A JusticeNet Memo
From Mel White, UFMCC Justice Minister
Help Us Launch the Justice Candle Vigil!
(1997-2000)
"It is better to light one little candle than to curse the
darkness."
On the Eve of President Clinton's Inauguration, people of faith gathered at Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., and in churches, synagogues, and homes across the nation to launch a four year, nationwide Justice Candle vigil. Those Justice Candles (wax, battery, and electric) will burn for the next four years. We invite you to join us.
Why the Justice Candle campaign?
From the moment we received an invitation to attend one of the 1997 Inaugural Balls, my partner, Gary Nixon, and I knew that we couldn't dance at this Inauguration. But we also knew that we should be in Washington, D.C. to signal our respect for the President's high office and to remind Mr. Clinton that he is called by his Creator to use his powerful office to do justice for all.
The next four years could bring great good or great harm to millions of us singled out by political and religious extremists for second-class-citizenship. We must unite with other concerned Americans to urge the President to stand against poverty, racism, sexism, injustice and intolerance in every form. But we must also be relentless at keeping before him the plight of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered Americans.
Pat Robertson and the other anti-homosexual extremists have already launched campaigns to silence us and to see us stripped of all our inalienable rights.í They don't want our light to shine for justice, for ourselves or for anyone else. In fact, they are working day and night to snuff it out. Lighting our Justice Candles is just one small way to help keep it burning.
that we are sincerely grateful that he has done more to support and include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Americans than any President in history; but that by signing The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), he has denied our community the very rights he will swear to provide and protect on Inauguration Day; and, in some cases, because of what he has done or left undone, we continue to be second-class-citizens in our own country; that we light our Justice Candles that the President will see the light and use his power with Congress, the courts, and the people to do justice, not just for lesbians and gays*, but for all who endure racism, sexism, poverty, or discrimination and intolerance in any form.
*More specifically:
to provide courageous leadership in the war against HIV/AIDS,
to continue his support for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act,
to help lesbian and gay partners gain the 175-250 rights that go with marriage,
to defend our rights to child custody, adoption, and foster care,
to review the shameful results of his military policy and to end the military ban,
to include us in hate crime protections and to help end the sodomy laws,
to help us gain the same rights (not special rights) promised all Americans.
to pray for the president that he might have the wisdom and the courage to work for justice during his second term, not just for lesbians and gays, but for all people who suffer second-class-citizenship;
that we will back our prayers with actions (letters, faxes, phone calls, e-mail, petitions, press conferences, public actions) that support and praise the President when he does justice and confront and condemn him when he remains silent and does nothing to oppose injustice;
that we, too, will invest more of our time, money, and ideas this year in the cause of justice, not just for our own community, for all who face injustice, bigotry, and discrimination.
Last Updated: 11/01/98