The HRC Foundation is releasing new public-service ads for National Coming Out Day 2003, 'It's A Family Affair.'
The campaign urges families to come out together in support of equal protection under the law.
The ad features the following text: 'This Oct. 11, 2003, don't come out alone. Come out with your partner, your children, your parents, your grandparents, your friends. Come out as family. And show America why all families deserve equal protection under law.'
'It's a Family Affair'—celebrating gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender families—is planned to promote awareness of GLBT families living honest and open lives. The HRC Foundation will offer resources to GLBT couples, parents and their children as well as straight friends and relatives. The National Coming Out Project promotes honesty and openness about being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender on campus, in the workplace and in the community. It is an extension of HRC's National Coming Out Day—founded by activists who believed that GLBT people needed to be visible and that equality could not be achieved from the closet.
In Chicago, join U.S. Senate candidate Blair Hull for a reception in honor of National Coming Out Day. Sat., Oct. 11, Sidetrack, 4-6 p.m., 3349 N. Halsted, (312) 245-4802.
HRC's New Home Opens, Gala Dinner Set
The Human Rights Campaign will dedicate its national headquarters in downtown Washington, D.C., Oct. 11, 2003, celebrating a successful capital campaign, with construction coming in on schedule and under budget. The headquarters, at 1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W., is now home to all of the programs of the Human Rights Campaign and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the organization's educational arm. The building was the former home of B'nai B'rith—a prominent organization in the Jewish community. In attendance will be Tipper Gore and Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony Williams. The building boasts innovative features such as the only 'green roof' in downtown Washington. The roof, covered with soil and plantings, improves the efficiency of the building by reducing heating and cooling needs and catches rainwater. The building also hosts an Online Action Center where the public can use computer terminals to become active in HRC's work.
The Human Rights Campaign announced that Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a leader of the civil-rights movement who marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King will be the featured speaker at the 7th Annual HRC National Dinner Oct. 11 in D.C.
Stockard Channing, Allison Janney and John Spencer of NBC's Emmy Award-winning The West Wing, will also be on hand to accept
HRC's National Equality Award on behalf of the series. Writer Michael Cunningham will also accept a National Equality Award for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Hours, which inspired last year's Oscar-winning film. A. Cornelius Baker, executive director of the Whitman-Walker Clinic, will accept the National Capitol Area Leadership Award. Singer Oleta Adams will perform as featured artist.
There will also be a tribute to HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch, who will be ending her tenure at the helm of the organization at the year's end.
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