Tag Archives: LGBT

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Tracy Newman, Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility


 

Which do you want first — the good news, or the bad?

Here’s the bad: One third of the voters who support universal background checks ALSO support the gun lobby’s ballot measure that would prevent Washington from having universal background checks.

Crazy, right?

Now, the good news: We know how to beat this. We know exactly what voters need to hear to clear up this confusion, and we are ready to have hundreds of thousands of conversations with voters all across the state. We just need the resources to fuel our campaign — and one of our supporters has agreed to match every grassroots donation between now and Au‌g‌ust 1‌5, up to $20,000.

Click here to chip in $3 right now, and make it worth $6!

It’s that simple — we need to have a conversation with hundreds of thousands of our friends and neighbors to clear things up. And we need your help to do it.

Will you help us fight the gun lobby’s attempt to trick our voters?

Chip in $3 right now, and it’ll be DOUBLED.

Thanks for your help,

Tracy Newman
Finance Director
Yes on 594
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TBI Gala May 15 Honoring The First Couple of NYC


2014 Annual Celebration & Award Reception

Honoring The Black Institute’s Couple of the Year

Mayor Bill de Blasio & First Lady Chirlane McCray

Also honoring

Ana Castro, Founder L.A.T.I.S.M. (Latinos in Tech Innovation & Social Media)

Cheryl McKissack, President & CEO, McKissack & McKissack

Stephen Hawkins, Executive Director, Amnesty International USA

Community Resources for Justice

Music by Grammy Winner DJ Hex Hector

Host Committee (In-formation): Stuart Appelbaum RWDSU, Rev. A.R. Bernard, Hector Figueroa 32BJ SEIU, George Gresham 1199SEIU, Ed Lynch UFCW, Bob Master CWA District 1, Mike Mulgrew UFT, Peter Patch & Linda Kane, Larry Park NYSTLA, Eugene Schneur & Mo Vaugh OMNI New York and Doug Wigdor

The Black Institute Board: Selvin Bushay, Stephen Chukwumba, James Heyliger, Vince Morgan, Ademola Oyefeso, Martha Stark, Carmen Wallace and Jacquelyn Williams

For more information or to purchase ticktes please click here, call 212 871 6899 or email events@theblackinstitute.org

 

The Black Institute
http://www.theblackinstitute.org/

 

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Take the pledge. Reduce your meat consumption!

Looking for a healthy alternative to meat? For every Earth Day Sampler Pack, Paleta will donate a dollar to plant a tree through EDN’s Canopy Project.

earthdaylogoDid you know that the meat industry is responsible for about 20% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions? That’s more than the entire transportation sector! The production and distribution of meat doesn’t just consume a lot of energy and cause greenhouse gas emissions, it also requires a huge amount of water—up to 2,500 gallons to produce just one pound of beef. Take the pledge to reduce your meat consumption today! And the problem is getting worse. Over the last 10 years alone, global meat consumption has increased by 20%. So what can we do to help solve this problem? It’s simple—eat less meat! In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, eating just one less burger a week for a year is the equivalent of skipping 320 miles of driving. Join us in pledging to not eat meat one day a week. Thanks for your support. -The Earth Day Network Team

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Will the House move into the 21st Century


By 

Senate Passes Landmark LGBT Rights Bill

Pride Flag Thumbnail Friday (3x2)

Great News: It may have taken nearly two decades, but the Senate finally passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act today on a strong, bipartisan vote of 64-32 (one supporter was absent). Support was unanimous among Democrats and 10 Republicans, including conservative Senators like Kelly Ayotte (NH), Pat Toomey (PA), and Orrin Hatch (UT), also supported the landmark civil rights legislation.

Only one Republican senator even bothered to speak against the bill.

Good News: Before passing the bill, the Senate also overwhelmingly defeated a very damaging amendment that would’ve negated many of the bill’s protections by dramatically and unnecessarily expanding the bill’s religious exemptions, which are already quite expansive.

Bad News: Even before today’s historic vote, Speaker Boehner (R-OH) and other GOP leaders in the House of Representatives already said they won’t bring up the bill, even though it would almost certainly pass with a combination of Democratic and Republican votes.

Ugly News: Shockingly, 32 Senate Republicans voted today to deny one of the most basic civil rights — the right to earn a living — to LGBT people.

Bonus News: Hawaii is set to pass marriage equality tomorrow, which would make it the 16th such state overall and the 2nd just this week!

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They called me f**got


I’m an openly gay student at Ole Miss who was threatened with anti-gay slurs. Join me in calling on Ole Miss to update its policies to protect LGBT students, faculty and staff.

I’m an openly gay student at the University of Mississippi, known as “Ole Miss.” Last week, while I was performing in The Laramie Project — a play about the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard, who was killed for being gay — I was booed and heckled by the audience. They laughed at me. They called me f**got.

During the performance, I felt so much judgment. And worse than that, I felt afraid. Not just afraid of what these people might do to me, but afraid that my school wouldn’t back me up — because many of Ole Miss’s policies do not include protections for gay students like me.

The Ole Miss administration has said it will “investigate” what happened during that performance, but I want more than apologies and empty promises. I want real protection.

I worked with GetEQUAL to start a petition calling on Ole Miss to update all its policies for students, faculty and staff to include protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Will you click here to sign?

What happened during that performance was especially upsetting to me because The Laramie Project is supposed to be a show about learning from what happened to Matthew Shepard. It’s about coming together and treating all people equally.

I hope one day to be able to be my authentic self, open, and without fear of judgment. But the message I got on stage that night was very clear: being gay means being in danger.

This Saturday is the fifteenth anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death, and on that day, I am going to present my petition to the Ole Miss administration. I know that if thousands of people sign, they will see how important it is that they take action to protect LGBT people on campus.

Click here to call on Ole Miss’s administration to update all of its policies to extend protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity to all students, faculty and staff.

Thank you,

Garrison Gibbons
Oxford, Mississippi