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The Newsletter of the Interfaith Working Group
June 1999
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Anti-Gay TV Ads
On Mother's Day, the
Center for Reclaiming America
(self described "outreach of
Coral Ridge Ministries
to inform the American public and motivate people
of faith to defend and implement the biblical
principles on which our country was founded")
and seventeen other organizations released the first
television version of last year's anti-gay print ads.
The first ad, called "Mom" features anti-gay
ex-gay activist Michael Johnston and his mother.
The Center's Jannet Folger said in the press
release: "While the likely response to these ads by
some will be name-calling and hostility, I guarantee
that anyone who listens to Michael and his mother with
an open mind will find only truth in love." The
Washington Post quoted another Center
spokesperson, who said the ads are debuting in
Washington, DC because "that's where the policy
makers are." Only one local station (the UPN affiliate)
would air the ad, according to the Washington
Times
Justice and Peace Consulting,
of Northampton, MA has announced that they are
scheduling dates for late summer and fall of 1999
for their 90-minute multimedia presentation
The X-Gay Files: The Science Fiction of Conversion
Therapy, examining the construction of images of
gay men from The Gay Agenda through the latest
television ads. For more information contact Cindy
Beal, Justice and Peace Consulting.
Calculated Compassion: How the Ex-Gay Movement
Serves the Right's Attack on Democracy, produced
by
Equal Partners in Faith,
Political Research Associates
and the
NGLTF Policy
Institute, can be
downloaded or viewed
online.
National Day of Prayer
According to
Americans United for
Separation of Church and State, Congress intended
the National Day of Prayer (May 6) as an interfaith
"civil religion" occasion, but events surrounding the
day have become increasingly dominated by the
National Day of Prayer Task Force,
a group affiliated with James Dobson
(Focus on the Family)
and other Religious Right leaders. The Rev. Barry Lynn,
Executive Director of Americans United, noted that the
Task Force materials told local organizers that they
need not allow religions outside of the "Judeo-Christian"
tradition to participate, and that every volunteer
"must be a Christian who has a personal relationship
with Christ."
The Maranatha Christian Journal reported that
only Minnesota's governor did not make a proclamation.
Governor Ventura explained: "There are people out
there who are atheists, who don't believe at all, they
are all citizens of Minnesota, and I have to respect
that."
UUA vs. Boy Scouts Continues
The April 30 Boston Globe and May 15
Los Angeles Times reported that the
Unitarian Universalist Association
and the
Boy Scouts of America
had reached an agreement under which the UUA
would delete comments about the Scouts'
"homophobic and discriminatory attitudes" from
its Religion in Life Award Manual, and print comments
in a separate pamphlet mailed with the Manual.
The Globe reported on May 19 that the Scouts
again revoked the UUA's authority to give out the
awards, saying the separate pamphlet "reopens the
whole issue of using boys as a venue to air the
Unitarian Universalist Association's objection to
scouting's commitment to duty, to God, and to traditional
family values." According to the Globe, UUA
President John A. Buehrens responded: "If they
intend to start ripping badges off scout uniforms
when our children earn a religious award, they are
going to look very peculiar. We will continue to
award the badge and our young people will continue to
earn it."
NGLTF Domestic Partnership Organizing Guide
The Policy Institute of the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF)
has published a comprehensive resource on domestic
partnership benefits for journalists, public officials,
advocates, employees and employers. The
manual
describes various strategies to achieve domestic
partnership benefits, dissects policies already enacted,
lists companies and municipalities offering benefits,
and includes sample policies.
Brochures
We distribute our
Welcoming Congregations Brochure
at events like the concert, SundayOut and the Pride
Parade; it lists congregations that welcome sexual
minorities and their families and friends. Your
congregation may already be listed; if it isn't and
should be, please call.
We're also working on a
religious liberty brochure which
would be an introduction to church/state issues, with
brief discussions of the problems inherent in
school vouchers, organized school prayer, posting of
the Ten Commandments in courtrooms, etc. Call for
copies of this brochure or our organizational brochure.
Church of the Open Door
The May 23 Chicago Tribune had a long feature
story about the
Church of the Open Door,
which they called "the first Chicago congregation for
African-American homosexuals and their families.
California "Dignity for All Students" Bill Attacked
The San Francisco Chronicle and the
National Latina/o LGBT Organization (LLEGO)
both reported that
households with Spanish-sounding surnames received
a brochure in the mail which has a picture of an
African-American man and a Latino man kissing next to
the phrase (in Spanish) "Protect the Children Against
Homosexual Assault;" the text also asks people to
contact Latino/a state legislatures to urge them to
vote against the Dignity for All Students Act (AB222).
Letterhead Additions
Welcome to the Rev. James B. Robertson, of the Episcopal
Diocese of Pennsylvania, and Rev. George Tigh, United
Methodist Church of Bala Cynwyd, to be added with
the next printing.
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