Date:         Wed, 24 Apr 1996 19:25:04 -0400
From: LLDEFNY@AOL.COM
Subject:      Lambda Liberty Awards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 24, 1996
 Press Contact: Brian Simons
                (212) 995-8585/8987
                Margie Hanssens
                (212) 995-8585

LAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE TO HONOR OUTSTANDING EFFORTS TO PROMOTE CIVIL RIGHTS OF
LESBIANS, GAY MEN, AND PEOPLE WITH HIV

Tenth Anniversary Lambda Liberty Awards Honor Jed Mattes,
Congressman Gerry E. Studds and Urvashi Vaid

(New York, April, 24, 1996)   Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund will
present its tenth annual Liberty Awards on Monday, May 6, 1996 at a cocktail
reception at The Essex House from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. This year's awards will
be presented to Jed Mattes,  Congressman Gerry E. Studds and Urvashi Vaid.

        Mattes is a highly valued activist who has been President of the Board of
The Paul Rapoport Foundation since its inception in 1987 and is Vice
President of the Board of Directors of the Hetrick-Martin Institute; and
literary agent, whose clients include Greg Louganis (Breaking the Surface)
and Vito Russo (The Celluloid Closet).  Congressman Studds of Massachusetts
is an openly gay member of the United States Congress who has been a staunch
advocate of lesbian and gay civil rights with particular dedication to ending
the ban on homosexuals in the military. Vaid, author of Virtual Equality: The
Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation, is one of America's most
prominent leaders of the lesbian and gay liberation movement and former
Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

        The Lambda Liberty Awards were created in 1986 to mark the passage of New
York City's ordinance outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation
and recognize individuals who have contributed to the advancement of the
concepts embodied in that statute.  Past recipients have included Judith
Peabody, Gloria Steinem, Roberta Achtenberg, George C. Wolfe, Colonel
Margarethe Cammermeyer and the organization God's Love We Deliver.

        For the past 23 years Lambda has worked to advance the equal rights of
lesbians and gay men across the country through impact litigation, education,
and public policy.  Since 1984, when it brought and won the country's first
HIV-related discrimination suit, Lambda has been in the forefront of the
battle to protect the civil rights of people with HIV and AIDS.

        The event will be attended by over 400 guests and friends of Lambda. Among
the Honorary Chairpersons are Bella Abzug, Kate Clinton, Marcia Gillespie,
June Jordan, Senator Ted Kennedy, Larry Kramer, Tony Kushner, Judith Light,
and Greg Louganis.

        -30-