Date: Sun, 10 Jul 1994 09:30:42 -0400 (EDT) From: David Casti BEGIN PAGE 1 of 7 TO: Rev. Dr. Mel White Solidarity Vigil Organizers FROM: Ground Zero Contact: Frank Whitworth 719-635-6086 voice 719-635-6106 fax cendo@spot.colorado.edu RE: Media Action Kit DATE: July 9, 1994 HELLO -- First of all, thank you for showing your support for this activity. You can do it! It is actually pretty easy. Don't worry, all it takes is three or four people to have a press conference and a related activity. If you follow the suggestions here ... your contribution will be a success! This PEACEFUL event is basically growing out of concern of the attacks of the Religious Right against gay and lesbian people across America. This is truly a grass roots effort for raising public consciousness. There is no great "agenda." No one is asking for money, just a little time. Encouragement is coming in from individual members of HRCF, GLADD, NGLTF, UFMCC, entertainers and just about everyone that hears about it. INSIDE: Following or Attached: Pre-Event Instructions Page 2 Your Event Suggestions Page 3 Text of Song Page 4 Sample Press Advisory Page 5 Sample Press Backgrounder Pages 6-7 NOTE: Thee sample event speech will be available Sunday. BEGIN PAGE 2 of 7 PRE-EVENT INSTRUCTIONS The following assumes that you have identified a vigil coordinator, a speaker (yourself, MCC minister, lesbian/gay rights member, or supporting human rights worker), and have chosen a location. Hopefully your location will be near a Radical Right office (Focus on the Family, Christian Coalition, anti-gay church). Next, invite human rights, gay rights and other groups to activate their phone trees to encourage people to attend. Suggested date & time: Saturday, July 16, time corresponding with 12 noon Mountain Time (2 p.m. East, 1 p.m. Central, 11 a.m. West) You do not need to get any local permits as long as you hold your event on the public sidewalk and do not block traffic. Here's what you need to do: 1. Get the fax numbers of local news rooms of CBS, NBC, ABC, affiliates, and local newspapers, etc. 2. On either Tuesday, July 12 or, at the latest, Wednesday, July 13, send out the attached PRESS ADVISORY and PRESS BACKGROUNDER. 3. On Friday, July 15, do a follow-up by sending out the exact same press advisory 4. Optional. Saturday: Send out the press release that will be available from Ground Zero by Friday night. Gather Your Local Information Customize the to suit your information needs. Feel free to alter the Press Ddvisory any way you want. We suggest you use the backgrounder text as is. BEGIN PAGE 3 of 7 YOUR LOCAL SOLIDARITY VIGIL ==>> Please notify Ground Zero if you are planning an event. We are working on a sample speech which will be ready on Sunday, July 10 via fax or internet. What You Will Need FLOWERS Notify attendees to bring flowers. Mel White will present Focus on the Family with flowers as a peace offering. It will be a gift of love from a peaceful people who say, "please, stop the hurting." Encourage lots of flowers. AUDIO EQUIP: A good boombox might do or a Mr. Microphone. Ask around or buy a copy of Romanovsky & Phillips record "Be Political, not Polite" and play the song, "Love Is All It Takes to Make a Family." R&P have authorized use of their song for this. If you can't find it, use some other family or love song. VIGIL AGENDA Short Meeting, 1/2 Hour Long MINUTE ACTIVITY 0-5 Speech 6-7 Moment of Silence for Solidarity & Peace 7-13 Presentation of flowers (leave on door step or in sidewalk) 13-20 Pass out copies of lyrics to "Love is All It Takes to Make a Family" and have everyone sing. 20-30 Opportunity to answer local reporters questions -- select someone to read up on the background items and mention your local issues. BEGIN PAGE 4 of 7 For this event, Ron Romanovsky and Paul Phillips have authorized the playing of and distribution of the lyrics of their song, "Love Is All It Takes To Make A Family" from their album "Be Political, Not Polite." If fact Ron and Paul said they love Mel White and encourage you to participate in this event. Photocopy the lyrics and pass them out. Love Is All It Takes To Make A Family (c) 1991 Romanovsky & Phillips Good night my daughter Sleep tight, my son The world is full of injustices Of which you know none. I wish that I could shelter you So you'd never have to see The ways in which some folks have made An outlaw out of me. Good night, my precious Sweet dreams, my little one While the lawyers and the courts decide What is to be done. I wish that you could tell them all When they dare to question me That we're every bit the model Of a perfect family. It's not the pot that grows the flower It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see Love is all it takes to make a family. Good night my child So innocent, so young When they start teaching you to hate me I pray you won't succumb To prejudice and bigotry To ignorance and shame Because I'm proud of who I am And hope you'll feel the same. It's not the pot that grows the flower It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see Love is all it takes to make a family. NOTE: To purchase the album, contact your local dealer or phone Fresh Fruit Records, 505-986-5853 or write 369 Montezuma #209, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 87501. BEGIN PAGE 5 of 7 Press Advisory Date: Tuesday, July 12, 1994 Local Contact: Your name, phone, fax and e-mail Additional Contact: Frank Whitworth, Ground Zero 719-635-6096 voice or 719-635-6106 fax TO: Assignment Editor WHAT: Press Conference Announced: America's Gay/lesbian people call upon the Religious Right to Stop their Attacks WHEN: Saturday, July 16, 12 noon WHERE: In front of ____________ offices Address, Street, City This press advisory is sent to help you plan your weekend calendar. Please schedule a reporter and staff to cover a local press conference in commemoration of the seven-day fast of the Reverend Dr. Mel White at the Focus on the Family headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our local community is joining Dr. White in a PEACEFUL call for the Religious Right to stop their persecution and attacks on gay and lesbian Americans. Dr. White is an openly gay minister. Before he was cast out of the Religious Right inner circle for being gay, Dr. White was a ghostwriter for Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Billy Graham. National media feeds will likely be available. ---END--- BEGIN PAGE 6 of 7 Press Backgrounder Date: Tuesday, July 12, 1994 Local Contact: Your name, phone, fax and e-mail Additional Contact: Frank Whitworth, Ground Zero 719-635-6096 voice or 719-635-6106 fax TO: Assignment Editor Local Communities Unite in Support of Gay Minister's Seven-day Fast At Religious Right Headquarters Enough is Enough! On Monday, July 11, the Reverend Dr. Mel White, an openly gay minister from Dallas, Texas, will begin a seven-day "fast for understanding" in front of the world headquarters of FOCUS ON THE FAMILY, a Colorado Springs-based religious group. With this fast, Dr. White calls for an end of the attacks against gay and lesbian Americans by the Religious Right. In related events around the country, local lesbian and gay rights supports are showing their solidarity with Dr. White's peaceful vigil. Focus on the Family was chosen as the fast site because in May they co-hosted a Religious Right strategy meeting to formalize plans for national attacks on gay and lesbian rights. The secret meetings were documented in a May 19 article in "The Washington Times." Further research has shown that the elimination of gay rights -- by any means -- topped the list of activities. According to Dr. White, Focus on the Family leader, James Dobson, has become the primary spokesman of the Religious Right. Focus employs over 1,200 workers, has an annual budget of $150,000,000, and owns a vast media empire with daily and weekly radio broadcasts, along with 2,000,000 volunteers in all 50 states. --MORE-- BEGIN PAGE 7 of 7 "Like his powerful allies -- Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Kennedy, Lou Sheldon and the others -- Dobson has discovered that attacking gay and lesbian Americans as the new 'evil empire' is an effective way to raise money and mobilize volunteers to achieve their larger political goals," says White. WHITE KNOWS: HE WAS IN THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT An author as well as a minister, Dr. White wrote books for Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and other Christian leaders. He was an inside witness to the development of anti-homosexual strategies within the Religious Right. White was cast out of the circle when he disclosed his homosexuality. He is now Dean of the Cathedral of Hope, in Dallas, which has the world's largest gay and lesbian congregation. White is calling upon the Religious Right to stop. "Enough is enough," he says. "James Dobson may speak of love and reconciliation but the endless flow of misinformation about homosexuality that flows from Focus on the Family and its allies pollutes the national environment and leads directly to ruined lives, broken families, intolerance, suffering and death." White continues, "In the hysteria that follows this barrage of anti-homosexual misinformation, well-meaning Americans volunteer time and money to eliminate the imaginary 'gay threat.' Already, there is anti-homosexual legislation pending or planned in 35 different states. This legislation on city, county and state levels dehumanizes, demeans, and effectively disenfranchises gay and lesbian Americans." "I am hoping," add Dr. White, "that this fast will help alert my fellow Americans to the lies being told about our gay brothers and sisters and to the tragic consequences of those lies in the lives of people they love. Even more, I hope more people will begin to realize that James Dobson and his allies on the Radical Right are a threat not just to lesbians and gays, but to all Americans who cherish freedom and justice for all." --END--