Subject: Campus Manual Released
From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 14:44:48 -0500

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Press Release
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
2320 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009
202-332-6483 voice, 202-332-0207 fax
http://www.ngltf.org
CONTACT:  Robert Bray, NGLTF, (415)552-6448
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GROUNDBREAKING MANUAL FOR CAMPUS
ORGANIZING RELEASED

NEW TOOL FOR GAY AND LESBIAN STUDENTS,
 FACULTY, STAFF & ALUMNI

January 25, 1996...A major organizing manual for campus activists -- one of
the 
most comprehensive and exhaustive of its kind in the gay movement -- is now 
available from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute. 

    "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Campus Organizing: A
Comprehensive 
Manual," contains resources, strategies, suggestions, tips, photographs,
charts, 
lists and other information for gaining anti-discrimination protections,
forming 
support groups, increasing visibility and securing equality in higher
education.

    The manual is based on extensive research conducted by leading educators
and 
activists, including National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) Campus
Project 
Director Curtis Shepard, who co-produced the publication.  The 335-page
manual 
features contributions by students, faculty, staff and alumni from campuses
and 
organizations nationwide. 

    "The user-friendly manual is designed to help campus activists transform 
colleges and universities into safe and welcoming places for lesbian, gay, 
bisexual and transgendered people," said Shepard.  "The manual is
revolutionary 
because a vast array of information now exists all in one place."

    The publication is divided into three main sections:  Building a Healthy 
Organization; Practical Applications; and Resources.  Chapters include 
"Educating Your Campus," "Building Your Group," "Organizing for Non-
Discrimination Policy," "Organizing Against Hate," "Responding to AIDS," 
"Establishing a LGBT Resource Center," "Ending ROTC Discrimination," "The 
Radical Right," "Organizing Floors in Residence Halls," "LGBT Studies," and 
more.

    The manual costs $24 plus $6 shipping and handling ($30 total) and may be

ordered by calling NGLTF Publications at (202)332-6483, ext. 3327.

    NGLTF's Campus Project has built a network of more than 1,200 campus 
organizations representing nearly 1,000 different universities and colleges
-- 
almost one-third of the total number of higher education institutions in the 
U.S.  At least 240 campuses have non-discrimination policies that include
sexual 
orientation.  Some 30 campuses offer health benefits for the domestic
partners 
of lesbian and gay employees.  And nearly 40 campuses -- more than double
just 
two years ago -- have l/g/b/t resource centers operated by paid staff
members.

    "Gains such as these have not come easily," says NGLTF's Shepard.  "On
many 
campuses attempts to institute policies and programs supportive of l/g/b/t 
students, faculty and staff have been opposed, if not thwarted, by
politically 
conservative or radical right forces."

    Shepard points out that at Notre Dame the l/g/b/t student organization
has 
been banned by university officials from meeting on campus, despite nearly a 
decade of visibility and presence.  And at Ole Miss, the Christian Right-
controlled student government has denied student fee funding to the l/g/b/t 
organization, despite that group's official status.

    "The manual is a tool to help groups organize,  grow and secure equal 
educational opportunity for gay, lesbian bisexual and transgender people,"
said 
Shepard.  "This has profound implications for higher education." 

    Financial support for the publication was provided by The David Geffen 
Foundation; entertainment industry lawyer Alan Hergott; film and television 
producer Leslie Belzberg; Texas physician Clark L. Carrol, M.D.; Skip Paul
and 
Van Fletcher; entertainment executive Stanley Newman; Sam Watters; and OUT 
Magazine.  Main contributors, besides Shepard, include Felice Yeskel, Ed.D., 
long-time activist, author and educator;  and Charles Outcalt, director of 
UCLA's LGBT Resources Center, plus others.

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