From: Hrccomm@aol.com Date: Thu, 9 May 1996 16:58:20 -0400 Subject: Dole Becomes First Senator to Sign On To National Anti-Marriage Bill ________________________________________________________ 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 Thursday, May 9, 1996 DOLE BECOMES FIRST SENATOR TO SIGN ON TO NATIONAL ANTI-MARRIAGE BILL HRC Dubs Move A Desperate Election-Year Bid' ACT NOW! Send Urgent Messages to Congress Via HRC's Online Action Center http://www.hrcusa.org WASHINGTON -- Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole is pandering to extremists by becoming the first U.S. senator to co-sponsor a national bill to prohibit equal marriage rights for lesbian and gay Americans. Dole, R-Kan. and the Senate majority leader, has co-sponsored S. 1740, the "Defense of Marriage Act," introduced Wednesday by Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla. "Rather than moving to the center, Senator Dole is again pandering to extremists in a desperate election-year bid to score political points at the expense of lesbian and gay Americans," said HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch. "It really says something that Bob Dole felt driven to jump onto this bill even before Congress' most militant anti-gay zealots, like Jesse Helms. It's just one more piece of evidence that Dole is floundering for an agenda." The Human Rights Campaign issued a report Wednesday exposing the orchestrated efforts of religious political extremist groups to pass anti-marriage bills in at least 34 states. U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., introduced an anti-gay marriage bill in the House on Tuesday. It has a handful of co-sponsors. Currently, lesbian and gay couples cannot get legally married anywhere in the United States. Hawaii, the only state that is anywhere near the possibility of extending equal marriage rights to gay people, will probably not resolve the issue for at least two more years. Birch noted that the timing of the anti-marriage organizing demonstrates the political nature of the frenzy surrounding the issue. "These state and national anti-marriage bills propose to prohibit something that does not even exist. The anti-gay groups that are coordinating this flood of anti-marriage activity are shamelessly attempting to inject the issue into the heat of the presidential campaign, and Bob Dole is taking their bait," Birch added. "These measures are cynically calculated to divide the country, promote more congressional extremism and scapegoat one group of Americans." Dole's co-sponsorship of the Senate bill is not his first action on the issue during the presidential race. In February, he sent a letter of support to the organizers of an anti-gay rally in Des Moines, Iowa, endorsing their anti-marriage resolution but saying that it "does not go far enough." 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-