From: NGLTF@aol.com
Date: Thu, 7 Mar 1996 19:28:13 -0500
Subject: Anti-Marriage Update

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PRESS RELEASE
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
2320 17th St. NW; Washington, DC 20009
Contact: Robert Bray (415) 552-6448 rbray@ngltf.org
or Tracey Conaty (202) 332-6483 tconaty@ngltf.org
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NGLTF ANTI-MARRIAGE UPDATE

Washington, D.C., March 7, 1996...The barrage of anti-marriage legislation
continues across the country.  According to the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force (NGLTF), 17 states are currently facing legislation intended to ban
same-gender marriage.  Seven other states had anti-marriage legislation
introduced that has since been withdrawn or blocked, and two states (Utah in
1995 and South Dakota last month) passed such measures into law.  "Rumblings
abound that religious extremist groups aren't done yet and measures in more
states will surface before the end of the legislative year," stated Tracey
Conaty, NGLTF field organizer and representative to the National Freedom to
Marry Coalition.

 The Task Force, working in partnership with Lambda Legal Defense and
Education Fund's Marriage Project and other members of the National Freedom
to Marry Coalition, is assisting local activists throughout the country in
defeating these anti-gay attacks in their states.  

 NGLTF will distribute weekly a map of state marriage legislation to media
and activists around the nation to assist in the tracking of these measures.
 NGLTF's Field Department released the first of these marriage tracking maps
today.  

 Activists interested in obtaining a copy of the map (free) or NGLTF's
marriage organizing manual, To Have and To Hold  ($10), should contact Tracey
Conaty or Robert Bray at the numbers listed above.  Those interested in
obtaining talking points on same-gender marriage and other materials can
contact Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund at (212) 995-8585.





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