To join ACR please print out or copy the form below, fill in the blanks, and then mail that sheet together with a check for $25 (made out to "Alaskans for Civil Rights") to the address shown.

Alaskans for Civil Rights general membership is open to anyone who: a) affirms ACR's purpose, b) supports the organization, and
c) pays annual dues

Please check one of the following.
___ I wish to join ACR (check for $25 enclosed)
___ I wish to financially support ACR but not to join at this time
      (check for $_____ enclosed)
___ I wish to join ACR and make an additional contribution beyond the $25 yearly membership dues (check for $______ enclosed).

Please indicate your preferences regarding informational mailings from ACR:
___ I want to receive information from ACR by e-mail .
___ I want to receive information from ACR by postal mail.
___ I do not wish ACR to send information (I will check the website for information, updates, and action alerts).

Please list your information as you wish it to appear on mailings from ACR and on ACR's membership roster.

Name: ________________________________________________________________________

Mailing &/or E-mail Address(es): ____________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Indicate with a check any of ACR's standing committees which you would like to join.
___Coalition-Building and Alliances with Other Groups
___Domestic (Family Life/Spousal & Children's Wellness)
___Education
___GBLTS Community Empowerment
___GBLTS Youth Wellness
___Political
___Public Safety
___Workplace
___Please place me with a standing committee needing assistance
___I do not wish to join any standing committees at this time

If there are any questions which you have, or comments and suggestions, then please do include them with this form and one of the steering committee members will be in contact with you as soon as possible.

Welcome to ACR!

---

Why Should I Join ACR?

Dear Friend

There has never been a more urgent time to join the local movement for equality in Alaska! Last November, two out of three Alaskans voted to change our state constitution, restricting the right of same-sex couples to marry. We have much more work to do!

Across America the civil rights of gay, bisexual, lesbian, transgendered, and progressive straight people (GBLTS, for short) are under attack. More than ever, conservative forces are raising money and launching campaigns influencing voters to reject legislation aimed at protecting GBLTS people from hate crimes, while at the same time they are advancing a narrow agenda of intolerance and fighting against equal rights for all.

Alaskans for Civil Rights (ACR), a statewide political organization, is dedicated to obtaining full civil rights for Alaskan GBLTS in all aspects of personal and public life.  ACR, together with partner groups at the local and national level, is working hard to counter right-wing campaigns attacking equality in Alaska. In order to effectively perform this vital work we need your support.

You can serve a critical role in the movement for equality in Alaska by becoming a member of ACR.

Messages of intolerance and hate being spread across America create a climate of fear, and spark brutal crimes against people in our community. Sadly, the violent death of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay student at the University of Wyoming, is but one tragic example of such crime. Several times each and every day in the USA, GBLTS individuals are violently attacked …and the incidence of such hate-motivated attacks is increasing. Just recently, Leonard "Lynn" Vines, a 31-year-old life-long resident of Baltimore, Maryland, was shot six times---nearly to death---by youths who said that they did "not allow drag queen faggots" in their neighborhood. Despite the brutal attacks against GBLTS people, only two of ten hate crimes bills introduced into state legislatures during the 1997-1998 session passed. Sadly, as hate crimes bills fail, other measures to weaken and ultimately dismantle our community are on the rise.

In 1998 alone, state legislatures introduced 126 anti-gay measures aimed at robbing GBLTS people of basic human rights---an increase in hostile legislation from the previous year. With almost 20 percent of these anti-gay/anti-family bills signed into law, the message is loud and clear: we must fight harder than ever for our basic civil rights. Not only did Alaskans recently vote discrimination and anti-same-sex marriage beliefs into our state constitution, but Hawaii's citizens also succumbed to a similar massive advertising campaign financed by groups from outside the state. Right-wing groups based in Utah and Virginia Beach spent over four million dollars to buy elections in Alaska and Hawaii. During the same period, voters in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Fort Collins, Colorado, failed to support anti-discrimination legislation, echoing recent defeats for GBLTS equality across the nation. As if these disappointments were not enough, a state board governing child welfare in Arkansas recently moved to bar gay and lesbian couples from being foster parents. In the same state, a mayoral candidate at a radical right-wing Christian Coalition meeting recently declared that he would post a "No fags in Springdale" sign at the city limits, complete with an armed citizen's militia to enforce the ban.

Incidents such as these point out not only toward an increasing lack of tolerance and understanding in America, but also underscore the urgent action needed to move our country toward equality. As the right wing continues to organize itself, successfully raising money and enlisting volunteers in an aggressive effort to suppress or even stamp out diversity in American society, GBLTS people and our allies must unite and build coalitions to fight intolerance, hate, and violence. Whether being societally marginalized by denial of equal legal access, financially injured by unfair costs (from which the children of heterosexual parents and the spouses in legally married couples are exempted), or outright verbally and physically assaulted it all adds up to the same bottom line: individually and collectively we are under attack by the radical religious right and hate groups.

Full-page advertisements condemning gays and lesbians have recently appeared in national newspapers. Fifteen Christian Right organizations recently launched a $200,000 campaign touting "healing for the homosexuals" to sell their message of intolerance. Targeting and demonizing GBLTS is a profitable business for the leadership of such groups. To counter this promotion of bigotry and ignorance, we have only one option left: we must fight back. In order to fight back effectively, we must organize like never before!

Equality begins in our neighborhoods. It begins with our willingness to take action and help build organizations that work for our freedom. Equality begins with you and me taking responsibility for our lives, and working in whatever manner we may to improve our situation. Our situation in Alaska is certainly not going to change for the better without each of us taking some action, however small. That is why we are asking you today to become a member of ACR. Please do become a member of the only statewide organization in Alaska that fights specifically to protect your rights and build your movement for GBLTS equality.

As you read these words, please don't forget about Matthew Shepard, Lynn Vines, and the thousands of other known victims of hate and violence against GBLTS people. Although some of these brutal crimes may have occurred far away from your hometown, such violence impacts the social climate in which we all live. Kids suffer cruel abuse daily in school corridors throughout Alaska, enduring taunts and hazing focused against GBLTS. All too often, tragically, they give up: one-third of suiciding teens are GBLTS youth who despair at their prospects for having a bright future and happy life in this society. Please remember those young people, as well as persecuted individuals throughout our state, and join ACR to make a difference for the better not only for their lives, but in your own.

Equality can only become a reality if we take action, "we" being you and me, each and every one of us. ACR is made up of ordinary local people here in Alaska who care about our communities, our families, and ourselves. If you look at who has signed this letter, you will see that we are a cross-section of average Alaskans working for change: parents, tradespeople, teachers, a doctor, a lawyer, students. People just like you. Please help build this grass-roots Alaskan movement for equality. Join ACR today!

Your contribution will go a long way in shaping our movement for equality (and, unlike among the groups we are fighting, none of us is making a dime for ourselves out of your contribution: everyone with ACR is serving on a purely volunteer basis). Your financial contribution to ACR is not tax-deductable because ACR will use it to lobby for and against legislation directly affecting your quality of life. Also in sharp contrast to some groups among the radical right, ACR's financial records are freely available for members to examine.

If all you do is vote each election and join ACR today, then you are doing immensely valuable work for the cause of achieving equality in Alaska. If you would like to become even more involved, then ACR will keep you informed of both threats to GBLTS equality and with the good news of successes in the struggle. ACR also provides Alaskans with opportunities to participate directly in educational work and political actions, at both the local and state level, to whatever extent you feel comfortable and have the time and energy to become involved. ACR sponsors one-time-events, annual events, and ongoing efforts in Alaska. (By the way, many of those "events" are also great fun-filled celebrations! We love a good party and getting together with friends, especially when it also scores big points for achieving equal rights at the same time).

ACR maintains a dynamic information-filled internet website --updated frequently-- so that you know what is going on around the state of Alaska, and has already successfully coordinated several local efforts, statewide, giving Alaska a proud presence in nation-wide events. With your support and participation, ACR will be even more successful in promoting a climate of tolerance, diversity, and inclusion such that all children, all couples, and all families can live happily and equitably, enjoying equal rights in Alaska. Please join with us by becoming a member of ACR today.

To join ACR, please copy or print out the form above, fill in the blanks, and then mail that sheet together with a check for $25 (made out to "Alaskans for Civil Rights") to the address shown.

By joining ACR you--together with others throughout our state--are striking mighty blows for a better Alaska!