Southern California ACLU
Endorses AASP’s Campaigns

On November 14, 2000, Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California, sent the following letter to the other ACLU affiliates in all 49 states throughout the nation. Ms. Ripston is a member of AASP.

"The Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California recently endorsed the 'Human Rights Agenda' (attached) of the American Association for Single People (AASP) and has agreed to work more closely with that organization as we work to end marital status discrimination.

"I urge other ACLU affiliates to consider working with the AASP whenever issues involving this insidious form of discrimination present themselves in your region.

"Our Board of Directors has also endorsed the AASP's Singles_Friendly Workplace Campaign and Stop the Stigma Campaign. The purpose of the Singles_Friendly Workplace Campaign, among other things, is to ensure that single workers are treated fairly and to advocate for domestic partnership benefits for unmarried couples, gay and straight. The purpose of the Stop the Stigma Campaign is to call to the attention of judges the harmful effects of stigmatizing language (e.g., 'illegitimate') sometimes used in their written opinions and orally from the bench when they refer to a child born to unmarried parents. I am enclosing summaries describing these important efforts."

A few week earlier, Stephen Rohde, president of the ACLU of Southern California, wrote a letter to three judges associations, urging them to adopt a resolution proposed by AASP.

That resolution encourages all judges to discontinue using the term "illegitimate child" when referring to children born to unmarried parents."

Mr. Rohde’s letter to the judges' associations is reprinted on page 7 of this newsletter.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Charles Osgood Speaks About AASP and Single Voters

Charles Osgood is a news correspondent for CBS News. He has a nationally syndicated radio show known as "The Osgood Files" and also appears on television on the Early Morning Show. Using his usual poetic style, Osgood did a segment about AASP on both radio and television during the week of October 23.

      Here is what he said:

In government and in politics, when you do something for somebody you tend to do something to somebody else. And in the presidential race, with Bush and Gore right now trying to outdo one another in the family values department, they mention family every few seconds but hardly ever mention single people at all. Their lobby, the American Association for Single People, has a campaign now saying in effect "how about us?"

Each day that passes Bush and Gore use the word family more and more. As if they want it understood that they invented parenthood.

The within government and without, the family’s what its all about. There is of course a reason why the family value flags fly high.

In this of all election years, as the Clinton era disappears, each one seems to want to say that he is not at all "that way."

Please note how I conduct my life, how I love my kids, how I kiss my wife. I am – both seem to say somehow – more of a family man than thou.

And candidates from sea to sea, the Democrats especially, want everyone to be aware about how families are what they really care about – and why they should be elected. Now, single voters feel neglected.

And these are votes they need to get – these folks who haven’t married yet. Who never have picked out their true soul, and may not even plan to do so.

Plus those who may have in their lives, a few ex-husbands or ex-wives – widowed, divorced, or bachelors maybe – at any rate who’ve had no baby, may feel left out unless I’m wrong. And they are 80 million strong, those who are of voting age yet have no families at this stage.

And the AASP rightly notes, that that’s an awful lot of votes.

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