Date: Mon, 21 Feb 1994 14:05:01 -0800 (PST) From: Deborah Caplow Subject: BIGOT BUSTERS TRAINING (Seattle, 2/26/94) BBB BBB *****FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***** B B B B NO on 608! BBB BBB BIGOT BUSTERS TRAINING, 2/26/94 B B B B NO on 610! BBB BBB ------------------------------- Civil rights are under attack by the Radical Right in Washington State in the form of Initiatives 608 and 610, which would deny civil rights protections to gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered persons, as well as deny custody of children to sexual minorities and prohibit free and honest discussion of homosexuality in schools and state universities. Queer Nation/Seattle is determined to fight these initiatives in a variety of ways this year. One of the projects we are undertaking is the formation of BIGOT BUSTERS. BIGOT BUSTERS are rapid-response teams which are dispatched to public locations where signatures are being gathered for these initiatives. These teams engage potential signatories and other passers-by in conversation, presenting the dangers of the initiatives to them in an effort to persuade them, within the guidlines of the law, not to sign the petitions. BIGOT BUSTING has been used successfully in other campaigns, particularly in Oregon, to educate the voting poulace of the dangers of curtailing the civil rights of fellow Americans, and in Portland such an initiative was successfully kept off the ballot when it failed to gain enough qualifying signatures. QN/Seattle believes that we can achieve such success here in Seattle and King County. To this end, we are providing a FREE TRAINING, led by Oregon BIGOT BUSTERS leader Bob Ralphs, an experienced and successful BIGOT BUSTER: * Saturday, February 26, 1994 * 10:00 am to 3:00 pm * Seattle Central Community College, Room 1110 Pine & Broadway, Capitol Hill, Seattle * FREE (donations will be welcome) * All are welcome! BIGOT BUSTING is a powerful experience for participants, but for those who do not feel comfortable dealing directly with voters on the "front-lines," there are a variety of other crucial support roles, such as Dispatcher (receiving notification of signature collection and dispatching the appropriate teams to these locations), or Bigot Hunters (who "case" a location, confirming that initiative activity is indeed taking place and checking for electoral law violations). ************************************************************************ We urge you to attend this unique and important training, to become part of the effort to defend civil rights in Washington...to be proactive...to fight back! Anyone and everyone interested in derailing and defeating Initiatives 608 and 610 is strongly encouraged to attend! Please tell your friends and colleagues about BIGOT BUSTING; we also encourage wide dissemination of this notification! ************************************************************************ For any further information about BIGOT BUSTERS, you may feel free to contact: Patrick Hogan 206-325-2286 or Queer Nation 206-720-4686 (24 hr. voicemail) (And incidentally, Queer Nation will be going ice-skating on the evening of the 26th, at 8:00 pm at Highland Ice Arena, 18005 Aurora Ave N, Seattle. Carpools leave Safeway at 15th Ave E and E John at 7:30 pm. Admission $4; skate rental $2. BYOB(odyguard); crowbars optional. BIGOT BUSTERS training participants are especially welcome!) -- ------ Darci L. Chapman - Northwest Natural Gas - dlc@gasco.com \ --/--- Bumpersticker of the Week: "Support Mental Health or I'll Kill You" \ \/ / Don't support discrimination -- don't support the OCA! \/\ / (I do not speak for the Gas Company, and They do not speak for Me) \/About Me "What would happen if the far right held a campaign and nobody came?" -Lee Lynch