From: Hrccomm@aol.com Date: Tue, 14 May 1996 13:10:30 -0400 Subject: Candace Gingrich Calls On Newt To Stop Congressional Gay-Bashing ________________________________________________________ NEWS from the Human Rights Campaign 1101 14th Street NW Washington, DC 20005 email: communications@hrcusa.org WWW: http://www.hrcusa.org ________________________________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, May 14, 1996 NEWT GINGRICH'S LESBIAN SISTER CALLS ON HIM TO STOP CONGRESSIONAL GAY-BASHING HRC's Candace Gingrich Urges House Speaker to Act Before Intolerance Becomes the Legacy of the 104th Congress' Send Messages to Newt and Congress via HRC's Online Action Center http://www.hrcusa.org WASHINGTON -- Candace Gingrich, the lesbian sister of House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, today called upon her brother to stop congressional gay-bashing on issues that range from military discrimination to marriage. Gingrich made her remarks at a Capitol Hill news conference this morning -- one day before a House subcommittee's scheduled hearing on a national anti- marriage bill that would forbid equal marriage rights for lesbian and gay Americans. Among the recent anti-gay congressional actions that prompted Gingrich to make her personal plea: Introduction of the anti-marriage bill, H.R. 3396 in the House on May 7 and S. 1740 in the Senate on May 8, with presumptive GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole of Kansas as the only senator to join the bill's author as an original co-sponsor; and Placement of the anti-marriage bill on a "fast track" in the House, with a hearing scheduled to occur only one week after the bill's introduction; that forum is set for Wednesday, May 15, at 1:30 p.m. before the House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution. Beyond the marriage issue, anti-gay Rep. Bob Dornan, R-Calif., has inserted several extreme provisions in the 1997 defense authorization, which are expected to be acted on today in the House. Among them: A measure requiring the military to reinstate the old anti-gay policy of asking service members about their sexual orientation and sanctioning witch hunts against suspected of being gay or lesbian; A bid to remove the term "sexual orientation" from the Defense Department's anti-hate crimes trainings -- compelling the military to uniquely exclude anti-gay violence from the list of bias crimes about which troops receive information; and A mandate forcing the military to discharge, within two months of diagnosis, all members of the armed services with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. A similar discriminatory proposal by Dornan, enacted in January, was repealed by Congress April 25 in the wake of a broad -based public outcry that included HRC members medical experts, military leaders and veterans' groups. ***What follows is the complete text of Candace Gingrich's statement:*** Good morning, and thank you for coming. My name is Candace Gingrich, and I am a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, America's largest national lesbian and gay political organization. I am also the sister of House Speaker Newt Gingrich. It is with great sadness that I felt the need to come here today. For the last two weeks, we have seen an unprecedented level of anti-gay activity in Congress. In the House, Congressman Bob Dornan and a handful of other extremists are trying to force the military to reinstate the old anti-gay policy of asking service members about their sexual orientation. Dornan has already managed to slip that measure into next year's defense bill, along with a renewed attempt to mandate that the military discharge all HIV-positive service members -- against even the wishes of military leaders and veterans' groups. Furthermore, Dornan inserted another measure in the defense bill that removes the term "sexual orientation" from the DoD's anti-hate crimes training -- thereby uniquely excluding anti-gay violence from the litany of hate crimes about which our troops are informed. All of that would be bad enough, but it is just the beginning. Even though lesbian and gay couples cannot legally marry anywhere in the United States, and Hawaii is two years away from final resolution of the issue, religious political extremists have coordinated a flood of organizing around the issue in 34 states and now, sadly, in the U.S. Congress. Tomorrow, the House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution will hold a hearing on a national anti-marriage bill that would forbid equal marriage rights for lesbian and gay Americans. That measure was introduced in the House by Congressman Bob Barr, a Republican from Georgia, and in the Senate by GOP Senator Don Nickles of Oklahoma. In this campaign year, it is no accident that Bob Dole is the only other senator who signed onto the bill as an original co-sponsor -- a clear indication that Senator Dole is taking the bait of religious political extremists who are trying to inject this anti-marriage issue into the heat of the presidential election. Let's be clear: In no state in the union can people of the same gender marry legally. One state -- Hawaii -- is looking at this issue, but no decision is expected for two years. So the raising of this issue now, at the national level, is nothing more than election-year scapegoating of one group of Americans. All of this comes at a time when lesbian and gay Americans still do not have basic equal rights under federal law, when we can still be fired from our jobs just because of who we are -- regardless of job performance or qualifications. These are the troubling developments that have brought me here today -- developments that, viewed as a whole, clearly indicate gay people are being used as election-year fodder to score political points -- all with the tacit approval of my brother and Republican presidential hopeful Bob Dole. So it has come to this. The speaker of the House is my brother and I love him as such. And I hope that, as my brother, he understands that what I am about to say I do not say lightly: I am here today to simply call upon my brother to stop this congressional gay-bashing -- before intolerance becomes the legacy of the 104th Congress. Doesn't Congress have anything better to do? Why are they not focusing on the business of the nation, instead of the obsessions of a few extremists? I don't understand how my brother could put a gay-bashing agenda ahead of issues central to the running of the country. I believe in my heart that Newt bears no ill will toward those of us who are lesbian or gay; but he must feel that he is politically beholden to some people who do. I ask my brother to stop this wave of political gay-bashing that is sweeping over this Congress. I am here to ask him if he really wants the legacy of the 104th Congress to be an unprecedented political assault on the lives of lesbian and gay Americans. I am here to ask if he truly feels it is right to let a handful of zealots push mean-spirited measures that are politically calculated to divide the country and scapegoat one group of citizens -- Americans who are a part of his very own family. And finally, amid this new flood of anti-gay scapegoating, I am here to remind the House speaker, the Congress and indeed the nation, that fairness for lesbian and gay Americans is a family issue, and that we are no less deserving of being treated equally under the law. The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national lesbian and gay political organization, with members throughout the country. It effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support, and educates the public to ensure that lesbian and gay Americans can be open, honest, and safe at home, at work, and in the community. - 30 -