[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 47 (Tuesday, April 19, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E688]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING THE GAY AND LESBIAN ACTIVISTS ALLIANCE OF WASHINGTON, DC 
    34TH ANNIVERSARY RECEPTION HONORING DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD 
                               RECIPIENTS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 19, 2005

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I have the distinct honor and pleasure of 
representing America's oldest, continuously operational gay and lesbian 
rights organization: the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of 
Washington, D.C. (GLAA). GLAA is a Washington, DC institution in the 
vanguard of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered civil rights 
movement. For 34-years, GLAA has remained a tenacious, persistent, and 
most importantly, respected, advocate for lesbians and gays.
  Since 1971, GLAA has fought to improve District government services 
to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) communities, 
especially for those services provided by the Metropolitan Police 
Department, the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, the 
Department of Health and the Office of Human Rights. In every election 
year GLAA educates District voters by rating candidates for Mayor, 
Council, and Board of Education. GLAA outspokenly advocates safe and 
affirming schools for gay and lesbian youth. GLAA vigorously lobbies 
this body to defend gay families from undemocratic and discriminatory 
amendments to the District's budget.
  On April 20, GLAA will hold its 34th Anniversary Reception honoring 
the recipients of its Distinguished Service Awards for 2005: recently 
retired Whitman-Walker Clinic executive director Cornelius Baker; the 
fundraising charity Brother, Help Thyself Inc.; D.C. Council Chairman 
Linda Cropp; Washington Post columnist Colbert I. King; and lesbian 
cultural trailblazer Jane Troxell.
  GLAA's 34-year fight to secure all the birthrights enjoyed by 
Americans for the LGBT residents of Washington, D.C. is more poignant 
as United States citizens living in our nation's capital, who have 
served honorably in every American war, including the present war in 
Iraq, are taxed without representation. GLAA's open and forthright 
advocacy 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.

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