[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 163 (Friday, October 20, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1993-E1994]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING AN AMERICAN HERO

                                 ______


                          HON. GERRY E. STUDDS

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 19, 1995

  Mr. STUDDS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Tom Stoddard, one 
of our Nation's most eloquent and respected advocates for the civil 
rights of lesbians and gay men. On Friday, October 27, Mr. Stoddard 
will be honored by the New York University School of Law, which has 
established the Tom Stoddard Fellowship under the aegis of the law 
school's prestigious Arthur Garfield Hays civil liberties program.
  Each year, one second-year law student will be selected to spend a 
year as the Stoddard Fellow, working with leading public interest 
organizations on gay and lesbian rights cases and other civil liberties 
matters.
  I am told that this is the first fellowship at any law school in the 
world to be dedicated to securing and advancing the cause of lesbian 
and gay rights. It is hard to imagine a more fitting tribute to one who 
has done so much to reshape the law in this area from a sword of 
persecution into a shield of justice.
  Tom served as counsel and, later, as legislative director, of the New 
York Civil Liberties Union, where he came into contact with most of the 
major civil rights causes of our time. He left the ACLU to devote his 
full attention to the rights of lesbians and gay men and the rights of 
people with HIV as head of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. 
Under his stewardship, the organization grew from a staff of 6 and an 
annual budget of $300,000 to a staff of 22 and a budget of $2.2 
million. Although he retired from that position in 1991, he was lured 
back into public service 2 years later, when he spent 6 months 
commuting to Washington as director of the Campaign for Military 
Service.
  Since 1980, Tom has served on the adjunct faculty of NYU, where he 
has been a mentor to a generation of law students searching for a way 
to use their skills in the service of humanity. He is a vice president 
of the American Civil Liberties Union and vice chairman of the American 
Foundation for AIDS Research.
  Tom has also shown immense courage in his personal struggle with 
AIDS. He expresses gratitude--not for the disease, but for the way in 
which it has deepened his sense of connectedness to those he has 
represented so 

[[Page E1994]]
ably for so long. As he said to the New York Times, he has become the 
client as well as the lawyer: the ``they'' has become ``we.'' His 
experience has broadened his perspective into what he has described as 
``an all-encompassing vista, one that connects the past to the future, 
one that ties me to all other people who have suffered.''
  In a similar way, Mr. Chairman, the Stoddard Foundation connects the 
aspirations of lesbian and gay Americans with the larger struggle for 
social justice and human dignity. I join with Tom's spouse, Walter 
Rieman, and their family, friends, and colleagues, as they inaugurate 
this fellowship and celebrate the extraordinary man for whom it is 
named. May this endowment enable a new generation of leaders to further 
his vision of a society that is ``fairer, more humane and more 
inclusive'' of every human being.

                          ____________________