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 From AmericaBlog:
Just two weeks left until the September 14th Primary! Please join the campaign and pass this on to everyone! Call To Action: Campaign and Vote For Charlie Ramos For The New York State Senate Vote Out Obstructionist Ruben Diaz Sr. Join the campaign and contribute here: -by Tommy News Please pass this on to everyone, especially to those in the Bronx, New York Countdown to the September 14th Primary Election On December 2nd, 2009, by a vote of 38 Nays to 24 Yeas, The State Senate Voted Against Marriage Equality. Every single Republican and eight Democrats voted for discrimination. Our goal is to defeat and remove all 38 from office, Bronx State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. lead the vote against equality and we must lead him out of the Senate doors by electing Charlie Ramos to fill his Albany Senate seat. In addition to leading the Senate against Marriage Equality, Diaz once suggested that the Gay Games would encourage homosexuality and spread H.I.V. In 2003, he sued the city to shut down a high school for gay and transgender students. Diaz recently joined forces with convicted felon and former Senate leader Joe Bruno to block every single piece of pro equality legislation from reaching the Senator floor. He lead the fight to block initiatives by Governor Paterson, effectively shutting down the Senate last year and affecting all New Yorkers. He threatened to shut down the Senate again if a vote on Marriage Equality was brought to the floor. When it was, he led the Senate to defeat the bill. More recently, Diaz blocked GENDA and stripped tax equality rights from couples married in other states. Diaz has also angered Teachers and workers unions, and he has used his religious Fundie pulpit to blur the separation of Church and New York State at every turn. It is time to send Reverend Diaz packing to bang his Bible elsewhere, and replace him with Charlie Ramos in the September 14th primary election in the South Bronx. I urge you to get involved and join us in this effort. Please pass this message on to everyone in your address book. Vote For Charlie Ramos! Five Actions To Take: 1- Join The Charlie Ramos Campaign, Volunteer, Contribute, and Spread the word here. This September, we have the opportunity to bring real change to New York State and to the South Bronx. These times demand bold and honest leadership. For far too long, we have accepted the status quo, but we deserve more, much more. It is time to put an end to the reign of politicians who do not share our values and betray our trust over and over again. We must fight to restore faith in our state government and uphold the values of our community. If you believe in real democracy and freedom for all, you know that we the people have a choice in what kind of leadership we need in 2010. We need your help to bring a true, honest, and hardworking leader to Albany. Charlie Ramos’ Vision: Reproductive Freedom: Women and men – not politicians – deserve the right to make personal decisions about their reproductive health in accordance with their own personal and moral beliefs. Health Care: Every individual should have affordable, quality health care. Education: It is essential that we invest in quality public education for all. Environment: We must commit to restoring and protecting our environment. Economic Justice: Prosperity should be accessible to everyone, not merely the few. Join the campaign and contribute here: http://www.charlieramos2010.com/ Charlie Ramos’s email is: prcharlie@gmail.com 2- Sign Up for FIGHT BACK NEW YORK This fabulous organization is dedicated to replacing the anti-equality members of The NewYork State Senate. 3- Join the Andrew Cuomo For Governor campaign. Attorney General Cuomo is a strong ally of the LGBT community. He has pledged to make marriage equality in New York State a top priority. We thank outgoing Governor David Paterson for his strong pro-equality advocacy and activism, and we must help Andrew Cuomo win the election and continue his work. Sign up here: 4- Join Marriage Equality New York MENY Organization committed to securing the right to civil marriage for same-sex couples. Blog with related news and calendar of upcoming events. http://www.meny.us/ 5- Join Tommy’s Yahoo Group dedicated to electing a pro-equality New York State Senate. On December 2nd, 2009, by a vote of 38 Nays to 24 Yeas, The State Senate Voted Against Marriage Equality. Every single Republican and eight Democrats voted for discrimination. Our goal is to defeat and remove all 38 from office, most especially Bronx State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr; who lead the vote against marriage equality. Click Here and Join: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NewYorkStateSenateForCivilRights/ http://www.charlieramos2010.com/
Time Today · 6:30pm – 9:00pm Location 450 West 17th St. (between 9th and 10th Ave) 14th floor Created By Natasha Demands Equality Dillon, Marti Equality Cummings, Yetta G. Kurland More Info Come out and support Charlie Ramos in his efforts to challenge the incumbent, Ruben Diaz Sr. Diaz, who is the number one obstructionist for Equality in NY. Charlie can beat him, but he needs our help! Besides being the strongest opponent of Marriage Equality in New York, Diaz claims that same-sex marriage will bring the end of the world. In 2003, Diaz filed a lawsuit to stop the expansion of the Harvey Milk School, claiming th…at the school infringed upon the rights of heterosexual students. Also, Diaz oppose the “Gay games” from coming to NY, claiming that doing so would lead to an increase in AIDS and a wider acceptance of homosexuality by young people. DIAZ HAS TO GO!!!! Come show your support and give what you can. Do it for your Equality if nothing else If you are unable to make the event, but still want to contribute to Equality, please visit Charlie’s contribution page: https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/entity/24093 Donation: $25-$6,000. Suggested donation: $50See More If you cannot attend, please donate what you can at the Charlie Ramos Campaign Website here and join the campaign. The Primary Election is September 14th! Please pass this on. http://www.charlieramos2010.com/
FAX: NY SENATE (Candidate) Kirsten GILLIBRAND TODAY to get a Commitment NOW to file The American Equality Bill (in November). FAX this flyer (free fax online faxzero.com) To: 518-751-2556 BACKGROUND: Sen. Gillibrand has promised to add SO+GI to the Civil Rights laws (at some undetermined point in the future). We want her to say “YES” NOW to filing The AEB (in Nov). We want a commitment NOW during the campaign, while she’s seeking our support. She’s attending a big fundraiser by our community out on Fire Island TOMORROW. Let’s remind her what we WANT! No more delays. Commit NOW. NOTE: FRIENDLY ACTION. This is an e-fax number, and we’ve alerted the campaign office. This will NOT disrupt their operations, or be considered an unfriendly action. If you want to CALL the CAMPAIGN: 212-481-2010. Calls are good too. But please be nice. –
WE MUST ASK! HOW ELSE WILL WE KNOW? If anyone is doing candidate questionnaires, post primaries, I would like to offer the following questions for your consideration. We can not truly assess our support in Congress until we ask these basic questions about our inclusion in the non-discrimination laws that protect society, laws we call our civil rights laws, but which actually only stop interference with our fundamental human right to exist safely as who and what we are. If we miss the opportunity to ask these basic questions in this election cycle, we have to wonder what exactly our advocacy hopes to achieve and when. No more excuses! QUESTIONS FOR SENATE AND CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRES NON-DISCRIMINATION IN PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYMENT NON-DISCRIMINATION IN PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT NON-DISCRIMINATION IN HOUSING NON-DISCRIMINATION IN PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS NON-DISCRIMINATION IN PUBLIC FACILITIES NON-DISCRIMINATION IN ACCESS TO CREDIT NON-DISCRIMINATION IN FEDERALLY FUNDED PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES COMPREHENSIVE BILL “Good things don’t come to those who wait. They come to those who agitate!” Julian Bond
 (No Ratings Yet) From GetEqual:
New York is having primary Senatorial Debates (monday/tues). [Try to get the question in your state's debates as well.] Please forward the questions below to: desk@ny1news.com In subject put: Questions on Civil Rights for Senate Debate: 1. Senator Gillibrand has been up front in supporting the inclusion of “sexual orientation and gender identity” in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Would you support a bill to place “sexual orienta…tion and gender identity” in the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which currently protects people from discrimination based on their “race, color, sex, national origin, or religion.” And if so, would you be an original sponsor of such a bill in 2011? Or the longer version: 2. Senator Gillibrand has been up front in supporting the inclusion of “sexual orientation and gender identity” in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Would you support a bill to place “sexual orientation and gender identity” in the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which currently protects people from discrimination based on their “race, color, sex, national origin, or religion”” in vast areas of life including “employment, housing, access to credit, gov’t facilities, private places open to the public, and all federally funded programs”. And if so, would you be an original sponsor of such a bill in 2011?
From Fight Back New York: Earlier this week, the anti-gay group New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms sent out an appeal to raise $200,000 to combat what Fight Back New York is doing during the upcoming primary and general elections. Here is part of their message: “NYCFPAC’s goal is to raise $200,000 between now and Election Day…In December 2009, 38 state senators courageously voted against same-sex marriage legislation. Supporters of same-sex marriage…are targeting those same 38 senators for defeat…If pro-life, pro-family, and pro-freedom New Yorkers want our elected officials to stand up for our values, we must support those candidates and elected officials who do so.” This means that they will be pouring money into the campaigns of longtime anti-gay senators like Ruben Diaz and Bill Stachowski. We need your help to make sure that we have the resources to overwhelm these anti-gay tactics. We know that our strategy is smart and effective–otherwise groups like this wouldn’t be so worried. They know that Fight Back New York played an instrumental role in defeating one of their candidates, the convicted criminal Hiram Monserrate. Please contribute $20, $50, or $100 today. Remember the anger you felt towards each of the 38 state senators who voted against the equality of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers? Now you have a chance to FIGHT BACK and send the message that you are in this to win, and will stop at nothing until LGBT New Yorkers have equal rights. Your support of Fight Back New York helps us tell the truth about these backward and ineffective state senators. Click here for an example of what we’re doing right now in Sen. Bill Stachowski’s distict. Join us today by donating $20, $50, or $100. Turn your anger into action. More Here: https://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/6164/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=4081
It is recess – and Congressional folks are in-district until 9/12. So we should be pushing to meet in-person with them right? Holding rallies outside their campaign offices, meeting them at every fundraiser. It should be overdrive right? If not now, when? But the only group I’ve seen try to moblize the community to meet with their Congress person is Immigration Equality, which held a very good conference call on “how to” get those meetings and get the best out of them. In the meantime, HRC’s latest email blast – is about a Target boycott – Target the store. Nothing from the Task Force and nothing from the Equality Federation which just met with the White House. That meeting revealed a PATHETIC agenda and no timeline. Yet, Equality Federation came out swinging for Obama, seeking to shift responsibility to Congress and our community See comment of their ED to this post on ActOnPrinciples: http://www.actonprinciples.org/2010/08/17/last-weeks-historic-white-house-meeting-exposes-limp-agenda-wh-asks-hold-our-feet-to-the-fire-so-lets-do-that-fax-brian-bond-at-white-house-to-demand-our-civil-rights/ Now, to me its increasingly clear that Obama is looking to be a “good 1 term president, rather than a 2 term mediocre president”. Reports have said that directly. He’s also stepping up on controversial issues. It’s also exceptionally clear because he has said this directly and indirectly MANY TIMES – that he wants us to HOLD HIS FEET TO THE FIRE. He is asking, almost begging us to step up our game. Our pressure is HIS SUPPORT – particularly when it’s disbursed properly at Congress and our “allies” as well, such as the NAACP, ACLU, NOW, Oprah, Rachel Maddow, etc. While privately he may be asking for cover and that we focus on Congress – these are not mutually exclusive. We should be doing both. The moment is at hand and the mood is here for us to make a big push – and demand our Civil Rights. If HRC and the Task Force decided to run with that agenda, and we faxed hundreds of thousands of copies this flyer (http://bit.ly/AEBpleaseFILEpdf) to the WH and Brian Bond, we would be on the 1st Term agenda. What are we waiting for? To take down Target Inc. first? Toni Broaddus is right in her comment to the above post. It is OUR fault that we do not have our rights. And it is OUR fault that the President doesn’t have enough cover and support to pass ENDA. But the best way to fix this – is to give him something BIG ENOUGH to take a risk for. Our Civil Rights is that calling. But at a minimum, OUR groups should be stepping up the pressure in the mid-terms. This is the last chance we have to get OUR AGENDA to the forefront in this 1st term. ENDA is not sexy enough. DADT is done. Marriage is being won in the courts. Our Civil Rights and UAFA are what’s left. Out4Immigration and Immigration Equality are in full swing. The AEB Project (fledgling as it is) is in full swing. WHERE ARE OUR GROUPS? WHERE IS OUR BOLD DEMAND FOR FULL EQUALITY NOW. WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR? Living in dismay. Tif p.s. Please fax this Flyer (http://bit.ly/AEBpleaseFILEpdf) to Brian Bond, LGBT Liaison at the White House: WH FAX: 202-456-2461. The President is looking for BOLD steps. What better one than our civil rights. This would single handedly earn him the Nobel Prize he already received.
Apparently, The Equality Federation met with the White House Staff on our Agenda (see posting below). It appears the White House is consoling our community with: LET’S SET A NEW STANDARD – and NICELY DEMAND our FULL CIVIL RIGHTS! Please PRINT AND MAIL, or FAX (WH FAX: 202-456-2461) this flyer: http://bit.ly/PleaseFileAEBmailer (jpeg). To: BRIAN BOND Please include your e-mail address (as requested by the WH’s contact instructions) For free on-line fax: faxzero.com, or rapidfax.com (both can be done online without a landline phone). You need the PDF to free fax. Here that is: https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B3zgWwWHKayXZWI3YTExMWYtNTUyMy00ZTY3LThkNWItN2Q4YjRmOTdhMmFm&hl=enIf you want to complain directly about this pathetic agenda for equality call: BRIAN BOND: 202-456-1414. WH switchboard will put you to his voice mail. They won’t know what the AEB is – but they’ll figure it out. They don’t seem to know what Civil Rights are either. Let’s remind them. xoTif ———- Forwarded message ———- Dear Tif, Last week, Florida Together participated in a historic far-ranging White House discussion between members of the Obama administration and the Equality Federation, the national umbrella organization for statewide equality groups. As Executive Director, I was proud to represent Florida Together at the briefing. As the only person from Florida to attend the briefing, I wanted to share with you a summary of the meeting. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act Tchen said that the administration was prioritizing DADT over the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) because it could attach DADT to other legislation, making it much easier to move through Congress. By contrast, ENDA- which would outlaw employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity and expression – is stand-alone legislation that faces more congressional hurdles. In the current political climate, securing a Acknowledging that some LGBT advocates are quite frustrated with the president’s progress on equality issues, Tchen urged statewide leaders to let the White House know when their constituents are displeased. “When you are frustrated,”she stated, “you should speak out and hold our feet to the fire.” LGBT Health David Hansell, acting assistant secretary for children and families at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), provided an overview of the work currently being done on LGBT health. Through a coordinating group, the agency is including LGBT concerns in decisions made by its 10 divisions. Hansell outlined provisions of the Affordable Care Act that will benefit LGBT Americans including expanded access to health coverage and abolition of insurance companies’ practices barring those with preexisting conditions and imposing lifetime caps on pay-outs. As HHS adopts the thousands of forthcoming mandates and policy statements needed to implement federal health care reform, LGBT health and family advocates will have extensive opportunities to shape outcomes. Hansell then offered a status report on President Obama’s April 2010 memorandum directing hospitals receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding to allow patients to decide who can visit them. The memo also bars discrimination based on a variety of characteristics including sexual orientation and gender identity. The public comment process on the proposed visitation policy ends on Aug. 27. A draft policy outlining HHS regulations that would guarantee that hospitals honor advanced directives will soon be posted for 180 days of public comment. The subsequent regulatory change will make much clearer who is allowed to make decisions on a patient’s care if he or she is unable to do so. In upcoming months, Hansell stressed, there will be unprecedented opportunities for LGBT advocates to offer recommendations on a number of concerns including adoption, youth, homelessness, seniors, and sex education. Historically, the federal government has not tracked data identifying the needs of LGBT youth or seniors, Hansell asserted, but is now implementing processes to do so in order to ensure that these vulnerable populations Hansell said the LGBT community can best ensure that these new directives are enforced by working with the local or state office administering the specific program. If that doesn’t resolve the problem, advocates should contact the HHS Office of Civil Rights. Hansell then fielded questions pertaining to transgender people. When the public comment process determining what federal benefits insurance companies must provide begins, he called for the LGBT community and health care advocates to vocalize the need to include gender reassignment surgery. Hansell claimed that HHS is already determining how best to assist homeless transgender youth. Raphel Bostic, assistant secretary for policy development and research for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), then detailed current administrative efforts to redress housing inequities in the LGBT community. 2010 marks the first time that HUD is DADT Repeal When Equality Federation representatives challenged Raghavan on the content and methodology of the surveys being used to gauge military attitudes on LGBT people, Raghavan said that he understood why LGBT servicemembers have taken offense to some of the questions and have raised concerns about whether confidentiality is properly protected. He assured the audience that the data will only be used to determine how the Pentagon needs to structure its post-DADT training programs to combat stereotypes and fears about LGBT people. After Mo Baxley, executive director of New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coaltion, questioned why LGBT soldiers continue to be expelled during this process, Raghavan responded that the law is still in effect and therefore must be enforced. He claimed, however, that Gates has taken steps to ensure that the law is no longer abused. For example, military officials are no longer permitted to accept third-party testimony against an accused soldier. In the past, the use of such evidence created situations where jilted lovers or disgruntled colleagues could railroad or blackmail a comrade. Bostic added that the Pentagon is exploring how qualified soldiers who were expelled under DADT could reenter the armed services. When asked whether policy changes that would permit transgender citizens to serve are also being considered, Bostic said that might be the case in the future and asked for contact information from advocates who can advise the Pentagon on this issue. Family and Medical Leave, HIV/AIDS Policy Marriage Equality Bond asserted, “There is still a lot of work to do” before DOMA will be repealed. “Look at the trouble we’re having with ENDA.” he added.But Bond conceded that there are inconsistencies in President Obama’s positions. In response, Morgan Meneses-Sheets, executive director of Equality Maryland, stated, “Respectfully, we need President Obama to push for full inclusion of the LGBT community on ENDA, on marriage- we need the full get, not the lesser get. The highest office in the land sets the tone for the whole country.” Bond agreed, but expressed frustration at the often intense criticism levied, particularly by bloggers, against an administration that is “99
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“It is not enough to look back in wonder at how far we have come; those who came before us did not strike a blow against injustice only so that we would allow injustice to fester in our time. That means removing the barriers of prejudice and misunderstanding that still exist in America.” -
It’s TIME TO FAX THE WHITE HOUSE!!!
