Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand says that she supports extending civil rights to all LGBT Americans, and we have to make sure that Sen. Gillibrand makes good on her support by filing legislation, which would add "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Call : 1 (212) 688-6262.
Why won't the the US DOJ answer the FOIA Request about Lt. Dan Choi's arrest ?
I'm sharing with you an update on the freedom of information request sent to the U.S. Department of Justice.
On May 6, 2013, the DOJ received my FOIA request. The request sought information and records pertaining to serious questions of the government's prosecution of Lt. Daniel Choi. Since that time, the DOJ has denied my application for expedited processing, and it has delayed the production of any information and records. After several attempts to determine when the DOJ was going to answer the FOIA request, I have produced a YouTube video about the history of the request. I'm also asking you for your help.
Please send an e-mail to : angela.george@usdoj.gov or call : (202) 252-6038 and ask the DOJ to answer FOIA Request 13-1506.
What you can do :
Kindly send an e-mail to Angela George, the prosecutor in Lt. Choi's case, at : Angela.George@usdoj.gov -- and ask her for her help to
expedite the DOJ's response to the FOIA request. Please refer to the DOJ's FOIA Request No. 13-1506. - and/or -
Kindly call Sanjay Sola at : (202) 252-6038 and ask him when the DOJ plans to answer to the FOIA request.
Prior to the government shutdown, it appeared that the DOJ was not going to provide any information or records in response to my request. Indeed, the Obama administration now has a track record of not answering FOIA requests.
There are several problems with the government's case against Lt. Choi. The most serious issue is that a judge ruled that there was enough evidence to show that the government was carrying out a "vindictive prosecution" against Lt. Choi.
The third day of the U.S. government's trial of former Lt. Dan Choi ended with a 10-day delay for the government to seek an order from a higher court stopping the decision made today by U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola to allow Choi's lawyers to argue the government singled out Choi for "vindictive prosecution."
Facciola said this morning that he had found there was prima facie evidence for "vindictive prosecution," meaning enough evidence was presented to allow Choi's lawyers to pursue such a claim. As a result, Choi's lawyers would be able to ask for more documents and evidence from the government in order to investigate if higher-level officials advised their subordinates to try Choi in federal court rather than district court.
The mixed motivations of the government's case against Lt. Choi seem to follow a pattern of other federal prosecutions of activists. Examples of the government's questionable persecution of activists are mentioned in the YouTube video and are cited in the FOIA request.
If you are able to e-mail the Hon. Madame Prosecutor or are able to speak with or leave a message for Mr. Sola, I would greatly appreciate it. Even if there is a government shutdown, your e-mail or voice-mail message can help us. Please let me know if you make contact with anybody.
Confronting the President of Magical Thinking : A Vocation of Agony
Barack Obama and his family, the vice president and his family, other government officials, and their supporters celebrated the president's second inauguration today, which coïncided with the federal holiday commemorating the life and accomplishments of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
LGBT Americans were jubilant, because the president said some aspirational words in the second half of his inaugural address.
"Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal, as well."
Immediately, the president's supporters acted in lock-step to express support for this expression of a longing for equality.
Corey Johnson is an up-and-coming LGBT politician, who is patterning himself after New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's doctrine of putting politically-expedient identity politics before having to deliver any government reforms. Note how the president failed to say the words lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered in "LGBT," but already the president's supporters were having to say the words that the president found unspeakable.
It appears that Mr. Johnson's excitement could be being based not so much on the president's promise of legal reforms that would result in LGBT equality, but, rather, on political party discipline that calls for a self-motivated unity in messaging to sway Progressive voters into believing that the Democratic Party was on their side.
But for the incomplete messaging that the president's words offer, there is no plan attached to how the president plans to "complete" our "journey."
On Facebook, some LGBT activists picked up on the incomplete messaging in the president's rhetoric, because they had noticed a pattern in his prior speeches.
Some LGBT activists were already picking up how President Obama was unable to utter the words lesbian, bisexual, and transgender.
To the president's army of speech writers, did those words lack any dignity and respect, and, therefore, did not need to be mentioned ?
In his speech during his second inaugural ceremonies, President Obama seemed to be channeling the "great communicator," who, we may all remember, was notable for his failure to uttered the word "AIDS" until after thousands of people had died.
Many of the president's supporters have made a choice to be excited for the president's re-election. But ...
"By the time President Reagan had delivered his first speech on the epidemic, of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, 36,058 Americans had been diagnosed with the disease; 20,849 had died," Randy Shilts once wrote. Along a similar vein, when will President Obama say all the words in LGBT ?
So many people want to believe in the hope, change, and love that the president so skillfully articulates in his scripted speeches. We are supposed to want to believe in the magical thinking that the president really is on our side, because doesn't he, after all, say so many nice things that he knows that we want to hear ?
While President Obama's lack of clear communication during this inaugural address may not lead to the deaths of tens of thousands of our "gay brothers and sisters," he nonetheless sets the tone for that which the American people become familiar : either feelings of shame and embarrassment that prevent a president from mentioning lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered Americans, or feelings of equality and respect by dignifying and acknowledging the journeys still being made by lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered Americans.
Some activists on Facebook took a more diplomatic, but forward-looking approach to the editing of the president's words : by using the occasion of the president's rhetoric to build forward momentum on the social movement for LGBT equality in the United States.
The hopes and actions of LGBT Americans and their allies are to fulfill on our shared dream for equality.
But LGBT activists and allies already exchange amongst ourselves the vision and prayers for equality.
For all the president's rhetoric, we already seem to have, at first blush, the president's love and affinity for our community, at least that which could be expressed in his own way. What we need now is action.
The longer LGBT Americans have to wait for full federal recognition of their equal rights, the more that members of our community remain fully exposed to legally-permitted forms of discrimination in broad areas of their life, including in the workplace.
The skepticism within the LGBT community about President Obama's commitment to true LGBT equality stems from some major examples of actions that the president refuses to take, which contradicts his rhetoric.
For example, the president refuses to sign the Federal Contractor's Employment Protections Executive Order. National LGBT civil rights groups, such as GetEQUAL, have been mounting a multi-prong campaign to pressure the president to sign the executive order, but the president refuses.
President Obama embarrassed both his administration and the Democratic Party by once having said that while he was nominally committed to the idea that all Americans shared the same civil rights, he still had to "evolve" on marriage equality. It was as if President Obama was admitting that his thoughts on civil rights resembled that of someone a little bit ignorant and a little bit intolerant, like former commissioner Bull Connor, who once, among other depraved acts of discrimination, ordered the opening up of firehoses on African American civil rights activists.
Surely, President Obama was not seriously putting himself into the same league as Bull Connor, but why was the president torturing hisself by proclaiming in speech his support for LGBT equality that could not be matched by his actions ?
And lest we neglect to mention how so many people conveniently seem to forget to remember how it took a national campaign of civil disobedience, among other actions, for national Democratic Party legislators to repeal the military's discriminatory policy known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The president's political operatives love to mention how the president "repealed" DADT, but they overlook what it took to get a bill introduced in and voted by Congress.
And if the constant push and pull amongst LGBT activists and civil rights groups to define a winning national strategy to deliver a full federal equality bill through Congress wasn't enough, activists must contend with the political trappings of trying to challenge a president who says all the right things and knows how to manipulate support for his administration. And then there are the other unknown, but nonetheless predictable, obstacles for LGBT activists as they set out to challenge power holders, who fail to act to end de jure and de fact discrimination.
While community organising and activism has evolved since the 1960's with the advent of online tools and other empowering platforms of the Internet like Facebook, YouTube, and blogging, every now and then activists must overcome the occasional opening up of digital firehoses.
In France, LGBT activists organized a national platform, Meeting LGBT pour l'Égalité, where major candidates were questioned on issues related to LGBT equality. And then the activists posted questionnaires online. But not before they held a national forum of major candidates. And just like that, they helped to alter the national conversation around LGBT equality. Two measures of their impact : activists elected the progressive candidate (François Hollande), and now Hollande will deliver legislation soon for nation-wide marriage equality. Meanwhile, in the United States presidential debates, NOT ONE question has been asked about LGBT equality. What are nationally or regionally elected LGBT politicians and allies doing about keeping the Commission on Presidential Debates accountable ?
This was a speech given August 15, 1970, by Huey Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party. Here, he addresses the issue of LGBT equality.
During the past few years strong movements have developed among women and among homosexuals seeking their liberation. There has been some uncertainty about how to relate to these movements.
Whatever your personal opinions and your insecurities about homosexuality and the various liberation movements among homosexuals and women (and I speak of the homosexuals and women as oppressed groups), we should try to unite with them in a revolutionary fashion. I say ” whatever your insecurities are” because as we very well know, sometimes our first instinct is to want to hit a homosexual in the mouth, and want a woman to be quiet. We want to hit a homosexual in the mouth because we are afraid that we might be homosexual; and we want to hit the women or shut her up because we are afraid that she might castrate us, or take the nuts that we might not have to start with.
We must gain security in ourselves and therefore have respect and feelings for all oppressed people. We must not use the racist attitude that the White racists use against our people because they are Black and poor. Many times the poorest White person is the most racist because he is afraid that he might lose something, or discover something that he does not have. So you’re some kind of a threat to him. This kind of psychology is in operation when we view oppressed people and we are angry with them because of their particular kind of behavior, or their particular kind of deviation from the established norm.
Remember, we have not established a revolutionary value system; we are only in the process of establishing it. I do not remember our ever constituting any value that said that a revolutionary must say offensive things towards homosexuals, or that a revolutionary should make sure that women do not speak out about their own particular kind of oppression. As a matter of fact, it is just the opposite: we say that we recognize the women’s right to be free. We have not said much about the homosexual at all, but we must relate to the homosexual movement because it is a real thing. And I know through reading, and through my life experience and observations that homosexuals are not given freedom and liberty by anyone in the society. They might be the most oppresed people in the society.
And what made them homosexual? Perhaps it’s a phenomenon that I don’t understand entirely. Some people say that it is the decadence of capitalism. I don’t know if that is the case; I rather doubt it. But whatever the case is, we know that homosexuality is a fact that exists, and we must understand it in its purest form: that is, a person should have the freedom to use his body in whatever way he wants.
That is not endorsing things in homosexuality that we wouldn’t view as revolutionary. But there is nothing to say that a homosexual cannot also be a revolutionary. And maybe I’m now injecting some of my prejudice by saying that “even a homosexual can be a revolutionary.” Quite the contrary, maybe a homosexual could be the most revolutionary.
When we have revolutionary conferences, rallies, and demonstrations, there should be full participation of the gay liberation movement and the women’s liberation movement. Some groups might be more revolutionary than others. We should not use the actions of a few to say that they are all reactionary or counterrevolutionary, because they are not.
We should deal with the factions just as we deal with any other group or party that claims to be revolutionary. We should try to judge, somehow, whether they are operating in a sincere revolutionary fashion and from a really oppressed situation. (And we will grant that if they are women they are probably oppressed.) If they do things that are unrevolutionary or counterrevolutionary, then criticize that action. If we feel that the group in spirit means to be revolutionary in practice, but they make mistakes in interpretation of the revolutionary philosophy, or they do not understand the dialectics of the social forces in operation, we should criticize that and not criticize them because they are women trying to be free. And the same is true for homosexuals. We should never say a whole movement is dishonest when in fact they are trying to be honest. They are just making honest mistakes. Friends are allowed to make mistakes. The enemy is not allowed to make mistakes because his whole existence is a mistake, and we suffer from it. But the women’s liberation front and gay liberation front are our friends, they are our potential allies, and we need as many allies as possible.
We should be willing to discuss the insecurities that many people have about homosexuality. When I say “insecurities,” I mean the fear that they are some kind of threat to our manhood. I can understand this fear. Because of the long conditioning process which builds insecurity in the American male, homosexuality might produce certain hang-ups in us. I have hang-ups myself about male homosexuality. But on the other hand, I have no hang-up about female homosexuality. And that is a
phenomenon in itself. I think it is probably because male homosexuality is a threat to me and female homosexuality is not.
We should be careful about using those terms that might turn our friends off. The terms “faggot” and “punk” should be deleted from our vocabulary, and especially we should not attach names normally designed for homosexuals to men who are enemies of the people, such as Nixon or Mitchell. Homosexuals are not enemies of the people.
We should try to form a working coalition with the gay liberation and women’s liberation groups. We must always handle social forces in the most appropriate manner.
'' The president’s same-sex marriage endorsement has elicited generous donations from the gay and lesbian community, but as The Nation’s Richard Kim explains in this clip, 'prominent gay and lesbian organizations tend to be very top-down, very rich donor–driven, and so you have a grassroots agenda that isn't being reflected in this organization.' '' — Erin Schikowski, from The Nation
Facebook LGBT Reaction To President Barack Obama's Marriage Equality ''Evolution''
Following is the Facebook ''status update'' posted by LGBT civil rights activist Tiffani Equality Bishop, which deftly addresses the commonly-shared disappointment in President Obama's recently announced support for marriage equality :
Am I appreciative of Obama's partial evolution on marriage equality? YES
Am I also incredibly disgusted that he went to NC on April 24 and took millions of LGBT dollars without even mentioning Amendment 1 once? YES
Am I also incredibly disgusted that the DNC and OFA did not send one email, one volunteer, or even one penny to help defeat Amendment 1 in NC all while taking millions of dollars from our community? YES
Am I frustrated that he still thinks it is a states rights issue and not a human rights issue? YES
Am I frustrated that he still believes only section 3 of DOMA and not all of DOMA should be repealed? YES
So has he really evolved like people say? I see this as a partial "evolution"...he still has some "evolving" to do.
So please excuse me for feeling a little slapped in the face when our POTUS chooses to evolve on marriage (partially anyway) the day after the harshest anti-LGBT marriage amendment passed in NC while he and his administration did absolutely NOTHING to help defeat it...not even a pretty speech. Am I glad he came out, yes. But his timing was disrespectful and severely lacked any tact.
What I have a hard time understanding though, is the reaction from our community. He still hasn't completely evolved, and his partial evolution does not make us any more equal. I have a hard time understanding why people were crying and celebrating and throwing money at him over this. Words may make us feel good for a minute, but at the end of the day we're still unequal and his actions aren't backing up his words.
If he means it, he'll put his money where his mouth is. He'll sign the ENDA Executive Order on his desk, and he'll stop the deportations of same-sex binational partners...and he'll do it BEFORE the election.
If his actions don't back it up, then it really doesn't mean anything. It just means he is pandering to our community, throwing us crumbs, and using us as election tokens.
President says his position on marriage has evolved.
Pam Spaulding, from Pam's House Blend, made this comment to The Village Voice about the timing of President Obama's announcement : "[North Carolina's Amendment 1] wasn't about marriage equality at all. It was about stopping civil unions and domestic partnerships. This wasn't about extending rights, it was about taking them away. I was very sad that the Obama campaign couldn't even be bothered to email their massive email list and tell them to vote no. Something that would have cost them zero. Today, he's taking something which will have a national impact. But yesterday, the campaign couldn't even take that one, small local step."
The New York Times weighs in about the timing of President Obama's announcement, and how its timing came too late to have an impact on North Carolina's anti-LGBT vote : Too Late for North Carolina ?
President Barack Obama refuses to sign an Executive Order, which would bar federal contractors from discriminating based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
More and more, the LGBT community is seeing that President Obama is spineless, and few, if any, of the supposed LGBT allies in Congress will do anything to put pressure on the President to do the right thing. This, from HuffPost :
"A similar Executive Order preventing discrimination by federal contractors on the basis of race, gender and religion was signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. The White House said instead it would try to rally support in Congress to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), though a vote on any gay rights measure is highly unlikely in the GOP-controlled House, and that it would urge the private sector to support non-discrimination. "
The Gill Action Fund has invited leading LGBT political donors and campaign bundlers to design national action plans and fundraising strategies. But, once again, grassroots groups or activists are not invited. Please e-mail Sarah Vaughan (svaughan@gillaction.org) and tell her that we want grassroots groups to be represented at this national strategy conference, and that we want a singular demand for full-federal LGBT equality strategy.
From the Associated Press (via The New York Times) :
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lady Gaga wants to meet with President Barack Obama about her concerns over bullying.
Gaga expressed sadness over Twitter Wednesday about the suicide death of a 14-year-old New York boy who had complained in an online video about being bullied over his sexuality.
The pop singer tweeted to her 13.7 million followers: "I am meeting with our President. I will not stop fighting. This must end."
A Democratic official said Gaga plans to attend an Obama fundraiser next week on the West Coast but no private meeting has been scheduled. The official spoke on condition of anonymity and was not authorized to speak publicly about the fundraiser.
In videos, Jamey Rodemeyer described being taunted in his school hallways and receiving hateful messages online before his suicide death Sunday outside his home in Williamsville, N.Y. The video was part of the "It Gets Better Project," which is meant to give hope to gay teens.
In his blog, Rodemeyer referred to himself as gay and made frequent references to suicide and to his idol, Lady Gaga, who often sings about acceptance of gays and lesbians.
Rodemeyer's parents said the boy had been bullied for years but appeared to be doing better since beginning high school a few weeks ago.
Police are investigating whether criminal charges should be filed in the case. New York state doesn't have an anti-bullying law but authorities have said bullies could be charged with harassment or aggravated harassment.
The White House held a conference on bullying prevention in March to discuss bullying, estimating that it affects 13 million students, or about a third of those attending school. Obama said then he hoped to "dispel the myth that bullying is just a harmless rite of passage or an inevitable part of growing up. It's not."
"White House Press Secretary Jay Carney declined comment Monday on questions on President Obama’s position on widely discredited “ex-gay” reparative therapy aimed at changing gay individuals into being straight."
President Obama's LGBT fundraiser is coming off the heels of a very public flip-flop on marriage equality. At last week's Netroots Nation blog conference, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer told conference participants that President Obama never supported marriage equality.
Some final, wise observations from Pam's House Blend : "The Empire State is on the cusp of passing full marriage equality and the President is parachuting in to pull out cash from the gAyTM this week. It's kind of hard to ignore what is happening in New York, but Team Obama will count on the gayz who like access not to press him on the obvious civil rights matter in the state's legislature."
