Gray Panthers

ESTABLISHED: August 1970
EMPLOYEES: 5 (1997)
MEMBERS: 35,000 (1997)
PAC: None

Contact Information:
ADDRESS: 733 15th St. NW #437 Washington, DC 20006
PHONE: (202) 466-3132
TOLL FREE: (800) 280-5362
FAX: (202) 466-3133
E-MAIL: info@graypanthers.org
URL: http://www.graypanthers.org
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Dixie Horning

WHAT IS ITS MISSION?

The Gray Panthers is an advocacy organization whose members politicize for social change in many areas including health care, social security, housing, environment, education, and peace. The name of this organization can be deceiving because membership in the Gray Panthers is not restricted to senior citizens. The Gray Panthers' motto, in fact, declares, "Age and Youth in Action." This underlying theme of Gray Panthers is unique because it, ". . . distinguishes [itself] from conventional groups for older people [by refusing] to pit the interests of the old against those of the young. [T]he Panthers fight for everyone's place at the table," as reported in Nation.

HOW IS IT STRUCTURED?

The Gray Panthers maintains a national headquarters in Washington, D.C. A board of directors oversees the group at the national level. The board hires an executive director, deputy director, director of public policy and media, and a grass roots organizer. Local chapters are convened into 17 regional networks; a "convenor" directs each network.

The national organization holds biennial conferences where the delegates define agendas and assign the members to assorted task forces. Each task force addresses a specific arena of concern, such as foreign policy, sustainable environment, national health care, and affordable housing.

Local chapters of the organization are self-governing. Meeting attendance is generally free, and official membership is available through local chapters. The general membership comprises people of all ages, as the organization reiterates in its published description, "[J]ustice is sought for all age groups."

PRIMARY FUNCTIONS

The Gray Panthers engage in a wide and varied array of activities. Members testify before legislators and other civic bodies. They also participate in political demonstrations and seek media attention in order to focus public attention on the organization's key issues.

Information Dissemination and Community Activism

The Gray Panthers upholds specific political principles and priorities as defined by the organization at the national level. These principles include the need for an equitable and universal health care system, the need to reduce military spending, the need for affordable housing, the need to preserve the environment, and the need to end discrimination. Local chapters of the Gray Panthers organize groups who work to resolve and address the political agenda as defined by the national Gray Panthers organization. For instance, a local Gray Panthers chapter might collaborate with a county-sponsored health insurance counseling program to educate seniors on new changes in Medicare. The Gray Panthers take advantage of, and participate in, public statewide conferences on environmental topics such as the protection of public resources. Regional meetings of the Gray Panthers are held periodically to discuss topics such as the future of Medicare. Seminars are likely to focus on any Gray Panthers agenda, in association with other advocacy groups such as the Older Women's League (OWL).

Legal and Legislative Activities

The Gray Panthers confronts various issues that are important to its members. In 1996, for example, the National Gray Panthers Project Fund filed amicus curiae (friend of the court) briefs in collaboration with other social justice groups in support of the right of every person to receive assisted suicide as a medical treatment. The amicus curiae briefs were filed in a case before the Supreme Court of the state of Washington.

Aside from legal advocacy, the Gray Panthers respond to emergency situations worldwide with whatever resources it can muster. After Hurricane Mitch in 1998, the Gray Panthers collected money and medicines to send to the afflicted areas. Gray Panther representatives further contacted political officials in Washington, D.C. to encourage the U.S. government to forgive all debts to the afflicted countries and to convince the members of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to do the same.

PROGRAMS

The Gray Panthers' programs revolve primarily around public education. By utilizing its resources, the organization hopes to further its vision of a social structure in which the young and old can live in relative harmony; educating the public through its programs is an effective way of accomplishing this goal.

National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP)

NCRP, founded in 1976, by a group of prominent nonprofit organizations—including the Gray Panthers, the National Congress of American Indians, and the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund—calls attention to unfair practices involving charity fundraising. NCRP reports on philanthropic organizations, especially with respect to "alternative" funding sources, for non-traditional groups including women, aged, gays, and other advocacy charities. NCRP, for example, protests the policies of the United Way campaign which ignores the concerns and needs of non-traditional charities. In essence, the NCRP is a radical group that exists in contention with traditional charities that fail to share resources with nontraditional and advocacy organizations.

The NCRP continually conducts research and issues reports. The NCRP has released approximately one dozen reports about charities, especially those promoted in the workplace. The NCRP reports discussed the inequities of some charities. A report on "Women's Funds" was published in 1986, and in 1990 a report on "Right wing Attacks on Corporate Giving" was issued. "United Way's Donor Choice: Who Benefits?" appeared in 1992. The NCRP's flagship report, "Moving a Public Policy Agenda: the Strategic Philanthropy of Conservative Foundations" appeared in July of 1997. That report studied the impact of conservative foundations and institutions on politics and on public opinion. Additionally NCRP publishes periodic reports on corporate grant-making policies, and offers technical assistance to start-up alternative funds.

Age and Youth in Action Summit

The first National Age and Youth in Action Summit held on May of 1997 in Washington, D.C. was hosted by the Gray Panthers, the United States Student Association (USSA), the Students Environmental Action Council (SEAC), the Older Women's League (OWL), and other groups. It concentrated its efforts upon creating a forum for common dialogue between young and old and identifying solutions to common problems.

BUDGET INFORMATION

The National Gray Panthers Project Fund (NGPPF), with reported assets of $684,275 in 1995, operates on a budget of approximately $200,000 per year. In 1997 the Gray Panthers Project Fund budget of $260,000 went to support efforts toward the establishment of a national health care system. In the process of accomplishing its ends the project fund supports a staff of five employees, including one executive director, one fund-raiser, two office mangers, and one writer. All of the funding for the Gray Panthers is the result of direct mail campaigns.

HISTORY

The Gray Panthers was the brainchild of social activist Margaret Kuhn of Buffalo, New York. Kuhn, along with a handful of her friends, founded the organization in 1970 in reaction to a forced retirement imposed upon her at age 65 by the United Presbyterian Church of New York, her employer of 25 years. The group initially called themselves Consultation of Older and Younger Adults for Social Change. Their purpose was to redefine the role of senior citizens in U.S. society and to unite older and younger Americans behind social change.

Almost immediately the small group of seniors joined with a band of college students to protest the U.S. war effort in Vietnam. One year later the fledgling organization had multiplied, from Kuhn and her original five organizers to 100 members. The group gained increasing visibility and established an office in the basement of an old church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Around the same time the Consultation of Older and Younger Adults for Social Change was attracting media attention and the name Gray Panthers was coined by a TV reporter in 1972. Eventually the name was officially adopted by the organization. It called attention to the parallels between the militant Black Panthers of the Civil Rights movement and the radical ideas of the Consultation of Older and Younger Adults for Social Change.

In 1973 the Gray Panthers merged with a group called the Retired Professional Action Group, an organization directed by consumer activist and attorney, Ralph Nader. Nader personally donated a generous sum of $25,000 to the organization. The combined group studied the conditions and quality of U.S. nursing homes in 1977 and issued a publication called "Nursing Homes: A Citizens' Action Guide." Additionally, the newly merged group established a "Media Watch" program to revise the media image associated with the aged. The Gray Panthers also presented papers to the American Medical Association (AMA) protesting the profit motive that overshadows health care in the U.S. health care industry.

During the 1980s the Gray Panthers were involved in organized protests in support of a federally supported national health care system. The group continued to support reductions in military spending and environmental interests. It was during that time, in the early 1980s, that the Gray Panthers earned recognition as a non-government organization (NGO) by the United Nations.

In 1985 the group expanded its operations and opened an office in Washington, D.C. The Gray Panthers' national operations were centralized there in 1990. Founder Maggie Kuhn died in 1995 at the age of 89 years, just weeks after she attended the 10th biennial convention of the Gray Panthers. The Gray Panthers membership was declining in the 1990s and their numbers had dwindled to 40,000 by the time of Kuhn's death. In an effort to regroup from the loss of Kuhn, the Gray Panthers held its first annual National Age and Youth in Action Summit and selected a new board of directors in 1997.

CURRENT POLITICAL ISSUES

Political issues espoused by the Gray Panthers typically focus on the importance of life, and the need to protect and preserve it. Anti-war demonstrations, improvements in nursing home facilities, and better access to health care are among the humanitarian causes espoused by Gray Panthers over the years. With regard to the issue of euthanasia, the Gray Panthers nonetheless uphold the right of the individual to choose to die.

Case Study: Assisted Suicide

Assisted suicide is a procedure whereby a person who is experiencing exceptional suffering from a terminal illness may be permitted to employ the services of a doctor, in order to further hasten imminent death. Assisted suicide is a highly emotional issue. Results of various opinion polls in this matter indicate that the general population is divided almost equally over assisted suicide.

During the 1994 elections in the state of Oregon, a ballot initiative called Measure 16 or "Death with Dignity" won approval by the voters by a two percent margin. Under Oregon's Measure 16, a doctor was allowed to prescribe a lethal prescription to a patient under certain conditions: at least two doctors needed to concur that the patient was terminally ill and could not possibly live longer than six months and the patient made persistent requests for assistance in suicide. Some believed that Measure 16 won voter approval because few voters were aware that the measure would support physician-assisted suicide through the Oregon Health Plan. Efforts made by groups such as the National Right-to-Life Committee to overturn the measure were unsuccessful through mid-1999. The measure continues to be challenged, however, at the state and federal level.

Shortly before Measure 16 appeared on the Oregon ballot, Attorney General Dennis Vacco of New York brought suit in his state to challenge the legality of assisted-suicide legislation. In his arguments Vacco suggested the scenario that cost-conscious managed care facilities might find it lucrative to encourage patients to request assisted suicide rather than to become involved in expensive medical treatment. This point was clearly demonstrated by the case of one health maintenance organization (HMO) in the State of Oregon that agreed to pay the cost for physician-assisted suicide, but denied reimbursement to AIDS patients for costly HIV medications. In New York, as well as Oregon, the court banned the assisted suicide procedures as unconstitutional.

A group of doctors in New York contested the ban on assisted suicide and were joined in their argument by the late Rita Barrett, a cancer patient with only slim hope for survival. As her legacy, she collaborated with the doctors who contested the ban on assisted suicide. Barrett died a natural death before the matter went to trial, but in December 1994 Judge Thomas Griesa of the U.S. District Court reinforced the ban. The case was appealed at the same time as an appeal of a similar ban in Washington state, brought about in an action by Attorney General Christine O. Gregiore.

Gray Panthers was cited in the press as the only seniors group to come forward publicly and take a stand on the issue of assisted suicide. Bobi Gary, then co-president of the Portland Gray Panthers chapter, agreed that there are drawbacks and risks associated with the administration of doctor-assisted suicide. She acknowledged the valid concern that persons at the lowest income levels might become easy prey for managed care organizations which might encourage the procedure because it is less costly than expensive life-saving therapies. Gary supported the measure nonetheless because it affords the patient a "choice in your own death," as quoted in Portland Skinner in 1997.

When the appeal was heard in 1996 by the Supreme Court, the International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force filed a friend-of-the-court document in support of the state's arguments. Documents defending assisted suicide were filed by the Gray Panthers Project Fund and the Gray Panthers of Washington, along with activist groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, Japanese American Citizens League, Hemlock Society USA, Coalition of Medical Professionals, and National Women's Path Network. The pro-euthanasia arguments by the Gray Panthers and affiliated groups maintained the rights of terminally ill patients to obtain due process and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. It was argued in the court briefs that patients suffered discrimination, who were not provided with appropriate medical assistance in ending their own suffering by ending their own lives. Much to the chagrin of the Gray Panthers and the other concerned parties, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in June 1997 to uphold the decision of the court of appeals, thus stating that New York's ban on assisted suicide did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. The Gray Panthers continues to support initiatives that favor the legalization of assisted suicide.

SUCCESSES AND FAILURES

The Gray Panthers was successful in establishing the National Media Task Force. In 1975 that group was instrumental in bringing about a revision to the National Association of Broadcasters' Code of Ethics, which discouraged age stereotyping in television broadcasting. Persistent efforts of the Gray Panthers also contributed to the passage of the Discrimination in Employment Act in 1978—legislation that raised the mandatory retirement age from 65 to 70.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Although Gray Panther membership suffered a decline over recent years—most notably since the death of founder Margaret Kuhn—the organization will take measures it hopes will revitalize its ranks. The organization hopes to accomplish this through the establishment of new Gray Panther networks, including scheduled start-ups in New Mexico and in Pennsylvania. Additionally there are other groups in other communities that are investigating the feasibility of establishing local chapters.

GROUP RESOURCES

The Gray Panthers National Office maintains a library on aging. The Gray Panthers has created a Web site at http://www.graypanthers.org; while not fully functional, the site contains some information about what the organization does as well as how to contact the various regional offices throughout the United States. For more information on the organization, write to the Gray Panthers, 733 15th St. NW #437, Washington, DC 20006 or call (202) 466-3132. Information regarding the local chapter in a specific area is also available through the Gray Panthers' toll-free number at 1-800-280-5362.

GROUP PUBLICATIONS

Network is the biannual national newspaper of the Gray Panthers. Subscriptions are available at a rate of $20 per year. Points for Prowling, published bimonthly, offers "how-to" information and tips for problem resolution and fundraising. Other publications from the Gray Panthers Project Fund include "Bridging Generations for a New Social Contract" and "Age and Youth in Action Summit Final Report."

Information on obtaining the organization's publications may be requested by writing to the Gray Panther National Headquarters, 733 15th St. NW #437, Washington, DC 20006 or by calling 1-800-280-5362. Many regional Gray Panthers organizations publish local newsletters as well. These are available from the respective chapter offices.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, Dave. "Senior Power." Social Policy, Spring 1998.

"Gray Power." Nation, 28 May 1990.

Hessel, Dieter, ed. Maggie Kuhn on Aging: A Dialogue. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1977.

Kuhn, Margaret E. Get Out There and Do Something about Injustice. New York: Friendship Press, 1972.

Kuhn, Margaret E., with Christina Long and Laura Quinn. No Stone Unturned: The Life and Times of Maggie Kuhn. New York: Ballantine Books, 1991.

Nichols, John. "Gray Panthers Still Nipping at Congress." Capital Times, 2 November 1995.

Quirk, Barbara. "Panthers Founder a True Leader." Capital Times, 2 May 1995.