2nd Nat'l Day of Rallies Called In Response to President's Anti-Gay Amendment

For Immediate Release
February 25, 2004

For Information:
Andy Thayer, National Rally Coordinator for DontAmend.com, 773.209.1187
John Aravosis, Co-chair DontAmend.com, Creator DearMary.com, 202.262.9302

http://www.DontAmend.com
http://www.DearMary.com

2ND NATIONAL DAY OF RALLIES CALLED
IN RESPONSE TO PRESIDENT'S ANTI-GAY AMENDMENT DRIVE
Rallies to coincide with historic 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of
Education decision

WASHINGTON, DC - DontAmend.com announced today a second national day of
rallies on May 17th in response to yesterday's call by President Bush for passage
of a federal constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. May 17th is the
date the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has said that same-sex marriage
licences must begin to be issued in that state, and it is also the 50th
anniversary of the date that "judicial activists" on the Supreme Court issued their
famous Brown v. Board of Education ruling.

"With the President openly endorsing second-class citizenship for Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people, and the Democratic front-runner saying
his position mimics the anti-gay stance of the Vice President, our community is
left with no equal rights voice in national politics unless we become that
voice ourselves," said Andy Thayer, National Rally Coordinator for
DontAmend.com. "We all remember the tremendous response of our community and allies
following the murder of Matthew Shepard. While many in our community had been
brutally murdered before Shepard, it was the outpouring of people in the streets of
America following Shepard's murder which prompted a national debate about
right-wing fundamentalist hatred of gay people."

Working with other local and national organizations, on February 14th
DontAmend.com organized equal rights rallies and pro-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgendered activities in over two dozen cities around the country.

"The President's endorsement of the anti-gay amendment is a crude attempt to
divert attention from his falling poll numbers," said John Aravosis, co-chair
of DontAmend.com and creator of the newly-launched DearMary.com that was
profiled in yesterday's Washington Post. "Rather than address the real concerns of
Americans such as the economy or the war, President Bush has opted for
legislative gay bashing. It speaks volumes about the George Bush's low moral
character and lack of family values that he would scapegoat an entire community in a
desperate attempt to save his own political skin."

Aravosis also noted President's Bush's woeful ignorance of the basic
functioning of our government. "The President derides so-called 'activist judges,'"
Aravosis said. "It was 'activist judges' who had the courage to give us Brown v.
Board of Education fifty years ago on May 17th. Is George Bush suggesting
that he would have been blocking the schoolhouse door? After all, those activist
judges were clearly not representing the will of the overtly racist,
segregationist sentiment prevailing in America. George Bush has a fundamental
ignorance
about the way our democracy operates if he think our court system is simply a
rubber stamp for the whims of the majority. We call on all who support equal
rights and fairness to rally with us on May 17th in order to give the
president a civics lesson he desperately needs."

DontAmend.com, DearMary.com and The Equality Campaign, Inc. are a combined
national grassroots campaign devoted to stopping any amendment to the US
Constitution that would ban marriage equality for the LGBT community. The campaign
was founded by the same veteran civil rights advocates who ran the successful
StopDrLaura.com campaign targeting anti-gay radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger.

To get involved in organizing a rally in your town, please contact
DontAmend.com by emailing ATDontAmend [at] aol.com, or visiting the DontAmend.com and
DearMary.com web sites.

-30-