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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE         Contact: Nadine Smith (202) 597-4288
 
NAACP Chairman Joins the March on Washington in Condemning US Anti-
Gay Military Policy
 
     The head of one of the nation's oldest civil rights groups has joined
efforts to repeal the ban on gays in the military.  Dr. William F. Gibson,
national Chairman of the Board of NAACP and a supporter of the 1993 March on
Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights notes the similarities in
objections to Blacks in the military and those now being voiced by opponents of
repealing the ban.
 
     "The alibis and excuses they're giving are the same ones they tried to use
--to keep Black Americans out of the military.  They said white soldiers would
not be able to sleep in the same barracks, use the same latrines and would not
take orders from Black superiors," Gibson said.  "No citizen should be excluded
from any aspect of life because of race, religion, or sexual orientation."
 
     Dr. Gibson plans to participate in the March on Washington in an effort to
build coalitions between minority groups.
 
     "If they had put our civil rights to a vote today, I'm not convinced the
measure would pass," Gibson said.  "We face the same opposition and we must
coalesce to oppose these common foes."
 
     The March is expected to draw over one million people to Washington on
April 25th, 1993 to denounce the ban on homosexuals in the military and call
for passage of a national civil rights bill banning discrimination based upon
sexual orientation.
 
     "It is heartening to see our allies step forward and acknowledge this
battle as the latest chapter in our country's civil rights movement," said
March Co-Chair, Nadine Smith, an ex-
cadet at the USAF Academy.
 
     The 1987 March on Washington, which drew a crowd of more than 650,000, was
--the largest civil rights demonstration in US history.
 

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