Date: Tue, 14 Feb 1995 14:43:16 -0500 From: RAKNGLTF@aol.com NATIONAL GAY & LESBIAN TASK FORCE NEWS RELEASE Contact: Robin Kane, 202-332-6483, ext. 3311; rakngltf@aol.com NOTED HISTORIAN AND AUTHOR TO DIRECT NGLTF THINK TANK Professor John D'Emilio Committed to Making Policy Institute "Indispensable Source of Information" for the Community Washington, D.C. -- February 14, 1995 -- Tenured history professor and noted author John D'Emilio has been tapped by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) to serve as Director of the NGLTF Policy Institute. D'Emilio, currently a professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, will lead the transformation of the Policy Institute into a formal research arm of NGLTF for the production of policy papers for the gay, lesbian and bisexual movement. The NGLTF Policy Institute is the educational arm of NGLTF. It has in the past produced such documents as the annual report on anti-gay violence and an organizing manual for passage of domestic partner policies. Under the direction of D'Emilio, the Policy Institute will actively recruit the movement's leading theorists, activists, academicians, researchers, lobbyists, cultural critics and others to produce timely, provocative and pragmatic reports for activists in the field. D'Emilio, 46, is the author of Making Trouble: Essays on Gay History, Politics and the University (Routledge, 1992) and Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970 (University of Chicago Press, 1983), and is the co-author of Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America (Harper and Row, 1988). He is under contract to write a biography of the late Bayard Rustin. "I'm thrilled that John has decided to become the first director of the Policy Institute, leading its transformation into a vibrant research and policy arm of NGLTF," said Melinda Paras, NGLTF Executive Director. "John is a brilliant thinker and experienced movement-builder who will energize this effort." D'Emilio received his bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees from Columbia University. He has worked in the history department at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro since 1983. He has received numerous awards, honors and recognitions in support of his research, including research grants from the American Philosophical Society, the John F. Kennedy Library and the Schlesinger Library at Radcliffe College. D'Emilio currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Homosexuality and the advisory board of GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. He has served as chair of the American Historical Association's Committee on Lesbian and Gay History and as a member of the ad hoc Committee on Gay Concerns of the American Association of University Professors. D'Emilio was a founding member in 1973 of the trailblazing Gay Academic Union, which was an early proponent of gay studies. D'Emilio was director of the Lesbian and Gay Rights Project of the North Carolina Civil Liberties Union from 1987 to 1988 and served as a member of the board of NGLTF from 1988 to 1993. "I am committed to building the NGLTF Policy Institute into an indispensable source of reliable, useful and necessary information on gay/lesbian/bisexual public policy issues," D'Emilio said. "We want to use the wealth of expertise in our community to build a reservoir of materials for activists in the field." Praise for the D'Emilio appointment came from academic and activist colleagues: * "John D'Emilio is first rate and of the highest caliber in every way -- as a researcher, a historian, a human being. I couldn't think of anyone else who would be a better choice to lead this project for NGLTF." -- Martin Duberman, Distinguished Professor of History at City University of New York, and author of Stonewall and Cures: A Gay Man's Odyssey. "" * "John has a great contemporary political sense. He has a sense of where our community is and he tempers that with incredible historical knowledge. He's a great choice for this job."-- Dale McCormick, an openly lesbian state senator from Maine and first president of the Maine Lesbian and Gay Political Alliance. * "It's brilliant of NGLTF to recognize John D'Emilio as a treasured resource of our community, and to employ him to work on our behalf. John's combination of scholarship and activism, and his research on gay and lesbian movements past, make him a unique and valuable guide to future moves in troubled times. Bravo!" -- Jonathan Ned Katz, author of Gay American History and the Invention of Heterosexuality. * "I am absolutely delighted that an individual of John's stature and politically progressive vision is going to be heading up this important work." -- Carmen Vazquez, Public Policy Director at the New York City Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center. Under D'Emilio's leadership, the Policy Institute will: 1) produce documents, including fact sheets, how-to guides and policy analyses. 2) sponsor strategic meetings and events with activists in the field, including the annual Creating Change conference and other local policy summits. 3) keep track of the leading experts on various policy issues, working in collaboration with them to distribute their materials to those who need the information. D'Emilio will begin serving as Policy Institute Director in July, following the close of this academic year. Already on board the NGLTF Policy Institute staff is Rachel Timoner, who is Associate Director of the Policy Institute. Timoner served as Program Coordinator for the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center (LYRIC) in San Francisco for nearly two years prior to joining the NGLTF staff in December. She was a freelance journalist for the national gay/lesbian media from 1991 to 1992. At that time she also served as the San Francisco campaign coordinator for the statewide A.B. 101 initiative, a proposed initiative to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace. Timoner also worked as a legislative aide to San Francisco Supervisor Harry Britt in 1991. Last June, she received the "Unsung Hero" award from KQED/San Francisco Examiner for working to reduce the isolation of gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender youth. Prior to moving to San Francisco, Timoner was the president of the Yale Political Union, coordinator of the Yale Women's Center, an assistant at Habitat for Humanity in New Haven and a research associate at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. --end-- [Photos available upon request. Contact Beth Barrett, 202-332-6483, ext. 3215. D'Emilio is available for interviews Wednesday, Feb. 15 - Friday, Feb. 17 at (910) 274-8343 (home) or (910) 334-5992 (work).]