Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 11:00:26 -0500
From: RAKNGLTF@aol.com

NATIONAL GAY & LESBIAN TASK FORCE

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Robert Bray, 415-552-6448; rfbngltf@aol.com

THE BIRTH OF A GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL MOVEMENT
IN SOUTH DAKOTA

Activists Come Forward Out of Crisis, Make History by Testifying in State
Senate

Washington, DC -- February 22, 1995 -- Its motto is "The Land of Infinite
Variety," a slogan that's certainly being tested these days as gays, lesbians
and bisexuals come out and come forward in the state of South Dakota to
challenge prejudice and discrimination.

 For the first time in the history of the state, gays and their allies
testified openly before the state Senate and spoke about the discrimination
gays and lesbian face in South Dakota.  The testimony occurred last week at a
hearing on House Bill 1184, which would ban gay and lesbian marriages in
South Dakota or the recognition of same sex marriages that occurred in other
states.  The bill has already passed the state House and is facing a Senate
committee vote today.

 National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) and Lambda Legal Defense and
Education Fund organizers working with local activists say the bill clearly
is a preemptive strike against Hawaii's pending gay marriage ruling.

 The crisis has had an unintended side effect, certainly not anticipated by
the arch-conservative sponsors of the bill.  South Dakota Gay, Lesbian and
Bisexual Federation (SDGLBF) has formed to battle the bill and build a
movement in the state.  Besides working against the marriage measure the
fledgling SDGLBF aims to organize the gay community -- virtually from scratch
-- and create a safe environment in which gay, lesbian and bisexual South
Dakotans can come out.

 South Dakota has less than 700,000 citizens and ranks 45th in terms of state
populations.  Obviously, gay and lesbian people have always resided in South
Dakota, whether working farmland near Mud Butte, directing tourists at Mount
Rushmore, conducting business in Sioux Falls or Rapid City, or attending
college at South Dakota State University in Brookings.  It's only very
recently -- in the last few weeks, in fact -- that an organized movement has
sprung up in the form of the SDGLBF.

 And thanks to a $5,000 contribution from South Dakotan Jacques Soukup and
his life partner, Kirk Thomas, SDGLBF now has seed money to build the
organization.  A bank account has been opened, phone and fax lines are set up
and letterhead has been created.  SDGLBF is on-line and its photocopier is
already busy producing press kits and position papers.  Soukup and Thomas
also gave an additional $20,000 to be used by NGLTF and Lambda for ongoing
work in South Dakota and elsewhere on the issue of gay marriage.

 Barry Wick, founder of SDGLBF and its ad hoc director, was one of the
activists who testified at the recent Senate hearings in Pierre (pronounced
"pier"), the state capital.

 "House Bill 1184 is a dangerous path filled with great emotional, social and
economic booby traps that this state must avoid," said Wick at the hearing.
 "This bill will negate, nullify and ridicule loving unions between
consenting adults...and will fuel harassment and potential violence against a
class of South Dakotans.  Like all good citizens who wish to change
government legally, we have banded together to form a statewide organization
dedicated to education and advocacy for South Dakota's gay, lesbian and
bisexual community."

 Wick, who lives in and was born in Rapid City, is the great-grandson of
former South Dakota Governor Carl Gunderson.  A picture of Gunderson hangs in
the halls of the Capitol.  At the recent Senate hearings Wick displayed an
old black and white photograph of the painting's unveiling.  There in the
photo, next to then-Governor Joe Foss and family members, is Wick as a child
witnessing the ceremony.

 "Even as a boy I dreamed of one day being Governor just like my
great-grandfather, but the intolerance and unfairness behind this law
banishes this dream forever," testified Wick.

 NGLTF Fight the Right organizer Robert Bray has been working closely with
Wick to form SDGLBF and helped secure the start-up gift to the organization.
 Bray and Evan Wolfson, Lambda Marriage Project Director, are advising SDGLBF
on lobbying, media activism and short- and long-term organizing strategies.

 "Out of this crisis has come a fire and passion for equality among the gay
citizens of South Dakota, possibly one of the final frontiers of gay movement
organizing," said NGLTF's Bray.  "Win or lose on individual battles, we are
being provided with new opportunities for building a true rural, grassroots
movement."

 One of SDGLBF's first actions was to lobby state lawmakers about the need to
table, and thus kill, the marriage bill.  In the process of buttonholing
representatives and senators, the activists have had to delicately engage in
"Gay 101" education, covering subjects ranging from the origins of
homosexuality ("born or learned") to violence, discrimination and marriage.
 For many of the lawmakers this was the first time they have had to grapple
publicly with gay issues.  A few lawmakers have emerged as new-found
defenders of gay rights, including Rep. Jack Billion, a pediatrician.

 NGLTF's Fight the Right Project is planning a movement building and
leadership training tour of South Dakota in late spring once the current
crisis is past and the community has an opportunity to regroup and expand.
 Staff of the NGLTF Fight the Right Project have already covered some 140,000
miles in 25 states during the past two years, and have helped spark or
strengthen new gay organizations in Wyoming, Nebraska, Arizona, Oklahoma and
other states.

 To send letters of support and contributions to South Dakota, contact Barry
Wick, SDGLBF, (605)343-5577, fax (605) 343-4389, tomalhe@aol.com., 13121
South Creekview Road, Rapid City, South Dakota, 57702.  The organization has
set up a toll free number for use within the state only, 1-800-354-3417.

 Should the anti-gay marriage bill be passed by the state senate the
Governor, Bill Janklow, is expected to sign it.  To send a message to the
Governor contact him at (605)773-3212; fax (605)773-4711, or e-mail him at
billj@gov.state.sd.us. 

 For more information about NGLTF's Fight the Right Project contact Robert
Bray at (415)552-6448, rfbngltf@aol.com.

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