THE RIGHT RESPONSE:

A REPORT ON NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE "FIGHT THE RIGHT" ACTIVITIES
IN 1993

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute
Fight The Right Project
1734 14th St. NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 332-6483, ext. 3358

Peri Jude Radecic, NGLTF Executive Director

NGLTF Fight The Right Field Offices and Organizers:

Scot Nakagawa, NGLTF
522 SW 5th Ave. Ste. 1375
Portland, OR 97204
(503) 221-0115

Sue Hyde, NGLTF
1151 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 492-6393

Robert Bray, NGLTF
2261 Market St., #319
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 552-6448

Karen Bullock-Jordan, project assistant, NGLTF
1734 14th St. NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 332-6483, ext 3206

Report prepared by Robert Bray; input from Scot Nakagawa, Sue Hyde and
Suzanne Pharr. January 1994.

ANTI-GAY/LESBIAN/BISEXUAL INITIATIVES 1993: A ROUND UP

As of January 10, 1994, eight states have filed language for initiatives that
deny protection against discrimination for gay men, lesbians and bisexuals:
Idaho, Oregon, Arizona, Maine, Missouri, Michigan, Florida and Washington.
Signatures to place these initiatives on ballots in November 1994 have been
or are being collected. All but one -- Idaho -- amend state constitutions. 
Idaho's measure is a statutory law. The initiatives, if passed, would repeal
existing anti-discrimination laws for gays, lesbians and bisexuals, and
prevent the passage of such laws in state or local jurisdictions (similar to 
1992's Amendment 2 in Colorado). In Austin, Texas, a measure that would repeal 
the local gay-inclusive domestic partners law has been introduced. Language 
varies with each initiative but typically the measures are framed as "no 
special rights" or "no protected minority status." Often the actual language 
of the initiative links homosexuality and bisexuality with pedophilia. For 
example, the Arizona initiative, typical of others, reads:

"Neither this State, through any of its branches or departments, nor any of
its agencies, political subdivisions, municipalities or school districts,
shall enact, adopt or enforce any statute, regulation, ordinance or policy
whereby pedophile, homosexual, lesbian or bisexual orientation, are the basis
of, or entitle any person or class of persons to status or claim of 
discrimination."

In Lewiston, Maine, the Religious Right last November waged a successful
campaign to repeal an existing civil rights protection law that included
sexual orientation. The measure passed 68-32. In Portsmouth, NH, opponents of
gay/lesbian/bisexual rights put a non-binding question on the ballot: Should
the Portsmouth City Council enact an anti-discrimination law that protects on 
the basis of sexual orientation? Voters said "no" to the question by a margin 
of 60-40. In Cincinnati, voters passed an initiative that struck sexual 
orientation from the local civil rights law by a margin of 62-38. The measure 
also barred future enactment of a law to protect gay men, lesbians and 
bisexuals from discrimination.

In Cobb County, Georgia, the county commission voted on Aug. 10 by 3-1 to 
"condemn homosexuality;" then, on Aug. 24, voted 5-0 to cancel arts funding 
because it "promoted a gay agenda." In Oregon in the past year or so, the 
following counties have passed anti-gay/lesbian/bisexual initiatives that 
prohibit discrimination protections: Josephine, Douglas, Linn, Klamath, and 
Jackson. Also in Oregon, the following cities passed similar measures:  
Cornelius, Junction City, Canby, Sweethome, Molalla, Estacada, Lebanon, 
Medford, Oregon City, Keiser, Cresswell and Springfield
(1992).

All of these initiatives, whether state or local, ultimately deny gays,
lesbians and bisexuals redress for discrimination, fuel a climate of
prejudice and harassment, divide communities and prevent gay, lesbian and
bisexual citizens from participating in the democratic process. They chill
public debate on gay/lesbian/bisexual liberation and muffle efforts to
dismantle repressive sodomy laws that criminalize homosexuality. They allow
the majority to vote on the rights of the minority, thus allowing popular
prejudice to set civil rights in America.

THE BIG PICTURE: FUNDAMENTALISTS AND THE BROADER AGENDA

The Far Right is using the gay/lesbian/bisexual issue as a wedge to agitate
and organize in communities, raise funds, build a political and economic base
and advance a broader agenda of social repression. Overall, the Right Wing
offensive against gays, lesbians and bisexuals contributes to their efforts
to construct a reactionary voting bloc and activist base. This base helps
advance such issues as welfare elimination, increased and unchecked police
power, destruction of a tax base for government services such as schools,
deregulation of business, limiting immigration, ending the right to choose an 
abortion, union busting, privatization of public lands ("wise use" 
anti-environmental protection measures), "stealth" candidates in school board 
and other local elections, and the 1996 Presidential race.

Far Right factions, such as the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) based in
Southern California, dispatch personnel and financial resources to states
with the objective of introducing anti-gay/lesbian/bisexual initiatives. The
TVC is behind homophobic and biphobic measures in Arizona, Michigan, Ohio and
other states.  Coloradans for Family Values contributed some $390,000 to the
Cincinnati group sponsoring that city's anti-gay/lesbian/bisexual
initiative, an amount that comprised 80 percent of the campaign's war chest. 
In Oregon in 1992, the Oregon Citizens Alliance spent less than half of the 
money raised for its initiative on the actual campaign. Instead, the OCA banked
the balance and now uses the funds for other Far Right measures.

THE FIGHT THE RIGHT PROJECT

NGLTF's Fight the Right Project was formed late in 1992 in response to growing
attacks by the Far Right on gay/lesbian/bisexual civil rights -- and on
democratic principles of equality in general. This threat was highlighted by 
the Far Right's dominance of the 1992 Republican Convention. The project trains
and organizes grassroots activists, acts as an information clearing house, 
provides field assistance and resources, and educates society at large. The 
project has three full-time organizers based in field offices, and represents 
the largest program within NGLTF both in terms of staffing and budget. Scot 
Nakagawa is the NGLTF Fight the Right organizer based in Portland, OR. Robert 
Bray is in San Francisco, CA. Sue Hyde is based in Cambridge, MA. Karen 
Bullock-Jordan is the project's assistant in Washington, DC. Campaign 
specialist Susan Hibbard of New York City will provide expertise through the 
199 4 campaign season.

RIGHT TURN ON THE ROAD: THE TOUR '93

In 1993, NGLTF undertook an unprecedented organizing and education campaign
to provide gay/lesbian/bisexual activists and others with information and
tools for fighting the Far Right. The NGLTF Fight the Right Project sponsored
or participated in about 40 Fight the Right trainings, presentations and
strategy sessions in 18 states throughout the year.

At the center of the project's 1993 activity was a six-month tour from July
through December that covered 15 states, 21 cities, 100,000 miles and trained
an estimated 3,000 community activists.

Initially, 11 of the trainings were arranged in states with
anti-gay/lesbian/bisexual initiatives scheduled, expected or feared (Idaho,
Oregon, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Arizona, California). Trainings in 
other states were scheduled to help "inoculate" those communities against
future Far Right threats. However, by the end of the tour three of the 
"inoculation" states were reporting heavy Far Right activity (Oklahoma, 
Wyoming and Montana) leading to possible initiatives.

The tour was one of the largest and most comprehensive commitments of direct
grassroots organizing assistance provided by a national gay/lesbian
organization. From the coastal towns of Maine to the Wyoming frontier, from
the Arizona desert badlands to Idaho potato country, from Florida resort
towns to the Oklahoma bible belt, from gay "urban enclaves" to rural hamlets, 
NGLTF staffers educated activists and presented strategies for securing and 
keeping civil rights and repelling the threat of Christian fundamentalists. 
In some states the training sessions were the first time lesbian, gay and 
bisexual people have ever gathered to devise political strategy. Many 
participants "came out" as openly gay/lesbian/bi citizens. 

NGLTF worked with numerous other gay/lesbian/bi and non-gay local and
national organizations during the year, including People for the American
Way, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, ACLU, Political Research 
Associates, NOW, the Arkansas Women's Project, Oregon Rural Organizing Project, 
and the Human Rights Campaign Fund, to name a few.

CALLING ALL QUEER COWBOYS AND COWGIRLS -- FIGHT THE RIGHT TRAININGS

The 1993 sessions included the NGLTF Creating Change Conference and two
regional trainings: Cincinnati, Ohio (Mid-west), and Moscow, Idaho (tri-state
Northwest region). A Western regional training was conducted and co-sponsored
by NGLTF in Denver, Colo., in March of this year. Two trainings were
conducted each in Idaho (Moscow and Boise), Maine (Augusta and Lewiston) and
Florida (Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale). Robert Bray conducted media trainings in
Helena, Montana; San Francisco; Portland, Oregon;  and New York (at the
National Lesbian/Gay Journalism Conference), as well as a presentation to a
gay/lesbian Labor conference in Oakland, Calif.

In addition to the trainings conducted during the July to December tour, Scot
Nakagawa presented 20 additional education sessions throughout the country.
Sue Hyde provided extensive campaign support activities as November '93 election
day drew close, with focus on Maine and New Hampshire campaigns.

The NGLTF trainings represented the first time in several states that
gay/lesbian/bisexual activists gathered to organize and strategize. Activists
in Arizona and Wyoming, in particular, had never before come together in the
same room from around the state to meet, network, come out and organize.
NGLTF convened the trainings with a host group, usually a state or local
gay/lesbian organization.

Many of the attendees at the training sessions were locally known and
seasoned activists or community leaders. However, a significant number of
attendees participated for the first time in any activist gathering.
Attendees were mostly gay/lesbian/bisexual, white, usually an equal number of
men to women (with women outnumbering men in Wyoming and one or two other
locations). At four locations self-identified transgenders attended. Gay
ranchers, lesbian log cabin dwellers, bisexual neighbors, and numerous other
rural folk attended. Heterosexuals attended, and in some locations (e.g.,
Moscow, ID) almost equaled the number of gays/lesbians/bisexuals.

Following is a list of training sites during the July to December tour:
Moscow and Boise, ID; Portland, OR; Augusta and Lewiston, ME; Lansing, MI;
Cincinnati, OH (regional training); Tampa/Ft. Lauderdale, FL;  Phoenix, AZ;
Stanford, CA (Workplace conference); Oklahoma City, OK; Durham, NC (NGLTF
Creating Change Conference); Laramie, WY; Missoula, MT; San Francisco, CA;
Oakland, CA (Labor conference). 

In addition, Scot Nakagawa made presentations to various groups during this
time, including in Seattle, WA (arts community funders and Northwest fight
the right projects); Oakland, CA (Applied Research Center and Center for
Third World Organizing conference); Cleveland, OH; Portland and Eugene, OR;
Washington, DC (National Network of Grantmakers conference); Durham, NC (NC
Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality, anti-Klan activists and Duke
University); Wichita and Lawrence, KS; Coeur d'Alene, ID (International 
Human Rights Conference).

Prior to the July to December tour, Nakagawa made fight the right
presentations in New York City (People About Changing Education); Coolfont,
WV; Columbia, MO (Missouri on the Move conference); Washington, DC; Boise,
ID; Yakima and Seattle, WA; Charlotte, NC (Unitarian Universalist Church
national convention), among other locations.

Two trainings were canceled: Des Moines, IA (because of the great flood of
'93) and Los Angeles, CA (to schedule time for a project staff retreat). 

Most of the trainings were one and a half day sessions. The trainings usually
began with an overview panel presentation, followed by mini-tracks of
workshops, including: Opposition Research; Introduction to Grassroots
Organizing; Working with the Media, etc. Other workshops focused on rural 
organizing and strategic state planning (e.g., " What's Next for Wyoming"), 
plus additional topics. We also screened and analyzed anti-gay videos ("Gay 
Rights, Special Rights" and "The Gay Agenda") and pro-gay/lesbian/bisexual 
campaign commercials from Oregon, Colorado and Cincinnati. NGLTF was pleased 
to have with us at several trainings Suzanne Pharr, Marcy Westerling, 
Suzanne Goldberg, David Fleisher, and other noted grassroots organizers and 
campaign specialists.

PIT STOP ON THE GAY/LESBIAN/BI INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY

One noteworthy event not originally scheduled as part of the tour was the 
election day '93 America On Line (AOL) electronic information network report 
from the field. Conceived and executed by Peri Jude Radecic and David M. 
Smith of NGLTF and working with AOL and representatives from Digital Queers, 
the Task ForPce produced a live-from-the-field interactive computer "chat" 
and reporting service on election day in November. The service was provided 
in the Lambda Lounge of AOL's Gay and Lesbian Community Forum. NGLTF staff 
were dispatched, with computers and modems, to Lewiston, ME (Robin Kane); 
Cincinnati, OH (Peri Jude Radecic); and Portsmouth, NH (Sue Hyde), with other 
staff providing reports from elsewhere in the country (Scot Nakagawa in 
Portland, OR; Robert Bray in San Francisco, CA; David Smith and Linda Yanney 
in Washington, DC). To our knowledge, this was one of the first times in 
gay/lesbian/bisexual movement history that we went on-line and employed 
computer technology at several locations in the field to provide information 
to activists and the press around the country as the news was being made.

ADDITIONAL PROJECTS AND CAMPAIGN SUPPORT ACTIVITIES

Sue Hyde in the NGLTF Boston office provided support to activists facing
anti-gay/lesbian/bi campaigns in Lewiston, ME, and Portsmouth, NH. Support to
these communities included fundraising, literature drops, participation in
strategy meetings, message development and additional activities. Following
the losses in Lewiston and Portsmouth, Hyde organized a post-el
ection strategy and "recovery" gathering in Portland, ME.

Other projects for Hyde included key involvement in the Boston Opposition
Research Group, a monthly gathering of gay/lesbian/bi and non-gay groups
researching the Right Wing; a new Boston-area Fight the Right Network; and
mass mailings of information to activists around the country.

Scot Nakagawa worked to secure funding from the Funding Exchange for a
Southern organizers Fight the Right meeting and a meeting of national
progressive people of color leadership to develop and fund coordinated
responses to the Religious Right. In addition, Nakagawa helped develop
Artists for a Hate-Free America, a fundraising and grantmaking project that
aims to organize in the entertainment industry against the Right.

The NGLTF Fight the Right Project produced several publications in 1993,
including an expanded and updated version of the NGLTF Fight the Right Action
Kit, numerous press releases and media backgrounders, and a Fight the Right
Packet mailed to more than 400 activists following NGLTF's Creating Change 
Conference in November. The Project organizers average about 10 calls each 
per day from the media, and dozens more from grassroots activists seeking 
information and assistance.

THE RESULTS

The Fight The Right trainings accomplished several things:

(1) Provided a safe, energized political space -- for the first time in
several states -- in which gay/lesbian/bisexual activists could come out,
gather, meet each other, and begin to organize against the Far Ri
ght. Sparked ongoing, post-training action. Feedback from several sessions
indicated the trainings "galvanized," "inspired," "motivated," and "gave a 
shot in the arm" to local organizing efforts.

(2) Introduced and articulated, often for the first time, the concept of
broad base and progressive united front organizing, strategizing and movement
building. Provided grassroots activists with an urgency and sense of
importance for creating a strong movement and community, not just winning
votes.

(3) Delivered tactical and strategic skills and tools for organizing strong
community groups, identifying the Radical Right, shaping public opinion
through the media, conducting house parties, and other tactics.

(4) Exposed the Christian Right's broader agenda of social and 
political control and revealed the use of anti-gay/lesbian/bi tactics as a
"wedge" to divide communities and raise funds for other repressive
initiatives.

(5) Contextualized for grassroots activists -- again, often for the first
time -- our struggle against the Christian Right within a larger agenda of
the Right and broader goals of the gay/lesbian/bisexual movement.

(6) Educated activists about NGLTF's Fight the Right program and resources, 
and provided assistance and attention from NGLTF to grassroots organizers.

(7) Dramatically increased NGLTF's visibility and assistance to grassroots
activists by being on the front line, including in many places where no
national gay groups have ever ventured before; gave activists a sense that
they are not alone in their struggle.

(8) Expanded NGLTF's organizing base and network of local activists.

THE CLOSET, RACISM AND THE RIGHT 

The two greatest obstacles to our grassroots Fight the Right efforts are the
closet and racism, with sexism/misogyny a close third.

The Closet: Although more and more gay/lesbian/ bisexual people are coming
out (many at our trainings), our invisibility still denies us our strength
and undermines our ability to create strong state movements.
Gay/lesbian/bisexual invisibility in the general community, within non-gay
progressive organizations and in public and private institutions of power
severely limits our ability to organize and focus community attention on the
Far Right. It denies us recognition for the work we have and are doing within
the progressive community at large and prevents us from defining ourselves in
the media.

Our opponents continue to define who we are and what our agenda is. They fill 
the information vacuum at the center of society's ignorance of gays, lesbians 
and bisexuals with mistruths and lies.  We are defined as "child-molesting, 
sexually predatory, AIDS-spreading, white, economically privileged perverts 
who choose our abominable lifestyle and want protected minority status that 
will give us hiring quotas, affirmative action and other special rights so we 
won't be laid off during an economic recession even though we have 
above-average mean incomes and are undermining traditional family values 
by our powerful and privileged lobbying forces that control President Bill
Clinton."

The Far Right vilifies and demonizes gay, lesbian and bisexual people. It
capitalizes on us as a vulnerable minority and raises funds off the threat of
our so-called "Gay Agenda" to advance their broader agenda, which is couched 
in a populist rhetoric of pro-jobs, anti-crime, pro-traditional family values. 
The Right agitates people's economic, cultural and political anxieties so 
voters will prevent yet another class of people from obtaining civil rights 
benefits because that may water down or take away rights and benefits for 
everyone else.

Because of the closet, we are unable to close this awareness gap between the
reality of being gay, lesbian or bisexual, and how our opponents define us;
between our involvement and participation in broad social change and the
perception of us as a fringe, special-interest minority; and between the real
discrimination and violence that plague us versus the lie that we seek special 
rights.

Racism: Racism and the "color line" defines so much of this battle, both from 
the Right Wing's camp and our own movement.

NGLTF Fight the Right organizer Scot Nakagawa presents an assessment of the
use of racism by the Far Right to advance its agenda:

"I believe the anti-gay campaigns are merely another vehicle through which
the Religious Right hopes to build a political and economic base for
takeover. Ultimately, in order to do this, they will have to work that most
central and fundamental political and social division in our society -- the
color line. They are able to use gays, lesbians and bisexuals as stand-ins
for other minority groups to agitate white people about the "dangers" of 
quotas, affirmative action, minority status, etc., while also creating 
the impression that we don't all start out theoretically with equal protection,
but that protection is conferred to minorities by the majority.

"Furthermore, by playing the race card, the Far Right is creating the false
impression that it is doing heavy recruitment of people of color and
African-American people in particular. The reality is that while the
sociological repercussions of the Right's playing on existing divisions are 
likely to be profound, the Right is not conducting community-wide organizing 
or mass recruitment in people of color communities. When one organizes in a 
community that implies accountability of some sort to the organized community, 
and that is something the right wing does not want with regard to people of 
color. The real audience for the cadres of black conservatives placed in the 
media by the Right is white people. Once again, they are working the color 
line.

"We need to get away from the viewpoint that says, "Us now, who's next?" The 
Far Right came after people of color first and this is just more of the same. 
We are a movement against racism because racism is what we are fighting, not 
because we have to be in order to build coalitions."

Within the gay and lesbian community we sensed a palpable frustration with
having to confront the complex, painful issue of racism, both in society at
large and in predominantly white gay communities. We witnessed overt and
shameful racist, misogynist and anti-Semitic epithets. One person
 said, "We've tried to reach out to those people, but they never join us. Why
don't they just form their own groups and join ours, too."

These personal incidents belie a more grave threat to our grassroots
organizing: Some gay/lesbian/bisexual communities are paralyzed by their
inability to build bridges to people of color communities, reach out to
gay/lesbian/bisexual people of color, attract activists of color to their
meetings, and conceptualize this struggle in broader terms. It is imperative
that we challenge racism in our community so we can build strong and broad
organizing bases of activism. Racism affects our ability to create
organizations made up of people of color and white people working together.

Christian Bashing: One disturbing phenomenon we noticed was a tendency of
some activists to react to an assault on their civil rights by labeling all 
Christians as "haters" or using other similarly inflammatory rhetoric. This 
often alienates many non-gay communities, voters and the press, not to mention 
Christians, including lesbian/bisexual/gay people of faith, who sympathize 
with our cause. Insufficient understanding of the opposition contributes to 
this problem. Conversely, we found many activists who insisted on welcoming,
somewhat naively, intractably homophobic Far Right operatives into their 
circles and organizing meetings as a show of "tolerance" toward the enemy, 
without considering the implications this has for keeping strategic 
information confidential.

CAMPAIGNS AND COMMUNITIES

During our trainings we emphasized tactics for winning campaigns and
strategies for building strong gay/lesbian/bisexual communities. There are
key differences between the two goals.

Many of these battles are being fought in states without long-term
gay/lesbian/bi political movements. Campaign operations become de facto gay
movements. However, political campaigns are run autocratically, with decision
making occurring from top down and campaign managers calling the shots. There
is little direct policy input or debate from general gay/ lesbian/bisexual
citizens . Campaign executives are not accountable, necessarily, to the
community at large. This, in practice, is the objective of campaigns: to win
elections by waging political warfare. It is how successful campaigns should
be run.

But after the vote the campaign ends. Managers move on, personnel leaves and
the office is closed. This leaves a tremendous vacuum in communities where no
strong movement exists, causing severe frustration and division.

Decades of homophobia cannot not be unlearned in society during an
eight-month campaign. We must continue to organize with long-term social
change in mind, with the idea of not only winning elections but also building
a strong movement. Whether we win or lose campaigns, the fact is that
gay/lesbian and bisexual people are coming out amidst the battles and are
being galvanized into action.

CHECK YOUR MESSAGES

Grassroots activists are unclear as to what messages best counter "special 
rights" rhetoric and help reframe the issue in voter's minds.  Is it, "Not 
Another Hate State," or "Stop Discrimination." Is it, "Equal Rights for All" 
or "Gays are Everywhere"?

There is a need for state-by-state polling to identify voter bases and craft
effective messages. Generic national polling for "gay-positive" messages is 
somewhat useful to grassroots activists fighting initiatives, but is probably 
more useful for passing a federal gay and lesbian civil rights bill and 
nurturing general public awareness of gay/lesbian and bisexual people. 
Grassroots activists are hungry for a sense of how to define themselves and 
their issue. They seek winning campaign messages and, perhaps equally 
important, effective messengers.

Our experience indicates that well-defined, researched messages connected to
and reinforcing local campaign goals have worked more effectively than
sensationalistic rhetoric. In Oregon in 1992 for example, messages that
illuminated discrimination and exposed the mistrust of the Far Right Oregon
Citizens Alliance by many citizens had more impact on voters than inflammatory 
or "hate" related language.

But we believe identifying short-term "silver bullet" messages is not the
only important communication task at hand. To affect long-term change
grassroots activists must ultimately shift this debate by educating the media
and the public on the constitutional consequences of anti-gay/lesbian/bi
initiatives and the danger they pose to all fair-minded citizens who believe
in participatory democracy. We must lay out the Right Wing's broader agenda.

CONCLUSION

The trainings were successful in motivating local gay/lesbian/bisexual
communities to action, providing basic organizing and media tools, proposing
a broad base model of organizing, introducing a challenge to conventional
paradigms of identity-politics organizing, and opening discussion of the
threat of racism to our movement. In 1994 we need systems and actions that
strengthen the growing network of community activists who oppose these
initiatives. We must refine and upgrade our training models, skills and
information, make the training audiences more diverse, and plan strategically
to build communities. We must provide an ongoing and strong community for 
new activists long after the final votes have been counted.

-END-