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ACTION ALERT from the
Human Rights Campaign
919 18th Street NW
Washington, DC 20006
email: hrc@hrc.org
WWW: http://www.hrc.org
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LETTER FROM ELIZABETH BIRCH ON HELMS AND BOXER AMENDMENTS

Dear HRC Family:

Yesterday was a high water mark in HRC's history. Although Senator Helms'
anti-gay amendment to the education bill passed by a razor-thin margin,
that close vote was nothing short of remarkable. Not many years ago, we
were lucky to get 2-3 votes in opposition to a Helms anti-gay or anti-HIV
amendment. Helms constructs his amendments in a way to force people to
vote on issues like the Boy Scouts, which are considered Mom and Apple Pie,
while building in toxic discrimination like a Trojan horse.

Yesterday, because of the Herculean efforts of the HRC staff, and the
voices of all of you, 49 Senators, on both sides of the aisle, had the
courage to stand up and say "NO" to Senator Helms' anti-gay attack.
Further, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA)offered an amendment immediately after
the Helms vote that will help to neutralize the potential harm of the Helms
amendment. 52 fair-minded Senators supported the Boxer amendment, and we
hope that language will prevail in the final negotiations on this bill.

Many did not believe we could achieve even close to such a result, but I
believe it was the direct result of all of us working together as a team to
tell Senator Helms that his anti-gay attacks will no longer be accepted.
Over the past month, HRC members like you sent over 10,000 faxes, emails
and letters to Capitol Hill opposing this amendment in both the House and
the Senate. In the end, those 49 Senators heeded your call, and chose to
vote for fairness rather than discrimination. While in the end we "lost"
the vote, we won the hearts and minds of many on Capitol Hill and in the
public at large, and we could not have done it without you.

Thank you for all of your activism and support.

In solidarity,

Elizabeth Birch,
Executive Director

P.S. For more information on this amendment:
http://www.hrc.org/hrc/hrcnews/2001/010614helms.asp

or to find out how your Senator voted on this amendment:

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/vote1071/vote_00189.html

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