Subject: ACTION NEEDED ON EDUCATION BILL
From: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 94 10:47:43 EDT

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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 RESPOND TO E-MAIL.  
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE               CONTACT:  Gregory King
                                              202-628-4160 office
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 14, 1994                     202-547-4310 home

               ACTION NEEDED AS FEDERAL EDUCATION BILL
                    MOVES TO HOUSE-SENATE CONFERENCE
   
     -- Calls to Congress Urged to Remove Anti-Gay Language From
       Final Version of Elementary and Secondary Education Act --

     WASHINGTON -- A federal education bill tainted by anti-gay
provisions moves next week to a House-Senate conference
committee, where Congressional moderates are poised to remove
discriminatory language from the final version of the bill.  The
Human Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF) today urged people concerned
with the anti-gay provisions to call Congress immediately and ask
that the discriminatory language be removed from the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act.

     The anti-gay provisions were sponsored in the Senate by
Sens. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Robert Smith (R-N.H.) and in the
House by Rep. Mel Hancock (R-Mo.).  They would encourage
discrimination against lesbian and gay youth and cut off federal
funds to schools that in any way provide students with neutral
information about gay people.  The provisions threaten HIV/AIDS
and suicide prevention programs, and strip local schools of the
ability to determine the content of programs and curricula.

     To counter the Helms and Hancock provisions, HRCF allies in
the House and Senate offered alternative amendments that can be
used to blunt the anti-gay provisions in the final version of the
bill.  In the House, Rep. Jolene Unsoeld (D-Wash.) sponsored a
successful amendment to affirm local control over schools and
restrict federal intrusion.  In the Senate, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-
Mass.) offered an amendment that blunted Helms' provision by
prohibiting the direct use of federal funds for promoting sexual
activity of any kind.

     An "Action Alert" sent today to HRCF's 4,400-member Federal
Advocacy Network called on supporters to contact Congress
immediately and urge members of the House-Senate conference
committee to support the Unsoeld and Kennedy amendments in the
final version of the education bill. 

     Readers can call Congress at 202-224-3121 to obtain their
Senators' and Representatives' names and phone numbers, or be
connected directly.  All Members of Congress should be asked to
support the Kennedy and Unsoeld language in the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act.  Members of the House-Senate conference
committee will directly influence the final outcome of the
legislation.  Those members are:

Senate
Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.)           Nancy Kassebaum (R-Kan.)
Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.)            James Jeffords (R-Vt.)
Howard Metzenbaum (D-Ohio)         Dan Coats (R-Ind.)
Chris Dodd (D-Conn.)               Judd Gregg (R-N.H.)
Paul Simon (D-Ill.)                Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.)
Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)                Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)
Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.)           Dave Durenberger (R-Minn.)
Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.)
Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.)
Harris Wofford (D-Penn.)

House
William Ford (D-Mich.)             William Goodling (R-Penn.)
Dale Kildee (D-Mich.)              Steve Gunderson (R-Wisc.)
George Miller (D-Calif.)           Buck McKeon (R-Calif.)
Thomas Sawyer (D-Ohio)             Thomas Petri (R-Wisc.)
Major Owens (D-N.Y.)               Susan Molinari (R-N.Y.)
Jolene Unsoeld (D-Wash.)           Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.)
John Reed (D-R.I.)                 Dan Miller (R-Fla.)
Timothy Roemer (D-Ind.)            Marge Roukema (R-N.J.)
Patsy Mink (D-Hawaii)              John Boehner (R-Ohio)
Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.)
Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.)
Gene Green (D-Texas)
Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.)
Karan English (D-Ariz.)
Ted Strickland (D-Ohio)
Donald Payne (D-N.J.)
Carlos Romero-Barcelo (D-P.R.)

     The Human Rights Campaign Fund is the largest national
organization whose mission is to end discrimination based on
sexual orientation.

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          1101 14th Street, NW  Suite 200  Washington, DC  20005 

                 phone:(202)628-4160      fax:(202) 347-5323