The American Association for Single People today launched a national advertising campaign urging the nation’s 80 million unmarried adults to insist that elected officials and political leaders throughout the country speak to them and address their concerns.

AASP is running a series of large ads in USA Today, one per week over the next few weeks, calling attention to the fact that Al Gore and George W. Bush, and both major political parties, have virtually ignored unmarried voters in the presidential campaigns.

The ads highlight the fact even though single adults are such a large class of people, marital status discrimination exists in the workplace, marketplace, and government programs.

"This could be one of the closest presidential elections in history, and yet none of the candidates has done any outreach to unmarried voters" said Thomas F. Coleman, executive director of the American Association for Single People. Coleman is a national legal authority on marital status discrimination and singles’ rights.

The American Association for Single People is the only national organization which makes ending marital status discrimination its top priority. AASP has become the nation’s voice for unmarried workers, consumers, taxpayers, and voters. The nonprofit and nonpartisan association promotes the well being and human rights of all unmarried adults, whether they live alone, have a domestic partner, are a single parent, or share a home with unmarried relatives.

"It is almost as though the candidates feel that ‘single’ is a four letter word," Coleman remarked. "Can’t they count? We are one of the largest groups of voters in the nation. Some 34% of Republicans and 44% of Democrats are unmarried."

"Why are the political parties taking unmarried voters for granted – pretending that we don’t exist, ignoring our concerns, and refusing to even use the words ‘single’ or ‘unmarried’ in their party platforms, on their websites, or through the speeches of their candidates?" Coleman asked. "The answer is simple. Unmarried Americans have been silent. We have not yet created a collective voice demanding reform like other groups have successfully done."

Single people are at the same stage of political development that seniors were about 50 years ago when AARP was first formed around a kitchen table in Ojai, California. But when seniors saw the benefit of organizing, they joined AARP in droves. Today, with more than 30 million members, politicians are all ears when AARP calls on them.

"Charity begins at home," Coleman said. "Unfortunately, for too long single and unmarried adults have been supporting every imaginable nonprofit cause but their own. If unmarried Americans don’t begin to stand up for their own rights, nothing will ever change."