[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 51 (Tuesday, April 20, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E542]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




GAY AND LESBIAN ACTIVISTS ALLIANCE OF WASHINGTON, DC, 33RD ANNIVERSARY 
       RECEPTION HONORING DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD RECIPIENTS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 20, 2004

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a Washington, DC 
institution that has been in the forefront of the lesbian, gay, 
bisexual, and transgendered civil rights movement, and that I have the 
distinct honor and pleasure of representing in this body: the Gay and 
Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C. (GLAA), the oldest 
continuously active gay and lesbian rights organization in the United 
States.
  Since its founding in April 1971, GLAA has been a respected and 
persistent advocate in District politics tirelessly asserting equal 
rights and social equality for lesbians and gay men living in the city 
through peaceful participation in the political process.
  GLAA has long fought to improve relations among the District's gay, 
lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered communities and the D.C. 
Government. GLAA has taken the lead in advocating better training for 
the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and Fire and Emergency Medical 
Service employees. GLAA persuaded the D.C. Public Schools to implement 
and enforce an effective, antiharassment policy established to protect 
all students. GLAA advocated effective public health strategies in the 
fight against AIDS. GLAA fought to insure that treatments and medicine 
are available to those in need and that the District's spending on HIV/
AIDS services be both open and transparent.
  GLAA also has long been at the forefront of the efforts to strengthen 
enforcement of the D.C. Human Rights Act of 1977 by demanding all 
antidiscrimination policy statements in the D.C. Government reflect the 
full range of classes protected by that law.
  On April 20, GLAA held its 33rd Anniversary Reception honoring the 
2004 recipients of its Distinguished Service Awards: Sarah Kellogg, 
Deacon MacCubbin, The Mautner Project, Cheryl Spector, and Nadine 
Chandler Wilburn.
  Sarah Kellogg is a director of D.C.'s Reel Affirmations film festival 
and a member of the board of its parent organization, One In Ten.
  For 35 years Deacon MacCubbin has been a model community activist and 
business leader. He created the first D.C. Gay Pride celebration, the 
gay switchboard, the first D.C. gay youth support group, and his 
bookstore, Lambda Rising, serves as a de facto community center.
  Since its founding in 1990, the Mautner Project has been the only 
national organization dedicated to lesbians with cancer, their partners 
and caregivers. Its mission is to improve the health and well-being of 
lesbians and their families by: delivering services and support to 
lesbians with cancer, their families and caregivers; educating lesbians 
about important health issues; educating healthcare providers about the 
needs and concerns of their lesbian clients; and promoting lesbian 
health through research, advocacy, and activism.
  For over two decades Cheryl Spector has been a community activist. 
She has documented gay and lesbian life in Washington with her still 
and video photography.
  Nadine Chandler Wilburn who performed excellent service to the LGBT 
community while she was interim director of the D.C. Office of Human 
Rights from 2002-2003.
  GLAA's thirty-three year fight to secure equal rights for the LGBT 
citizens of Washington, D.C. is more poignant as United States Citizens 
living in our nation's capital, who have fought in every American war, 
including the present war in Iraq, are taxed without representation. 
Furthermore, GLAA's open and forthright advocacy for rights reminds us 
that LGBT soldiers, who have sworn to protect our country with their 
lives, must serve in silence, without the open support of their chosen 
families and communities, neither asking nor telling.
  I ask the House to join me in congratulating the Gay and Lesbian 
Activists Alliance and its honorees.

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