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| <!--This file created 6/16/99 8:20 PM by Claris Home Page version 3.0 30 Day Trial--> | |
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| <P><B>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</B> <BR> | |
| Wednesday, June 16, 1999 <BR> | |
| <BR> | |
| <B>HRC DENOUNCES DIVISIVE ANTI-GAY RESOLUTION AT SOUTHERN | |
| BAPTIST CONVENTION</B> <BR> | |
| SBC Wrong To Further Poison The Climate Against Gays As Hate | |
| Crimes Increase, Says HRC <BR> | |
| <BR> | |
| WASHINGTON -- The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) today | |
| passed a resolution that condemned an official proclamation | |
| by President Clinton that declared June 1999 "Gay and | |
| Lesbian Pride Month." The SBC also passed a resolution | |
| demanding a recall on James Hormel's recess appointment as | |
| the ambassador to Luxembourg. The mean-spirited resolutions | |
| are a gratuitous attack on gay and lesbian Americans, | |
| furthering an atmosphere of mistrust and intolerance at a | |
| time when hate crimes are on the rise, according to HRC. | |
| <BR> | |
| <BR> | |
| "The resolution is wholly lacking in anything akin to | |
| spirituality rooted in love. In the aftermath of Columbine | |
| and the murders of people like Matthew Shepard, James Byrd | |
| and Cassie Bernall, you would think the Southern Baptists | |
| would be focused on ways to heal our communities, not divide | |
| them," said HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch. "The | |
| role of spiritual leaders should be to build safe, common | |
| ground in troubled times. But this resolution pits one group | |
| of people against another and singles out gay and lesbian | |
| Americans for discrimination." <BR> | |
| <BR> | |
| The Rev. Wiley Drake of First Southern Baptist Church in | |
| Buena Park, Calif., submitted the resolution disapproving of | |
| Clinton's proclamation. The resolution says "that any | |
| proclamation which acts to affirm, approve or endorse | |
| homosexual behavior is contrary to God's law. And, be it | |
| further resolved that we discourage all Americans from | |
| observing this month in any way, other than to pray for the | |
| repentance and salvation of those caught up in this sinful | |
| lifestyle." <BR> | |
| <BR> | |
| The SBC is upset over Clinton's June 11 proclamation that | |
| praised the gay and lesbian fight for equality and | |
| commemorated the "Stonewall Uprising". In a written | |
| statement, Clinton made history, becoming the first | |
| president to proclaim June "Gay and Lesbian Pride Month." "I | |
| encourage all Americans to observe this month with | |
| appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that | |
| celebrate our diversity, and to remember throughout the year | |
| the gay and lesbian Americans whose many and varied | |
| contributions have enriched our national life," the | |
| president wrote. <BR> | |
| <BR> | |
| "We are tremendously gratified that President Clinton has | |
| used the honor and authority of his office to recognize the | |
| significance of one of our community's most cherished and | |
| historic events," said Birch. "This proclamation is a | |
| testament to the nearly 30 years of hard work by activists | |
| and it certainly gives us something to be proud of in this | |
| year's Pride celebrations." <BR> | |
| <BR> | |
| The SBC also passed a resolution calling for the recall of | |
| Ambassador James Hormel. Hormel, a supremely qualified | |
| nominee, was denied a Senate vote because he is gay. Clinton | |
| nominated Hormel in 1997. The nomination was approved by the | |
| Senate Foreign Relations Committee last fall but had been | |
| stalled by several senators who raised objections to his | |
| support for lesbian and gay equal rights. The right-wing | |
| campaign to stop Hormel's nomination was led by Sens. James | |
| Inhofe, R-Okla., Bob Smith, R-N.H., and Tim Hutchison, | |
| R-Ark. <BR> | |
| <BR> | |
| Hormel is a prominent civic leader and former diplomat. He | |
| served as an alternate U.S. representative to the United | |
| Nations General Assembly and as a member of the U.S. | |
| delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Commission. His | |
| supporters include Sens. Joe Biden, D-Del.; Orrin Hatch, | |
| R-Utah; Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; as well as Secretary of | |
| State Madeleine Albright and former Reagan administration | |
| Secretary of State George Shultz. <BR> | |
| <BR> | |
| The anti-gay resolutions are the latest in a series of | |
| Southern Baptist Convention anti-gay initiatives and | |
| activities. The SBC launched an ill-fated boycott against | |
| Disney in June, 1997. Among the factors contributing to | |
| their decision were Disney's willingness to allow gay people | |
| to visit its theme parks and its policy of extending equal | |
| benefits to the domestic partners of its gay and lesbian | |
| employees. <BR> | |
| <BR> | |
| The denomination was founded in 1845 when the Baptist | |
| churches in the South withdrew from the national Baptist | |
| body called the General Missionary Convention. The split was | |
| caused when the Convention supported and biblically | |
| justified the right of its members to own slaves. Over a | |
| hundred years after the fact, in 1995, the Southern Baptist | |
| Convention formally repented their history of bigotry and | |
| oppression based on race. <BR> | |
| <BR> | |
| "We look forward to the day when the Southern Baptist | |
| Convention will repent their homophobia, and learn that | |
| among the greatest of sins is hate," said Birch. The renewed | |
| SBC attack on gay people comes at a time when hate crimes | |
| are becoming more lethal. <BR> | |
| <BR> | |
| A recent survey released by the National Coalition of | |
| Anti-Violence Programs showed an alarming increase in the | |
| brutality of hate crimes with an unprecedented rise in the | |
| use of weapons in the assaults. Hate crimes based on sexual | |
| orientation were up 8 percent in 1997, according to the | |
| latest FBI statistics. Sexual orientation was the third | |
| highest category of hate crimes behind race and religion and | |
| represented 14 percent of all hate crimes reported. <BR> | |
| <BR> | |
| The Human Rights Campaign, the largest national lesbian and | |
| gay political organization, with members throughout the | |
| country, effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign | |
| support, and educates the public to ensure that lesbian and | |
| gay Americans can be open, honest, and safe at home, at | |
| work, and in the community. </P> | |
| <CENTER>- 30 -</CENTER> | |
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