Subject: Gays Score Big In California Assembly - HRC Helps Wrest Control From Extremists

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 8 Nov 1996 14:22:45 -0500

________________________________________________________

NEWS from the
Human Rights Campaign

1101 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
email:  [email-masked]
<A HREF="http://www.hrcusa.org">
WWW:    http://www.hrcusa.org
</A>
________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, Nov. 7, 1996                     

GAYS SCORE BIG WIN IN CALIFORNIA ASSEMBLY
HRC Helps Wrest Control from Extremists

GO TO HRC'S ONLINE ACTION CENTER FOR A SPECIAL CAMPAIGN 96
REPORT AND FULL FY95-95 ENDORSEMENT/PAC REPORT
http://www.hrcusa.org

WASHINGTON -- Gay men and lesbians won an important victory in California on
Election Night when the state Assembly was seized from the control of
far-right extremists, the Human Rights Campaign said today.

     "It was vital to place the California Assembly into the hands of
fair-minded legislators, and that is what we have done," said Amy Pritchard,
director of HRC's California Project for the northern half of the state.
"With the help of hundreds of volunteers, we won enough races to tip the
balance of power."

     The result was that the Assembly went from a ratio of 41 Republicans and
39 Democrats to 42 Democrats and 38 Republicans. Of the nine state Assembly
candidates whose campaigns HRC directly helped, seven won. (Gerrie Schipske,
an open lesbian from Long Beach, and Lily Cervantes in Northern California
were the two HRC Assembly candidates who lost.)

     "We helped pull together a grass-roots infrastructure of fair-minded
Californians who staffed phone banks, knocked on doors and handed out
literature," said Sue Burnside, HRC project director for Southern California.
"The  outcome was striking."

     Carole Migden, an openly gay assemblywoman from San Francisco, praised
HRC for its efforts. "HRC's California Project played a pivotal role in
reclaiming the California state Assembly from the extremist factions of the
Republican Party," she said. 
 "By putting together the resources to help finance key races and by
providing people power in critical races, the California Project created a
statewide lesbian and gay presence that will have a major impact for decades
to come."

     This was the first time that HRC became involved in elections at the
state legislative level. "We decided that since so much anti-gay federal
legislation gets its start at the state level, that we would try a little
 preventive medicine,'" said Daniel Zingale, HRC's political director. "Plus,
the extremists held a very slim majority in California."

     In addition to working in state Assembly races, the California Project
worked for three state Senate candidates: Dede Alpert in the 39th district;
Adam Schiff in the 21st; and Betty Karnette in the 27th. All three won.

     HRC also sent a member of its Youth College for Campaign Training to
work in the campaign against Proposition 209, the statewide anti-affirmative
action measure. Proposition 209 
passed.

     And HRC sent a full-time senior political department staffer from its
Washington headquarters to work in the U.S. House campaign of Walter Capps,
who defeated freshman Rep. Andrea Seastrand, an extremist Republican.

     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 -