An important point worth mentioning is that the plaintiffs do not want a correction or a 'fixing', so to speak, of MBWA as it now stands. We insist that this egregiously sexist law be struck down in its entirety, at which time the Minnesota State Legislature can begin a new process and an entirely new approach to addressing the social problem of domestic violence -- an approach that utterly discounts and discredits the old "women good, men bad" model and forthrightly recognizes instead that domestic violence is a shared problem between men and women.

In September of 2002 the court ruled that R-Kids and NCFM have no standing on which to bring suit. This decision is being appealed/ (2004).

LAW SUIT AGAINST L.A. COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, DEMANDING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF MEN - On July 11, 2002 the Los Angeles chapter of NCFM filed a state and federal lawsuit against L.A. County for refusing to create a commission for men. In 2001, NCFM proposed a commission for men to L.A. County. In response, the Chief Executive Office wrote a letter (6/6/01) to Supervisor Yvonne Burke opposing it because there was, "insufficient data available to substantiate that men are being denied basic human rights due to discrimination". "Not true," replied NCFM Los Angeles chapter President, Marc Angelucci, "men face routine discrimination in family courts, criminal sentences, draft registration, prostate cancer funding, domestic violence services and more. They get denied access to their kids due to judicial bias, false accusations or blocked visitation. Then they are labeled 'deadbeat dads' and dragged through a vicious and hostile system".

CALIFORNIA PATERNITY FRAUD BILL - The bill number was AB 2240. It was first interoduced February 20, 2002. The letter "A" stands for assembly, as in the California State Assembly. NCFM, through the leadership of Marc Angelucci, president of our chapter in Los Angeles, has been busy helping to draft legislation that would protect men from child support orders when they are not the biological father.

On September 28, 2002, Califonia Governor Gray Davis vetoed the bill. NCFM has not stopped lobbying. The amount of support for the bill in the legislature was very encouraging. Moreover the bill that the governor vetoed had been greatly watered down as a result of the actions of the well funded feminist lobby. Our hope is to rally the support that was evident in the legislature and to call for a stronger bill. In the winter of 2004 a working committee established to make new recommendations submitted its report to the legislature.

SPONSOR A MEN'S RESOURCES HOT-LINE - NCFM has in the past maintained a hot-line for men, who can call about any type of problem facing them. There is no government, foundation or public funding for this hot-line. Our hot line is funded entirely out of dues and donations from private persons. This hot line specializes in divorce strategies for men. It is run by a self help counselor and NOT an attorney. The service is located in New York. Call (631) 473-2813. When you call this answering machine, leave several times when it would be best to call you back. Be prepared to pay for the call.

WE PROVIDE SPEAKERS - Not all of the people available to us as speakers are members of NCFM, but most are. It makes sense. If you feel strongly enough to research a topic it only stands to reason to support an organization who will stand behind you.

We are not an agent. Therefore, we do not promote specific people and topics for the sole purpose of generating revenue. Usually, people will approach us with a topic of interest to them and will ask if we can find someone to satisfy their need. Speakers do expect remuneration. The amount of remuneration can vary greatly. We can accommodate small events, such as a local club luncheons as well as events held in auditoriums. Several of our most avid spokespersons are women.

In a few cases our speakers are prepared to travel. In most cases our speakers can address the broad nature of men's issues. If you are looking for a speaker who is an expert on a narrow and well defined topic, chances are that this will involve travel.

AWARDS - In 1986 we determined no one presenting a male perspective on gender issues was being recognized or complimented. We felt that there had to be a way to publicly say, "Thank you", in a lasting way for work that is meaningful, is more often rewarded by insults and rejection and which takes stamina, discipline, commitment and character to carry forward. We needed a way for those who were making a sacrifice to be applauded and to feel good about what they have done.

NCFM gives out three awards: 1)- Excellence In The Advancement of Men's Issues, 2)- Excellence In Promoting Gender Fairness In The Media, and 3)- Our Award Of Honor, which gores to an outstanding member of NCFM.

Visit our List of Award Winners

REFERRALS - There are almost no services aimed at men. Social agencies claim that the reason why there are almost no service agencies aimed at men is because men do not demand such services. THIS IS ONLY PARTLY TRUE.

An examination of the types of services reveals that those aimed at men seek to change the men. Those aimed at women often seek to treat them as a victim. But beyond this it is also true that men are not encouraged by outreach programs or by public service campaigns to seek help for their problems. Moreover, there are no publicly funded Task Forces On The Status Of Men actively trying to identify the problems men have.

What we do know is that when public service campaigns are aimed at encouraging men to seek services, that they will readily come forward and that the services are often successful. This is true whether we are talking about family planning or men who are battered by their wives.

For the moment the issue that has spawned the most self help groups is divorce. They are known as father's rights groups. Almost all states, today, have such groups.

NCFM maintains two referral pages at its web site. Related Links 1 provides many resources under different topic headings. These resources can all be found on the World Wide Web. However, the Internet is more than just the World Wide Web. The Internet also consists of Newsgroups and interactive mailing lists. You will find a gateway to these resources at Related Links 2.

MAINTAIN A NETWORK OF STATE REPRESENTATIVES - Our representatives work with local media and are there to answer questions from politicians, academics and the public. NCFM also has formed chapters in local areas.

WILLIAM HETHERINGTON - To avoid the possibility of a law suit we will phrase our comments in terms of, "our belief". William Hetherington is serving a 30 year sentence for spousal rape in the state of Michigan. He has already served ten years. The charge was made verbally by his wife during a custody dispute. The written charge was made by a police sergeant. Mr. Hetherinton's ex-wife never signed a charge. During the divorce the family court froze all assets, which meant that Mr. Hetherington had no money to use in his defense of the criminal charges. Later, the divorce court awarded all of the assets to William's ex-wife, but the criminal court records were never changed to reflect his indigent status.

All Mr. Hetherington is asking for is another trial with fair representation. In fact, he has protested his complete innocence from the start by refusing to plea bargain. We believe that he is completely innocent. Anyone in the Flint, Michigan, area can investigate the trial for themselves since the transcripts will be given to any member of the public to read.

One of the problems was, however, that Mr. Hetherington had no money to obtain an official version of his transcript. In 1993 NCFM raised the $3,000 needed to purchase a transcript.

Fact Sheet on William Hetherington

BI-MONTHLY NEWSLETTER (Published 6 times a year). The national organ of NCFM is "Transitions: Journal of Men's Perspectives". Transitions contains news about NCFM as well as news about current events. It carries academic articles, opinion pieces, book reviews, movie reviews and provides a forum where members can exchange ideas. It carries articles which highlight gender issues that affect men. Transitions accepts articles from all sides on the gender equality issue (for and against). We encourage members and non-members, alike, to submit original material.

"Transitions" is not available through subscriptions. It is free with membership in the National Coalition of Free Men. Transitions is a project of member volunteers.

E-MAIL DISCUSSION LIST FOR MEMBERS - NCFM members from all over the United States and other countries can engage in group discussion and receive news by signing up for our e-mail discussion list. The discussion list resides at Yahoo. Yahoo provides participants with the ability to decide how to receive messages. A person can choose to receive individual email messages, get a digest of messages at regular intervals, or choose to receive messages at the Yahoo web site only.

RESEARCH/INTERVIEWS: NCFM maintains a special section at its web site where it stores long articles, which are not meant to be read online. The files at www.ncfm.org/liter.htm are compressed and stored in word processing formats. You save them to your hard drive and then display them in your word processor after uncompressing them. We provide complete instructions for those who do not know how to do this.

NCFM BOOK STORE - Come and visit our Book Store for a complete recommended reading list and description of various works.

LOCAL ACTIVITIES - NCFM encourages the formation of local groups and chapters, with the view in mind that local outreach is essential. For example, in 1997, NCFM sponsored ",Take Your Sons To Work Day", at Lucent Technologies in Chicago. Local members of Lumen (the company's internal employee men's club) did the work. At the chapter level NCFM has also backed law suits aimed at reform.

AT THIS TIME WE WOULD LIKE TO INVITE YOU TO JOIN. There is strength in numbers. There are many things you can do to help, but even if you are not a worker, your dues and extra tax deductible contributions will go to support others who are active.

This is your opportunity to help bring about a better quality of life, to make yourself heard. JOIN!