Date: Thu, 7 Aug 1997 16:45:48 -0700 From: richter@eecs.berkeley.edu (Jean Richter) Subject: 8/7/97 P.E.R.S.O.N. Project news 1. PA: Statement on core concepts and conference announcement 2. CA: Supreme Court civil disobedience 10-year reunion 3. NGLTF report on local gay rights legislation ================================================================ Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force...... For Release Pennsylvania Civil Rights Initiative (1996....) Statewide Conference: October 5, 1997 [Revised: Current August 6, 1997] In response to a Task Force led initiative in 1982, the Philadelphia City Council on August 5, 1982, adopted [13-2] an amendment to extend the city's Fair Practices Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of "sexual orientation" in employment, housing, and public accommodations. Since that time, Harrisburg [1983], Pittsburgh [1990], Lancaster City [1991], and York City [1993] have established similar civil rights laws. The Task Force in cooperation with leaders, statewide, are positioned to organize the introduction and adoption of an amendment to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act [Act] which prohibits discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations, and to expand the Act to include "education" as a specific protected category. In tandem, we will amend the Pennsylvania Fair Educational Opportunities Act, focused on postsecondary education, to reflect non-discrimination education regulations and policies [effected in 1993]. The essence of the Core Principles to encourage public officials' and organizers' accountability to our multifaceted community during each phase of the legislative process follows. The principles are intended to forge unity and solidarity and to avoid the adoption of homophobic civil rights laws [e.g. Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Conneticut, Maine]. We are committed to organizing, educating, and negotiating with integrity for a Pennsylvania wide civil rights bill, inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity. We will be grounded in and guided by the principles that we deserve our full rights. We will support the achievement of civil rights protections, minimally, in employment, housing, public accommodations, and in education. We will not suffer any restriction of our rights (e.g. parental rights, domestic partnership rights, the recognition of marriage) nor homophobic insults (e.g. the presumption of criminality or immorality) in a Pennsylvania civil rights law. We will assure the strengthening of civil rights laws on behalf of all women and all minorities. [For a copy of the Task Force's Civil Rights Briefing Packet, September 1996 and continuing, please call.] Over the September 1996 through May 1997 period, nearly 150 people participated in Task Force convened meetings (Philadelphia [n-55 participants]; Harrisburg [n-40]; Lancaster [12]; and Pittsburgh [n-35] ) to discuss the findings of our Study of Discrimination and Violence [Gross and Aurand] to brainstorm strategies to guide a successful Pennsylvania Civil Rights Campaign. Pittsburgh activists [May 3] proposed a statewide conference to determine the decision making structure and processes necessary to engage in a collaborative and challenging long-range campaign for full civil and human rights now scheduled for October 5, 1997 [see below]. On March 11, 1997, the Task Force convened and presented its 1996 Study to 25 of 250 legislators at the Main Capitol in Harrisburg, PA. On July 10, 1997, we convened a team of 15 academics, activists, attorneys and religious to begin a dialogue with the Pennsylvania Governor and eight selected Cabinet Secretaries/Commissioners. On July 28, we met with Senator Greenleaf [R-Montgomery County], Majority Chair, Judiciary Committee, and that same day presented the Study and proposed twin civil rights legislation to the Board of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. Join us, now, for an important conference to strategize a successful statewide campaign for inclusive civil rights legislation. Register early. Conference: Sunday October 5, 1997 1 to 6 pm Penn State University Conference Center, University Park, PA Registration: Send $10 ($5 low income) with your name, address, city/state/zip, phone and fax numbers, and e mail [Additional gifts are welcomed] Deadline: Pre-registration is required and due no later than September 20, 1997 to the Task Force [see below] Who's Invited Community and business leaders, activists, students, academicians, attorneys, social service providers etc. For further information, call your local organizing committee or Rita Addessa, Executive Director, Lesbian and Gay Task Force, 1616 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103. 215-772-2000 or plgtf@op.net ================================================================== Date: Thu, 7 Aug 1997 07:08:30 -0700 (PDT) Mime-Version: 1.0 From: jessea@uclink4.berkeley.edu (jessea greenman) Subject: Civil Disobedience at the Supreme Court - A Look Back One Decade Later [please share with others. media...we welcome your calls and email!] Civil Disobedience at the Supreme Court - A Look Back One Decade Later Dateline: August 7, 1997 Hello! October 1997 will be the ten year anniversary of our FABulous mass civil disobedience for queer rights. We think this is a great opportunity for a reunion, or, rather, a series of reunions (with a decidedly festive atmosphere!). So, you are asking yourself, "Just who is this 'we'"? We are Eileen Hansen, a national coordinator of the 1987 Supreme CD, and Jessea Greenman, participant. We are planning to organize such a reunion for those in the San Francisco Bay Area. We write to you now to ask you to organize such a reunion in YOUR area. We envision this as fairly simple: we plan to put out a press release to the local queer media to get publicity. We'll try to get one of the local meeting places to donate space or else we'll pass the hat at the gathering to pay for renting the space. We're going to ask the local queer historical society folks to come with good recording equipment and tape the thing. We are going to ask each person who went to the CD action to come with a PREPARED story/anecdote about her/his experience around the civil disobedience. We think it will be quite fun, this story-swapping. As far as we know, it hasn't happened on this large a scale yet (most affinity groups have done this within their own circles). We want to have a great time, remember the good and the bad, and make sure it all gets preserved for history. We intend to make our meeting free and open to the public and hope that young people, especially, will come to hear about the largest queer civil disobedience actions to date! Now, those of you who know Eileen know that when she heard this idea of Jessea's, Eileen naturally just had to turn it into something bigger and better. That is where YOU come in!!! The vision is that a goodly number of these area reunions to commemorate the '87 demonstration and CD @ the Supremes will be held all over the country, and either notes taken or tapes recorded. We are trying to arrange that a NATIONAL gathering to pool the information and distill lessons from it all will be held. This will, we hope (but this has not yet been confirmed), take place as a panel/workshop at the NGLTF (National Gay and Lesbian Task Force) Creating Change Conference in San Diego CA in November of this year. So that's the concept: run with it! You don't really need us for anything, but we'd like to hear what you are planning, have a contact person's name or two, and then be able to let everyone know how to pool their notes/tapes. So email Jessea: or phone her (510-601-8883) or phone Eileen 415-291-5454. We welcome media calls, too! If you are interested in attending NGLTF's Creating Change Conference to talk about your CD in DC, register on the World Wide Web at: http://www.ngltf.org/cc97. ====================================================== From: "Channel Q" Sender: smindeaux@ngltf.org Date: Fri, 27 Jun 97 15:18:10 EST Sender: "NGLTF" To: Multiple recipients of Activist-Org - Sent by Subject: New NGLTF Study: All Politics Is Local NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE PRESS RELEASE Contact: Mark F. Johnson, Media Director mfjohnson@ngltf.org 202/332-6483 x3314 pager 1-800/757-6476 2320 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 http://www.ngltf.org ................................................................. "ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL:" NEW STUDY CHARTS IMPACT OF GAY RIGHTS LAWS AT LOCAL LEVEL Washington, D.C.---June 26, 1997---- Gay rights legislation at the city and county level has advanced at a dramatic pace in the 1990's and makes a major difference in the lives of many gay people, say independent researchers at the University of Florida (UF), in a new report summarizing their book-length study of gay rights laws in the United States. The report, titled "All Politics Is Local: An Analysis of Local Gay Rights Legislation," was released this month by the Policy Institute, the national think tank and policy center on gay rights issues of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), and authored by three University of Florida professors, Dr. Kenneth Wald, Dr. James Button, and Dr. Barbara Rienzo. The University of Florida researchers intensively studied 126 American communities which had passed gay rights laws or policies as of 1993, and compared them to 125 randomly selected U.S. jurisdictions without such legislation. In addition, the authors did intensive field research in five representative communities to further examine the factors which led to the passage of these laws and to study their impact; the communities were Cincinnati, OH; Iowa City, IA; Philadelphia, PA; Raleigh, NC; and Santa Cruz, CA. The book-length study on which the NGLTF Report is based is titled "Private Lives, Public Conflicts: Battles Over Gay Rights Legislation in American Communities." It was published by Congressional Quarterly Press in February of 1997, and it provides one of the first scholarly examinations ever done of the politics, scope and impact of gay rights laws. As one of the co-author's of the study, UF political scientist Dr. Kenneth Wald observed, "Although the headlines have been grabbed by national efforts to overturn anti-gay policies or pass gay rights laws, to a large degree the battle for legal protection of gays and lesbians has taken place in the local communities of America. Gay rights laws at the local level now cover one out of every five persons living in the United States." Factors helpful to the passage of local gay rights laws included: the level of political activation and mobilization of the local gay community, support for gay rights from straight allies, and a population in the city that was racially diverse, younger, and religiously liberal. Another co-author of the NGLTF report, Dr. James Button comments, "These local ordinances signal a new stage in the political emergence of gays and lesbians. In a sense they mark the passage of the gay rights movement from the pursuit of cultural visibility to the enactment of legislative legitemization." Despite progress in passing local gay rights laws, the Report's authors note that backlash and hostility to gay people persists. They detail the arena of school-based non-discrimination policies as one in which opposition to gay rights remains volatile and charged. A carefully researched chapter in the book, and summarized in the NGLTF Report, evaluates school-based programs addressing sexual orientation. Observes co-author Dr. Barbara Rienzo, "The forces that affect passage of local gay rights laws also help secure programs addressing sexual orientation in schools. A politically active gay community is the key to securing educational reform and support services for gay, lesbian, and bisexual students." Other findings of the NGLTF Report and the book on which it is based include: * The mobilization of the gay community in a locality is the single most important political determinant of the passage of a gay rights law. * Seventy-nine of the 157 cities and counties that had gay rights ordinances by 1997 passed them in the 1990's. * Gay rights ordinances almost always cover public employment but vary widely in their coverage of private sector employment, housing, public accommodations, hotel and retail centers, and private business contracts ' with the city or counties. * The vast majority of gay rights ordinances do not cover residential homes, religious organizations, credit agencies or banks, and often do not include public schools, universities or small businesses, thereby granting them de facto exemptions. * A majority of the public officials surveyed by the authors noted that ordinances were important because they sent a clear message that discrimination was unlawful. * The quality of life for gay and lesbian Americans varies significantly between jurisdictions with gay rights laws and those without, most notably regarding access to government programs and services and the responsiveness of public schools to the needs of gay and lesbian students, parents and children. "This study significantly broadens our understanding of the importance of local gay rights laws. It confirms what gay activists have argued for years: we need a more active and politically organized gay rights movement at the local and state level," concluded Urvashi Vaid, Director of NGLTF's Policy Institute. Copies of the study may be obtained by calling NGLTF Publications at (202) 332-6483 or by downloading the Report from the NGLTF website (www.ngltf.org). Book copies may be ordered from Congressional Quarterly Press, Customer Service and Fulfillment, Department HCW1, 1414 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC 20037 (800) 638-1710. -30- The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is the oldest national gay and lesbian group and is a progressive organization that has supported grassroots organizing and pioneered in national advocacy since 1973. Since its inception, NGLTF has been at the forefront of virtually every major initiative for lesbian and gay rights. In all its efforts, NGLTF helps to strengthen the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender movement at the state level while connecting these activities to a national vision for change. _________________________________________ This message was issued by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Field Department. If you have any questions regarding this post, please direct them to the contact information at the top of this email. If you wish to UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, please send an email with "UNSUBSCRIBE ACTIVIST-ORG" in the subject and body of your email message to ===================================================================== Jean Richter -- richter@eecs.berkeley.edu The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project (Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally) CHECK OUT OUR INFO-LOADED WEB PAGE AT: http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/