Ward 8 Democrats Act Ahead of D.C. Council Legislation
The District’s same-sex marriage debate continued yesterday in the basement of a library in Ward 8, the predominantly African American community that council member Marion Barry invoked in justifying his recent vote against a bill to recognize gay marriages performed outside of the city.
But yesterday, gay rights advocates declared victory in a key battle to set the tone for the issue when the Ward 8 Democrats voted 21 to 11 to support the legalization of same-sex marriage, in preparation for legislation expected to be introduced in the D.C. Council this year.
The Ward 8 vote came after almost two hours of discussion about religion, referendums and civil rights among the crowd of about 100 people at the Washington Highlands Library on Atlantic Avenue SW.
Barry, who was scheduled to speak for the opposition, did not attend. Sandy Allen, a former council member and president of the Ward 8 Democrats, said Barry told her he had a doctor’s appointment.
More than a week ago, Barry drew ire and praise when he was the lone dissenter in a 12 to 1 vote to recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions. Barry, a civil rights icon and a longtime supporter of gay rights, said his vote represented the feelings of the predominantly black Ward 8 and, in a broader sense, most black people in the District.
Local gay rights advocates say there is some credence to Barry’s argument. A 2006 poll by a local group advocating same-sex marriage shows strongest opposition among black residents. Some of those sentiments were on display at yesterday’s Ward 8 discussion.
“We are not homophobic. We are not hatemongers. We love everybody,” said the Rev. Patrick J. Walker, chairman of a new task force of ministers opposed to gay marriage. The task force is part of the Missionary Baptist Ministers’ Conference in the region, which pressed Barry to vote against the same-sex marriage recognition legislation.
“It’s our position that this is an issue that should go before the people. Thirteen people . . . should not set the moral compass of this city,” Walker said, referring to the members of the council. He is the pastor of New Macedonia Baptist Church in Southeast.
See A Vote for Same-Sex Marriage Ward 8 Democrats Act Ahead of DC …
Washington Post* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
 |
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/ward-8-democr…
LGBT leaders offer praise for Obama at 100-day mark
President Barack Obama and his administration, in their first 100 days, have done a mostly good job of reaching out to LGBT groups and to following through on key parts of the community’s legislative agenda, including hate crimes, LGBT leaders say. “I’ve been in Washington for 20 years, first doing HIV work and then doing LGBT work,” said Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force. “I would say that this administration, in the time that I have been in Washington, has been not only more receptive to the issues facing our community, but also more proactive about issues facing our community.” Washington Blade * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/lgbt-leaders-…
White House Explains Changes to LGBT Commitments on Website
Yesterday, our reader Sean Chapin alerted me to the fact that a long list of commitments to LGBT issues on the White House site had shrunk to a fraction of its size. Joe.My.God reported on it as well. He received a letter from the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force‘s Director of Communications Inga Sarda-Sorensen who contacted the White House regarding the changes. Now see White House Explains Changes to LGBT Commitments on Website @ Towleroad
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/white-house-e…
Lutherans consider gay clergy
The nation’s largest Lutheran denomination will consider allowing individual congregations to choose whether to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy, an attempt to avoid the sort of infighting that has threatened to tear other churches apart.
A task force of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America recommended that course at the end of February in a long-awaited report on ministry standards. The panel, however, said the church needs to clarify a number of questions before overhauling its gay clergy policy. The report, issued at the same time as a broader church social statement on human sexuality, seeks balance on an issue dividing many Protestant churches. Both documents will be considered in August in Minneapolis at the biannual church convention. “At this point, there is no consensus in the church,” said the Rev. Peter Strommen of Prior Lake, Minn., chairman of the 15-member task force on sexuality. “The question ends up being, ‘How are we going to live together in that absence of consensus?’ ”
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/03/lutherans-con…
Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey Attends White House Forum on Health Reform
WASHINGTON – March 6 – National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey was among those participating in yesterday’s White House health-care reform summit convened by President Barack Obama.
Statement by Rea Carey, Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
“The White House Forum on Health Reform was a powerful start to reforming health care and how our country views health generally. With Sen. Ted Kennedy in the room, people couldn’t help but be inspired to focus on solutions. In the coming months, the macro themes and issues raised at the summit will work their way through to concrete policy and funding decisions that will affect the day-to-day lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The Task Force will be working to make sure our needs, lives and families are not left behind. For example, how families are defined will be critical to ensuring full coverage of LGBT people, our partners/spouses and our children. The days when we must pay taxes on domestic partner health benefits must end.
“Other issues of great concern to LGBT people are the need for inclusive services; quality health care for those who are not employed; funding for community-based health centers with culturally sensitive services; addressing the ‘preexisting conditions’ barriers that far too many in our community face by having to move from job to job due to lack of employment protections or barriers faced by transgender people; and the racial and economic disparities that have plagued the existing system.
“Our community has a great deal at stake in the outcomes of this process but we also have a lot to offer in terms of solutions, creativity and engagement – after all, our community created an entire infrastructure of HIV/AIDS care when the government was unwilling to take action in ways that addressed the scale of the problem.”
###
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force builds the political power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community from the ground up. We do this by training activists, organizing broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, building the organizational capacity of our movement and generating groundbreaking research through our Policy Institute.
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/03/task-force-ex…
New Web Campaign, Tell-Three.org, Encourages People To Talk About What It Means To Be LGBT
NEW YORK – Join the Impact has partnered with other national LGBT groups to develop a web based public education campaign, www.tell-three.org, to encourage LGBT people and their supporters to have three conversations with friends and family to help build support for LGBT equality.
“The passage of Prop 8 in California has motivated LGBT people and their supporters like never before,” said Amy Balliett of Join the Impact, a grass roots organization with more than 15,000 members that has helped to organize massive demonstrations throughout the U.S. since the November elections. “Now that we’ve had some time to get over our anger and sadness, we’re ready to act. And the single most important thing we can do to guarantee we don’t find ourselves on the losing side of another political campaign is to have conversations with our friends and family about what it means to be LGBT.”
Other organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union; Equality California; the Equality Federation; Freedom to Marry; The National Lesbian and Gay Task Force; the National Center for Lesbian Rights; and Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, will be rolling out their own versions of the campaign on their websites. The goal of the campaign is for all LGBT groups and individuals to seize upon the momentum that has been generated since the passage of Proposition 8 in November and work together to tell their stories to build support for all of the issues affecting LGBT people.
“Harvey Milk was right on the money to encourage everyone to come out to their friends and family, but we know now that coming out alone isn’t enough,” said Matt Coles, Director of the ACLU LGBT Project. “To persuade others to support LGBT equality we need to have personal conversations with people that explain what its like to be LGBT. We need to talk about our relationships, the struggles we face as LGBT people, the ways our lives are the same and the ways they are different.”
Visitors to www.tell-three.org can find additional information on who to talk with and how to start these important conversations. There are also resources for those who want to learn more about the issues affecting LGBT people. But, as the website notes, the most important thing is for people to have personal conversations. The website encourages LGBT people to talk about their relationships, about growing up, and about how being LGBT has made them feel different from others in some respects and the same in others. Straight allies are encouraged to talk about their relationships with LGBT people and to speak up when they hear others make homophobic or transphobic comments.
The groups are encouraging everyone – members of national and local LGBT groups, individuals and couples supportive moms and dads, and allied friends and colleagues – to join the campaign and get people talking. The site makes it easy to spread the word to others to send an e-mail to their friends. Eventually there will also be opportunities for people to share their experiences on the site.
The campaign is also calling on bloggers and videographers to help spread the word by sharing their experiences of having these important conversations. “After Prop 8 passed, we spoke through demonstrations and we made ourselves heard. We need to take our voices beyond the streets into every home in America, and to do that we need to use every avenue available to sparking conversations,” added Balliett.
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/02/new-web-campa…
LGBT activists ready for new rights battles
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s annual conference for some 2,000 community leaders and organizers over the weekend helped recharge the batteries of advocates following tough losses on anti-gay ballot initiatives in California and three other states, according to these articles. “People came here on tenterhooks. Now we can send our people home with a renewed energy and renewed purpose,” said conference organizer Sue Hyde. The Denver Post (2/2) , The Fresno Bee (Calif.)/The Associated Press (free registration) (1/30)
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/02/lgbt-activist…
Foes of transgender protections Say Law Protects Predators
A blond girl heads from a playground into a women’s restroom. A scruffy-looking man, lurking outside, darts in behind her. “Your City Commission made this legal,” the words on the television screen read.
The advertisement came from opponents of a gender-identity provision added last year to Gainesville’s antidiscrimination ordinance. The provision allows the city’s roughly 100 transgender residents to use whichever restroom they choose.
Foes want to repeal the provision with a ballot measure on March 24. The issue has divided Gainesville, a generally gay-friendly university city in staunchly conservative north Florida.
Supporters of the transgender protections say opponents are using the dispute to unleash a broader attack on the rights of gay and transgender people in general.
The City Commission approved the restroom provision by a 4-to-3 vote a year ago. Opponents quickly began working for its repeal.
Organizations defending transgender rights are mustering their own campaign.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force says that 108 cities and counties nationwide have similar transgender protections.
See Foes Say Law Protects Predators
New York Times, United States
| Published by |
|
Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/01/foes-of-trans…
Interactive Coord. at Task Force
Interactive Coord. at Task Force
