ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, September 30, 1996             TAG: 9609300086
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-5  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER

PRIDE IN PARK CALLS FOR PROGRESS

MORE THAN 700 people attended Sunday's festival in Roanoke's Highland Park.

Gay activist David Peery says lesbians and gays aren't asking for special treatment, but they have to get involved in the political system if they want to end discrimination.

Peery, a Richmond-based lobbyist for Virginia for Justice, a statewide gay and lesbian alliance, was in Roanoke Sunday afternoon to urge gays and lesbians to get more active in basic, grass-roots politics: Writing letters to lawmakers, making phone calls about legislation, staying informed on current issues.

"Lesbian and gay Virginians aren't asking for anything other Virginians don't already have," Peery said in an interview. "We're not asking to be treated any better than any other Virginian because of who were are - just not to be treated any worse."

Peery talked Sunday afternoon at "Pride in the Park VII" at Roanoke's Highland Park. The festival, which included food and music, was sponsored by the Alliance of Lesbian and Gay Organizations of Western Virginia. More than 700 people attended.

"I think we've made quite a bit of progress," Peery said. "Just the fact that we can sit here in a public park and talk surrounded by people who are happy and proud with who they are shows we've made a lot of progress."

Still, he said, there's much work to be done.

In 1995, Peery said, the Virginians for Justice recorded 27 hates crimes statewide, including two murders in the Tidewater area.

LENGTH: Short :   41 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff. David Peery, a 
          Richmond-based lobbyist for Virginia for Justice, encouraged Roanoke
          gays and lesbians to get more active in grass-roots politics.