NEWS RELEASE
Wednesday, February 8, 2006

EQUALITY MARYLAND
Contact: Dan Furmansky, Executive Director
Phone: 301-587-7500
Cell: 301-461-4900
Email: dan@equalitymaryland.org

MORE THAN A THOUSAND MARYLANDERS SET TO RALLY FOR FAIRNESS IN ANNAPOLIS THIS MONDAY

Equality Maryland Lobby Day to Kick-Off With Speeches by Lisa Polyak & Gita Deane, Kweisi Mfume, Sister Jeannine Gramick and Others

ANNAPOLIS - With anti-gay legislators in Annapolis still pushing to write LGBT Marylanders and their families out of the State Constitution, Equality Maryland announced today what will likely be the largest ever statewide congregation of LGBT and allied individuals. A rally will take place in Lawyer's Mall, in front of the Maryland State House, at 5:00 p.m. Monday. The gathering coincides with Equality Maryland's annual lobby day, whose focus this year is to urge legislators to reject placing discrimination into the very document designed to protect the rights of all citizens. The rally will feature the following speakers:

• Gita Deane & Lisa Polyak, lead plaintiffs in Deane & Polyak v. Conaway
• Sister Jeannine Gramick, National Coalition of American Nuns and New Ways Ministry
• Elbridge James, President-Elect, Maryland Chapter of NAACP
• Fred Mason, President of the Maryland State and District of Columbia AFL-CIO
• Honorable Kweisi Mfume, Former U.S. Congressman and Former President of NAACP
• Delegate Doyle Niemann (D-Prince George's County)
• Katherine Oliver, MSW, LCSW-C
• Republican Charles County Commissioner Candice Quinn Kelly (tentative)

"It's so important for citizens of Maryland to communicate to their elected legislators about how it feels to have a proposal that would strip one group out of the Maryland Constitution," said Lisa Polyak. "What's important to me at this moment in time is protecting my family, but most of us who show up Monday care about a number of issues -- and the world in general. We understand that racial justice, economic justice, and environmental justice are also themes that unite us in the human family. If people can understand those issues, then we should be able to help them see that justice for LGBT families is also a matter of basic fairness."