(An address given in Beverly Hills to a breakout group on politics at the national gathering of Gay and Lesbian MBAs

By Glenn E. Hopkins

provides the ten key values of the green movement and an explication of instant runoff voting and shadow cabinet.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

GREEN PARTY ACTIVIST INVITED SPEAKER AT NATIONAL GATHERING OF GAY AND LESBIAN MBA'S (Master of Business Administration)

"Reaching Out, Los Angeles 2004", the 6th annual Lesbian gay bisexual transgender MBA student conference April 2-4, sponsored by Credit Suisse, First Boston and Lehman Brothers has invited local Green Party Activist Glenn Hopkins to address Saturday's breakout group "Election Year 2004: The intersection of Business, Politics, and the Gay Perspective" in the Roxbury Room of The Beverly Hilton Hotel from 2-3:00 pm Saturday.

Hopkins has written and produced over two dozen plays in Los Angeles as Director of The Venice Mootney Theatre (http://www.mootney.org) for over twenty-five years. He is convener of http://www.GreenCabinet.org which promotes an English-style parallel "shadow cabinet" in which minority-party experts issue an informed critique the actions of the actual cabinet in power. "Greens all over the country are interested in our shadow cabinet because it would provide speaking points for local candidates who want to give an informed Green response to various actions of the Bush Administration," said Hopkins. At a recent dinner for KPFK radio, former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney said she would serve as Secretary of State on such a cabinet.

Organizers said the expected attendance at the national conference was four hundred. Friday evening's key-note speaker is David Bohnett, 47, the founder of GeoCities, the Internet based media and e-commerce company.

The text of Hopkins remarks for Saturday afternoon follows.

CONTACT: ERNEST HARDING, Publicist

The Venice Mootney Theatre
(310) 478-7379

TEXT:

We Greens have ten key values...Let me test for consensus on these with this group here in the room. I'll say one of our ten key values.....if you don't see it as important, if it's not your thing don't affirm it after I say it...don't repeat after me.. But, if it's a value to you....repeat it after me....and the louder you repeat it the more you agree with this value....ready....

Non-violence Social justice Diversity Feminism Personal responsibility Future focus Community based economics Ecological wisdom Decentralization Grassroots democracy

Sosssooooooo.... You want your rights but you want to be able to apply what you learned in school and go into some market area and suck it dry like a Spanish Conquistador with a carpet bag and a lap-top.

The GREEN PARTY platform offers these areas of election reform :
1. The elimination of the stragle-hold of The Electoral College by:
2. IRV instant run-off voting, in which choices are ranked, first, 2nd, 3rd....And there is also n>o>a "None of the above" Which we also want on the ballots...None of the above. The city of Berkeley and the State of New Jersey are considering adopting these.
3. We espouse the concept of a Shadow Cabinet. (In virtually every other English speaking country except us the minority parties use experts of their party in a mock Cabinet in order to critique the ruling party . I could've wrung Ralph Nader's neck for not campaigning this way in 2000. It's so photogenic...a prez with his cabinet, like a football team. It would excite those who don't usually vote, which is the majority, of course. Two web addresses for alternative cabinet are in your handouts)

But most pertinent to this crowd today: The Green Party offers the best and most comprehensive platform on gay rights in the world. The new national plank will no doubt be modeled after the brand-new California GLBT one which is in your handout.

Our GLBT caucus, which we call Lavender Green Caucus was the first caucus group the national body certified. Again and again we refined this plank from the grassroots up....I've put the first inches of the Lavender Caucus website in your handout. So, my lovely siblings, you can work and work as a Democrat only to be slapped with something like "Don't ask; don't tell" in the end.....Or be a Log Cabin Republican and be reviled by members of your own party....or be the unique snowflake that you are my lovely siblings and work for the ten key values and find yourself a respected leader and contributor in the fastest growing political movement in this country and around the world.

You have the first inches of (Sometimes the first few inches are enough.) of the National website, which will connect you to each state, or to each country or continent

Presumably you as MBA's way well hook up with a certain pile of money known as a corporation and promise to help increase that pile of money. If you can do it in a way that promotes and protects the cycling of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the plants (the true proletariat of the planet: "Green", get it?) and us animals....you will have all the power, certainty and peace of mind of black folks and white now looking back on how they marched back in the day to end segregation.

And don't think this is a purely idealistic, airy-fairy movement. Australia and New Zealand are strongly green because the ozone hole leaves them with an increase in skin cancer of 300%. There's nothing "theoretical" about the ozone hole and global warming when you don't dare go outside without a hat...when you see the rising sea is taking away the edges of your island every year.

By the way, how many of you are really pissed off that Nader says he's running again...? So am I. So are many greens. He has only a 50-50 chance of getting the Green Party nomination., you know. But don't blame Ralph for Florida.. Why not blame turn-coat Democrats who voted for Bush in Florida? More Democrats crossed over and voted for Bush in Florida than the total Green vote in Florida.

And what if Ralph's right and propping up the fossil-based economy is economic suicide? He's a multi-millionaire from his own shrewd investments....Oh no. Never mind. Let's just be more and more neurotic and murderous about this doomed fossil commodity, shall we? What does Nader know...he's only been on the cover of Time Magazine again and again for the last fifty years, founded dozens of watchdog groups that whistle-blow when nobody else will whistle-blow. We basically have seatbelts in our cars because of Ralph Nader...but what does he know?

Well, I know If he had been allowed in the televised debates last election he would've wiped up the floor with both Gore and Bush. People would've said, "Who is this guy? I agree with everything he's saying." I mean, to give Ralph Nader his due, he's given his life for this country.. The closest thing we have to him in our history is Johnny Appleseed! Gee, what a terrible president he would make. Did you see Tim Russert literally ridiculing him because he never spawned a nuclear family? Does that sound familiar to you? Ridicule because you don't necessarily spawn?

A couple more Green notions: Corporate Personhood is a canard; also The Reagan Revolution, meaning corporations going from picking up 60% of the national tab, to human beings now carrying over 80% of the Federal tab and corporations well less than 20%. AND THEY NEVER WANT TO GO BACK.

Many of you in this room will be asked to keep the giant piles of money you serve from paying taxes, while drag queens and street people who fought and died as guinea pigs for the efficacy of your medicines, for the increased acceptance of your lifestyle, veterans gone crazy, kids with druggy parents, the aged and unattractive...these the poorest of people frequently live like garbage because your corporation doesn't want to pay its share of the tab.

Yes, probably corporatists will swamp the airwaves with fear-based propaganda and we will re-elect this inarticulate President's son who has no proper intelligence of his own nor circle of intelligence from others and who has made war and plundered like any other damn classic tyrant of the Piscean Age.

We Greens offer you an internationalization of your politics. There is a green movement in every state and in every country.

The word "green" is now common parlance for "environmentally sensitive."

Our respected motto developed in Europe is "Think Globally, act locally" Accordingly, you are seeing more and more city councils with Green members. That gay-marrying mayor in New Paltz, New York is Greeen. We now have in The United States over 200 Green elected officials, with many more running this year. And third-gender folk are not only valued for what they contribute and are protected explicitly in our platform, but third gender folk, out and proud, are seen as Green candidates far more often than 10% of the time.

We knew we were different. We are the change agents We're answering Harry Hay's life-long question about third gender folk: "Who are we... and what are we for?"

How many people here sent Howard Dean money? ...........Interesting to me because I think the Bush people were gleeful at the idea of a Dean opponent. They just emphasize the gay marriage thing and push everybody to the right to re-elect the current emperor with no clothes. . And I'm pretty sure the Bush Republicans are still counting on pushing that homophobia button for all it's worth.

But for Mr. Bush and for you in your blossoming career, ladies and gentlemen, the kharma of a conquistador mentality will catch up to you .. You play. You pay.

Yes this is New age talk...."New Age talk." Somebody called in "newage"...... "Newage" abounds in Green circles. I was going to take a minute to talk about the ancients looking to the macrocosm of the stars and planets to explain things while our era prefers the microscope.... But that's a minute I don't have.....So let me suggest two things in closing: (One) Accept a legal equivalent called a civil unions without pushing for "their sacred `M' word" or be ready to be the spoilers of this election; and (Two) Let's form a ticket guaranteed to win and guaranteed to rattle a few cages. "KERRY and NADER IN 2004"

America needs you, MBA's. To paraphrase Allen Ginsberg: "Let's put our queer shoulders to the wheel!"

Appendix of sections cut from the speech for time or stylistic constraints follow :

For example in California's recent election for Governor I would have put.: ONE Peter Camejo, our Green candidate whom we got into the televised debates and who looked very, very good TWO Gray Davis, the outgoing bland fellow, three none of the above..instead of Arnold.

( I always thought it interesting that Missouri . Voters in their wisdom voted for a dead man over our current secretary of Reich security, John Ashcroft>)

Last May 19 Clinton said the Democrats should form a shadow cabinet (He would presumably be in it.) and hit the ground running for this election., the outgoing bland fellow, .

In other words forget about the candidate's family and clothes and hobbies....let's see the problem solvers and hear some of their solutions. Let's elect a circle of intelligence....

You can be a Democrat like our David Mixner (Is David here?) and work and work and then get hit with "Don't ask, don't tell" court-martials as a reward......You can work all your life as a good soldier in the Log Cabin Republicans only to find yourself spit upon by the very people you've been serving..........

Gay rights were not a popular item with African and South American Green parties at the International Green Charter meetings two years ago...but we educated and we lobbied and we worked and we won by the character of who we are....("Even a child is known by his doings")

So (the following statement is quite heretical of me to make)...you can remain a Democrat, or vote Democrat, and serve the ten key values and never go to a single lame-left wing meeting and your life will be a valid and precious building block in the world. . You look at who you are and whether or not you want to serve the life-force of the planet or not....and you may call yourself green or not...but you will be known by your doings....And

Where we look for the microcosm to explain life, the ancients observed the macrocosm...stone henge, the pyramids show an exhaustive study of the stars....The Mayan and several other indigenous calendars ended in '87....when I was a kid we sang of the dawning of the age of Aquarius. Who knew what they meant? We do know that Mars.......long associated with war-like behavior, has just been its closest in 50,000 years. Will we now start to be less war-like and empower the U.N. to be the world's police not ourselves? -------------------------

. I think our international protocols network is responsible for shining the light on the destabilization in Haiti...and I think one week earlier and we could have prevented Dr. Aristide's involuntary little plane ride to Africa, for example.