Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 19:17:13 -0600 From: "FACES of South Dakota, Inc." Subject: New appointment Free Americans Creating Equal Status of South Dakota, Inc. is pleased to announce the election of new lifetime members John Johnson of Rapid City and Carroll Peterson of Watertown to the board of directors of FACES of South Dakota, Inc. Johnson has also accepted of the position of "Webmaster" for the FACES of South Dakota webpages. He will be updating all materials on FACES webpages located at http://www.rapidnet.com/~facessd/. Johnson has extensive experience with the creation of webpages. He will be working closely with FACES Board President Barry Wick and the other board members to design, create and routinely update webpages for the two year old organization. Peterson has been involved in the creation of an AIDS network to help those persons with AIDS and their families in northeastern South Dakota. He has been a member since early in the organization's creation. Johnson is a Rapid City transportation facilitator. FACES annual meeting was held September 20th in Sioux Falls. FACES annual membership meeting also included guest speaker Matthew Petersen-Samp, a former South Dakota resident now of Omaha who is a facilitator for a gay youth group and media specialist. He urged South Dakota to get involved in the creation of a hotline for gay youth and a group for gay and questioning youth in the state's major cities. Other speakers included Aleta and Jean Fenceberry of Sioux City, Iowa who have created national attention for their information advocacy efforts for the gay community on-line. Their "Fenceberry@aol.com" information service provides hundreds of articles, letters to the editor and general information for a "who's-who" of lesbian and gay community activists. They were named to the annual "OUT 100" list in 1996 for their efforts and heroism. Lifetime membership in the organization is granted by the organization for a donation of $500.00 or more in a single calendar year. FACES provides information, safe spaces and organizational services for South Dakota's gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and two-spirit communities. The organization was officially incorporated October 31, 1995. --------- At the annual meeting FACES President Barry Wick called South Dakota "the founder of a modern round of state supported religious persecution of gay men and lesbians." South Dakota became the first state since the Hawaii Supreme Court Decision to attempt to ban and then deny marriage for same-sex partners. "If the Congress denies federal funding to foreign nations because of religious persecution, then South Dakota ought to be denied federal funding. This state's public denial of marriage for gays and lesbian is a result of religious political extremists' and Christian radicals' position that gays and lesbians are second-class citizens and do not deserve to create contracts in their loving unions. That's religious persecution," says Wick. "It is hypocritical of a nation to deny funding overseas for religious persecution when it denies benefits to citizens at home on account of religious persecution. This religious persecution is the spirit of South Dakota's marriage ban and the Defense of Marriage Act." The Wolf/Specter bill--The Freedom From Religious Persecution Act--would establish a new White House position responsible for assessing and reporting whether religious persecution exists in a country. If such a finding is made, automatic sanctions would go into effect unless formally waived by the President. <<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>> Free Americans Creating Equal Status of South Dakota, Inc. (FACES) South Dakota Alternative Library 625 1/2 Main St Ste 3, Rapid City, SD 57701-2758 Phone 605-343-5577, FAX 605-394-8962 email: facessd@rapidnet.com; webpages: http://www.rapidnet.com/~facessd/ <<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>