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DignityUSA
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tel: 800.877.8797
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email:
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RETURN TO > 1998 > DATELINE
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DignityUSA DATELINE
NOVEMBER 1998 VOL. 7, NO. 11
Can it Be? 75!
You are reading the 75th edition of the DignityUSA DATELINE, one of our most important means of regular and timely communication with chapters, members, and friends. Many thanks to those Board members who collect and send the news, and to the National Secretary who copies and mails each monthly issue to Dignity's leaders. Special thanks to those chapters who provide copies of the Dateline to their members each month. -- Janet Cerni, Editor
Challenging Alaska's Bishops
The three Roman Catholic Bishops of Alaska recently sent a letter to Catholics throughout the state aggressively supporting a state constitutional amendment in the November election that would ban recognition of same-sex marriage. DignityUSA has responded with a general press release including copies directed to the bishops as well as a letter to the Anchorage Daily News.
Dignity believes that our gay families are an expression of humanity's social nature and that it is in and through our families that we express our love and the virtues of mutual respect and integrity The bishops are wrong to claim that our gay families are a threat to marriage and an undermining of the meaning and role of the family. Furthermore, the bishops' recommended action would prevent same-sex couples from their fair right to reasonable and appropriate legal protections. Dignity believes that non- traditional families are committed to building a stable and just society and that there is no reason to believe that civil recognition of same-sex marriages will negatively impact the condition of or the respect for church sanctioned marriages.
Dignity Joins National Policy Round Table
Executive Director Charles Cox represented DignityUSA at the mid-September meeting of the National Policy Round Table in Washington, DC. The Round Table, sponsored by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, brings together leaders of over 30 national, policy oriented gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender organizations. This was the Round Table's third such gathering, but the first one which included religious organizations — Dignity and two others.
The National Policy Round Table is a forum designed to stimulate discussion of new ideas; it is not a decision making body. The topics up for discussion were the 1998 elections, the origins of sexual orientation and the import of that debate on public policy, the ideology and strategy of the right wing, and the subject of race in the leadership of the national movement organizations.
Networking
Information on any of these programs can be obtained from the DignityUSA national office.
- DignityUSA is now an "affiliate organization" of LLEGO, a national Latina(o) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Organization. We wish them well in their efforts.
- DignityUSA has cooperated with the Women's Ordination Conference in mailing to all of our female identified members a copy of the WOC survey on women called to ordination and other ministry. Please respond today and assure that our Dignity voice is included in the grand tabulation.
- Dignity has signed on as a sponsor of a program entitled Always Our Children: A Report From the Pews. This New Ways Ministry program will take place on November 18, 1998, in Washington, DC.
- The NGLTF (National Gay and Lesbian Task Force) annual Creating Change Conference will take place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from November 11-15. Dignity members will be presenting workshops. A Catholic Mass is scheduled as one of the spiritual exercises during the Conference.
- The Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights with a symposium on November 21 in New York City. This AARC symposium is entitled All Human: Rights for All. Dignity has officially endorsed this program.
- Many thanks to Marianne Duddy, a speaker at the interfaith service held at the conclusion of the Human Rights Campaign's national Out Vote 98 Conference in Washington, DC on September 20.
Membership Brochure
DignityUSA very much needs a new membership brochure which clearly says what we are and how you can join us. It needs to look good and it needs to be usable by both the national office and our chapters at exhibit booths and in response to inquiries. If you have a flair for writing and/or design of promotional materials, please contact the national office to discuss how your volunteer efforts on this one time project can make a difference.
Dignity's New Year
October first marks the beginning of a new fiscal year for DignityUSA and changes in the national Board of Directors. Marianne Duddy, Past President, and Jeff Stone, National Director from the Northeast Region, have concluded their busy terms. We thank them for their many years of service and wish them well.
Honour Maddock is welcomed to the Board as the new National Director from the Northeast Region; Ann Marie Szpakowska will be working closely with her as the new Northeast Regional Coordinator.
Marching Dates
Equality Begins At Home, a series of demonstrations in all 50 states, is scheduled for March 21-27, 1999. Chapters leaders and interested persons are urged to contact their individual local or statewide grass roots organizations to be sure that the voices of people of faith are heard.
The March on Washington is planned for April 30, 2000.
DignityUSA's Biennial Convention
August 5-8, 1999 Denver
Happy Anniversary!
Fall River 4; Little Rock 8; Northeast PA 20; New Haven 22; Suffolk 22; Atlanta 24; St. Louis 24; Providence 25
