JUSTICE — PRESIDENT OBAMA DIRECTS FEDERAL AGENCIES TO EXTEND BENEFITS TO EMPLOYEES’ SAME-SEX PARTNERS: Last June, President Obama ordered each federal agency to conduct a thorough review of employee benefits to identify any that can be extended to LGBT employees under existing law. Yesterday, the President released a memorandum announcing that the agencies “have identified a number of benefits,” and they should provide them “to their employees’ same-sex domestic partners [and their children] as permitted by law.” The benefits extension includes credit union membership, hardship transfers, counseling services, family assistance services, access to medical treatment, and accidental death and dismemberment insurance. Also as a result of Obama’s June 2009 order, the Office of Personnel Management announced on Tuesday that partners of gay and lesbian federal employees, U.S. Postal Service workers, and federal retirees can start applying next month for long-term health-care insurance. “For far too long, many of our Government’s hard-working, dedicated LGBT employees have been denied equal access to the basic rights and benefits their colleagues enjoy,” Obama said in yesterday’s memo. “This kind of systemic inequality undermines the health, well-being, and security not just of our Federal workforce, but also of their families and communities.” The President also urged Congress to pass the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act, which would extend the full range of benefits currently enjoyed by Federal employees’ opposite-sex spouses to those of the same-sex.
Tag Archives: immigration
Stand Up for Reform … May Day event
Tomorrow, tens of thousands of us are attending hundreds of events across America to celebrate the strength of our movement and march for progress on immigration reform. I just shot this video explaining why the marches and rallies happening tomorrow are so vital to this fight. If we don’t make our elected leaders act now, we’re going to see more raids, more discrimination, and more hatred – just look at what’s going on in Arizona for a chilling example of what could happen across America if we don’t act now. Tomorrow we’re going to show Congress that we won’t wait any longer for them to move on immigration reform. Thank you, |
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ThinkProgress …
IMMIGRATION — CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO MOVES TO JOIN GROWING BOYCOTT OF ARIZONA OVER NEW ANTI-IMMIGRATION LAW: On Friday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) signed a draconian, likely unconstitutional immigration bill that has been slammed by both Democrats and Republicans. Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) has been calling for a boycott of his own state, urging, “Do not do business with a state that is propagating the idea separate but equal treatment under the law can be codified.” The idea is catching on as the “nation’s biggest Spanish-language newspaper,” La Opinion, called for “a boycott of all goods and services from Arizona and [a] pledge to avoid tourism in the state as well.” Indeed, a growing number of travelers have said they will avoid visiting Arizona because of the new law, and the state has already lost the business of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, which decided, “moments after” Brewer signed the law, to move its upcoming conference from Arizona to another state. Meanwhile, San Francisco City Supervisor David Campos — himself a former undocumented immigrant from Guatemala — said yesterday that he will introduce emergency legislation calling for a boycott of Arizona. “I feel the city and the county of San Francisco has to take a stand against what happened in Arizona,” Campos said. San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said he is “fully committed” to the effort and will help to “identify all applicable contracts, and to pursue termination wherever possible.” Tourism is one of Arizona’s biggest industries, but Jon Garrido, a former Tucson economic development official, wrote in the Tucson Citizen that a national boycott is necessary to combat “Jim Crow actions,” even if it causes economic pain.
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Immigration law or something else …
ThinkProgress.org
IMMIGRATION — THOUSANDS PROTEST DRACONIAN ARIZONA LAW: On Friday, Arizona governor Jan Brewer (R) signed into law a draconian immigration bill that aims to “identify, prosecute and deport” undocumented immigrants. The law gives local police officers the power to detain anyone suspected of being in the U.S. illegally — a measure that many have concluded will “exacerbate racial profiling” and violate Americans’ civil rights. Before Brewer signed the legislation into law, President Obama said it “threatens basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe.” Around 2,500 protesters marched to the Arizona state Capitol yesterday in opposition to the new measure. Speaking at the rally, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) “urged the Obama administration not to cooperate when illegal immigrants are picked up by local police if a tough new state immigration law survives legal challenges.” “We’re going to overturn this unjust and racist law, and then we’re going to overturn the power structure that created this unjust, racist law,” Grijalva said. Sunday was the third day of peaceful protests against the bill. While the new immigration law has rallying advocates for immigrant rights, it has split conservatives across the nation. On Fox News Sunday yesterday, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol celebrated the new law, saying he doesn’t “think it violates anyone’s civil rights.” While many conservatives like Kristol have offered support, a number have also denounced it. “There’s no such thing” as “American-looking,” Mike Huckabee said. Charles Krauthammer noted that it “could lead to a lot of civil rights abuses” and Fox News’ Judge Andrew Napolitano said that by signing the bill, Brewer is bankrupting the state because of “all the lawsuits that will happen — for all the people that are wrongfully stopped.”
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