Date: Fri, 1 Sep 1995 22:28:47 -0400 From: NGLTF@aol.com Dear Community Activist, You've asked for it. You've screamed for it. And we're glad to report -- IT'S ON THE WAY! The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's is pleased to announce its latest publicationTo Have and To Hold: Organizing for Marriage . Working in conjunction with a national coalition of gay, lesbian and bisexual organizations, NGLTF has created an organizing tool geared to teach activists how to win and keep our freedom to marry. To Have and To Hold is a comprehensive, easy to use, activist-friendly work kit for educating and organizing your community. The guide contains: x The latest background information on marriage cases x How to start a marriage group in your community x Handy tips, convenient checklists and soundbites x How to fight Radical Right attacks and hostile legislation x Freshly researched messages for the media x Action Items x Press strategies, including a sample "letter to the editor" x The Marriage Resolution x Valuable organizing resources, including a guide to marriage on the Internet and much more x Almost everything you'll need to organize for our freedom to marry! NGLTF anticipates release the kit on October 1. Each guide is $10 including shipping and handling. Please inquire about bulk discounts for 5 or more guides. To ensure that you recieve the first copies, please follow the steps below. If you've already begun work for marriage, this guide can supplement what you've already learned. If you're just getting started To Have and To Hold will prove invaluable to your work. Yours in Equality, NGLTF Policy Institute P.S. We've forward a letter from two activist groups in Hawaii-- Ground Zero for marriage--to share their perspectives on marriage organizing. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++cut+++++++++++++++++++++++ please complete the following form x YES please send me _____ copies of To Have and To Hold Each guide is $10 including shipping and handling. x I am enclosing a check for $_____ Please make checks payable to NGLTF Policy Institute 2320 17th Street NW Washington, DC 20009 x Please bill me $_____ via credit card x Visa x MC x DSCVR x AMEX Credit Card Number ___________________________ Exp. Date _______________ Signature ____________________________(if mailed) Please email this information to ngltf@ngltf.org Or mail to the above address For more information call (202) 332-6483 Send my marriage guide to: Contact _________________________________________ Organization (if applicable) _________________________ Mail Address _____________________________________ City/State/Zip ___________________________________ Res. Phone _________________________ Bus. Phone _________________________ Email Address ______________________ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++cut+++++++++++++++++++++++ CREATING CHANGE AT GROUND ZERO A major part of the battle for the freedom to marry must be grassroots driven. Two groups in Hawaii -- ground zero of same-gender marriage -- are working hard to educate, mobilize and advocate locally. NGLTF asked both groups to describe their organizations and to contribute their thoughts on organizing for same-gender marriage. Hawaii Equal Rights Marriage Project HERMP was created in 1993 when three same-gender couples successfully sued the state of Hawaii before the state Supreme Court in Baehr v. Lewin to obtain marriage licenses. To pay thousands of dollars in legal debts and to continue the court case, the couples came to the Gay and Lesbian Community Center (GLCC) in Honolulu for help. HERMP was thus formed as a project of the GLCC with the mission of obtaining same-gender marriage in Hawaii and ultimately in the entire country. HERMP has since grown into an expansive educational and fundraising group. Our programmatic side includes a media wing, outreach to organizations and religious institutions, a speakers' bureau, publications, internet information sites and a phone tree. Our fundraising component includes both direct mail and electronic mail appeals, special events and direct solicitation. Through travels to the other states and letter writing campaigns, we have been at the forefront of educating citizens about the issues involved in same-gender marriages. Encouraging community involvement, distributing brochures, and our unique "Adopt A Legislator" program have also helped to establish our educational base. Fundraising and fiduciary responsibility have been prime concerns of HERMP from its beginning, coupled with a sharp focus on marriage rights. A key first step for HERMP was recruiting an accountant. HERMP's exclusive focus on marriage has helped us as well. When donors give to HERMP, they know exactly why. By remaining tightly focused, we have been able to pull support from a wide political spectrum. HERMP's greatest challenge is persuading the citizens of Hawaii, straight and gay, that marriage is a basic human right and good social policy. For more information please contact: GLCC/HERMP, 1820 University Ave, Honolulu, HI 96822 808-942-3737, 808-926-1000 fax, email: ramsey@math.hawaii.edu Na Mamo O Hawai'i NMOH was started in the Fall of 1993, in response to the Hawai'i State Legislature's Judiciary Committee hearings on same-gender marriage. NMOH maintains itself as a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, primarily People of Color organization, focused on grass-roots community organizing for social change, under the umbrella of economic justice. The mission of NMOH is to assist in the empowerment process of GLBT indigenous Hawaiians; to promote the awareness of GLBT issues for the Native Hawaiian and the Hawai'i communities; to build a cohesive GLBT community that represents the ethnic, cultural, class, gender, and age diversity in Hawai'i; and to assist in the dismantling of all forms of institutionalized discrimination. NMOH has come to understand that for many working class and working class poor people in the Hawaiian and Hawai'i community, marriage is viewed as an irrelevancy, or a luxury belonging to the upper economic classes, especially since heterosexist marriages are traditionally bounded in the unequal distribution of wealth and power, property material resources acquisition, and inheritance. For the homeless, jobless, and underpaid Native Hawaiians, property, health, retirement, and insurance benefits are privileges they have yet to experience. In order to solicit support for GLBT issues, especially for same-gender marriage, NMOH works in coalition with other peace, justice, and GLBT groups locally, nationally, and internationally. Recently NMOH received a commitment from the Head of State of the Nation of Hawai'i, a Hawaiian sovereignty and independence group, to include sexual orientation in the Human Rights section of its Constitution. Na Mamo O Hawai'i, as an organization, is committed to the freedom and liberation of all peoples, for its membership believe that "we are not free until we are free." For more information please contact: Na Mamo O Hawai'i , 436 A Lanai St., Honolulu, HI 96817 808-595-0402, 808-956-9880 fax, email: lgomes@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu