 Taking Up The Charge: Now that the anti-gay amendment has cleared the House, Sen. Jesse Helms will now lead the effort to pass the measure in the Senate |
Washington, D.C.-House passage of an anti-gay amendment sponsored
by Rep. Van Hilleary, R-Tenn was passed yesterday and, simultaneously, it was derided by the
Human Rights Campaign (HRC).
This amendment, which was approved by a voice vote, purports to prohibit federal funding to
schools that deny access of public school facilities to the Boy Scouts,
despite the fact that the scouts have never lost their ability to meet in
school facilities.
"This was an empty, mean-spirited gesture that accomplished nothing
because the law already dictates that the Boy Scouts have equal access to
school facilities," said HRC Political Director Winnie Stachelberg.
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"The battleground now shifts to the Senate, where we will work to defeat the
Helms amendment."
In the Senate, HRC officials say, they will continue to fight the amendment
sponsored there by Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and rally support against the measure.
The organization sent out an action alert to its members, asking them to urge their Senators to oppose
this amendment. Additionally, a letter signed by several key organizations
that opposed both measures was sent to lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
| Today's predicted
resignation from the Republican Party of Vermont's Senator Jim Jeffords
has spawned petitions on the Internet to encourage the senator's
defection to the Democratic party: www.petitiononline.com/ddc17/petition.html
If Jeffords announces he is defecting from the GOP, predict some gay pundits, the Senate's
balance of power, no matter which party Jeffords defects to, will fall into Democratic
committee hands, thereafter making GOP passage of such anti-gay legislation
seemingly more difficult.
Helms said on the Senate floor last week that "radical militants" were
trying to ban the Boy Scouts from campuses. He also said they [gay
activists] "demand that everybody else's principles must be cast aside in
order to protect the right of homosexual conduct."
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Related Stories from the GayToday Archive:
Anti-Gay Amendments Introduced
by 2 Republican Zealots
Helms Amendment is a Punishment
in Search of a Problem
America: The Incipient Fascist State
Related Sites:
Human Rights Campaign
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