Asian journalists to boycott California p. 17

By: Editorial Staff ANOTHER MINORITY journalists association is pulling its convention from California to protest Proposition 187, the law passed in a referendum last November that limits access to schools and hospitals by illegal immigrants.
In a vote by its national board announced March 17, the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) decided to "cease planning" for its 1998 annual national convention that was to be held in California. The boycott decision will be reviewed by the board again in 1997, the association said. "AAJA does not take editorial positions on issues that we cover in the news, but we want to be supportive of our colleagues who are boycotting California," said AAJA president Dinah Eng, a columnist with Gannett News Service.
After the passage of Proposition 187, the board of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists voted to boycott California as a convention site. San Diego was eliminated as a possible site for its 1998 national meeting. For the Hispanic journalists, the boycott was deja vu: Two years earlier the group moved its convention from Denver in support of a boycott protesting a state law that prohibited municipalities from adopting gay rights measures.
Soon after the NAHJ took its action, the National Association of Lesbian and Gay Journalists voted to pull its 1995 convention from Los Angeles. The meeting, which was to be held in Los Angeles in September, will instead be held Oct. 19-23 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.