Subject: Media Update-Call for Accountability and Open Process Grows
From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 8 Jun 1998 22:10:58 EDT

The call for an open process for deciding whether or not to hold a national
rally in DC in the year 2000 continues to grow.

Updated list of signers as of 6/8/98

Proposal to the June Meeting from the Ad Hoc Committee for an Open Process

	The Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender people of the USA have organized three
national marches on Washington, in 1979, 1987 and in 1993. These marches
raised the visibility and advanced the issues of our communities. But the real
importance and success of these mobilizations can be measured by the effect
they had on our own communities. Grassroots organizing raised issues locally,
spawned lasting coalitions and turned many of us into activists. On state and
regional levels, new links were forged. Nationally, constituency organizing
resulted in the emergence of national organizations and networks. The marches
on Washington have been unique organizing tools that helped build a larger,
stronger and more unified movement.
	Each march was very different as were the times during which they were
organized. However, each one was run democratically with mass, grassroots
involvement, and each followed a similar organizing scenario. A committee
(which dissolved after its work was done) organized a national meeting to
which representatives of all lesbian and gay (and later expanded to include
bisexual and transgendered) organizations--local, state and regional as well
as national--were welcomed. Organizational representatives voted, but
otherwise, all in attendance were invited to participate in these open
meetings. Here, the primary decision whether to have the event was made first,
followed by deliberations on the name of the event, the politics, structure,
leadership, and the organizing strategy. Then, throughout the country, open,
democratically run meetings selected delegates, with mandates to include women
and people of color, to a national steering committee, the highest decision-
making body. Constituencies were also represented in the national steering
committee and every national organization in our community was invited to
join.
	Many of these meetings were at times contentious and chaotic. But in the end
the decisions were accepted because the process was fair and inclusive. People
from all over the country were motivated to commit their time, energy, and
resources to build the marches because they realized that they were both heard
and represented. And finally, when the big day arrived, we reveled in and were
empowered by our accomplishment. The marches on Washington strengthened our
movement largely because they were democratically run grassroots efforts on a
massive scale. They have become an essential part of our proud history and a
model to other movements for social change.
	Now, as a fourth march on Washington is being proposed, we must summon the
legacy of the previous three--for the process by which this discussion
proceeds will define not only the nature of any event that may follow, but
more importantly, that of the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered movement
itself.

Therefore, we, the Ad Hoc Committee for an Open Process, propose: 

1. that the June Meeting issue a call for an organizing and strategy
conference to include discussion and a decision on the proposed march on
Washington and other proposals brought forth, with nothing about the proposed
march on Washington presented as a fait accompli;
2. that all lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered organizations be invited to
send two voting representatives to the meeting;
3. that attendance and participation (except for voting) be open to all.

We are calling for an open process to engage our movement in a serious,
national discussion on whether or not we want to go to Washington--what's the
purpose, when do we want to go, what would we be calling for, and how do we
insure the maximum, most diverse participation in any planning process?

Signed (as of 6/5/98):

Steve Ault

Tommi Avicolli Mecca
Columnist - S.F. Frontline

Leslie Cagan-coordinator, New York City, 1987 March on Washington

Mandy Carter
Field Program Consultant National Black Lesbian & Gay Leadership Forum; 1987
March on Washington - State Coordinator, North Carolina; 1993 March on
Washington - National Steering Committee; Coordinator, People of Color Lobby
Days

Melanie Clemans
Long Island's Campus Leadership Network (CLN) (network of L.I. glbt campus
groups based in LI, NY); OUT IN LI (a 20-something plus social and issues
group)

Marla Erlien
Bromfield St. Educational Foundation; Gay Community News; Boston Organizer,
1987 March on Washington

Jaime Grant
Washington, D.C.

Eileen Hansen
1987 Civil Disobedience; 
1987 March on Washington
San Francisco, CA

Billy Hileman
Co-Chair, 1993 MOW

Sue Hyde
Cambridge, MA

John O'Brien
Stonewall Veteran

Diana Onley-Campbell
Washington, D.C.

Alana Samuels 
OUT IN LI (a 20-something plus social and issues group based in LI, NY); Long
Island's Campus Leadership Network (CLN) (network of L.I. glbt campus groups)

Barbara Smith
Black feminist writer and activist, member of the Feminist Action Network of
Albany, New York. One of the eight major speakers at the 1987 March on
Washington

Nadine Smith
Co-Chair, 1993 MOW, Executive Director of Human Rights Task Force

Howard Wallace
National Steering Committee, Pride at Work

Christine Williams
National Queer Student Coalition
UNC-Chapel Hill

Paul Harris
Playwright and syndicated columnist

David Hencke 
Ohio -AIDS/HIV law activist

Robin White
Independent Public Radio Producer
San FranciscoPaul Harris
Playwright and syndicated columnist

Janice Thom
NY

David Hencke
Ohio  
AIDS/HIV law activist

Robin White
Independent Public Radio Producer
San Francisco

Kenneth Sherrill
New York

Dragonsani Renteria
Deaf Queer Resource Center

Jodi Weinhofer
Key West, FL

Jesse Heiwa/QUEERS FOR RACIAL & ECONOMIC JUSTICE
An alliance of Queer People Of Color, Working-class Queers and Queer
Progressives 
_____________________

Todd Martinez-Padilla Simmons

Co-Chairman, Human Rights Task Force of Florida

Chairman, Committee on Issues of Sexual Orientation, University of South
Florida

Tanya Domi
Activist to Lift the Military Ban
International Advocate for Human Rights

Natalie Davis, columnist, Baltimore Alternative

Fred Ulmer, Field Manager, Log Cabin Club of Florida - statewide chapter of
the Log Cabin Republicans

Flora L. Piterak
1994 Intl. March (Stonewall)

Harry  Hay for Harry Hay and John Burnside
RADICAL FAERIE POLITICAL NETWERK

Warren J. Blumenfeld, Editor,
Journal of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Identity
Northampton, Massachusetts

Peggy Barrett
Cambridge, MA

 Dennis Poplin
     San Antonio Lesbian & Gay Media Project
     San Antonio, Texas

TANIA ABDULAHAD, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST, WASHINGTON, DC

Sheilah R. Sable
Holding Our Own: A Fund for Woman
Board of Directors
Albany, NY

Catherine McKinley
New York, NY

Scot Nakagawa, 
Executive Director of the McKenzie River Gathering Foundation of Oregon.  
_________________________

David P. Becker
Portland, Maine
___________________________
  Suzanne Pharr, Women's Project, Portland, OR

Jodi Dean
Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Mr. Jim Straz
Jim Straz Productions, Inc.
NYC, NY  10025

Ellen Rifkin
Veneta, Oregon
___________________________________________

Mary Alice Ball           
Center for the Study of Higher Education
Tucson AZ 
_________________________________________
Alice Bloch
Seattle, WA
________________________________
Kristina Boerger, Urbana, IL
Founding Director, AMASONG:
Champaign-Urbana's Premier 
Lesbian/Feminist Chorus
______________________________

Scott B. Rothe
Tucson

Dennis Poplin
     San Antonio Lesbian & Gay Media Project
     San Antonio, Texas

__________________________________
Felice Yeskel, Ed.D.
Director, The Stonewall Center
Amherst, MA 01002

Ilene Feinman
teacher
_______________________________

Rosemary Hennessy
Associate Professor, Department of English, 
The University at Albany, 
SUNY
_______________________________

Vickie Smith
co-founder and president of In Our Own Voices (IOOV).    
The mission of IOOV is to promote and ensure the physical, mental, spiritual,
political, social, cultural, and economic health and survival of lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgendered people of color communities in the Capital Region
of New York State. 
Albany, NY 

________________________________

Carolyn Epple, Ph.D.
Tucson, AZ 85712
___________________________________

Tamara A. Adrine-Davis
Cleveland, Ohio
__________________________________________

Vera Whisman
Asst. Prof., Program in Women's Studies
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Geneva, NY 

Joyce Kauffman, Cambridge, MA
_____________________________________
Surina Khan
Research Analyst, Political Research Associates, Somerville, MA
_________________________________
Karen Bullock-Jordan
Bromfield Street Educational Foundation
Boston, MA.
OutWritex Conference Director; Former NGLTF staffer (including the time during
the 1993 March oranizing process & the March itself); Writer and lecturer on
sexual politics.  
____________________________________
Sean Cahill, chair of the Lesbian and Gay Political
Alliance of Massachusetts
___________________________________
MR. RON SIMMONS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, US HELPING
US, WASHINGTON, DC.
____________________________________
MS. RUTH WATERS, LOS ANGELES, CA.
_____________________________________
Char Ullman
Tucson, AZ
_________________________________
Kimberly Springer
Atlanta, GA
_____________________________
Peggy Lynch
Cambridge MA
_________________________________

Nancy A. Naples, Women's Studies and Sociology,
University of California, Irvine
______________________________________

Surina Khan
Research Analyst, Political Research Associates, Somerville, MA
_______________________________________

Jorge Irizarry-Vizcarrondo     Activist

_______________________________________________

Elly Bulkin
Boston
__________________________
Kris Kleindienst
writer, editor,
co-owner, Left Bank Books, St. Louis, MO
_______________________________

Rebecca (Beck) Young
Brooklyn, NY  
______________________________
Davanna Jones
Minister, Warrior, Spirituality and Social Change Agent
Grassroots Organizer
_________________________________

Kostya Branwen Sudice, Crone~in~Residence,
House of The Goddess Limited: Center for Pagan Wombyn 
Norfolk, Virginia
___________________________________

Shane Phelan
Director, Women Studies Program
Associate Professor, Political Science
University of New Mexico       
Albquerque, NM               
_____________________________

Marcia Deihl
Co-Founder Boston Bisexual Women's Network
_________________________________

Susan Levene
Cambridge, MA

Meredith Woods
Independent Television Producer
Boston, MA
___________________________________
Anna Marie Smith

Assistant Professor
Department of Government
McGraw Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca NY  
________________________
Judith S. Kaufman, Ph.D.
New Rochelle, NY
_________________________
Jan Carpenter Tucker, San Diego, CA
___________________________
Robert Bray
Director, The SPIN Project
Institute For Alternative Journalism
Former media director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (1990-97)
and the Human Rights Campaign Fund (1989-90).  Came out on network
television at the 1988 march (where I was a media volunteer) and was a
media consultant from NGLTF to the folks at the 1993 march.
_______________________________________

	Mary Porter
	South Bend, IN
________________________________

Lani Ka'ahumanu
bisexual activist, author, poet
Organizer 1987 MOW, organizer/speaker 1993 MOW
_____________________________________
Wilfred Small
Columbia University, New York
recently Facilities Chair, OUTpost LGBT Community Center, 
Champaign, IL
_________________________________________
Ku'umeaaloha Gomes
Na Mamo O Hawai'i
Honolulu, HI 
_____________________________________

Nancy Nangeroni, Cambridge, MA
Host/Exec. Producer, GenderTalk radio (www.gendertalk.com)
Exec. Director, International foundation for Gender Education