This is an article which was in Boston's gay paper Bay Windows a couple of weeks ago. I think it's important to read, even though it's a little long. [begin included text] Right-Wing's Secret Plan Leaks Out From Bay Windows, 6/23/1994 without permission by Serine Steakley Clanestine tames from hushed May meeting reveal aims to keep lists of gays, link movement to Mob - and more Representatives of 35 religious right-wing organizations from all over the country met secretly in Colorado last month to map out a strategy or schieving their top goal of the 1990's: the defeat of gay and lesbian rights in all its forms. "The gay agenda has all the elements of that which is truly evil," John Eldgedge, spokesperson for Focus on the Family, told the gathering. "It is deceptinve at every turn. It is destroying the souls and lives of those who embrace it." Eldredge's statement reflects a shift in priorities for many leaders of the religious right from activism on a broad agenda to making the elimination of gay rights their paramount objective. "It's extremely important for gay people anywhere to know what's happening," said Skipp Porteous, president of the Institute of First Amendment Studies. "they've really orchestrated an attempt to see that gays don't have rights." The institute, an organization that tracks the religious right, secretly obtained tape recordings of the May 16-18 meeting held in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The tapes show the 39 partiticipants planning an assault on gay rights and willing to employ aggressive tactics - such as an enemies list of politicians and journalists - to achieve their ends. Participants designed a sophisticated, high-tech crusade with a strategy emphasizing pressure on the media, politicians, business and individual supporters of gay rights. They made plans to win policy changes through lawsuits, scientific debate, public education and legislation. The groups may have powerful resources at their disposal. For instance, Focus on the Family, which fielded three ofthe 39 participants has grown into the best-funded of all the religious right groups in the country and employs the most people. The organization has 1,200 workers and an *annual* budget of $150,000,000.00. FOF sends out about 1,500 packets of information daily to people who request it, according to ``Freedom Writer,'' the newsletter of the Institute for First Amendment Studies. Participants plan another meeting for the fall, but the May meeting was only the second one for the group. Attendance quadrupled between the first and second meetings. Will Perkins, chairman of the board for Colorado for Family Values, announce at the conference. CFV's executive director, KevinTEbedo, organized the conference. While their political power as a cohesive groupo has not been tested, individual member organizations have exercised considerable muscle. One of them, the million-plus member Christian Coalition led by Pat Robertson, played a significant role this month in Virginia in helping ultra-conservative Oliver North gain the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. The Coalition also played a pivotal role in helping the religious right take over the Texas republican party this month. Eldredge declared at the meeting that defeating gay rights was the leading concern of the religious right for this decade. The FOF spokesperson said his organization and its leader, Dr. James Dobson, consider gay rights one of the key issues of our time, according to the taped remarks. The coordinator of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Fight the Right Project, Sue Hyde, is familiar with the strategy of the religious right, but she found listening to the tapes ``frightenting.'' ``I would wish that every gay man and lesbian in the U.S. could hear these tapes of this conference,'' she said. ``It's a rude awakening call when Focus on the Family says their anti-gay work is one of their top priorities.'' [Campaign Strategy] Those in attendeance developed a two-pronged attack, one focused on the media, the other concerntrated on legislative and legal means. Within the strategy of media and information exchange, according to their printed summary of the meeting, conferees agreed to pursue many tactics. They plan to create a national computer database of gay and pro-gay officeholders, to maintain a list of gay activists, to monitor corporations that advertise in gay magazines and fund gay causes, to track people in the media who are for or against gay rights, to push the idea that organized crime funds the gay rights movement, and to ``educate the general public about the total homosexual lifestyle - addiction, violence, economic impact...'' On the litigative and legislative front, members adopted a policy agenda that includes efforts to keep laws on the books that criminalize sodomy, repeal all gay rights laws, establish reporting requirements for HIV infection, pass the Hancock Amendment banning federal funds for public schools which support gay students, pass a national statute ``guaranteeing free speech and association on college campuses,'' stiffen penalties against ``unfounded threats and hate crimes charges against pro-life/pro-family groups,'' reintroduce the sodomy laws in the District of Columbia and support preference for heterosexuals in child custody cases. [Well organized and secretive] One representative of a mainstraem religious organization recently listened to the tapes of the conference. ``What's so chilling is how streamlined their process is,'' said Bob Gregson, with the Office of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Concerns at the Unitarian Universalist Association. ``It was almost like listening to a corporation's board minutes.'' In an effort by the conferees to control any information about the meeting, security guards patrolled the gated conference center grounds to prevent any uninvited guests, including the media, from attending. Two of those attending refused to discuss their participation when contacted by a reporter. ``That meeting was confidential, and we're not discussing it.'' said Doug Burman, chairman of the Washington Public Affairs Alliance in a brief telephone interview June 21. ``We're not answering any questions.'' When contacted about the conference, Eldredge claimed ignornace. ``You know,'' he said, ``I know very little about that because I was only there for an hour.'' He refused to comment on his statement equating ``the gay agenda'' with ``the truly evil.'' Several other participants did not return phone calls. The better-known organizations represented at the event included the Christian Coalition, Concerned Women for America, The American Family Association, Accuracy in Media, Colorado for Family Values, Family Defense Council, and Family Research Council, a group associated with the FOF. [New theory of funding] Under the category of information and media, the group members plan to campaign and educate the grass roots that ``homosexuality, pornography, and organized crimes lobbying are one and the same.'' The connection the religious right make between the three, according to Porteous, is that all pornography is controlled by organized crime, which takes the profits and funnels it into gay organizations. The conference summary prepared for attendees states that one of the tactics to advance the anti-gay legal and legislative agenda will be to ``Expose that homosexuality/prostitution are all criminal. Homosexuals are the largest consumers of pornography. Hound-Hound-Hound...Drive it Home!!!'' Among the specific tactics discussed, the group agreed to establish an electronic network of anti-gay activists, and link one another together through a computer bulletin board. The group plans to develop a central clearinghouse via the computer network. Various members will have difference responsibilities to track the 11 different categories. For instance, one organization will keep a database of gay office holders and a list of gay activists. Others, in order to learn from political mistakes, will track the successes and failures of the anti-gay movement. [Monitor business connections] The religious right leaders also plan to monitor corporations to document which businesses give money to gay rights groups and which ones advertise in gay publications. The conferees also agreed to monitor crimes committed by gay people with the purpose of discrediting gays. In addition, the group plans to track the gay-related views of people in the media. The intend to identify educators favorable to their point of view and get them involved in letter-writing to publications and appearing as guests on talk shows. The plan also calls for countering criticism by using such phrases as ``heterophobia, Christian-phobia, Christian-bashing.'' To bolster their image, they are going to track scientific literature and seek to influence research towards finding that homosexuality is not genetic. ``They feel that one of the biggest challenges is to the break the idea or to dissuade Americans that gays are born that way,'' said Porteous. ``They will try to use science to show that being gay is a choice, not occuring by birth.'' [Media Blitz] Development of this research and collection of information on friend and enemies, will enable right-wing activists to conduct a media blitz. In it they will attack the sexuality theories of Dr. Alfred Kinsey. They also plan to buy ads in the media bolstering heterosexuality. ``Develop long-term advertising goals to mold public perception of the issues,'' states the ``Ideas'' section of the summary. The have also developed a well-organized plan to pressure the media to cover the issues they way they want. For example, Number 29 in the ``Media Ideas'' section of the meeting summary states: ``Synchronize all pro-family public policy and action groups to fax their own press releases to media outlets on the same topic and on the same day (to force them to cover our perspective.)'' Under the other primary strategy, legislative and legal, the participants want to enact legislation rewarding conventional families with tax rewards. The religious right wing groups decided to develop a long-term litigation plan reminiscent of a strategy used successfully by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in their fight against segregation and discrimination of African Americans. Working with political experts, constitutional lawyers and public relations experts, the religious right groups plan to formulate the best case to take to the U.S. Supreme Court intheir fight to deny civil rights for all gay men and lesbians. Judges that rule differently from the religious right's agenda are targeted. ``Identify and recall judges,'' states Idea Number 30. [Political Strategy] On the grass roots level, the will continue to write voter guides, do precinct-by-precinct organizing and attempt to influence voters, candidates, and schoolboards. ``Survey current elected officials to create friend/enemy list,'' advises Idea Number 33. To pull off these strategies, the groups plan massive fundraising efforts, such as selling an anti-gay video and using direct mail to solicit funds. Some of the ideas presented at the conference appeal to the need for a scapegoat in the face of continuing economic dispair among many classes in this country. One such suggestion states, ``Reveal the true picture of where America came from, why we have been prosperous, and why we no longer are.'' [Ministers criticized] A continuing theme throughout the conference was the conviction the campaign was one of lay people, a movement ministers are afraid to touch. ``Our ministers don't know anything, and most of them are wimps,'' said Robert Skolrood, head of the National Legal Foundation. Porteous, however, said practical reasons impel most preachers to avoid the compaign. Many prominent leaders of the religious right have gay children, he noted. He also commented on the musical ramifications such a position would incur. ``Most ministers won't back an anti-gay agenda because they know if gays ever left the church,'' Porteous said, ``they'd lose at least one-half their organists and choir members.'' ------------------ This is a sidebar from the previous article with a list of players..... [begin included text] Sidebar: Right-Wing's Secret Plan Leaks Out From Bay Windows, 6/23/1994 without permission by Serine Steakley [RIGHT-WING MEETING PARTICIPANTS: WHO WAS THERE] Speakers at the summit meeting of religious right organizations held in Colorado in May represented a number of different groups. Among them were: Will Perkins: Chairman of the board of Colorado for Family Values and a Colorado Spring car dealer who led the fight for Colorado's Amendment 2, the campaign to change the state's constitution making laws protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination illegal. Robert Skolrood: Executive director of the National Legal Foundation in Virginia, a frequent guest on Christian talk shows and the host of a daily program "Minuteman Alert." John Eldredge, Frank York and Phil Butler: All from Focus on the Family, the richest and most popular evangelical group in the country. Dr. [sic] Paul Cameron: Head of the Washington D.C.-based Family Research Institute. The Anti-Defamation League in the recently-released report on the religious right calls him an ``anti-gay propogandist. ... Cameron's conclusions have included the suggestion that every HIV-positive patient should have this forehead stamped and that homosexuals should be castrated.'' Cameron was expelled from the American Psychological Association in the early 1980's for violating the organization's code of ethics. Peter LaBarbera: A former Washington Times reporter and editor of the Lambda Report, published by the producers of the anti-gay video, ``The Gay Agenda.'' The Marine Corps commandant sent this video to members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Congress in an effort to reinforce support for the military ban against gay men and lesbians. By the end of last summer, more than 80,000 copies of the video were reportedly sold. Col. Ronald Ray: Retired from the U.S. Marine Corp. He served in the Reagan administration as First Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. Dr. Judith Reisman: A Virginia resident who has work as an independent researcher for the American Family Association and other religious right organizations. A self-proclaimed sexologist, she researches pornography and is a fervent critic of the research about sex conducted by Dr. Alfred Kinsey. In addition to the speakers, a number of other anti-gay activists attended the meeting. They included: Gene Burress: President of the Brevard County American Family Association, a chapter of the AFA of Florida. For months the state group circulated petitions in an attempt to collect enough signatures to certify an anti-gay ballot question in 1994. Phil Burress: Chair of Equal Right not Special Rights and brother of Gene. In 1993 he led an anti-gay campaign in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has been named as a plantiff in a resulting lawsuit. Rev. Raymond Kwong: Chinese Family Alliance in San Francisco, reportedly the only person of color to attend the meeting. Kwong appears in ``Gay Rights, Special Rights'' the most-widely distributed anti-gay video in the country. Cindy Lynn Gustafson: From the Christian Coalition of Colorado, a chapter of the national organization. The Christian Coalition with the largest membership of any religious right organization has been in the forefront of opposition to gay men and lesbians. Patricia Houston: Of Warriors not Wimps for Jesus in Albuquerque New Mexico. Doug Burman: Chairman of the Washington Public Affairs Council. The organization is one of the original backers of one of the state's two anti-gay initiatives. Loretta Neet: Communications director of the Oregon Citizen's Alliance. The OCA has backed dozens of anti-gay initiatives in Oregon. Paul R. Summers: President and state director of the Amendment Coalition in Missouri. The coalition are proponents of a proposed anti-gay amendment to the state's constitution. Summers is also president of Citizens for Decent Standards which successfully led the repeal of a local hate crimes law in Springfield. Mike Gabbard: President of Stop Promoting Homosexuality Hawaii. Opposes legalizationof the proposal to allow same-sex marriages in the state., Carl Kellogg: Of Grand Rapids Michigan. Kellogg does not have an organizational affiliation. Darlene Cornfield: A Kansas state legislator who has stated that God put her in office. She is the author ofthe Cornfield resolution, a legislative initiative condemning gay men and lesbians in her state.