Gay/Lesbian Task Force Issues Congressional Report Cards
What grade did your Congressperson get? "Report Cards" that evaluate the records of all 535 members of the 1OOth Congress are available from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF). NGLTF followed voting records on lesbian and gay male concerns such as anti-lesbian and anti-gay violence, civil rights legislation, educational materials and federally-funded programs relating to AIDS, and anti-discrimination legislation for persons adjudged handicapped, including people with AIDS, people with ARC, and people who are HlV-positive.
Members of the House of Representatives were more supportive of lesbian-gay male issues than were members of the Senate. Legislators from Massachusetts scored the only cumulative "A" with a combined score of 90. Michigan legislators scored 76. Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) scored 0. The Task Force intends to issue "Report Cards" for each session of Congress, according to Peri Jude Radecic, a NGLTF lobbyist. For information, call (202)332-6483 or write to NGLTF, 1517 U. Street, Washington, DC 20009.
A national conference by, for and about lesbians is tentatively scheduled for late 1989 or early 1990. The conference is intended to set a lesbian agenda for social, economic, and politica! change; to increase lesbian visibility; and to acknowledge lesbian diversity and commonality. Regional planning meetings will be held in the next few months, with the first national steering-committee meeting to follow in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina over the weekend of March 4-5, 1989. For information, write National Lesbian Conference, PO Box 3057, Albany, NY 12203.
Gay Liberations Purpose is to provide information, counseling, and related social services for people concerned about sexual orientatlon: maintain Hotline for crisis intervention, peer counseling, referral; help provide factual information to offset prejudice and misinformation about lesbians and gay men; work to obtain human and civil rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation; help lesbian and gay men's groups organize; link to other community groups.
Community Services include a Hotline: crisis intervention, peer counseling, referral. Education: workshops and conferences on lesbian and gay male concerns, with an emphasis on how people in the "helping professions" and "teaching professions" can work positively with lesbian and gay male clients, patients, students. Speakers Bureau: phone for information. Human & Civil Rights: information and referral to help people under discrimination because of their actual or presumed sexual orientation or because of their presumed "cross-gender" characteristics; lobbying for human and civil rights. Community Organizing: information and assistance in organizing groups, setting goals, addressing conflict, linking with other groups and resources.
Gay Liberation Meetings vary according to purpose; we do most of our work in sub-committees (counseling, groupwork, education, civil rights). Call for time and place. Gay Liberation includes UM students, staff, and faculty, and people from the larger community. We have a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. At present we have approximately fifty members. We're a registered non-profit organization.
Gay Liberation, c/o 4117 Michigan Union, Ann Arbor, Ml 48109, info: 763-4186; hotiine: 662-1977.