HRC Back Story

I was fortunate enough to be in Iowa during this year's historic caucuses, when literally hundreds of media outlets, the nation's most prominent political figures, and armies of campaign staffers took part in the state's unique and truly impressive democratic process. In a week, national attention will again shift to Iowa as we await state Supreme Court's ruling in the Varnum v. Brien case, which could make the Hawkeye state the third to recognize marriage equality.

The case, which is being argued by Lambda Legal, was filed in 2005 on behalf of six same-sex couples seeking the right to marry in Iowa and centers on the state constitution's equal protection and due process clauses. Child development experts, legal historians, faith leaders and others have submitted amicus briefs in the case. Finally, in August 2007, a district court ruled that it is unconstitutional to deny Iowa same-sex couples the right to marry. Exactly one couple was able to take advantage of the victory before the opposition was granted a stay on the decision.

Now, the case has moved to the state Supreme Court. Oral arguments are scheduled to begin on December 9th. The state's LGBT group, One Iowa, has, of course, done a tremendous amount of work on behalf of marriage equality in Iowa and continues to do so. One Iowa was HRC's partner in caucus trainings held across the state before January's caucuses. As arguments commence in Varnum, the group is anticipating a great deal of interest in the case, but limited capacity for seating in the court's chamber. To accommodate this, One Iowa has scheduled watch parties with live feeds of the court proceedings and other events:

“Our Story” Movie Premiere
Public premiere of One Iowa’s short film featuring Iowans speaking out in favor of marriage for gays and lesbians
Monday, December 8, 2008 - 6:30-8:00 PM
Fleur Cinema and Café, 4545 Fleur Dr., Des Moines 

Oral Arguments Watch Parties
December 9 – 10:00 – 11:30 AM
Des Moines Watch Party - Des Moines Public Library, 1000 Grand Avenue
Ames Watch Party – Iowa State Memorial Union, Gallery Room (3rd Floor), 2229 Lincoln Way
Iowa City Watch Party - Iowa City Public Library, 123 South Linn

“Making the Case” Reception 
Reception to celebrate the landmark Varnum v. Brien case
Tuesday, December 9, 2008 – 6:30-8:00 PM
Pappajohn Center, 1200 Grand Ave., Des Moines

"Making the Case" Townhall Forums
Cedar Rapids Townhall Forum - CSPS/Legion Arts, 1103 3rd St SE
Wednesday, December 10 - 6:30-7:30 PM

Davenport Townhall Forum - Davenport Unitarian, 3707 Eastern Ave.
Thursday, December 11 - 6:30-7:30 PM

Council Bluffs Townhall Forum - St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 22 Dillman
Monday, December 15, 2008 - 6:30-7:30 PM

Sioux City Townhall Forum - Public Library, Glesson Room, 529 Pierce St.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - 6:30-7:30 PM

For those of you both inside and outside of Iowa who are interested in watching oral arguments, several media outlets will host webcasts:

Iowa Supreme  Court - www.iowacourts.gov/Supreme_Court/Varnum_v_Brien/index.asp
Des Moines Register -  www.dmregister.com
KCCI TV – www.kcci.com
WHO TV – www.whotv.com

This was originally posted on the Washington Blade's BladeBlog:

D.C. for Marriage is organizing a community forum on gay marriage in the District next week called "Prop 8 Passed, Now What?: A Community Discussion on Marriage in DC."

D.C. for Marriage is a project of the D.C. Center.  The event is cosponsored by Bilerico.com, The GLAA, the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the Human Rights Campaign and the D.C. Log Cabin Republicans.

"This community forum will bring together the diversity of the LGBT community and our allies to discuss how we move forward together to win full equality for LGBT people in the District of Columbia," said Michael Crawford, member of D.C. for Marriage.

The event takes place at the Human Rights Campaign Equality Center, 1640 Rhode Island Ave, NW, on Thursday, December 11 from 7 - 9 p.m.

Facebook users can RSVP here. Email michael@dcformarriage.com for more details.

I love the fact that my friend and fellow blogger Michael Crawford is involved in this event. He's a dedicated activist and is one of the voices in the blogosphere that I always pay attention to.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has rolled out today the results of a new survey by Harris Interactive undertaken in the aftermath of Prop 8.  In this look at American attitudes on top LGBT issues, the poll found that the majority of Americans oppose laws that would ban child adoption by gay and lesbian parents:

• Three-quarters of U.S. adults (75%) favor either marriage or domestic partnerships/civil unions for gay and lesbian couples.  Only about two in 10 (22%) say gay and lesbian couples should have no legal recognition. (Gay and lesbian couples are able to marry in two states, and comprehensive civil union or domestic partnership laws exist in only five others and the District of Columbia.)
• U.S. adults are now about evenly divided on whether they support allowing gay and lesbian couples to legally marry (47% favor to 49% oppose).
• Almost two-thirds (64%) of U.S. adults favor allowing openly gay military personnel to serve in the armed forces. (The current "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law bans military service by openly gay personnel.)
• About six in 10 (63%) U.S. adults favor expanding hate crime laws to cover gay and transgender people. (Hate crimes laws cover gay and transgender people in 11 states and the District of Columbia, and an additional – 20 states' laws cover sexual orientation but not gender identity.)
• A slight majority of U.S. adults (51%) favor protecting gay and transgender people under existing laws that prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. (Existing non-discrimination laws cover gay and transgender people in only 12 states and the District of Columbia, and eight other states' laws cover sexual orientation but not gender identity.)
• Nearly seven out of 10 U.S. adults (69%) oppose laws that would ban qualified gay and lesbian couples from adopting children. (In several states, gay and lesbian couples are banned from adopting.)

The Pulse of Equality survey results on adoption are especially encouraging considering that All Children - All Families, a program of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation Family Project, launched a recruitment intiative last week to encouarge LGBT families to consider foster parenting and adoption.

The results also show that, as more and more people come out and live their lives openly, Americans are growing in their acceptance of LGBT equality.  This also means they are continuing to reject the efforts of the religious right to divide our country at the expense of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people:

The survey also revealed that there has been greater acceptance of gay and lesbian Americans over the last five years.  Approximately two in 10 Americans (19%) reported that their feelings toward gay and lesbian people have become more favorable over the past five years, with contributing factors including:  knowing someone who is gay or lesbian (79%), the fact that laws have been passed that protect gay and lesbian people (50%), opinions of family or friends (45%) and religious leaders (21%), news coverage of gay and lesbian issues (41%), and seeing gay or lesbian characters on television (34%) and in movies (29%).   Nearly three out of four Americans (73%) personally know or work with a gay or transgender person, and half of those who know or work with someone who is gay or transgender know five or more gay or transgender people.

Last night, Michigan's Kalamazoo City Commission unanimously voted to expand its nondiscrimination policy to include LGBT residents:

Under terms of the 10-page city ordinance, sexual orientation is added to a list that includes race, religion, ethnic background, gender, marital status and physical characteristics which may not be used to disqualify people from housing, public accommodations or employment.

In addition, contractors seeking to do business with the city must now show proof they have a policy prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

The ordinance does include some exemptions, notably for churches and for people seeking to rent out a part of the residence in which they are living.

The new ordinance, which covers transgender residents and was backed by the city's Community Relations Board, goes into effect December 11.

Provocative headline to sell magazines? Or a new rallying cry, perhaps? (Associated Press):

The gay rights movement entered a new era when Barack Obama was elected the first black president the same day that voters in California and Florida passed referendums to prevent gays and lesbians from marrying, while Arizonans turned down civil unions and Arkansans said no to adoptions by same-sex couples.

Racism was defanged by Obama's triumph, leaving gays as perhaps the last group of Americans claiming that their basic rights are being systematically denied.

"Black people are equal now, and gay people aren't," said Emil Wilbekin, a black gay man and the editor of Giant magazine. "I always have this discussion with my friends: What's worse, being a black man or a black gay man?"

Hmmmm, your Back Story blogger may have a few thoughts of his own on that question....  Anyways, I like what Joe Solmonese has to say:

Yet even some gay leaders are reluctant to directly tie their fight to the African-American legacy. They acknowledge significant differences in the experiences of gays and blacks, ranging from slavery to the relative affluence of white gay men to the choice made by some gays to conceal their sexual orientation, which is not an option for those with darker skin.

"I believe we are very much in a modern-day civil rights struggle," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights organization.

"We liken some of the experiences that we have had and will have to the (black) civil rights struggle. We also are enormously respectful of the differences," he said. "What we are best served doing is when we take lessons from the civil rights experience and apply them to our work."

...Solmonese said that the election defeats of Nov. 4 have inspired a level of gay activism not seen since the early days of the AIDS epidemic.

"That is buoyed by equal parts anger and rage about Proposition 8," he said, "but also hope and inspiration about doing something that for a long time we didn't think possible — like electing Barack Obama as our president."

The Advocate cover story on the topic is actually worth reading in its entirety. I will admit to sharing the same reservations against what author Michael Joseph Gross calls "facile comparisons" between the plights of black and gay people - and hence I was initially averse to the idea of gay being viewed as the "new black."  (And what happened to gay being the new pink...?) However, Gross succeeds in providing a thought-provoking and sober analysis of the two struggles for civil rights. Like Joe Solmonese, he manages to simultaneously respect their differences and yet affirms the gay rights movement with the individual validation it truly deserves.

It's "open season" in the federal government, a chance for federal employees and retirees to make changes to their health benefit plans. Today HRC joined with to federal employee groups to urge the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to support domestic partner benefits for federal civilian employees. 

For many federal employees, open season serves as a stark reminder of the existing inequalities LGBT workers face in employer-provided benefits. The health benefits which the vast majority of workers obtain through their place of work, are not extended to domestic partners of federal civil servants. These benefits include the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHB), which is used by members of congress, as well as the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Program, and the Federal Flexible Spending Account Program.   Sadly, while their colleagues are worried about increasing co-pays and deductibles, LGBT employees struggle to come up with 100% of the cost of insuring their partners.

Expressing her support for the issue, Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus co-chair, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) stated:

Only when we eliminate discriminatory practices in the workplace will we allow both employees and businesses to reach their full potential.  As an employer, the federal government must not only set an example, but must compete with corporate America for the best-qualified workforce.  Offering domestic partner benefits is a means toward both ends.

TAKE ACTION: While the incoming administration has expressed its support for the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits, individuals should use our action page to write to OPM and express their desire for OPM to support LGBT families.

Today, on December 1, people around the globe renew the worldwide fight against HIV and AIDS and recognize World AIDS Day.

First held on December 1, 1988, World AIDS Day is about increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education and reminding people that HIV has not gone away. Indeed, there are many things still to be done.

According to UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, there are now 33.2 million people living with HIV, including 2.5 million children. During the last year, some 2.5 million people became newly infected with the virus. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 years old and are killed by AIDS before they reach age 35.

At HRC, we are committed to the fight against HIV/AIDS. We invite you to join us in a most exciting opportunity – a World Community Grid Team Challenge to support HIV/AIDS and other research. So many of us who care about this too-long-unresolved epidemic are looking for ways we can address this crisis. By simply participating in the World Community Grid, you can help those doing critical research access the resources they need to do their work.

Grid computing joins together many individual computers, creating one of the world’s largest “virtual supercomputers” with massive, fast computational power that far surpasses that of other stand-alone supercomputers. HRC has taken part in the World Community Grid since 2006. During that time, the HRC Team has contributed over 414 years of total run time, at a rank of 35 out of over 20,000 participating organizations.  The HRC Team alone donates 160 days of humanitarian research per calendar day.

HRC is challenging all teams on the World Community Grid to increase their participation and grow the amount of Run Time, which can be translated into years of research time and donated to vital humanitarian research. This is an easy way to volunteer and a way to give back, at no cost, during the Holiday Season and on World AIDS Day.

Here’s how it works:

• The World Community Grid initiative allows hundreds of thousands of volunteers to donate unused computing power to researchers around the world, using grid computing technology.
• Grid computing joins together many individual computers, creating one of the world’s largest “virtual supercomputers” with massive, fast computational power that far surpasses that of other stand-alone supercomputers.
• Projects are chosen by World Community Grid’s Advisory Board, an international group of experts specializing in health sciences, technology, and philanthropy. Only research conducted by public and nonprofit organizations is accepted.   All research results must be made public.
• With more than 400,000 members, over 1,000,000 devices and more than 194,000 years of run time – and growing – World Community Grid is enabling research to be completed faster than ever before.

What you need to do:

• If you already participate in the World Community Grid, all you need to do to join the HRC team is to  click on the web address below and then click on the “join now” button on the page that appears.
  http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/team/viewTeamInfo.do?teamId=LDRMH21ZP1 
• If you have not yet joined World Community Grid, just click on the link below. When you register, our team will be automatically selected for you. You will still need to download and install the World Community Grid software.
  http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/reg/viewRegister.do?teamID=LDRMH21ZP1

The World AIDS Day Challenge starts on December 1 and ends on December 31, 2008. Sign up right now and start making a difference! Get your friends and family members to join, too!

As Thanksgiving nears, I feel profoundly grateful to the people like you who've given their time, money, and passion to the cause of equality this year. Your energy is downright inspiring.

I also find myself uplifted by the amazing victories that we achieved on Election Day. But there is also no denying the blows we were dealt this month, with marriage bans in Arizona, Florida and California.
Historians will point to this election as a turning point in the long struggle for civil rights. Eight years of White House hostility toward LGBT Americans are finally over.

While HRC is working on many fronts to fight California's Prop. 8 and promote marriage equality across the U.S., I have a task for you today: talk to your family and tell them why marriage equality matters to you.

The conversation may be easy, or it may be hard. But in the wake of Prop. 8, a dialogue to change hearts and minds has never been more important.

If you need a place to start, we've developed four e-cards that you can send to friends and family to get the conversation going. Send e-cards now >>

You might want to talk about the person you love. Or about why it's so important for straight allies to support marriage equality. If you need more inspiration, I have a story for you.

Jan and DeAnn, who were married in California this August, had spent 8 years living next to Jon and

Brenda. They chatted about lawn care, skiing, and home repair, and DeAnn even taught their four children in spelling games and rounds of Old Maid once a week – but knowing the anti-gay stance of their neighbors' religion, Jan and DeAnn had decided never to discuss their personal life.
Brenda was in her yard when the limousine pulled up on Jan and DeAnn's wedding day. When she asked what the occasion was, they decided to tell Brenda they were getting married. They were shocked when Brenda immediately hugged them, burst into tears, and sobbed, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Jan replied, "You never know if you're going to get a hug or a brick through your window." DeAnn said, "I was afraid of losing your children."

Then, Jan says, "We all cried, gave one last hug, and entered the limo with soaring spirits."
These are the stories we have to tell. This is the case we have to make: real people, real consequences. Too long, the discussion has been about the definition of marriage rather than the rights of marriage. Many people don't even realize that legally married same-sex couples are denied more than 1,000 different rights on the Federal level, including:

• visiting a partner or child in the hospital
• passing on property without taxes
• taking family leave to care for a sick child
• tax equality

One conversation at a time, America is changing and will continue to change. If we want equality to be the law of the land sooner rather than later, each one of us – LGBT or straight – must now answer the challenge by sitting down with our family and friends, educating them and listening to them in return.

Please accept my sincerest thanks for all that you have helped us accomplish this past year. And when you sit down to the Thanksgiving table tomorrow, think of all we could be celebrating in the coming years.

Warmly,

The same day a Florida circuit court ruled its ban on gay adoption unconstitutional, Candace Gingrich, HRC's youth and campus outreach senior manager, made an appearance tonight on MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" to continue the dialogue on Prop 8 and the fight for marriage equality.  During her segment (#1 on the Countdown, BTW), Candace made the important point that allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry does not threaten anyone's marriage and is not something people have to fear.

Watch the video here: 

Candace also published a must-read letter to her brother Newt Gingrich that has been viewed over 260,000 times since it was posted on Huffington Post this past weekend:

I recently had the displeasure of watching you bash the protestors of the Prop 8 marriage ban to Bill O’Reilly on FOX News.  I must say, after years of watching you build your career by stirring up the fears and prejudices of the far right, I feel compelled to use the words of your idol, Ronald Reagan, “There you go, again.”

However, I realize that you may have been a little preoccupied lately with planning your resurrection as the savior of your party, so I thought I would fill you in on a few important developments you might have overlooked. 

The truth is that you’re living in a world that no longer exists.  I, along with millions of Americans, clearly see the world the way it as - and we embrace what it can be.   You, on the other hand, seem incapable of looking for new ideas or moving beyond what worked in the past. 

[...]

What really worries me is that you are always willing to use LGBT Americans as political weapons to further your ambitions.   That’s really so ‘90s, Newt.    In this day and age, it’s embarrassing to watch you talk like that.   You should be more afraid of the new political climate in America, because, there is no place for you in it.

In other words, stop being a hater, big bro.

Today All Children - All Families, a program of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation Family Project, held a press conference at the HRC building to launch a new awareness campaign aimed at increasing LGBT foster parenting and adoption.

All Children – All Families, launched in 2007, also seeks to enhance LGBT competence among child welfare professionals and educate LGBT people about opportunities to become foster or adoptive parents to waiting children.  Thirty-four agencies from across the U.S are currently participating in the initiative, and more than a dozen agencies are close to earning the seal of recognition.  Check out www.hrc.org/acaf for more information.

Today's press conference featured Ellen Kahn, HRC Foundation Family Project director; Janice Goldwater, Adoptions Together founder and executive director; Nathan Monell, CEO of Foster Care Alumni of America; and adoptive parent Daniel McNeil.

We've uploaded video of the speakers' full remarks:

Ellen Kahn and Janice Goldwater:

Ellen: We are unveiling a recruitment campaign aimed at the LGBT community. This is an innovative campaign that will be implemented nationally over the course of the coming year. We're starting in Washington, DC and we're partnering with Adoptions Together, an agency that has indeed done the work to be ready and welcoming and to really stand behind LGBT families who come in with an interest in adopting from foster care.

...There are an estimated 2 million folks in the LGBT community who are interested in adoption...if even 10% of that 2 million took a step and started exploring in more depth the opportunities in foster care/adoption - and had agencies standing with them and believing in them - we could actually solve a problem and, a year from now, we would not have 129,000 waiting children.

Janice: I'm here today to let you know that we need the LGBT community to come forward and consider adopting a child. I know that, historically, many people have not been welcomed in the adoption community and for this, I'm really sorry....My hope is that this campaign inspires those in the LGBT community to come forward who could be a resource for a child and say, "Yes, we are here. We can take a child into our family." Please know our doors are opened; children are waiting; and we need you.

Nathan Monell:

Our organization knows firsthand what it's like for people to grow up alone in this world....For people who grow up in foster care, that sense of being alone is always with them....

People have not spent time going to the GLBT community and said, "You'd make great parents. You'd do a really good job." And we need to be doing that and I'm really proud of this project for doing that.  Our organization is unabashedly supportive of this work because we know firsthand that any qualified parent is the best parent.  It doesn't matter the sexual orientation. That shouldn't be a part of the equation.   

Daniel McNeil:

I think the biggest obstacle that prevents people from becoming families like ours is homophobia. And there's homophobia, both on the inside and on the inside.  I think the first thing parents need to do - potential parents - is look at the homophobia on the inside. I've talked to lots of potential parents. We agonize like, "How do you know if you're going to be the right type of person to be a parent?" I don't have a magic answer - and there's lots of books. But I would say the guiding principle for me is that an adoption is basically a commitment to a child. And commitment means you're going to be there to love them; a commitment means you're going to be there for the long haul. And so if you can say, "Yes, I have the capacity to love. Yes, I'm willing to do the hard work to stick with all it takes to become a family," then you've already answered the most fundamental questions and you can launch forward.

...The most loving thing I've ever done as a person is become a dad... If this program, this new initiative, can help people envision for themselves becoming a family, then I'm really excited to be a part of that and help support and encourage that.

From the Miami Herald:

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman Tuesday declared Florida's 30-year-old ban on gay adoptions unconstitutional -- a ruling state lawyers immediately said they would challenge.

The ruling sets the stage for Frank Gill, a gay man from North Miami, to adopt two foster children he has raised since 2004.

In a 53-page ruling, Judge Lederman said, ``It is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person's ability to parent.''

Just in time for the kickoff of the holiday shopping season, today HRC Foundation released its 2009 “Buying for Equality” guide.  The guide is aimed at helping consumers businesses and brands that support the LGBT community.  The guide includes listings from a record 260 companies that received a perfect 100 percent score on our 2009 Corporate Equality Index, an annual report on company policies related to diversity & inclusion training, non-discrimination policies and access to healthcare for LGBT employees and their families.  To download or request a copy of the guide visit: www.hrc.org/buyersguide.

According to a Witeck-Combs/Market Research.com study, the buying power of the LGBT community is estimated to be $759 billion in 2009.  During difficult economic times, our nation’s businesses know that every dollar spent by consumers figures into the success of their organization. 

This is the fourth year the Human Rights Campaign has published the widely-popular “Buying for Equality” consumer guide.  The guide has been viewed and downloaded off of HRC’s website more than 275,000 times.  This year, HRC included businesses that did not respond to survey request over the past three years.  Each non-responder was provided a score of “?” and placed into the red section of the relevant buying category.  HRC looks forward to building positive, working relationships with these businesses and encourages readers of the Buyer’s Guide that contact these companies to report their responses to HRC.

Scores in the “Buying for Equality” guide are determined through scoring criteria in the HRC Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI), the only nationally recognized measure of LGBT workplace equality.  The CEI is the primary method for companies to evaluate their diversity efforts toward LGBT employees, customers, and investors.  To learn more about the CEI visit: www.hrc.org/cei

Additional background information on the 2009 “Buying for Equality” Guide:

“Buying for Equality” breaks companies and their products into easily distinguishable purchasing categories.  Some categories include:
• Apparel & Accessories
• Banking & Finance
• Eating Out
• Home & Garden
• Technology

Companies/products are divided based on their CEI score into red, yellow, and green sections so that consumers can easily determine which brands support GLBT equality.   
• Green (80-100): Consumers should make every effort to support these businesses.
• Yellow (46-79): Businesses/brands that have taken steps toward a fair-minded workplace, but there is still progress to be made.
• Red (0-45): Businesses/brands that have more work to do in furthering equality. If possible, make the choice to support a fairer company.
• Red (?): Businesses/brands that have not responded to the survey despite repeated attempts and whose policies are unclear.

The Human Rights Campaign recently released a list of the businesses and organizations that supported California’s Proposition 8, the discriminatory amendment passed on Election Day that eliminates the right for same-sex couples to marry in the state.  Although several Fortune 500 companies and organizations contributed to the No on 8 Campaign, no Fortune 500 companies were found to have contributed to the Yes on 8 Campaign.   The data was searched for donations derived directly from businesses and organizations, rather than from individuals or national advocacy groups.  To view the complete list of businesses and organizations who supported Proposition 8, visit: www.hrc.org/prop8supporters.

This letter from HRC's Candace Gingrich responding to her brother Newt calling Prop 8 protestors "gay and secular fascists" is cross-posted on Huffington Post:

Dear Newt,

I recently had the displeasure of watching you bash the protestors of the Prop 8 marriage ban to Bill O’Reilly on FOX News.  I must say, after years of watching you build your career by stirring up the fears and prejudices of the far right, I feel compelled to use the words of your idol, Ronald Reagan, “There you go, again.”

However, I realize that you may have been a little preoccupied lately with planning your resurrection as the savior of your party, so I thought I would fill you in on a few important developments you might have overlooked. 

The truth is that you’re living in a world that no longer exists.  I, along with millions of Americans, clearly see the world the way it as - and we embrace what it can be.   You, on the other hand, seem incapable of looking for new ideas or moving beyond what worked in the past. 

Welcome to the 21st century, big bro.  I can understand why you’re so afraid of the energy that has been unleashed after gay and lesbian couples had their rights stripped away from them by a hateful campaign.   I can see why you’re sounding the alarm against the activists who use all the latest tech tools to build these rallies from the ground up in cities across the country. 

This unstoppable progress has at its core a group we at HRC call Generation Equality. They are the most supportive of full LGBT equality than any American generation ever – and when it comes to the politics of division, well, they don’t roll that way.  18-24 year olds voted overwhelmingly against Prop 8 and overwhelmingly for Barack Obama.  And the numbers of  young progressive voters will only continue to grow.  According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning, about 23 million 18-29 year olds voted on Nov. 4, 2008 – the most young voters ever to cast a ballot in a presidential election. That’s an increase of 3 million more voters compared to 2004.

These are the same people who helped elect Barack Obama and sent a decisive message to your party.  These young people are the future and their energy will continue to drive our country forward.  Even older Americans are turning their backs on the politics of fear and demagoguery that you and your cronies have perfected over the years. 

This is a movement of the people that you most fear.  It’s a movement of progress – and your words on FOX News only show how truly desperate you are to maintain control of a world that is changing before your very eyes. 

Then again, we’ve seen these tactics before.  We know how much the right likes to play political and cultural hardball, and then turn around and accuse us of lashing out first.   You give a pass to a religious group – one that looks down upon minorities and women – when they use their money and membership roles to roll back the rights of others, and then you label us “fascists” when we fight back.   You belittle the relationships of gay and lesbian couples, and yet somehow neglect to explain who anointed you the protector of “traditional” marriage.    And, of course, you’ve also mastered taking the foolish actions of a few people and then indicting an entire population based on those mistakes.    I fail to see how any of these patterns coincide with the values of “historic Christianity” you claim to champion.

Again, nothing new here.  This is just more of the blatant hypocrisy we’re used to hearing.

What really worries me is that you are always willing to use LGBT Americans as political weapons to further your ambitions.   That’s really so ‘90s, Newt.    In this day and age, it’s embarrassing to watch you talk like that.   You should be more afraid of the new political climate in America, because, there is no place for you in it.

In other words, stop being a hater, big bro.

Good afternoon,

This week we observed Transgender Day of Remembrance, which provided us with a moment to stop and consider just how much this community has to fight for. Transgender members of our community are unsafe, preyed upon by ignorance and hatred. The fight for marriage equality and relationship recognition is crucially important, but until all of us can walk the streets without fear of violence, none of us are protected. I urge all of you to read the moving remarks delivered by Allyson Robinson, HRC Foundation’s Associate Director of Diversity, at a TDOR event in Orlando here.

Last weekend, hundreds of thousands in 300 cities nationwide gathered to express their hurt, anger and determination to win marriage equality in California and beyond. But to triumph against the forces of discrimination and hate, the LGBT community and its allies must continue to channel our feelings of discontent into action.

All of us struggle with disappointment over the outcome of ballot initiative fights in California, Arkansas, Arizona and Florida. We are all looking for what our next steps should be. At the Human Rights Campaign, we’re working nonstop to turn our disappointment into action by addressing the root causes of the Election Day loss and making the case for equality with people of all faiths and backgrounds.

We’re working to get our message out to living rooms across the nation. Early this week I taped an appearance on the nationally syndicated talk show Dr. Phil on the subject of same-sex marriage. The episode, which also features San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and attorney Gloria Allred, airs today. To learn more about the show and find your local listing, visit the Dr. Phil website.

This week, the California Supreme Court announced that it would take up the lawsuit to overturn the state’s discriminatory Prop 8. While we are awaiting the outcome of that lawsuit, HRC is taking a number of steps to turn the page on this situation and ensure that our community moves on to victory.

HRC has also outlined opportunities for LGBT people of faith to come out in their religious communities. To learn more, click here.

We’re encouraging our California members to help organize or and participate in town hall meetings across the state in the coming months. To get involved, click here to contact meeting organizers near you.

Building on our Election Day successes, which have opened up new doors in key states, especially the Northeast. Renewed energy and commitment from supporters of equality in the wake of our devastating losses will provide new opportunities to advance marriage equality and other recognition for committed gay and lesbian couples and their families. Click here to learn more about these hotspots.

The passage of discriminatory initiatives in California, Arkansas, Arizona and Florida has ignited the passion of thousands. Pledge to keep your anger and passion alive, and to work for justice until equality is the law of the land. And let us not stray from our own path toward justice by reducing a human rights movement to tactics of recrimination.

While major victories in the White House, Congress and state legislatures provide new opportunities, the passage of hateful ballot measures in four states makes clear the challenges ahead. Your support today will help us continue our fight to end discrimination and achieve marriage equality for all in this new environment.

Before I end today, I want to send thoughts and prayers to all those affected by the wildfires sweeping across Southern California. Please keep safe and hold your loved ones close.

Have a great weekend!

Warmly,

This article by Daryl Herrschaft, director of HRC's Workplace Project, was cross-posted on Advocate.com:

The old saying goes that every cloud has a silver lining. And on November 5, the day after California voters stripped same-sex couples of the right to marry, so many around the country were searching for one.

It is easy to get bogged down with all the negative news about California’s Proposition 8 -- the continuing bias against loving, committed gay and lesbian couples among communities of faith, who with breathtaking efficiency raised millions of dollars to enshrine discrimination into the Golden State's constitution; the now-discredited claims that people of color were the reason for the ban’s passage; and the lasting ramifications of those premature, divisive, and ultimately false assertions.

But when we brush aside that downbeat data, a strong ally to LGBT equality is there, and indeed, was there all through this fight and many others: corporate America. Although thousands of individuals, organizations, and businesses donated to the Yes on 8 campaign, not one Fortune 500 company is among those names. But on the opposite side, the side of fairness and basic rights, you’ll find some of the nation’s most successful and powerful corporate players. The popular vote was lost, but the steadfast backing of one important segment -- the nation’s largest employers -- remains.

As the author of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index and director of the Workplace Project, I have seen firsthand the business world’s expanding awareness of the unique issues facing LGBT people. I have witnessed the embrace of policies that accommodate our community’s needs. And now, I have seen corporate giants like PG&E, Apple, and Levi Strauss & Co. step into the fray around same-sex marriage in California to stand up for equal rights.

Business weighed in on this issue to an unprecedented degree. Why would these companies jump into what at first glance is an electrified cultural debate? After all, it's rare to see corporations with bottom lines at stake take an active role in such volatile political hotbeds.

The answer is one that businesses have known for decades: that LGBT equality is good for the bottom line. This is evident in edition after edition of the Corporate Equality Index. Every year, more and more businesses achieve a 100% rating based on their treatment of LGBT employees, consumers, and investors. This year, 260 businesses scored 100%. Just seven years ago, when the report was first issued, only 13 received the top rating.

Why would these companies stick their necks out for LGBT equality? Because diversity and inclusion are important aspects of the nation’s most profitable businesses’ core values. These values are critical to unleashing the power of people in order to create value for customers, employees, and shareholders. Inclusive workplace policies allow companies to attract and retain the most talented workforce possible, and the outreach they’ve done on behalf of equality throughout the years has shown that they support not only the lives of LGBT employees but also the LGBT community as a valuable and respected segment of our country.

With tools like the HRC Foundation’s Buying for Equality guide, LGBT consumers have flexed their purchasing power to reward companies that support our values and penalize companies that have failed to recognize our value and contribution to America. The development and use of these tools is even more vital in the aftermath of a devastating setback like Prop. 8. Instruments like the Buying for Equality guide help LGBT people and allies spread the message about companies that have earned our business and empower us to take a stand against those that have not.

The debate over Prop. 8 once again cemented the business world as a true ally for LGBT equality. American corporations have gone beyond the four walls of their headquarters, factories, and retail stores and made a firm commitment to equal treatment of LGBT people. The nation’s largest and most successful businesses are not just fostering inclusive and safe work environments-- they’re taking the fight for full equality to the streets and the halls of government. Though it may still be a struggle to capture 51% of the popular vote, same-sex marriage and other manifestations of equal rights have already won the vote of corporate board members and CEOs.

That is a significant accomplishment for LGBT people in the wake of a heartbreaking defeat. Moving forward, it is crucial that we build on these positive developments and further strengthen our relationships so that when the next Prop. 8 rears its ugly head, we can continue to leverage our alliance in the fight against discrimination.

HRC will hold a media availability on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. ET to unveil an innovative adoption awareness campaign targeting the LGBT community.  November is National Adoption Month, during which attention is focused on the thousands of children waiting to be adopted by loving parents.  The campaign is part of the HRC Foundation’s “All Children – All Families” initiative, designed to find permanent families for children by promoting fairness for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender foster and adoptive parents.

Ellen Kahn, director of HRC Foundation's Family Project talked about the campaign today:

This awareness campaign helps make the dreams of thousands of children come true by raising the visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-adoptive families and encourage prospective parents to learn more about the children waiting in foster care.  With more than a half million children in the U.S. foster care system, we can take steps to support the efforts of courts, judges, attorneys, adoption professionals, child welfare agencies and advocates to finalize adoptions and find permanent, loving homes for children, giving them the opportunity to can grow, thrive and succeed.

Of the children in the U.S. foster care system, over 120,000 are awaiting adoption by loving, permanent families.  Agencies may purposefully or inadvertently close the door to qualified families through their practices.  Few agencies recruit LGBT adoptive & foster parents, and many LGBT people feel unwelcome or discouraged.  Similarly, members of the LGBT community may not be aware of the opportunities in domestic adoption and foster care, or they may not know of agencies that welcome their families.  We are working to break down the barriers that stand between thousands of loving, qualified LGBT adoptive parents and the thousands of children who are waiting for a family.

The “All Children – All Families” initiative, launched in 2007 by the HRC Family Project, works to ensure that all qualified prospective parents who wish to open their homes and hearts to children and youth have the opportunity to do so, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.  The program seeks to enhance LGBT competence among child welfare professionals and educate LGBT people about opportunities to become foster or adoptive parents to waiting children.  Thirty-four agencies from across the U.S are currently participating, and more than a dozen agencies are close to earning the seal of recognition.  More information about the initiative can be found at www.hrc.org/acaf.

WHAT:  HRC to unveil the “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Family” adoption awareness campaign

WHEN:  Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. ET

WHERE: Human Rights Campaign Headquarters, 1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.  Washington, D.C.  20036

WHO:  Ellen Kahn, director for HRC Family Project;  Janice Goldwater, executive director for Adoptions Together, member of “All Children – All Families” advisory board.  Adoptions Together, a Silver Spring, Md. based adoption agency, is a local partner in All Children-All Families.

Allyson Robinson, our associate director of diversity (pictured below), is in Orlando tonight to speak and take part in the National Transgender Day of Remembrance.  I thought I would post her prepared remarks for delivery:

As a minister for nearly a decade, I have stood over more caskets than I have the strength to recall at even my strongest moments.  I have stood over the caskets of people who had lived long, full lives that they devoted to the service of others, and over those of people who were cut down before their potential had begun to blossom.  I have stood before families and friends who were grieving parents, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, infant children.  My task at those moments, and my calling, were to speak—to say something that would honor the lives of the people in the caskets and allow healing to begin in the lives of those who had gathered to mourn and to listen. 

But that experience taught me the truth: words do not assuage grief, and cannot possibly do justice to the life and memory of a loved one lost.  It was, at times, almost painfully frustrating.  I have felt that same frustration as I have prepared to share this Transgender Day of Remembrance with you.  What can I possibly say that will help, or that will reverence our dead as they truly deserve?  The only words that arise naturally in my mind are questions.  Why do these things continue to happen?  When will it end?  How many more have to die at the hands of hate?  Questions, and an offering of profound, piercing regret:  I’m sorry.  I’m so, so sorry.  I’m sorry I didn’t come out sooner.  I’m sorry I didn’t speak out louder.  I’m sorry for all the things I could have done to make you safer, but didn’t. 

The Day of Remembrance reminds me that I’m one of the lucky ones, one of the privileged few in our community.  I have a wife and children and parents and friends who love, support, and encourage me.  I have meaningful work that allows me to preserve my sense of human dignity.  I have a roof over my head and I enjoy three square meals a day; I haven’t had to sell my body or my soul to obtain or preserve them.  I live in one of the few places in America where I can dine in a restaurant, shop in a store, or take my children to a public restroom without fear of being kicked out or having police summoned.  I have a community of faith that embraces me, values my gifts, and is fighting for my rights.  All of these things are blessings most people in America take for granted, but which no transgender person can. 

And yet despite my good fortune, like many of you, I’m afraid.  With the faces of those whose lives we commemorate tonight, and the sheer inhuman brutality they faced constantly in my mind, I look at strangers on the street differently.  I worry when I notice someone staring at me on the subway.  I get scared when I hear footsteps behind me in a dark parking lot.  I hug my wife and children tight when I get home each night and thank God I’ve made it.  The Day of Remembrance reminds me that in spite of the privilege that I have been given, I could be next.  This is the world in which we live.  But it doesn’t have to be this way. 

This moment, this very day, is one of the most crucial our community has ever faced, and how we live into this moment will determine the way of life for future generations of transgender people.  For some, it will make the difference between life and death.  But we stand at this crossroads not because of the path that lies before us, but because of the path that lies behind us.  We’re not here because for the first time in our history, legal protection against hate crimes and employment discrimination are within our grasp, or because someone who is not ashamed or afraid to speak our name is about to move into the White House.  We stand at this crucial juncture because of the people whom we memorialize tonight.  We stand here because of their integrity to embody the truth of who they were despite years of harsh social conditioning that told them to deny it.  We stand here because of their courage to live out that truth in full view of a world that is largely hostile to it, a world that at best doesn’t understand it and at worst doesn’t want to.  We have been given this opportunity by virtue of the lives they lived, and by virtue of the deaths they died.  History will judge us by our stewardship of the legacy they have entrusted to us. 

Tonight, let us recommit ourselves to that legacy.  Tonight, I recommit myself to it.  I will live more boldly and speak more loudly.  I will not allow myself or my community to be marginalized—dehumanized—by those who don’t understand us or don’t want to.  I will not allow hate to go unchallenged or ignorance to go uncorrected.  I will admonish allies should they waver and hold elected officials accountable to their commitments and to justice.  I will not allow myself to be distracted, deterred, co-opted, or deferred.  I will settle for nothing less than a country and a world in which our right to exist and our human dignity are enshrined in the law and respected in the public square.  And I will not rest until I can close my eyes, see the faces of Lawrence and Angie and Duanna and Lloyd and the others, and hear them whisper from somewhere beyond this world, “Well done.”

Bilerico Project's LiveBlog is underway with three leaders of this year's anti-amendment battles in California, Florida and Arizona - Kate Kendall (No on 8), Nadine Smith (Equality Florida) and Barbara McCullough-Jones (Equality Arizona).

Log on now to www.bilerico.com.

HEADS UP:  Tonight’s episode of “LA Ink” will feature the story of Todd Barrett, a Los Angeles gay man who will discuss his life with his husband Joe and their experience parenting their 4 year-old adopted daughter.  Todd and his husband were together for 10 years before they married in California on October 24. 

Todd was chosen to be included in an episode of “LA Ink” after he submitted his story to the show’s website. After passing several rounds of auditions, Todd will have his story on gay marriage and adoption shared with America  this evening.

The show will air tonight on TLC at 10 PM EST.

Today is the National Day of Transgender Rememberance, an annual commemoration to honor the lives of transgender people harmed or killed by violence. The day is also an opportunity to remind our nation of the urgent need for inclusive federal hate crimes protections.

HRC has produced a new video featuring Allyson Robinson, our associate director of diversity, to mark the occasion. Watch it here:

This morning, I ran across a story by Kim Murphy of the LA Times about the new mayor-elect of Silverton, Oregon - a transgender woman who goes by the name of Carla Fong.  Although she recently became America's first openly transgender mayor, residents of the town of 9,600 voted to replace the incumbent with Carla because of their familiarity with her work on the Silverton City Council and her promises to perserve the town's character:

Earlier this month, Rasmussen became America's first openly transgender mayor. His constituents say they elected him not for his looks, but because he promised to put a halt to the rapid development that has threatened Silverton's small-town charm.

"My first two terms, I was a very straight-looking guy," said Rasmussen, 60, a software engineer who has written on transgender issues. "Now, I writeunder the name Carla Fong, but basically I'm Stu in Silverton. Honestly, it would be too much trouble to retrain the whole town."

..."He's got a lot of supporters in this town. He's super-available, and he's so sensible," said Brenda Marks, who helps run a downtown artists co-op gallery that recently sold a photo of Rasmussen decked out as Marilyn Monroe. "He's not an alarmist; he's not an extremist."