Category Archives: ~ Culture & History

~ Culture & History, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Law firm drops DOMA defense! but we’re not done yet! this from a Public Servant-who should Serve & Protect everyone-what about your oath?


The media is buzzing. King & Spalding, the law firm hired by House Republican leaders to defend the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), decided to drop the case.

Last week, we ran a public campaign calling out K&S’s hypocrisy: the firm touted its efforts to recruit and retain lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) lawyers, while choosing to argue against their equality in court.

As I wrote in today’s Washington Post, we just couldn’t stay silent while K&S advertised a high rating on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index, even as it sought to defend discrimination.

K&S made the right call in the end – and we thank them. But House Speaker John Boehner is still planning to spend more than half a million of our tax dollars on defending DOMA in court.

We need to build on the momentum of K&S’s decision – and make it clear to Speaker Boehner that he’s out of touch with the American people.

Add your name to our petition to Boehner: “Don’t waste my tax dollars defending discrimination. Repeal DOMA!”

Polls show that Americans overwhelmingly want Congress to focus on jobs and the economy, not hurting loving couples.1 Yet Speaker Boehner and House Republicans decided to hire an outside law firm (at great taxpayer expense) after President Obama announced that his Justice Department would no longer defend DOMA.

That’s where you came in. As the LA Times pointed out, “The decision came a week after the million-member Human Rights Campaign launched a publicity war to ‘shame’ King & Spalding…”

You reached out to K&S, and you spread the word on Facebook and Twitter. You enabled HRC to immediately spring into action, informing the firm’s clients as well as student groups at law schools where K&S competes to hire the top graduates.

Your voices joined with those clients and students to help K&S understand it had a stark choice: maintain a pro-equality reputation that attracts clients and new recruits, or stand on the wrong side of history. The firm made the right call. And it showed we’re at a tipping point in our culture. Most Americans now find anti-LGBT discrimination shameful.

Yet despite this setback, it’s clear that Boehner still plans to spend hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars to uphold this odious law.

We can’t back down. If tens of thousands of us speak up right now, we can show Speaker Boehner that attacking same-sex couples has left him out of step with the American people.

Click here to add your name now.

While Americans struggle to recover from a recession, we just want our government to do right by us. Instead of wasting time and money defending discrimination, Speaker Boehner should support the Respect for Marriage Act, legislation that would repeal DOMA and end our federal government’s policy of treating married gay and lesbian couples like second-class citizens.

Thank you for everything you do – and for joining us in this effort.

Sincerely,

Joe Solmonese

President

1A recent poll from HRC and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research shows 51 percent of Americans oppose DOMA while 34 percent favor it. 54 percent of Americans want Congress to focus on jobs and only 32 percent would prefer Congress spend time defending DOMA.

~ Culture & History, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

We Are One: Attend a Local Event


Are you worried, frustrated, and angry about the continuing attacks on workers’ rights, women’s rights, economic security and opportunity for all? Are you looking for another way to demonstrate your concern — in addition to making phone calls and sending emails? On April 4, you can join with people in your community in events to send a strong message: We Are One.

On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, where he had gone to stand with sanitation workers demanding their dream: the right to bargain collectively for a voice at work and a better life for themselves and their children. Now those rights are under attack in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and dozens of other states, and women’s interests are at stake.

Can you join us on April 4 by participating in an event on your community? You can find events near you on this interactive map.  http://action.nwlc.org/site/R?i=uMLiBmcwTSFoVeogJPQeMg..

Attacks on public employees’ rights to collectively bargain directly threaten working women and the vital public services they provide. Most people who work for state and local governments are women: nurses, teachers and others serving our communities. And collective bargaining helps ensure that these women have decent wages, benefits, and working conditions. For more information on why the right to collectively bargain is a women’s rights issue, check out our fact sheet.

Please join us in solidarity on April 4: We Are One.

Sincerely,

Emily J. Martin

Vice President and General Counsel

National Women’s Law Center

~ Culture & History, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Do you want to know about progressive culture and the arts?


 

 

The creative juices of artists, and the energy of the larger universe of culture offers us some positive messages at a time when many of us feel very frustrated about the state of the world.

As we at AlterNet tell stories of America and the changes we want to make, we invite you to sign up for AlterNet’s new Culture and the Arts newsletter, launching this week.

We all know the power of art. As our Washington editor and jazz singer Adele Stan writes: “In most successful movements for social change, artists are in the vanguard. In many cases it is their soundtrack, their visual sensibilities, their literature that comes to define a particular movement in the popular imagination. Think of the civil rights movement and the role played by music. Recall the anti-war movement of the 1960s, propelled by rock ‘n’ roll and psychedelic art.”

What should you expect in our expanded coverage? As our cultural editor, and savvy music writer and critic Julianne Escobedo Shepherd tells us: “We’ll critique and celebrate the important ways our political views manifest in the larger scheme of film, music, visual art, books, performance, television and beyond.” We know that a well made documentary can capture a powerful reality and be profoundly moving. And even a You Tube clip at the right moment can mobilize tens of thousands to a cause they care about.

Now more than ever we need to direct a laser-sharp focus on the culture and the arts that reflect, define and forge our progressive views into the future. AlterNet has always covered culture, but not with the emphasis it deserves. Now, we are going the extra mile.

We’re sure you will appreciate the diversity, breadth and depth of or future coverage, so please sign up for our newsletter, which will feature the best of our coverage from week-to week.

Cheers,

Don Hazen

Executive Editor and Publisher, AlterNet

~ Culture & History, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture, ~ Recent Post

The next Prop. 8


Human Rights Campaign


Calling all straight allies: Marriage equality is at stake in states across America.

Plus, watch our video to learn how we’re working together for equality.

As a thank you, we’ll send you this handy USB car charger for your mobile phone or iPod.

Prop. 8 ended marriage equality in California and shocked a nation. I’m writing because New Hampshire could be next.

Right-wing lawmakers have taken over the New Hampshire legislature – and they’re already working on four distinct bills to take the right to marry away from loving, same-sex couples.

And that’s not all. Hateful groups are trying to ban same-sex marriage in Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and West Virginia.

Equality is under attack: along with the anti-LGBT wave in the U.S. Congress, 20 state governments are now under the control of conservative legislatures and governors – twice as many as are under more pro-equality leadership.

We have staff on the ground around the country and plans to deploy even more. We’re bolstering state groups, even as we fight against hostile federal bills and amendments. But to make it work, we need 2,011 new members like you – that works out to just 17 more from Washington – to join HRC in the next week. Once you do, we’ll stop sending reminders and get back to the work of securing equality.

You already know what we’re defending against in our nation’s capital. A U.S. House led by right-wingers. A whopping 53 more anti-equality representatives and five more anti-equality senators in Congress.

But the front line in the battle for marriage equality is in the states. Conservatives now hold more state legislative seats than they have since 1928. Hateful groups like the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) are pushing their agenda in more states than ever before. But there are also some important new opportunities. Your support, right now, could tip the balance.

  • In Maryland and New York, we stand a strong chance of winning real marriage equality and gender identity protections. We’re counting on the support of each and every HRC member to aid our local partners and to help pay for several experienced organizers in each state.
  • In Florida, right-wing hate groups are plotting to overturn a landmark court ruling that allows gays and lesbians to adopt children. We can’t let it happen – and we’re working with coalition partners to make sure those extremists don’t come anywhere close.
  • In New Hampshire, where your support was key to winning marriage equality in 2009, we’re fighting back against those who want to repeal that right and deny loving couples the freedom to marry. We’ve already committed money and staff, and we’re working with the New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition to build a rock-solid campaign.
  • In Hawaii and Delaware, passing civil union legislation is a very real possibility. We’ll be investing in both states to bolster local groups’ efforts and tip the balance in favor of equality.
  • In Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, West Virginia or any state where NOM tries to pass a constitutional ban on equal marriage, we’ll be there, exposing their lies with the help of our local “NOM Watchers.”

Just as we did with the successful campaign to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” we’re always working with leaders in both parties to achieve progress on equal rights. But we won’t ever shy away from taking on new legislators who are beholden to the most conservative wing of the Republican Party – and straight, pro-equality Americans like you are a critical part of that effort.

LGBT and straight, young and old, of all backgrounds and beliefs, HRC members aren’t satisfied with just sitting back and watching what happens. They’re willing to step up and fuel this fight for equality.

In 2011, as state battles heat up and a hostile House of Representatives plays politics with our rights, we’re going to need more members, more strength, and more resolve. State legislatures are already in session; we need you now.

Congress. State capitols. Schools. Churches. Corporate headquarters. Wherever equality and acceptance are at stake, HRC is at work – and HRC members are leading the charge.

Thank you for everything,

Joe Solmonese
Joe Solmonese
President

P.S. I’m so grateful if you’ve already put a check in the mail or given to HRC through some other method. If you’ve yet to contribute, though, Your gift is critical to maintaining our fight against hate and bigotry in all its forms.

~ Culture & History, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

House DADT victory! Now to the Senate…


Working for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Human Rights Campaign

 

 

 

UPDATE
What has HRC done for me lately?
US – House passes stand alone repeal bill; Now to the senate. More »
WV – HRC and SLDN bring veteran voices to Sen. Manchin. More »
ME – HRC organizers brave the cold for DADT repeal. More »
MA – HRC volunteers and vets ask Sen. Brown to vote to repeal DADT. More »
US – HRC offers guidance on TSA screenings for transgender travelers. More »
IL – HRC joins successful phonebank-a-thon for civil unions. More »
ACT
Now that the House has once again voted to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the Senate faces its last, best chance to end DADT this year. Last week, the Senate was just three votes shy of moving forward to repeal this discriminatory law. But seven key senators who voted against us last time will make all the difference this time around. We need your help to reach out to everyone you know in ANY of these senators’ states: Alaska, Indiana, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Ohio, and West Virginia. We’ve made it easy – just post this action on Facebook and tell your friends about this critical vote!
post this on facebook »
SUPPORT
Days after the New Year’s Eve decorations come down, we’ll be facing a newly energized, far more right-wing Congress. We will be working around the clock to protect pro-equality victories, go toe-to-toe with radical hate groups, and spread marriage equality across the nation – but we need your support. Become an HRC member – or renew your membership – and you’ll be an integral part of this fight in 2011.
donate »
NEWS

Video
VIDEO: Whoopi raises profile for marriage equality in New York.

VIDEO: Broadway actress Daphne Rubin-Vega offers voice to NY Marriage Equality

VIDEO: Uncovering NOM’s shock and awe

 

 

 

What has HRC done for me lately?
Facebook campaign: Tell seven key senators to repeal DADT
A membership to help secure our rights
News: All eyes on the Senate as House passes DADT repeal bill
Video: Whoopi raises profile for marriage equality in New York
Her HRC
HerHRC Thousands of women will come together in cities across the country for a national weekend of celebration, Jan 15-16, 2011.
Buyer’s Guide
Buyer's Guide Support businesses that support workplace equality! View online, search, print, or download the iPhone app »
The Goods
Love and Pride Pendant Introducing the Love and Pride Pendant – exclusively for HRC.
Check it out »
HRC Debit Card

With the HRC Debit Card, you can help support equality with every purchase.*
Wedding Registry
Registry Photo
 Laina & Xoe: Designer meets photographer. Sparks.

Sponsor Spotlight
Microsoft This month we salute Microsoft, celebrating its first year as an HRC Platinum National Sponsor. Microsoft also is a generous supporter of the HRC Foundation and for several years has been a sponsor of both the HRC National Dinner and the HRC Pacific Northwest Gala. The company’s strong commitment to LGBT workplace inclusiveness has earned it a perfect 100% score on the HRC Corporate Equality Index since 2005.

Full list of National Corporate Partners »