Subject: Anti-Gay Marriage Bills Spreading
From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 17:11:52 -0500

************************************************* 
PRESS RELEASE
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
2320 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009
Contact: Robert Bray  415.552.6448 or 
Evan Wolfson, LLDEF Marriage Project, 212.995.8585
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ANTI-MARRIAGE BILLS SPREAD ACROSS STATES;

NATIONAL FREEDOM TO MARRY COALITION
 HELPS ACTIVISTS RESPOND TO ATTACKS

Washington, D.C., Feb. 8, 1996...Aided by an unprecedented national coalition
of 
gay movement groups focused on winning and keeping the freedom to marry, gay,

lesbian, bisexual and non-gay activists around the country are fighting a
rash 
of anti-marriage bills.  With state legislatures in session for hardly a
month, 
the bills have been introduced by Radical Right lawmakers to block
recognition 
of same-sex couples' marriages in 17 states.

    Although gay and lesbian couples cannot legally marry in any state, arch-
conservative legislators are attempting to rush through anti-marriage bills
in 
Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois,
 Iowa, 
Missouri, New Mexico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, 
Virginia, and Washington.  The measures would declare that a couple's legal 
marriage from one state would not be recognized when they crossed the border
to 
another state.  In addition, an anti-gay ballot measure in Oregon, if passed 
this year, would prohibit same-gender couples' civil marriages as well as 
overturn gay-inclusive nondiscrimination laws.  

    The bills reflect the growing national attention to gay people's equal 
marriage rights, especially from the Radical Right.  Randall Terry, chief of 
Operation Rescue, has announced this week he is going to Hawaii with "Gay 
Agenda" video maker Bill Horn and other right wing representatives to protest

gay marriages.  Meanwhile, on primary weekend in Iowa, presidential
candidates 
Phil Gramm and Patrick Buchanan have been requested to speak at an
anti-marriage 
rally.

    "The goal of these anti-marriage bills is to shut down the public
discussion 
that has begun around the injustice of denying same-sex couples the freedom
to 
marry," said Evan Wolfson, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Marriage 
Project director.  "The state attacks offer us an excellent opportunity to
push 
our political and educational work alongside the legal efforts that will
bring 
us the freedom to marry."

    Numerous media reports, editorials and talk show programs have already 
addressed the unfairness of denying the freedom to marry to gay people.  For 
example,  the Economist magazine endorsed equal marriage rights in a cover 
story, the Des Moines Register opposed a local anti-marriage bill, and Oprah
and 
Nightline have covered the struggle.

    Last year, measures to block recognition of marriages were defeated in 
Alaska and South Dakota.  Unfortunately, Utah passed such a measure, which
civil 
rights groups have vowed to challenge in court.  So far this year a measure
in 
Maine was withdrawn by its sponsor after public uproar.

    Although each measure is worded slightly different, most of the bills are

virtually identical.  For example, California's A.B. 1982 states, "A marriage

contracted outside this state between individuals of the same gender is not 
valid in this state."  The bill was passed 41-31 by the Assembly last month, 
with a Senate battle still to come.  South Dakota's House Bill 1143 goes a
step 
further, stating, "Marriage is a personal relation, between a man and a
woman, 
arising out of a civil contract to which the consent of parties capable of 
making it is necessary.  Consent alone does not constitute a marriage; it
must 
be followed by a solemnization."

    "What we have been trumpeting for the past year is happening:
 same-gender 
marriage is in the sights of the radical right and is exploding into the 
national political consciousness," said Robert Bray, National Gay and Lesbian

Task Force (NGLTF) media director.  "Marriage is a basic human right.  And 
whether I choose to get married or not, that choice should be mine and my 
partner's to make -- not Pat Robertson, Lou Sheldon, Newt Gingrich or
homophobic 
state lawmakers."

    The National Freedom to Marry Coalition, comprised of more than 250 
organizations, is helping activists battle the bills, educate communities and

brief the media. It has sponsored a Freedom to Marry sign-on resolution,
which 
has gathered hundreds of signatures from individuals and organizations,  
including religious leaders. 

    Recent and upcoming Freedom to Marry activities include:

*   Distribution of exhaustive background materials, legislative strategy
tips, 
and talking points, available in English and Spanish, by Lambda to organizers

and the public nationwide.

*   Mailing of the NGLTF activist kit, "To Have and To Hold, Organizing for
Our 
Right to Marry," plus direct technical assistance to activists in all
targeted 
states;

*   A special editorial packet by the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community 
Services Center and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
-- 
just in time for Valentine's Day -- that contains editorial and feature
article 
suggestions, fact sheets, and more, sent to dozens of major media.

*   A live discussion in the America OnLine "Coliseum" on same-gender
marriage, 
Feb. 15, 9 p.m. eastern standard time, with NGLTF's Robert Bray and Lambda's 
Evan Wolfson.

*   Town Halls, rallies and other community meetings sponsored by the local 
Freedom to Marry projects around the country.  For example, in downtown
Denver 
the Equality Colorado project and other local groups are sponsoring a 
Valentine's Day "Rally For Our Families: Stop the Anti-Gay Attacks".
 Equality 
Colorado is also launching  a "Family Album Photo Project" in which gay,
lesbian 
and bisexual people send family pictures to state lawmakers with a note
urging 
defeat of H.B. 1291, the anti-gay marriage bill.

    For more information on the National Freedom to Marry Coalition and
related 
efforts, contact Evan Wolfson, Lambda,  (212)995-8585.  To receive a copy of
the 
"To Have and To Hold" NGLTF marriage organizing kit, call (202)332-6483, ext.

3327.  Other contacts include GLAAD, (212)807-1700; and the LA Gay and
Lesbian 
Community Services Center,  (213)860-7357.
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