QUEERS: National Day of Rallies Called for May 17th

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 http://www.DontAmend.com by emailing ATDontAmend [at] aol.com, or visiting the DontAmend.com and DearMary.com web sites.