Date:         Fri, 8 Dec 1995 22:32:43 -0500
From: PRCenter@AOL.COM
Subject:      LA Gay & Lesbian Center Denounces Hearings

_________________________________________

News from the
LOS ANGELES GAY & LESBIAN COMMUNITY SERVICES CENTER
1625 N. Schrader Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028
_________________________________________

CONTACT:
Jim Key or Mike Ausiello
213-993-7603
EMAIL:   PRCenter@aol.com

L.A. GAY & LESBIAN CENTER DENOUNCES
CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS ON GAY & LESBIAN
STUDENT PROGRAMS

     LOS ANGELES, Dec. 5, 1995 -- In a full page ad in today's New York Times
and Washington edition of the L.A. Times, the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian
Community
Services Center denounced today's Lou Sheldon-inspired congressional hearings
on
student programming for gay and lesbian youth and the distribution of
safer-sex
information.
     The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, which provides shelter and a
comprehensive
transitional living program for homeless and throwaway youth, likened the
House
Economic and Educational Opportunities Committee hearings to Sen. McCarthy's
hearings in the 1950's.
     "In fulfilling his promise to Lou Sheldon, Newt Gingrich is re-opening
one of the
darkest chapters in U.S. history," said Kay Ostberg, Deputy Director of the
Gay &
Lesbian Center.  "Senator McCarthy's devastating hearings made hundreds of
Americans feel unwelcome in this country.  Today, the Speaker of the House
wants to
revive this tradition by making thousands of children unwelcome in American
schools."
     In an August, 1994 letter to members of the Traditional Values
Coalition, Lou
Sheldon said the hearings, entitled "Parents, Schools and Values," were
necessary to
"prevent homosexual advocacy and resulting recruitment in public schools."

     "The limited support offered for gay and lesbian students in a few
school
districts across the country not only helps make schools safer for lesbian
and gay
youth, it saves lives," said Ostberg.  "These young people are already three
times
more likely to attempt suicide than non-gay youth, are often physically and
verbally
harassed, and at risk for dropping out of school.  And, with the National
Cancer
Institute's new statistics that show that 25% of all new HIV infections are
among
teenagers, Congress should be talking about how expanding safer sex education

programs -- not eradicating or restricting such programs."
     Though the names of many students were submitted by school districts and
lesbian and gay organizations across the country, none have been scheduled to
give
testimony.  Seven adults were selected from names submitted by Republicans
and
three adults from names submitted by Democrats.
     "These hearings are not about how to improve the educational system,"
said
Ostberg.  "They're not about better educating students, reducing classroom
size or
making our schools safer.  Instead, in a blatant display of pandering to the
Radical
Right, taxpayer money is funding hearings to attack the few vital programs
that make
schools safer for lesbian and gay youth."
     The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center urges the public to voice their protest of
the
hearings by calling Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich at 202-225-4501 and
Rep.
Peter Hoekstra, Chair of the Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee of the
Economic
and Educational Opportunities Committee, at 202-225-4401.
     The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community Services Center provides a wide
range of free services and support to lesbian and gay youth, including a
24-bed youth
shelter and transitional living program, the Pedro Zamora Youth HIV Clinic,
mental
health services, a teen talk line, international pen pal program, and
discussion groups.
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