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News :: Miscellaneous |
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HRC Decries House Passage of Anti-Gay Hilleary Amendment |
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by Human Rights Campaign
(No verified email address) |
24 May 2001
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Vigorous Fight to Defeat Helms Version in Senate is Next Step, Says Human Rights Campaign |
WASHINGTON - May 23 - The Human Rights Campaign today derided the House of Representatives' vote in favor of an anti-gay amendment, sponsored by Rep. Van Hilleary, R-Tenn. The amendment, approved by a voice vote in the House, purports to bar federal funding to schools that deny access of public school facilities to the Boy Scouts, despite the fact that the scouts have never lost their ability to meet in school facilities.
"This was an empty, mean-spirited gesture that accomplished nothing because the law already dictates that the Boy Scouts have equal access to school facilities," said HRC Political Director Winnie Stachelberg. "The battleground now shifts to the Senate where we will work to defeat the Helms amendment."
HRC will continue to fight the anti-gay amendment sponsored by Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and rally support against the measure. HRC sent out an action alert to its members, asking them to urge their senators to oppose the amendment. Additionally, several key organizations signed a letter of opposition to the measures which was sent to Capitol Hill.
Groups that signed the letter are: the Association of School Administrators, American Association of University Women, American Psychological Association, Americans for Democratic Action, Anti-Defamation League, Council of the Great City Schools, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Myra Sadker Advocates, the National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Council of Jewish Women, National Education Association, National Federation of Filipino American Associations, National PTA, National Rural Education Association, National School Boards Association, National Women’s Law Center, New York State Education Department, NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, People For the American Way, Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, and the United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries.
To gain support for his amendment, Hilleary sent out a letter that mistakenly said the Boy Scouts were routinely denied access to schools. Reps. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., and Connie Morella, R-Md., sent a letter to lawmakers to address the error. "The Hilleary 'dear colleague' [letter] might lead you to believe that such exclusion is lawful and commonplace, and it is not," they wrote. "A selective denial of equal access is unlawful. And no school district has ever successfully barred the Boy Scouts from using school facilities that are open to all."
Helms said on the Senate floor last week that "radical militants" were trying to ban the Boy Scouts from campuses. He also said they [gay activists] "demand that everybody else’s principles must be cast aside in order to protect the right of homosexual conduct."
The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national lesbian and gay political organization with members throughout the country. It effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support and educates the public to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community. |
See also:
http://www.hrc.org
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