Title/Topic:    Robertson speech draws ire of Lesbian Avengers
Source:         UPI
Author: Jeffrey Herwatt
Date:   06:30 PM Today


                 Robertson speech draws ire of Lesbian Avengers

UPne 10/13/93 11:59 AM

   ALBANY, N.Y. (UPI) -- A planned speech by TV evangelist Pat Robertson to a
statewide gathering of school board members has sparked complaints by a new
homosexual rights group.
   Members of the New York City-based Lesbian Avengers took their displeasure
with the speech, scheduled for Friday, to the Albany offices of the New York
State School Boards Association, which holds its annual convention this weekend
in Syracuse.
   The Avengers said Robertson's Christian Coalition, which has mounted
campaigns to get its members onto school boards in New York City and elsewhere,
pushes an agenda that damages homosexuals' self-esteem and blocks important
information about AIDS from reaching students.
   They called instead for positive images of gays to be included in grade
school and high school curricula.
   "If there are positive images, then gays, lesbians and bisexual youth would
have a more positive image of themseleves," protestor Lorna Gottesman told the
Daily Gazette of Schenectady.
   School Boards Association President Louis Grumet said along with Robertson,
people invited to speak at the convention include more liberal figures,
including Gov. Mario Cuomo, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Nadine Strossen,
president of the American Civil Liberties Union.
   "The First Ammendment is only important when you disagree with the person
speaking," Grumet said.