Rally to preserve rights in Hartford

CIVIL RIGHTS COALITION TO RALLY AT STATE CAPITOL, SEPT. 28, 2:00 PM.

* Rally to expose hidden agenda behind calls for Constitutional Convention
* Urging "No" vote on November 4 ballot question
* Exposing agenda of Family Institute and Constitutional Convention Campaign
* Rally includes street theater of foxes conning their way into hen-house, 2:15 PM
* South Lawn of State Capitol
* Sponsored by newly-formed CT Civil Rights Defense Coalition

A coalition of minority rights advocates will rally this Sunday in Hartford to expose what they perceive as the hidden agenda behind calls for a state Constitutional Convention.

Organizers of the "Hands Off Our Constitution Rally" will urge a "No" vote on the November 4 ballot question which asks if Connecticut should hold a Constitutional Convention.

The Connecticut Civil Rights Defense Coalition formed earlier this month in response to the agenda of the main groups pushing for ballot initiatives and referenda: the Family Institute of Connecticut and the Constitutional Convention Campaign.

"FIC opposes current no-fault divorce laws, reproductive choice, 'Plan B' emergency contraception for rape victims, same-sex marriage and anti-discrimination protections for gender non-conforming people," said Frank O'Gorman, Director of People of Faith and a member of the Coalition. "Imposing this inhumane agenda on Connecticut is their mission; ballot initiatives would be their attempted means," he warned.

The Constitutional Convention Campaign is interested in "immigration reform" and a three-strikes law, both of which would disproportionately incarcerate and disenfranchise Black and Latino communities according to a fact sheet developed by the Coalition and available on the People of Faith CT website, faithCT.net.

"Nationally, affirmative action has been repealed by ballot initiatives in three states and hospital care for undocumented immigrants has come under attack," noted O'Gorman. "We simply refuse to permit civil and human rights in Connecticut to be up for popular vote," he added.

The rally will include a skit at 2:15 pm of foxes conning their way into a hen house in order to dramatize the threats to civil rights in Connecticut of convening a Constitutional Convention.

The "Hands Off Our Constitution Rally" will take place on the south lawn of the State Capitol on September 28 at 2:00 pm.

Coalition Fact Sheet