Date: Fri, 04 Oct 1996 23:53:56 -0400 From: Maggie Heineman Subject: Pennsylvania Expose 10/5/96 Pennsylvania Expose October 5, 1996 Number 12 CONTENTS * Children's Defense Fund * PA Anti-marriage Legislation * The Internet's Engine for Politics: Email * Hate Crimes * Assault on The Supreme Court * Sports Radio Station Gay Bashing * Calendar * [PAX Masthead] ================================================ Children's Defense Fund -- By John Aravosis Children's Defense Fund (hn3208@handsnet.org) Call Senator Spector NOW to save two key children's programs. House and Senate negotiators are debating the Community Schools program (youth crime prevention) and Community-based Family Resource and Support Grant Program (child abuse prevention). Both are funded in a Senate version of the appropriations bill; neither is funded in the House version. Negotiations are reportedly not going well. Specter (chairman of the Labor subcommittee) needs to hear from PA immediately. Urge everyone you know to call Specter and tell him to hold firm on the proposed Senate funding levels for the Community Schools program and the Community-based Family Resource and Support Grant program. Senator Specter's office in DC: 202/224-4254 US Congress Switchboard: 202/224-3121 ================================================ PA Anti-marriage Legislation -- By Joe Perkinson Eastern Pennsylvania Freedom to Marry Coalition (PHFtoMarry@aol.com) SB434 barring recognition of same-sex marriages has been passed by the house 177 to 16 and the Senate 43 to 5 and now needs a concurrence vote on unrelated amendments in the house before going to Gov. Ridge. We now know without question who is friendly and who is not. The sixteen Representatives and five Senators who voted against SB434 are our most courageous allies. Our friends voting against SB434 in the House: L. Cohen (R-Montgomery), Carn (D-Philadelphia), M. Cohen (D-Philadelphia), Curry (D-Montgomery), Evans (D-Philadelphia), Itkin (D-Allegheny), Josephs (D-Philadelphia), Manderino (D-Philadelphia), Michlovic (D-Allegheny), Oliver (D-Philadelphia), Pistella (D-Allegheny), Roebuck (D-Philadelphia) Thomas (D-Philadelphia), A. Williams (D-Philadelphia), Youngblood (D-Philadelphia). In the Senate: Heckler (R-Bucks), Fumo (D-Philadelphia), Hughes (D-Philadelphia), Schwartz (D-Philadelphia), and H. Williams (D-Philadelphia). House sponsors: Argall (R-Schuylkill/Berks), Armstrong (R-Lancaster), Baker (R-Tioga), Birmelin (R-Wayne), Brown (R-Crawford), D. Clark (R-Juniata), Clymer (R- Bucks), Coy (D-Franklin), DiGirolamo (R-Bucks), Egolf (R-Perry), Fargo (R-Mercer), Feese (R-Lycomming), Fleagle (R-Franklin), Flick (R-Chester), Hennessey (R-Chester), Hershey (R-Chester), Hess (R-Bedford), Hutchinson (R-Venango), Leh (R-Berks), Lloyd (D-Sommerset), Lucyk (D-Schuylkill), Lynch (R-Warren), Maitland (R-Adams), Micozzie (R-Delaware), Olasz (D-Allegheny), Phillips (R-Northumberland), Pitts (R-Chester), Roher (R-Berks), Sather (R-Huntingdon), Saylor (R-York), Schroder (R-Chester), Schuler (R-Lancaster), Snyder (R-Lehigh), Stern (R-Blair), Stish (R-Luzerne), Taylor (R-Chester), Tigue (D-Luzerne), True (R-Lancaster), and Waugh (R-York). Senate sponsors: Corman (R-Centre), Delp (R- York), Helfrick (R-Northumberland), Mowery (R-Cumberland), Peterson (R-Venago), Porterfield (D- Westmoreland), Punt (R- Perry), and Wenger (R-Lancaster). ================================================ The Internet's Engine for Politics: Email -- By Ed Schwartz Institute for the Study of Civic Values (edcivic@libertynet.org) (adapted from "NetActivism: How Citizens Use the Internet," O'Reilly and Associates, 1996) The heart of political organizing and advocacy is communication. Until now, we've relied on snail mail, telephones, and fax machines, which are expensive and limited in their outreach, requiring large organizations with sizable budgets to fully exploit them. Email is a powerful new resource. Not just a "me-to-you" broadcasting system; it is a powerful "we-to-us" communications system letting people around the world connect simultaneously. What can we do as activists through email that we can't do as easily--or at all--right now? We can send complex messages and material to each other in minutes. Fax machines give us this capacity now, but email is faster and cheaper, especially for sending all over the country. We can communicate with thousands of people simultaneously on our own time for just the access charges of our online service providers. (This does not include live "chats," which are easier over the phone.) Most organizations in the country send a newsletter to members at great time and expense. Email could eliminate all that stamping and labeling. Plus, those who receive email can respond immediately--and to everyone on the list. No previously-existing technology permits this interchange among large groups of people, let alone cheaply and easily. Email can be used to establish ongoing discussions within civic and political organizations. Meeting attendance can be problematic, with demands from job and family. Electronic communication is no substitute for meetings, but a group with an email list could conduct business every day, and the list would permit everyone in the group to be active. Radio and television are controlled by the wealthy, and communication is one-way. The Internet allows millions of us to find one another and to turn the transmitters around. Institute for the Study of Civic Values 1218 Chestnut St., Rm. 702 Phila., Pa. 19107 215-238-1434 Mailing Lists (send the following one-line messages to majordomo@civic.net): ISCV email list: subscribe civic-values ISCV PA list: subscribe penn-neighbor Web Pages: ISCV: http://libertynet.org/~edcivic/iscvhome.html Neighborhoods Online: http://libertynet.org/community/phila/natl.html. ===================================================== Hate Crimes: Discrimination and Violence Against Lesbians and Gays in PA -- By Laura Montgomery Rutt Director, The Alliance for Tolerance and Freedom Discrimination against gays and lesbians takes many forms -- workplace discrimination and subtle innuendoes in the office, violent gay bashing and sexual assault. The current social and political climate says it's okay to discriminate based on sexual orientation. Does this climate lead to more bigotry and violence? Do discrimination and violence go hand in hand? On October 11, Rita Addessa, executive director of the Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force, will address these issues with members of the Alliance for Tolerance and Freedom, Lancaster Area NOW, and others. (See EVENTS.) Rita will also discuss the results of the June 1996 Task Force study on discrimination and violence against lesbian and gays in Pennsylvania. The study found that over 80% of homosexuals experience discrimination or violence in their lifetimes because of their sexual orientation. The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that in 1996 hate crimes rose 25% over 1995; a third are motivated by homophobia. Lancaster City has a law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation for housing, employment and public access--but it's been unenforceable since the 1991 split of the City/County Human Relations Commission. The lack of enforcement is a civil rights violation and shows a lack of concern for the well- being of those the law is designed to protect. In Pennsylvania, the Human Relations Commission has no jurisdiction over discrimination or violence based on sexual orientation. An individual told that he is being fired for being gay has no recourse under PA Law. Civil rights organizations are working to change this. ==================================================== Assault on The Supreme Court -- By Chris Purdom Interfaith Working Group (iwg@libertynet.org) Former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork is on the lecture circuit proposing a constitutional amendment allowing Congress to overturn specific Supreme Court rulings with a simple majority vote, letting Congress to ignore the Constitution completely and destroying the balance of power between the three branches of government. Any member of a minority that has had their rights protected by the Supreme Court should be very concerned. ===================================================== Sports Radio Station Gay Bashing -- By Barbara Purdom Interfaith Working Group The Philadelphia sports radio station, WIP (610 on the AM dial), in anticipation of a Monday night matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys, recently engaged in a week-long pep rally designed to stir up Eagles fans. Having heard a number of rumors that Dallas quarterback Troy Aikman is gay, they played on these rumors to agitate Philadelphians against the Cowboys (hardly necessary) by creating a parody of the song "Pink Cadillac" with dubbed lyrics such as "Pink Quarterback." To voice your concern, write: WIP Sports Radio 441 N. Fifth St. Philadelphia, PA 19123 215-922-5000 FAX: 2159222364 General Manager: Cecil Forster; General Sales Manager: John Terboss; Promotion Director: Tom Bigby. ====================================================== Calendar Friday, October 11, 7:00 pm Rita Addessa, Executive Director, Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force, at the YWCA, 110 North Lime St., Lancaster. Open to the public. (See HATE CRIMES, above.) Friday October 11-Sunday October 13 Remembrance and Resistance in Washington D.C. Buses available to and from Center City Philadelphia for day trips to see the AIDS quilt Friday and Saturday. Email Julie Davids at ACT-UP or call 215-731-1844. Friday October 11-Monday October 14 PFLAG national conference in Washington D.C. Web page: http://www.pflag.org. Email: SClarke@pflag.org OR BalcomGrp@aol.com. Sunday, October 13, 2:00-9:30 pm A Gathering for Ethics and Meaning. Sponsored by the Delaware Valley Politics of Meaning Network. Keynote speaker: Michael Lerner, editor of TIKKUN Magazine and author of "The Politics of Meaning." Theater, workshops, music, dinner. Tabernacle United Church, 37th & Chestnut Sts., Phila. Registration $35 (income over $40,000), $25 (income under $40,000), $10 (income under $15,000). Call Leon Oboler at 610-227-8506, or email leonobol@voicenet.com. Sunday, October 20 AIDS Walk in Philadelphia. Call 215-389-1400 to join the Interfaith Working Group team (#428). Monday, October 14 Washington D.C.: MOBILIZE AMERICA! Videoconference from Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. Call 1-800-665-0062 or email amerunited@aol.com. Wednesday, November 6-Sunday, November 10 Creating Change Conference in Alexandria, VA. Call NGLTF at (202)332-6483, ext. 3329, cc96@ngltf.org. ============================================= [Masthead] Pennsylvania Expose Copyright (C) 1996 Pennsylvania Alliance for Democracy PO Box 366 Harrisburg, PA 17108 President, Clark Moeller * * * Permission to reproduce, unaltered, in whole or in part, with copyright notice. * * * Editors Maggie Heineman, maggie@critpath.org Barbara Purdom, purdom@critpath.org Design, Layout & Editing Joseph Bordo starwalker@earthlink.net