From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 94 10:47:32 -0400 Eastern

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PRESS RELEASE            PRESS RELEASE            PRESS RELEASE  
 
               THE HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN FUND                    
 
The Nation's Largest Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Political Group   
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To contact the HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN FUND, please call us at
(202)628-4160, fax us at (202) 347-5323 or write to us at PO Box
1396  Washington, DC  20013.  WE CANNOT RESOPND TO E-MAIL.  
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EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE                     TUESDAY, JULY 12,1994  
 
  BARRY GOLDWATER, BARBARA ROBERTS AND TOP POLITICAL STRATEGISTS
          JOIN CAMPAIGN TO FIGHT RADICAL RIGHT IN KEY STATES
       
            Anti-Gay Meaures on Ballots in Idaho and Oregon
                  Would Institutionalize Discrimination
 
          WASHINGTON -- Retired Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.),
Gov. Barbara Roberts (D-Ore.) and a team of campaign organizers
and leading political strategists have joined a campaign launched
by the Human Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF) to fight the Radical
Right in states where anti-gay ballot initiatives are being used
to institutionalize discrimination.  The ballot measures would
block or repeal state and local policies that prohibit
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
 
     "The Radical Right takeover of  state and local Republican
parties is just the tip of the iceberg," said Stacie Spector,
director of the campaign,  Americans Against Discrimination. 
"They seek to institutionalize discrimination and promote a
narrow agenda of intolerance.  Anti-gay ballot initiatives are
being used by Radical Right groups to raise money and turn out
the extreme right-wing vote.  In a year when moderate incumbents
are under attack, a heavy Radical Right turnout could shift the
political landscape."
 
     Anti-gay discrimination is emerging as an issue in election
campaigns across the country, and could influence the outcome of
local, state and Congressional races.  Idaho and Oregon, where
anti-gay measures have recently qualified, face contested races
for governor and the U.S. House of Representatives. 
 
     "While their rhetoric focuses on gay people, the Radical
Right's agenda is much broader," said Tim McFeeley, the Campaign
Fund's executive director.  "Radical Right groups seeks to roll
back progress on civil rights, freedom of choice, freedom of
speech and any other freedom that doesn't match their agenda of
intolerance.  The Radical Right's agenda is sponsored by a
network of multi-million dollar political organizations working
to elect extremist candidates and institutionalize
discrimination.  They have already won seats in local councils
and school boards, and they are determined to carry their
divisive agenda all the way to the White House."
 
     Americans Against Discrimination has assisted state and
local efforts to defeat Radical Right signature-gathering
campaigns in seven states that would have placed discriminatory
measures on Election Day ballots.  The campaign provides
training, funding, research, communications and political support
to local and state campaigns working against the ballot measures.
 
It also works nationally to educate the general public about
anti-gay discrimination and the need for legal protections.
 
     Retired Senator Barry Goldwater and Oregon Gov. Barbara
Roberts serve as honorary co-chairs of Americans Against
Discrimination, providing strategic advice and political support.
 
In joining the campaign, Goldwater said:  "I support equality for
all Americans and an end to discrimination based on sexual
orientation.  I also oppose the misuse of the initiative process
by extremist groups to institutionalize discrimination."
  
     Stacie Spector, campaign director, ran a successful
statewide campaign in 1992 to defeat an anti-choice ballot
measure in Maryland, and in 1993 managed a U.S. Senate campaign
in Missouri.  She served as deputy campaign manager for Sen. Tom
Harkin's (D-Iowa) 1990 re-election and has worked on campaigns in
five other states.  Timothy Cavanaugh, assistant director, was an
attorney with Gordon & Rees of San Francisco, and worked for the
American Civil Liberties Union, Shea & Gould of New York and the
California Attorney General. He has done grassroots organizing
and development work for the Campaign Fund for the past year.
 
     Douglas Hattaway, media affairs manager for the Campaign
Fund, works with the campaign and the Department of Public
Policy.  A former Congressional press secretary, he has covered
human rights as an international correspondent and served as a
communications consultant to nonprofit organizations.  Hans
Johnson, research director, was a national organizer for People
for the American Way, assisting national, state and local groups
in fighting the Radical Right and promoting equal rights for gay
and lesbian citizens.  
 
     Jane Caplan, finance director, worked on the successful
pro-choice campaign in Maryland before serving as deputy director
of a statewide gun control organization.  Terrance Heath,
administrative assistant, recently graduated from the University
of Georgia, where he was a columnist for the campus newspaper.
 
     Celinda Lake, a leading political strategist, conducts
polling and focus groups.  A partner in the research-based
strategy firm of Mellman Lazarus Lake, she oversaw focus group
research for the Clinton/Gore campaign, advises the Democratic
National Committee, and works with Democratic campaigns across
the country.  Ann F. Lewis, a regular commentator on CNN and PBS,
provides strategic advice.  Currently president of Politics,
Inc., she has been political director of the Democratic National
Committee, national director of Americans for Democratic Action
and chief of staff to then-Representative Barbara Mikulski
(D-Maryland).
 
Will Robinson, a partner in the media and political consulting
firm MacWilliams Cosgrove Snider Smith Robinson, coordinates
activities with the political and labor community.  He was
political director of Campaign '88 for the Democratic National
Committee.  Fred Hochberg, campaign finance chair, is a  member
of the Democratic National Committee.  Former president and chief
executive officer of the Lillian Vernon Corp., he is also a
member of the Campaign Fund's board of directors.  
    
                                 - 30 -
                                    
         1101 14th Street, NW  Suite 200  Washington, DC  20005  
             phone:(202)628-4160      fax:(202) 347-5323