For
Immediate Release
February 11, 2004
Contact:
R. Zeke Fread
Coordinator & Organizer
DontAmend Tampa Bay
(813) 251-0693
Gay Activist Demand Equal Marriage Rights on Valentines Day
Tampa, Florida -- Pro-gay activists in Tampa
Bay will be among those in two dozen cities around the country rallying on
Valentine’s Day for equal rights and against a proposed amendment to the
Constitution banning equal marriage rights for
same sex couples. Tampa Bay's rally will start
at 1 P.M., Saturday, February 14 at Lowery Park, Picnic Shelter 115,
7525 North
Boulevard, Tampa, Florida.
"This is an equal rights rally, and all who believe
in equal legal rights for all should support it," said R. Zeke Fread of
DontAmend.Com, a national grass-roots group fighting the proposed anti-gay
Constitutional amendment. DontAmend.com
has spearheaded a call by activists in dozens of
cities to hold pro-equal rights rallies and town hall meetings around the
country during the week of Feb. 9-15.
"Only with equal marriage rights does a person have
the right to medical decision-making for a loved one, parenting rights,
access to insurance, inheritance protections, and
immigration rights. Until same-sex couples have the freedom to marry,
discrimination in civil marriage will remain a profound barrier to achieving
complete equality for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender
people."
Activists point out that if the proposed anti-gay
amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed, it would be the first time, with
the temporary exception of Prohibition, that the
federal Constitution was amended to take away rights. "The religious
right pretends that if we win equal marriage rights, the sky will fall in," said
Fread. "Well Canada, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands seem to doing just
fine."
Tampa Bay’s rally is co-sponsored by Equality
Florida, Florida Gulf Coast Couples, GLBT Parents of Tampa Bay, Metropolitan
Community Church of Tampa, Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians and
Gays and Rainbow Law. Keynote
speaker will be
Rev. Phyllis Hunt, Pastor of the
Metropolitan Community Church of Tampa, and featured speakers are,
Alan Miles, co-organizer DontAmend
Tampa Bay rally, Alan Bell and Bruce Slepian, Chair-Couple Florida Gulf Coast
Couples, Carrie Ross-Stone, J.D., owner/operator of Rainbow Law, Cathy James,
Representing GLBT Parents of Tampa Bay, Dale Flieshman, Past Chair Couples
National Network, Vonn New, Coordinator Volunteer Related Services Equality
Florida and R Zeke Fread, Coordinator and Organizer DontAmend Tampa
Bay.
To contact DontAmend.com in Tampa
Bay to arrange interviews, call R. Zeke Fread,at (813)
251-0693 or contact by email at dontament@tampabay.rr.com. For
nationally-focused stories and to receive royalty-free pictures of the rallies
around the country, call Andy Thayer, DontAmend.com National Rally Coordinator,
at 773/209-1187, or send an email with the
subject "Send 2/14/04 Photos" to ATDontAmend@aol.com.
For a list of complete cities organizing
rallies or other events, go to http://www.dontamend.com. For detailed information about DontAmend Tampa Bay, please visit our website at: http://www.tampabaycoalition.com/dontamend.html.
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