From: phil.attey@glib.org

MAINSTREAM AUSTIN COALITION                                      
Post Office Box 2062 Austin, Texas 78768-2062


For Immediate Release                                            
Contact: Hugh Strange                                            
512) 469-7965                                                    


GRASSROOOTS ORGANIZED FOR BATTLE WITH RADICAL RIGHT

     AUSTIN (April 14, 1994)  A grassroots campaign fighting
repeal of the city's domestic
partnership policy says it will not allow Austin to be 1994's
first casualty in the Radical
Right's continuing war to write their national agenda into law.

     Organizers say a victory by the Radical Right in Austin
could provide momentum to
the national campaign to pass anti-gay intiatives in eight other
states and raise countless
millions of dollars for their causes.

     "The people of Austin will recognize the anti-domestic
partnership intiative as the the
Radical Right's first assualt this year on the rights of gay and
lesbian people," said State Rep.
Glen Maxey, a leader of the Mainstream Austin Coalition.

     Maxey, the state's only openly gay legislator, also said the
coalition was preparing to
fight "the Radical Right's typical stealth campaign," and had
recruited over 400 volunteers to
wage its own grassroots effort.

     The coalition formed to defeat the Right's intiative,
Proposition 22 on the May 7 ballot,
which would repeal the city's policy of extending health benefits
to the unmarried
partners of city employees.

     Proposition 22 would amend the city charter to include a
definition of "family" that
excludes domestic partners of the same or opposite sex.  It was
placed on the ballot after a
petition drive by the Rev. Charles Bullock, pastor of the Christ
Memorial Baptist Church, and
his political action group, Concerned Texans, Inc.

     Since their petition drive ended, Concerned Texans has been
conspicuously silent.  Maxey
said he and other coalition leaders believe that Bullock was
waging a "stealth campaign," set
to explode in the last couple of weeks with a large infusion of
out-of state money.

     "We think they are keeping such a low-profile because they
are waiting until the last
weeks of the campaign to receive enormous amounts of cash from
the national Radical Right
organizations and flood the city with misleading ads," Maxey
said. He noted the same thing
happened last fall in Cincinnati.  In the final days of the
campaign to repeal that city's
gay-rights law, Colorado for Family Values (CFV) funneled
$390,000 into the repeal of that
law.

     Bullock and his followers have said they want to translate a
May ballot victory into
political action in other cities.  No strangers to local
politics, Bullock publicly led efforts to
deny tax abatements to Apple Computer, Inc. last November because
of that company's
domestic partner policy.  At a recent public forum, Bullock said
he wanted to be compared to
national Radical Right leader, Pat Robertson.  His campaign
manager, Michael Brandes, was
a leader of the 1982 campaign that sought to legalize
discrimination based on sexual
orientation in housing, which was rejected by Austin voters.

     Prior to the petition drive, both men were prominent
gay-bashers.  In 1992, Bullock held
a press conference in which he denounced homosexuality and called
for a "city-wide
campaign against the practice."  He has traveled to Colorado for
training and meetings with
Kevin Tebedo, CFV director.  He also used his congregation's
funds to run a full-page ad
criticizing the Austin daily for printing the wedding photo of a
lesbian couple.

     Maxey said the coalition message, "NO on 22. It's Not Fair!"
will remind Austin voters of
their historical commitment to fairness.

     "The policy is simple, common sense," Maxey said, "because
the cost of providing the
health benefits for domestic partners actually cost taxpayers
less than the bill for one
catastrophic illness at the city-owned charity hospital, which
recently ran a $32 million
deficit.

     "Also, the policy provides equal benefits to all city
employees, regardless of marital
status," he added.  "This is important to gay men and lesbians
because they cannot legally
marry in Texas."

      Since approval by the city council last September, less
than one percent of the total
city workforce have signed up for the benefits. Of those
employees who did, 30 percent
registered a partner of the same sex.  The policy will cost the
city an estimated $104,000 this
fiscal year.

     Maxey admitted the election will be close, but stressed that
it is winnable  "if we have
the support, both emotionally and financially, of gay men,
lesbians, their families and friends
from across the nation."

     Contributions to the "No on 22" campaign may be sent to
Mainstream Austin Coalition,
Post Office Box 2062, Austin, Texas  78768-2062.
                                                                  
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