Press Release

Humanists Add Voice to Advance Equality in Mississippi

For Immediate Release - Contact: Roy Speckhardt (202) 238-9088

(Washington, DC, August 15, 2003) The American Humanist Association (AHA) joins Equality Mississippi and other groups, including the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), in endorsing the “Not One Dime” boycott of Gulfport, Mississippi.

The Gulfport city council recently passed a resolution expressing both opposition to the Supreme Court’s decision in the Texas sodomy case and support for an amendment to the constitution banning same-sex unions. “Not only does the Gulfport city council reject the right to privacy, they suggest writing inequality back into our constitution in a way we have not seen since women won the vote in 1920,” responded AHA executive director Tony Hileman.

Hileman continued, “While the city council has the right to voice its opinion, Humanists have the right and responsibility to speak out, as we are, through endorsing this boycott. We deplore anti-gay prejudice in all its guises.”

City council members have belittled the boycott effort and said it is likely to fail. Councilman Billy Hewes, who introduced the resolution, added, “As far as I know Gulfport has always been a straight town and it needs to stay that way.” Hewes has gained national notoriety in the past by saying that “homosexuals should be branded on their foreheads.”

“The Gulfport city council’s imprudent rhetoric needlessly marginalizes the gay and lesbian residents of the city they purport to serve, and alienates potential tourists from visiting the cash strapped state. Experience does not justify this sort of carelessness,” said Hileman.

AHA president Mel Lipman called on AHA members from across the country to “Steer clear of Gulfport,” adding, “Humanists must voice their support for equal rights, particularly in this bastion of the Bible Belt. Although it has been a summer of progress for gay rights, it’s important to respond to any fundamentalist backlash to humanistic progress.”

The American Humanist Association is the oldest and largest Humanist organization in the nation. The AHA is dedicated to ensuring a voice for those with a positive outlook, based on reason and experience, which embraces all of humanity.

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