Date: Tue, 16 Aug 1994 18:44:06 EDT From: RAKNGLTF@aol.com NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE NEWS RELEASE Contact: Robin Kane, 202-332-6483, ext. 3311; 800-757-7736 U.S. HOUSE COMMITTEE HEARING TO FOCUS ON EXPANSION OF COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE MANDATE NGLTF Supports Move To Add Sexual Orientation And Religion Washington, D.C. -- August 16, 1994 -- The U.S. House of Representatives will hold hearings on August 18 to consider adding sexual orientation and religion to the mandate of the Department of Justice's Community Relations Service, an agency that mediates community tensions. Earlier this year the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) secured unprecedented CRS intervention in a gay-related dispute in the case involving Camp Sister Spirit in Ovett, Mississippi. NGLTF has advocated for a permanent expansion of the agency's mandate for several years. NGLTF is a member of the Hate Crimes Coalition that will testify at the hearings before the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights on Thursday, August 18 at 10 a.m. in room 2237 Rayburn House Office Building. The subcommittee hearing is the result of years of advocacy by a number of organizations which have urged Congress to expand the mandate of CRS. The agency is mandated to mediate community disputes and tensions based on race, color and national origin, as outlined when the agency was established in 1964 (Title X of the Civil Rights Act of 1964). While the agency has used its expertise and skills successfully in a number of community disputes, the limited mandate of CRS is in conflict with the federal Hate Crime Statistics Act, passed in 1990, which does include sexual orientation and religion. This conflict has resulted in problems with CRS programs. The limited mandate has also rendered CRS incapable of responding to a number of community disputes that could benefit from federal mediation. In a statement submitted to the House Subcommittee in support of the mandate expansion, NGLTF Executive Director Peri Jude Radecic outlines CRS programs that have been hurt by the conflicting mandates between CRS and the Hate Crime Statistics Act. In the case of the CRS-administered national toll-free hate crimes reporting hotline, it took months of advocacy by NGLTF to alter the agency's practice of turning away calls to the hotline made by the victims of anti-gay violence. Radecic also cites in her statement two well-publicized incidents where gay-related community tensions could have been lowered had CRS been mandated to intervene in a timely manner. The first involved events surrounding the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and the other is the ongoing dispute involving Camp Sister Spirit in Ovett, Miss. "Our experience at NGLTF, in working with communities in crisis, supports the need for an expansion of the CRS mandate," Radecic said in her statement. "NGLTF encourages this committee to take action to expand that mandate." --end-- [Copies of Radecic's statement are available from Beth Barrett, (202) 332-6483, ext. 3215 ]