From: mnorth@guvax.georgetown.edu
Newsgroups: soc.bi
Subject: Stonewall 25
Date: 15 Aug 92 02:51:05 -0400
Distribution: world
Organization: Georgetown University

For Immediate Release
8-15-92

Contacts: Lester Pierce 215-480-2345, Janice Thom 718-729-0803, 
          Howard Wallace 415-861-0318

ILGA CONFERENCE DECIDES NAME AND DEMANDS OF 1994 INTERNATIONAL MARCH

Stonewall 25 released today the text of political demands of the
International March on the United Nations to Affirm the Human Rights of
Lesbian and Gay People.  The March will be held on June 20, 1994, in New
York City.  
The name and demands were decided by the 14th Annual Conference of the
International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA), meeting in Paris, France,
July 12-18.  The over 260 conference participants from over 30 countries,
unanimously endorsed the March.  " For this event to be truly international
in scope and for it to gather significant international support and
participation, it is essential that the basic political decisions be made
on an international basis," said Gro Linstad, of Norway, who chaired the
session.  "This process seems to be well underway," she added.  
The demands of the march include a call upon the United Nations and its
Member States to take all necessary action to assure that the promises of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights not be denied lesbian, gay, and
bisexual people, nor to people who have AIDS or are HIV positive.  The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly of
the UN in 1948, proclaims that all human beings are entitled to basic human
rights.
An International Advisory Committee including representatives of
organizations from every continent will meet at the 1993 ILGA Conference in
Barcelona, Spain, to plan the program of the International Rally on June
26, 1994, in New York City.

The March and Rally will take place on the last Sunday in June, the day the
Stonewall Rebellion is traditionally celebrated and in many other places. 
The Stonewall Rebellion of 1969, which began with an uprising against a
police raid on a New York gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, sparked the
contemporary lesbian/gay/bisexual movement.  Pride groups across the U.S.
and in other countries are shifting the dates of their events to avoid
conflicting with the International March and Rally.  " To my knowledge, no
political or civil rights demonstration has ever been organized on this
scale or this far in advance," stated Leslie Cagan, Coordinator of the New
York City Committee for the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay
Rights, and National Coordinator of the June 12, 1982 demonstration, which
drew over one million people on the occasion of the Second UN Special
Session on Disarmament.

 INTERNATIONAL MARCH ON THE UNITED NATIONS TO AFFIRM THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF 
LESBIAN AND GAY PEOPLE, JUNE 26, 1994  NEW YORK CITY USA

We call upon the United Nations, its agencies, its member states and its
affiliated non-governmental organizations to take all necessary action to
assure that:

1. The promises of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights not be denied
to lesbian, gay and bisexual people;

2. The rights and freedoms of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights be
fulfilled to all people, including lesbian, gay and bisexual people,
without distinction of any kind, such as race, gender, sexual orientation,
religion, ethnicity, language, age, disability, socio-economic status and
national or social origin;

3. The agencies of the UN and non-governmental organizations affiliated
with the UN, undertake to report on violations of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights affecting lesbian, gay and bisexual people;

4. The promises of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights not be denied
people who have AIDS or are HIV positive;

5. The promises of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with regard
tot the right of health care not be denied to people with HIV/AIDS, nor to
lesbian, gay and bisexual people, including those who desire to engage in
reproduction;

6.  The global effort to combat HIV/AIDS to be intensified;

7.  The member states of the UN adopt a protocol to the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to define as a crime of
genocide the intended destruction of any of the targets of the Holocaust,
including lesbian, gay and bisexual people, and the intentional destruction
of any population group based on that group's race, gender, sexual
orientation, religion, ethnicity, language, age, disability, socio-economic
status and national or social origin;

8.  The agencies of the UN not deny non-governmental organizations
recognition or consultative status on the basis of their support for
lesbian, gay and bisexual people, or people who have AIDS or are HIV
positive;

9.  The General Assembly of the UN proclaim an International Year of
Lesbian and Gay People (possibly 1999);

10.The UN and its agencies not discriminate against lesbian, gay and
bisexual people in matters of contracting, hiring, employment conditions
and termination;

11.  The member states increase the funding of the human rights agencies of
the UN to accelerate the progress toward realizing the promises of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

12. The right of lesbian, gay, an bisexual people to create families be
recognized and protected, and that our family relationships with each other
and our children be celebrated in 1994, The International Year of the
Family.

We call upon the United Nations and the people of the world to join us in
affirming the dignity and legitimacy of lesbian, gay and bisexual people as
participants in the rich mosaic that constitutes the diversity of the human
family.
*****************

Some second hand information follows,
a. Bi was not included in the March title because of the objections of 
of Asians, notably Indians, Malaysians, and Thai
b. Bi is included in full in all the demands except for the 
International Year of L/G people because that effort was already 
underway and in the endorsement stage of organizing.
c. Brenda Howard (NYC) serves on the stonewall committee and deserves 
credit for the Bisexual inclusions.
d.  There is likely to be an international conference on Bisexuality 
during the STonewall 25 celebrations.  Stay tuned.

Michael
mnorth@guvax.georgetown.edu