Fight the Right Action Kit Biographies of Fight the Right Action Kit Contributors ----- by NGLTF ----- Kevin Berrill, former director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Anti-Violence Project, is now a consultant and trainer to gay and non-gay groups on ending hate crimes. Berrill has authored several publications, including the only annual national survey on homophobic violence. He played a key role in the passage of the Federal Hate Crime Statistics Act. Robert Bray is the Fight the Right Media Trainer for the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force. Prior to July, 1993, Robert was NGLTF's Public Information Director, in which capacity he played a critical role in bringing gay and lesbian issues before a mainstream audience. When not conducting trainings for activists across the country, Robert lives and works in San Francisco. Leah Campbell, a field organizer for the No on 9 Campaign for a Hate-Free Oregon, currently lives in Seattle, Washington. Beckie Capoferri is a professional union organizer employed by the Oregon Public Employees Union. She is a founding member of the No On 9 Labor Coalition, and worked for the No On 9 Campaign as a field organizer and labor liaison. D-J, an emigre from Holland, is an events organizer, owner/manager of the National Gallery of Snapshots in Portland, OR and an "American Gladiators" enthusiast. Steven Gardiner is an anthropologist and political activist who specializes in studying and analyzing social movements. Steve is currently the Co-Research Director of the Coalition for Human Dignity. He is the author of the CHD Publication, Rolling Back Civil Rights. Suzanne Goldberg is a staff attorney with Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. She is the leading legal authority on the constitutional issues surrounding the religious right's "No Special Rights" initiatives and rhetoric. Robin Kane, a former staff member of the Washington Blade, is the Public Information Manager for the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force in Washington, D.C.. Gillian Leichtling lives in Portland, Oregon where she is an organizer with the Coalition for Human Dignity, and the Homophobic Violence Documentation Project. Gillian worked with the Rural Organizing Project organizing opposition to Ballot Measure 9 in Oregon's rural communities. Pacy Markman is a partner in the Los Angeles advertising firm Zimmerman Markman. His extensive experience developing media advertisements for organizations fighting anti-gay initiatives includes the California Briggs Amendment Campaign, and the No on 9 Campaign for a Hate-Free Oregon. Jonathan Mozzochi is the Co-Research Director of the Coalition for Human Dignity. A longtime political activist, his research specialty is the study of white supremacist movements and their role in American politics and society. Scot Nakagawa, National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Fight the Right Director, is the former Executive Director of the Coalition for Human Dignity. Scot was a field organizer for 1992's No on 9 Campaign for a Hate-Free Oregon. Lynn Nakamoto is a lesbian activist and and attorney who lives in Portland, Oregon. She is a founding member of the Asian and Pacific Islander Lesbians and Gays, and a member of both the Asian-Pacific American Alliance and the Japanese American Citizens League. Suzanne Pharr is a founding member of the staff of the Women's Project of Little Rock, Arkansas, and the author of Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism. Suzanne also worked as a media officer for the No on 9 Campaign for a Hate Free Oregon, and now travels the country supporting the efforts of civil rights activists throughout the United States who are involved in fights against the religious right. Skipp Porteous, a former Christian fundamentalist minister, is president of the Institute for First Amendment Studies, an educational and research organization based in Massachusetts. To subscribe to The Freedom Writer write to IFAS, P.O. Box 589, Great Barrington, Massachusetts 01230. IFAS has also produced an excellent manual on organizing against the right wing. Cecil Prescod is an organizer of the People of Faith Against Bigotry, an Oregon-based political action committee dedicated to resisting right wing bigotry. He is also a leader in the Coalition for Human Dignity, and an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. Bob Ralphs is a founder and organizer of the Portland Metro-based No On Hate Political Action Committee, and the founder and lead organizer of Bigot Busters. Bob is also the Oregon March on Washington Coordinator. Terry Schleder directs Boycott Colorado, Inc. in Denver. Boycott Colorado and Amendment 2 information may be obtained by calling 1-800-4BOYCOTT. (Boycott Colorado, Inc., P.O. Box 300158, Denver, CO 80203-0158.) Mab Segrest works with the World Council of Churches in Durham, North Carolina. As a staff member of the North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence, she helped build strong coalitions against religious right attempts to coordinate anti-gay activities in Durham. Linda Welch was the Fundraising Director for Oregon's No on 9 Campaign in 1992. Prior to the campaign she was the Executive Director of Oregon's Right to Privacy Political Action Committee. Currently she is working as a consultant specializing in fundraising and homophobia education. Marcy Westerling is the former Executive Director of the Columbia County Women's Resource Center, and currently heads the Rural Organizing Project of the Oregon Democracy Project. Over the course of the 1992 election year, and in the months since, Marcy has earned the respect and admiration of Oregonians in every part of the state as the "only out lesbian in Columbia County," and as the organizer of 22 rurally-based "human dignity" political action committees. (Rural Organizing Project, P.O. Box 919, Scappoose, OR 97056.) Thalia Zepatos, an author based in Portland, OR, worked as a campaign strategist and organizer for No on 9: Campaign for a Hate Free Oregon. Prior to this campaign, she served as a campaign leader for Governor Barbara Roberts' 1990 race. ----- To request the complete Fight the Right Action Kit, call NGLTF at 202-332-6483, TTY 202-332-6219. .