Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 16:03:47 -0500
From: RAKNGLTF@aol.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 7, 1995

For further information, contact:

Nadine Smith, Citizens for a Fair Tampa, 813-881-5724
Mandy Carter, Human Rights Campaign Fund, 813-873-2868 or 813-227-6457
Susan Hibbard, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 813-873-2868

TAMPA ANTI-GAY BALLOT MEASURE THROWN OUT JUST BEFORE VOTE

Measure Aimed at Legalizing Discrimination 

Tampa, FL...March 7, 1995...A circuit court judge yesterday reaffirmed an
earlier ruling that struck a proposed anti-gay referendum from today's
ballot.  Referendum 1 sought to repeal the portion of Tampa's Human Rights
Ordinance that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation.

 Judge Manuel Menendez struck the measure late last week and reaffirmed that
ruling yesterday because the wording of the ballot measure had been illegally
altered from the original language circulated on the petitions by the
American Family Association (AFA) of Florida, a Radical Right organization
based in Tampa.  A flurry of last minute appeals and hearings did not alter
the judge's original ruling.

 Citizens for a Fair Tampa (CFT), a broad coalition of civic, religious,
business and community groups, filed the successful suit challenging the
validity of the measure's language while also mounting a vigorous campaign to
defeat the measure at the polls.  

 "The courts acted properly to protect voters' rights by recognizing the
danger and the potential for abuse in allowing altered language to be placed
on the ballot," said Keith Roberts, a CFT attorney.

 CFT mobilized hundreds of volunteers, raised more than $60,000 and reached
more than 100,000 voters through an intensive voter education effort.  Before
the scheduled vote, polls showed that 6 of 10 voters opposed the measure.
 Nadine Smith, CFT campaign manager, called those efforts and the court
ruling, "a victory for the citizens of Tampa.  Across the city, people have
sent a strong message to the AFA that its agenda of discrimination is not
welcome in Tampa."

 "Although civil rights should never be put to popular vote, there is a
silver lining in this terrible assault by the Radical Right," said Susan
Hibbard, campaign consultant to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
(NGLTF) who was dispatched to assist the Tampa campaign. "We are seeing an
increased mobilization by gay people and our allies to battle these
measures."

 Hibbard noted that the people of color communities in Tampa were heavily
opposed to Referendum 1.  As in Cincinnati in 1993, the referendum's
supporters in Tampa used the propaganda video, "Gay Rights/Special Rights" in
an attempt to convince African American voters that the 
inclusion of sexual orientation in the city's anti-discrimination measure
would negatively impact on African American civil rights.  [The anti-gay
measure passed in Cincinnati but was ruled unconstitutional by a lower
court--an appeal is being heard today in Cincinnati]. The video was used in
Tampa in public and private screenings and was aired on the Christian
television station.   However, in a predominantly African American city
council district, eight of the nine candidates for the hotly-contested
council seat opposed Referendum 1 while the ninth candidate took no position
on the measure.   La Gaceta, a weekly Latino newspaper, prominently displayed
its support for the No On One efforts. 

 "One of the noticeable shifts in this campaign," Hibbard said, "is that no
viable candidates supported Referendum 1.  Candidates either opposed the
measure or took no stand." (Only two of 22 candidates in Tampa's elections
supported Referendum 1).

 Mandy Carter of the Human Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF) and the National Black
Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum agreed that strategies used successfully by
the Radical Right in Cincinnati were countered in Tampa.  According to
Carter, who was in Tampa supporting CFT efforts, AFA-supporter Rev. James
Sykes was not a credible leader in the African American community while CFT
had the eloquent support of the well-respected Rev. Dr. Mozella Mitchell,
Presiding Elder Tampa District of the AME Zion Church.  Mitchell went
head-to-head with Sykes, challenging him to identify what positive
family-related measures the AFA is working on in the African American
community, such as issues related to health care, child care or education.

 "We will no longer fall for the divide and conquer tactics of these
extremist groups," Rev. Mitchell said.  "An agenda that seeks to pit citizen
against citizen in an effort to legalize discrimination is an agenda that we
all must reject."
 
 "In Tampa, we had African American leaders willing to challenge the Radical
Right's divisive strategies," Carter said.  "When the Radical Right came in
and tried to use the African American community, we had leaders willing to
step forward and say, 'What are you doing positively for our community?  Why
focus on these divisive campaigns?'  Engaging with our opponents in that
manner has been very effective here."

 This is the third time the AFA in Florida has been unsuccessful in its bid
to enact anti-gay measures.  The AFA placed a similar measure on the Tampa
ballot in 1992, but the measure was later thrown out by the courts because
petitions included signatures of people who were not registered voters.  Last
year, the AFA led a campaign to place on the statewide ballot a sweeping
amendment to the state constitution that would have legalized anti-gay
discrimination. The wording of that amendment was deemed unconstitutional by
the courts.  Yesterday's ruling marks the second time in Florida this year
that a proposed anti-gay measure was not enacted.  Voters in West Palm Beach
on January 11 resoundingly defeated an effort to strike sexual orientation
from that city's Human Rights Ordinance.

 The Radical Right campaign to enact anti-gay measures through referenda also
hit road blocks in Oregon and Idaho last November when voters rejected
statewide measures.  Voters did approve an anti-gay referendum in Alachua
County, Florida last November. 


--end--