News Release ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund Recommends Four More Candidates National Group Now Supports Five Openly Gay Candidates Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund email: victoryf@aol.com 1012 14th Street NW, Suite 1000 Washington DC 20005 202/842-8679 (phone) 202/289-3863 (fax) WASHINGTON, DC -- 13 March 1995 -- The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund has recommended four more openly gay and lesbian candidates to its national donor network, giving them access to the financial and technical support they need to run winning campaigns. The qualified candidates and their races are Larry Bagneris for Louisiana State House of Representatives, Jeff Horton for Los Angeles School Board, Carole Migden for California State Assembly, and Tina Podlodowski for Seattle City Council. From the 1965 March on Selma to the 1993 March on Washington, Louisiana State House candidate Larry Bagneris has been a dedicated advocate of civil rights for all people. The first openly gay man to run for high office in New Orleans, he has won election to precinct, district and state democratic conventions and, in 1980, became the first openly gay Texas delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Born and raised in New Orleans, Bagneris served on the executive board and as treasurer of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. He is currently the Director of Community Affairs for the New Orleans AIDS Task Force and serves on the Advisory Committee for the city's Human Relations Commission. [Election date: 21 October 1995] A member of the Los Angeles Board of Education since 1991, Jeff Horton has been widely praised for his strong leadership and his commitment to educational reform. Horton is co-founder of the Gay and Lesbian Caucus of the National Education Association and has authored successful motions to establish the nation's first Gay and Lesbian Education Commission, a counseling program and continuation school for gay and lesbian students, and an aggressive District program to report, monitor and combat hate crimes on campus. Horton's re-election bid is in jeopardy because anti-gay and Radical Right forces, led by Lou Sheldon and his Traditional Values Coalition, have mobilized to defeat him. [Election date: 11 April 1995] One of the nation's most recognized gay/lesbian leaders, San Francisco Supervisor Carole Migden is running to fill the California State Assembly seat of retiring Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. Since her election to the Board in 1990, Supervisor Migden has earned a reputation as an outstanding legislator, an expert on budget and finance, and a dedicated provider of accessible constituent services. Among her accomplishments, she has sponsored legislation to reform the budget process, restructure City departments, modernize government operations, control City spending, reduce crime and violence, and improve transit services. As chair of the State Democratic Party Platform Committee, she brought inclusion of lesbians and gays in the civil rights bill, AIDS-related issues, and health care to the top of the party's agenda. [Primary date: March 1996] Seattle City Council candidate Tina Podlodowski is a former executive of Microsoft, Incorporated, where she managed the overall business operations for eight domestic and four international sites. As an activist-philanthropist, Podlodowski has put her business and management skills to work in the non-profit sector, building strong and fiscally sound community organizations. Among her extensive community activities, she is a member of the King County Affirmative Action Committee, Project Chair of the Center for Intercreative Technology, a board member of Seattle Commons (a citizen-inspired effort to revitalize a 470 acre business and residential neighborhood), and a volunteer with a local program to support children affected by HIV/AIDS. She was appointed to the Seattle Commission for Lesbians and Gays by Mayor Norm Rice, and serves as board member and past-president of the Pride Foundation, which works to strengthen the gay and lesbian community of the Pacific Northwest. [Primary date: 19 September 1995] Bagneris, Horton, Migden, and Podlodowski join the Victory Fund's other 1995 recommended candidate, David Kessler for Los Angeles Community College Board. David is the founder of Progressive Nursing Services (PNS), one of the first home health care programs exclusively for people with AIDS. Because PNS is considered a national model for education and healthcare, David has been featured in Business Week, Los Angeles Times, and the New York Times. His work in education has been recognized by the Los Angeles City Council, Beth Chayim Chadashim Synagogue, Being Alive, the United Spirit Church, and the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. David is very active in lobbying education and healthcare issues in Sacramento and Washington, and is a member of Superintendent of Public Instruction's California Education Policy Committee. [Primary date: 11 April 1995] ------------------------------- [For more information, please contact Kathleen DeBold at (202) 842-8679 or victoryf@aol.com]