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  This insightful post comes from the website irregulartimes.com. The author Jim is right on, and now it’s time to start making those calls. You can let us know what happens when you contact various Members of Congress by posting your feedback in our DOMA Public Whip Count at… http://www.actonprinciples.org/doma-house/
Below is the full post… LGBT Equality Caucus Members Who Don’t Support DOMA Repeal 80 members of the House of Representatives are current members of the House LGBT Equality Caucus. Within this group, support for DOMA repeal is not unanimous. The following are members of the LGBT Equality Caucus who have not added their cosponsorship to Nadler’s bill: Rep. Timothy Bishop. Contact Phone: 631-696-6500 If the repeal of DOMA is important to you and you see your member of Congress on this list, consider placing a call with your pointed questions and clear request for cosponsorship of H.R. 3567.
I’ve long envied the semi-captive audience that public radio stations have for their pledge drives. But apparently even that’s no guarantee of the fundraising results they’re looking for. Just today – it’s pledge-drive time here in the Bay Area – one host lamented that “only 10%” of listeners give, while the rest just keep getting it for free. We’ve got an even more acute problem in the LGBT movement. Not only do we lack a radio station to which people are hopelessly addicted; we’re looking at a baseline of about five per cent of LGBT people making a financial contribution to any LGBT organization. That’s right, any. 10 per cent? That’s starting to look pretty good. If we expect to win full equality and keep it, we have to get very serious about what could be called our “five percent problem.” We all know that money alone isn’t enough; we need leadership, volunteer power, and much more. But money is absolutely necessary. Organizing costs money. Visibility and social marketing cost money. Getting and keeping great people in key movement positions cost money. Campaigns cost money. Providing LGBT people with essential services costs money. There’s only one place that money’s ultimately going to come from: us. Yes, government, foundation, and corporate support are critical, but they’ll never be enough. Public funding is crashing everywhere; mainstream foundations are trying to address a world of issues – with sharply reduced endowments. At most, we’re just one issue among many. So the challenge comes back to us. How do we, as a movement, generate more individual giving? How do we persuade LGBT people to include the community in their estates? It’s obvious that, as a community, we haven’t figured these out. Horizons Foundation and others have done some extensive research to help begin answering these questions. (Horizons’ report can be found at http://www.horizonsfoundation.org/pdf/2008LGBTPhilanthropyReportFull.pdf.) We need to solve our five percent problem. We’re a long way from that right now. But even five per cent represents tens of thousands of donors, likely far more than 10 or 20 years ago. This movement has done amazing things. There’s no reason we can’t do something amazing with our giving, too. Roger Doughty Executive Director Horizons Foundation http://www.horizonsfoundation.org
The National Marriage Boycott is a student-driven movement to urge Congress to repeal DOMA. Members of NMB wear the Equality Ring as a symbol of their pledge. Get yours today. http://marriageboycott.ning.com/
 Please tell me I’m in the middle of a nightmare! After months of waiting for President Obama to act on his campaign promises to work for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, Rep. Barney Frank, the longest serving LGBT member of Congress, has told the Washington Blade he will NOT co-sponsor legislation being introduced next week to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). He cites “strategic differences” with the bill’s supporters, which include the man who represents the most gay Congressional district in the country, Jerry Nadler. It is Nadler who plans to introduce the bill Tuesday. LGBT Reps Baldwin and Polis will co-sponsor. Frank apparently feels that ENDA, DADT, and federal benefits for same-sex couples is more than he and Congress can stomach. Never mind the fact that Congress is only now getting around to starting hearings on the Employment Non Discrimination Act. Apparently Frank can restructure the entire American economy in a matter of weeks, but give him two years with an overwhelming Democratic majority in both the House and Senate, as well as a supportive President, and he cowers with political impotence. 9/15/09 Update: As expected, this morning, Congressman Nadler, flanked by Baldwin, Polis other members of Congress, as well as representatives of several LGBT organizations, introduced the “Respect for Marriage Act”. The bill will have 91 original co-sponsors. Congressman Frank is not one of them. (For news coverage of the press conference see, for example, http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=27207 ). http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=27153
What in the hell is wrong with you guys (and gals) here in the Dallas area. I have lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Los Angeles and San Francisco, California in my 60 years and have never seen a more disorganized, ill-equipped and unmotivated group of Gay men and women in my life. I lived in S.F. when Harvey Milk was assassinated and lived through the AIDS epidemic when the President of the U.S. wouldn’t even admit that AIDS existed. It was terrifying and the work to change things was hard and costly – but it was worth it. I was unfortunately forced to move to the Dallas area for personal reasons and am sickened by the attitudes of many of the the Gay people of this area. Just to bring you up to date, the very idea of a “Gay Bar Raid” went out of the American vernacular over 40 years ago after an event you may (or may not) be aware of we call “Stonewall”. A bar filled with several Drag Queens was “raided” and instead of taking it, much to the surprise of the police, they fought back. Instead of letting it go as just another raid, these brave wonderful sophisticated individuals used everything at their disposal, including the New York City government, and the media to insure that these “Fag Bashing Raids” would never ever happened again. They embarrassed New York so badly that the behavior was suspended everywhere in the United States and was never again accepted as normal policing, anywhere! But here in Dallas, Fort Worth, the Rainbow Lounge was just another Saturday night of fun for the police and believe me, it wasn’t a coincidence that it happened on the anniversary of the Stonewall incident. And it will happend again, I assure you! The police did what they did at the Rainbow Lounge because they could! They wanted to demonstrate that here, the DFW area, the Gay community is so ashamed of itself that they could freely get away with the raid and they knew it and they did it to make a point. For God’s sake, where is the outrage? Where is the supportive media? Where is the Government? Has anyone even read the Constitution of the United States?How do you live with yourselves with these conditions? Without castigation it WILL happend again and I’m afraid that the Gay community will do next to nothing, again! All anyone ever seems to do is plain old Saber Rattling. There are Consitutional laws in play with regard to how the police and the rest of the government (suburbs included) treat Gays here. There must be at must be at least one State Government official who’s not afraid to govern on behalf of the Gay Community. If so, use them, use them, use them! Whatever terrorizing the public is allowed to put upon the Gay community here is outrageous and would never be tolerated anywhere else in the U.S. without great repercussions to the police and the City. Litigation would flow like water at Niagra Falls. Sure there would be backlashes, freedom is not easy to obtain. Ah! but once you’re free and proud, there is nothing sweeter. When I first moved here to the South, I wondered why Dallas didn’t have a “Gay Pride Parade”. Now I realize Dallas has little if anything to be proud of. Let’s change that. It CAN be done. We all know it can. Let make Dallas/Fort Worth a truly “freedom to pursue happiness” area. Let’s stand the South on it’s ear! My generation has done it’s part and now I’m old and sick; it’s the next generation’s responsibility to move our rights forward. It doesn’t take a Harvey Milk to get our due respect into the Twenty-first century or even just to the end of the Twentieth century. It just takes some balls and letting go of this out dated (mixing church and government) mentality so many of you seem to accept as what life should be like in the United States. Like it or not, the Constitution calls for each to be independent of the other. Please don’t let all of you elders work go wasted here in DFW. Please!
From Out-Raged.org: Take action now and demand that your Congressional Representatives and Senators work with the IRS to investigate the Mormon Church’s abuse of their tax status by supporting political campaigns, like Proposition 8, which stripped millions of Californians of their equal rights.
In May, Maine became the fifth state in the nation to win marriage equality. But the fight is not over. Opponents want to turn back the clock by placing a referendum – modeled after California’s Prop 8 – on this November’s ballot. The countdown is on. In the weeks ahead, volunteers will be needed in key places throughout the state. Join us by donating today or by taking a Volunteer Vacation. How It Works During the month leading up to the election, the campaign will be hosting a team of highly motivated volunteers to serve as full-time, volunteer campaign staff. In Maine voters begin casting their ballots in October, so we’re planning the Volunteer Vacation to run during the entire month of October. There are several shifts to choose from, each lasting one week (although you’re welcome to stay longer): Your Role Volunteer Vacation is designed for folks who want to volunteer full-time to help identify supporters, recruit other volunteers, and run the Get-Out-the-Vote operation necessary to win the election. You will get an intensive, hands-on campaign experience while working with a great team from around the country. If you’re interested in taking a Volunteer Vacation, visit our link here – http://action.protectmaineequality.org/t/4847/signUp.jsp?key=2377 http://action.protectmaineequality.org/t/4847/signUp.jsp?key=2377
As I watched the funeral of Senator Kennedy my sadness rapidly turned to anger. As I watched the parade of Senators with tears in their eyes my question is: The priest told us that the mass brings together sadness and hope but I confess that my hope is very weak right now, as weak as our elected representatives who have been bought and paid for by the forces of profit over common good. This moment in our country must be a time for renewal of activism, renewal of the fiery spirit of Senator Kennedy – a spirit who fought for all of America, rich and poor America, gay and straight America, black and white and brown America. Senator Kennedy believed in true family values – every member of our family has value. All mattered to Senator Kennedy. But do they matter to our living elected officials? I think not. As a gay man I don’t think my rights matter to them. And I won’t be appeased by promises. I will not wait to be a full citizen with all the rights guaranteed by my Constitution. I want those rights now. Senator Kennedy told me that I would have them in my lifetime. Now he’s gone. Now is the time to hold all accountable – both the elected and the electorate. And when it comes to political contributions I implore you - Send a message. Demand action.
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