Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 18:33:59 -0500
From: RAKNGLTF@aol.com

 NATIONAL GAY & LESBIAN TASK FORCE
 PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Robin Kane, 202-332-6483, ext. 3311,
rakngltf@aol.com

STATEMENT FROM THE NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE ON THE ARREST OF REV.
 MEL WHITE

Washington, DC -- February 16, 1995 -- The following statement was issued by
the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) in response to the arrest of
the Rev. Mel White at the headquarters of the Christian Broadcasting Network
(CBN) on February 15.  Rev. White, a former ghostwriter for Pat Robertson, is
currently with the Ministry of Justice of the Universal Fellowship of
Metropolitan Community Churches--approximately 300 churches that minister
predominately to gay, lesbian and bisexual people. Rev. White gave a keynote
address in November at the annual conference of NGLTF, attended by 1,200
activists.


 We deplore the arrest and undignified treatment of Rev. Mel White by the
security forces of Pat Robertson and the Christian Broadcasting Network.
  Rev. White and a coalition of clergy sought to meet with Robertson to
educate the CBN founder (and Rev. White's former boss) about the destructive
and divisive impact of Robertson's anti-gay/lesbian rhetoric.  White's arrest
and imprisonment reveals that Pat Robertson is threatened by the truth, the
truth about gay and lesbian people, the truth as told to him by fellow people
of faith.

 Pat Robertson's "Christian Coalition" is neither.  When faced with a
coalition of Christians who support tolerance and justice for all, Robertson
cowers behind a wall of security to protect his fortress of bigotry.  The
same tactics used to incarcerate Rev. White are used in a much grander scale
to deny gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans full justice.  Pat Robertson's
rhetoric of hate and anti-democratic propaganda endangers the lives of gay
people.

 We support Rev. White's fast and demand that he be immediately released from
jail.  We urge Pat Robertson to meet with Rev. White -- his former employee
-- and the coalition of clergy so that he can learn first hand the pain and
discrimination lesbian, gay and bisexual people face as a result of his
rhetoric.  And we call on clergy of conscious and all people of faith to
challenge Pat Robertson's politics of oppression.

###