National Freedom To Marry Day-Feb. 12
National Freedom to Marry Day
will take place on Thurs., Feb.
12 as recently announced by the National Freedom to Marry Coalition, which includes Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund; the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force; Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation; the American Civil Liberties Union; Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders; the National Organization of Women; Parents, Friends, and Family of Lesbians and Gays; and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, as well as hundreds of non-gay and gay local and state partners across the country.
Falling on Abraham Lincoln's birthday and only two days before Valentine's day, Feb. 12 represents both equality and love.
"The choice of whether or whom to marry is one of the most important personal decisions there is," says Evan Wolfson, who spearheads Lambda's Marriage Project. "It belongs to couples in love, not politicians or governments. National Freedom to Marry Day is an opportunity to help everyone understand the hardships and unfairness caused by denying lesbian and gay couples the Freedom to marry. Working toward National Freedom to Marry Day's commemorations on Feb. 12 gives us the chance to focus on winning more allies."
Many of the events on National Freedom to Marry Day will center around the Marriage Resolution, a statement of support for equal marriage rights endorsed by hundreds of organizations, clergy, and prominent individuals.
In addition to unveiling the names of new allies and introducing couples and families for whom the Freedom to Marry is urgently important, organizers are asking allies across the country to participate in a show of support by "Tying the Knot."
"Tying the Knot" will entail knotting ribbons around trees, lamp posts, buildings, door knobs, and car antennae. Individuals are asked to tie a knot around their ring finger or arm, or to wear a knot on their lapel.
"Every person who Ties the Knot,' on Feb. 12 will be starting conversations." says Kevin M. Cathcart, executive director of Lambda. "When someone asks what the ribbon means, each of us can explain: it represents support for the Freedom to Marry, equality for Lesbians and Gay men, and love."
"We're asking everyone to think about their important life ties," Cathcart added. "That's what the knot represents. By refusing to recognize those ties, the state forces terrible risks on Lesbian and Gay families and couples-in effect, often severing those ties. Whether it involves hospital visitation, child custody, immigration, or other legal securities, Lesbian and Gay couples and families need the same basic family-survival rights that everyone else can enjoy."
UFMCC to Sponsor Historic
National African American Conference
In Our Own Language: A Conference for African Americans in
UFMCC will be held in suburban Washington, DC Apr. 16-18. 1998. This historic national conference is the first organized entirely by and for African American friends and members of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, the world's largest predominantly gay spirituality organization.
According to the Rev. Elder Darlene Garner, conference organizer, "This conference will provide an opportunity for African Americans in UFMCC to affirm who we are in UFMCC and to celebrate the diversity of gifts and experiences we bring to the growing gay spirituality movement, and to the greater glbt communities."
Conference participants will include Dr. Kelly Brown-Douglas, professor of theology at Howard University School of Divinity; the Rev. Dillon Russell-Hinton, associate pastor of Belair United Methodist Church in Belair, MD; the Rev. Sandra Robinson, president of Samaritan Institute for Religious Studies; and the Rev. Darlene Garner, a member of the International Board of Elders of UFMCC and senior pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of Northern Virginia.
According to Garner, "The three-day conference will provide exercises to create awareness of ourselves and our community. Through leadership training, African American lay and clergy persons will be equipped with spiritual and practical tools for reclaiming, maintaining and sharing our unique gifts with the glbt communities."
Conference brochures and registration information are available from UFMCC Headquarters by phone at 310.360.8640 or by email at Info@ufmcchq.com.
UFMCC was founded in 1968 to provide positive Christian spirituality for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities. UFMCC provides more than 300 congregations in 15 countries. With an annual combined budget of $15 million, the churches of UFMCC comprise the largest predominantly gay organization in the world.
Historic S. F. Domestic Partner Law A Success
Six months after the City of San
Francisco began implementing
a law requiring companies doing business with the City to comply with domestic partner benefits policy, the city's Human Rights Commission (HRC) has declaired it a success. To date, 1,270 city contractors now offer the benefits to their employees. since the ordinance requires that companies comply in all of its locations throughout the U.S., approximately 642,757 employees now receive equal benefits. "This historic piece of legislation has had a far-reaching impact on the number of businesses providing [these] benefits to their employees and the number of insurance providers across the country offering domestic partner coverage.
"We are thrilled with the success of this anti-discrimination law," said HRC Director Marivic Bamba. [GLAAD]
Save Ellen's Future!
ABC will soon be announcing
its decision on whether or not
to renew Ellen for a new season. While producers to the show are committed to its ongoing success and the program's ratings have remained constant, ABC has continued its love/hate relationship with Ellen's open and realistic representations of Lesbian and Gay life. Ellen consistently wins in its timeslot. But ABC continues to be assaulted by constant pressure from radical religious groups targeting ABC and its parent company, Disney, based on their inclusion of gay people. The anti-gay group American Family Association is now urging their ranks to demand that ABC pull the show, claiming that such a decision would indicate that Americans reject fair representations of Lesbians and Gay men. Ellen needs your support now!
Let ABC and Disney know how much you value the show. Please include testimonials on how this show is especially important to young people dealing with their own sexual orientation, to families dealing with understanding a lesbian or gay family member and to viewers of quality television everywhere.
Contact: Jamie Tarses, Entertainment President, ABC, 2040 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90037, fax: 310.557.7679, E-mail: abcaudr@abc.com; or, Michael Eisner, Chairman and David Newman, President of Network TV, The Walt Disney Company, 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, CA 91521, fax: 818.560.1930, e-mail: WWW: http://www.disney.com/Mail. [GLAAD]
Leave Your
Stamp On History
The U.S. Postal Service is plan-
ning an upcoming stamp collection commemorating the twentieth century, and there is a chance that Lesbian and Gay history could be included-with your participation. For the "Celebrate the Century" campaign, stamps will be issued to commemorate each decade, and the public will get to vote on which ones will honor the 1950s-1990s. The nominations to be voted on by the public will be chosen by the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC). This committee needs to hear from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and those concerned with honoring America's lesbian and gay heritage, and GLAAD is spearheading a letter-writing campaign to ensure that Americans will be able to vote for a major lesbian and gay event in American history as a possible candidate for the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
"This is a unique opportunity for our community to have a direct impact on Lesbian and Gay visibility in a medium that Americans use every day-stamps," said GLAAD Executive Director Joan M. Garry. "While there are lesbian, gay and bisexual people represented in some stamps (Bessie Smith, James Dean, Tennessee Williams and Cole Porter, most notably), our community's larger history is invisible in the world of stamps."
Please ask the CSAC to include the Stonewall Riots for the 1960s, slain civil rights leader and San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk for the 1970s, the 1987 display of the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt in Washington, D.C. for the 1980s and the historic 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Civil Rights and Liberation. In addition, explain why each event holds special historical meaning. Act quickly, as the ballots for the 1960s could be finalized as early as the beginning of March!
Contact: Stamps Department, Attn.: Dr. Virginia Noelke, Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L'Enfant Plaza SW, RM 4474E, Washington, D.C. 20260-6753. [GLAAD]
2nd Annual GLAMA Nominees
Announced in New York
It was definitely a "girls night out"
as GLAMA announced their nominees for the 2nd Annual Gay/Lesbian American Music Awards recently in New York City. Artists such as Me'Shell Ndegeocello, the Indigo Girls and Ferron were each named three times during the nominees announcement which took place at "Come Out and Play," a special GLAMA concert event. Male acts given multiple nods were Tom Robinson (4 nominations) and Erasure (2 nominations). (A full listing of nominees and categories follows.)
Other multiple nominees include disappear fear, Laura Love, the Women's Chorus of Dallas and the Murmurs with two each. Among the 72 nominees in 14 categories are familiar names like k.d. lang's Drag (nominated for Album), Luscious Jackson (Band), Mark Eitzel (Male Artist), Sleater-Kinney (Band) and jazz musician Fred Hersch (Instrumental). Even Broadway was represented with a nomination going to Anthony Rapp on the Tony Award-winning Rent (Music in a Dramatic Setting).
"We were pleasantly surprised by the number of out gay acts who submitted, many on major labels, relative to two years ago when we began," said Michael Mitchell, GLAMA co-creator and executive producer who made the announcement along with comic Julie Goldman. "There's a popular misconception that only a few, well-known acts are 'out' when in reality, there are hundreds of Lesbian & Gay acts releasing great music." Over 300 entries were submitted by over 150 acts for consideration for the 2nd Annual GLAMA. The ceremony takes place on Mon., Mar. 9, in New York City and will be hosted by comic Suzanne Westenhoefer, herself a nominee in the Comedy category.
Ru Paul was announced as the recipient of the Outmusic Award which honors him for his "embodiment of courage and truthful self-expression." Since his breakaway #1 hit "Supermodel," Ru Paul has gone on to become a New York radio DJ, cosmetics spokesperson and V.-1 talk show host. "Ru Paul is someone that has broken down numerous barriers, including race and commonly held ideas of gender, to become a household name around the world," said Tom McCormick, GLAMA co-creator and Executive Producer. Past Out music Award recipients include Ferron and Boy George.
Nominees for each category were chosen by judging panels comprised of music industry executives, music and gay media personnel, recording artists and others in the music industry. All nominated recordings are by self-identified gay, lesbian, or bisexual artists and were commercially released in the United States between June 1, 1996 and Dec. 321, 1997.
