Press
NGLTF Meets With President Clinton
Date:
July 23, 1997
Kerry Lobel, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force executive director and representatives of eleven other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organizations met with President Clinton on Tuesday July 22, 1997 at the White House.
Participants at the meeting, organized by Richard Socarides, White House liaison to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, covered a wide range of issues including gays in the military, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth, HIV/AIDS, and family issues including marriage, adoption and custody. Other topics discussed at the meeting were hate crimes, the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), state organizing, presidential appointments, sodomy, and the intersections of race and sexual orientation. The group also talked about the President's record on LGBT issues during his first term and discussed their expectations for the current term.
According to Lobel, "we found the President to be open and knowledgeable on issues affecting the LGBT community. This is a President who at heart seems to have a deep commitment to moving every American forward. At those places where we disagree with the President, and there are many, we know for certain now that he acts, not out of ignorance, but out of his political analysis for advancing his agenda."
Lobel added that the President spoke at length about how the cultural map of America must shift if LGBT people are to gain civil rights. "We look to the President to speak out loudly and often on issues affecting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans. But we must be realistic. The President will not move unless activists at the local and state level move him and the administration forward."
Other participants at the meeting were:
Kevin Jennings, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Teachers Network
Tim Gill, founder of the Gill Foundation
Gloria Nieto, executive director of the People of Color AIDS foundation of New Mexico
Brian Bond, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund
Lorri Jean, executive director of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center
Martin Ornelas-Quintero, executive director of the National Lation/a Lesbian and Gay Organization
Jeff Soref, Co-Chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda
Dale McCormick, Treasurer of the State of Maine
Kevin Cathcart, executive director of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
Nancy McDonald, national president of the board of directors of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (P-FLAG)
Verna Eggleston, executive director of the Hetrick-Martin Institute
Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign.
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The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the political power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community from the ground up. We do this by training activists, organizing broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, and by building the organizational capacity of our movement. Our Policy Institute, the movement’s premier think tank, provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle for complete equality and to counter right-wing lies. As part of a broader social justice movement, we work to create a nation that respects the diversity of human expression and identity and creates opportunity for all. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., we also have offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis and Cambridge.
