Subject: Call to Conscience
From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 22:35:05 -0400

CALL TO CONSCIENCE
     
     MEDIA RELEASE                            For more information contact:
     For Immediate Release                    Mickey Wheatley, Joel Lawson  
     July 25, 1995                            or Martin Childers at         
                                              301-921-6933

     
     
     GAY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TARGET OF AD BY GAY LEADERS
     "End Your Silence" Activists Exhort Leaders

     Washington, D.C. -- National and Washington, D.C. gay and lesbian 
     rights leaders are calling on closeted Members of Congress to come out 
     as that institution debates the anti-gay "Defense of Marriage Act," or 
     DOMA.
     
     In a full-page ad in Friday's edition (7/26/96) of The Washington 
     Blade, a gay newspaper, the activists are calling on closeted gays and 
     lesbians in Congress to "end your silence and defend your community in 
     this time of unprecedented hostility."
     
     DOMA, passed by the House last week and expected to pass the Senate as 
     early as this week, proactively denies same-sex couples the basic 
     rights currently provided as privileges to heterosexual couples who 
     choose to marry.
     
     "This is apartheid legislation," said Joel Lawson, a Washington, D.C. 
     activist who helped organize the ad effort.  "DOMA codifies 
     discrimination.  It is `special rights' for heterosexuals, and every 
     Member of Congress has an obligation to oppose it, especially gay or 
     lesbian members.  We can no longer afford their silence."
     
     "Gay and Lesbian Members of the House still have the opportunity to 
     come out and shatter the myths that gave birth to DOMA," said Lawson.  
     "Gay and lesbian Members of the Senate must speak out as that body 
     prepares to vote on this anti-gay legislation."
     
     Mickey Wheatley, a civil rights attorney and gay activist, added, 
     "Lesbian and gay members of Congress have a special and historical 
     responsibility to speak out from their own life stories against the 
     outrageous attacks on gay and lesbian people that the DOMA legislation 
     and congressional debate represent."
     
     "The silence of the members of the Congressional Closet has been 
     deafening," said Martin Childers, another Washington, D.C. activist.  
     "They must come out.  They must speak out.  Our freedom and their 
     integrity are at stake."
     
     ##### 
     
     Editors: Text of the ad and signatories below:
     *************************************

     A CALL TO CONSCIENCE...
     to all Closeted Gay and Lesbian Members of Congress
     
     We call upon you to end your silence and defend your community in this 
     time of unprecedented hostility.
     
     Gay and lesbian members of the House of Representatives who voted for 
     the anti-gay "Defense of Marriage Act" (DOMA): atone for your vote 
     against your community.  Stand forward, apologize for supporting the 
     DOMA, and shatter the myths that afforded its passage.
     
     Gay and lesbian members of the Senate: speak out before your chamber 
     votes on the DOMA.  Tell our stories, your stories, to America from 
     the highest point of debate in the nation -- the floor of the United 
     States Senate.
     
     Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Americans can no longer 
     afford your silence.  Create a moment in history.  Speak for us.  
     Protect us.  Together, we can render powerless the anti-gay slurs that 
     now pass for legitimate political discourse.  Take this step, and the 
     community will work with you to defeat ignorance and bigotry.
     
     Come out.  Speak out.  Our freedom and your integrity are at stake.

     Vic Basile, Basile Ryan, Inc., Washington, D.C. 
     Roberta Bennett, Los Angeles, CA
     Barrett Brick, former Executive Director, World Congress of Gay and
        Lesbian Jewish Organizations, Washington D.C.
     Martin Childers, Activist, Washington D.C.
     Jeff Coudriet, President, Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, Washington 
     D.C. 
     Mindy A. Daniels, Executive Director, National Lesbian Political 
     Action Committee
     Bill Dobbs, Activist, New York, NY
     John Duran, Civil Rights Attorney, Los Angeles, CA
     Jeffrey S. Hops, National Gay and Lesbian Community Center Project 
     Lorri Jean, Executive Director, Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center 
     Joel Lawson, Washington D.C.
     Supervisor Susan Leal, San Francisco
     Brad Lewis, Chair, D.C. Coalition of Black Gays, Lesbians and 
     Bisexuals 
     Keith Meinhold, USN (Ret.)
     Assemblywoman Carole Migden, CA
     David Mixner, Los Angeles, CA
     Ann Northrop, New York, NY
     Jean O'Leary, Member, Executive Committee, Democratic National 
     Committee
     Torie Osborn, former Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task 
     Force,     Washington D.C.
     Stuart Perkins, Washington D.C.
     Michael Petrelis, Activist, San Francisco, CA 
     Cathy Renna, Co-Chair, GLAAD National Capital Area
     Rick Rosendall, President, Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance of 
     Washington, DC 
     Gabriel Rotello, New York, NY
     Abby Rubenfield, Nashville, TN
     Michelangelo Signorile, New York, NY
     William Waybourn, Managing Director, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against 
     Defamation Mickey Wheatley, Civil Rights Attorney, Washington D.C.
     Dan Willson, Washington D.C.
     
     Call to Conscience - (301) 670-1213