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seretogis · 04-16-2004, 11:35 PM

Notice: There is no link, this is an email that was forwarded to me on a mailing-list.

Quote:

Vice Presidential Keynote Address to NRA Raises Concerns Among LGBT and Anti-Violence Organizations
Reflects Administration's Double Standard on Constitutional Freedoms

April 16, 2004 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: John Sonego, Director of Programs and Communications
Phone: (323) 634-2020 Email: sonego@glaad.org

LOS ANGELES, April 16, 2004 — The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation (GLAAD) today urged media to cover the story of the Bush
Administration’s apparent double standard on constitutional freedoms as
several national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and
anti-violence organizations expressed concern over Vice President
Richard B. Cheney’s upcoming keynote address at the annual meeting of
the National Rifle Association (NRA) in Pittsburgh, PA on Saturday,
April 17, 2004.

Below you will find statements by various national LGBT and
anti-violence organizations:

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
"The Vice President's attendance at the NRA convention is an
endorsement of gun-owner's constitutional rights," said National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman. "It is ironic
that, at the same time, the Bush Administration is attempting to
forever limit the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
people by means of an anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment. This sends
a message about this Administration's willingness to sell its stance on
our constitutional rights to the highest electoral bidder."

Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD)
“The NRA and its members represent the devaluation of human life on a
number of levels. The organization perpetuates a culture of violence
that in no small way affects vulnerable communities (i.e. communities
of color and the LGBT community) and has demonstrated its
insensitivity, ignorance and obliviousness time and again. We at GMAD
are saddened by the fact that the current administration would support
such a group,” said Tokes Osubu, Gay Men of African Descent Executive
Director.

Gay Asian Pacific Islander Men of New York (GAPIMNY)
“How can Dick Cheney give a keynote address that showcases his support
of the Constitutional rights of gun owners while simultaneously
supporting an amendment to the Constitution that would set limits on
LGBT equality?” asked executive director of Gay Asian Pacific Islander
Men of New York (GAPIMNY) Glenn Magpantay. “This is just one more
example of this administration’s willingness to exploit the
constitution for political gain while overlooking vulnerable
populations like the Asian Pacific Islander LGBT community.”

Mano A Mano
“The NRA lives in political and social vacuum,” said Andres Duque,
Director of Mano a Mano. “They refuse to recognize that advocating the
removal of a ban on assault weapons in this country does enormous
damage to vulnerable populations, particularly in urban environments
where many Latinos live and work. It is shameful that Vice President
Cheney would court their support by serving as the keynote speaker at
their annual meeting . It sends a very clear message to those that
would suffer under the policies that the NRA advocates that this
administration does not care about us or the issues that daily effect
our lives.”

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs
“Firearms are America’s true ‘weapons of mass destruction,’” said
Acting Executive Director of The National Coalition of Anti-Violence
Programs Clarence Patton. “In 2001, 11,348 Americans were killed and
45,316 were injured by firearms. Firearms are increasingly used in
anti-LGBT hate crimes, and have long been the scourge of urban and
other communities. It is telling that Vice President Cheney gladly
offers his own and the Administration’s imprimatur on the NRA’s claim
that firearms – including America’s true weapons of mass destruction,
automatic assault weapons – are a matter of constitutional freedom,
even while he supports the abridgement of freedoms for LGBT people and
surely has done nothing to mitigate the epidemic of anti-LGBT hate, but
has in fact tacitly encouraged it.”

Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
“We urge media to cover the story of the Bush Administration’s apparent
double standard on constitutional freedoms,” said Director of Programs
and Communications for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
John Sonego. “As the Administration appears to support the Second
Amendment, on the one hand, it is attempting to deface the Constitution
by promoting an anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment on the other hand,
forever enshrining second-class citizen status for LGBT people. Gun
owners should not take comfort in this Administration’s casual
treatment of the U.S. Constitution.”

Below you will find a list of resources and current information that
will be helpful.

RELEVANT LINKS:

Vice President’s address to NRA:

The New York Times – April 16, 2004
“N.R.A. Opens an All-Out Drive for Bush and Its Views”
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/16/po...ign/16NRA.html

Pittsburg Post-Gazette - April 9, 2004
“Bush, Kerry, Cheney all heading this way”
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04100/298447.stm

National Rifle Association—Institute for Legislative Action - March 31,
2004
“NRA 133rd Annual Meetings & Exhibits Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April
16-20”
http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/Releases.aspx?ID=3430

Vice President Cheney on same-sex civil marriage:

Associated Press – March 2, 2004
“Cheney Says He Supports Gay-Marriage Ban”
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040303/D812ILCG0.html

CNN – February 26, 2004
“Marriage amendment: Will it help or hurt Bush?”
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/...bush.marriage/

Denver Post – January 11, 2004
“VP would back ban on gay marriage”
http://www.denverpost.com/cda/article/print/
0,1674,36%257E11676%257E1881360,00.html

RESOURCES:

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
http://www.thetaskforce.org/

Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD)
http://www.gmad.org

Gay Asian Pacific Islander Men of New York (GAPIMNY)
http://www.gapimny.org

National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs
http://www.avp.org/ncavp.htm

Mano A Mano
http://www.latinoaids.org/programs/mano.htm

GLAAD’s Marriage Equality Resource Kit
http://www.glaad.org/media/resource_...il.php?id=3457

GLAAD’s Hate Crimes Resource Kit
http://www.glaad.org/media/resource_...il.php?id=3495

This publication of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
(GLAAD) can be viewed online:
http://www.glaad.org/media/newspops_detail.php?id=3655

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to
promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of
people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and
discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. For
more information, access http://www.glaad.org/

Ordinarily an email like this would just find its way silently into my mailing list archive but I thought that the polarity of responses from various gay / "anti-violence" groups was too interesting to not display here. It seems that the response from these groups is either a reasonable "Bush/Cheney is not practicing what they are preaching" statement, which I completely agree with, or ridiculous assumptions and outright lies like, "The NRA and its members represent the devaluation of human life on a number of levels."

You can definitely tell -- from these statements -- which groups are genuinely concerned about civil liberties of all citizens, and which are merely concerned with those who pay membership fees. It's unfortunate that some of these groups are willing to hold up a negative stereotype of an organization like the NRA while condemning (and simultaneously living up to) negative stereotypes of themselves.

P.S. How many of you were about to ask that this be moved to Wayside or TFM, from the subject?