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---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Date: Wednesday, October 11, 2000 4:57 PM -0400
From: Anabel Evora <Anabel.Evora@hrc.org>
To: HRC-YOUTH@LISTS.HRC.ORG
Subject: NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY SENDS ELECTION YEAR MESSAGE:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                           Contact:        Wayne
Besen Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2000
Phone: (202) 216-1580 Pager:
(800) 386-5997

  NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY SENDS ELECTION YEAR MESSAGE:
'COME OUT' TO VOTE

Supreme Court, Presidency, House and Senate Up For Grabs and
GLBT Vote Could Make the Difference, says Candace Gingrich

PHILADELPHIA - Various celebrations took place across the nation
today to mark the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 12th annual
National Coming Out Day, with the goal of mobilizing thousands of
gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Americans to vote in the
upcoming elections. "With the U.S. presidency, Supreme Court, House
         and Senate hanging in the balance, this could be the most
important National Coming Out Day ever," said HRC Foundation's
National Coming Out Project Manager Candace J. Gingrich.
"Our community is a crucial voting bloc that has the power to turn
the tide in close races," said Gingrich. "Each person who comes out
increases our ability to influence elections, and so today's events
are crucial to mobilizing the gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgendered vote." The gay, lesbian and bisexual vote is nearly as
large as the Latino vote and larger than the Jewish and Asian vote.
In 1996, the last presidential election year, a Voter News Service
exit poll showed the gay, lesbian and bisexual electorate represented
5 percent of all voters. This sizable voting bloc along with the
votes of friends and family members - which altogether adds up to a
force much greater than the gay vote alone - creates a powerful
constituency, according to HRC.
           To help rally GLBT voters at NCOP events, HRC sent local
organizers over 400 NCOD kits, which included thousands of balloons,
posters, stickers, buttons and media training guides. HRC also
distributed 10,000 Resource Guides to Coming Out, to help people who
are coming out to friends or family members.
To kick-off National Coming Out Day, HRC Executive Director Elizabeth
Birch joined Gingrich today at the University of Pennsylvania, where
a gay couple made history by announcing their $2 million contribution
to their alma mater for a gay and lesbian services center.
The gift from retired Microsoft executive David Goodhand and life
partner Vincent Griski, a former Wall Street financial analyst, will
go towards renovating Carriage House, a historic campus structure. It
will house the university's Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT)
Center - one of the oldest and most active higher ed centers. The
couple's gift is the first and largest of its kind to directly
benefit an LGBT campus community, and it officially kicks off a $5
million fund-raising campaign to complete the center's construction
and to endow its programs.
"We applaud the history-making gift to University of Pennsylvania
that will greatly contribute to people coming out and help educate
people on gay issues," said  Gingrich. "The ceremony in Philadelphia
is one of hundreds of events happening all over country on campus, in
the workplace and in communities that will lead to a better world for
gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people."

         National Coming Out Day was founded in 1988, and has come
         under the auspices of the HRC Foundation since 1993.  It has
blossomed into an event that is celebrated in cities, states,
businesses, schools and houses of worship throughout the country. For
more information on National Coming Out Day, call 1-800-866-NCOD or
visit NCOP@HRC.org.
         The Human Rights Campaign is the nation's largest national
         lesbian and gay political organization with members
throughout the country.  HRC effectively lobbies Congress, provides
campaign support and educates the public to ensure that lesbian and
gay Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in
the community.

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