Date: Wed, 1 Feb 1995 18:06:07 -0500 From: HRCFCOMM@aol.com ***************************************************************** PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE 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 RESPOND TO E-MAIL. ***************************************************************** To: Editors From: Douglas Hattaway Date: February 1, 1995 Re: HRCF monthly Action Alert column - second issue Enclosed is the second issue of the Human Rights Campaign Fund's monthly Action Alert column. Feel free to publish it in full, or to excerpt from it to meet your needs. We hope you find it useful. ***************************************************************** HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN FUND ACTION ALERT CONGRESS NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU This is the Human Rights Campaign Fund's second Action Alert of the new Congress, and anti-gay extremists are already pushing a discriminatory agenda on the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives. You can help fight the Radical Right. Calling and writing Congress is quick, easy, and effective, so act now and share this information with your friends. Watch this space each month for new Action Alerts. SAY IT AIN'T SO, NEWT House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) has admitted to an HRCF lobbyist that he has promised to hold hearings sought by anti-gay extremist Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition. Sheldon has advocated confining HIV-positive people in concentration camps. In the last Congress he pushed an amendment that would have targeted lesbian and gay youth for discrimination in school. Call Speaker Gingrich at (202) 224-3121. E-mail him at georgia6@hr.house.gov. Write him, including your name and address in your letter. Use the following sample as a guide: ***************************************************************** Hon. Newt Gingrich Office of the Speaker U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Mr. Speaker: I am dismayed that you promised to hold hearings sought by anti-gay extremist Lou Sheldon, who has advocated confining HIV- positive people in concentration camps. His only agenda is to dehumanize lesbian and gay people and single them out for discrimination. Holding hearings at Sheldon's request would be an inexcusable waste of tax dollars to promote intolerance. I urge you to reconsider. Lesbian and gay Americans face discrimination that is both widespread and legal, and Lou Sheldon means to keep it that way. The voters who changed the face of Congress rejected his divisive agenda last November. I hope you will do the same. Sincerely, ***************************************************************** REMIND DICK ARMEY: DECENCY INCLUDES NON-DISCRIMINATION House Majority Leader Richard Armey (R-Tex.) -- Gingrich's second in command -- referred to openly gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) as "Barney Fag" during a press briefing in the U.S. Capitol. Armey has a zero percent voting record on issues of fairness for lesbian and gay Americans. He has also refused to institute a written policy barring anti-gay discrimination in his Congressional office. Ask him to issue such a policy. Call the Majority Leader at (202) 224-3121. E-mail him at armey@hr.house.gov. Write him, including your name and address in your letter. Use the following sample as a guide: ***************************************************************** Hon. Richard Armey Office of the Majority Leader U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Mr. Armey: Following your reference to Rep. Barney Frank in January, you spoke of your family's "precious teaching about good manners, decent discourse, and real respect for other people." I urge you to back up your words with action by implementing a non- discrimination policy in your office that provides the same basic protections to gay and lesbian workers as to everyone else. Americans of all political stripes agree that people should be judged at work based on their job performance, whether they are gay or not. Yet no federal law protects hard-working Americans from being fired and otherwise discriminated against at work because of their orientation. A non-discrimination policy for your own staff would guarantee fairness and set a clear example of real respect for other people. Sincerely, ***************************************************************** As the largest national lesbian and gay equal rights organization, the Human Rights Campaign Fund fights discrimination through grassroots organizing, Congressional lobbying, political action and public education. To receive our free monthly action alert by mail, call HRCF's Federal Advocacy Network at (202) 628-4160. To join HRCF, call (800) 777-HRCF (777-4723). ### 1101 14th Street, NW Suite 200 Washington, DC 20005 phone:(202)628-4160 fax:(202) 347-5323