From: TomSwann@aol.com Date: Sat, 10 Aug 1996 13:00:33 -0400 Stonewall Democratic Club Press Release For Immediate Release July 30, 1996 Contact: Eric Bauman (818) 780-4590 STONEWALL ANNOUNCES "PLAN OF 100's" MASSIVE LESBIAN AND GAY VOTER EDUCATION, MOTIVATION AND MOBILIZATION PROGRAM Program is designed to target over 100,000 lesbian and gay voters Los Angeles, CA - Stonewall Democratic Club president Eric Bauman announced on Sunday, July 28th, that Stonewall would be undertaking the most extensive and intensive grassroots-based campaign to educate, motivate, and mobilize lesbian and gay voters ever attempted by a local Democratic group in Southern California. The program is designed to reach over 100,000 lesbian and gay voters through advertisements, direct mail, slate cards, speaking engagements, and a variety of other methods. In his statement, Bauman said "Today marks 100 days until election day. Today also marks the beginning of the most extensive and intensive grassroots-based campaign to educate, motivate, and mobilize L.A.'s lesbian and gay voters ever attempted. We call our plan "the plan of 100's." It begins with community magazine advertising designed to be seen by at least 100,000 lesbian and gay people. We will circulate 100,000 campaign pieces designed to persuade and energize our voters and clearly define the choices. We will also distribute 100,000 Stonewall voter guides. Stonewall will participate in 100 community speaking engagements, and develop 100 editorials, news stories, and letter -to-the-editor. Finally, in the days leading up to the election, we will staff 100 phone lines for GOTV, directed to 100 targeted precincts. The expected cost of the program is expected to be $100,000." Bauman further defined the program, "Our advertising campaign begins in August with a series of ½ page ads in Frontiers magazine. We will run ads focused on the accomplishments of the Clinton/Gore Administration, ads focused on comparing and contrasting Democrats with Republicans on lesbian and gay, AIDS and HIV issues, and ads advertising our voter recommendations. It is our intention of expanding this campaign to at least three other magazines beginning in mid-September." "Our campaign pieces will be directed at lesbian and gay voters who voted in ‘92, but became discouraged and dropped out, and to recently registered lesbian and gay voters. A special women's outreach piece will designed that addresses both lesbian-specific issues and the President's general record on women's issues. Stonewall Vice President Deanna Stevenson will be coordinating the content development of the women's piece." "The community speaking program has already begun. We have spoken to groups like Catalyst in Pasadena, the San Fernando Valley Unitarian Church, the Jewish Response group, and the newly formed L.A. Gay & Lesbian Young Democrats. We will be speaking to groups like the L.A. City Gay and Lesbian employees, and non-traditional groups in upcoming months." Bauman described Stonewall's on-going earned media program, which began several months ago with a series of gay media interviews with top Democratic Party leaders and openly gay appointed and elected officials. Stonewall has already arranged interviews with people like Assistant Secretary of Commerce Bruce Lehman, DNC Chair Don Fowler, White House Gay Community Liaison Richard Soccarides, Representative Barney Frank, White House liaison to the Interior Department Bob Hattoy, and California Democratic Party Chair Art Torres. Several more interviews, including a few surprises, are planned during the next 3 months. The opinion piece and letter campaign will begin after the Democratic National Convention, and will be coordinated by Jeff Richmond. To achieve the goal of 100,000 lesbian and gay voters, Stonewall has spent months collecting lists, perusing voter files, and reviewing voter demographic crosstabs. When asked why Stonewall is undertaking such a massive effort, Bauman replied "The answer is simple, we all know what's at stake, what the choice is: an America that values, respects, and embraces our diversity, the America of Bill Clinton and the Democratic party; or the Dole/Gingrich/Robertson America of "Leave it to Beaver" times, where everyone who was anyone was a white, upper-middle class man. An America where lesbians and gays were stuck in the closet, and women and people of color were forced to clean the closet. A time when gays were arrested for daring to express the love they felt, where women kept house and didn't need a college education, where good Negroes sat quietly in the back of the bus, and Latinos were parodied in cartoons and picked grapes for $2 a day." Bauman continued his response "Perhaps the starkest example of the choice before us is the Supreme Court. With the votes of President Clinton's two justices, the Supreme court ruled that lesbians and gays had the right to equal protection under the law. The Reagan/Bush/Dole/Gingrich court would have denied us this right, as was so clearly stated by Justice Scalia in his rabid dissent. With over 40% of federal judgeships due to be appointed by the next president, we can draw a clear line between a President whose appointments will help us out of the closet, and a President who would shove us back in, head first." In concluding, Bauman said "The members of Stonewall Democratic Club will not go back into that closet. We will not sit idly by and watch the election of a president who can not even utter the words lesbian or gay; who thinks that the California Civil Rights initiative and proposition 187 will fix all that ails America; a president who thinks a group of grumpy old white men should control every uterus in the nation; and who thinks that the rights of working women and men should be determined by business owners, stock holders, and the market place, no matter the effect on peoples lives. We will not accept a president who says Medicare was a bad idea, and Medicaid is for loafers, leeches, and losers." "If Stonewall is successful with its "plan of 100's," we will help assure President Clinton's re-election, and we will help send Rick Zbur to Washington and Gerrie Schipske to Sacramento. We will also help the Democratic party retake control of the California Assembly and the Congress. And, perhaps most importantly, we will help send Newt Gingrich, Curt Pringle, and their band of conservative extremists back into the holes they climbed out of!" People interested in joining Stonewall Democratic Club, volunteering in our election program, donating money, or requesting a speaker for an event, can call Stonewall at (818) 780-4590. Stonewall Democratic Club is Southern California's oldest and largest lesbian and gay Democratic club. Its members included every openly gay elected official in Los Angeles. Nineteen Stonewall members will be attending the Democratic National Convention next month in Chicago. -end- -tear sheet requested-