From: RevMel@aol.com
Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 14:54:40 -0500
Subject: From Mel White (if the following is appropriate) Thanks...

PLEASE READ THIS URGENT REQUEST AND RESPOND IF YOU CAN.
THEN FORWARD IT TO EVERY PERSON ON YOUR LIST.

 WHAT A TRAGEDY IT WOULD BE 
TO FAIL OUR FRIENDS IN HAWAII
JUST AS THEY ARE ABOUT TO WIN 
THIS GREAT VICTORY FOR US ALL!

   	Yesterday, I received an urgent, personal request from H.E.R.M.P., the
Hawaii Equal Right Marriage Project.  Thanks to the courageous and committed
H.E.R.M.P. team,  headed by activist-lawyer, Dan Foley,  lesbian and gay
couples like ourselves are about to win the 175-250 rights and protections
that go with marriage (at least in Hawaii.)
    	  What I didn't know is this.  Foley and the others on his H.E.R.M.P.
team have conducted this entire, history-making endeavor with almost no
financial support from the mainland.  Our national organizations and millions
of individual lesbians and gays have been quick to celebrate this great
victory in Hawaii, but none of us yet has offered any significant financial
support to the very people who are making the victory possible.  
       [The one great exception is LLDEF who, through the services of Evan
Wolfson,   has provided expert co-counsel and a powerful national campaign to
support same-gender marriage,  but no significant funding to assist
H.E.R.M.P.  When I asked Evan if we should help H.E.R.M.P. pay this debt, he
answered in one word: "YES!!!"]  
       Now, H.E.R.M.P. is facing a "severe financial crisis."  They are
$60,000 in debt and the battle is not yet won.  This exhausted group of
hard-working and multi-talented volunteers has won us this incredible victory
with no staff, no office, no paid media help, and limited support from the
small and barely organized lesbigayT community in Hawaii.
    	 For all these years of legal struggle, H.E.R.M.P.’s chief legal
counsel, Dan Foley, has donated 20-40 hours weekly to this cause.  Dan is a
heterosexual with a passion for gay rights.   He only bills for a token of
the time he spends on our behalf (yet, he has two children, a mortgage, an
office and an office staff to support.)
       If  this $60,000 debt makes H.E.R.M.P. unable to pay him anything, Mr.
Foley may have to devote his time to other clients and cut back severely on
the time he spends making our case with the local and national media and with
a whole host of political forces who will eventually determine whether we win
or lose our much-needed rights.  We cannot fail this man who has never once
failed us.
	 It is a disgrace that H.E.R.M.P. is fighting this battle alone when all of
us will share in the rights and protections they are about to win for us.
  After appealing to the major activist groups on the mainland and receiving
almost no financial support, they shared their heart-breaking dilemma with
me.  Our friends at H.E.R.M.P. feel frustrated, cut off, and pretty much
abandoned by the mainland lesbigayT community.  Will you join me in helping
them raise the $60,000 that threatens the victory that is so close at hand?
       Today, Gary and I are sending a check for $500. to HERMP from our own
 limited funds to help show Dan Foley and the people of HERMP that we are
grateful for the sacrifices they have made for us all and that we, in turn,
are willing to sacrifice a little of ourselves.
       Please, send a check today.   Be generous.  It's tax deductible but
even more, your gift will be an incredible spirit boost to our friends in
Hawaii.
        Happy New Year and sincere thanks,
        Mel White and Gary Nixon

       Send your check and your cards and letters of support or inquiry to:
       H.E.R.M.P. 
(Hawaii Equal Rights Marriage Project)
       P.O. Box 11690
       Honolulu, HI. 96828

PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST