Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 17:15:17 -0400 From: Maggie Heineman Subject: Pennsylvania Expose - 6/25/96 ================================================================== Pennsylvania Expose - 6/25/96 Pennsylvania Expose is a project of the Fight the Right Network and the People for the American Way Action Fund. The two-page formatted faxletter version is on the web at http://www.libertynet.org/~exposepa/ We are soliciting voluteers who will download the acrobat version to be a part of a statewide fax-tree network. ================================================================== ALERT ALERT ALERT --Domestic Partnership Rally/News Conference Tuesday, June 25, 1996 5:30 PM--West side of Phila. City Hall A. Learning from the Domestic Partnership Battle A.1. Showing Religious Support for Same-Sex Partnerships A.2. The Changing Rhetoric of Homophobia B. Alert!! Phone Congress Today-- Xn Coal. Lobby Day C. Buying A Movement: Right Wing Foundations & US Politics D. Black Church Fires--An Online Resource Guide ================================================================== A. Learning from the Philadelphia Domestic Partnership Battle On June 7, 1996, Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell issued an executive order granting domestic partnership benefits to his personal appointees. It is estimated that of the 500 eligible city workers about ten are homosexuals who would file for benefits under the executive order. Within five hours of the announcement, Anthony Cardinal Bevilaqua beamed in via live satellite from a Cardinals' Conference in Mexico City to state that the order would destroy the "civilization of Philadelphia." City Council President John Street proposed legislation to place a non-binding referendum on the ballot in November; essentially, an opinion poll. This is a breaking, ever-changing story. The news on Saturday was that the referendum was dead and that Street would file a lawsuit, as a private citizen, arguing that the executive order discriminated against heterosexuals. Liberty City Democratic Club planned a press conference and Victory Celebration for Tuesday, June 26 simultaneous with a phone-bank effort to continue to generate calls to councilpersons. The two Pennsylvania Expose articles, on religious support and changing rhetoric have meaning beyond Philadlephia and the current crisis. ========================================================== A.1. Showing Religious Support for Same-Sex Partnerships by Chris and Barbara Purdom, Coordinators, Interfaith Working Group The domestic partnership controversy has greatly helped to organize and publicize religious support for gay relationships. The Interfaith Working Group (IWG) amassed 22 more names on the press conference statement than on the IWG letterhead (currently 35). Many who signed the statement (Christian clergy especially) were incensed at comments made by some members of the United Black Clergy at their press conference that Mayor Rendell, who is Jewish, needs a "personal relationship" with Jesus. This remark helped clarify the connections between religious and sexual minorities. This time around the religious coalition fighting Domestic Partnership is the same as it was in 1993: the Cardinal, the United Black Clergy, (which is not united) and Bill Devlin of the Philadelphia Family Policy Council. While our coalition has expanded, theirs has not. The tone of the arguments used by anti- gay religious forces, while still very bad, has improved greatly. Now they speak of "inappropriate behavior," a "bad example for children," a "threat to traditional family structures," and a "difference between tolerance and promotion." Dignity, the gay Catholic organization, got lots of good press from the Daily News. The Interfaith Working Group helped the Daily News, AM Philadelphia and Channel 17 find people to talk to, so we now have a better working relationship with the media. The message of religious support for same-sex relationships, not just tolerance or acceptance, was carried on almost all the broadcasts of all five TV news shows, on radio stations, and in the newspapers. Channel 29 went out of their way to give favorable coverage to the IWG press conference, possibly to make up for their awful Pride Parade coverage which we had complained about. The Archdiocese now realizes that they're not going to go religiously unchallenged when they appear on talk shows to discuss gay issues. By refusing to appear on AM Philadelphia with Father Paul Washington, they've shown that they want to perpetuate the myth that all religious people are against homosexuality. Showing Father Washington debating the issue would severely undermine their ability to perpetuate this falsehood. The Cardinal's approach to fighting domestic partnership was so heavy-handed that discussions of church-state separation suddenly became common in the media. Spokespersons for the Archdiocese found themselves having to defend the Cardinal's record on Bridesburg, church fires, and welfare cuts when they appeared on TV to talk about Domestic Partnership. ==================================================== A.2. The Changing Rhetoric of Homophobia by Andrew Park, Executive Director Center for Lesbian and Gay Law and Public Policy As a gay man, it's odd to say I was disappointed not to be labeled a child molester, but the hearings on the anti-gay referendum in Philadelphia were not what I expected. The new anti-gay rhetoric requires a rethinking of the responses to bigotry and homophobia. In preparing for the hearings on the Street bill, gay and lesbian activists reviewed the testimony from 1993, when the Rules Committee held hearings on actual domestic partnership legislation, which is their bailiwick, as opposed to passing judgment on an Executive Order, which is not. In those earlier hearings, the opposition focused on two main themes - money and myths. First, it was argued that domestic partnership laws are costly. Second, it was argued that gays and lesbians are child molesters and practice bestiality. At this year's hearing discussion about cost was nearly non-existent, in spite of the fact that this has been John Street's theme lately. Images of gays and lesbians as child-molesters and perverts were downplayed. Anti-gay rhetoric had two new themes. First, witnesses stressed that they were not homophobic. The Communications Director of the Archdiocese even said to me in the hallway "I understand what you're saying. I've had gay housemates." Second, witnesses claimed that being gay was a characteristic that must be rejected, but not punished. Gay people should be, at best, ignored, and at worst, denied access to social institutions meant only for heterosexuals. Many witnesses said that they had no objection to gays forming relationships, but did not want gays and lesbians to have institutional support and recognition. This new rhetoric is more honest and powerful. Arguments about cost were simply pretext and, after deeper discussion, wither for lack of merit. Unfortunately the self-restraint of this new rhetoric places the anti- gay speaker more in the mainstream. No longer can we shout "liar!" at the homophobe and immediately challenge claims that gays molest children. The new rhetoric, I believe, requires the assertion of a morality. Our morality is community. Welfare reform, funding education, and domestic partnership all raise the question, "What is our responsibility for one another?" Gays form families out of love and community, not necessarily blood. We raise money for those of us dying of AIDS. We celebrate family holidays together and form our own churches. Gays and lesbians can claim the morality of community. We can also shame the opponents with it. Health insurance and bereavement leave are about life partners caring for one another. =============================================== ALERT! On June 25, Phone Congress to counter a Christian Coalition Lobby Day by Brian Gocial People for the American Way Action Fund On Tuesday, June 25, 1996, the Christian Coalition will be holding a lobby day on Capitol Hill to promote the Parental Rights and Responsibilities Act (PRRA, S.984, HR 1946) Even if you have already contacted your Senators and Representative, please call again Tuesday to provide a counter to the Christian Coalition's lobbying. While the bill purports to protect parental rights, the PRRA could undermine, or possibly even overturn, state and local laws that protect children and provide education and health services. Please help by calling your Senator and Representative on Tuesday, June 25th and tell them that you oppose the PRRA. Call (202) 224- 3121 and ask to be transferred to your Senators' and Representative's offices. If you need further information, please look at the People For the American Way web site at http://www.pfaw.org or call Brian Gocial or Andrea Hill at 1-800-326-7329. ============================================================= C. Buying A Movement: Right-Wing Foundations and American Politics. excerpts from the new report by People for the American Way Each year, conservative foundations pour millions of dollars into a broad range of conservative political organizations. These foundation gifts are remarkable for two principal reasons: first, their sheer size and concentration; second, the willingness of the foundations to promote a highly politicized agenda by funding a broad range of organizations. Buying A Movement: Right-Wing Foundations and American Politics examines the funding patterns of a number of significant conservative foundations and their grantees. Among its findings: Right-wing foundations have developed a truly comprehensive funding strategy, providing grants to a broad range of groups, each promoting right-wing positions to their specific audiences. The grants have created and nurtured an enormous range of organizations all bent on promoting a far-right-wing agenda. Recipients of foundation largesse include the right-wing media; national "think tanks" and advocacy groups; a budding network of regional and state- based think tanks; conservative university programs; conservative college newspapers; conservative scholars and more. In many of these funding areas, progressive and mainstream foundation giving lags far behind. Five foundations stand out: the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Koch Family foundations, the John M. Olin Foundation, the Scaife Family foundations and the Adolph Coors Foundation. Each has helped fund a range of far-right programs, including some of the most politically charged work of the last several years. For example, the American Spectator magazine, which led the charge on President Bill Clinton's state trooper contretemps and launched a slash-and-burn strategy targeting Anita Hill, is a prime recipient of foundation support. Public debate on a number of issues has been transformed by foundation largesse. For example, the Wisconsin-based Bradley Foundation has supported a range of pro-voucher efforts in its home state, sowing the seeds for that state's first-in-the-nation school vouchers program in Milwaukee. Other such case studies are presented in the report. Conservative foundations invest efficiently and effectively. They offer a clearly articulated vision of their plan for America, and they invest wisely to effect that vision. They are comprehensive in their funding strategies and extraordinarily generous in the size of their donations. And they have had an impact. By funding the publication of right-wing books and magazines, cable television programming, academic programs, think tanks in Washington and around the nation and more, the foundations have carefully positioned the mirrors and blown the smoke to create the impression of a much broader and more grassroots-based right-wing movement than actually exists. What makes the right-wing funding stream so significant is the absence of a parallel stream funding progressive organizations. While progressives fund a variety of causes, progressive and mainstream organizations simply do not have similar foundation support. Executive director Linda Tarr-Whelan of the liberal Center for Policy Alternatives, commenting on progressive funding at the state level, poses the issue as a challenge to the progressive foundation community: "Progressive funders are funding direct service efforts at the state or local grassroots level.... What's missing is anything dealing with a larger vision. Who is funding the infrastructure for a progressive agenda?" The answer to that question may well determine the future course of American governance in this time of conflict and hardship. For the complete report, "Buying A Movement: Right-Wing Foundations and American Politics," contact Brian Gocial, 1-800-326-7329, or visit our Web site: http://www.pfaw.org. ======================================================== D. Black Church Fires--An Online Resource Guide The Black Church Fires--An Online Resource Guide provides facts and action suggestions about how churches can positively respond to the tragedy of church burnings, particularly black churches. The guide can be found in the Internet World Wide Web site http://gbgm-umc.org/advance/Church-Burnings/index.html The entire guide is also available at the site as a WordPerfect 6.1 file for download for off=line reading. The site also provides religious news about the burnings. The guide is provided by the General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church. =================================================================== Pennsylvania Expose - June 25, 1996 Pennsylvania Expose is published two-four times a month. It is based on postings to the pa-expose@critpath.org E-mail list. To subscribe to the main list (daily announcements, discussion) mail to: listproc@critpath.org in the body: subscribe pa-expose To subscribe to the low-volume list (newsletter, occasional alerts) mail to: listproc@critpath.org in the body: subscribe pa-explv ===Pennsylvania Expose Project -- http://www.libertynet.org/~exposepa ---FTRN Communications Working Group --- 215.389.1400 http://www.critpath.org/ftrn/ ---People for the American Way Action Fund --- 800.326.7329 http://www.pfaw.org/ ==================== Permission to Repost ==========================