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Princeton, New Jersey 08544-5264
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April 13, 1999
Richard Tafel, Director of Gay Republican Organization, to Speak on Gay Rights and the Upcoming Presidential Race
Princeton, N.J. -- Richard Tafel, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, will speak on "Supporting Gay Rights in the 2000 Presidential Race: Politically Risky or Smart?" at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs on Monday, April 26, at 4:30 p.m. in Robertson Hall, Bowl 1.
Tafel, named by Newsweek magazine as one of the 30 most influential gay leaders in the United States, was the founding president of the Log Cabin Republicans in 1990, when it was a nine-chapter organization. Today, it is the nation's largest mainstream gay and lesbian organization, cited by The Wall Street Journal as the group which "AIDS activists credit . . . with helping to open GOP doors on Capitol Hill." Tafel was the only gay leader to testify before the 104th Congress on AIDS issues.
Tafel has appeared on numerous television programs, including Nightline, Good Morning America, Today, Inside Politics, Charlie Rose, Phil Donahue, The MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour, and Larry King Live. He has debated members of the far right, among them the Reverend Jerry Falwell, Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center, Bob Knight of the Family Research Council ,and presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan. He has been featured in articles in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and USA Today. He has written articles that have appeared in The New York Times, The Cincinnati Post, The Detroit News, The Dallas Morning News, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Times. His first book, Party Crasher, will be published later this spring.
Tafel had previously served as a political appointee of former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, a Republican, working with public health issues, and as assistant to the minister for special projects in the Memorial Church at Harvard University. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from the Harvard Divinity School, and was ordained by the American Baptist Church in 1988.
His talk is being sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School and the Princeton Pride Alliance.