ACT On Principles

Last Night Hartford CT, joined the UAFA Bandwagan!! Welcome, Hartford!!!!!

Since March, UAFA has garnered City Council Resolutions from 10 Cities (including NYC which did a NEW ONE at end of April).

The tireless work of Out4Immigration’s Tom Tierney – working the LGBT elected officials all over the country – has created quite a list, building on the original work and idea from Amos Lim and Kathy Drasky, also of Out4Immigration, an all-volunteer group of bi-national same-sex couples all over the world. Here’s the Resolution List now:

• California State Assembly
• City of Binghamton, NY
• City of Cambridge, MA
• City of Chicago, IL
• City of Ferndale, MI
• City of Hartford, CT
• City of Los Angeles, CA
• City of Miami Beach, FL
• City of Minneapolis, MN
• City of New York, NY (twice)
• City of San Francisco, CA
• City of St. Louis, MO
• City of Seattle, WA
• City of Troy, NY
• City of West Hollywood, CA

ALSO SINCE MARCH, THREE NEW HOUSE SPONSORS have responded to the call of Out4Immigration’s tireless weekly phone bank via change.org:

Rep Larsen, Rick [WA-2] – 3/12/2010
Rep Castor, Kathy [FL-11] – 4/22/2010
Rep Sarbanes, John P. [MD-3] – 5/5/2010

AND MOREOVER SINCE MARCH: Over 30 Letters from City Councilors, Mayors,Assemblymember, Supervisors, State Senators, Aldermen, etc. have been sent to Federal Representatives and Senators – urging the INCLUSION OF UAFA IN CIR.

The GREAT NEWS is that UAFA language MADE IT IN THE SENATE FRAMEWORK See: http://www.politico.com/static/PPM154_proposal.html

BUT much work lies ahead, resisting USCCB opposition, securing support among Immigration Activists and Groups, and building UAFA’s Strength.

TO JOIN THIS FIGHT FOR THE FIRST FEDERAL RECOGNITION OF OUR RELATIONSHIPS – please go to Out4Immigration.org, or ImmigrationEquality.org.

I”m now more convinced than ever that a few determined people can truly move mountains. Bravo to all involved!

http://www.politico.com/static/PPM154_proposal.html

• #GetEqual Call 202-224-3121, get in contact w/your rep's office for Veteran's Lobby Day, tell them you want #DADT repealed this year #

The question on most people’s minds about ENDA is: can it really pass?

The National Center for Transgender Equality, along with the Transgender Law Center, and the Coalition of State/City Transgender Advocacy Organizations, held a conference call last night on the status of ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

Those on the call learned that the legislators on the Hill have completed the weeks-long, extra-careful whipping process. (Whipping refers to asking Congressmembers how they will vote on a bill.) We learned that legislators are “comfortable” that there are well beyond a majority of votes to pass ENDA, right now. We learned that, specifically with regard to a potential motion to strip gender identity from the bill, there are enough votes to defeat that motion. We also learned that Congressmembers are getting calls and letters 2 to 1 in favor of ENDA.

After all of its ups and down, ENDA is ready to pass!

Here is a nifty new site that will give you one click-access to your legislators. Click below for one-click sending of an ENDA letter to your Congressmember and your Senators. Please send it to your friends on Facebook. I mean, how easy is this?

http://www.rallycongress.com/the-bilerico-project/

Also, more on the call last night here:

http://www.bilerico.com/2010/05/enda_now_ready_to_pass.php