BY ELLEN BERMAN

LAS VEGAS - How to fight the recent proliferation of anti- affirmative action legislation and referendums was a major discussion at the National Organization for Women (NOW) annual conference held here June 28-30. Six hundred people attended the conference, which was also a celebration of NOW's 30th anniversary.

Opponents of affirmative action are currently circulating "Civil Rights Initiatives" in five states - California, Colorado, Florida, Oregon, and Washington - for the November 1996 elections, and legislative efforts being introduced under the guise of "civil rights" or "equal opportunity" in at least 17 states. These initiatives would ban affirmative action programs for women and minorities.

Protests against these attacks will be a focus of the demonstrations that will take place outside the Republican National Convention in San Diego in August, along with defending immigrant rights. Conference participants discussed joining and building this action.

NOW president Patricia Ireland called for getting out to vote for the Democrats. "President Clinton is our option for president this year," she said in her keynote speech, adding, "He is not the answer. We are the answer." Discussion on the 1996 elections, women running for political office, and raising money for the NOW Political Action Committee took up much of the conference.

Among the many resolutions adopted was one that denounced the recent church burnings and committed NOW to joining with other allies to "keep pressure on the U.S. Department of Justice, the attorney general, and the president to uncover and prosecute the responsible individual(s) and/or group(s) to the fullest extent of the law."

Resolutions were also passed on Native American rights, supporting young feminism, calling for a national day of action in support of same-sex marriages, and reaffirming NOW's commitment to working welfare rights and the right to safe, legal, accessible abortion on demand.

Laura Garza, the Socialist Workers Party candidate for vice president, and several of her campaign supporters attended the conference. Supporters of the 1996 Socialist Workers campaign pointed out that women's rights activists can't depend on the Democratic or Republican parties to defend our rights. Conference participants bought about $100 worth of Pathfinder books from a campaign table, as well as 13 copies of and one subscription to the campaign paper, the Militant.  
 
 
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