Subject: VICTORY!
From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 19 Apr 1996 17:40:00 -0400

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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 [email-masked]
or Tracey Conaty (202) 332-6483 [email-masked]
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TORCH OUT BUT TOLERANCE SHINES:

OLYMPICS PULL TORCH RELAY FROM ANTI-GAY COBB COUNTY

Washington, D.C , April 19, 1996...To the relief and gratification of gay and
lesbian people everywhere, the Olympic torch will not pass through Cobb
County, Georgia, announced the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games
(ACOG).  ACOG stunned the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (g/l/b/t)
community when last July it announced the Torch Relay would pass through Cobb
County, which in 1993 passed a resolution condemning the "gay lifestyle" as
incompatible with the community's standards.  County officials have  refused
to rescind the measure despite mounting opposition against it.

 The announcement last year that the torch would pass through Cobb County
sent gay activists reeling.  Only a year had passed since ACOG finally
agreed, after an intense and protracted battle with Olympics Out of Cobb
Coalition (OCC), a group of g/l/b/t activists, and NGLTF, to move the
prelimnary competition volleyball games from Cobb County.  OCC quickly
regrouped and began its campaign once again to prevent an official Olympic
event from occurring in a county that officially condemns gay people.

 ACOG released the following statement:

"ACOG has decided not to run the Torch Relay through Cobb County.  The
decision is based on the fact that the Cobb County Commission has not changed
its non-binding resolution since July 1994 when ACOG relocated the
preliminary volleyball venue from Cobb County to Athens, Georgia.  It is our
goal to make the torch relay an exciting and memorable experience.  We want
to focus on the excitement of the event and not be distracted by other
issues.

 The Torch Relay will arrive in Georgia on July 9, and for 10 days will
traverse the state, allowing hundreds of torch bearers to participate in this
great occasion, including many from Cobb County."

 NGLTF has worked with OCC since 1994 when the fight against the resolution
began.  The two organizations collaborated to challenge the Cobb County
resolution by pressuring the Olympic Committee to remove its events from the
county.  Most recently, OCC and NGLTF were organizing protests along the
Torch Relay route throughout the country to demonstrate nationwide opposition
to bringining the torch to Cobb County.  The two organizations responded
jointly in applauding ACOG's decision. 

 "We commend ACOG's decision.  ACOG has heard our call for justice and will
not dishonor the spirit of the Olympics, symbolized by the torch, by honoring
the bigotry in Cobb County, said Melinda Paras, NGLTF executive director.
 "Let the light of tolerance and fairness shine in Cobb County, not the
Olympic torch," added Paras.

 "We applaud ACOG and gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people and our
allies around the country who answered our many calls for justice and
action," stated Pat Hussain, NGLTF board member and co-chair of OCC.  "We
will continue to fight until the resolution is rescinded and all Georgians
can live free from discrimination," added Hussain.

 The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is the nation's oldest, national gay
and lesbian civil rights organization.  NGLTF has supported grassroots
organizing and pioneered in national advocacy since 1973.  Since its
inception, NGLTF has been at the forefront of virtually every major
initiative for lesbian and gay rights.  In all its efforts, NGLTF helps to
strengthen the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender movement at the state
level while connecting these activities to a national vision for change.

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