Gay and Lesbian Atheists and Humanists Condemns Gathering of "Promise Keepers" in the Nation's Capital 

GAY AND LESBIAN ATHEISTS
AND HUMANISTS
writegalah@bellatlantic.net

September 21, 1997
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact person: Tom Klem klem0@ibm.net

Gay and Lesbian Atheists and Humanists Condemns Gathering of "Promise Keepers" in the Nation's Capital

The Board of Gay and Lesbian Atheists and Humanists (GALAH) has voted to denounce the gathering of "Promise Keepers" in our nation's capital during the weekend of October 4-5 and has vowed to join other voices in opposition to the group's misogyny, heterosexism, and religious extremism.

GALAH recognizes that the overt homophobia of this gathering of male-supremacists is by no means the only aspect of the event that is dangerous to queers. "This group is trying to return our society to the days where being a man was defined by oppressing a woman in a sexual relationship, and being a woman is defined by being oppressed by a man in a sexual relationship," noted Thomas Klem, GALAH Chair. "In addition to being grossly unfair to women, this also would create a society where gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders are marginalized and dehumanized to an even greater extent than exists today."

The founder of the "Promise Keepers" made his homophobic views clear when he said that homosexuality is "an abomination of almighty god." However, it is important to remember that a broad variety of people are threatened by the agenda of the "Promise Keepers" including but by no means limited to women, male feminists, atheists, lesbians/gays/bis/transsexuals, humanists, abortion-rights supporters, more moderate Christians, and members of minority religions. "Hopefully, at least one good thing will result from this hate-fest," Klem said. "People working on different aspects of resisting the agenda of the Religious Right may get an opportunity to network and become more familiar with each others efforts."

Gay and Lesbian Atheists and Humanists is an organization with four main goals:

  1. Support equal rights for lesbians, gays, transgenders, and bisexuals.
  2. Educate people about atheism and humanism.
  3. Support separation of church and state.
  4. Provide freethinkers with opportunities to get to know each other.
Historically, GALAH had been a local organization in the Los Angeles area, but GALAH has started outreach to queer freethinkers nationwide. GALAH now is headquartered in Washington, DC. GALAH has a monthly newsletter which, among other things, includes updates on the Religious Right, information about letter-writing campaigns to counter the fundamentalists, and it even has an advice column. To find out more about GALAH, write to GALAH, 1718 M. St. NW, Washington, DC 20036 or email klem0@ibm.net.

Do you know of other organizations which are opposing the "Promise Keepers"? Let us know!

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