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The Democrats Ask, Let Us Tell Them- Amend The Civil Rights Act of 1964 To Protect The LGBTIQ Community Too!

06/08/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
The time has come for the last great hurdle of equality to be jumped over and it is time that we make sure that our voices are heard by the Democratic National Committee’s Chairman Tim Kaine. Let us be clear here, many LGBTIQ Americans are fed up with politics being played with our lives. We know that the Democrats are trying to string us along before giving us our Civil Rights, but many of the Democrats do not know that we know that this is their plan. String us along, get us to vote, and hope that they can keep their majorities and the White House as well. Instead, as the recent election of Scott Brown showed, the LGBTIQ vote is not necessarily going to be assured, and if it is not, then the Democrats lose out.

Well, the Democrats have begun to solicit information regarding the voices of the LGBTIQ Community, and it is time that our voices were heard. Specifically, it is time for our voices to be heard with regards to making sure that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was amended to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity”. In doing this, we could make it so that many of our most basic rights are protected from both the government and from businesses.

This act was designed to counteract the rampant discrimination which permeated society at the time it was written. It includes a number of specific protected categories including race, religion, ethnicity, sex, and others. Civil Rights was a passion of President Lyndon B. Johnson. He pushed through several Civil Rights Acts, including one in 1957 when he was still the Senate Majority Leader. He saw first hand the devastation that prejudice brings to the lives of people.

Act On Principles is calling on members of the LGBTIQ Community and our allies to write a short passage to Chairman Tim Kaine about amending the CRA of 1964.

To leave a note, go to My.Democrats.Org.

They are asking that we leave this simple message to Chairman Kaine:

“We would like both the DNC and the RNC to endorse the idea of amending the 1964 Civil Rights Act (and related laws) to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity”. LGBT civil rights can no longer be held hostage to party politics, so we need leaders from both parties to make this statement together.”

The Democrats must also realize that if they continue to abandon the LGBTIQ Community as a whole, then they risk us not voting for them in the upcoming elections of 2010 and 2012. They have hedged on repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and given us a compromise that we may not like, but have to take because they are too afraid to move decisively. They were not elected to be terrified politicians hiding in their offices, nor were the Republicans elected to be obstructionists on everything that comes along. They were elected to help the people of the United States, and that means all of us.