National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Convenes Power Summit on Eve of Massachusetts Constitutional Convention Vote on Gay Marriage

3/26/2004

From: Sheri A. Lunn, 202-641-5592 or Roberta Sklar, 917-704-6358, both for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

News Advisory:

-- Grassroots Leaders from Across the Nation Gather in Boston

-- Media Opportunities at Gay Advocates Power Summit

WHAT: Task Force New England Power Summit

WHO: National Gay and Lesbian Task Force & 100 plus Activists

-- Matt Foreman, Task Force executive director -- Barney Frank, Massachusetts Representative

WHEN: March 26 - 28, 2004

WHERE: Sheraton Boston Hotel (Prudential Center) & Various Boston Neighborhoods.

Task Force staff to train more than 100 participants on electoral and fundraising skills specifically focused on the issue of marriage equality. Nearly half the Power Summit participants are from Massachusetts. Contrary to recent polling, the Task Force predicts that during the neighborhood door-to-door voter identification canvas voters will be responding to the issue of equal marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples more favorably and in much larger numbers than polls would predict. Our experience is that when we talk with voters face-to-face on any gay issue, we outperform what polls would predict by 15-25 points. On the marriage issue, that is enough to stop anti-gay politicians from using the gay community as a wedge issue, and can change the result of a popular vote on the issue -- should a vote be placed before the people by the MA legislature on March 29.

Media are invited to attend (RSVP required*)

-- Saturday, March 27, 9:15 - 10 a.m. Private Task Force media briefing/Q&A with Matt Foreman, executive director; Dave Fleischer, director of organizing & training; and, Sue Hyde, New England field organizer and leader in the MassEquality coalition. Topic: Moving Forward from March 29. (Sheraton Boston)

-- Saturday, March 27, 10 a.m. - noon. Door-to-door voter canvass in a mix of African-American urban, white urban, and swing suburban districts, talking directly and honestly about marriage and the gay community. Media are invited to ride along on shuttles to canvas neighborhoods. Great photo op.

-- Saturday, March 27, 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. Debrief from Task Force executive director Matt Foreman. (Sheraton Boston)

-- Saturday, 6 p.m. Barney Frank addresses Power Summit participants (Sheraton Boston)

-- Media must RSVP for admittance to Power Summit activities. Call Task Force Director of Communications, Sheri A. Lunn, at 202- 641-5592 (cell).

Dave Fleischer, Task Force director of organizing & training explains the importance of the New England Power Summit:

"Our community didn't pick a fight with anti-gay politicians. We want all Americans, Democrat, Republican and everyone in- between, to take a look at their gay neighbors and consider how much all of us have in common when it comes to our need to protect the people we love. Wedge-issue political hacks, including President Bush, have made a serious miscalculation that will cost them votes in the upcoming elections. If the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community does its job and does this work on an appropriate scale, any politician who is relying on reflexive anti-gay sentiment to power their campaign will in fact be running a very high risk of losing because they have picked on the wrong group of people. We are going to fight back with a weapon that anti-gay bigots can't cope with: a direct, honest discussion with the American people."

Fleischer continued, "Anti-gay extremists and President Bush have picked a fight with us. And they're not interested in a fair fight. They want to hide behind vague language like 'sanctity' and code words that communicate to their base that ridiculing and demeaning gay people's aspirations to be full-fledged members of society is what they get when they vote Republican.

"If anti-gay politicians want the votes of bigots, then the Task Force is committed to making sure that they learn that there is a cost attached to that choice. And the cost is the votes of fair-minded people, who as they learn more about what marriage means to lesbian and gay families and why it's important to us, will ultimately cast their vote against discrimination and for candidates for office who stand against discrimination."

Founded in 1973, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force was the first national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights and advocacy organization and remains the movement's leading voice for freedom, justice, and equality. It works to build the grassroots political strength of our community by training state and local activists and leaders and organizing broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation. The Policy Institute, the community's premiere think tank, provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle for complete equality. As part of a broader social justice movement, it works to create a world that respects and makes visible the diversity of human expression and identity where all people may fully participate in society. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., it also has offices in New York City, Los Angeles, and Cambridge.