Subject: PRESS RELEASE
From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 10:10:19 EDT

www.indegayforum.org

For Immediate Release
Press Contacts:
[email-masked]
Rob Blanchard/Ph. 210-828-4092/[email-masked]

INDEPENDENT GAY FORUM OPENS WEBSITE TO BROADEN GAY DEBATE

WASHINGTON--The Independent Gay Forum, a new association of writers and 
thinkers seeking to broaden the debate about homosexuality by giving voice to 
centrist, conservative and libertarian ideas, has unveiled its new website at 
http://www.indegayforum.org.

"This new site brings together some of the most challenging and articulate 
voices in gay and lesbian America--representing viewpoints that too often go 
unheard or underrepresented," said Jonathan Rauch, an openly gay writer who 
serves as the IGF's vice president. "We think a lot of gays and lesbians who 
don't buy into the dogmas of either the left or the right will find a 
worldview they can relate to. We're trying to create a smart, safe home for 
them."

The site--recently referenced in the Wall Street Journal's "Washington Wire" 
column (July 16) and a Slate Magazine debate on homosexuality ("Book Club," 
June 30)--includes published articles by a rich variety of gay writers and 
thinkers. Among the subjects discussed are guns, anti-discrimination laws, 
marriage, religion, capitalism, books and culture.  New articles are posted 
regularly, and the IGF offers a newsletter and can make its authors available 
for speeches and public engagements.

"This site is a discussion, not an orthodoxy," said Paul Varnell, a Windy 
City Times columnist who edits the site. "Above all, we look for essays and 
ideas of absolutely top quality--the best writing and thinking out there.

"Our writers all support full legal equality and social respect for gays and 
lesbians, and they also embrace the American traditions of market economics, 
unfettered debate and limited government. Within those boundaries, though, 
there's a lot of disagreement. What unites us is the feeling that the old 
debate between gay leftists and anti-gay rightists is exhausted. We think the 
ideas we're exploring will be the basis for the
next stage of the debate."

Among the writers and topics at indegayforum.org:

** Stephen H. Miller shows how gay leaders' quest for race and gender 
"parity"--and "parity-plus"--elevates group identity over individual merit, 
with "profoundly divisive" results.

** Richard E. Sincere, Jr., and Rob Blanchard argue that "hate-crime laws" 
are not only ineffective, but also distract gays from more pressing issues of 
equal rights.

** Miller and Jonathan Rauch discuss how carrying concealed weapons can be 
part of the solution to gay-bashing--even though, writes Miller, "The fact 
that gay people could possibly be on the same side of an issue as the 
National Rifle Association" breaks precedent.

** Norah Vincent, exploring how lesbians may create "confining roles for 
themselves in the name of misguided community membership," argues that 
individualism and self-acceptance are the only ways to obtain truly equal 
rights and equal treatment.

** Walter Olson dismantles misguided theocrats--including "Christian 
Reconstructionists" who advocate death for homosexuals and pseudo-researchers 
whose claims about gay men's life expectancy are based on startlingly shoddy 
methods.

** Paul Varnell, looking beyond this year's 30th anniversary of the Stonewall 
riots in New York, notes that gay activism didn't begin with Stonewall and 
wouldn't have ended without it: "There was a small but rapidly growing gay 
movement that helped ensure the continued growth of activism in the 1970s 
even had Stonewall not happened."

The IGF was chartered this year as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Media 
inquiries should be addressed to Rob Blanchard (210-828-4092, 
[email-masked]).