Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 21:25:44 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Subject: GLAADLines June 14, 1999 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JUNE 14, 1999 GLAADLINES Contact: Jerry Weinstein GLAAD Publications Manager (212) 807-1700 x18 weinstein@glaad.org http://www.glaad.org News and Breaking Stories about the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Index to Stories: 1. APUZZO LEAVES GOVERNMENT POSITION FOR NGLTF POLICY INSTITUTE 2. CALIFORNIA METHODIST LEADERS CONVENE 3. SENATOR INHOFE'S STAFF CAUGHT RED-HANDED 4. CELEBRATING FATHER'S DAY APUZZO LEAVES GOVERNMENT POSITION FOR NGLTF POLICY INSTITUTE: Virginia Apuzzo, the Clinton Administration's highest ranking lesbian official, is resigning her post as Assistant to the President for Administration and Management, and will accept a new position at The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's (NGLTF) think-tank, the Policy Institute. The Virginia Apuzzo Chair for Leadership in Public Policy, the first endowed chair to be created by the Policy Institute, is designed to recognize leaders with a distinguished record of service on behalf of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities. During Apuzzo's tenure at the Institute, she will serve as a senior movement strategist, and write and lecture on a wide range of issues. "The Apuzzo Chair creates a capacity long missing in our national gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender movement--the capacity to tap the wisdom of innovative leaders and harness their experience to strategically help our movement succeed, " said Kerry Lobel, Executive Director of the Task Force. For further comment, please contact Betsy Gressler, Deputy Political Director at NGLTF at (202) 332-6483 x3306 or by e-mail at bgressler@ngltf.org. CALIFORNIA METHODIST LEADERS CONVENE: The United Methodist Church, which has 8.5 million members, is the second-largest Protestant denomination after the Southern Baptist Convention. This past January, the Rev. Don Fado and 67 other Methodist ministers jointly blessed a union between Ellie Charlton and Jeanne Barnett. On June 15, when church leaders from the UMC's Northern California and Nevada region meet in Sacramento, CA for a general meeting, included on their agenda will be discussion of whether to charge these ministers with violating church law, a decision that might lead to a church trial. Conviction by trial might result in the stripping of pastoral credentials. According to a church spokesperson, never before have so many ministers faced the formal charge of disobedience. "At a time when mainline denominations are facing a decline in clergy, it is obvious that former methods of addressing the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons--as well as those non-gay allies who support our full inclusion--no longer work. The Methodist Church has a real opportunity here to discern the appropriate steps to be taken. Few clergy can serve in good conscience when their pastoral responses to their people are cause for discipline," said Jane Ralph GLAAD's Communities of Faith Project coordinator. For more information, please contact Ralph at (816) 756-5991 or by e-mail at ralph@glaad.org. SENATOR INHOFE'S STAFF CAUGHT RED-HANDED: Following the June 4 recess appointment of James C. Hormel as the ambassador to Luxembourg, Senator James M. Inhofe, R-Oklahoma had threatened to block all future Clinton nominations--an action which Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has agreed to support. Today it came to light that several of the Senator's aides were discovered to have downloaded pornography off the Internet--a violation of federal sexual harassment policy. The computer pornography was discovered during a routine systems check, according to the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call. "In deference to legitimate privacy concerns, our office plans no further comment, " Inhofe spokesman Gary Hoitsma said. This attention to privacy is inconsistent, at best, since the Senator has spent the last 10 days impugning the integrity and good name of Hormel, the nation's first openly gay ambassador. For further comment, please contact Wayne Besen of the Human Rights Campaign at (202) 216-1580 or by pager at (800) 386-5997. CELEBRATING FATHER'S DAY: The occasion of Father's Day allows us the opportunity to recognize fathers and grandfathers who, every day, offer acceptance and support to their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered loved ones. They have chosen to champion their children, to educate themselves and their communities and to keep their families together. Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) celebrates PFLAG Dads of all ages in small towns and large cities alike. PFLAG Dads are active across the country in PFLAG's network of 425+ chapters, working for safety and equal rights for their own children and for all people. "On Father's Day, I honor all those who have bravely chosen to share their lives with their families. And I proudly stand beside those dads, grandads and others who have accepted, and celebrate, their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered loved ones with unconditional love," said PFLAG father and President Paul Beeman. For further information, please contact Janice Hughes, communications director of PFLAG, at (202) 638-4200 x225 or by e-mail at jhughes@pflag.org. GLAAD is the nation's lesbian & gay multimedia advocacy organization. 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