Subject: MMOW Promises Massive Voter Turnout, Internet Activism
From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 2 May 1999 17:01:16 EDT

News Release
from the Board of Directors of
the Millennium March on Washington 

Release Date: April 30, 1999

Millennium March on Washington for Equality April 30, 2000

MMOW Promises Massive Voter Turnout and Internet Activism of Millions of Gay 
& Lesbian Americans

Washington, DC -- The one year countdown began today as a broad coalition of 
activists detailed plans for a massive March on Washington on April 30, 2000 
to demand legal and legislative equality and to mobilize the votes of gay, 
lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans with the GLBT Vote 2000 
initiative in next year's presidential election.

The Millennium March on Washington is expected to draw hundreds of thousands 
of participants to the capital, and will focus national attention on the 
unfulfilled political agenda of the community and its supporters.

PlanetOut, the largest online company serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual and 
transgender community, has pledged a record $1 million in cash and services 
to advance the march and its message throughout the world. The company will 
build and host the March's website, which opened today at 
http://www.mmow.org. March participants can sign up for the March on the 
website.

Currently serving half a million unique monthly visitors on its 
http://www.planetout.com and American Online area, PlanetOut will, for the 
first time in history, simultaneously cybercast the March on Washington in 
several languages including Chinese, Spanish and French. The virtual 
audio/video Internet March on Washington allows everyone who can't be there 
in person to fully participate from any computer with a modem. The website 
launches today with daily activities at the site over the next year, offering 
news, information, activities, and fun along with globaal outreach.

"This unprecedented technological advantage will allow our community to amass 
a tremendous list of activists," said March cochair Nicole Murray-Ramirez, 
who is the co-chair of the National Latino/a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, 
Transgender Organization. "And we intend to utilize this list to bring out 
the vote in record numbers in November," GLBT Vote 2000 is a major focus of 
the Millennium March mobilization.

March organizers promise to bring unwavering pressure on Congress and the 
courts to enact a variety of long-overdue prerequisites to equality, 
including hate crimes legislation, right-to-work laws, and family-value 
guarantees, such as the right to marry and to parent children. "It is a 
travesty that legislators continue to dismiss these issues," said Duane 
Cramer, on the board of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and co-chair of 
the march. "That will change next year."

Another march co-chair, Ann DeGroot, Executive Director of Out Front 
Minnesota, adds, "Access to the web for millions of us will help organize the 
March and allow us the same level of communications and organization that the 
religious right now enjoys."

The Rev. Troy Perry, one of the original organizers of the first civil rights 
GLBT March on Washington and a member of the Millennium March's organizing 
board, said that the growing hostility and violence towards the community -- 
such as the brutal murder last year of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming -- 
demonstrates the need for the means to respond more rapidly and consistently.

"Our Internet presence will be both an unprecedented organizing and bonding 
tool," says Donna Red Wing, March co-chair.

The Millennium March Leadership Council has established offices in 
Washington, DC and Los Angeles and will be building a strong grassroots 
component, according to Robin Tyler, veteran organizer and Executive Producer 
of the event.

"For the first time we will be able to help the community harness all that 
energy generated by the event and follow up afterwards by knowing who 
attended and who participated online," said Tom Rielly, founder and chair, 
Planet Out. "The http://www.mmow.org website will help people get involved 
and stay involved, even after the March.

# # #   END   # # #

For press interviews or additional information, contact:

Millennium March Co-Chairs:
Duane Cramer .  Ann DeGroot . Nicole Murray-Ramirez . Donna Red Wing

Millennium March Executive Producer
Robin Tyler

Phone:
(818) 891-1748