Date: Sat, 25 Oct 1997 00:08:19 +0000 From: Jesús Lebrón Subject: Career Queers & The NYC Mayor's Race GAY & LESBIAN ADVOCATES FOR CHANGE PRESS RELEASE October 25, 1997 CONTACT : Gary Lawman (h)337-3735 (w)350-3145 Brendan Fay (h)740-9504 Jesús Lebrón (h)206-7086 GROUP CONDEMNS `PRIDE' AGENDA DEAL WITH GIULIANI Accuses ESPA of `Selling Out' the Gay and Lesbian Community The decision of the Empire State Pride Agenda on 10/20/97 not to endorse in the New York mayoral election was condemned by Gay & Lesbian Advocates for Change (GLAC) as a betrayal of the cause of equal rights for lesbians and gay men. GLAC also described ESPA's deal with Giuliani on domestic partners a fraud on the gay community.' `The choice for mayor has never been clearer for voters who care about lesbian and gay rights.' said Gary Lawman, coordinator of GLAC, an independent coalition that has enlisted the support of virtually every major gay and lesbian leader and organization in the City in support of the candidacy of Ruth Messinger. `Ruth Messinger has an unparalleled twenty year record of support for equal justice for gay people,' said Lawman, `and Rudy Giuliani has opposed virtually every issue on the gay agenda.' `Giuliani's eleventh hour deal with ESPA on domestic partnership is a fraud on the gay community,' said Jesús Lebrón, co-founder of GLAC. `He has had four years to support comprehensive domestic partners legislation and he refused to even discuss it. His proposal to ESPA does not even go as far as Council Member Tom Duane's Intro 30. For Dick Dadey of ESPA to say that the mayor's proposal would put New York in the vanguard on this issue ignores the fact that San Francisco already requires contractors to provide domestic partners benefits. And Giuliani opposes same-sex marriage that would confer 1,049 benefits that heterosexual couples enjoy according to the General Accounting Office. ESPA is selling out the gay and lesbian community cheap.' Consider the following differences between the candidates: * Messinger was the deciding vote in favor of the city's lesbian and gay rights law in 1986; Rudy Giuliani was still opposed to that law when he ran for mayor in 1989 * Messinger appeared on ABC's `Nightline' to defend multicultural education inclusive of gay issues; Giuliani directed his members of the Board of Education to eliminate sexual orientation from the school's multicultural policy * Messinger has always supported explicit AIDS education in the school's; Giuliani had condom lessons banned from classrooms despite a skyrocketing rate of HIV among the city's teenagers * Messinger was a strong supporter of legislation to strengthen the city's Division of AIDS Services (DAS); Giuliani tried to dismantle DAS when he took office * Messinger supports full domestic partners benefits if they provide spousal benefits; Giuliani refuses to support such legislation * Messinger supports the right of same-sex couples to marry; Giuliani believes that same-sex marriage should be banned * Messinger refuses to march in parades that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation; Giuliani flaunts his participation in the anti-gay St. Patrick's, India Day, and Pulaski Day parades `The list of Messinger achievements and Giuliani slights goes on and on,' Lebrón said, `and for the Empire State Pride Agenda to renege on what most of us in the progressive gay/lesbian activist community thought was a common committment to democratic principles, that of caring for all gay and lesbian peoples of NYS, is a shocking betrayal and an abandonment of a philosophy that was founded on true coalition building between all the minority communities of New York." GLAC organized a press conference just two weeks ago where over 100 gay and lesbian activists elected officials, and community leaders endorsed Ruth Messinger. GLAC is the organizer of the upcoming October 28th gay and lesbian `Rally Round Ruth' to be held at 7:00PM outside the historic Stonewall Bar.