Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 14:49:17 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Subject: STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FACULTY OF GEORGETOWN TO PROTEST ANTI-GAY CONFERENCE ON UNIVERSITY CAMPUS CONFERENCE ON HOMOSEXUALITY IS HOMOPHOBIC! PLEASE NOTE - This press release is not a GLAAD media release. GLAAD is assisting in the distribution of the media release as a service to the community. Interested parties, however, should not contact GLAAD, but the contact listed within the release. MEDIA RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jonathan Zucker 202.628.4160 x4008 STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FACULTY OF GEORGETOWN TO PROTEST ANTI-GAY CONFERENCE ON UNIVERSITY CAMPUS CONFERENCE ON HOMOSEXUALITY IS HOMOPHOBIC! Tuesday, June 17, 1997 (Washington, DC) - Students, alumni and faculty of Georgetown University will hold a press conference to voice their opposition to the American Public Philosophy Institute's "Homosexuality and American Public Life" conference. The conference is being held at the Georgetown Conference Center June 19-21. "Our primary concern is that the advertising for the conference has made it seem to be an academic conference hosted by Georgetown. As students, we find this profoundly disturbing," said John Cronan, President of the Georgetown University Student Association. "This conference is not the `comprehensive analysis of homosexuality' it claims to be; it is nothing more than a thinly veiled pseudo-intellectual platform for gay-bashing and a reinforcement of the worst stereotypes and myths," said Jonathan Zucker, co-chair of the Bisexual, Lesbian and Gay Association of Georgetown University Law Center. "This is not an academic conference," said Christopher Layfield, president of Georgetown Pride, the undergraduate organization for bisexuals, gay men and lesbians. "For them to cloak their hatred and bigotry in the trappings of academia is inappropriate and promotes a dangerous blurring of the lines between propaganda and scholarly work." "`Homosexuality and American Public Life' is a conference with a party line, that `homosexuality is a tragic affliction' and that society should `try to encourage prevention and treatment for it,'" said Mark Lance, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. "This is a view with no scientific or philosophical merit. No conference which restricts itself exclusively to the views of a tiny discredited minority of the academic community, allowing no response from opposing or mainstream philosophical positions, can consistently claim to `seek to foster serious intellectual exchange.' Whatever the goals of this conference, they are neither serious nor intellectual." WHAT: Press Conference WHERE: Healy Circle (in front of the John Carol statue), Georgetown University, 37th & O Sts., NW (rain site, Selinger Lounge, Leavey Center, Georgetown University, 3800 Reservoir Road, NW) WHEN: 10 a.m., Thursday, June 19, 1997 WHO: Jonathan Zucker, co-chair, Bisexual, Lesbian and Gay Association of Georgetown University Law Center Winnie Stachelberg, Georgetown alumna, Legislative Director, Human Rights Campaign Prof. Mark Lance, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director, Program of Justice and Peace, Georgetown University Dr. Janine Cogan, Social Psychologist Judith Schaeffer, People for the American Way -more- Georgetown page 2 In conjunction with this press conference, students plan a demonstration on Saturday, June 21, at 11:30 a.m. in the parking lot outside Darnell Hall (the location of the APPI conference, 3800 Reservoir Road, NW). This precedent-setting demonstration will be the first university sanctioned protest outside a campus "free speech" zone. The demonstration will feature speakers Chai Feldblum, Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center (who will be attending the conference), John Cronan, President of the Georgetown University Student Association, and Christopher Layfield, President of Georgetown Pride. In addition to these events, community activists plan actions on Thursday and Friday evenings. Organizations who have already issued statements either supporting the students, alumni and faculty initiative or condemning the conference: Human Rights Campaign National Organization for Women People for the American Way Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Dignity/USA Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) -###- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) glaad@glaad.org TO REPORT DEFAMATION IN THE MEDIA - Call GLAAD's Alertline at 1.800.GAY.MEDIA or go to the GLAAD Web Site at www.glaad.org and report through our Alertline Online. 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