Subject: My Press Statement
From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 19:00:05 -0500

STATEMENT TO THE PRESS -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                     2/8/96

For more information, contact:
Tyler St. Mark at
213/936-3666
or [email-masked]

"A Hidden Agenda To Advance the Cause of Total Censorship"

WILDCAT PRESS CHALLENGES THE TELCO BILL

By Patricia Nell Warren

Wildcat Press joins  Planned Parenthood and 16 other  principal plaintiffs in
the ACLU lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of the
Telecommunications Bill.   At issue are the bill's clauses regulating
"indecency,"  free speech and diversity.  The Telecommunications Bill is
dangerously vague in its definition of  "indecent" and "patently offensive."
 The bill is being signed into law by President Clinton today.  

As a published author  of 40 years' standing, I am opposed to the free-speech
restrictions in  this bill.  Wildcat Press is my own personal publishing
imprint.

I  believe that the Congressional supporters of this "indecency" legislation,
and the special-interest groups who have lobbied them, have a hidden agenda
to advance the cause of total censorship in the United States.  

I have several compelling reasons to challenge the bill.

Foremost is Wildcat's  own Web page at
http://www.gaywired.com/wildcat/wildcat.htm, where we promote and market our
books. Excerpts from my bestselling novels "The Front Runner" and "Harlan's
Race" are posted for  anyone wanting to read them -- including persons under
18.    If anyone who doesn't approve of  my books files a complaint with the
Justice Dept. that I am making "indecent" material available to minors
online, then I and my company and my server are all liable under the new law.
 Paradoxically, any minor in the U.S.can buy my books in any bookstore.

I am also editor and consultant for YouthArts, a popular online youth zine at
http://spidey.usc.edu/qf/yap.  YouthArts  is a creative and opinion forum for
gay and lesbian youth, publishing their poetry, short fiction, fine art,
essays, etc.  Some of our publishees are under 18.  These young people might
be prosecuted by the Justice Department for their  honest, heartfelt,
sometimes frank but always artistically compelling statements.

Wildcat also uses email to do business online,  to communicate with young
YouthArts authors, and to distribute my syndicated column.   All these
aspects of our online communications create the threat that myself, my
business partner, and my company might be held criminally liable under this
new law.  

We at Wildcat  have decided to bare our claws and  fight this deadly
legislation because it also opens the doorway to imminent censorship of
books, films, television, radio, etc. Contrary to claims made by the
supporters of the  Telco Bill, this new law  is not really about "protecting
children from pornography." Minors are already  protected by existing laws.
 Parents  concerned about what their children are downloading can already buy
softwear that will block any online sites they choose.

In the past, with human rights issues, I have stood up to be counted.   In
1972 I helped win Susan Smith vs. Readers Digest,  a landmark women's rights
lawsuit.  Today I am a member of the Authors Guild committee on free
expression.  Recently,  I was instrumental in helping defeat a censorship
bill in my home state, Montana.

I am confident -- indeed, I pray for America's sake -- that the courts will
find the censorship portions of the Telecommunications Bill to be
unconstitutional.

Patricia Nell Warren
Los Angeles, CA