Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 14:47:30 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Subject: GLAADLines July 27, 1998 GLAADLINES-July 27, 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 Index: 1) FAITH COMMUNITIES CONTINUE TO CONDEMN ANTI-GAY ADS 2) HEALTH CONFERENCE GOES HIGH-TECH 3) NOT YOUR USUAL OLYMPICS 4) LESBIAN AVENGERS PLAN RESPONSE TO ADS 5) GAY-LESBIAN CHORAL ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES FESTIVAL 2000 1) FAITH COMMUNITIES CONTINUE TO CONDEMN ANTI-GAY ADS: More than 30 national faith-based organizations are continuing their firm opposition to the Christian right's homophobic ad campaign this week. Groups including the Unitarian Universalist Association of America, American Friends Service Committee, Dignity USA, World Congress of Gay & Lesbian Jewish Organizations, Methodist Federation for Social Justice, Lutherans Concerned and More Light Presbyterians held a joint news conference July 24 to brand the ads-a version of which ran in Monday's Los Angeles Times-as homophobic and manipulative. The groups were attending an unprecedented national Religious Leadership Roundtable convened by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, a lesbian and gay political rights organization, and Equal Partners in Faith, a group that opposes the manipulation of religion to promote exclusion and inequality. For more information please contact Laura Montgomery Rutt (Equal Partners in Faith) at (202) 296-4672, ext. 11. 2) HEALTH CONFERENCE GOES HIGH-TECH: Homophobia and "curing" sexual orientation as a health issue, and Viagra and its use in gay and bisexual male communities are among topics at the 20th Anniversary National Lesbian and Gay Health Conference (NLGHC) and the 16th National AIDS/HIV Forum, through July 29 in San Francisco. The National Lesbian & Gay Health Association, the organizers, also have unveiled a revamped Website ( www.nlgha.org ), designed by NetWORLD Communications. Both NetWORLD and Digital Queers, a national technology-based non-profit organization, are hosting a Cyber CafÈ, an online chat area, at the conference. For more information please contact Jason P. Lorber (Lorber Consulting) at (415) 421-4529, or via e-mail at LorberPR@aol.com. 3) NOT YOUR USUAL OLYMPICS: Competitors from cities across the U.S. in events ranging from bridge to body-building, as well as more traditional sports such as swimming, skating and track, are converging on Amsterdam for the 5th Gay Games, from Aug. 1-8th. Billed as the world's largest athletic event, the Gay Games are held once every four years. This year, they also will include an open-air film festival. The Gay Games are unique for their emphasis on full and equal participation by all athletes including older and differently-abled participants, and because most are not full-time athletes but enthusiastic amateurs. Thousands of athletes from almost every state are taking part-many at great personal expense-and they all have stories to tell about what the Gay Games mean to them. For information about teams or individuals who may be attending from your area, please call Scott Mandell (Federation of Gay Games executive director) at (415) 695-0222, in Amsterdam at 011-31-20-420-4545, or via e-mail at foggedsf@aol.com. 4) LESBIAN AVENGERS PLAN RESPONSE TO ADS: To protest the recent anti-gay ad campaign by groups including the Family Research Council (FRC), the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore Lesbian Avengers will stage a "Thank God I'm a Lesbian Rally" at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1, outside FRC headquarters at 801 G Street N.W. in Washington. The Lesbian Avengers also have an event planned for earlier the same day, in the MCI Center across the street from the FRC. The groups have purchased 60 tickets for that day's Women's National Basketball Association game, entitling them to have their groups' names flashed on the stadium scoreboard. They also plan to unfurl large banners. For more information, please contact Beth Armitage ( D.C. Lesbian Avengers) at (202) 374-9090. 5) GAY-LESBIAN CHORAL ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES FESTIVAL 2000: Planning already is underway for what is anticipated to be the largest international lesbian and gay performing arts event in history: Festival 2000, eight days of performances being produced by the Gay And Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA Choruses). The festival, scheduled for July 22-30, 2000, in San Jose, Calif., is to feature performances by more than 125 choruses composed of 6,000 singers from five continents. It will include five commissioned pieces created especially for the festival. The event, expected to draw 55,000 attendees, also will include a huge party at a nearby theme park. For more information, please contact Kenneth Cole (GALA Choruses Director) at (202) 467-5830 or e-mail the group at galachorus@aol.com. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is the nation's lesbian & gay multimedia advocacy organization. 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