia of
his employee's callous correspondence. Instead, Mr. Rice's letter merely
acknowledged that "while [Ms. O'Connell] is entitled to her personal views,
they should never be intermingled with state business."

In addition, ACT UP members were appalled that according to Ruth Dillard, DOT
Minority Programs Manager, no gay and lesbian or AIDS awareness sensitivity
training has ever occurred at the agency and none are presently planned.

"O'Connell's letter is a frightening symptom of the diseases of homophobia
and AIDSphobia that run rampant in Florida's DOT," commented ACT UP SF member
and former Florida resident David Pasquarelli. "The DOT has no
anti-discrimination policies in place to protect Queer employees. They
conduct no sensitivity trainings about gays, lesbians or people with AIDS. It
is no surprise that such a letter would emerge in this climate of hatred,
intolerance and fear. Something must be done now!"

In the end, ACT UP SF's general body rejected Rice's shallow apology letter
to the Director of the Florida AIDS Ride as an adequate response to
O'Connell's vicious DOT-sanctioned act of anti-gay bigotry. Instead, the
militant AIDS activist group demanded that DOT Secretary Ben G. Watts:

1) Immediately terminate the employment of Ms. Leanne O'Connell for her
dangerous, inflammatory and inappropriate actions.

2) Formally suspend State Safety Engineer George E. Rice from his duties for
refusing to challenge institutionalized discrimination against Queers and
neglecting to take a strong formal stance against anti-gay and AIDSphobic
bigotry in his department.

3) Publicly apologize to the gay, lesbian and AIDS communities for the
bigoted actions of Ms. O'Connell and the lackluster and equally prejudiced
response of Supervisor Rice. This requirement will be fulfilled with a formal
letter of apology issued by the DOT to Florida's and San Francisco's
gay/lesbian media outlets (media contact information can be obtained by
calling ACT UP SF).

4) Commit to scheduling two separate sensitivity training sessions for all
current Florida DOT employees; one on AIDS awareness and one on sensitivity
towards gay and lesbian individuals in the workplace. In addition, the DOT
will commit to providing ongoing sensitivity training on these topics to all
new employees upon their hire with the agency.

5) Provide a substantial public donation on behalf of the DOT to the Florida
AIDS Ride as a direct effort to ending the AIDS crisis and as a symbol of
commitment that the agency will do everything within its power to end
discrimination against people with AIDS in its employment environment.

6) Add sexual orientation to any and all existing anti-discrimination
policies in place at the DOT.

ACT UP San Francisco set a deadline of Monday, May 27, 1996 for Florida's
Department of Transportation to meet the list of demands.

Meanwhile, ACT UP chapters nationally will force the DOT to quickly implement
these demands by utilizing phone, mail and fax zaps as well as direct acts of
civil resistance against the agency. In addition, ACT UP San Francisco
encourages mainstream businesses and advocacy groups to join a financial
boycott of Florida initiated by the International Association of Physicians
in AIDS Care which has canceled its 1997 convention in Fort Lauderdale.

Phone, mail and fax Florida's Governor and the following DOT officials to
express your outrage at the intolerant atmosphere toward Queers and People
With AIDS that is perpetuated by the agency! Florida activists need your help
now!

ACT UP!  FIGHT BACK!  FIGHT AIDS!

Ben Watts
Florida DOT Secretary
605 Suwannee Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0450
Phone: (904) 488-6721
Fax: (904) 488-5526

George E. Rice
Florida DOT State Safety Engineer
605 Suwannee Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0450
Phone: (904) 488-3546
Fax: (904) 922-2935

Governor Lawton Chiles
Office of the Governor
Florida Capitol
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0001
Phone: (904) 488-444
Fax: (904) 487-0801

For more information on this issue contact Juan Fuentes of ACT UP Fort
Lauderdale at (954) 791-9399. The International Association of Physicians in
AIDS Care can be reached at (312) 419-7295.

AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power
1388 Haight Street, #218 / San Francisco, CA 94117
(415) 522-2907 / FAX: (415) 834-0243 / EMAIL: [email-masked]

==========

(Original letter by Leanne O'Connell)

April 15, 1996

Florida Department of Transportation
605 Suwanee Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0450

The Florida AIDS Ride
Pledge Office
Post Office Box 861271
Orlando, Florida 32886

Dear Sir/Madam:

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 gays and lesbians of the world...let them suffer
their consequences!

I ask that you take me off your mailing list immediately!

Sincerely,

Leanne O'Connell
Youth Traffic Safety Program Coordinator
State Safety Office

==========

(Apology to Florida AIDS Ride by Ms. O'Connell's supervisor George E. Rice)

April 19, 1996

Florida Department of Transportation
605 Suwanee Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0450

Mr. Mitchell Steinberg
Director
Florida AIDS Ride
1045 Lincoln Road
Miami, Florida 38139

Dear Mr. Steinberg:

I want to apologize on behalf of the Florida Department of Transportation
(DOT) for the April 15, 1996 letter from Ms. Leanne O'Connell of DOT to the
Florida AIDS Ride pledge office in Orlando.

I regret that Ms. O'Connell went outside her official capacity and
interjected her personal opinions in the letter. She has been counseled that
advocating her personal beliefs in official DOT correspondence or in her
official capacity as a DOT employee is completely inappropriate and should
never be done. While she is entitled to her personal views, they should never
be intermingled with state business.

As indicated in the attached letter, DOT has offered assistance in the
planning of the event. Speaking for the DOT, I wish you a very successful and
safe Florida AIDS Ride. Please do not hesitate to call if I can be of any
assistance.

Sincerely,

George E. Rice, Jr.
State Safety Engineer

==========

(Letter detailing boycott of Florida by the International Association of
Physicians in AIDS Care)

April 24, 1996

The Honorable Lawton Chiles
Office of the Governor
The Capital
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
Facsimile: 904-487-0801

Re: Attached Leanne O'Connell Letter

Dear Governor Chiles,

The attached letter from Leanne O'Connell, Youth Traffic Safety Program
Coordinator, speaks for itself. You will notice that your name is on the top
left corner of this letter.

The AIDS Ride is an exceptional event that raises well-needed money to assist
people with HIV/AIDS. For Florida to have public officials that engage in
such hate mongering is totally unacceptable.

To protest the action by a prominent public employee of Florida, we have
canceled our 1997 convention in Fort Lauderdale. I am also personally
contacting the executive director of every medical association in the United
States to help join a boycott against Florida as a convention site until
Leanne O'Connell is removed from public office.

Sincerely,

Gordon Nary
President