Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 09:21:30 -0400 From: Maggie Heineman Subject: Evan Wolfson on "Fighting Past Clinton -- Defeat the Federal Anti-Marriage Bill" Forwarded message: Subj: Fighting Past Clinton -- Defeat the Federal Anti-Marriage Bill Date: 96-05-22 20:28:31 EDT From: EW LLDEF TO: National Freedom to Marry Coalition Members, State Partners, and Friends FROM: Evan Wolfson DATE: May 22, 1996 RE: Fghting Past Clinton President Clinton has announced --for now -- that he would sign the radical, unprecedented, vicious and unconstitutional federal anti-marriage bill. Of course, this President has in the past announced he would sign other legislation as a political gesture, only to retreat and ultimately veto when guided appropriately by aggrieved members of his base. To give just one example, Marian Wright Edelman's criticism of his playing to the right turned the tide on extremist legislation that would have gutted vital services under the appealing rubric of "welfare reform." Sometimes people have to be helped to help themselves. So even as regards the White House, it isn't over 'til it's over. And then it's still not over. But the work still before us is to do what we can to make sure this sweeping "second-class citizenship" legislation never reaches the President's desk. WE MUST FIGHT IN CONGRESS. So people MUST be heard in Congress now -- Republicans and Democrats. Particularly we should be firming up our "friends" in the Senate, taking no one for granted, to urge them to block, delay, question, amend/amend/amend these bills. Particularly reach out to friendly Senators, Senators in pivotal states, and also those Republicans that might get a message through to Bob Dole (the original co-sponsor of the Senate bill) that pushing these bills will backfire and hurt him, his party, and the country. Surely Congress has more pressing business in the brief legislative session still left (less than 30 legislative days). And as Monday's Supreme Court decision illustrated, anything can happen; outside events can intervene and help us... if we keep time on our side. Above all, hard as it is to keep fighting, we also need to remember that even if this hideous and unconstitutional discrimination passes for now, the Freedom to Marry struggles and national discussion will continue -- state by state, and, unstoppably, around kitchentables throughout the country -- over the weeks, months, and years ahead. Our trial in Hawaii is this fall; hopefully, a victory in the lower court will arrive before the end of the year; we will pursue the case to completion within two years; we will fight legislative battles in most of the states again next year .... and then we will move into the phase of the struggle (legal, political, and public educational) that awaits us once some of us are finally able to get married. And as we stick with it, we will win. SO: 1. Write/Call/E-mail/Visit Senators and members of Congress (in the district as well as DC). 2. Blitz the White House to say, "think anew." Whether or not one supports equal marriage rights, these bills are unconstitutional and cruel; they should be vetoed (as Gov. Romer did in Colorado). 3. Hit the press with stories, letters, and arguments. 4. Get non-gay friends and family to do the same -- NOW. Openly non-gay people have a very important contribution to make here. 5. Get materials, talking points, analyses, and help from Lambda, HRC, the ACLU, NGLTF, Log Cabin, GLAAD, PFLAG, NOW, People for the American Way, and other National Freedom to Marry Coalition members and State Partners. Get copies of the editorials and op-eds that are appearing all around the country. CIRCULATE THEM. Remember: our enemies want to shut down the marriage discussion, fearing the opportunity it gives us to shatter the stereotypes, speak about our lives and families in a powerful rhetoric of truth, and secure full equality. We must not let them think their state by state aggression, or this federal assault, will stop us from engaging the non-gay persuadable public. As Martin Luther King instructed us, "In the current struggle, there is one positive course of action. There is no alternative, for the alternative would connote a rear march.... In this Revolution, no plans have been written for retreat. Those who will not get into step will find that the parade has passed them by.... The sooner our society admits that the ... Revolution is no momentary outburst soon to subside into placid passivity, the easier the future will be for us all." - WHY WE CAN'T WAIT, p.133 THANKS to everyone for speaking out and sticking with -- Evan Wolfson Director The Marriage Project Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund 666 Broadway, 12th Floor NY, NY 10012 212-995-8585-voice 212-995-2306-fax