[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 87 (Wednesday, May 24, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1106-E1107]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


   ON THE OCCASION OF THE ALLIANCE FOR JUSTICE HONORING TOM STODDARD

                                 ______


                          HON. HENRY A. WAXMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 23, 1995
  Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, on May 23, the Alliance for Justice--a 
coalition of organizations with a history of working for equal 
justice--honored Tom Stoddard for his long career. I want to take the 
opportunity to do so as well.
  Now is precisely the right time to honor Tom Stoddard.
  This Congress is dominated by politicians who would have us march 
backward and have us repeal the progress of the last 25 years, 
especially the ideals of equal justice.
  But Tom embodies a different philosophy, one first said by Frederick 
Douglass: ``Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate 
agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. If 
there is no struggle, there is no progress.''
  In that spirit, Tom has worked and struggled. For years after the 
Nation decided that race discrimination, sex discrimination, religious 
discrimination, and finally disability discrimination were all wrong--
discrimination against gay men and lesbians is not just allowed, it is 
encouraged, it is joked about, it is expected.
  Tom has worked against that, working for what the opposition calls 
``the special rights for gay people.'' He has worked for the ``special 
right'' to work if you are qualified; the ``special right'' to live in 
the privacy of your home with those you love; the ``special right'' to 
have families; the ``special right'' to speak your mind; the ``special 
right'' to serve your country; [[Page E1107]] and the ``special right'' 
to have photographs on your desk, to have picnics in public places, and 
to care for your friends who are sick. He has worked for the ``special 
right'' to be free and equal and unafraid in America.
  Tom has done all this by speaking, teaching, advocating, organizing, 
and writing. He has been a model for young people who care about 
progress, and he has been a reminder for older people that not all 
justice has yet been done. Tom is the kind of American who has made the 
Nation make the quantum leap from thinking about gay civil rights as a 
fringe issue to gay civil rights as a fundamental issue.
  The Alliance for Justice has made these leaps before, leading the 
Nation closer to liberty and justice for all. I am pleased to join with 
the Alliance in honoring Tom Stoddard as a pioneer in that fight, and 
as a man whose work has changed politics for the better and forever.


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