For Immediate Release
February 25, 2004
For Information:
Andy Thayer, National Rally Coordinator
for DontAmend.com, 773.209.1187
John Aravosis, Co-chair DontAmend.com,
Creator DearMary.com, 202.262.9302
2ND NATIONAL DAY OF RALLIES CALLED IN RESPONSE TO
PRESIDENT'S ANTI-GAY AMENDMENT DRIVE
Rallies to coincide with historic 50th anniversary of Brown v.
Board of Education decision
WASHINGTON, DC - DontAmend.com announced today a second
national day of rallies on May 17th in response to yesterday's call by President
Bush for passage of a federal constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
May 17th is the date the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has said that
same-sex marriage licences must begin to be issued in that state, and it is also
the 50th anniversary of the date that "judicial activists" on the Supreme Court
issued their famous Brown v. Board of Education ruling.
"With the President openly endorsing second-class citizenship
for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people, and the Democratic
front-runner saying his position mimics the anti-gay stance of the Vice
President, our community is left with no equal rights voice in national politics
unless we become that voice ourselves," said Andy Thayer, National Rally
Coordinator for DontAmend.com. "We all remember the tremendous response of our
community and allies following the murder of Matthew Shepard. While many in our
community had been brutally murdered before Shepard, it was the outpouring of
people in the streets of America following Shepard's murder which prompted a
national debate about right-wing fundamentalist hatred of gay
people."
Working with other local and national organizations, on
February 14th DontAmend.com organized equal rights rallies and pro-Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual and Transgendered activities in over two dozen cities around the
country.
"The President's endorsement of the anti-gay amendment is a
crude attempt to divert attention from his falling poll numbers," said John
Aravosis, co-chair of DontAmend.com and creator of the newly-launched
DearMary.com that was profiled in yesterday's Washington Post. "Rather than
address the real concerns of Americans such as the economy or the war, President
Bush has opted for legislative gay bashing. It speaks volumes about the George
Bush's low moral character and lack of family values that he would scapegoat an
entire community in a desperate attempt to save his own political
skin."
Aravosis also noted President's Bush's woeful ignorance of the
basic functioning of our government. "The President derides so-called 'activist
judges,'" Aravosis said. "It was 'activist judges' who had the courage to give
us Brown v. Board of Education fifty years ago on May 17th. Is George Bush
suggesting that he would have been blocking the schoolhouse door? After all,
those activist judges were clearly not representing the will of the overtly
racist, segregationist sentiment prevailing in America. George Bush has a
fundamental ignorance about the way our democracy operates if he think our court
system is simply a rubber stamp for the whims of the majority. We call on all
who support equal rights and fairness to rally with us on May 17th in order to
give the president a civics lesson he desperately needs."
DontAmend.com, DearMary.com and The Equality Campaign, Inc.
are a combined national grassroots campaign devoted to stopping any amendment to
the US Constitution that would ban marriage equality for the LGBT community. The
campaign was founded by the same veteran civil rights advocates who ran the
successful StopDrLaura.com campaign targeting anti-gay radio host Dr. Laura
Schlessinger.
To get involved in organizing a rally in your town, please
contact DontAmend.com by emailing ATDontAmend@aol.com, or visiting the
DontAmend.com and DearMary.com web sites.
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