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Calls on Her Husband's Admirers to Make Room for Gays Phill Wilson: 'Phone Al Gore & Tell Him to Fight to Win' |
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Compiled by GayToday
"In a way, we have just had an object lesson in the power of coalition unity," Mrs. King said. "I think we have just seen the future of American democracy flash before our eyes...The coalition that gave Al Gore a popular majority can surely be as powerful as the New Deal coalition that transformed America in an earlier era." Quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mrs. King said, "We are all tied together in a single garment of destiny...An inescapable network of mutuality...I can never be what I ought to be until you are allowed to be what you ought to be." "Therefore," Mrs. King said, "I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people." In recent years, GLBT people have achieved increased visibility, and the number of lesbian and gay officeholders is on the rise. "I think this will help educate the American people that lesbian and gay people seek the same goals of quality education for young people, cleaner air and water, safer streets and better health care that straight people want. We have to work harder for the broader vision of the compassionate and caring society that demands decent living standards for all citizens."
The speakers were introduced by NGLTF Executive Director Elizabeth Toledo and the forum was moderated by Joan Garry, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. In her remarks, Lopez criticized conservatives' attacks on federalism, which she called an attempt to reduce funding for critical infrastructure needs such as education and health care. Bohnett agreed, adding that the use of the phrase "competition in the schools" is code for vouchers. "School vouchers are wrong and they will always be wrong in this country," he said. Kang laid out a vision of the GLBT movement in which she predicted that decisions increasingly will be made not by national organizations, "not in boardrooms but in living rooms, church basements, grassroots organizing and in the streets." Wilson concluded the opening plenary at Creating Change by urging Vice President Gore not to prematurely concede the presidential election. "Call Vice President Gore and Mr. Daley and Donna Brazile and tell them to fight," Wilson said. "Tell them to fight and fight and fight for this election." He warned that pollsters might try to convince Gore to "bow out graciously. But I believe this election is worth fighting for." |
