Subject: NGLTF DENOUNCES ATTACK ON GAY FAMILIES
From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 14 May 1996 09:32:32 -0400

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PRESS RELEASE
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
2320 17th St. NW; Washington, DC 20009
Contact: Tracey Conaty (202) 332-6483  ext. 3303 [email-masked]
or Kerry Lobel (202) 332-6483 ext. 3303 
[email-masked]
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MARRIAGE HEARING SET FOR WEDNESDAY:

NGLTF DENOUNCES CONGRESSIONAL ATTACK ON GAY AND LESBIAN FAMILIES;
 
"A BLATANT PLOY TO ALIENATE GAY VOTERS FROM CLINTON"

 Washington, D.C., May 13, 1996....Gay and lesbian families, under harsh
attack this year in state legislatures across the country, are bracing
themselves for this week's House hearing on the anti-gay "Defense of Marriage
Act."   The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force denounced the measure as part
of an all-out attack by the Right-wing on all non-"traditional" families and
an anti-gay political ploy intended to mobilize the base of Right-wing groups
and at the same time undermine gay support of President Clinton.  President
Clinton has  gone on record as opposing gay marriage.  This opposition,
according to NGLTF, could alienate gay voters, who overwhelmingly voted for
Clinton in 1992, from supporting him in November.  

 "The Right-wing groups behind this measure are as shrewd as they are
pernicious," stated NGLTF executive director Melinda Paras.  "Along with
doing real damage to real families, this is a blatant ploy to alienate gay
voters from President Clinton.  The Right is forcing Clinton's hand on the
issue of gay marriage because they know his opposition to this hot button
issue could alienate one of his most important constituencies," added Paras.

 Data from the recently released NGLTF report Power at the Polls: The Gay,
Lesbian, and Bisexual Vote, supports this assertion.  According to the
report, "in the 1994 midterm elections, when gay issues received less
attention than in 1992, and when disappointment was still fresh from the
Clinton Administration's support of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy and
its failure to support the supreme Court legal challenge to the Colorado
ballot initiative, the self-identified gay, lesbian and bisexual vote shrunk
by more than one third." 

 The House Judiciary Subcommittee on The Constitution has scheduled a hearing
on H.R. 3396 for Wednesday, May 15 at 1:30 pm.  The Subcommittee, chaired by
Rep. 
Charles Canady (R-FL), will hear testimony on the measure which was
introduced last 

Wednesday by Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA).  A similar measure, S.B. 1740, was
introduced in the Senate the next day by Senator Don Nickles (R-OK).  The
first co-sponsor to sign on to the bill was presumptive Republican
Presidential nominee Senator Robert Dole (R-KS).

 Same-gender couples are currently not allowed the right to marry anywhere in
the nation.  Should they be allowed the right to marry in the future, this
legislation would deny these couples benefits provided to heterosexual
married couples.  In addition to denying legally married same-gender couples
the rights accorded their heterosexual counterparts, the bill would seriously
undermine the "Full Faith and Credit Clause" of the U.S. Constitution. 

 The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the nation's oldest national gay
and lesbian civil rights organization, has been working with activists
throughout the country in battling state anti-marriage measures, beginning in
South Dakota in 1995 when the first of these measures was introduced.  The
Task Force produced the widely used organizing manual To Have and To Hold
 which has since been spotlighted by a national Right-wing group, The Report,
in its recently released video The Ultimate Target of the Gay Agenda: Same
Sex Marriages.  The work of the Task Force in defeating anti-marriage
legislation has also received the attention of another right-wing group Focus
on the Family.

 Though gays and lesbians are denied the right to legally marry in all 50
states, anti-marriage legislation has been introduced in 34 states this year.
 Eight states have passed such legislation into law.  They are AK, AZ, GA,
ID, KS, OK, SD, and UT.  Nine states have anti-marriage legislation pending
(CA, DE, IL, MI, MO, NY, PA, SC, and TN). Equally important is that in
seventeen states this year, anti-marriage legislation was introduced but has
since been defeated, withdrawn, or killed. Those states are AL, CO, FL, HI,
IA, KY, ME, MD, MN, MS, NM, RI, VA, WA, WV, WI, and WY. 

 Noted historian and author and gay and lesbian families expert John
D'Emilio, director of NGLTF's Policy Institute, condemned the effort by
Congressional Republicans, including Senator Robert Dole, to undermine gay
and lesbian families in their purported attempt to "defend marriage." In the
attached statement, citing statistics on the number of gay and lesbian
families with children, D'Emilio calls on Congressional leaders to turn back
this effort to scapegoat gay and lesbian families.

Statement of Dr. John D'Emilio on the "Defense of Marriage" Act

Dr. D'Emilio is the Director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force  Policy
Institute 

 Bashing gays, lesbians, and their families has become a key method through
which the religious right-wing builds its strength.  Concerned Women of
America launched a major fundraising campaign in response to the National
Education Association's endorsement of gay, lesbian, and bisexual History
Month.  Lou Sheldon of the Tradition Values Coalition won a commitment from
House Speaker Newt Gingrich that resulted in Congressional hearings on
parenting, values and the schools, and then milked those hearings for
publicity.  The Defense of Marriage Act, which Sheldon helped draft, is no
different.

 So while having everything to do with strengthening the base and building
the coffers of these extremist groups, the Defense of Marriage Act does
nothing to strengthen the institution of marriage.  Instead it attacks the
integrity of lesbian and gay families.  Throughout the United States,
millions of lesbians and gay men have formed loving, committed relationships.
 They are caring for each other in good times and bad, contributing to the
welfare of their communities, and paying taxes to support government services
at every level.  Yet they are systematically denied the benefits and rights
of marriage.  Lesbians and gay men can be turned away at the hospital when a
partner has had an accident or illness, lack access to  "family" health
coverage and other forms of insurance, are denied the benefits of inheritance
and taxation that surviving heterosexual spouses automatically enjoy, have no
rights to a range of government benefits, and cannot make use of immigration
law provisions to secure entry for partners who are citizens of other
countries.

 Large numbers of lesbians and gay men are also raising children.  Estimates
of the number of lesbian mothers range from about 1 to 5 million; of gay
fathers, from 1 to 3 million; and of children of lesbian and gay parents,
from 6 to 14 million.  Data gathered from exit polling after the 1992
presidential election found that while one-third of heterosexual voters had
children under 18 living with them, one-quarter of lesbian, gay, or bisexual
voters did as well.  In other words, a population not thought to be at all
involved with parenting, is only 25% less likely to be raising children than
heterosexual adults.  The "Defense of Marriage" proponents claim to have the
best interests of children and their families in mind.  Yet,  their
legislative solution will penalize and stigmatize the millions of children
with lesbian and gay parents. 

 The anti-family tentacles of the Right-wing extremists do not stop at gay
families.  They reach in and seek to undermine other "non-traditional"
families as well.  The Right uses a rhetoric of traditional family values to
condemn the immorality of single mothers and to campaign for "welfare reform"
that is punitive.  It attacks government programs such as publicly funded day
care for  working mothers who need it. The Right supports a "parental rights"
movement that would undo gains made to prevent battering of women and child
abuse.  

 NGLTF urges all members of congress to turn back this mean spirited,
misleading, and deceptive effort.  The Halls of Congress should not be used
as an election forum to scapegoat gays and lesbians and divide the American
people.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force 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.

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