Ms. Achtenberg is an open lesbian on the SF Board of Supervisors. She is a
lawyer and has been active in lesbian rights and legal issues for years.

Marilyn

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Courtesy of the San Francisco Sentinel, here's the text of
Roberta Achtenberg's speech to the Democratic National
Convention in support of the party's platform -- the first
such speech by an out lesbian...

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I come before you to respectfully request your most serious
consideration of this platform, which I am proud to have co-
authored.  This platform is a plan for rebuilding our economy
and rededicating ourselves to social justice.

We speak specifically about the path that must be followed if
we are to achieve broad-based economic growth and the
opportunity that flows therefrom.  There can be no real
progress on the economic front without a national strategy.

Until we increase our nation's research and development
capabilities, manage the conversion from a defense-based
economy, and reinvest the savings from defense in retooling
our plants and retraining our workers, we will not succeed.

But this prescription for economic health and vitality must
include an additional and critical component so inextricably
bound to the other that it must be achieved lest the other
fail.  That component is justice.

We must seek justice.  We must guarantee to all our people
civil and equal rights, and some semblance of a fair
allocation of our most precious resources.  We can stand for
nothing more noble, nor can we struggle for anything less.

This platform promises justice for our country's left-outs
and have-nots.  We pledge to change our medical research
priorities to combat the epidemic of breast cancer in women.
That is an issue of justice -- our inaction is proof that we
have not valued women's lives.

The platform declares war on AIDS and HIV disease, and
pledges the funds required for care, education, and a cure.
This is an issue of justice -- our inaction as a nation is
proof that we have not valued the lives of gay men.

Justice demands and this platform guarantees voting rights
for all.  Access to the ballot box must not be blocked because
of race, ethnicity or language.  As a nation, we must stand
for the proposition that all people are of equal value.

The platform calls for the protection of the civil rights of
lesbians and gay men.  It is a matter of justice that all
people should be allowed to work free from discrimination and
that lesbians and gay men who choose to serve their country in
the military are entitled to do so.  As a nation we must stand
for the proposition that all people are of equal value.

For twelve years we have lived under leaders who have promised
us the horn of plenty, but delivered disappointment and
discrimination.  As a woman, I have been forced to fight for
the right to control my own body.  As a mother, I have
struggled for my family's economic survival and for my child's
future.  As a lesbian and a Jew, I have had to live with fear
for my physical safety and that of my peoples.

If that weren't enough, these same leaders are scapegoating
people like me -- and families like mine -- by charging that
we are destroying America.  What is destroying America is lack
of opportunity, the abandonment of justice, and the harangues
of false prophets.

All of us who have lived through this era of distrust and
dashed dreams yearn for the day when America will be a just
society, with real opportunity for all.  Through the adoption
of this platform, the election of President Bill Clinton, and
the ceaseless work of all our people, we can bring that day
closer.

I can hardly wait.  Thank you.
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