Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 10:05:53 -0500 From: RAKNGLTF@aol.com NATIONAL GAY & LESBIAN TASK FORCE NEWS RELEASE Contact: Robert Bray, 415-552-6448; rfbngltf@aol.com STUNNING VICTORY IN SOUTH DAKOTA: FIRST PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE AGAINST GAY MARRIAGE DEFEATED San Francisco, CA-- March 1, 1995...In a victory that South Dakota gay and lesbian activists are calling "miraculous" and "history-making," a bill that would have banned same-sex marriages has been defeated in the state legislature. State Senate sponsors of House Bill 1184, the ban on same-sex marriages, failed to secure enough votes to bring the measure up for a full floor vote. Seventeen senators voted to bring the bill forward, 13 voted against, and five did not vote. Sponsors of the bill needed at least 18 votes for a floor vote. This marks the defeat of the first attempt to ban gay marriage as a pre-emptive strike against a pending Hawaii Supreme Court ruling on that state's same-sex marriage issue. Sponsors of the South Dakota measure, which would have also banned recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states, indicated their concern about the Hawaii case as justification for the local measure. The history of the South Dakota bill has been a month-long roller coaster ride for fledgling local activists. Earlier in February, HB 1184, "An Act to prohibit a marriage between persons of the same gender," sailed through the state House, 54-13. At that time there was no local gay and lesbian movement, no statewide gay organization, no identified lobbying allies and no previous history of gay-related legislation coming to the South Dakota legislature. An emergency lobbying strategy was created to stall the bill in the Senate after it passed out of the House. Just a few days before the final Senate vote, pro-gay lobbyists managed to secure enough votes to send the bill back to the Senate's Judiciary Committee, essentially tabling it. However, sponsors of the measure turned enough votes around to "smoke" the bill out of committee and return it to the Senate floor. Through days of touch-and-go lobbying, behind the scenes button-holing, tense public testimony, media activism and sheer luck, the bill was finally blocked from coming to the floor for a full vote. "Against all odds the gay, lesbian and bisexual community of South Dakota -- and its newfound allies -- managed not only to defeat the measure and triumph in crisis, but in the process build the beginnings of a statewide gay movement," said Robert Bray, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) Fight the Right Project organizer. In the course of the battle several heroes emerged. Barry Wick, the director of the newly formed South Dakota Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Federation (SDGLBF), testified at the Senate committee hearings, the first time public testimony on a gay issue has ever occurred in South Dakota. Joining Wick was Pat Kane of Sioux Falls Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). Ro Ann Redlin of the South Dakota Advocacy Network for Women became the power lobbyist behind the scenes, along with Jim Berman of Common Cause. Senate Majority Whip Dick Negstad (R) voted against the measure through its entire course. Senator Lars Herseth championed the opposition to the bill, as did Senator Barb Everist (R), Judiciary Committee chairperson. Rep. Dr. Jack Billion opposed the bill in the House and made a case for its defeat in the Senate. South Dakotans Jacques Soukup and his life-partner, Kirk Thomas, contributed $5,000 to the SDGLBF to set up faxes, phones and copiers, and another $20,000 to NGLTF and the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund for ongoing gay marriage organizing. Activists said that one deciding factor in the bill's defeat may have been lawmakers' concern of a tourism and business boycott of the state should the bill pass. South Dakota's Mount Rushmore and Black Hills area draw tens of thousands of tourists annually. Lobbyists were rush-faxed complete background information on the Colorado boycott, which was launched following that state's passage of Amendment 2 in 1992. Robert Bray of NGLTF and Evan Wolfson, director of the Marriage Project of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, provided media, organizing, fundraising, lobbying, and computer activism assistance to South Dakota activists. A nationwide NGLTF "activist alert" was broadcast over America OnLine and the internet urging people to e-mail, phone and fax Governor Bill Janklow and other key state officials. The NGLTF Fight the Right Project has scheduled a movement building and leadership training tour of the state in late spring once the community has recovered from this battle. "This bill is dead. Now we can stop putting out fires and start building a real movement," said a jubilant Barry Wick of SDGLBF. "This victory is testimony to the perseverance of our community and the will of supportive lawmakers who believe in the spirit of our state's motto, 'The Land of Infinite Variety.'" For more information and to assist the South Dakota gay and lesbian community, contact Barry Wick, SDGLBF, 13121 S. Creekview Road, Rapid City, SD., 57702-0245, phone and fax (605)343-5577, tomalhe@aol.com. Contact Lambda Marriage Project's Evan Wolfson at (212)995-8585, WolfsonE@aol.com. The NGLTF Fight the Right Project may be reached through Robert Bray at (415)552-6448, rfbngltf@aol.com. The NGLTF Fight the Right Project provides direct in-the-field movement building and organizing assistance to rural and other activists around the country. Organizers in the project have covered 150,000 miles in two years training more than 5,000 activists in 25 states. ###