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Howell seeks Mayoral strategy meeting on FY2000 budget fight
GAY AND LESBIAN ACTIVISTS ALLIANCE OF WASHINGTON
P. O. Box 75265
Washington, D.C. 20013
(202)667-5139
e-mail: equal@glaa.org
February 19, 1999
The Honorable Anthony A. Williams
Mayor of the District of Columbia
One Judiciary Square
Washington, D.C. 20001
Dear Mayor Williams:
As you know, each year when the District of Columbia budget is submitted for Congressional approval, the radical right introduces a host of obnoxious homophobic amendments. Our record in fending off these obnoxious riders is mixed. This last year, for example, we were successful for the fourth consecutive year in defeating an amendment to the FY 1999 District budget that would have banned adoptions by unmarried couples. Unfortunately, however, Congress did impose amendments barring the use of the District’s own money to fund needle exchange programs, banning domestic partnership benefits for D.C. government employees (something Congress has imposed on us each year since 1993), and refusing to let the District certify the results of Initiative 59.
This year, we would like to employ an aggressive, preemptive strategy designed to take advantage of the current strengths of our position. Not the least of these strengths, I must say, is the respect you have gained for the District on Capitol Hill.
Accordingly, I am writing to ask for a meeting as soon as possible between leaders of local and national gay and lesbian rights organizations and HIV/AIDS organizations with you and/or crucial leaders of your Administration, such as Mr. Warren Graves of the Office of Intergovernmental Relations. We would like to review with you the outlook for the FY 2000 budget and how we can work with your office throughout the year to ensure victories for home rule across the whole range of issues that might arise on the Hill.
Please contact me so that we can arrange a mutually agreeable time and place for this important strategy meeting. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Craig Howell
President
cc: Mr. Warren Graves