Date: Tue, 1 Aug 1995 10:02:09 -0400 (EDT) From: David Casti Subject: ACTION ALERT: Amendment 2 media kit, sample letter Submitted by: Richard Kinz The upcoming hearings before the US Supreme Court on Colorado's appeal of the overturning of Amendment 2 in October are extremely important not only for GLB civil rights, but for the civil rights of the entire nation. Reading the analysis of the Bowers v. Hardwick decision by some of the retired members of that Supreme Court, it becomes obvious that they did not consider it an important decision because GLB people did not publicize their interest in it to the Court. Now is our opportunity to show the members of the Court just how important this issue is. A barrage of letters to the Court Justices seeking their upholding of the present ban on implementing the Amendment would make a mark that would be difficult to ignore. Letters to the editors of newspapers and magazines, and to TV networks and stations across the country would further the exposure this issue so badly needs. I encourage you to write, fax, phone as many as you can. Below is a list of networks, stations, newspapers, magazines, etc. for you to choose from. Write as many as you can, plus your own local media outlets. Also listed is the address of the Supreme Court and the names of the nine Justices. Feel free to incorporate, copy, take pieces of, etc., the article below the addresses. Or write your own. We can't be caught with our pants down as we did in 1993 in the gays in the military debackle. This can be a great coming out project for those whose left foot is still there in the closet. Our GLB lobbying organizations must do their part, but they can't do it alone. We, as individuals have our share of the burden as well. After all, it's us who will benefit from the Court's upholding of the present ban on implementation of Amendment 2. Thank you.... **************************************************** Mr. Roone Arledge, President ABC News 47 W. 66th Street New York, NY 10023 (212) 456-7777 Mr. Eric Ober, President CBS News 524 W. 57th Street New York, NY 10019 (212) 975-4321 Mr. Ed (no not Ted) Turner, Executive Vice-President Cable News Networks 1 CNN Center Atlanta, GA 30348-5466 (404) 827-1700 Fax (404) 737-3323 Mr. Brian Lamb, Chairman/CEO C-SPAN 400 N. Capitol NW #650 Washington, D.C. 20001 (202) 737-3220 Fax (202) 737-3323 Mr. Andrew Lack, President NBC News 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10112 (212) 664-4444 Mr. Ervin Duggan, President & CEO PBS 1320 Braddock Place Alexandria, VA 22314 (800) 356-2626, (703) 739-5000 Fax (703) 739-5295 Mr. Alan Nesbitt, General Manager KABC - Channel 7 4151 Prospect Avenue Hollywood, CA 90027 (310) 557-7777 Mr. Bill Applegate, Vice-President and General Manager KCBS - Channel 2 6121 W. Sunset Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90028 (213) 460-3000 Fax (213) 460-3733 Ms. Carole Black, General Manager KNBC - Channel 4 3000 W. Alameda Avenue Burbank, CA 91505 818) 840-4444 General Manager WABC - Channel 7 7 Lincoln Square New York, NY 10021 (212) 456-3173 General Manager WCBS - Channel 2 51 W. 52nd Street New York, NY 10019 (212) 975-4321 General Manager WNBC - Channel 4 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10020 (212) 664-2731 Mr. Shelby Coffee III, Editor-in-Chief Mr. George Cotliar, Managing Editor Los Angeles Times Times-Mirror Square Los Angeles, CA 90053 (213) 237-7000 Fax (213) 237-4712 The New York Times 229. W. 43rd Street New York, NY 10036 (212) 556-1234 Fax (212) 556-3960 USA Today 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA 22229 (703) 276-3400 Ms. Amity Shales, Editor The Wall Steet Journal 200 Liberty Street New York, NY 10006 (212) 416-3111 Fax (212) 416-2658 Associated Press 50 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10020 (212) 621-1679 United Press International 2 Pennsylvania Plaza New York, NY 10005 (212) 560-1100 Reuters America 1700 Broadway New York, NY 10019 (212) 603-3401 Editor Newsweek 444 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10022 (212) 350-4000 Editor Time Magazine 1271 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 (212) 522-1212 ************************************************ The Honorable ____________________ The Supreme Court of the United States Washington, D.C. 20543 Re: Romer v. Evans, U.S. Supreme Court No. 94-1039 Your Honor ( or Dear [Chief] Justice _____________________) : Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist; Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen G. Breyer. ************************************************** An Article or basis of letters: The Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments concerning Colorado's anti-gay ballot initiative Amendment 2 in the case of Romer v. Evans (U.S. Supreme Court No. 94-1039). This is one of the most important civil rights cases in a decade. The Court has the opportunity to dramatically help the cause of equal protection in the United States or it has the opportunity to push discrimination to a new high. * As with most of the issues confronting the nation today, the media can play a very important role in bringing this particular issue to the attention, not only of the Supreme Court, but of the nation as a whole. On the subject of individual rights, no amount of objective exposure can be too great. * With the issue of gay rights, there is much misinformation, inuendo and untruthfulness to counteract. We, as gays, look to the media as a major resource in bringing an honest, objective viewpoint to the nation in order to help us to do just that. We trust that you and your organization will bring that viewpoint to your patrons as a part of your mission of serving the public. It has been argued that gays -- and I use this term here to include lesbians, bisexuals and gay men -- are not an "independently identifiable group" and therefore are not subject to equal protection analysis; that only traditionally suspect classifications (e.g., race, creed, national origin) are so subject. I would beg to differ. Gays have certainly been identified as a group which can be forbidden to serve in the military and, for those already in the military, which can be hunted down and discharged for the flimsiest of reasons. Gays as a group are regularly shamed, harassed, bashed and killed because, and only because, they are gay. Gays as a group are constantly identified to be ridiculed and vilified by the radical religious right organizations who use any means to attempt to force their religious beliefs and opinions onto the entire citizenry of the United States. Gays are most certainly and beyond question an identifiable group. It has been argued that the legal reasoning employed by the Colorado Supreme Court in overturning Amendment 2 is fundamentally flawed and is an incorrect equal protection analysis. Perhaps so in a strictly legal sense. However, such an argument does not excuse allowing Amendment 2 to take effect and denying gays not only access to the political process in this country, but to many of the rights enjoyed by the general citizenry. Amendment 2 should be struck down for violating the fundamental rights of gay citizens. Upholding it would, without doubt, unleash similar initiatives and laws in every state. The religious right organizations have done this in the past, are doing it now, and are openly and avowedly prepared to do it in the future. They are expending tremendous resources to accomplish their hateful, intolerant mission in any way possible; much to the detriment of accomplishing the loving good that their faith embraces. Dr. James Dobson, President of Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, and one of the major supporters of Amendment 2, wrote in a newsletter to his flock in July, 1995, in reference to the party hosted in March by Vice-President and Mrs. Gore to honor homosexual activists, "These are people whose political agenda contradicts most of what Christianity stands for -- including a redefinition of the family, a validation of immoral lifestyles, the teaching of pro-homosexual concepts to children, and the acquisition of special rights and affirmative action-type programs for homosexuals throughout American culture." Televangelist Jerry Falwell, one of the most vehement gay-detractors, on his Sunday afternoon Vision show, has called homosexuals "anti-family moral perverts... who want the right to violate any child of any age." He has equated gays to thieves, perverts and murderers who "want to sodomize and rape and destroy (children)" and has called for napalm to be dropped on them. Kevin Tebedo, Executive Director of Colorado for Family Values which authored Amendment 2, is now pushing a so-called "resolution for community standards" in Colorado in a move designed to (in his words) "throw a monkey wrench" into gay plans. The original resolution stated, in part, that governing bodies "support and will defend the constitutional and civil rights of all of its citizens, but recognize the behavior of homosexuality to be neither a constitutional nor a civil right." This has been toned down only slightly in a revised version. Gary L. Bower, President of Family Research Council, wrote in his report to members in July, "...the Supreme Court's ruling is what lawyers call a case of "first impression" -- that is, it will be the first time the Court has faced the issue of gay rights squarely... The Court's ruling in this case will be historic... You can be sure that FRC will not be sitting out this case. We will continue to defend the rights of each citizen, while at the same time telling the Court that granting special rights to any group based on their behavior -- certainly behavior as self-destructive as homosexual activity -- is wrong. This isn't 'gay-bashing.' It is simply common sense." This anti-gay rhetoric is typical of the distortions and untruths that are espoused by the general run of religious right organizations. Their concept of Christianity is narrow, bigoted, self-serving, and about as far from the teachings of Christ as it could possibly be. We gays are not redefining "family." We were all born into and raised in families. By establishing our loving relationships, we constitute families, many of which include children who are nurtured and loved as much, if not more, as in straight families. Our so-called "lifestyles" are not immoral -- only as narrowly and erroneously defined by the religious fundamentalists in their own exclusionary interpretation of the Bible. Our life is life and nothing else. We do not teach pro-gay concepts to children in order to "recruit" them to gay life. We do let young people know that if they are gay it is nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to commit suicide over -- as thousands of young gays have done. If they are not gay, we teach that gays are human beings just as they are. We do not seek any "special rights" for ourselves, but rather we seek to enjoy the very same rights -- equal rights -- which are enjoyed by straight people and which are guaranteed by the precepts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Yes, we do have a "gay agenda" but not the "special rights" agenda erroneously touted by the religious right. Our agenda is merely to be accepted into society as the loving, productive, normal, tax-paying citizens that we are. Nothing more. Nothing less. Amendment 2, along with similar measures now on the books and being proposed, is an affront to the civil liberties of all Americans, not only gays. Amendment 2 not only fences out gay citizens from participating fully in our democracy, it also threatens to undermine the foundation upon which the rights of every citizen are built. It is nothing more than a blanket endorsement of discrimination for the sake of discrimination, one that elevates public and private discrimination against one group of citizens to the status of a constitutional right. Frank Whitworth, Executive Director of Ground Zero, a gay rights organization in Colorado Springs sums puts it another way: "It is a prelude to criminalization of homosexuality and homosexuals. It is a common ploy that dates back to Nazism to first vilify and dehumanize those you are attacking before you set about to criminalize and eliminate them. Elimination does not have to be in the gas chambers. It is also accomplished through exclusion and denying viable access to government and society." The Supreme Court has a tremendous opportunity, and responsibility, to render a decision regarding Amendment 2 that will truly protect, nourish and encourage civil liberties not only for gays, but for all Americans. We can only trust that its decision, when it is rendered in the near future, will uphold the integrity of the Supreme Court, the integrity of the Constitution and what is right and just. * Thank you for your time. I am looking forward to the support of you and your organization in this battle to establish gays as equal citizens of this country. Sincerely, [* These paragraphs intended more for letters to editors, TV people, etc.]  -- Richard Kinz... rkinz@slonet.org *********************************** HATE IS NOT A FAMILY VALUE