Date: Tue, 16 Jan 96 08:18 EST From: skulick@gradient.cis.upenn.edu (Seth Kulick) (by way of Maggie Heineman ) Subject: ftrn week #11 FTRN Week is something I instigated here in Philadelphia. It has a local focus. I think of this publication as a model for grassroots work in other cities and town. Maggie Visit the Fight the Right Network ==http://www.critpath.org/frtn/ Visit the Interfaith Working Group ==http://www.libertynet.org/~iwg/iwg.html Keep remembering: they are against the free flow of information. Anything you can do to increase information flow hurts them -Purdom ================================================================= FTRN Week Issue #11 January 14, 1995 ================================================================== A Publication of the Fight the Right Network ================================================================== Back issues of FTRN Week are available on the Web (http://www.critpath.org/ftrn/ftrnweeks.html) as well as by anony- mous ftp from ftp://critpath.org/pub/FTRN/ftrnweeks/. If you have trouble with either of those methods, contact russell@critpath.org. A. Join Philadelphia Freedom to Marry Coalition B. Help Effort to Form "Safe Schools" Coalition C. Continue to Help Stop Internet Censorship D. Newspaper Articles and Letters of Interest E. Report from the Religious Right F. Events and Reminders G. Electronic Resource Additions and Archived Resources =================================================================== A. Join the Philadelphia Freedom to Marry Coalition =================================================================== In a matter of months the right of same gender couples to marry will in all likelihood become a reality in Hawaii. Current national polls show that just 35 percent of the public support equal marriage rights for same-gender couples. Utah has already passed an anti-same-gender marriage law. While similar attempts have failed once in both South Dakota and Alaska, the South Dakota bill has already been reintroduced and a new bill has been introduced in California. Of course these laws will be challenged under the United States Constitution which states that every state must give "full faith and credit" to the "public acts, records and proceedings of every other state." The Philadelphia Freedom to Marry Coalition will consist of people and organizations working in partnership to achieve the right of same-gender couples to marry legally. It is affiliated with Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Marriage Project and with the national Freedom to Marry Coalition. We will serve as a local resource for information on same-gender marriage, assisting local members of the Freedom to Marry Coalition by providing accurate up-to-date information, and by coordinating strategies. Members of the steering committee will be nominated/named at the meeting taking place at Penguin Place 201 S. Camac Street at 6:45 P.M. Wednesday, January 24, 1996. This will be an open meeting and all interested persons and organizations are encouraged to attend. The agenda will include a screening of the "Nightline" debate between Evan Wolfson of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and Robert Knight of the Family Research Council. =================================================================== B. Help Effort to Form "Safe Schools" Coalition =================================================================== The Washington State Safe Schools coalition has released a report documenting violence against Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender youth in Washington State public schools. The coalition is a partnership of 34 public agencies and private organizations working to make Washington public schools safe places for sexual minority youth, as well as their families and educators. If you are interested in working with other organizations on the kinds of issues that a Safe Schools Coalition would address, please contact Maggie Heineman at maggie@critpath.org. Also, a number of individuals from the FTRN and GLSTN (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Teachers Network) will be attending a meeting of the North Penn chapter of NOW on February 26. =================================================================== C. Continue to Help Stop Internet Censorship =================================================================== 1. For more information: American Civil Liberties Union (ftp://ftp.aclu.org/aclu/) Center for Democracy and Technology (http://www.cdt.org/) Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (http://www.cpsr.org/) Electronic Frontier Foundation (http://www.eff.org/) Electronic Privacy Information Center (http://www.epic.org/) Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (http://www.fair.org/) Web Design (http://www.newtype.com/NewType/cyber/sf/index.htm) Wired Magazine (http://www.hotwired.com/special/indecent/) Voters Telecommunications Watch (http://www.vtw.org/) On December 6, members of the House of Representatives working on the telecommunications reform legislation agreed to adopt a provision that would censor "indecent" speech on the Internet. The language is widely viewed by civil liberties organizations and Constitutional scholars as an impermissible restraint on free speech. These restrictions threaten the very existence of the Internet and interactive media as a viable medium for free expresion and education. AIDS activists and service organizations are concerned that the internet legislation could greatly interfere with both online distribution of HIV/AIDS information and certain AIDS activism. The internet restrictions are part of a massive telecommunications reform bill. It claims to promote industry growth, competition, and technological progress, but there is good reason to believe that it will instead allow a futher concentration of control of information, allowing oligopolies to prevent the diversity of opinion that is essential to a functioning democracy. Congress broke for the year without voting on the telecommunications bill, and it is currently being considered by a House/Senate conference committee which needs to reconcile the different versions of the bill. Gingrich has stated that no vote on the bill will take place until the budget issue is resolved. This extra time is an opportunity to further make our views known. ================================================================== D. Newspaper Articles and Letters of Interest ================================================================== More information on these and copies of some letters that have been written are available at http://www.qrd.org/qrd/religion/orgs/IWG/ or from iwg@libertynet.org. 1. The 1/2 Daily News "Fresh Ink", which is their weekly section for teenagers, had a feature on a gay teenage activist and the abuse he had to put up with in high school. Thank them for the story - dnedit@aol.com 2. On 1/6, WHYY-TV12 aired a film called Hollywood vs. Religion by Religious Right activist and Sneak Previews cohost Michael Medved, in which he spent an hour blathering about anti-religious Jews in Hollywood and their hatred of Christian Conservative political power. Let TV12 know what you think of this kind of programming - talkback@whyy.org 3. The 1/12 Inquirer has an article in the front section devoted to the fact that the Christian Coalition isn't very busy right now, with the thoughts of Ralph Reed as to their future plans. Does their inaction warrant this coverage? Ask the Inquirer - editpage@aol.com 4. WYBE-TV35 aired A Question of Equality during prime-time. It's nice to know that they, unlike TV12, don't think that the history of sexual minorities is an adults-only topic. They deserve some thanks for this, and for their wonderful programming in general - wybe@libertynet.org ================================================================== E. Report from the Religious Right ================================================================== The Fight the Right Network summary of this week's "Family Issues Alert" is available on the Web (http://www.critpath.org/ftrn/fia.html) as well as from Maggie@critpath.org. The topics are: A. Hilary Clinton, perjurer B. CBS platform for "homosexual expert" Bob Knight C. Sex ed battles in Massachusetts and Nebraska D. News Briefs 1. Paula Jones sexual-harrassment suit against Clinton 2. Larry King - Republican candidates live 3. Rep. Linda Smith (R,WA) says to pray for the freshmen E. Focus on the Family Resources ================================================================== F. Events and Reminders ================================================================== 1. 1/24 Organizing Meeting of the Philadelphia Freedom to Marry Coalition. Penguin Place 201 S. Camac Street 6:45 P.M. 2. 2/1 FTRN council meeting - if interested, contact maggie@critpath.org ================================================================ G. Electronic Resource Additions & Archived Resources ================================================================ 1. Fight the Right Network Home Page--http://www.critpath.org/ftrn 2. Interfaith Working Group Home Page--(information about the IWG and its activities; links to many related resources including Religious Right home pages)--http://www.libertynet.org/~iwg/iwg.html 3. PFLAG on the Web - http://www.critpath.org/~maggie/pflag/ 4. New York CyberQueers - http://www.columbia.edu/~ejm5/nycq.html 5. Digital Queers - http://www.dq.org/dq/html/new/whatsNew.html 6. The Keeping Watch Coalition, a new organization formed to monitor and counter the agenda of the right-wing in America - http://205.162.178.160/KeepingWatch/index.html -------------------------------- FTRN Week--1/14/95--Fight the Right Network P.O. Box 2084, Philadelphia, PA 19103-0084 Voice Mail 215.389.1400 Internet Mail--russell@critpath.org The Philadelphia FTRN was established in 1994. It is not an affiliate of a national Internet list which has the same name and similar purpose. Philadelphia FTRN now has a moderated, low-volume Internet List dedicated to FTRN Week, summaries of the alerts published by Focus on the Family, and urgent alerts from the Fight the Right Network. The FTRN will also soon produce FTRN Week in a formatted version which will be distributed, by subscription, through facsimile machines. Seth Kulick, editor of FTRN week, welcomes comments and suggestions. Send them to skulick@linc.cis.upenn.edu. =============================================================