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               THE HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN FUND

The nation's largest lesbian, gay and bisexual political group

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.


      RADICAL RIGHT DISTRIBUTES ANTI-GAY PETITION ON CAPITOL HILL;
      MEMBERS OF CONGRESS ASKED TO DENOUNCE HOMOSEXUALITY

     WASHINGTON, DC  (May 3, 1994)  The Christian Action Network,
an anti-gay fundraising organization, is distributing a petition on
Capitol Hill asking members to oppose "all federal attempts to use
tax dollars to promote, encourage, fund (directly or indirectly),
or indemnify by code of law, homosexuality or any perverse subgroup
thereof."  The petition was circulated in response to the recent
announcement by the Human Rights Campaign Fund that more than 230
members of the House of Representatives have non-discrimination
policies protecting their lesbian and gay employees.

     In a March 24th letter to Congress members, Martin Mawyer,
President of the Christian Action Network, notes that "recently you
were asked to prove your social sensibilities by signing a pledge
to prohibit discrimination against homosexuals in your personal
hiring practices.  Keeping in form, we are asking that you sign the
attached pro-family pledge."  Mawyer calls the homosexual movement
"one of the greatest threats to the American family."  He set a
deadline of May 1st for responses to be returned to the Christian
Action Network.

     Mawyer and the Christian Action Network have experience in
petition drives.  In 1991, Mawyer wrote to supporters asking them
to sign a "Sodom and Gomorrah" petition to President George Bush
following his signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which
outlaws discrimination against people with AIDS.  "Our nation is
already riddled with the deadly AIDS virus," Mawyer wrote.  "And
who is to say that AIDS is not a judgement from God against our
land for allowing homosexuality to run rampant?"

     Daniel Zingale, Public Policy Director of the Human Rights
Campaign Fund called the Mawyer petition "a clear example of the
radical right's effort to distort an important issue.  To suggest
that opposing discrimination against lesbian and gay Americans in
the workplace is somehow anti-family is an intentional distortion
of the facts.  We knew that Mr. Mawyer uses distortion in his
direct mail fundraising appeals, but I'm surprised he uses the same
techniques when writing to Congress."

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