Ann Beeson, ACLU Associate Legal Director and FFE Board member, is spearheading the ACLU’s efforts to stop illegal government spying on political, environmental and faith-based groups.

On December 2, 2004 the ACLU and affiliates around the country filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in 10 states and the District of Columbia seeking information about the FBI’s use of Joint Terrorism Task Forces and local police to engage in political surveillance. The FOIAs seek two kinds of information: 1) the actual FBI files of groups and individuals targeted for speaking out or practicing their faith; 2) information about how the practices and funding structure of the task forces, known as JTTFs, are encouraging rampant and unwarranted spying.

JTTFs are legal partnerships between the FBI and local police, in which local officers are “deputized” as federal agents and work in coordination with the FBI to identify and monitor individuals and groups. While their purpose is to investigate terrorism, they have targeted peaceful political and religious groups with no connection to terrorism.

“We all want the police to protect us from real criminals and terrorists,” Beeson said. “But resources and funds established to fight terrorism should not be misused to target innocent Americans who have done nothing more than speak out or practice their faith. Investigations should be based on actual evidence of wrongdoing.”

For details and documents regarding the FOIA requests filed by the ACLU around the country, including a list of clients, go to www.aclu.org/spyfiles.

Candida Royalle, who is frequently invited to Anderson Cooper's CNN News show 360 Degrees to contribute her thoughts on news items, appeared on April 20th to comment on the recent incidence of HIV in the adult film industry.

Ms. Royalle participated in a symposium with Dr. Barbara Bartlik at the American Psychiatric Association's 15th Annual Meeting in New York. The subject of the symposium, held on Tuesday, May 4th, was Women's Sexuality Update: Overcoming Obstacles to Pleasure. Ms. Royalle's presentation was titled  "The Positive Uses of Adult Movies Catering to Women."

On Tuesday, April 13, 2004, at 7 PM, singer/author Sandy Rapp will perform at Manhattan's Gay Center, 208 W 13th Street (between 7th & 8th Aves). A veteran performer of the Stonewall-era Manhattan bars such as Three and Chez Pat, Rapp tells gay history in songs. She sings of choice, of the thirteen gay-positive states, and of the Constitutional issues that underlie these issues. The concert is named "Everyone Was At Stonewall," after Rapp's song about the Manhattan beginnings of the contemporary gay movement. Other pieces are "White Men In Black Dresses," about the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, and "Ballad Of Sister Spirit," about the feminist camp in Mississippi.

Of Rapp's new CD, Flag and the Rainbow, author Jack Nichols writes: "This cyclical spirit of the 1960s lives in Sandy Rapp's songs. It is certainly the spirit of the Stonewall...evolving into anthems such as Sandy Rapp herself has composed." Gay Today 6/16/03.

And Jim Fouratt wrote in New York's Gay City News 12/18-24/03: "Here we have Old School Women's music... A couple of generations of artists lived and breathed this tradition, but very few ever crossed over into big time success. [These] songs about reproductive rights, Stonewall, the environment, and even Bella Abzug, [represent] a lifetime of experiences that made possible being out, a woman, and a musician."

Recent venues include the National Women's Music Festival; the Gulf Coast Womyn's Festival; the National NOW rallies in Washington, DC, NYC, and Seneca Falls; Atlanta's Existentialist Center; the People's Voice Cafe in Manhattan; the Gay Veterans' Memorial Dedication in Palm Springs, California; the Gay Millennium March on Washington, DC, Chicago's Autumnfest, and the 2003 National NOW Conference.

This Second Tuesday Series is the oldest cultural program of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center. Since 1985, the series has showcased representatives of every major cultural award in the US, including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, the Grammy Award, the Academy Award, the Tony Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and the National Book Award.

Rapp's books and CDs are available at Amazon.com and SandyRapp.com. For press photos or airplay CDs call 631-329-5193 or email SandyRapp@aol.com.

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NELA/NY is a bar association of and for attorneys who represent individual employees; it promotes the rights of individual employees in the workplace through legislative efforts, as well as encouraging the professional development of its members through networking, educational programs, publications and technical support. Workplace Fairness is a non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to help employees understand, enforce and expand their rights in the workplace.

The case for which Ms. Dorman received recognition, Joseph Baratto v. City of New York, NYPD, et. al., involved a gay police officer who was harassed by fellow officers. The case was settled for a landmark 1.2 million dollars, the largest sexual orientation discrimination case against New York City.

FFE's Board of Directors are proud and happy to announce that founding member Marilyn Fitterman, who has served on both FFE's Advisory Board and Speakers Network, has taken on a new role as our Vice President and spokesperson.

Marilyn Fitterman is a full-time human rights activist based in East Hampton, New York. In the early eighties she was President of Mid-Suffolk NOW (National Organization For Women), and from 1988-1992 served as President of NOW-New York State. She was also President of the National NOW Presidents' Caucus and is a co-founder of Long Island's NOW-PAC (Political Action Committee). In these capacities, Fitterman has organized and run the successful defense of women's health clinics throughout New York State against attacks by the far right.

From 1999 to 2001 Marilyn served as Chair of the East Hampton Town Anti-Bias Task Force. She is an experienced lobbyist and frequently speaks around the State on a number of feminist subjects including First Amendment Free Speech, Separation of Church and State, Abortion and Reproductive Rights in America, Women's Rights, Racial Equality, and Hate Crimes Legislation. She is also a mother of five, (all of whom were born in the space of four years and who include two sets of twins), and a grandmother of eight.

Marilyn is currently at work on a grassroots feminist memoir, for which she received a grant from the Grandmother Winifred Foundation. She is also serving as Co-President of Long Island's East End NOW. A long-time champion of First Amendment rights, she remarked in a 1998 speech "What censorship censors first is always women. Then come gays, sex education, and art. Freedom, first of all, means free speech."