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.
Showing posts with label President Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label President Obama. Show all posts
Let us have an LGBT Equality Form amongst 2012 U.S. presidential candidates, the way that they had one in France. Let's put forth LGBT equality as the subject of a solely dedicated presidential debate.
After French President Nicholas Sarkozy did nothing to make French LGBT citizens to have equal rights under the law, LGBT activists organised a presidential debate in France. This ''Meeting LGBT pour l'égalité'' took place on March 31.
LGBT activists thought that it was a good idea to put directly before presidential candidates the community's demand for equality. Activists say that voters should be able to select a candidate, who will fight against discrimination and finally deliver equality to all of the country's citizens.
Let's do the same here in the United States : let's organise and invite President Barack Obama and GOP nominee-designate Mitt Ronmey to a presidential debate, so that activists and voters can question these candidates about LGBT civil rights.
Invitation to Wedding and Covenant to End DOMA at The Riverside Church (Fundraiser)
On Sunday, October 30, 2011, TJ Williams and Brad Hover are to be married at The Riverside Church in New York City in a ceremony, which will include a prayer -- calling on President Barak Obama to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”) before the end of his second term in office. TJ and Brad are calling this special prayer a Covenant to End DOMA.
"My partner and I started planning our wedding before we even knew that marriage equality would be made legal in New York State. But we had faith that the laws would be changed in our endless effort towards achieving equality," said TJ Williams.
To raise money for the wedding and for the Covenant to End Doma, TJ has released the above YouTube fundraiser video. TJ and Brad need your help to gather leaders and speakers and others for a civil rights event, where President Obama will be asked to covenant with our nation's communities and its leaders to end DOMA before the end of his second term. All donations will be used for this service and for purposes of community-building around social justice.
Under the discrimination of DOMA, no state is required to acknowledge the legal same-sex marriages, even if they are legal in other states. Participants in the Covenant to End DOMA are also hoping that this event will spur a conversation that would encourage unity between the African American community and the LGBT community, as we face the 2012 election year.
LGBT New Yorkers to President Obama : Evolve Already on Marriage Equality !
Open message to President Obama : Call Sen. Dean Skelos at 1-518-455-3171 and demand that Sen. Skelos hold a vote on the marriage equality bill pending right now in the New York state senate.
LGBT activists, allies, and supporters gathered for a demonstration outside President Obama's fundraiser at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers in New York City, where the President was attending his very first campaign fundraiser that was specifically targeting LGBT voters and campaign contributors.
This fundraiser is coming off the heels of a week during which White House officials have said that the President never supported marriage equality, even though he signed a campaign questionnaire to that effect in 1996.
The Obama administration has said that its ''official'' position on marriage equality is still evolving, but LGBT equality groups, such as GetEQUAL, Connecting Rainbows, and others, have demanded that the President should ''evolve already'' and support LGBT equality in all forms, including marriage equality.
OP-ED : What to Do When the President Is Just Not That Into You
Lt. Dan Choi rips up Obama campaign flyer at NetRoots Nation conference : "I won't vote for Obama if he doesn't endorse marriage equality."
Lt. Choi was discharged under the military's oppressive "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, and he has since become a trailblazing LGBT civil rights activist. In the above YouTube video, Lt. Choi explains the dissatisfaction that the President's former progressive supporters now come to feel toward the President, as the President prepares for his reëlection campaign in 2012.
After an Obama campaign worker passed out campaign flyers to a panel at the NetRoots Nation conference, Lt. Choi was outraged when he learned that Obama's campaign is sending messages that do not support marriage equality. Said Lt. Choi to the Obama campaign representative : "... [D]on’t tell me that I’m a bad person, go tell [President Obama] that he should believe in my full equality -- and then report back."
Our so-called allies in Washington, like Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, don't want to fight for our full civil rights. That leaves people in the LGBT equality movement to fight for the runner-up cause, which is marriage equality. Marriage is a vehicle, which society uses to distribute rights. Until Sen. Gillibrand, or some of our other allies do something about our full civil rights, marriage equality is going to be what people are going to champion.
Marriage is a vehicle that society uses to distribute rights, privileges, property, services, public accommodations, and even respect. Until Congress adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, marriage equality is a stepping stone towards full civil equality.
Watch as Dan Pfeiffer, the White House Communications Director, denies that President Obama ever supported marriage equality, and Mr. Pfeiffer said that then candidate Obama didn't ''fill out'' a 1996 questionnaire, which the President signed ; watch as how Mr. Pfeiffer says that President Obama opposes marriage equality, then take a look at the simple, one-page questionnaire that is signed by President Obama.
