YOUR HELP IS NEEDED NOW! PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS! Please call your representative and tell him/her to vote for HR 51, the DC statehood bill. They are in session all weekend! Switchboard number :202-224-3121; Yellow pages for their Disrtict Offices under federal goverment; Updates, call Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton's Office (DC-D), 202-225-8050 Thanks, we need your help, George Neighbors, Jr., Co-chair Lesbigay Action Task Force of the Citizens for New Columbia. LESBIGAY ACTION TASK FORCE THE CITIZENS FOR NEW COLUMBIA PRESS RELEASE Contact: George Neighbors, Jr. 202-638-4200 202-737-4176 Over 70 Protest while 24 Arrested November 19, 1993- Washington, DC-- Over 70 people marched from the Mayor's Office to Capitol Hill in the last planned public demonstration before the vote on HR51, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton's (D-DC) bill to create the state of New Columbia, this weekend. The Lesbigay community was represented with over 50 rainbow pride flags being prominently displayed by gay, lesbian and bisexual people as well as their supporters. Barbara Helmick, co-chair of the Lesbigay Action Task Force addressed the crowd, "We're here to educate the people in the movement, in New Columbia, the Congress and the nation on issues of human rights, democracy and participative government." George Neighbors, Jr., another of the co-chairs said, "We are here today as part of your movement. We are here to unite, not divide. Let's continue to work together down the long road to freedom." At the steps of the Longworth House Building, 24 people were arrested in protest to lack of representation. Of the 24, three were with the Task Force: Tony Summers of the DC Coalition of Black Lesbians, Bisexuals and Gays, Karen Armagost, former president of the DC Gertrude Stein Club, and co-chair of the Lesbigay Action Task Force, George Neighbors, Jr. They were held for over 5 hours and released with an arraignment date of December 1, 1993. A trial is expected February 22, 1993 with over 200 statehood arrestees putting the government on trial. -30- LESBIGAY ACTION TASK FORCE THE CITIZENS FOR NEW COLUMBIA Mission: We, the lesbian, bisexual and gay community, demand statehood for the District of Columbia because we are honest, tax-paying and patriotic citizens and as such are being denied the very inalienable freedoms, privileges and human rights that our fellow Americans take for granted. Among those freedoms and privileges denied to us is a fully-recognized and empowered voting representative in the United States Congress- the equivalent of taxation without representation. We seek to educate, organize, mobilize and represent the lesbigay community in the struggle for equal human rights in the quest for statehood. We further seek to educate the statehood movement and the general public about the human rights struggles of the lesbigay community. As citizens of New Columbia we would not be subjects of an unrepresentative, unsympathetic, and dictatorial government, but citizens of an accountable, representative and loyal government. Why should the lesbigay community care about statehood? Domestic Partnership Non-discrimination policy in employment, public services, housing and assistance Adoption Marriage Health Care Sodomy Reform Censorship Three voting members of Congress to vote for you on issues concerning: -the military ban on gay, lesbian and bisexual persons -the Federal Lesbigay Civil Rights bill -national health care reform -National Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth Why statehood? Of 155 nations in the world with elected national legislatures, the US stands alone in denying residents of its capital representation. The average tax bill of each DC resident exceeded that of the residents of 46 states- taxation without representation. The District's population exceeds that of 3 states- Alaska, Wyoming and Vermont. More DC residents have died in wars protecting America's freedom than 20 states. Contacts: Barbara Helmick 202-462-6702 John Capozzi 202-544-0821 George Neighbors, Jr. 202-638-4200 202-737-4176