Date: Sun, 3 Mar 96 01:21 EST From: Maggie Heineman Subject: Pennsylvania Expose - March 3, 1996 Pennsylvania Expose - March 3, 1996 To subscribe to Pennsylvania Expose, email listproc@critpath.org Put a one-line message in the body: subscribe pa-explv YourFirstName YourLastName The 2-page formatted version of Pennsylvania Expose is available to organizations by fax or U.S. mail. Contact maggie@critpath.org Pennsylvania Expose is also distributed through ftr-pa and ftr-l ================================================================== A. Communications Decency: Second Lawsuit - IWG B. Christian Coalition in Pennsylvania - C.C. Watch C. Common Law Court Speaker at Phila. College of Pharmacy - CHD E. Concerned Woman on AM Philadelphia - Philadelphia PFLAG E. Letters F. Calendar =================================================================== A. Communications Decency: Second Lawsuit - IWG by Chris Purdom, co-coordinator, Interfaith Working Group A second suit against the Communications Decency Act (CDA) has been filed by The Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition (CIEC), which includes the Center for Democracy and Technology, America Online, the American Library Association, and People for the American Way. Individuals were invited to join as plaintiffs, and over 5000 individuals have already done so. Recently passed by congress as part of the Telecommunications Reform Act, the CDA was pushed hard by the Christian Coalition. It criminalizes any internet discussion of abortion (pro or con) or suggestion of sexual acts which would be indecent or offensive to readers based on their community standards. The ACLU filed suit in Philadelphia Federal Court to block the act on behalf of a number of organizations, primarily AIDS and family planning information providers. Included are Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania, The Queer Resources Directory, and the Critical Path AIDS Network (provider of resources for the pa-explv and ftr-pa mailing lists, and the Fight the Right Network web pages). The judge granted a temporary restraining order against the "indecent" provision of the CDA, and the Justice Department has agreed that the restrictions on abortion discussion are unconstitutional and that they will not enforce them. The Religious Right has been calling the CDA an attempt to protect children from pornography, failing to note that exposing children to pornography is already illegal. The CDA will also allow censorship of accurate information about family planning, AIDS, and homosexuality. Censorship always goes further than its proponents initially claim. When the school board in Merrimack, New Hampshire originally proposed a ban on positive discussions of homosexuality, opponents said that classical works of literature would be banned. These warnings were dismissed as alarmist, and yet within the first year Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" was removed from the high school curriculum. The ACLU has warned that the same thing could happen in this case, and many Christians have opposed the CDA because it could be used to censor hypertext versions of the Bible. The 24-Hours of Democracy Project includes web essays objecting to the CDA from over 1,000 diverse individuals. While the press has been reporting the various protests against the CDA, including the suits, the web blackout and 24 Hours of Democracy, there has been a great deal of confusion because they have blindly accepted the Christian Coalition's claim that the bill is to prevent children's access to pornography, thus making it seem that huge numbers of people are going to great lengths to support children seeing porn on the Net. ACLU head Stephan Presser was recently debating a CDA supporter on NPR. After his opponent ranted on about the ACLU defending child pornographers, Presser introduced the client he had brought with him who was also concerned about the CDA: a nun. And on one day the Philadelphia Daily News printed two pro-CDA, anti-porn columns - from both Mike Royko and Stu Bykofsky, who hadn't done any more research on the topic than anyone else in the press. Focus on the Family is asking its members to urge Janet Reno to enforce the CDA. Meanwhile the few senators who voted against the CDA have introduced a bill to repeal it. Suggested Actions: 1. Talk to Senators Spector and Santorum about repealing the CDA. Toll-free numbers connect directly to the Capitol Switchboard. Call 1-800-962-3524 or 1-800-972-3524 (courtesy of the Christian Coalition). 2. Visit the Interfaith Working Group, ACLU, 24 Hours of Democracy and Critical Path web pages for examples of what could be censored: http://www.libertynet.org/~iwg/ http://www.aclu.org/ http://www.hotwired.com/userland/24 http://www.critpath.org/ 3. Sign up as a plaintiff before March 15 as part of the CIEC: http://www.cdt.org/ciec/ 4. Write letters to your local paper about their coverage of the CDA. Contact Janet Reno about CDA enforcement and court defense: Attorney General Janet Reno Justice Department Tenth and Constitution NW Room 400 Washington DC 20530 201-514-2001 ============================================================== B. Christian Coalition in Pennsylvania - C.C. Watch From "C.C. Watch:" reprinted with permission - Request the complete report from maggie@critpath.org Exclusive Report: CC in PA (introduction only) Last month a story on the Christian Coalition in Pennsylvania appeared in the "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette," detailing the place of that organization in state Republican politics and saying that the nationally-touted group was "on the ropes" (1/14/96). The article was a real eye-opener. But there was something amiss. The person portrayed as the state leader of that organization, Richard Schenker, was no longer affiliated with THE Christian Coalition as we know it. In fact, Pat Robertson's political operation had severed its official relationship with the entity led by Schenker in a letter dated December 23rd. It prohibited that group from continuing to use the name "Christian Coalition." So Schenker--who has been involved in questionable political activities in the county where he lives--and his followers now call themselves the Pennsylvania Coalition. The Christian Coalition is scrambling to reorganize on the state level--a situation which can't have buoyed its county affiliates. Copyright 1996 Public-Spirited Enterprises. All rights reserved. (For more information or to subscribe to the complete, unique and timely reportage/commentary of The "c.c.watch" Electronic News Service, call 305/751-5001 or email Watch97@aol.com. =================================================================== C. Common Law Court Speaker at Phila. College of Pharmacy - CHD from CHD Press Release 33-9775 The Coalition for Human Dignity (CHD) has learned that Eugene Schroder, a militia proponent who taught paramilitary seminars in the 1980s will speak in Philadelphia at the College of Pharmacy and Science at 43rd St. and Woodlands Ave. on March 2, 1996. Schroder's involvement with the far right extends back to the early 1980s when he aligned with the racist, anti-Semitic and violent Posse Comitatus. As reported in the Denver Post, in 1982 Schroder taught paramilitary seminars, including bomb-making, on his father's southeastern Colorado farm. Schroder continues his involvement with the paramilitary wing of the far right down to the present, attending a late 1995 meeting sponsored by the North Texas Constitutional Militia. Schroder is listed as a director of the Oklahoma-based United Sovereigns of America, an organization linked to common law courts in at least 13 states. As detailed in a forthcoming CHD report titled Guns & Gavels: Common Law Courts, Militias and White Supremacy, these courts are modeled on the Posse Comitatus and are closely linked to militias. Common law courts operate in at least 30 states and court leaders in Montana, California and Florida presently face felony charges for threats against public officials. The United Sovereigns also sell an array racist and anti-Semitic material, including the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion. For more information contact the Coalition for Human Dignity at (206) 233-9775. The Coalition for Human Dignity is a non-profit organization that monitors and reports on the activities of organized racists in the Pacific Northwest. http://www.halcyon.com/burghart/chd.html =================================================================== D. Concerned Woman on AM Philadelphia - Philadelphia PFLAG by Maggie Heineman, Advocacy Chair, Philadelphia Chapter Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays On Wednesday, February 28, AM Philadelphia (Channel 6 - ABC) provided an opportunity for a spokesperson from Concerned Women for America to disseminate a number of lies about research into the origins of sexual orientation. The "concerned woman" in question claimed that the statistic that 30 per cent of teen suicides are related to sexual orientation was discredited because it came from the Kinsey Institute. The 30 per cent figure actually comes from a federal report completed during the Bush administration. The "concerned woman" further stated that the researcher who announced he'd isolated a "gay gene" was arrested for fraud and for tampering with evidence. A "gay gene" was never claimed by Dean Hamer, and allegations about his studies have been discredited. (Also, one cannot be arrested for academic or research fraud.) Hamer's studies were conducted at the National Institutes of Health, are peer-reviewed by (the other) top geneticists in the country, and have been found to be methodologically flawless. Philadelphia PFLAG Helpline 215.572.1833 http://www.critpath.org/~maggie/pflag/ ==================================================================== E. Letters - Letter writing opportunities and model letters are a staple of the ftr-pa mailing list. On February 29, the Philadelphia Daily news published three (3) letters which were written because of announcements on ftr-pa. Recent model letters: 2/23 * to the Daily News about in support of their article about (PFLAG) the difficulties of growing up gay and asking people to write letters to youth in Utah c/o Salt Lake City UTAH 2/24 * to the Superintendent of the Penn-Delco School District (IWG) praising a teacher for using the Southern Poverty Law Center's "Teaching Tolerance" materials (a local right-wing group had complained). 2/24 * to the Philadelphia Daily News refuting a letter which they (IWG) had headlined "The Christian Position" which claimed to speak for all "real" Christians. 2/28 *to the Inquirer concerning the 2/28 AM Philadelphia TV show (PFLAG) and the falsehoods told by the representative from Concerned Women for America about the statistics on teen suicide related to sexual orientation. (GLSTN) *from Janice Pinto, Ardmore high school teacher and sponsor of Straight and Gay Alliance, to a Utah newspaper about the need to celebrate all the students and to not support bigotry. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Letter-Writing Opportunities: (this week's top two:) 2/23 Inquirer: one article had a comment from a Utah State legislator that this is what states' rights is all about (supressing minorities). Never forget. 2/24 Inquirer: Page 9: The "Citizen Voices" background on "The Troubled American Family". While claiming not to have a viewpoint, the word "troubled" kind of assumes that by "family" we mean my kind only (father, mother, 2 kids) and personally, I don't feel troubled. The word "gay" is only mentioned in opposition to the "Traditional Values" viewpoint. They do not list an anti-gay agenda as the centerpiece of "traditional values". ====================================================================== F. Calendar Mar. 13 - 6:30 PM Town Meeting: Philadelphia Freedom to Marry Coalition. GLBT Community Center, So. Camac St. 215.893.0968 Mar. 14 - 7:30 PM "Fighting Words: An Open Letter to Queers and Radicals" at Giovanni's Room, 345 S. 12th St at Pine, Phila. Scott Tucker - booking reading and discussion. March 16, 1:00-5:30pm, "Implementing Beijing", A Call to action after the UN Fourth World Conference on Women. Germantown Friends Meeting, 47 W. Coulter St. Accessible, 843-8747 Mar. 19 - Women and Welfare Lobby Day in Harrisburg. Sponsored by the Coalition for Women and Children. 215.928.9801. Mar. 19-20 Moms and Dads Go to Washington - PFLAG lobbies for ENDA. Philadelphia Coordinator: maggie@critpath.org. ================================================================= Pennsylvania Expose - March 3, 1996 To subscribe to Pennsylvania Expose, email listproc@critpath.org Put a one-line message in the body: subscribe pa-explv YourFirstName YourLastName The 2-page formatted version of Pennsylvania Expose is available to organizations by fax or U.S. mail. Contact maggie@critpath.org Pennsylvania Expose is also distributed through ftr-pa and ftr-l ================== Permission to repost ======================== Send news to Maggie Heineman Communications Working Group, Fight the Right Network ==http://www.critpath.org/ftrn/ Pennsylvania Expose connects individuals and representatives of organizations working to promote social and economic justice, democracy, and sexual and reproductive freedom by counteracting the religious right's attempts to undermine the separation of church and state, and impose religious control of government, education, and public life. ============================ END ====================================