Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 17:19:04 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Subject: GLAADLines July 20, 1998 GLAADLINES-July 20, 1998 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE News and Breaking Stories about the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community contact: Sharen Shaw Johnson (703) 465-1746 sjohnson@glaad.org http://www.glaad.org 1) ISSUE OF LESBIAN SEXUAL ASSAULT ADDRESSED IN SAN FRANCISCO ADS 2) SECOND ANNUAL BI FILM FESTIVAL OPENS FRIDAY IN SAN FRANCISCO 3) UPDATE ON FIRMS OFFERING SAME-SEX DOMESTIC PARTNER BENEFITS 4) LESBIAN 'EQUALITY' CARAVAN TO ROLL THROUGH PACIFIC NORTHWEST 5) EDITOR'S NOTE 1) ISSUE OF LESBIAN SEXUAL ASSAULT ADDRESSED IN SAN FRANCISCO ADS: Four San Francisco organizations have teamed to produce a series of ads to encourage lesbian, bisexual and transgender women to get help if they are sexually, verbally or physically abused by their female partners. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the campaign is the first in the nation directed exclusively toward lesbians. The ads, sponsored by Community United Against Violence, the Asian Women's Shelter, San Francisco Women Against Rape and WOMAN Inc., are also designed especially to reach women of color. They are being produced in English, Spanish and Mandarin. For more information contact Greg Merrill (Community United Against Violence Director of Client Services) at (415) 777-5500 x304. 2) SECOND ANNUAL BI FILM FESTIVAL OPENS FRIDAY IN SAN FRANCISCO: The second annual Bi Festival opens this Friday, July 24, at the New College of California Theater on Valencia Street in San Francisco. Jeff Ross, who founded and directs the three-day event, says he sees a bisexual trend in recent movies such as Two Girls and a Guy and High Art. The festival opens with Gregg Araki's Nowhere, about a day in the life of a teenage boy in love with a bisexual girl. It features an ensemble cast, including Christina Applegate (Married...With Children) and Eve Plumb (The Brady Bunch). Ross says he believes it is the world's only bisexual film festival. For more information phone the festival office at (415) 929-5038. 3) UPDATE ON FIRMS OFFERING SAME-SEX DOMESTIC PARTNER BENEFITS: Seattle-based insurance company Safeco has announced its plans to extend spousal benefits to the partners of its lesbian and gay employees starting in January of 1999. Safeco's announcement comes just as the Seattle-based organization Partners Task Force for Gay & Lesbian Couples announces the release of its updated publication, Domestic Partner Provider List. Among the firms now on the list: Apple Computer, AT&T, Bank of America, Capital Cities/ABC, Dow Chemical, Hearst Corporation, IBM and Polaroid. For more information or a copy of the list contact Partners Task Force for Gay & Lesbian Couples at (206) 935-1206, or via e-mail at demian@buddybuddy.com. 4) LESBIAN 'EQUALITY' CARAVAN TO ROLL THROUGH PACIFIC NORTHWEST: A caravan featuring prominent community activists including Betty DeGeneres, Candace Gingrich and Donna Red Wing will travel throughout the Northwest as part of the 1998 Equality Tour, a Human Rights Campaign (HRC) project. HRC says it will work with local organizations and activists "to educate, energize and register voters in anticipation of the fall election campaigns." DeGeneres is the spokeswoman for HRC's National Coming Out Project and mother of Ellen DeGeneres. Gingrich, the project's associate manager, is the openly lesbian sister of Speaker Newt Gingrich. Veteran activist Red Wing is HRC's national field director. For more information contact Jonathan Zucker (Equality Tour Coordinator) at (202) 628-4160 x4023 or, after July 30, at (202) 255-5362, or via e-mail at jonathan.zucker@hrc.org. 5) EDITOR'S NOTE: If you have not yet seen GLAAD's compendium of statements from religious, psychological, medical and civil rights authorities responding to the conservative ad campaign released nationwide last week, please visit GLAAD Online [ http://www.glaad.org ]. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is the nation's lesbian & gay multimedia advocacy organization. GLAAD promotes fair, accurate, and inclusive representation as a means of challenging discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity. To subscribe contact Wonbo Woo at (212) 807-1700 or at woo@glaad.org. 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