Leaders of National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Congregation Beth Simchat Torah Arrested During ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Protest at Times Square
PRESS RELEASE From The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Roberta Sklar, Communications Director
(Office) 646.358.1465
(Cell) 917.704.6358
rsklar@theTaskForce.org
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, leader of Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, and Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, blocked traffic and were arrested next to the Times Square Armed Forces Recruiting Station.
Credit: Inga Sarda-Sorensen
WASHINGTON, March 15 — Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, leader of Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, were arrested outside the Armed Forces Recruiting Station in Times Square this afternoon in protest of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and Gen. Peter Pace’s recent comments that homosexuality is “immoral.”
The arrests were part of a noontime demonstration in which protestors demanded that Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, be fired. Members of ACT UP, Queer Justice League and others held an enormous rainbow flag that stretched around the crowd, while additional demonstrators spoke in front of an enormous English- and Arabic-language banner that said “We Will Not Be Silent.”
Foreman, Kleinbaum and longtime movement leader Larry Kramer repeatedly knocked on the door of the recruiting station; the doors remained closed. Next, Foreman and Kleinbaum stretched the rainbow banner across Broadway, in the heart of Times Square, fully blocking traffic. When police confiscated the banner, Foreman and Kleinbaum sat in the street and were promptly arrested.
Statement by Matt Foreman, Executive Director National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
“The equation is simple: General Pace has got to apologize or resign. No more, no less. Politicians and those on the campaign trail have got to stop equivocating over the validity of his remarks. They should simply call him out for what he is — a dangerous bigot.”
For all information related to this story please see:
www.TheTaskForce.org
Roberta Sklar, Communications Director
(Office) 646.358.1465
(Cell) 917.704.6358
rsklar@theTaskForce.org
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, leader of Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, and Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, blocked traffic and were arrested next to the Times Square Armed Forces Recruiting Station.
Credit: Inga Sarda-Sorensen
WASHINGTON, March 15 — Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, leader of Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, were arrested outside the Armed Forces Recruiting Station in Times Square this afternoon in protest of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and Gen. Peter Pace’s recent comments that homosexuality is “immoral.”
The arrests were part of a noontime demonstration in which protestors demanded that Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, be fired. Members of ACT UP, Queer Justice League and others held an enormous rainbow flag that stretched around the crowd, while additional demonstrators spoke in front of an enormous English- and Arabic-language banner that said “We Will Not Be Silent.”
Foreman, Kleinbaum and longtime movement leader Larry Kramer repeatedly knocked on the door of the recruiting station; the doors remained closed. Next, Foreman and Kleinbaum stretched the rainbow banner across Broadway, in the heart of Times Square, fully blocking traffic. When police confiscated the banner, Foreman and Kleinbaum sat in the street and were promptly arrested.
Statement by Matt Foreman, Executive Director National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
“The equation is simple: General Pace has got to apologize or resign. No more, no less. Politicians and those on the campaign trail have got to stop equivocating over the validity of his remarks. They should simply call him out for what he is — a dangerous bigot.”
For all information related to this story please see:
www.TheTaskForce.org
