Subject: HOUSE PANEL RESCHEDULES HEARING PROVIDING PLATFORM TO ANTI-GAY ZELOT
From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 14:25:47 -0400

*****************************************************************
PRESS RELEASE            PRESS RELEASE            PRESS RELEASE

               THE HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN FUND                    

 The Nation's Largest Lesbian and Gay Equal Rights Organization
*****************************************************************
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.  
*****************************************************************

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, September 19, 1995

       HOUSE PANEL RESCHEDULES HEARING ON LOCAL SCHOOL EFFORTS TO
        PROTECT YOUNG PEOPLE FROM HATE VIOLENCE, AIDS AND SUICIDE
                                    
        -- Tentatively Set for October 13, Taxpayer-Funded Forum
             May Provide Platform for Anti-Gay Extremist --

     Washington -- A congressional panel has set October 13 as
the tentative date for a hearing sought by anti-gay zealot Lou
Sheldon on local school efforts to protect young people from hate
violence, AIDS and suicide.  The Oversight and Investigations
Subcommittee of the House Economic and Educational Opportunities
Committee had postponed the hearing, entitled "Parental
Involvement in Social Issues in Education," after public response
to press reports about Sheldon's role.

In an August fund-raising appeal for his Traditional Values
Coalition, Sheldon boasted of his role in staging the hearing and
promised to use the taxpayer-funded forum to attack local school
efforts to prevent hate violence, AIDS and suicide.  Sheldon, who
has built a career on singling out lesbian and gay Americans for
discrimination, in 1989 called for men, women and children with
AIDS to be confined in "cities of refuge." 

HRCF Executive Director Elizabeth Birch called on Subcommittee
Chairman Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) to cancel the hearing. 
"Congress should not interfere with local control of education,"
said Birch.  "Local parents and teachers must be allowed to
address the needs of young people threatened by hate violence,
AIDS and suicide -- free from federal mandates."

Traditionally, local communities set guidelines for school
curricula and counseling -- not the federal government.  Some
communities have adopted modest efforts to address the epidemic
of hate violence and discrimination aimed at young people,
including those who are lesbian and gay, or who are perceived as
gay by their peers.

The Human Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF), the largest national
lesbian and gay political organization, works to end
discrimination, secure equal rights, and protect the health and
safety of all Americans.  With a national staff, and volunteers
and members throughout the country, HRCF lobbies the federal
government on lesbian, gay, and AIDS issues; educates the general
public; participates in election campaigns; organizes volunteers;
and provides expertise and training at the state and local level.

                                 - 30 -
                                    
         1101 14th Street, NW  Suite 200  Washington, DC  20005
               phone:(202)628-4160      fax:(202) 347-5323