Subject: What is an activist?
From: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 15:46:38 -0400

Frank Janton, author or this piece, is on the Board of San Francisco PFLAG
and a member of Golden Gate ACT-UP.  Feel free to reproduce for your
newsletters, etc.  Comments can be made to [email-masked]

What Is An Activist?
(Notes from the Advocacy Network Coordinator)

     You may not believe it but you are an activist.  Not just an "Activist"
but an "IN YOUR FACE" Activist.  When you stop someone from making fun of a
"Queer," or telling a "Fag" joke, or putting down a lesbian or gay just for
existing, you become a fantastic "IN YOUR FACE" Activist.  Every time you
tell someone that you love and respect a parent, Family member, or Friend
that is lesbian or gay, every time you demand equal treatment of a Lesbian or
Gay, you are an "IN YOUR FACE" Activist.

     Thank you so very much for being who and what you are.

     The world needs as many activists as it can get.  "Queer" Activists, "IN
YOUR FACE" Activists, and "Street" Activists.  If we don't tell people or
governments what we want and what we need, chances are we won't get what we
want and what we need.  We can and do make things happen.

     PFLAG has a voice that can be very powerful and it should be used.  It
is a voice that tells the world that LOVE is a family value, not hate.  It is
a voice that states LOVE should be unconditional, unrestricted, and
unashamed.  It is a voice that is being heard around the neighborhood, the
City, the State, the Country, and the World.  It must be the voice of LOVE
and Reason in this world that is hearing the shouts of discrimination and
hate. 

     I have recently been approved as the advocacy network coordinator for
the S.F. Chapter of PFLAG and will be asking you to expand your everyday
Activism to include phone calls, postcards, and letters to local, state and
federal representatives.

     It may not seem like much but each contact can make a difference.  I
know that you have heard "One vote won't make any difference," but believe
that ONE phone call or ONE letter, or ONE fax just might make a LITTLE
difference.  Enough LITTLE differences just might save a life.  Every time a
young gay or lesbian realizes that adults care, it helps to build their self
esteem and that will make their life a little better and maybe just a little
longer.

     WE NEED THE RYAN WHITE CARE ACT.  No matter what the mean spirited, hate
filled helms (sic) has to say about the cause of the World wide Pandemic.
 HIV/AIDS is a fact and it must be attacked - not those Men, Women and
Children who are infected.  The already reduced funding of the CARE Act will
hurt many that don't deserve to be hurt.  We have to have the CARE Act
approved.  DELAY = DEATH.

     We must keep up our efforts to get the Ryan White CARE Act approved.  We
must constantly encourage those that have supported us in the past.  They
need to know that we care and we will support them when they need us. 

     We must try even harder to educate those that have been persuaded to
follow the hate line preached by too many in positions of power.

     Contact your representatives and encourage them to keep up the pressure
to create equality for everyone.

     I think it is worth a try and I hope that you will respond.  Every note,
call or fax will help, if only a LITTLE.