Lots to do

Tell HHS to undo the abortion coverage ban here.

Prevent toxic mining runoff in Bristol Bay here.

Save Polar Bears: Stop the Dirty Air Act here.

Stop inhumane wild horse roundups here.

Clean up politics and save gulf wildlife here.

Boycott Target and sign the petition here.

Click here to take action on all kinds of issues.

Stuff to keep you busy

Another petition to sign to get rid of Joe Lieberman here.

From TerraPass: "Another trivially easy thing you can do to end climate change" here.

Help stop child sex trafficking here.

Demand safe drinking water in schools here.

Sign a petition on polar bear habitat preservation here.

Find your Reps. phone numbers here and start calling in support of true health care reform.

Stand on the side of love and sign the petition for Full Equality here.

End the aerial wolf hunts in Alaska here.

Scholastic needs schooling: UPDATED

Sweet!

Scholastic Books just responded to the petition you all signed on Change.org criticizing the company for excluding a book from their popular books fairs simply because one of the characters had two lesbian mothers. I'm happy to say that because of the collective strength of the 4,000 people who signed the petition, Scholastic has reversed their decision to exclude the book – Lauren Myracle's Luv Ya Bunches – and has released a statement affirming the dignity of gay and lesbian parents. 

This is a great victory achieved in 48 hours, and it was only possible because of all of you who signed, advocated for, and spread the petition. Scholastic Books is one of the largest educational publishing outfits in the country, and this sends a clear message to children and parents everywhere that there's absolutely nothing wrong with two men or two women raising a child. 

From Dana at Mombian:

Most of us with young children in public school know about Scholastic Book Fairs. Many of us remember them from our own childhoods. Now comes news that Scholastic has banned a book from the fairs because one of the characters has lesbian moms...

Scholastic has asserted that they are not censoring the book, but are carrying it in their Book Clubs. That is true, as the original School Library Journal article reported. SLJ also reported, however, “The company sent a letter to Myracle’s editor asking the author to omit certain words such as ‘geez,’ ‘crap,’ ’sucks,’ and ‘God’ (as in, ‘oh my God’) and to alter its plotline to include a heterosexual couple.”

The author did change some of the language, but noted,

A child having same-sex parents is not offensive, in my mind, and shouldn’t be ‘cleaned up.’” says Myracle, adding that the book fair subsequently decided not to take on Luv Ya Bunches because they wanted to avoid letters of complaint from parents.

So, click here to tell Scholastic Books to stop censoring gay-friendly books.

""What do you think us boys fought for at Omaha Beach?"

Grab a tissue.

h/t Katie

Kiss-In

Join the Great Nationwide Kiss-in:

Saturday, August 15, 2009, at 2 p.m., EDT (or 11 a.m., PDT). In the coming weeks, we hope it evolves into a simultaneous occasion of kissing and hugging between thousands of couples, gay and straight, in cities and towns all over the country. This will be a fun and lighthearted event, but one with an extraordinarily strong message as well: we are human, capable of a beautiful normal love like everyone else in the world. We won’t keep being excluded. There is nothing wrong with us.
Please consider joining us on August 15, both to have fun and to send out that extraordinary message to folks all over the country. If you want to host/organize an event similar to what is already being planned in Boston, New York and several other cities, please e-mail us at GreatNationwideKissIn@gmail.com as soon as possible; we will send you written guidance on how to plan your event. Again, it’s going to be really simple to put together, but we need people from as many different cities as possible to help us.

Emphasis mine. Now, get to hugging and kissing, y'all!

h/t Dana

Pepsi and the gays

PepsiCo is facing a boycott from conservative whack jobs over it's support for LGBT rights.

AFA, which was founded by Christian activist Rev. Donald Wildmon, objects to the Purchase, New York-based company donating $1 million to well-known gay rights groups, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), "to promote the homosexual lifestyle in the workplace," according to AFA's website.

So, send Pepsi some love by buying their products and sending them an email thanking them for standing up for LGBT folks and standing tall against small minded freaks.

h/t Vegas 710

Tell Obama to straighten up on gay rights

From Credo:

Back in the days of the 2008 campaign, Senator Obama promised he would work to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. But now that a gay couple in California is challenging DOMA in federal court, President Obama has chosen to take action to defend a law that prevents legally married same-sex couples from receiving any federal benefits, or from having their marriages recognized in other states.

The Obama administration now tells us it has no choice but to defend DOMA - after all, it's the job of the Department of Justice to defend every law on the books. But a former Special Assistant for civil rights to President Clinton writes on AmericaBlog that this is far from true: On the contrary, the DOJ is charged with figuring out how to argue a president's policy decisions, not the other way around.

Call bullshit on Obama and Holder by clicking here.

Oh, and this is the link for Obama's plan for LGBT rights. (h/t Vegas710)

Free Bumper Sticker

Click here to get a free "I support Gay Marriage" bumper sticker. Yay!

Blogging for LGBT Families

How it works - From Dana at Mombian:

Blog on a topic related to LGBT families on or before June 1, 2009.
Complete the form at Mombian to submit your entry.
I'll compile the posts and highlight them at Mombian on June 1. Please visit to read the stories and insights of the LGBT community and allies.
To be eligible for the Family Week or book drawings, you must leave a valid e-mail address. Employees of FEC and paying advertisers on Mombian are ineligible.
Any blogger who wants to support LGBT families is welcome, LGBT or not, parent or not. I encourage those who don’t usually post about LGBT families or LGBT issues, as well as those for whom every day is Blogging for LGBT Families Day. Give it a spin based on your usual blog topics. There’s no set formula or format. Photos and videos are also welcome.

Please also download a banner and promote the event on your site, Facebook, Twitter, etc. The more people who participate, the more impact our voices will have.

So, please blog for LGBT families today and send your URL to Dana. In the wake of the Prop 8 ruling, LGBT families need all of our support and encouragement.

What else to do? Read books to your children about LGBT families. Or, sign a petition to repeal Prop 8. Or, find out more about Georgia's MEGA Family Project and work on starting a similar program in your area.

A Day Without a Gay?

I shudder at the thought, and so should you ( a day without Rachel Maddow is one that should never be!). Click below to find out how to show the world, or at least California Prop 8 supporters, how integral "the gays" are to our society, our economy, and our culture. From the site:

Gay people and our allies are compassionate, sensitive, caring, mobilized, and programmed for success. A day without gays would be tragic because it would be a day without love.

On December 10, 2008 the gay community will take a historic stance against hatred by donating love to a variety of different causes.

On December 10, you are encouraged not to call in sick to work. You are encouraged to call in "gay"--and donate your time to service!

You can be totally lazy and also make this your Human Rights Day action by clicking here. Win-win!

Is it time?

I wonder if it's time to revisit the ERA. Yes, it's pending and we "only" need 3 states to ratify, but is it time to rewrite it to include gender expression and sexual orientation? The ERA went down in 1982 with help from the Eagle Forum's blatant homophobic campaign that linked the ERA to gay marriage and AIDS. Ridiculous, I know, but it worked. It also worked, in my opinion, to pit ERA supporters against gay rights supporters: the pro-ERA people spent a lot of time telling people "don't worry, the ERA doesn't sanctify gay marriage." Ugh.

Isn't it time to codify into the Constitution that all people are created equal? I think so. Indeed, I am so sick of the radical right hiding behind "states rights" in an effort to oppress and discriminate against LGBT folks. I fear we won't have Democrats in total control for long so we need to act now.

What to do? Dive into this website from the Alice Paul Institute. It has everything you need to know about the ERA (yes, including that it won't pave the way for gay marriage) including current Congressional action. You can also sign a petition here.

But, I need your help in figuring out how to get LGBT issues included in the ERA. NOW talks about gay rights in their piece on the ERA, but I can't seem to find anyone who is actively working on the ERA and LGBT issues. Can you?

Finally, get inspired. Read the full text of Shirley Chisholm's remarks on the ERA. Here are my favorite parts:

The argument that this amendment will not solve the problem of sex discrimination is not relevant. If the argument were used against a civil rights bill, as it has been used in the past, the prejudice that lies behind it would be embarrassing. Of course laws will not eliminate prejudice from the hearts of human beings. But that is no reason to allow prejudice to continue to be enshrined in our laws -- to perpetuate injustice through inaction.

and,

This is what it comes down to: artificial distinctions between persons must be wiped out of the law. Legal discrimination between the sexes is, in almost every instance, founded on outmoded views of society and the pre-scientific beliefs about psychology and physiology. It is time to sweep away these relics of the past and set further generations free of them.

and,

The Constitution they wrote was designed to protect the rights of white, male citizens. As there were no black Founding Fathers, there were no founding mothers -- a great pity, on both counts. It is not too late to complete the work they left undone. Today, here, we should start to do so.

Note that she spoke these words on August 10, 1970 and yet they ring so true today. Indeed, doubly true if you substitute lesbian, gay, or transgender for "sex" as you read along.

I think the time is now. The moment is now. Let's re-write the ERA to include our LGBT brothers and sisters and let's do it now. What do you think? Should we push to get the ERA passed as is, or work to include LGBT rights as well? If not now, when?

Quickie: Repeal Prop 8

Yay! Go here to sign a petition with the Courage Campaign. Join the Facebook group. Donate to the Lambda Legal Defense Fund.



h/t Daily Kos

Sick to death

I am sick to death of the Bible being used against LGBT folks. There is NOTHING in the bible that should be construed as "god hates gays." This quote from Billy Graham's son, Franklin, has just set me off:

Though never partisan in his preaching, Billy Graham is a registered Democrat. His son expressed concern about Obama's views on abortion and gay marriage — an issue Franklin Graham raised in a meeting with the Illinois senator — saying that he and is father are conservatives who believe the Bible speaks clearly on those issues.
"President-elect Obama heard our position," Franklin Graham said. "And I told him that this was very difficult for us and hard for us. It's a moral issue that we just can't back down on."

Moral issue? What type of morality denies the rights, feelings, and expressions of love of fellow human beings? What kind of bullshit is that? I hope against hope that Obama's administration is progressive enough to re-frame morality and strip it from the hate-filled, tight-fisted hands of the radical right. Why is it that Republicans are the party of family values? It is such crap. I am fuming and I haven't even thought about the abortion aspect yet!

What to do? Read the Bible for yourself to see that it has little, if anything to say about gay folks. If you don't want to read it, check out a website called Religious Tolerance. Their take on the Bible and Homosexuality can be found here. Some tidbits:

1. The Bible has a lot to say about temple prostitution, including homosexual ritual prostitution. This was a common practice within the Canaanite fertility religion; some believe that the practice was also taken up by some ancient Israelites.
2. God’s destruction of town of Sodom had nothing to do with homosexuality.
3. The Bible says little about homosexual feelings.
4. It says nothing about sexual orientation; the concept of orientation dates only from the late 19th century.
5. A number of homosexual relationships are described positively or neutrally in the Bible.
6. Of the many hundreds of Jesus’ instructions and prohibitions, few have a sexual component and none condemn homosexuality.
7. Paul may have condemned same-sex sexual activities by homosexuals, but the passages are unclear; there are many possible interpretations.
8. Bible translators must be aware of the errors that have been made in previous versions of the Bible; they are widely discussed in theological literature. But it would probably not be economically possible at this time to produce a translation of the Bible that was accurate. People are so used to expecting homophobic references in a half-dozen locations in scripture that they probably would not buy a Bible that was accurate to the original text, or which admitted that the meanings of certain words are unknown. (emphasis added because I'm pissed!)

Number 8 (and Prop 8!) speaks volumes to the problems LGBT folks and progressives struggle against. It reminds me of a Chinese proverb - "a closed mind is like a closed book: just a block of wood."

What else to do? Read Moral Politics by George Lakoff. I blogged about it here. Oh, and, Jesus Rode a Donkey by Linda Seger.

Support your local UU church. They do good work, are welcoming to the LGBT community, and work to fight religious oppression of all people.

What else? Find out what the Human Rights Campaign fund is up to as well as People for the American Way and see how you, too, can help wrestle the mantle of morality from the radical right.

Rant over. Thanks for listening.

Yes we did!

Thank you.

The anti-choice ballot measures in Colorado, South Dakota, and California went down. As of this entry, however, Prop 8 in California and 102 in Arizona are winning. Ack! I'm hoping against hope that when all the dust settles these measures will also go down.

Write to Marry: October 29

Attention Bloggers: October 29 is Write to Marry Day. Please use your voice to blog for the basic human right of marriage for all. I will.

From Dana at Mombian:

The event will give bloggers a chance to voice their opposition to Prop 8 and highlight what they may have already done, online or off, to stop the measure. The campaign will also educate California voters of the need to “go all the way” down the ballot to vote on the proposition.

Mike Rogers of PageOneQ approached me last week to ask if I’d organize a blog carnival like Blogging for LGBT Families Day, but this time to help generate awareness and action against Prop 8. I readily agreed, and here it is.

To participate, post on your own blog against Prop 8 on or before October 29, 2008, then submit the link to your post by completing the form here. Links to your own videos on YouTube or other video sites are also accepted.

Many of you have already done much to try and stop Prop 8 in California, donating and raising money, blogging, and talking with friends and family. Please share your efforts and post about them for Write to Marry Day, or submit a link to a previous post. This will help us create a comprehensive view of bloggers’ efforts to stop Prop 8.

Please help spread the word and stop the hate.

Quickie: Yay Connecticut!

Take that, all you politicians who think it's up to the states to decide! And, because this was a State Supreme Court ruling, it can NOT be challenged or appealed. 3 down, 47 to go...

LGBT Stuff

Dana at Mombian does such a great job of keeping us up to date on all things LGBT. I love her site. Here's a snippet from the weekly political update:

The Personnel Subcommittee of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee heard testimony for and against the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. SLDN executive director Aubrey Sarvis notes the irony that this was the same day politicians gathered to honor the 60th anniversary of President Truman’s executive order that ended racial discrimination in the armed forces.

After meeting with HRC* (and perhaps feeling pressure from the blogosphere) the Mars candy company pulled a controversial ad showing an effeminate man being shot at with candy bars and told to “run like a real man.”

A proposed Arkansas ballot measure banning unmarried couples who live together from adopting or fostering children failed to collect the needed signatures, but received a 30-day extension under state law.

------------------
Proposition 8 in California is currently losing in the polls. Yay! That does not mean, however, that we can be complacent. Fast and furious attack ads and hateful, ignorant disinformation abound. Click here to help financially support HRC's California Marriage PAC and here to sign a pledge of support for LGBT marriage with Equality for All.

Here is a list of the largest "Marriage Protection" idiot donors to date. Reigning from San Diego are these heavy hitters: Terry Caster, the owner of A-1 Storage, Doug Manchester, owner of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, and Carlsbad car dealer Robert Hoehn. Boycott them!



*For those of you who don't click links, HRC = Human Rights Campaign, not Hillary Rodham Clinton...