Deborah Law 0:02 I'm Deborah Law for Joy 96 and this is Lambda Reports, a program by and for the lesbian and gay community. And this morning, I have Greg Stalinski with us. Good morning, Greg. How you doing? Greg Stalinski 0:14 Good morning. How are you? Deborah Law 0:15 Hi, thanks. Greg is representing the Privacy Rights Education Project, who, from what I understand, is co-sponsoring a postcard campaign with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. So what are you guys doing these days? It's a busy organization every time I turn around, PREP's involved with something else. Greg Stalinski 0:33 The Privacy Rights Education Project is a local organization concerned with privacy rights for all individuals, and one of our concerns is discrimination based on affectional or sexual orientation and PREP, along with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, is sponsoring a postcard writing campaign to show support for the federal gay and lesbian civil rights bill. This year marks the 15th anniversary of its introduction to Congress, and it's been reinduced, reintroduced every year since then.This year, we'd like to for people to send in postcards to the legislators to show that there is support. So we do. We have pre-printed postcards with the House bill number the Senate bill, and people just need to fill out their name and their address and the name of their legislator and affix a stamp and drop it in the mail. Deborah Law 1:35 That's all there is to it. Greg Stalinski 1:36 That's all there is to it. Deborah Law 1:37 Great. Maybe we can step back just a second now. There are bills pending in both the Senate and the House right now, Greg Stalinski 1:43 correct, Deborah Law 1:44 and they would, in essence, Greg Stalinski 1:48 They would prohibit discrimination on the basis of affectional or sexual orientation. Deborah Law 1:53 Okay. And essentially, they're set up to amend the Civil Rights Act, if I remember correctly, the Civil Rights Greg Stalinski 1:59 correct, Deborah Law 2:00 64 Greg Stalinski 2:00 the Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin, it would amend that to include sexual orientation. And then the Civil Rights Act of 1989, it would just extend it to include prohibition of discrimination relating to sexual orientation. Deborah Law 2:27 How many sponsors or house? How does it look on the federal level? At this point? Greg Stalinski 2:33 The chief sponsor for the the House bill is Congressman Wise from New York, and we have 74 co-sponsors. The chief sponsor for the Senate Bill is Alan Cranston of California, and we have eight co-sponsors in the Senate. Deborah Law 2:56 So part of what we saw with the passage of the Hate Crimes Statistics Bill most recently, is that really what we want to be doing in terms of alerting certainly our local legislators would be to also have them be going on as co- sponsors, so that when you get enough of those co-sponsors, that there's not an opportunity to amend or change this legislation in any way, which I think is what made the Hate Crime Statistics effort so effective. Now my understanding is that Bill Clay, in fact, is a co-sponsor in the house. Is that correct? Greg Stalinski 3:29 That's correct. Deborah Law 3:29 That's the St Louis representative, Greg Stalinski 3:31 Right. Deborah Law 3:32 The history of this bill, it was introduced, if I remember, in 1976 or 75 by Bella Abzug? Greg Stalinski 3:39 That's correct. Deborah Law 3:39 That's great. I was actually not aware in 75 that she had done that, but it's my understanding is that each year, as it's been reintroduced her, with each legislative session, there have been more sponsors and co sponsors that have Greg Stalinski 3:53 right. We still have the original like sponsors from those states, but we've picked up new co sponsors. Deborah Law 4:00 Great. So in terms of this postcard writing campaign, how can people get postcards? And you know, what are, what are you doing to and certainly, obviously, you're doing a radio show very early on a Sunday morning to get the word out. But what other kinds of things is PREP for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force doing to get the word out? And how can people get them? Greg Stalinski 4:19 Okay, the postcards are available at several places in the St Louis area, at Left Bank Books, at Our World Too, at Sunshine Inn, at several of the bars. Or you can call PREP, and I could give you that number, which you could call PREP and receive some postcards. Deborah Law 4:41 Why don't you go ahead and give us that number now and then, we'll repeat it again before the end of the show. So folks don't have a pen and paper handy, they can be sure and get it before we're finished. Greg Stalinski 4:50 Okay, can call prep at 776-2149, Deborah Law 4:54 Great. And that's area code, 314. Greg Stalinski 4:57 Correct. Deborah Law 4:58 Is there any place that people can write to if folks who are, you know, sort of in the out state area who may be picking it up. Speaker 1 5:07 You can write, you could write PREP. We could send, send you some in the mail. You can write PREP at Post Office, Box, 24106, St Louis, Missouri, 63130, Deborah Law 5:21 Great. Great. Now, for folks who may not know, and I think we've mentioned a couple different shows, we have actually talked about the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, but it is one of the largest national civil rights organizations that's really dedicated to freedom and full equality for lesbians and gays. It makes it very exciting to see PREP on a local level working in conjunction with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, because I know that's has really been a focus of what the Task Force has tried to do is actually give those of us on the local level the information and the wherewithal to be dealing with things in our own communities, realizing that we are no more effective than our grassroots movements. What kind of response have you been getting from folks, I assume? Have you been going out and talking to other groups? Greg Stalinski 6:07 And I've talked to several groups, and we've gotten very favorable report our support, and not just from from the gay community, but also from the straight community. Deborah Law 6:22 Now, another thing that I, excuse me, actually found interesting in terms of both the House bill and the Senate bill is that it would prohibit the use of quotas in terms of any kind of remedies for the alleged discrimination. Greg Stalinski 6:40 Right The bill would prohibit, they would prohibit the use of having businesses be required to have so many gays or so many lesbians at work. Deborah Law 6:57 Wouldn't that be fun though 10% of the workforce. Greg Stalinski 7:00 The point is that people wouldn't have to, people wouldn't have to disclose their sexual orientation at work. Deborah Law 7:07 What it does is it makes sure that, in fact, there is a federal prescription against discrimination based on our sexual orientation. What areas does it cover? Greg Stalinski 7:18 It covers housing, employment, public accommodations and federally-assisted programs. Deborah Law 7:25 I know a question that's asked of me, and in part, I guess, because people perceive us or don't recognize us, and therefore perceive us as an invisible minority, is, is there really discrimination against lesbians and gays? Have you run across that question as you've been doing this presentation, what kind of answers might you have for that. Greg Stalinski 7:44 Sure. I mean, people aren't quite aware, but discrimination happens very frequently, whether at work, no matter what type of employment record you have, you can be you can be fired because you're a gay or lesbian, or no matter what type of tenant record you have, someone may not want to rent to you because you're gay or lesbian, or you can be asked to leave a restaurant because you're perceived as being gay or lesbian. And it's difficult to prove, just like sexual harassment might be difficult to prove, but it does. It does occur, and I think most of all is the fear that gays and lesbians live with, the fear of being discriminated against, that that's constant, no matter if someone's closeted or they're out, always knowing that they can be discriminated against and there's nothing they can do about it. Deborah Law 8:51 I think that's an extremely important point, because when people ask me that question, one can certainly recite chapter and verse in terms of the increase of violence and various very specific incidences, incidents of discrimination. But I also want to make a, you know, I do make the point that you've made in terms of perceived discrimination. I mean, there are choices that people make or do not make based on the fact that there is no federal or local prescription against discrimination of lesbians and gays. I mean, they're very good, you know, people who would be excellent teachers who choose not to go into the teaching profession knowing that, you know, rampant discrimination, or then the fact that you have to live your life so closeted to be able to maintain your job, you know. So that's not, excuse me, a discrimination one can document, but it's a very real discrimination in terms of both what we lose and what the general community loses in terms of people not being able to fully exercise our rights or being able to really live our lives in the fullest fashion. It's an extremely important point. Actually. What was I just asked? Actually lost my question, which is one of the first times this has happened to me on the air. Where do we go from here in terms … How long is the campaign going to be going on? Greg Stalinski 10:10 The campaign runs through June, Deborah Law 10:12 OK. And is this on a national level? I would assume we're just, you know, St Louis prep is just one local organization. There are many local organizations around the country. Greg Stalinski 10:21 Correct. This is, this is across the country. Deborah Law 10:25 And once after June is, is there a reason stopping in June? I mean, you know, I would assume partly that may be because of the end of the legislative session. Is there a plan on picking it up again? Or … Greg Stalinski 10:37 I think it'll be picked up again probably next year, but this is the first year we've done it. Deborah Law 10:42 And part of this is truly also to acknowledge 15 years of working to get this as part of the Civil Rights Act. I understand correctly, right? Any other parting thoughts that you would like to leave people with? I mean, maybe again emphasize how easy it would be to send these postcards out to folks. Greg Stalinski 11:00 Well, it's important that our legislators know that there is support for it, because it's going to make or break the bill. And this is federal and I would if anyone is unsure of who their congressmen or senators are, they can call the League of Women Voters, and they'll they'll tell you whose district you're in. And again, this is federal. So if you'd like additional postcards for friends or family, no matter if they're in this area or across the country, you can send them postcards, because this is, this is for across the country and for everyone, and it's important that Washington know that there is support and that tolerant, tolerating discrimination of gays and lesbians is Deborah Law 11:53 intolerable, Greg Stalinski 11:54 right? It's, Deborah Law 11:55 And I would say it's, it's time that we also, or continue to charge the federal government with sort of catching up with, you know, at least some major portions of society. I mean, there are a lot of private corporations who do have anti-discrimination clauses. I know that at least in the St Louis area, like the community colleges, have also included sexual orientation very recently their anti-discrimination ordinance. We also, in the city of St Louis have really a model, you know, hate crime spill that includes sexual orientation. And it would seem that it would certainly behoove the federal government to catch up with a lot of the private sector in terms of what people have recognized as being very significant, right? I was looking at the information that you had given me, and it was interesting to see some interesting to see some of the, you know, local corporations, Anheuser-Busch would not have necessarily been one that I would have expected to have, Greg Stalinski 12:49 I was surprised on that, too. Deborah Law 12:51 you know, and I think significant information for us, because I think as part of when we discuss this perceived discrimination is also that we are so used to the sense of having to be closeted. I mean, it is, you know, growing up in a homophobic society that you learn very quickly. And, you know, I actually worked at Anheuser-Busch for a while, and it would not have been a place that I would have expected to have that clause. And I think we know that clause, you know that that's a significant piece of information. You don't even look for it. You don't even expect it because, you know it is so … What we, in fact, expect is that we are going to be discriminated against, or if we take a step outside the bounds that you know, something horrible is going to happen to us. So I think part of what I see is very valuable in the campaign that you're doing is that it's getting information out that, in fact, yes, you know, there are anti-discrimination clauses that major corporations have. And in fact, I think another, you know, piece of information is that no one has lost an election for voting for gay or civil, you know, or lesbian civil rights. That was another piece that NGLTF had put into their information, because that's always the other, or at least one of the other perceptions you know, is that we are our legislators won't be doing this, because they're going to be at some perceived risk, and that's a valuable piece of information for them to have. Nobody's lost an election because of this. And I hope maybe that with the passage of the hate crime statistics bill, it's going to be it will begin to set a precedent in terms of us being able to move forward in this area. Greg Stalinski 14:20 I think the rest of the private sector will take notice. If the federal government passes anti-discrimination policies for gays and lesbians, Deborah Law 14:31 They'll have to, won't they? Greg Stalinski 14:33 Right? The more resistant sectors. One of the common complaints from people is that this bill promotes homosexuality. And I think a good way to look at it is the Civil Rights Act of 64 prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion. So someone who maybe happened to be Catholic. No one's allowed to discriminate them against them for being Catholic, but certainly the government is not promoting Catholicism in the same way. Greg Stalinski 15:26 the same protection that they're not being discriminated against for being gays and lesbians, but the government certainly isn't promoting people to be gay or lesbian. Deborah Law 15:35 All right, that's a very good point. Very good point. We're actually just about out of time. Maybe you could repeat those that phone number and address again, in case anyone you know wants to get in touch. And I hope people will get in touch with PREP, or through PREP to be able to get these postcards and send them off to their legislators. Greg Stalinski 15:51 All right, you can reach prep at Post Office Box, 24106, St Louis, Missouri, 63130, or you can call area code 314-776-2149, and I'd like to add that discrimination isn't going to go away with hope that we have to stand up and be counted and demand that such intolerable policies be removed. Deborah Law 16:23 Well put. Very well put, I'll tell you, they will count these postcards when they receive mail Bags of them. Thank you very much for joining us this morning, Greg, and thanks for the work you're doing. And I hope that all of us who are listening are inspired to get those postcards and send them in and give them to our friends and family to make sure that that the Congress is inundated with postcards from us. This is Lambda Reports for this week. I thank you all for listening. Please join us next week, and I'm Deborah law for Joy 96 FM. Transcribed by https://otter.ai