From: MPetrelis@aol.com
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1999 10:51:20 EST
Subject: QW gets anti-death penalty statement from gay groups

    PLEASE REPOST WIDELY!!    PLEASE REPOST WIDELY!!

For Immediate Release
February 11, 1999
Contacts:

Bill Dobbs  212-966-1091
email:  duchamp@mindspring.com

Michael Petrelis  415-621-6267
email:  MPetrelis@aol.com

      GAY CONTROVERSY EXPLODES OVER DEATH PENALTY 
                 REQUEST IN MATTHEW SHEPARD CASE;

          Queer Watch Decries Silence of Human Rights Campaign

New York, NY - A victory over violence was declared by the gay grassroots 
group Queer Watch as eleven gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender 
organizations condemned the death penalty in a statement released today.

The joint statement came after a month of pressure by Queer Watch.  Capital 
punishment has become a volatile issue as the gay community grapples with 
Matthew Shepard's murder.  Late last year Wyoming prosecutor Cal Rerucha 
filed death penalty requests in the cases of two men charged with the 
killing.  Queer Watch ignited a tinderbox of controversy when it denounced 
Rerucha's action and urged g/l/b/t groups to join its campaign against 
capital punishment.

Some of the country's biggest gay groups are now on record opposed to the 
death penalty, including Lambda Legal Defense Fund and the National Gay and 
Lesbian Task Force.  People of color groups in the gay community have also 
added their voices to the joint statement including Gay Men of African 
Descent and LLEGO -- National Latina/o LGBT Organization.  The Triangle 
Foundation of Detroit, Michigan was the first group to follow Queer Watch's 
lead on this issue.

America's largest gay group, the Human Rights Campaign (based in 
Washington, D.C.) remains evasive on the subject of the death penalty. 
 "Capital punishment is the ultimate human rights violation.  The silence 
of the Human Rights Campaign on this issue is deadly.  It is time for HRC 
to join Amnesty International, the NAACP and many gay groups in working to 
end this inhumane punishment." said Queer Watch spokesperson Michael 
Petrelis from San Francisco.

Queer Watch expects many more g/l/b/t groups to speak out on this issue. In 
New York City Queer Watch spokesperson Bill Dobbs stated, "As the Shepard 
murder united our communities in outrage and mourning, we can only be 
divided by a bloody revenge."

Community groups from the Gay Liberation Front in 1969 to ACT UP in more 
recent years have achieved enormous social change through non-violent 
resistance to oppression.  This is the spirit Queer Watch wishes to 
continue.  The g/l/b/t community is now confronted with the issue of 
capital punishment and it must rise to the challenge.

Shepard's murder in Wyoming last October drew worldwide attention and 
sparked hundreds of rallies and marches.  Shortly after Shepard's death, 
Queer Watch called for justice - including fair trials for Russell 
Henderson and Aaron McKinney who face murder, robbery and kidnapping 
charges.  Henderson's trial is scheduled to begin March 22nd.

"We urge gay people and every g/l/b/t group to stand for justice, not 
vengeance," Bill Dobbs stated.

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