Subject: GPAC ACTION: NYC Candlelight Vigil and Dr. Laura Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 16:16:32 -0500 From: owner-nonmembers@gpac.org GenderPAC 332 Bleecker St., #K-86, NY, NY 10014-2980 -- 212-645-2686 news-owner@gpac.org -- http://www.gpac.org Action@GPAC Special Online Edition - March 3, 2000 --------------------------------------------------------------------- TAKE ACTION! TAKE ACTION! TAKE ACTION! --------------------------------------------------------------------- R. I. P. FITZROY GREEN, AND MAY YOU SOMEDAY FIND JUSTICE Following the acquittal last week of a man charged with the brutal stabbing death of a gay man, GenderPAC will hold a candlelight vigil to honor the memory of the victim, Fitzroy Green, and to protest gender-based and anti-gay discrimination and violence. The vigil will take place at the New York Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center at 1 Little West 12th Street promptly at 9:30 PM on Monday, March 6. Defense attorneys used a new and particularly toxic variation on the homosexual panic defense to set an accused killer free. Lawyers for the defense played on jurors' fears about the victim's gender orientation and used gender stereotypes to strain the credibility of two transgender witnesses for the prosecution. Further, leaks from police to local tabloids gave defense attorneys a serious boost by misrepresenting the victim as a sadomasochist and cross-dressing prostitute. The leaks drew upon hackneyed and bigoted gender stereotypes. According to Riki Anne Wilchins, executive director of GenderPAC, "When the victims of tragic killings do not conform to narrow gender stereotypes police fail to investigate, district attorneys fail to prosecute, and juries fail to convict and a killer is put back on our streets." Wilchins adds, "In the Fitzroy Green case, as in the case of Brandon Teena, whenever a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person is killed, gender is the silent accomplice." The candlelight vigil is co-sponsored by the Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA), The Lesbian and Gay Community Center's Gender Identity Project, New York City Councilmembers Margarita Lopez and Christine Quinn, New York Associates for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA), the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project and New York Peer AIDS Education Coalition (NYPAEC). --------------------------------------------------------------------- DR. LAURA: BRINGING HATE INTO YOUR LIVING ROOM The notoriously homophobic Dr. Laura Schlessinger has signed a multi-million dollar agreement with Paramount Domestic Television to develop a syndicated daytime television show. "Dr. Laura" is the single most listened-to radio personality in the country. She is known for promoting her right-wing political and social values to her listeners, and has said that she would "take on the gay and lesbian activists because I've had enough of you". She recently called gays & lesbians "biological errors" on her radio show, portrays gay men as child molesters, and promotes stereotypical] gender roles. Using the radio and television airwaves as a vehicle of hate promotes discrimination, and often leads to violence. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ GenderPAC asks Paramount to do the right thing by dropping Dr. Laura's television show. We believe that there should be no place for such discrimination on nationaltelevision, and that no company is justified in supporting it. Write to or call Paramount Televison and let them know that their support of Dr. Laura and her rhetoric is inexcusable. Kerry McCluggage - Chairman Paramount Television Group - Telephone (323) 956-5076 5555 Melrose Avenue Hollywood, CA 90038 kerry_mccluggage@paramount.com Frank Kelly - Co-President Paramount Television Group - Telephone (323.) 956.5000 - dial 1, * (star), then spell "KellyFrank" to be connected 5555 Melrose Avenue Hollywood, CA 90038 television@pde.paramount.com For more information on Dr. Laura and on her deal with Paramount, please visit www.stopdrlaura.com or www.glaad.org. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Action@GPAC is GenderPAC's call to action. GenderPAC's action alerts are sent out to everyone on our e-mailing list when the need arises. Our action alerts will give brief summaries of gender news from around the country with an option to participate in a coordinated effort to take action. Gender Public Advocacy Coalition is the national organization working to guarantee every American's civil right to express their gender orientation free of stereotypes, discrimination and violence. Please forgive us if you recieve multiple copies of this alert, as we are sending it to more than one of our lists. ------ To be removed from this list, send an e-mail to majordomo@gpac.org with the following text in the message body (without the quotes or brackets): "unsubscribe nonmembers [your@email.here]"