Date:         Wed, 8 Nov 1995 16:24:08 -0500
From: "David B. O'Donnell" <atropos@aol.net>
Subject:      Response to Maine Initiative Rejection

[ Originally submitted by PRCenter@AOL.COM ]
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Contact:
Jim Key or Mike Ausiello
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pager: (213) 217-0197

                   MAINE ANTI-GAY INITIATIVE REJECTED:
        L.A. GAY & LESBIAN CENTER ISSUES STATEMENT

          LOS ANGELES, Nov. 7, 1995 -- In response to voter rejection of
Maine's anti-gay initiative which would have banned civil rights protection
for lesbians and gay men and repealed laws in the cities of Portland and
Casco Bay which guarantee equal rights for gay and lesbian people, the
Executive Director of the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community Services
Center, Lorri L. Jean, issues the following statement:

          "With the rejection of Maine's anti-gay initiative, voters in the
state have shunned the well-organized Radical Right's attempt to prevent
communities from making their own decisions about protecting the civil rights
of gay and lesbian people.
          "Despite its rejection by voters, the Radical Right's
cunningly-orchestrated campaign of deliberate lies and misinformation
succeeded in convincing many that the initiative would only prevent gay and
lesbian people from getting 'special rights.'
          "In America we have never before considered the right to hold a job
or the right of an individual to rent a home as 'special rights.' Thankfully,
a majority of Maine voters agree and were not deceived by the Radical Right's
malicious campaign to twist and distort the facts in an attempt to advance
their discriminatory goals and increase their divisive influence on the
government and society.
          "It's encouraging that Americans support this country's founding
principle of equality.  All fair-minded Americans must rise in opposition to
similar initiatives introduced elsewhere, and send a message to the Radical
Right that we will not permit our states or cities to become pawns in their
conspiracy to dominate American politics.  All too sadly, we've just seen in
Israel what radical conservatism can lead to.  We can't allow the same thing
to happen in America."

          The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community Services Center, with more
than 210 staff and an annual budget of $16 million, is the world's largest
gay and lesbian organization, one of the nation's leading HIV/AIDS care
providers and equal rights advocate, and home to an array of free or low cost
health, educational, cultural and social programs serving thousands of
ethnically diverse youth and adults each month.
                                          -30-