Date: Thu, 06 Oct 94 10:31:41 EDT
From: HRCFCOMM@aol.com

*****************************************************************
PRESS RELEASE            PRESS RELEASE            PRESS RELEASE

               THE HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN FUND                    

The Nation's Largest Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Political Group   
*****************************************************************
To contact the HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN FUND, please call us at     
(202)628-4160, fax us at (202) 347-5323 or write to us at PO Box 
1396  Washington, DC  20013.  WE CANNOT RESPOND TO E-MAIL.  
*****************************************************************
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 5, 1994
                                     
             EDUCATION BILL CLEARS FINAL HURDLE IN CONGRESS 
        FREE OF "DISCRIMINATORY AND INTRUSIVE" ANTI-GAY LANGUAGE
                                    
     WASHINGTON -- The federal education bill that had been the
target of anti-gay attacks in the U.S. House and Senate cleared
its last hurdle today when the Senate passed a final version of
the bill free of anti-gay provisions sponsored by Sen. Jesse
Helms (R-N.C.) and Rep. Mel Hancock (R-Mo.).  The Helms/Hancock
language was removed by a House-Senate conference committee last
Wednesday, and the House passed the cleaned up version on Friday.

The Senate approved the $12.7 billion Elementary and Secondary
Education Act today by a vote of 77-20.

     "The nation's schools have been spared an unprecedented
intrusion by the federal government," said Daniel Zingale, public
policy director for the Human Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF), the
largest national lesbian and gay equal rights organization.  "The
federal government has no business dictating how local schools
address issues in the classroom.  The Congress has reaffirmed
local control over education and rebuffed Helms' discriminatory
and intrusive language."

     Helms had threatened to filibuster the bill, but the Senate
voted 75-24 today to deny Helms the floor and move the bill
forward.  Helms' provision would have given the federal 
government control over curriculum, teaching materials and
counseling in local schools.  The provisions targeted gay youth
for discrimination and would have affected classroom teaching,
suicide prevention counseling and HIV/AIDS prevention programs,
barring any neutral references to homosexuality.

     In fighting the anti-gay amendment, the Campaign Fund worked
with Congressional moderates to offer alternative language that
was used to replace the Helms provision in the final version of
the bill.  HRCF's Federal Advocacy Network mobilized 4,400 local
volunteers nationwide to lobby their Senators and
Representatives.  The Speak Out program sent 3,939 mailgrams to
Congress urging members to oppose the discriminatory amendments.

                                  - 30 -

     1101 14th Street, NW  Suite 200  Washington, DC  20005      
          phone:(202)628-4160      fax:(202) 347-5323