From: MPetrelis@aol.com
Date: Mon, 1 Jan 1996 17:49:19 -0500
Subject: Gays boycott German beers

                      AMERICANS FOR GAY RIGHTS
For Immediate Release                       Contact:  Michael Petrelis
January 1, 1996                                  Phone:    (415) 864-0520
                                           e-mail address:  MPetrelis@aol.com
                             
  GAYS BOYCOTT GERMAN BEERS OVER INTERNET CENSORSHIP;

      BECK'S & ST. PAULI GIRL TO BE DUMPED DOWN SEWER

 San Francisco -- Angered by the German government's censorship of sexual
data bases on the CompuServe computer service, leaders of the political
advocacy group Americans for Gay Rights today announced they will kick off a
month-long boycott of two popular German beers sold in America.
    The boycott will officially start when bottles of Beck's and St. Pauli
Girl beer are dumped down the sewer in front of the Goethe Institute (German
Cultural Center).

      DATE:     Thursday, January 4

      TIME:      12 noon

      PLACE:    530 Bush Street

    CompuServe decided last week to deny access to more than 200 sex-oriented
electronic discussion groups and picture data bases, many of which are
gay-oriented, in response to an order from a German prosecutor in Munich who
said the material violated German laws against pornography. 
    The gay group is asking all Americans concerned about censorship on the
Internet to join the boycott of
Beck's and St. Pauli Girl beers, which is in effect from New Year's Day until
the end of January.
    "Our demands of both the German government and CompuServe are elementary
-- Keep your homophobic censoring hands off the Internet," declared Michael
Petrelis, a spokesperson for Americans for Gay Rights. "And restore access to
all data bases now."
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