By Melanie Nathan, San Francisco, February 3, 2010 :  Binationals and activists have been waiting patiently for Senator Chuck Schumer to introduce the enigmatic Immigration reform bill, and the LGBT binational community, whether in exile, living apart or hiding in fear, has been desperate for the answer. Will immigration reform be truly comprehensive;   will it include (UAFA) a provision that will allow for LGBT Americans (citizens or lawful residents) to sponsor their spouses (Permanent Partners) for immigration to the USA?

Have you ever wondered why a long silence actually starts to sound like a deafening noise? It is now that the silence from Senator Schumer is deafening, with the shocking revelation from a reliable source informing us at Lezgetreal that Senator Schumer will not be including UAFA or LGBT rights in his immigration reform bill to be introduced in the weeks ahead.

Coincidentally in New York tonight, the NYCLU Advocacy Director, Udi Ofer, lead the continuing Civil Liberties Discussion Series where he provided an overview of the civil rights and civil liberties priorities within comprehensive immigration reform and the prospects for reform in Congress this year. The audience was asked to do everything possible to alert Senator Schumer to the binational plight and that anything short of 100 % inclusion in comprehensive immigration reform, would be completely unacceptable.  The discussion predicted that the Senator would choose the easiest path to reform legislation, and I imagine that excluding the LGBT community is perceived as the path of least resistance.

Current law precludes LGBT couples from sponsoring spouses for immigration.  Many tens of thousands of LGBT families are caught in the quagmire of an anomaly created by the unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act, which pits State law against the Federal law, giving couples the right to marry in certain States and then denying the American spouse the (equal) right to sponsor her/his same-sex spouse under the existing immigration laws.

If you are as outraged by this as I am, then you MUST stand up now, take action and start asking questions.  Tomorrow is too late – today is critical.  Get Senator Schumer to stand by his words before he releases that Bill.  

The first thing you can do is flood the Senators phone line and demand that comprehensive immigration reform include us all.

While I am tempted to my usual finger pointing, I refrain and instead in the spirit of the unique all inclusive grass root C=IIR Campaign, which was announced in my earlier blog by on this site, I encourage all who are outraged by this news to support this plan as the only current option to lead to our inclusion in CIR or to the passage of UAFA as a stand -alone bill.     I see  the C=IIR Campaign as providing the ultimate forum – where grassroots and organizations can pull together to finally bring about the change we need to the egregious impact rendered by DOMA on the inherent immigration rights of LGBT married spouses and partners. ¹ *

 There are those of us who while suspended at the roots of the grass; seek truth and we do not understand why we are expected to wait for matters so integral to our very existence, to unfold.  Taking matters into our own hands is imperative at this time. There are about five binational couples who are at grave risk but bravely planning on coming out to announce their stories.  These courageous foot soldiers need to see our entire community stand up for them. Our protest is our applause and our protest MUST be productive.

 So I ask, Senator Schumer as you ARE not going to include us in CIR NOW, then come face us directly  and tell us what your plan is so we can pursue our interests in ways that makes sense to us, be it protests, boycotts, advocacy!  Tell us what your motivation is – an advocate for our inclusion who fails to include us makes no sense at all.  To hide behind tactics and strategies does not serve those of us who are willing to risk all by our visibility.  So now that we have heard that we will not be included – through sources, please allow us to suffer the news from you Sir. 

   

Video -  On You Tube by – inlookingout; June 03, 2009.
Senator Chuck Schumer provides statement at the Senate hearings for the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA)  

I quote from the ACLU website:

“The Constitution guarantees the fundamental rights and civil liberties of every person in this country. Upholding the rights of the politically disenfranchised is vital; when the government has the power to deny legal rights and due process to one group of people, it puts all our rights in danger.”

• ¹ * THE ACTION – To set the stage, the 11-page 2010 Ten State Plan contains extensive detail on targets and supporters, democrats and republican alike.  Texas is a priority with a whopping 6 members on the Hispanic Caucus that have yet to endorse UAFA.   But the main opposition priority is the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Rev. John C. Wester in Salt Lake City and Kevin Appleby in D.C., who have boldly campaigned against UAFA. To highlight how backwards American Catholic leadership actually is, the Plan shows 21 countries that allow same-sex partner immigration, including Brazil, France, and Spain where the Catholic populations are 73 to 94% of the populations.  By contrast, the US is only 24% Catholic. Ultimately the plan puts it out there for grassroots activists everywhere to jump in as they choose, from traditional lobbying to civil disobedience.  Targeted states include:   AZ, CA, FL, GA, IL, NJ, NY, OH, TX, WA, but there are targets all over.    The stated goals are three:  1.  Get City Council Resolutions in every targeted state (as NYC, Chicago, LA, San Fran, and W. Hollywood have already done), 2.  Agitate key elected, and 3.  Join the mainstream CIR movement and arrive together.  All experience levels are welcome!  To hook in to C=IIR 2010 Ten State Plan join us on Facebook at:  http://tinyurl.com/CIIRonFB or email: CequalsIIR@gmail.com.
  
  ____________________________________________________________________________

 Copyright Melanie Nathan & Lezgetreal, 2010, All Rights Reserved©; Permission granted for Re-blog- with credit to
“ Article by – Melanie Nathan of www.Lezgetreal.com “

U P D A T E ;

Sen. Charles Schumer’s standing among New York state voters continues to slide, falling below 50 percent for the first time in nine years.

According to the latest Marist poll in New York, 47 percent of registered voters statewide said New York’s senior senator is doing either an excellent or good job in office while 31 percent said his job performance was fair, and 17 percent view him as performing poorly.

Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, based in Poughkeepsie, said this is Schumer’s lowest job approval rating since April 2001 when 49 percent of voters approved of the job he was doing.    SEE ;     http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/2010/02/01/daily13.html

 By Melanie Nathan,

www.privatecourts.com;
www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com
nathan@privatecourts.com   
@oblogdeeoblogda

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Art: Collection Melanie Nathan

 Posted by Melanie Nathan, San Francisco – January 29, 2001  Rodney Muhumuza of  (Metro) Press, Uganda,  - reports the most astounding backfire;  I was able to the view the actual video, surreptitiously captured on the cell phone camera of an embedded source in Kampala,  who provided it to a blogger colleague of mine in the USA.  It can be viewed on Box Turtle’s Website Blog.

Metro reports that Pastor Martin Ssempa, a fervent supporter of The Legislation designed to criminalize people for being Gay – on Tuesday “plumbed the depths of notoriety when he offered graphic images of gay sex as proof of the need for tough penalties against homosexuals.”   You better believe it…”Gay Porn from the Prince of Gay Hate”  Hallelujah Baaaaby!  

It seems midway through his presentation,  most of his audience walked out, some visibly disturbed, leaving him to wonder if he had done anything wrong. The cleric seemed genuinely rattled when he asked: “Why should I be traumatized?”  A group of American students invited to the press conference by a member of parliament were so shaken that one was seen crying  as he walked out.

The presntation ended abruptly and before it was complete and the Pastor said he did not regret his actions. The press conference, the latest in a series of events he is holding in support of the 2009 Anti-Homosexuality Bill, had been called to parade two Ugandans, a man and a woman, who say their homosexuality has been rehabilitated through reparative therapy.

Former gays
“I am Paul Kagaba, and I am a former homosexual,” the man declared. The woman, Sandrah Baggotte, a 19-year-old mother who says she became gay when she was 16, offered her baby as proof of her new life, while Kagaba says he is now happily married to a woman.   (Sheeeez, I would do the same if you said I could hang for it!)   Also dont they rape lesbians in Africa, corrective rape? - baby made… easy..

The duo had been brought to validate Pastor Ssempa’s argument that homosexuality can be cured, that gays are recruiting actively, and that “David Bahati is a hero” for proposing tough legislation against gays. Okay its one thing to recruit for the army or a survey or a row boat team – but who the hell would want to be recruited for homosexuality.   Maybe that was Ssempa’s projection of his own endeavors on that sordid night.  The room was decorated with anti-gay posters.

Now here comes the real doozy – The cleric, who let his two young sons attend the press conference, said the boys were free to make their own statements against homosexuality. “They represent those we need to protect… We are giving a red card to sodomy.”

Pastor’s Ssempa’s latest conduct represents a profound attempt to keep the anti-gay debate alive after President Museveni expressed opposition to Ndorwa West MP Bahati’s proposal of death or life imprisonment for gay sex. Mr Museveni recently said Uganda’s foreign policy was being hurt by anti-gay efforts at home. 

Melanie Nathan LGBT ADvocate /Activist

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
www.privatecourts.com
www.oblogdeeoblogda,wordpress.com

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• http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/tag/martin-ssempa 
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Melanie Nathan, Lt. Dan Choi Shirley Tan

Dear Melanie –

I have a message for President Obama: Don’t wait, don’t delay.

Last night, the President repeated his campaign commitment to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” as part of his State of the Union address. While the President promised that DADT would come to an end “this year,” he did not provide specifics — and the White House still has not released a plan to kill it. That’s unacceptable.

I served in the Army for a decade under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” — an immoral policy that forces American soldiers to lie about their sexual orientation. Worse, it forces others to tolerate deception. As I learned at West Point, deception and lies poison a unit and cripple a fighting force.

That’s why I feel strongly that America can’t afford to allow this policy to continue one day longer.

The time for talk is over. The time for action is now. If you agree, please join the Courage Campaign and sign my message to President Obama. Tell him “Don’t wait. Don’t delay. End DADT now!” DEADLINE: MONDAY.

http://www.couragecampaign.org/DontDelay

Last March, I went on Rachel Maddow’s show and spoke three truthful words: “I am gay.” For that, instead of being able to do my duty keeping America safe, I face discharge from the Army for who I love. I face being fired from my job, not for what I do, but for who I am.

As an infantry officer, an Iraq combat veteran and a West Point graduate with a degree in Arabic, I refuse to lie to my commanders. I refuse to lie to my peers. I refuse to lie to my subordinates.

Last year, 424,343 letters were sent by Courage Campaign community members supporting my fight to stay in the military. We’ve moved the president but now we need to finish the job.

That’s why I’m asking for your help again to end DADT so other soldiers who want to serve their country don’t face the same fate. Please sign my message to President Obama. Tell him “Don’t wait. Don’t delay. End DADT now!” DEADLINE: MONDAY.

http://www.couragecampaign.org/DontDelay

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. National security means many things, but the thing that makes us secure in our nation and homes is love. As I was reminded again when I attended the historic Prop 8 trial, what makes me a better soldier, leader, Christian and human being is love.

And I’m not going to hide my love. Love is worth it.

Thank you for your support.

Daniel W. Choi
1LT, IN
New York Army National Guard
Posted by Melanie Nathan, nathan@privatecourts.com

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 By Melanie Nathan. January 25, 2010 – After Interviewing Scott ‘Cody’ Regan today, I was left believing that West Virginia really needed this man in its State Senate.   An experienced business man and pioneer in the field of international arts administration, his ideas are exciting and refreshing, especially for a State so tempered by the conditioning of age and lackluster complacency. Scott regan is running for US Senate for WV. He is a democrat.

Regan is an openly gay man who needs $30,000 in the next 24 hours to make his State Senate run.  I was inspired by his non political tone reflected through his unabashed transparency about the State of West Virginia and the impact of the religious right wing on the rest of the country.  He did not hold back when he described the hypocrisy of men, elected officials who sat in churches listening to anti-gay hate speech after knowing that they had indulged or sought gay sex.

When I naively asked if he was running on an LGBTQI ticket he responded; “this is West Virginia, there is no gay ticket.”  However as we discussed more about his hopes for the State it became really apparent to me, as an activist, that having Regan in the West Virginia State Senate would be of profound value to the national  LGBT cause as well.    West Virginia is a breeding ground for gay hate, pursued with a vigor that is reminiscent of a corporate mission statement; it is taught via religious ideology with crime perpetuated as a result.  

I asked Regan why he would want such a job,  to be a target.  He said ”what do I have to lose; at 53 I have had an accomplished and rewarding life,  I have done some great things and I have travelled and spoken all around the world.”  He noted that he wants to bring his experience and expertise to West Virginia, a State that needs renovation and of course redemption.

 Regan is not involved in any gay circles, but believes that an imperative part of the fight for LGBTQI rights is “the acceptance.”   While having a gay member in the West Virginia Senate may seem pointless, it may be time for some of these unlikely people to actually get to know one of us – who we are and what we can do for the communities at large. 

So in the same way as our lives are not about gay, neither is Regan’s campaign; it is about changing West Virginia for the better. His ideas include utilizing the extraordinary wealth available to the State that has remained untapped, locked through antiquated Policies in tandem with the inordinately lengthy term of West Virginia representatives in D.C.  Regan asserts that money does not filter down to the communities or to the people.   When Senator Byrd is out of the Senate, Federal funds will be available and must be used wisely to improve West Virginia for everyone.

Regan suggests that oppressed people lash out.  Once the financial oppression subsides, the scape-goating and reliance on Church- taught fallacy will dissipate and eventually yield to acceptance.  He makes a direct correlation between the politics of the local economy, with examples such as Charleston in the top 10 dying cities in the US  and presents a familiar formula: non-use of funding = poverty = oppression = church control = scape-goating – gay hate!

The seniors, a large part of the church going population, are having ‘gay is the devil  jammed down their throats and they are told if they adhere to this teaching they will save their grandchildren from a damning fate.”

Regan assures “I am not a negative Byrd person; he has done excellent job – the only problem is he has been there way too long.  There are things that are not being done.  The best thing I can do to open more funds for the state, bringing equality into the state –we could see art centers and revitalization of communities. It could change everything.  These people who comfort themselves with hate for others will learn how much money acceptance can bring and it can change.

Scott Cody Regan, Cody to his friends, is exuberant and ready. West Virginia is a State that cannot use post election victory funding to pay off campaign debt.  He needs donations urgently now and hopes that his supporters do not wait until after the election because then the funding is given to the State and not to the campaign.

Regan left me with the honor of “please call me Cody….!”  I sincerely hope that he will become your friend too. 

NOTE:

 ”Presently, we are in a mad rush to raise and actually recieve about $30,000 more in contributions prior to Wed January 27th.

It seems the majority of people I have met and non profit organizations believe they can contribute after you win a campaign. They do not understand the funds are needed up front. After the fact the money would need to be turned over to the State for its use. 

Hopefully, the funds will come in and the run for U.S. Senate might continue in full success. That we might bring about change and improvement for the people of the State of West Virginia.  To note: if we do not raise the funds for the net phase of the U.S. Senate run, there would be sufficent funds to withdraw and file to run for either State Senate or House Delegate. Keeping me the States political world.”

CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANDTAKE NOT;          
Committee to Elect Scott Regan
PO BOX 182
Salt Rock
WV    25559

By Melanie Nathan: www.privatecourts.com
www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com

@oblogdeeoblogda

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By Melanie Nathan:  Let us analyze this Politico report below;  My comments:

From an LGBT and binational perspective -  What is of great concern is that there is no mention of LGBT inclusion at this time and whatever the plan is – it is said to be on the hush – No answers.  But we do know that Senator Schumer was at the Senate Judiciary committee hearing on June 3rd, 2009, for the Uniting American Families Act- UAFA  (albeit for a brief few minutes) and that he heard the moving testimony of Shirley Tan and Gordon Stewart, (presuming he went to You Tube thereafter)  as well as the support of Julian Bond from NAACP.   

While I think there is a good chance that Schumer may include it at this early stage of a Bill introduction for comprehensive immigration reform (CIR)  I am fearful that the interest of binational spouses dwarf in the eyes of the Senate by comparison to the other interest groups involved.  

All I can say at this point is that if Senator Schumer fails to include UAFA or similar, at the outset, our cause is doomed and in the eyes of the LGBT community- the good and usually supportive Senator will join the ranks of  ’ Democtratic Senatorial Persona Non Grata!‘  I am hoping that Senator Gillibrand would exert some influence here as I really believe that she has the binational community’s interests at heart and that she could take a role in influencing leadership on the issue. 

I do not want to hear that he purposely excluded UAFA , only include it later. This did not work for me with Guiterrez’s lame snub and it will not work for me for any legislation any more. When Politicians subscribe to the old view – “keep the queers under the radar in case anyone notices,” all they are doing is perpetuating the closet – in essence endorsing a mindset that renders LGBTQI relationships unacceptable. 

I am urging Senator Schumer to do one of two things:
1.  Include us in CIR and make sure we cannot be excluded;  (Although I have never liked the idea of us in CIR because it is going to be a big bad battle and we risk being dumped….. but we are compelled at this time to subscribe to this option because we have been cornered into it by Immigration Equality’s strategy) – OR
2. Take a significant and poignant role on UAFA and push for it as an emergency separate bill NOW! NOW!

  Politico reports that Senator Schumer  is pressing the immigration reform issue hard in the Senate:

 Schumer is quietly spreading the word within the immigration community that he has the White House’s support to pass a bill by April. At the same time, Kerry has been mounting his own campaign to pass a climate bill — telling environmentalists, business groups and fellow senators that his bill will pass this spring, ideally by June. “Schumer would lead us all to believe that the White House is completely on board with doing all that in that time frame,” said Bruce Josten, head of government relations at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, whose lobbyists have met several times with Schumer and his staff.

 Schumer is …invested in guiding an immigration bill to the floor, after assuming the chairmanship of the Senate immigration subcommittee from Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) last year. His work on the issue dates back to 1986, when he brokered a key compromise that helped pass the first major immigration overhaul in decades. “The only reason [immigration] has a shot is because [Schumer] has a pretty good understanding of what it would take to do it,” said Kessler.

 Politico says there is a conflict between Schumer and John Kerry, who support climate change as the next issue the Senate should deal with.

 Democratic aides in both the House and the Senate say the winning issue will be whichever one attracts the most Republican support. Both immigration and climate bills will need backing from moderate Democrats like Sens. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, Evan Bayh of Indiana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

 It has long been assumed that the climate bill would emerge as the final big issue of the year in the Senate, since immigration has been so divisive.  But immigration got a boost in recent weeks, when top White House officials scheduled a conference call to reassure Latino activists that they would move on a reform bill this year.

 Advocates argue that taking up immigration could help boost turnout among Latino voters in the midterm elections and drive a wedge between the GOP and Latino voters.

 “The whole reason some people on the Democratic side view immigration as a great issue is because there is a side of the Republican Party that frankly cannot help itself on the issue,” said a senior Republican aide. “They go ballistic, and it comes across as anti-Hispanic — that’s not what they intend, but that’s the way it is perceived.” But even immigration activists admit that the economy is a serious hurdle.

  Why  are we still waiting for CIR?  We need to get UAFA passed as a stand alone- uncomplicated – asap….

Word has it that there are countless gay and lesbian binational couples in the State of New York or in exile abroad, who want to come home to New York; however until legislation passes there is little hope  for these couples as they are unable to sponsor their same-sex partners / spouses for greencards or Visas to the USA.

 by Melanie Nathan.  www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com
Nathan@privatecourts.com

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 Melanie Nathan Posts, from san Francisco, To counter the claims of pro- Prop 8 argument, Harvard history professor, Nancy Cott,  Plaintiff witness, renowned for her book on the History of Marriage in the US,  is testifying.   She makes the point that US government has a history of restricting marriage on racial grounds. Further the rights of women have always been limited even within the context of marriage.  At the relevant times there was a great deal of resistance to remove these restrictions.   She makes the critical point that the removal of restrictions did not weaken marriage and may even have strengthened it.

Cott also testified today that gender roles traditionally assigned to marriage no longer make sense and are no longer supported by laws. Cott said divorce has not increased in Massachusetts during the five years same-sex couples could marry, “and if anything the divorce rate has been down.”

She testified that a ban on same-sex marriage deprives society a significant source of stability.

During cross-examination Attorneys for Proposition 8 pored used statements made by Cott in interviews and try to portray her as an activist. David H. Thompson, Pro Prop 8 lawyer, said that racial restrictions on marriage in the U.S. were never as “uniform” or widespread as the ban on same-sex marriage.

Thompson asked Cott  whether Jesus Christ and his apostles taught monogamy. “I know very little about Jesus Christ,” Cott replied.

-          Melanie nathan in San Francisco.-
Picture: Melanie Nahan – Palintiff’s leaving Court House Yesterday after testimony at prop 8 trial

NOTE Geoff Kors wants your comments  - 

Dear melanie,Yesterday, at the first day of court in the federal challenge to Prop. 8, we saw the well-established pattern of hate versus love, fear versus equality.

Ironically, defenders of the ban on marriage successfully delayed broadcast of the proceedings on YouTube by arguing that witnesses would be subject to harassment and intimidation — exactly what the LGBT community has been subject to for centuries. They convinced the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the broadcast of the trial temporarily and even objected to one of their ads being shown in the court room

Be sure to check out my debate on CNN with Yes on 8’s attorney, Andrew Pugno. It’s a great example of our message about the destructive nature of discrimination and their goal to hide the truth. Watch the video and leave a comment about the trial >

After an opening by Attorney Ted Olson, we heard moving testimony from the plaintiffs, couples Kristin Perry & Sandy Stier and Jeff Zarrillo & Paul Katami, who talked about the hurt they face by being denied the right to marry. In Paul’s words, “I’m proud to be gay. … I love Jeff more than myself.”

If you want to help support the case, be sure to sign and forward our petition to President Obama, asking him to stand up and speak out against Prop. 8 on the grounds that no minority’s rights should be taken away at the ballot. “

 By Melanie Nathan,   Dec 24th, 2009 :   Story # 2, In this my second post in the series: ”UAFA or 1,666 years of binational stories,”  my column presents in the form of my letter to President Obama, below.  It also reveals my own less told binational story, the one that prompted my advocacy and writing on the plight of binational couples.  

Dear Mr. President,

 My family of four,  including my two young daughters, aged 4 and 12 years, wish You, the First Lady and the First Daughters a very Happy Holiday and New Year. Not to forget Maya Lasso Absa to Bo, First Dog… best wishes.

With these wishes, I would be remiss to ignore this opportunity to alert you, with respect Mr. President, to the other families, less fortunate than mine, the same-sex families, who are unable to spend this Holiday Season together. 

 During January of 2002, I went into an online chat room for the first time ever and developed a friendship with a woman from Israel.  Coincidentally she was soon to arrive in the USA to study at a University in Texas.  I invited her to stop in California, en route, so we could meet and soon I realized that this was the person with whom I wanted to spend the rest of my life. 

 Our relationship flourished while Dor was studying in Texas and soon she transferred to a college near my home in Northern California; and so we moved in together and married as soon as it was legal for us to do so.  At the time, my daughter, HC, from my previous relationship was five years of age.  Dor and HC developed a close relationship and they could not have loved each other more.

We were able to change Dor’s student visa to a very limited R1 visa.  Notwithstanding the fact that California recognized our domestic partnership and subsequent marriage, I the US citizen could not sponsor Dor in the same way as a different gender couple could.  

Dorit taught Jewish religious studies, Hebrew and Bible at a local congregation and was qualified for the R1 Visa. We were luckier than many others in the same-sex binational community because we had found a way, albeit expensive and fraught with difficulties.  With Dor the last in her family of Holocaust survivors, and biological clock ticking, we decided to extend our family and to inseminate so that Dor would carry a baby for us.  The birth of Refael was one of the most exhilirating moments in our lives, with HC, the big sister ecstatic at the arrival of her new baby sister. 

Our lives continued; and we were a tight family, notwithstanding our constant fear that we would have to part ways if Dor’s Visa did not lead to her intended immigration within the time constraints of the R1 termination date.  The termination date came and we advocated crazily for the renewal by Congress of the R1.   With mere days and then hours to the sunset of the law, and Dor’s process hanging severely in the balance, Congress did extend the Visa, setting yet another sunset date for March 06, 2009.

Dor’s lawyer informed us that our chances of success were remote as the timing was still not in our favor, as well as other aspects of the statute and rules that were so onerous and arbitrary on the part of DHS.  We were given low odds and another huge legal bill and a decision to make – should we continue on this Visa path?  The choices were dim; in fact there were no feasible choices.  I could not face the Sophie’s choice that had been haunting me for so many years.

How could I leave my then 11 year old (due to shared custody agreement with me ex) and go with Dor and the baby to Israel?  How could I say goodbye to the love of my life-my spouse, and my then three year old Refael.  How could I split the sisters? I went to see my member of Congress and there was nothing that could be done for our situation.  As an American Citizen and with both children American citizens there was no law to prevent the high probability of Dor having to leave the USA.    I had also determined that I would never prevent Dor from taking our baby with her; the attachment and bond between them would be forcibly broken and my baby would suffer irreparable harm. There were no choices, only extreme denial.

 So we paid and prayed… and then before the final impending sunset date, DHS showed up at our Congregation, with three official investigators to check that Dorit’s basis for her Visa to Immigrate was legitimate; and of course it was.  They approved her application and we were able to submit the finalizing Petition.  

 With 7  days to the sunset of the R1 process, we received a letter stating that the R1 Visa Law was going to sunset and this time there would be no renewal by Congress. This would not give enough time to process the final piece of Dor’s approved application.  Again I spun into denial determined to fight and not willing to think of my ‘Sophie’s choice.’ There was no plan B.  

 It was then that I went to Senator Feinstein for help and with mere hours to the sunset of the law, Dor’s file was given a priority position and viewed just before the 11^thhour.  Dor  was approved and received her green card about two weeks later. This four year hell cost us a great deal, emotionally stressful and financially debilitating. 

I calculated how much more it had cost us compared to that of a straight couple who could simply Petition because of their recognized marriage. I took into account legal fees, non-resident student fees, work limitation losses and Visa fees and renewals: A whopping total of $71,600  for us (over a six year period) compared to $1,500 for a straight couple over a six month period.

It was the spread of our good news that led to my introduction to Shirley Tan and Jay Mercado and my advocacy for them and other binationals has helmed my 2009 year.   

Mr. President, with great respect, I am mentioning this during the holiday season because this time for many is fraught with sadness, fear and pain.  Exiled Americans, who are with their spouses, cannot come home to spend Xmas with extended families and if they do, they have to leave spouses  abroad.  Tens of thousands of same sex couples are unable to spend these holidays together because they are stuck in different countries.  These families cannot wait any longer. Our binational spouses and partners are being turned away at US airports, even as I write these words, at the arbitrary instance of an ICE officer.

 We cannot wait any longer and this President  Obama is what we can do:  

 1. Ask Congress to formulate a special interim Visa for Same-sex Spouses, Domestic Partners, Civil Union Partners, for entry into the USA, and for the ability to remain and work in the USA – possibly subject to renewal  and/or- with a path to immigration.  This can be done in a similar manner to the R1 Visa Process.  It should however be less complicated and could be set for termination when UAFA or similar legislation is passed, or until DOMA is repealed.

 2. The burden of proof could be similar to a marriage – where, inter alia, the following is required:
a. Proof of certification of marriage, Domestic Partnership, Civil Union contract – from any jurisdiction, anywhere in the world, proving a contractual nexus between the spouses;  and also an Affidavit of suport from American Spouse;
b. The same two year conditional residency as spouses have – where the parties attend an interview where they prove that they have been living together in relationship, to back up the contract in the exact same way as straight people have to do;
c. Anyone who has a ten year ban – who was in a Same sex relationship at the time – ought to have their case reviewed to negate the ban and criteria for this should be established;
d. Same sex couples ought to have a process to convert Visas to this Visa status, regardless of waivers they may have signed.

(I have written a more detailed drafty of legislation for such a VISA and its available to anyone interested.)  UPDATED;  SIGN PETITION
http://immigration.change.org/actions/view/special_visa_for_binational_lgbt_spouse-perma-partners 

 I believe if this was done in the form of a special visa category and did not alter the Immigration and Naturalization Act in any way, it could perhaps work its way through the system quickly and differently.  The way it is written will not conflict in any way with DOMA and its tacit  restrictions on the Immigration and Naturalization Act.

The legitimacy would rest on the fact that de facto relationships and families exist, a simple fact of life; and that because they are specifically ousted by law, with their civil right to live together impeded, they should be allowed a special visa status, until such time as the law changes to include them, so that they no longer need to be considered a special class for special rights.   I say the argument here is to embrace an agenda of special rights,  as an interim necessity, and to counter the argument against it by admitting it to be just what it would be which is special rights! 

For as long as DOMA exists LGBT relationships are automatically a special class, simply because one cannot deny the factual existence, the contractual commitment and the ethical obligations these families have assumed.

Now while none of us want special treatment and would much rather have equal treatment, I guarantee that 95% of binational couples who are currently in jeopardy or suffering hardship by virtue of their non- status, would agree to a moratorium or interim visa so that they can live their lives in peace, in their own country and with whom they wish, as a matter of immediacy.

 This would in no way derogate from the work that needs to be done to amend this injustice in the long term.  All it would do is stop subjecting LGBT couples to immediate human rights abuses engendered by the lack of equality with regard to visas and immigration.

Regardless of my plea for binationals and certainly not to negate the urgency, what we need Sir, for the long term, is your leadership to pursue what you promised and that is the passage of repeal legislation for DOMA.

 Perhaps pursuing Congressman Jerrold Nadler’s “Respect for Marriage Act” ought to be the priority of all LGBT movements, organizations and leaders, above and beyond DADT, ENDA, UAFA, etc.     It  is my contention that the pivotal legislation detrimentally impacting the LGBT community is the insidious one that seeks to deny our de facto relationships, which to my way of thinking denies us the right to be gay.  If we are denied the validity of our relationships, it is tantamount to an overt endorsment  that we ought not have our relationships – what could be worse?

If  we cannot sponsor our spouses to be with us in our country, causing banishment from the USA, then we are thwarting those lesbian and gay relationships; – Silence by this Administration and the continued persecution of gays and lesbians, profiled and deported at the airports by suspicious ICE officers,  is the same as overtly stating that exiling our gays and lesbians is acceptable.  The relationships are the essence of who we are and the absolute benchmark  for acceptability, beyond mere tolerance.

 This situation, Mr. President,  is hardly known by mainstream America and I imagine once revealed more openly, through columns such as mine, where I am publishing this letter, the average American may feel compassion or perhaps even some guilt. The fact that America can exile its own is simply unconscionable. As a community we are hurt and sickened by the perception that a Democratic majority and President cannot rescue us from the throat hold of the religious right and from States that vote away our rights.

 So at this holiday time,  when families are gathering together  in happiness and joy, please find a way to remember those Americans. their beloved and children who, because of DOMA,  cannot share these days- and all our community can do at this time is beg and pray for something extraordinary, perhaps a miracle.  Our exiles and exiles-to-be cannot wait for the impending Immigration Reform battle or for UAFA to garnish more co-sponsors.  Our binationals do not want to be the “Public Option” of Comprehensive Immigration Reform. 

 Our binationals cannot wait to hold the hand of a dying parent, nor be on foreign turf if they themselves are ailing, nor be subjected to losing homes, jobs, and businesses, nor the separation of siblings. Our binationals are running out of money to support the long distance relationships.

 By XMAS time next year, it is my Holiday prayer that our binationals will all reunite through whatever means it takes – but here and now Mr. President we need your leadership and for you to take reach beyond business as usual in D.C. to accomplish what for us was also a “YES WE CAN.”   

Thank you for reading this and in Solidarity I say,

Happy Holidays and a Miraculous New Year,

Most Sincerely,
Melanie Nathan,

 American Citizen,  
Married Lesbian 
Mom of two daughters
Unable to Sponsor Spouse
Feature Picture taken by Melanie - of  Dorit, HC and Refael, 2008.

PLEASE NOTE – This Letter will be re-faxed to President Obama and mailed together with all comments that readers make.  I encourage one to two paragraph stories of binationals. 

 UPDATE; OUT OF THIS – Piece a Petition is born - The overwhelming response on my personal e-mail to this post has given me faith in the fight.  So I have taken a vision of mine, which many may think silly and naive,  and once again in defiance of  protocol, in defiance of all that (those who know better say) is possible, in defiance of the experienced, and veering off the beaten track…… here is my hopeful interim remedial solution to the crime against binational Americans and their partners/spouses/children.  PLEASE PARTICIPATE AND SIGN THIS experiment in grassroot power……   Lets take back the fight!!   Lets wake every American conscience to the Binational Plight.  We need 36,000 signatures.     CLICK HERE -  http://www.change.org/actions/view/special_visa_for_binational_lgbt_spouse-perma-partners

12/20/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Having a child molester in the family is never easy for anyone, and it often has devastating consequences even for those who are never abused or molested. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams Jr. has publically called for his brother to turn himself in on charges that he molested Aine (Ahnya) Tyrell. Ms Tyrell is Gerry Adam’s niece and the daughter of Liam Adams. Ms Tyrell has waved the right of anonymity in this case, a rare and unusual step. An arrest warrant has been issued for Liam Adams. It was issued after he failed to appear in court for a preliminary hearing regarding these charges. The family took the unusual step of coming forward publicly with regards to this case. Gerry Adams has stated that he would turn his younger brother in should he discover where he is or if he knew where he was.

In the wake of this call, Gerry Adams Jr. let it be known that his father, Gerry Adams Sr., had physically, emotionally, and sexually abused certain members of his own family. None of his victims have been willing to come forward regarding the crimes, and Gerry Adams Sr. has since passed away. The family chose to keep these crimes from public knowledge largely due to the fact that they had happened in the past and it did not appear that he had molested anyone outside the family, and it would have been up to his victims to have pressed charges, which they did not want to. The abuse by Gerry Adams Sr. only came to light within the family as a whole in the late 1990’s, about a decade ago.

While child sexual abuse is commonly seen in the media as being perpetrated by a non-family stranger, a large number of child molesters abuse only their own children or relatives. It is uncommon, and even rare, for a family to come forward regarding the abuse perpetrated upon family members by one of their own. A large part of why stranger perpetrated child molestation is seen in the media has to do with the public’s need to know about an offender in case there are other victims; however, many family based child molestation cases are handled every year. Many child molesters target children irregardless of sex, and often target young boys because they believe that they are less likely to tell. This is not the case with child molestation within a family since the molester often has greater control over their victims than a stranger would. Of late, there has been a tendency to publicly push the idea that gay men are child molesters. This especially comes from quarters which typically wish to retain the second class status of the LGBT community.

Gerry Adams Jr. comes from a long line of Irish Republicans who fought for the creation of the Irish Republic and have continued to fight for the return of Northern Ireland to the rest of the island. Roughly a decade ago, Adams realized that, in effect, there was life to be had after the struggle and worked to create a peace which has held fairly well since the end of the active fighting between the Catholics and the Protestants. One major change in policy had to do with the extension of rights to Catholics within Ireland.

Gerry Adams Jr. states that they were devastated to find out that there were members of the family that his father had molested, and that the family was still struggling with it.

Here in is the full statement of the family:

In the late 1990s we discovered that our father had been sexually, emotionally and physically abusing members of our family. This abuse happened over many years. This discovery and the abuse which preceded it have had a devastating impact on our entire family. We are still struggling to come to terms with what happened. We live with the consequences every single day. We have been dealing with this with the support of a number of professionals who have the expertise to deal with these matters. We thank them for their help. Abuse of any kind is horrendous but sexual abuse, particularly of a child, is indescribably wounding and heartbreaking.

Our family have debated for some time whether we should publicise our father’s abusive behaviour. We do so now in the hope that, in time, this will assist the victims and survivors to come to terms with what happened and help them to move on from these dreadful events. All citizens need to be educated and children need to be listened to, empowered and protected. Many people in other families have suffered from abuse. Our family knows how deeply hurtful and traumatic that can be. No-one should have to deal with abuse or its consequences in isolation.

Victims of abuse in our family are still, years later, recovering from the trauma inflicted on us. Our prayer is that everyone will be healed. Most of us have grown in strength with the help of other family members, partners and friends. We know this will continue. Our family are united. We believe that there is a way out of this awfulness. We hope this knowledge can be of some help to other families who are in the same situation.

Anyone effected by these issues should contact the Samaritans or any appropriate agency. We would ask the media to give us some privacy, particularly over this Christmas period.

Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams reveals family abuse history
Adams family statement in full
Gerry Adams tells brother to answer abuse allegation

  Posted by Melanie Nathan- If you look at the history of my posts, you will see that I have been an avid critic of the strategy adopted by Immigration Equality who spearheaded the effort to have LGBT families included in all and any Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bills.  Yesterday, Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) introduced an immigration reform proposal in the House of Representatives that does not include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families.  I do believe that Immigration Equality and other activist groups worked hard for LGBT inclusion, but at the same time they backed the wrong horse.

To me the writing was on the wall. Although Rachel Tiven of IE states in her BLOG that there is still hope, I am terribly upset to have to note “I was right.”   The leadership acted as if this was the only strategy and as I said they effectively SHOT ALL BI-NATIONALS in the toe, with their off course (From Uniting American Families Act as a stand alone) strategy.

12/15/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Oral Roberts had to wait twenty-one years for God to finally call him home. Televangelist and founder of Oral Roberts University, Oral Roberts passed away today at the age of ninety-one from complications of pneumonia. In recent years, Roberts has been adamant about the impending Second Coming, including having a supposed vision of clouds, flames and blood over New York City in 2004. Roberts has been the subject of several controversies over the years, and was heavily mocked in the comic strip Bloom County with the reinvention of the character Bill The Cat into Fundamentally Oral Bill and his donation campaign saying that if people donated to him, God would call home many of the televangelists popular at the time. Oral Roberts grew from humble beginnings and always credited God with his rise from tent revivals to his later evangelical work on television. Of late, Oral Roberts University has had major financial problems, and his son Robert was forced to retire from the Presidency of the college due to the financial mismanagement.

Oral Roberts was hardly the most vocal of the evangelicals with regards to homosexuality. While he did make several statements with regards to it, the virulence with which he went after the LGBT community hardly rose to the same level as other evangelical preachers or, of late, the Catholic Church. Part of that had to do with the financial mess which the University was in later in his life with allegations that Richard Roberts was racking up huge phone bills texting to under aged men. The majority of Roberts’ views matched those of most Christian Fundamentalists as in men and women are needed to produce new life. His views often matched the repressive nature with which sexuality is often portrayed in Fundamentalist Christian circles. “Men and women go WILD—and then when it’s perverted, and when it comes homosexuality, it’s not only WILD, it is INSANE! And the heat becomes so intense, the sexual heat becomes so INTENSE, the male organ doesn’t want the vagina of the woman, but to turn that person over and to enter into the rear where the poison comes out, and it keeps coming out until they develop AIDS with no immunity against disease, and they D-I-E, they die!” he stated in one rather long rant-like video. Much of it is pretty standard stuff, and there is no accurate date upon when he said this.

What follows is the press release regarding the passing of Oral Roberts.

Dr. Oral Roberts, a legendary evangelist who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most influential Christian leaders of the 20th century, died today in Newport Beach, Calif., due to complications from pneumonia. His son, Richard, and daughter, Roberta, were at his side. The founder of Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University was 91.

There will be a private family internment. Arrangements for a public memorial service in Tulsa are pending and will be announced soon.

“Oral Roberts was the greatest man of God I’ve ever known,” Richard Roberts said. “A modern-day apostle of the healing ministry, an author, educator, evangelist, prophet, and innovator, he was the only man of his generation to build a worldwide ministry, an accredited university, and a medical school.

“Beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, he was not only my earthly father; he was my spiritual father and mentor. The last member of his generation in the Roberts family, he had a passion to bring healing to the sick.

“His name is synonymous with miracles. He came along when many in Christendom did not believe in the power of God and His goodness. Oral Roberts was known for sayings such as ‘God Is a Good God,’ ‘Expect a Miracle,’ ‘Release Your Faith,’ and ‘Plant Your Seed for a Harvest.’

“The Bible teaches that when a Christian dies, he or she is instantly transferred into the presence of God. The past few months, my father has talked about going home to be with the Lord on a daily basis. He has run his race and finished his course. Now he is in heaven, and we as Christians have the Bible promise

The financial situation of his University has improved of late, but it is no longer run by the family itself. Despite being called an influential Christian leader of the Twentieth Century, Roberts has not been a major player in the Evangelical movement since the early 1980’s when his ministery was hit by several financial scandals including the collapse of a business venture that supposedly God told him to undertake. ORU is located in Tulsa, OK.

Authors Notation:

I could not find a lot of information about his statements regarding homosexuality. What I did find did not seem to raise to the same level as many other evangelicals.

Posted by Melanie Nathan – collected from variety of circulating  emails:-
Walter Trochez, a well-known LGBT activist in Honduras who was an active member of the National Resistance Front against the coup d’etat there, was assassinated on December 13th. Trochez, who had already been arrested and beaten for his sexual orientation after participating in a march against the coup, had been very active recently in documenting homophobic crimes committed by the forces behind the coup.

American University Assistant Professor of Anthropology Adrienne Pine has translated into English on her blog a statement about the Trochez murder by the Centro de Investigación y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (CIPRODEH — the Center for the Investigation and Promotion of Human Rights in Honduras), which you can find here: http://quotha. net/node/ 629 She has also translated a moving statement about the Trochez murder from the influential youth organization Los Necios, which is here: http://quotha. net/node/ 631

Pine informs –  ”Walter has been one of the most important figures in the LGBT community in Honduras for years. Unfortunately, most of what’s written about him is in Spanish. A volunteer is translating one of his last open letters to the resistance condemning the large number of targeted political assassinations of members of the LGBT community since the coup, which I am pasting below (in case you read Spanish). That letter will be available in English on my website by tomorrow.” For more info, contact Adrienne Pine at pine@american.edu

Amnesty International has issued a statement calling for an investigation of the murder, which you can read here: http://www.amnesty. org/en/for- media/press- releases/ honduras- full-and- prompt-investigation-needed- death-human- rights-campaign

More in Spanish on Trochez’ assassination at:

http://www.kaosenla red.net/noticia/ 110695/honduras- tantas-veces- mataron-tantas- veces-mori- walter-trochez- present and there are several news articles in Spanish available on Google News.

Trochez’s November 19 e-mail on LGBT assassinations in Honduras since the coup, in Spanish, is below.
El 16 de noviembre de 2009 13:44, Walter Trochez <walterhnte@yahoo. com> escribió:

Incremento de los crímenes de odio y homofobia hacia la Comunidad LGTTB a raíz del golpe de Estado cívico- religioso-militar en Honduras

El golpe de Estado cívico-militar sucedido en Honduras el 28 de junio pasado ha dado un vuelco brutal a la nueva perspectiva que se había abierto en el siglo XXI en América Latina. En efecto, la región estuvo sellada en los últimos diez años por la instauración de gobiernos de diferentes características cuyo denominador común es que significaron un cambio de rumbo respecto de las políticas neoliberales que alcanzaron su apogeo en la región en la última década del siglo XX. En muchos casos la forma parlamentaria asumida por los gobiernos de la región enmascaró hasta cierto punto la continuidad e identidad de las políticas sociales y económicas del neoliberalismo con las instauradas en la época de las dictaduras militares. La situación en Honduras vuelve a hacer manifiesta esa indisociabilidad entre las políticas sociales y económicas neoliberales y los intereses a cuyo servicio se perpetraron los crímenes de lesa humanidad por gobiernos de facto.

También vuelve a hacer manifiesto un dato más o menos disimulado por la retórica del “consenso” y la “tolerancia” a que se pretendió reducir la noción de democracia en el período subsiguiente a las dictaduras militares y guerras civiles que devastaron la región: no sólo la persistencia sino el rearme de los sectores civiles que recurrieron en otra etapa a las fuerzas armadas y de seguridad para imponer sus intereses, y que ahora combinan hábilmente su adaptación a los procedimientos democráticos con la conocida prepotencia e ilegalidad con que se imponen a poblaciones seminermes, semi cómplices. Sin ir más lejos, no es difícil ver en las fuerzas que sacaron ventaja en las elecciones legislativas en Argentina el mismo 28 de junio el apoyo, en algunos casos explícito, al golpe de Estado en Honduras, y una comunidad de intereses con el empresariado, las corporaciones mediáticas y la Iglesia Catolica y Evangélica que lo promovieron. A nuestros efectos es de destacar el explícito apoyo de la cúpula religiosa de Honduras al golpe cívico militar que el 28 de junio de 2009 impidió la realización de un plebiscito organizado por el gobierno legitomo constitucional y colocó en el Poder Ejecutivo a el Dictador Roberto y Micheletti.

Un comunicado de la Conferencia Episcopal de Honduras, firmado por los once obispos de la Iglesia Católica, justifica con supuestos fundamentos constitucionales el secuestro, la transitoria desaparición y expulsión del país del presidente constitucional: “las instituciones del Estado democrático hondureño están en vigencia y sus ejecutorias en materia jurídico-legal han sido apegadas a derecho…”. Además define la situación actual como “nuevo punto de partida para el diálogo, el consenso y la reconciliació n…” Por otra parte, en consonancia con la reacción y declaraciones de los movimientos sociales, especialmente LGTTB, campesinos, indígenas, del país, no se hicieron esperar las reacciones de las distintas organizaciones, Lésbicas, Gay, Bisexuales, Transexuales, Travestis (LGTTB), organizaciones, redes y movimientos juveniles, organizaciones Afrodecendientes, organizaciones de mujeres, activistas y defensores de derechos humanos, organizaciones y redes de derechos humanos condenando el golpe de Estado y llamando a la solidaridad regional e internacional con el Estado de derecho y con las víctimas de la represión del gobierno de facto.

Las organizaciones, redes y movimientos LGTTB en resistencia por ejemplo; condenan “el golpe político militar contra el estado de Honduras con el apoyo financiero de los empresarios de la ultraderecha latinoamericana y norteamericana, la promoción de las corporaciones mediáticas nacionales, la protección del Ombudsman mercantilista Ramón Custodio del Comisionado Nacional de los Derechos Humano de Honduras (CONADEH) y la bendición de las Iglesias católica y evangélica” atraves de sus máximos representantes como es el mismo Cardemal Oscar Andres Rodríguez,monseñ or Darwin Andino, Pasquel Rodríguez, Monseñor Garachana de la diócesis de San Pedro Sula, el pastor Oswaldo Canales actualmente presidente del Consejo Nacional Anticorrupció n CNA, el pastor Evelio Pistero de la Iglesia Vida y pisto Abundante, el Pastor René Peñalba y el pastor Alberto Solórzano y los ancianos cofundadores de la Iglesia Evangélica CCI . Expresan su “apoyo irrestricto al regreso del orden constitucional en Honduras que pasa por la restauración de la democracia”, y exige “el cese de la represión que vivimos las y los activistas y defensores de derechos humanos, las organizaciones que nos manifestamos contra el golpe por parte de los cuerpos militares y policiales retirados responsables de los desaparecidos y desaparecidas de la década del 80 en Honduras comandados por el asesino Billy Joya.

“Por su parte la Asociación LGTTB Arcoiris y el Colectivo TTT de la Ciudad de San Pedro Sula, activistas y defensores de derechos humanos, denuncian que desde el pasado 29 de junio del año en curso horas anteriores que se había generado el Golpe de Estado se incrementaron los crimes de odio y Homofobia promovidos por la Cupula Religiosa Hondureña en complicidad con los Grupos Opresores como son la Fuerzas Armadas, la Secretaria Nacional de Seguridad, la Empresa Privada, los Grupos Próvida, el Opus Dei, Estos delitos ponen una vez más en evidencia los altos niveles de odio, estigma y discriminació n contra personas de la diversidad sexual, lo que llamamos, homofobia, lesbofobia, bifobia, y sobre todo transfobia, de los que somos objetos las personas que tenemos una orientación sexual o identidad de género diferente a la del patrón de la norma heterosexual. En la ocasión de la pérdida de dos amigas más esta última semana, reiteramos que NO es ACEPTABLE que en estos últimos 4 meses, durante un tan corto periodo, hayan muerto de forma violenta cruel e inhumana 9 compañeras trans y compañeros gay, 6 de ellas/os en el sector de San Pedro Sula y 3 en la ciudad de
Tegucigalpa”.

Las y los mártires de la Comunidad LGTTB.

1. Viki Hernández 29 de junio, San Pedro Sula
2. Martina Jackson 30 de junio, Choloma
3. Fabio Zamora 05 de julio, Tegucigalpa
4. Héctor Maradiaga 11 de agosto, Tegucigalpa
5. Michelle Torres 30 de agosto, San Pedro Sula
6. Salomé Miranda 20 de septiembre, Choloma
7. Saira Salmerón 20 de septiembre, Choloma
8. Marión Lanza 09 de octubre, Tegucigalpa
9. Montserrat Maradiaga 11 de octubre, San Pedro Sula.

“Sépanlo bien: ni los corrompidos (corruptos) ni los impuros, ni los explotadores y explotadoras, que sirven al dios Dinero, tendrán parte en el reino de Cristo y de Dios”.

“Como revolucionario, estaré hoy, mañana y siempre en las primeras filas de mi pueblo, aún estando consiente que se nos podrá ir la vida”.

With thanks to my good friend, you know who you are,  who keepe me informed.

By Melanie Nathan,  nathan@privatecourts.com

Posted by Melanie Nathan –  Birther Brigade vs. Progressive Protesters -   I recently posted my support of the Progressive Protesters in Wheat Ridge, Colorado; – a group of women led by Pat and Maggie who braved the icy cold and the bullies from the wicked world of Wolf to defend our President and his birthright.   The Protesters are asking that Wolf respect our President and the Office of the Presidency by taking down this highly offensive Billboard.  They do believe it expresses racism and much more.

The self-righteous Birther Brigade is determined to spew hate, citing freedom of speech, feigning victimhood and asking YOU America to joint their ’cause.’  It is astonishing –  a man places this billboard with cartoon effigiesand traitorous accusations, on his business car dealership lot,  and calls for help for a ‘cause’ that is referring to our President in most hateful terms.   Then he has the audacity to complain about ‘hate’ directed at him. Of course we hate you Wolf – you put the Billboard up dammit!  Take the friggin thing down and maybe we will stop thinking you ARE a White supremacist. Take it down and maybe we will stp calling you hatemonger. Its very simple. Take it down Mr. Wolf and stop asking for answers that have already been given.

 Did he forget that he erected (note below his choice of word) the board?  What is his real cause; acknowledgment for the erection?

Here is what The Wolf has posted on his website:- where he proudly displays his ( ahem if you please…hate-free) Billboard 

“We here at Wolf’s Interstate have been called racists, bigots, hate-mongers, hillbillies, rednecks, and white supremacists among other things in the last few weeks because of our BILLBOARD that we erected on our dealership’s property last month.  Nothing could be further from the truth but some people won’t let it go and insist that since they feel they’re right and we’re in the wrong our opinions and right to free speech shouldn’t count.

Our billboard still stands asking one simple question and until it’s answered I don’t think it’s going anywhere so if you’d like to support the cause and show these people that they’re not the only vocal citizens, come on down to Wolf this Saturday the 12th of December for some free coffee and good conversation with people who are concerned about what is happening to this great country.  The protesters have organized to be here from 10am to 1pm standing on the corner but we’ll be here from 9am until 7pm and you’re welcome to come down whenever works best for you and meet the staff here at Wolf and tell us what you think.  Bring a sign or don’t, but be sure to bring a smile and show these protesters that you can voice your opinion without using the profanity and the name calling that they’re shoving on us.  Us “hate-mongers”? Sounds like the pot calling the kettle …”   http://www.wolfinterstateleasingandsales.com/2009/12/10/protest-this/

Okay Progressive Ladies you keep going and keep us posted……  hopefully more will join you tomorrow as you keep our guard -  Oh and while Wolf is serving up that free coffee to the degenrates that walk his lot – be sure to keep those free and meaningful hugs plentiful!

Call Wolf and tell him its enough -on 720 898 9019.

Blogger:
Melanie Nathan -
nathan@privatecourts.com

Photos: Provided by Pat Dunn.

 Blogged by melanie nathan – Kudos to Chris Johnson of DC AGENDA  for a great report;  Rep. Jerrold Nadler  said the Respect for Marriage Act,  would overturn the Defense of Marriage Act,  and would notpass next year.  The sponsor of the bill that would overturn the Defense of Marriage Act said repeal won’t happen in this Congress and that efforts next year will instead be focused on building support on the issue.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said in an interview with DC Agenda that lawmakers will work on passing other pro-LGBT bills next year, and could take up legislation to repeal DOMA — known as the Respect for Marriage Act — at the end of the two-year session starting in 2011. “The Respect for Marriage Act is a bill that we can’t pass right now; we know we can’t pass it right now,” he said.

Nadler apparently is reiterating the Barney Frank strategy voiced that Congress won’t take up the DOMA repeal next year because other LGBT-related bills, including the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, legislation providing partner benefits for LGBT federal workers and a repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” are taking precedence. Supporters hope to pass those measures by the end of 2010.  Nowhere do we have mention of UAFA (Uniting American Families Act) other than if it is not in Comprehensive Immigration reform, Nadler will come in with an amendment –albeit hard to the fight.

So as a tired activist having read this article we can all note that the order of things is the same, the timing is pushed even further forward and the progressives are following the beat of the usual drum.   The interview reports Nadler as saying,  “The Respect for Marriage Act comes up after that, maybe at the end of the next Congress, maybe afterward,” he said.

Nadler’s legislation would overturn DOMA, allowing the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages. It also has a “transport provision” that would allow same-sex couples to marry in one state and still receive federal benefits even if they move to another state where gay nuptials aare not recognized. 

The ripple impact of the removal of DOMA is that in all likelihood the US will have to recognize married gay couples for the purposes of immigration and then UAFA and immigration equality would be moot. There are an estimated 90,000 binational couples around the world, in hiding in US, abroad in exile, pending deportation or waiting for visas to expire.  Every time a gay married American’s spouse leaves the USA, entry back into the USA, even with a valid visa, is not guaranteed.

The entire article about the DOMA repeal legislation and all LGBT strategy can be found at http://dcagenda.com/2009/12/10/no-doma-repeal-next-year-nadler and is a worthy read.

So it seems to me that it is now all about building the support.  If this is the only way that this repeal happen then it is incumbent on all of us to get ourselves and families out there in front of our politicians – not giving up our dollars so easily to rusty old campaigners- and looking for the blood that beats from hearts such as ours.

 Even though we need to call our senators and members of Congress, asking them to sign on to the bill, we still need to wake America up to the fact that we exist, we are decent and we are not going away.

Gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) hasn’t signed on as a co-sponsor to Nadler’s bill, saying that lawmakers will instead focus on other LGBT issues this Congress and the bill’s trasport provision could cause political problems for House members seeking re-election. I completely disagree – this is a damned if you do and damned if you don’t moment.   I am so appalled at the tip- toe –thru- the –tulips  technique that smacks of low- self- politcal -rights- esteem. 

The article points out that  Nadler said he hasn’t “had too many conversations” with Pelosi on the proposed DOMA repeal since it was introduced, but noted that the speaker has privately encouraged House members to co-sponsor the bill. We all know – healthcare-healthcare-healthcare – financial crisis – queers get to the back of the line and with a little luck we may still be here for you when we get to you.  A big miscalculation by our own leadership – the timing -   did they think that a healthcare debacle and  would be the impetus for our legislation or the measure of faded promises?

  DC Agenda also reports Nadler had not spoken much with Frank on the issue since the bill’s introduction and from this I garnish perhaps some harsh feelings remain, a sense I had from my own discussions with senior staffers close to both Congressmen when the new bill was originally introduced. I believe Frank felt slighted at the fact that Nadler had jumped in with the all-encompassing legislation (The Big One) that would may have rendered Frank’s pets ENDA and DADT redundant.

Although supporters have said other bills will take priority this Congress, advocates for the DOMA repeal have hoped for congressional hearings on marriage by the end of next year. This is where the support can happen as we bring our stories to DC. 

Right now we cannot allow ourselves to be put off by or rely on a fragmented strategy and ineffective leadership we cannot  miss our beat – we have our work cut out for us more than ever.  This is our lives they are playing with and we don’t have time anymore. We have to play this differently to what we have been doing – or not doing! Eevery queer- gay- lesbian- treansgender- bi- questioning must get their story out to our members of Congress and Senators, in more than mere letter form.  Forget those standard letters they keep sending you to send – do this do that – blah – okay do it but that is not all you need to do. Write your own letter explaining who you are, what you do, what you like, what you want, tell them about your kids and how much everything is costing you without your rights. Get personal.  Our members of Congress are asking you to do it. Nadler has asked repeatedly to hear from our community. They want to meet you. Make an appointment with your member of congress or a staffer of your Senator. Turn uop and say I am here to collect my rights. Be nice be polite – let them see we are decent normal people.

Dc Agenda adds the quotes  -  “Some of the people we’re dealing with are very busy with a number of other things.”   There’s not a sense of urgency, the sense that this bill has to have a Senate sponsor right now because it’s going to pass right now, because it’s not, so we’re talking.” Even without a sense of urgency among lawmakers, Nadler said he thinks DOMA should be repealed because it’s “a stain on the national honor.” – Indeed I agree with Rep Nadler, but for me, because  it is such a severe civil rights abuse it is unconscionable, yet it is always on the backburner. 

Excluding a handful, our lawmakers do not care about us gays and lesbians – we are not a priority – and like an abandoned child I must cry and  tell them who I am – we must all cry out loudly now.  Rep. Nadler is a dear friend to our community, he can do no wrong in my eyes;  he is willing to truly stand up for what he believes to be the right thing, fearless of political misfire.  I know no other member of Congress as truly concerned– and so it is with gratitude that I commend the Congressman for being so open in the interview.  I know he is up against a huge brick wall and he is in essence begging for OUR help.

 Write a personal letter; attach photographs. Do it three times a year. Send a Holiday card with your family picture and tell them you are waiting for your equal treatment. It will go a long collective way.  Imagine if one in  every ten cards turns out to be from a queer constituent.

When it comes to UAFA – the major obstacle that UAFA supporters will face is opposition from Catholic leaders. This what I have been saying for a long time. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has urged lawmakers to exclude the provision from immigration reform because church leaders support reform, but oppose the LGBT-specific provision. The recent Manhattan Declaration certainly adds to this taint.  

Rep. Nadler said opposition to UAFA from Catholic leaders will make inclusion of the measure in the bill “a very difficult fight.”  This is precisely why I have been personally advocating for UAFA as a stand- alone Bill to give LGBT couples immigration rights; this is what I am sure Rep Nadler would have preferred. But one man can’t take on all.

I have been in disagreement with the Immigration Equality strategy since June of this year when they failed to pursue UAFA as a stand -alone at the appropriate time.  My earlier articles refer to this in more detail. Hanging around waiting for immigration reform has hurt binationals and the UAFA cause really badly. I pray that this strategy will work in the long run. I cannot wait to eat my words!  I too have had to join this imposed badwagon and have indeed risen to the occaision.  However as an advocate currently helping other binationals in crisis,  on a daily basis, this strategy is not serving us and remains risky and costly.  

I am not sure if the politicians get quite how cruel this lack of law is.  I rue the day when Steve Ralls and Immigration Equality sold out the “equality” in immigration for “immigrant reform.”  They might as well change their name to just that. It may seem like semantics, but it is not, and I fear our time has been lost by this dire distraction.

Even with opposition from Catholic leaders, Ralls said the list of religious groups who support the inclusion of UAFA in immigration reform “is very long and diverse,” and includes Quakers and Episcopalians. Ralls underestimates the Catholic power and did he forget the religious right?  The problem is that the Catholic leaders are now knee deep in our civil life and shoulder deep in immigration matters.

Ralls told DC Agenda  - “If the Conference of Catholic Bishops decides that they’re willing to throw the immigrant community under the bus because of the inclusion of LGBT couples, I think that would be a shame because, at the end of the day, immigration reform can help millions of families — both gay and straight — and that should be Congress’ priority.”  Well duh ….. it would be a shame, but what do you think is going to happen and when did you think people came ahead of zealot agenda and religious ferver seeking a bed in the center of Congress? It will not be seen as the fault of the Church it will be used against us and it will hurt. As the Catholic Church prepares to shoot its devotees in the toe, mostly Latina immigrants, the gay community will be vilified further and there will be a huge rise in Latina vs. gay animosity. 

We do not need it. It is a dire strategy by chosing it we are not bringing our exiles home. Why are you not fighting for the stand-alone based- not on immigration reform but rather based on the question of inequality; what about equality for the American gay  spouse who cannot sponsor a spouse?  Why have you coupled our inequality with immigration reform? It makes no sense to me. Entering the world of religious homophobia – purposefully, thinking that is our answer. We need UAFA as a stand- alone bill and now it may be too late.

When asked whether he would support immigration reform legislation that doesn’t include a UAFA provision, Nadler replied, “I hope it doesn’t come to that.” “All my efforts are designed to make sure it doesn’t come to that, so I’m not going to get into what happens at that point,” he said.

Again I urge my brothers and sisters to pick up the fight – we cannot sit back anymore – we all need to put a story in a card to our Reps.  Keep a look out there will be more to come and soon…

Blogged by melanie nathan,
www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com
nathan@privatecourts.com
Picture: Rep. Jerrold Nadler & melanie nathan.

Posted by Melanie Nathan: What happens when society fails to take cognizance of the ultimate ramifications of inequality? What happens when individual communities ignore discrimination? What happens when people are denied basic civil rights? It cannot be good, because you know what happens – it inevitably leads to the next step – and then the next step and the next and then a final solution – ‘a license to Kill.’

Marginalized communities are easy targets for scape-goating, becoming targets for those who recriminate by virtue of this perceived license. So has the final solution begun and is the Uganda ground zero? If we remain silent we are participants. We have learnt that lesson. Learning a lesson, however, is not enough – especially when the license has been activated and society has crossed into a danger zone leading to the level-of-non-return.

Until the LGBTQ citizens of this Universe receive generic acceptance as civil and human rights entitled, this license remains an active permission slip to head further down the slippery slope of this dangerous disregard to the pit below.

So to prove the point, there is a group on Facebook offering free guns to those who join and want to exterminate gays. A counter group has emerged to take the exterminators down. Here is their post. I suggest joining to help remove the hate and harm – however once you have done so, please understand that is not enough – it is time to vote pro-equality and to urge your representatives to take leadership roles, to move equality legislation forward. How can we stand before the world and reprimand Uganda when we are all headed down the same slope.

Ban the “GAY EXTERMINATORS” from Facebook

Category:

Common Interest – Politics

Description:

On Saturday. Dec. 5, I was made aware of a group on Facebook called GAY EXTERMINATORS.

When I went to their page to check it out, I was incensed. I quote: “we are a newly formed group that is specialized to kill and torture gays… we save mankind by killing gays and erase them from existence.. join us and get a free gun to kill gays today!”

I was one of many who posted and cross-posted their link, asking all of my friends to become involved by going to their link and reporting them to Facebook.

Their page went far beyond the rhetoric of most of the anti-LGBT sites on the internet. The GAY EXTERMINATORS were operating on a level of hatred unparalleled this side of Uganda.

This direct call for the murder of gays was, in and of itself, a criminal act, and early Sunday morning we were successful in getting Facebook to take down their group page.

Unfortunately, their event page entitled GAY JUDGEMENT DAY, which featured a cartoon of a man mutilating another man’s genitals with a chainsaw, was left up.

After numerous protests, Facebook removed the event page on Monday, Dec. 7.

While I appreciate Facebook’s rapid response to our protests, I do not feel that their response is adequate. The individual pages of the creator, the administrators and the officers of this group are still up and running. I am of the belief that they should be taken down as well.

I quote from Facebook’s own policy on groups operating on their site: “Groups that attack a specific person or group of people (e.g. racist, sexist, or other hate groups) will not be tolerated. Creating such a group will result in the immediate termination of your Facebook account.”

I read this to mean that not only will any group that operates in this manner have their page removed, but that any person who creates or operates such a group will have their Facebook account terminated.

Make no mistake about one thing: This group was NOT simply exercising free speech! By calling on their supporters to murder gays, they were using Facebook to commit a crime and, as such, exposed Facebook to legal liability. Facebook has an obligation, not only to us, its users, but to itself, to terminate the accounts of these individuals and to bar their IP addresses from ever using Facebook in this manner again.

If you agree with this position, please join this group, so that together we may prevent this sort of hate group from ever being created again. In a few weeks, hopefully we will have enough members to be able to convince Facebook to terminate the administrators’ accounts.(read more)

Blogged by Melanie Nathan. 12/08/2009
nathan@privatecourts.com

Posted by Melanie Nathan
LGBT  CIVIL RIGHTS AROUND the WORLD
US does not make the list….
Seems to me the Vatican Stands more chance of passing pro LGBT Legislation than the US

Belgium – 1/30/03: becomes the second nation in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. At least one of the spouses must has lived in the country for a minimum of three months.

Croatia – Civil partnerships for same-sex couples have been granted in Croatia since 2003. Same-sex partners must have shared a residence for at least three years. Civil unions in Croatia include some, but not all of the rights and benefits of marriage.  Croatia also prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Ireland – 6/26/09: Ireland expands rights for gay and lesbian couples by legalizing same-sex civil partnerships. The new law in the heavily Catholic country grants some, but not all, of the rights of civil marriage.

Luxembourg -Civil partnership legislation modeled after France’s PACS in 2004, with less right than full marriage. Same-sex couple adoption is still prohibited.

Netherlands – 4/1/01: The Netherlands becomes the first nation to legalize same-sex marriage. 1/1/98: Registered partnerships were introduced into law in the Netherlands. 1/1/09: Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Norway, making the country the sixth in the world to legalize gay marriage.

Norway 8/1/93: Civil unions are recognized in. Homosexuality was outlawed in Norway up until 1973./15/01: Civil union were extended to same-sex couples. Couples must have been living together for two years. No registration is required. 10/10/08: A same-sex marriage bill introduced into Parliament failed by a vote of 202 to 28.   

 Spain 7/3/05: legalizes same-sex marriage, becoming the third nation behind the Netherlands and Belgium to grant gay marriage.

Sweden 4/1/09: A parliamentary vote of 261 in favor and 22 opposed eliminated the legal distinction between gay/lesbian and straight couples by making marriage laws gender neutral. Sweden became the seventh country to legalize same-sex marriage. Registered partnerships were introduced into law in Sweden in 1995./5/05: Registered partnership laws grant same-sex couples the same rights of marriage shy of fertility treatments, adoption and surname rights.

 United Kingdom -12/5/05: Domestic partners were allowed to register under the Civil Partnership Act. The legislation took effect, giving registered same-sex couples all of the rights, privileges and responsibilities of married heterosexual couples. The Civil Partnership Act applies across all of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

New Zealand 12/9/04: Same-sex civil unions were introduced into law. Civil union rights include immigration, social welfare and property rights, among other benefits. However, unmarried couples cannot adopt children.

South Africa 11/30/06: became the fifth country, and the first in Africa, to legalize same-sex marriage.

Denmark   6/7/89: The world’s first country to grant same-sex civil partnerships. These civil unions carry ; most, but not all, of the same rights and benefits of marriage. 3/17/09: Legislation was introduced to legalize same-sex adoption.

Finland has offered registered partnership benefits since September 2001. Partners, however, cannot take on surnames or adopt. |

France 11/9/99: Pacte Civil de Solidarité” (PACS) or “Civil Solidarity Pacts” was enacted for both same-sex and heterosexual couples. PACS are registered contracts between couples. PACS individuals are still considered single for some governmental purposes, but are afforded some rights and benefits of marriage.

German same-sex couples are allowed to register as life partners under the Life Partnership Act. Registered couples do not receive the full benefits of marriage. 10/12/04: Rights to registered partners were expanded to include second parent adoption and simpler alimony and divorce rules. Tax benefits were not included in the expansion.

Hungary – 1996: Both same-sex and heterosexual couples in an economic and sexual relationship are granted medical, funeral, pension and immigration rights. Couples were not required to register with the state.  12/15/08: The Hungarian Constitutional Court rejects a registered partnership bill approved by Parliament on December 17, 2007 for reasons that it duplicated marriage laws for opposite sex couples. New legislation specifically for same-sex couples was ordered.  2/12/09: Parliament approves a new registered partnership bill, giving same-sex couples all of the rights of marriage with the exception of adoption and surname rights. The law took effect on July 1, 2009.

Iceland -  Gay and lesbian Icelanders have been protected under registered partnerships since 1996, granted the full rights of marriage. 6/27/06: Same-sex couples are granted adoption rights.  2/1/09: Iceland elects, Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir, the first openly LGBT head of government.

Let me know if you have a better title for this!   I came to live in the US some 24 years ago, in the earnest belief that there would be no racism in this my new country; I believed that this America was the greatest and most free place on earth.  Clearly my impression stemmed from the context of an apartheid South Africa and an America subscribing to economic sanctions and boycotts in an attempt to bring the Apartheid regime to its knees. To me that spoke volumes. 

Enter me into a racist free America, Los Angeles, 1985- five years before the release of Nelson Mandela. There was nothing more unlikely than the release of Mandela, nothing less likely than a “New South Africa” and least likely an all inclusive constitution and Bill of Rights that would seek to protect all South Africans regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation.  That was the context of my arrival; preconceived and unlikely…..   

I arrived in the US having practiced law in South Africa for the preceding six years.  Relieved to find work, after having paid some hard labor dues as all good immigrants do, I found a job and was soon appointed as Director of Legal Affairs for a Property Development Company in downtown Los Angeles. 

My boss, stationed in his Beverley Hills enclave, so that he could snort ”goodness knows what” while directing his downtown employees via speakerphone, asked me to hire a new receptionist for the office.  Having placed our ad in the classifieds (no internet at the time) he informed me that he did not want me to hire a “black person.”    I was absolutely astounded. Astounded!  “This is America where there is no racism,” my naïve little mind endeavored to remind me. 

Having left South Africa with the mere dollars allowed by currency control regulations for a new life abroad, I was desperate for this job.  My first job was a $5.00 an hour showing people to their seats in a restaurant job. So when I got my important job, albeit the lowest salary in the history of important jobs,  I was determined to prove myself and ‘do my time,’ pending the American dream!   Never before had I been asked to discriminate in this way. Even though I had lived in South Africa I believed I had escaped the confines of a racism at its worst, however now realizing that at least delineation by law, makes the parameters of one’s existence reliable and clear.  “But here in America?   How do I do that? What is going on? There is no racism here!”

Saddled with this confounding burden, and so far from the person inside of me; I questioned myself: “do I leave my precious yet disgusting  job or do I find a way around this situation?”  Here is where my “in the now” persona coupled with own desperation merged, as if one.   I decided I would see all applicants for the job, regardless of my mandate and then deal with the choices after I found the best applicants.   That would be it!  I would simply let it all unfold.  This was a perfect solution as far as I was concerned for a procrastinator such as myself – “don’t deal now!”

So the interviews commenced.  I do not recall how many candidates I interviewed, it was a decent amount. I started the process by choosing the most suitably experienced from the resumes and then called the candidates in for interviews.  Mere months in the USA, I had no idea that names could denote race and so retrospectively I know for sure that any form of consciousness around name profiling simply could not have happened.

I narrowed the process down to top three candidates and then  spent time making my decision relieved that none were ‘black,’  thereby extinguishing the need to even face the problem my boss had potentially bestowed upon me.  I hired a very personable, well qualified young lady for the job. Her demeanor and qualifications were exactly what would work in our set-up.   Darlene (her real name) was perfect – she had a great outward appearance, and was really smart and I truly enjoyed her company.   Darlene commenced work and was indeed perfect for the job and she enjoyed a good speaker- phone relationship with the boss who seemed pleased with her work.  About three months into her hire the boss decided to bless us with his physical appearance.  I will never forget his walking into my office saying, “I thought I told you not to hire a black person!”  I was puzzled, Darlene was not black!

I soon learnt a few things. I learnt that black in South Africa and black in America did not always involve the same physical characterizations. In apartheid South Africa there were racial classifications ascribed by law and they were:  Black; Colored, Indian and White, and these were indeed significant distinctions in South Africa which was divided by the Group Areas Act, placing us all in separate residential areas.   Retrospectively if I were to place Darlene into a South African racial category she would probably have been classified as “colored” but never “black.”   In my mind she was not black. So in my ignorance of US racism, I was duped, and my naivety certainly did not help; even if it would have made a difference to my decisions at the time. 

Well as time went by, Darlene and I struck up a friendship where we used to confide in each other; she would tell me how her boyfriend drove a Porsche and was constantly being pulled over by LAPD because people of his color were not expected to show up in fancy vehicles.  As it turned out Darlene’s boyfriend happened to be the now celebrated rapper, ‘ICE-T.’    The two of them were subject to awful racism in their leasing of apartments and through other forms of racial profiling. 

Ironically and lucky for Darlene  (and me too), when it came to her job at that time, I was a product of apartheid, where strict racial classification may have served to trip me up; and who knows what I may have done when confronted with losing my precarious survival to racism.

Darlene was a great employee and was even promoted in her tenure. I think as Ice-T became more famous- she left the Company.  I left after one year as I had refused to participate in the boss’s -shall I say – “anti-tenant” behavior.  I left with no job and no way to survive – but clearly made my way…

As we enter this milieu of profound racial consciousness, here in the US kids are being thrown out of clubs and pools, others are dragging effigies behind vehicles, hate crimes prevail, our President is a target of the most profound racism and I can only wonder what will it take for this insidious behavior to finally change?  

 UPDATE

After I wrote this I went online looking for links and look at what I found:- an interview with Darlene – wop probably does not know my side of her hiring story. I had no idea it was a fake resume until reading this….oh for the internet …. I guess when you read about that ‘nice lady, it must be me –lol;- I did not remember Darlene’s last name until I Googled her; she probably did not remember any of my name- Melanie Nathan! I quote an excerpt from the interview piece

“  …..the fall of 1985, she moved to Fullerton (an hour car ride from the city) with her sister and attended a local high school. After three months, she decided this situation wasn’t going to work. Darlene and Ice continued dating during this time, although distance hindered the frequency of their rendezvous. “I didn’t drive and he didn’t have a car [Ice's Porsche had just been wrecked], so it was difficult. Sometimes he would borrow a friend’s car or someone would drive him out there. That’s a long way to come to see somebody. When I was ready to leave my sister’s house, One day, I just told him, ‘I’d like to move in with you.’ I don’t know if I just threw myself at him, but he said, “Okay.’”

Ice was still struggling to get signed in the music biz, and there was no real income coming in, so Darlene went out to find a job only to have a chance meeting with a woman who was fascinated with her look. At a graffiti exhibition featuring the work of one Fred Brathwaite (Fab 5 Freddy), Darlene was approached by the curator’s wife and was asked to be the host of the Charmers French Market restaurant she was opening in Santa Monica. The project wouldn’t be finished for months, so Darlene was offered a position as a receptionist at Ace Gallery on Melrose until the restaurant opened. “

I loved it. Ice had just gotten the Porsche together. He’s had that Porsche forever, but it was wrecked and we could only afford to fix it up to a certain point. It had no seatbelt, no headlights, no windshield, no top. So here I am trying to go to work from Hollywood to Santa Monica. One night, I left the job at two in the morning. It was raining and I got my first ticket. I was scared. But I had to do what it took to get to work. The cops were busting two guys, but when they saw that car go by… Here I am, bleached blonde with a headband [in her Madonna phase] driving in the rain with no top, so I’m getting wet. I got no lights, no windshield wipers. I thought it was too far to be taking the bus, and coming home late was too scary, so I was like, ‘we gotta do something about this.’ That was is. I quit that.

Though Darlene was still very much excited about L.A., things began to get tougher. “I had to get a job because he was pursuing his music and, of course, his friends were still out there doing their thing that he stopped doing. There wasn’t any big money at the time, so for him to be doing the music and his friends still making money, it was hard for him. He was totally doing his thing legit and it was hard. I was behind him. I was in love with him. I was excited and thrilled to be here, so I went out and got a job and started going to night school at Hollywood High.”

Family and friends were skeptical of Darlene living with a Black man in big, bad Los Angeles, but she was out to prove that she had evolved beyond the small-town confinement. Since she was already capable of typing 78 words per minute, Darlene, then 20, created a fake resume and landed a job as a receptionist at Sassoony Developing, a company responsible for constructing mini-malls around the metro L.A. area. “I loved that place because they gave me so much respect. I was the youngest person there and started off as a receptionist. I eventually moved up after a year when the nice lady who hired me made me her personal secretary. Then I got to hire my own person for the receptionist position. It felt so good. I was excited, like, ‘I’m moving up big time.” 

by, Melanie Nathan -nathan@privatecourts.com

  By Melanie Nathan:  38-24 –numbers that may win someone the lottery some day but could not be more invidiously representative of anything other than the most pusillanimous* perfidy of the year…

 The people of New York State are not against Gay marriage, yet its representatives are; how does one explain such a phenomenon?  The deliberate duplicity of the eight democrats who voted ‘no’ was characterized by Senator Tom Duane as pure betrayal – and the infringing eight are:-

1. Joseph Addabbo (D) (518) 455-2322; 
2. Darrel Aubertine (D) (518) 455-2761;
3. Ruben Diaz (D) (518) 455-2511; 
4. Shirley Huntley (D) (518) 455-3531;
5. Carl Kruger (D) (518) 455-2460; 
6. Hiram Monserrate (D) (518) 455-2529;
7. George Onorato (D) (518) 455-3486; 
8. William Stachowski (D) (518)-455-2426.

CNN reports that the Marist College poll released the same day as Senate vote finds that a majority of New Yorkers support marriage equality at 51-42%.   It is quite ironic that their representatives left their spines at home the day of the vote. They chose to vote NO contrary to their supposed democratic ideals, regardless of fairness for their constituents, and in defiance of colleagues. What can they be afraid of if they are not fearful of re-election? Their ‘no’ votes will not please constituents, given the polls. Could it be a concomitant of their respective personal beliefs – anti-gay; anti-equality; church bonded, some bog donor dangling some big carrot?  I suggest that all the 51 % pro same-sex marriage supporters censure this disdainful crew, through the withdrawal of all support, to the point of bye-bye political careers.  Instead of assisting to make history in the interests of equality this group of schmendricks are now ensconced in the RAINBOW HALL OF SHAME.

 Anger aside, what is truly most hurtful to me is my own ebbing trust; a tide that is pulling me farther and farther out to sea and with every “NO you cannot,” my wedding cake icing, “Yes We Can” flails in its hopeless glaze, as my excruciating retort from the failure of the Democratic Party to hone a faithful and authentic crew, edges to that part of the ocean that slips beyond the horizon. 

 In viewing the roll, every single Republican voted NO – not one of them out of their usual and profoundly effective lock step. Reminiscent of Rex Harrison during ‘My Fair Lady’, “Why can’t the English learn to speak-” ‘why can’t the democrats learn to vote?” This malfunction is the Democratic Achilles heel and New York State is a tip of the iceberg.  If only the democrats could vote in sync each and every time maybe something will change here in ‘Retro-land.’

 Where is our Martin Luther King, to lead us through the streets of this unconscious wasteland; – where the GOOD are few, the BAD are many and the GUTlLESS prevail.

 P.S. Call the Gutless Crew and let them know what you think of their vote.

 (*showing a contemptible lack of boldness and resolve)

Authored by Melanie Nathan- (citizen,  mother, wife,  daughter, queer, a  niece, cousin,  Aunt, Sister, friend,  wise-fool, volunteer, in the box, out the box, – still planet earth, comparative privilege, ever-grateful, trying to feel pain, measured guilt,  abhorred by injustice, glass half full half the time, too well-read and out-traveled; lived in Africa, live in USA, mediator, advocate, activist, idealist, dreamer, doer, done! nathan@privatecourts.com ; www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com

 By Melanie Nathan -  After much back and forth emanating from my article on the Manhattan Declaration, a comment by Paula Brooks (thanks Paula) sent me scurrying to the CATH PEWS site.  If you have read the thread of over 100 comments from the latter article, you will note the tussle between LGR and CATH PEWS.  The site Administrator of Cath-Pews has denied gay hate, anti-gay language, yet it is very easy to find.  The articles they provide to enhance their arguments against gay marriage are hateful in purpose. It is there to subvert our rights and our equality.  How else can it be construed?

 So having been challenged by the admin of Cath -Pews I am providing a cryptic analysis based of one such article promoted by Cath Pews.   I have provided a demarcation between the article wording and my comments as can be seen from ITALIC BOLD = CATH-PEWS and REGULAR= Melanie.

 ANDERSON:-   ARTICLE :_
How to Make the Case for Marriage ,
(Using Non-religious Language)  
By Mary Jo Anderson

 Whether we like it or not, secularism is the dominant mode of public discourse today. Even those we encounter who are not “anti-faith” often place a high value on their understanding of “separation of church and state.”  Catholics must therefore be prepared to support moral positions without recourse to Scripture or religious vocabulary. That is an enormous challenge to Catholics who want to defend and preserve marriage as the only healthy model for an orderly society.  Before we go any further, we should make it clear that using secular terms to make the case for marriage in secular terms in no way suppresses or denies the faith. While it does omit a higher dimension of marriage, the secular case is effective because all truth—including the truth about men and women, marriage and family—is God’s truth. 

 MELANIE – Anderson, the Author provides an excuse and subversive means to hide the intention of faith behind overt secular language. This article is all but a ruse a desperate attempt to provide secular legitimacy to a faith based argument.  You cannot hide behind the intention! Simply ridiculous!

 ANDERSON – As such, it has an internal coherence that is part of the created order. One need not credit God with the physical laws of nature, such as gravity, to know that gravity works. Where the physical laws are violated, breakdown occurs. The same goes for the moral realm: A violation of God’s moral order brings chaos in human relationships. The evidence of that chaos is the source of the daily headlines and the nightly news broadcasts. When people of faith make the case for marriage using this kind of evidence, it is less likely to be perceived as “imposing religion.”

 MELANIE:-  This is a flagrant misrepresentation, as is the entire surreptitious intent of this article-  (A Catholic Virtue – to be manipulative and furtive? Anderson is providing the readers a way to Circumvent the truth of their own assertions by trying to slip it into secular form; a clear case of scape-goating?  How do we know that the church itself is not to blame for the depravity on earth?  After all the church has a violent history, borne through war for conversion!

ANDERSON   There is a secular argument for preserving natural marriage as the only legal definition of marriage and the one model of family life deserving of tax relief. The major building blocks are these:

1.             Nations that fail to form families suffer grave consequences, including loss of workers, loss of tax base, and decline in human ingenuity and productivity

MELANIE :-  “The proof of the pudding is in the eating”   as my beloved granny Rose would say: Firstly there are an ever increasing amount of Gay families out there.  In the US and abroad who are contributing to society in a big way.   The new census  2010, may reveal these numbers.  Let me give you my family as one itsy bitsy example and as a metaphor for all of us:-

I am a lesbian. I married spouse under California Law. We have been together for almost 10 years.  

I went to University for many years and have law degrees, which I use in my Conflict Resolution and Mediation practice, which I established over ten years ago.  I used to practice law and decided I would prefer to resolve conflict through mediation.  I function as any other American who owns a business.  The fact that my spouse is of the same sex has zero impact on my productivity or functionality.   In fact I was recently appointed by our County Board of Supervisors as a Commissioner on the County Human Rights Commission.  I serve on the Board as Vice President of A Fair Housing Group and volunteer in our congregation on social justice issues. I volunteer in the Courts to mediate family law matters for people who cannot afford attorneys.  I advocate in DC for equality. I would say about 90% of my free time is devoted to volunteer or pro bono work.   

My spouse teaches Hebrew language to children and adults; as well as bible studies.  She has   almost complete a Masters in Education.  She is brilliant and spends much of her free time with our children.  Our four year old has never had a babysitter because one of us is with the kids at all times.

In fact your argument is so false it makes an argument for the fact that we NEED EQUALITY.  You see we do not get to file Federal tax returns together and so everything costs us more. We have no Federal government benefits.   Your argument highlights that gay families are discriminated (in fact your thesis even calls for the discrimination …”no tax relief..”) against because within the realm of our productivity we are denied the  benefits that you get as a result of your productivity = unequal!   Your productivity does not endure as a result of your sex nor that of your spouse; my production does not occur as a result of my sex or the fact that my spouse is of the same sex.   The government takes our tax money- but as separate and not as joint, while we function as fiscally joint. Your argument has no foundation and simply makes no sense.

We have two daughters.  One was adopted from an orphanage in Vietnam as an infant, suffering from malnutrition and scabies; and is now a thriving all A’s scholar, budding young leader, who loves to help those less fortunate than herself.  She has great talent and will certainly be a productive and well adjusted adult. She will go to University, get a degree, help others, continue to volunteer for our congregation which focuses on helping the needy.  Just last week her class organized a lunch for homeless people in the area. This is not just a one- time event.   

My second daughter was conceived through donor sperm and Artificial Insemination.  She is four now and very smart. We were able to choose sperm of a genius and so have contributed to the population. Who knows maybe our daughter will be President of this Country. Who knows maybe our daughter will be the one to find a cure for diabetes, cancer, aids. Point is – we as a family have conscientiously and decidedly contributed to the increase of population and done so in a responsible fashion.

The adoption costs us about $35,000 and the insemination cost us about $8,000.  So you can see by choosing our modes of ‘birth” if you will, we have contributed to the economy.  We have saved a child from a difficult life and turned it into a situation where she will be ready to give to society in a big way. We pay for childcare, we pay for extra -activities, we pay for clothes, for food

IN SUM ,  Anderson  re my family:

1. We have added to human ingenuity;
2. We provide tax base plus more than we ought to if we had equality;
3.We are an extraordinarily productive family and contribute to our economy in a big way;
4. There are hundreds of thousands of other families like us- maybe millions;
5. If we had equal rights then we would have an opportunity to have more contributing gay families – and increase productivity.    

Conclusion – This  Anderson Argument is DOA!

ANDERSON:-  2. The question is not about denying individual rights but about promoting the good of the whole society.

MELANIE:- This is the argument that I just cannot understand. Most Pedophiles are straight white men.  Most incest occurs via straight fathers raping their children.  The US divorce rate is high;   we all know and easily condoned by Churches – some of which choose annulment. The latter simply denies the marriage ever took place even though there are children. Is that not destructive on society and morality?  

This particular statement made me laugh because of the contradiction in terms.  Ms. Anderson   we will be promoting the good of society if we had equal rights.  How can you on any level think that by denying equality society will improve? (Maybe we ought to bring Jesus in here – lest I forget this is a secular argument.)   Inequality leads to hate, validates inequities and injustice on a secular level. The scales are tipped. People suffer terrible hardship, such as Shirley Tan who highlights the plight of all  binational gay couples.   You tube and hear her testimony.

The question IS about denying rights and in doing so you are promoting an unequal society.  Argument DOA.

ANDERSON:-  3. Marriage and family provide benefits to society by producing, raising, and educating the next generation.

MELANIE:- Gay and lesbian families are in no way deterred in this function. We are already doing this and having equal rights and benefits will only strengthen our ability to be more even productive. Oh yes… Britney Spears marrying for 24 hours is productive; reality shows making a mockery of marriage where you line up bachelors and pretend to fall in love for TV exposure is a fine way to honor marriage and maintain its sanctity.  I could go on…. Let us add this to our secular argument.   Anderson Argument DOA.

ANDERSON:-  4. A strong family life offers the benefits of mental and emotional health.

MELANIE : Gay and lesbian families are in no way deterred in this function. We are already doing this and having equal benefits and rights will only strengthen our health.  Studies have been done to show how stressful it can be not to have equal rights.   

What part of my family life is not strong?  What position is Ms. Anderson in to make that assumption or judgment unless based on falsehood.  Would you like testimonials from my daughter’s school, from my clergy?  From my neighbors, from the homeless guys we fed yesterday?  Are you thinking my kids will turn out to be criminals? Are you presuming that my emotional and mental State is not in good order?  Simply ludicrous.  I can list the names of professionals, judges, politicians, moms, teachers, doctors, scientists, professors who are openly gay and who offer perfect emotional and mental health in living their lives at home and in society.  Who are you using as your example the ‘straight’ Senator with a straight marriage who played tootsie- footsie under the toilet door with a male prostitute?

 It is not possible with the amount of parental involvement and love we provide, to imagine that my home is anything but emotionally stable.  I am  not in need of super nanny and nor do I need a reality show.    There are studies showing that gay parents are of a high caliber and that we provide good and safe homes for our kids. . There are many millions of emotionally imbalanced straight families.  What about the woman, Smith who drove her kids into a pond and drowned them?   The mother who drowned five kids in the bath tub?  The suicides stemming from military returning home from WAR? What about the child abuse day to day; the trash who loose their kids in the night to suspect circumstances? You only have to watch Nancy Grace’s show to see that my life and that of hundreds of thousands of gay families have had nothing to do with the sicko’s in this society.  Straight America is doing fine in its own destruction without gay help or influence. I challenge you to find one gay family convicted of murder.   Anderson argument = DOA

ANDERSON:-  5. These blocks build on the foundation of the common good: shared commitment to a society ordered to the good of the most members.   No Marriage, No Civilization

MELANIE:- Exactly and thanks for making my case and RESTING  MY CASE FOR ME-  THANKS MARY JO ANDERSON – not only have you failed to make your secular argument but you have revealed a furtive attempt to avoid the faith based argument AND  you have successfully made the argument for WHY GAY MARRIAGE EQUALITY WILL ACTUALLY ENHANCE SOCIETY.  

  Yeah – at last We are in agreement marriage – Civilization – Give everyone the right to marriage one person of their choice regardless of sexual identity. This secular argument, albeit furtive,  works after all. It works for our equality and not against it.  So maybe Ms. Anderson your attempts have backfired and you should go back to your religious argument. In truth the religious argument is the only one that may hold any relevance at all and to that end I say thank G-d for the separation of Church and State.

In the words of Anderson per an article on credentials for Bishops “Our bishops must foster authentic marriage and family life. In the heart of the family the dignity of the human person is taught and the future is nurtured. Healthy families are the source of a moral people, ethical citizens, and vocations,” she concluded. ”

In light of this comment Ms. Anderson how hypocritical is it of you to argue against marriage for all G-d’s flock?

  Mary Jo Anderson :-  

By Blogger, Melanie Nathan, contact
nathan@privatecourts.com /
www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com

  by  Melanie Nathan:  I do not go a single day without wondering how the Federal Government can usurp the rights I have been given by my State,  which rights in essence are nothing more than civil rights providing me with rights equal to my fellow Americans.  Doma is a Con, and America has fallen for it, including President Obama.  What will happen if we disregard DOMA; if we simply pretend it is not there?  The only way we can do that is to keep asserting our rights and filing in the forms that they say do not apply to us. 

 Time.com reports a bombshell and a big kick in the side for the Obama Administration.  A little hole in DOMA which may lead to a blow out for the iniquitous law:

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeal issued an unusual and exceedingly profound challenge to the power of the Executive Branch, by doing something not even the most sweeping state-court constitutional decisions on gay marriage have been  able to do: put the issue of equal treatment for gays to President Barack Obama in a way he will find hard to ignore.  

 ”The Office of Personnel Management shall cease at once its interference with the jurisdiction of this tribunal. “  He gave the Obama Administration 30 days to permit Karen Golinski, a lawyer employed by the Ninth Circuit, to include the woman she married under California law last year on her family health-insurance plan. “Some branch must have the final say on a law’s meaning. At least as to laws governing judicial employees, that is entirely our duty and our province. We would not be a co-equal branch of government otherwise.”

Will President Obama defend the actions of the FEDS and refer to the Defense of Marriage Act, a policy that Obama has consistently said that he is against (even though the Obama Administration has defended the law on several occasions since his taking office), and run the risk of Judge Kuzinski taking further legal action?  Or, will they concede that the Office of Personnel Management overstepped its bounds by interfering with the judicial branch, and flirt with conceding too that DOMA itself is overreaching and infringes not just on this one Court’s ability to make rulings independently, but a state’s right to autonomy, and, as part of that, its right to define marriage by its own constitution as expressly stated as part of the Defense of Marriage Act?

The unusual order is only incidentally about gay rights — the judge sidestepped the constitutional question about gays entirely — and is instead a fiery defense of the rights of the judiciary to manage its own employees. But if the Administration chooses to fight the order, it will have to tread carefully to avoid looking to gay-rights advocates like it is waging war in defense of a statute — the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) — that candidate Obama had said should be overturned.

“Kozinski’s order comes at an interesting time in the Ninth Circuit. It was matched last week by an order by a fellow judge on the appeals court, who ruled that Brad Levenson, a public defender working for the federal courts, was entitled to back pay to cover costs associated with buying separate insurance policies he purchased for Tony Sears, whom he married under California law before last year’s Prop 8 made gay marriage illegal there. That state constitutional amendment will itself be on trial beginning in January, when a U.S. district judge in San Francisco will hold the first federal jury trial on whether the U.S. Constitution requires that gay couples be given the opportunity to be married. As chief judge of the circuit, Kozinski will then almost certainly hear the Prop 8 case when it goes on appeal.”

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1942791-1,00.html#ixzz0Y76ZmcT3

So I say if you believe you are entitled Fill in that Form and help put another nail in the coffin signaling the DEMISE OF DOMA.  By the way keep your eye on this one.

Blogged by Melanie Nathan, nathan@privatecourts.com

JOHANNESBURG – South African runner Caster Semenya will keep her 800-meter gold medal from the world championships, and the results of her gender tests will be kept confidential, the South African sports ministry said Thursday.  However, the question of whether she remains eligible to compete as a woman remained uncertain. 

The ministry also said in a statement that the International Association of Athletics Federations has agreed to allow the 18-year-old Semenya to keep her prize money. Blogged by Melanie Nathan.

 By Melanie Nathan:  With the potential to give all Church’s a bad rap, a diverse group of Christian leaders joined together Nov. 20 to declare a commitment to defend the sanctity of human life, biblical marriage and religious liberty without compromise. One hundred and fifty evangelical, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox signers said they were coming together to “embrace our obligation” to speak and act in support of the dignity of all human beings, marriage as the union of a man and a woman, and the freedom to express religious convictions. It is imperative that Church leaders and those of faith who disagree with this, not remain silent, but provide the backlash such hate deserves.

The 4,700-word statement, yet another reproach for the LGBT communities, named the Manhattan Declaration,  asserted: “[W]e will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act,” the statement says, “nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s.”

 ”If you look at the Manhattan Declaration, we are clear that we see a genuine increase in the threat, especially on the sanctity of life front,” said Robert George, a Roman Catholic and a professor at Princeton University. “That’s the result of the federal government having an administration that is deeply committed to legal abortion and [government funding] and a majority in both houses of Congress that share that commitment…. We could have said many of the things that we are saying today a year ago, but some of the things we are saying today have an urgency to them as a result of the [Obama administration].”

 This declaration was drafted in last summer and was worked upon for several months before it was declared on Friday by the leaders of Conservative Christian communities.

The Conservative Christian communities in this declaration are implored to disagree with all rules and regulations that   accept any ideals against Christian doctrines, marriages in same sex and abortion. The leaders of Christianity supporting the declaration stated, “They are motivated and come from the deepest resources of our faith.” They also added that they could have made the declaration earlier but they consider this declaration to be more relevant for the present and future. According to the advocates of this declaration, ‘historic understanding of marriage’, ‘religious liberty’ and ’sanctity of life’ are the major highlights of this declaration.    

Yet, in snide hypocrisy these so called Leaders of Catholic, Evangelical and Orthodox groups were present during the declaration and made it clear that the declaration does not have any political interest.

 So yes, those of a faith that declares its hate – you may – but do not take the majority of Americans for fools, for we believe that you are in truth endeavoring to impact politically. I trust that the majority of true Christians will declare opposition to this statement that purports to speak for all of faith- because it is simply not so for those who subscribe to G-d as a loving G-d.

 Let us not forget the way the various Churches and doctrines have been used to pronounce upon policy through the world over many an era; in modern times we can look to the abhorrent example of Apartheid.  Born from Calvinism in Europe and transported to South Africa via the arrival of Jan Van Riebeck in 1652 on the Shores of the Cape, developed a group who considered themselves a nation of people, the Afrikaner, a white minority in Southern Africa.  They used gunpowder and bible under the Dutch Reform Church’s teachings to ensure that black people were ruled undeserving of equality, that black Africans had an inferior place, one of servitude in a society of religious fervor. In 1949 Apartheid was born, a direct concomitant of these interpretations of the Bible and that birth was engendered in the form of LAW, yes legislation that declared racial prejudice legal, but also institutionalized the required compliance with its discriminatory codes.

 By: Melanie Nathan,
www.nathan@privatecourts.com 
www.visualcv.com/melnathan 
Note Photo: Consist of Archbishop Wuerl/

Updated – Donald William Wuerl (born November 12, 1940) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the sixth and current Archbishop of Washington, having previously served as Bishop of Pittsburgh from 1988 to 2006.  Evangelicals like Chuck Colson, Roman Catholics like Archbishop Donald Wuerl, and the other religious leaders who signed the “Manhattan Declaration” don’t seem to understand that justifying discrimination in the name of religious freedom is dangerous to society.

UPDATED: By now we have all heard about the Manhattan Declaration put out by various religious right figures and groups urging, among other things, non-cooperation with laws that in any way recognize same sex couples. It has been condemned in many circles and for good reason.  Wayne Besen of Truthwinsout.org said the following: “This is a disturbing call for anarchy from a group of radical clerics and activists who believe they don’t have play by the same rules as other taxpaying Americans.”  And according to the blog Instaputz, there is another reason to not only oppose this document but also raise the alarm about it.   Some of the names those signing the declaration aren’t a surprise. They are the usual folks who oppose lgbt equality – Tony Perkins, James Dobson, Maggie Gallagher, Gary Bauer, etc.

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• The Manhattan Declaration – Go Sign it! (liveactivecultures.net)

 There has been a recent bevy of co-sponsors signing onto the Uniting American Families Act, the legislation that seeks to provide Lesbian and Gay Americans with the right to Petition for their    same-sex spouses/ partners to live in the USA.  This law merely seeks to place the words “permanent partners” into the existing Immigration and Naturalization Act.   This is no time to let up, but rather imprtant that we make the most of the momentum.   I have 14 couples I am trying to help remain together in the US.  That is a tip of the iceberg.  They are all desperate.  They want to stay together and they want to stay at home. We need UAFA legialstion and awareness of the binational issue more so than ever. Please I am asking for your help.   

Today the news was immense when Senator Arlen Specter sign his support to the Bill.  In June this year  the Senator attended and spoke at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, in support of equality in immigration. Now he has put his pen to his word and for that we are grateful.  There is no doubt that the Senator’s Democratic rival, Rep.  Joe Sestak, who is challenging Senator Specter for his seat next year, will sign on as co-sponsor as well. However this will probably necessitate  a campaign promise in the meantime.

From my perspective ANY candidate that signs on to UAFA would earn my vote. That is why Barbara Boxer must beat controversial HP spoiler, Carli Fiorina, the Republican contender for the Senator’s California seat.

In addition I believe that the grass roots effort with our4immigration at the helm of a letter writing campaign seems to be paying off. Activists have put in a tremendous amount of hard work and have strategized to target new representatives each and every week.  The new additions in supporting UAFA include:- Senator Ted Kaufman; Congresswoman Donna Edwards signed on as a co-sponsor
of the Reuniting Families Act (H.R. 2709) which includes UAFA which means she would probably also vote for it as stand-alone legislation.

If you are willing to help this critical legislation passed – please help.  Unfortunately UAFA is not first and foremost on the plat of our activists – it has taken last place to HATE crimes Bill, ENDNA and DADT and worse yet it remains on the back burner for those who believe it will be included in Comprehensive Immigration Reform.   

Here is where we need your help:-

Please take a minute to call or fax Senator Carper’s (202) 224-2441office today and tell them you’d like him to support The Uniting American Families Act (S.424) and support it’s inclusion in comprehensive immigration reform, and please share this with anyone you think might be willing to help.  And also the following  who had signed on to the

All five of the following  members of Congress were past co-sponsors of UAFA, and have still not signed on. We need their support once again, and please remind them that they were past co-sponsors when you e-mail them.  Tell them why The Uniting American Families Act matters to your family, if you are impacted and if not simply tell then you want to know if they will support it now.

Congressman Rob Andrews (D-NJ-1) Staffer to contact: Mr. Stephen Hunter, Immigration Aide
Stephen.hunter@mail.house.gov;  Phone: (202) 225-6501; Fax: (202) 225-6583; 

Congress Rep  Kathy Castor (D-FL-11) Phone: (202) 225-3376 Fax: (202) 225-5652

Congressman James Clyburn (D-SC-6)  Staffer to contact: Mr. Danny Cromer, Immigration & LGBT Aide
danny.cromer@mail.house.gov  Phone: (202) 225-3315 Fax: (202) 225-2313

Congressman Al Green (D-TX-9)  Staffer to contact: Ms. Susie Saavedra, LGBT Aide
Susie.saavedra@mail.house.gov  Staffer to contact: Ms. Renee Mayo, Immigration Aide
renee.mayo@mail.house.gov  Phone: (202) 225-7508 Fax: (202) 225-2947

Congressman Dennis Moore (D-KS-3)  Staffer to contact: Ms. Sarah Lochner, LGBT Aide
sarah.lochner@mail.house.gov  Phone: (202) 225-2865; Fax: (202) 225-2807

 Thanks for your help as always.

Blogged by Melanie Nathan/ Picture of out4Immigration’s tireless footsoldiers.
www.privatecourts.com
www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com
www.visualcv.com/melnathan

Contact: nathan@privatecourts.com

Posted by Melanie Nathan; Today,  Nov 20^th  is  Transgender Day of Remembrance. A sombre day with hundreds of  events around the world to honor  the memories of lives lost to anti-transgender violence. This day of Remembrance is celebrated with events purposeful in memoriam, advocacy and education.

The day was first observed by Transgender communities in 1999, and is held on the anniversary of the death of Rita Hester, a transgender woman whose life was cut short in Boston just weeks following the gay-bashing death of Matthew Shepard. To date, her murder, like most anti-transgender murder cases, remains an unsolved crime.

Events are planned in many centers around the US, including Portland, New York, Richmond, San Francisco and many more, including abroad. 

This year’s commemoration also comes just weeks after President Obama signed into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which added gender identity to the federal hate crimes law.  This year’s Day of Remembrance is especially poignant, coming on the heels of the one year anniversary of Lateisha Green’s shooting death in Syracuse, New York.  Her killing led to New York State’s first-ever hate crime conviction stemming from the death of a transgender person.  It was just the second such conviction in United States history.

Let us remember -
Angie Zapata, an 18-year old Latina transgender woman was found brutally murdered in her home in CO.
 2009:
Taysia Elzy, age 34  Indianapolis, Indiana USA;
Caprice Curry, age 31 San Francisco, California
Jimmy McCollough, drag performer, 34, Fayetteville, North Carolina
Foxy Ivy, under 35, Detroit, Michigan
Kelly (Frederick) Watson, age 32 , Albuquerque, New Mexico
Christopher Jermaine Scott, 30, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Cesar Torres, 39,  El Paso, Texas
Beyonce (Eric) Lee,  21 New Orleans, Louisiana
Tyli’a Mack also known as NaNa Boo, 21, Washington, DC
Paulina Ibarra,  21 East Hollywood, California
JJDoe, Baltrimore  http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-stabbing1026,0,2707985.story
Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado,: Cayey, Peurto Rico,  decapitated,  November 14, 2009
Jorge was found on the site of an isolated road in the city of Cayey, he was partially burned, decapitated, and dismembered, both arms, both legs, and the torso. Jorge was 19 years old.
Sources: http://www.365gay.com/news/murder-suspect-thought-puerto-rico-gay-teen-was-a-woman/

Please feel free to list names in the comments section – with asmuch information as you would like to provide.

Posted and blogged by – Melanie Nathan. nathan@privatecourts.com

IN PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN TO ENCOURAGE WOMEN OVER THE AGE OF 40 TO RECEIVE MAMMOGRAMS, GILLIBRAND URGES FED TO CLARIFY NEW RECOMMENDATIONS

New Guidelines Released This Week Claim Only Women Over 50 Need Routine Mammograms As Part Of Breast Cancer Screening Many Doctors, Experts Object To Recommendations, Giving Women Conflicting Messages on How to Protect Themselves -

Washington, DC – After having participated in a public awareness campaign to encourage women over the age of 40 to receive mammograms, U.S. Senator Kristen Gillibrand today called on the federal government to clarify new recommendations for women on how to prevent breast cancer. New guidelines released this week by the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force suggested that only women over 50 need to get routine mammograms as part of breast cancer screening. Many doctors and experts objected to these recommendations, sending conflicting messages to women about how they can prevent breast cancer.

“I am concerned that women are being given differing messages about how to prevent breast cancer,” Senator Gillibrand said. “In addition to getting my own mammogram each year, I have been involved in public awareness campaigns to encourage other women my age to do so. I understand that there were many independent scientists involved in making this decision, but that there are also many respected medical experts that are disagreeing with the recommendations. I plan to seek some answers here so that women are getting a uniform message about how to protect themselves.”

Doctors, medical experts, and news reports from around New York have raised concerns about the new recommendations.

“I think this would be a huge mistake,” said Dr. Paul Fisher, a radiologist at the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Care Center at Stony Brook University Medical Center. “There’s almost unanimity that mammography saves lives.”

Dr. Jane Carleton, an attending physician specializing in breast cancer at the Don Monti Cancer Center at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, said cutting back on mammograms could allow some small breast cancers to become larger, more lethal growths. “We continue to see tragedies in women who present with much larger breast cancers because they have not had mammograms,” Carleton said.

At Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, Dr. Victor Scarmato, chairman of radiology, questioned the new recommendations. “Their conclusions are against the conclusions of the American Cancer Society and other cancer and screening advocacy groups,” Scarmato said.”There are many in that population whose lives are saved because of the procedures [mammograms] even if the yield is not as great as in older women,” Scarmato said.

“We are very concerned that the insurance companies will use this to restrict coverage for screening, taking away the option for what women and their doctors feel is best for them,” said Hillary Rutter, LCSW, Director of the Adelphi NY Statewide Breast Cancer Hotline & Support Program.

Dr. Derek ten Hoopen of West Ridge Obstetrics and Gynecology said that his colleagues would continue to recommend screening for 40- to 49-year-olds until the data used by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force was better analyzed.

Holly Anderson, executive director of the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester, said that screening guidelines trigger anxiety. “We’ve been dealt a breast cancer diagnosis. It sounds very scary to hear these guidelines and the recommendation is to not be screened in the 40 to 49 window.”

Full text of the letter is below.

Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201

Dear Secretary Sebelius:

Earlier this week, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) came out with new recommendations that suggest that women ages 40-49 no longer need routine mammogram screenings. As I’m sure you’re aware, this has caused mass confusion among women who, like myself, have long been told that every woman over 40 should receive a mammogram every year. As a 42-year-old woman and Senator, I volunteered my time to speak in Public Service Announcements to remind women my age that they need to get screened. Therefore, I share my constituent’s confusion over this new message coming from the government.

I understand that these new recommendations were developed by independent scientists, however many respected medical experts and advocacy organizations such as the American Cancer Society, disagree with the recommendations. I, therefore, implore you to work with these respected patient advocacy groups, radiologists and oncologists across the nation to come up with a clear message to women about how best to protect themselves.

I would also encourage you to consider the weight that recommendations have across the medical and insurance industry. When the government changes their recommendations for screening, insurance companies will often choose to change their reimbursement policies as a result. I do not want women that are a high risk for breast cancer, because of their genes or family history, to be denied screenings because insurance companies refuse to reimburse the doctors.

I would encourage you to convene a meeting of interested parties so that this confusing message can be resolved and so that women can receive the best medical care that science can provide. Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.

Note from Melanie Nathan, your blogger: I started my regular mamograms when I turned 40 and continued to have them each year thereafter. I used my birthday as a reminder of when the next one was due. No one in my family had ever had breast cancer, although there had been other types of cancer causing extended family and grandparents. Each year my Mamogram was clear and that did not deter me. In 2003 I went for my regular mammogram and the readiologist noticed a tiny calcification. Stating it was probably nothing I had a biopsy to be safe. Long story short it was VERY early stage Ductoral carcinoma in situ. After radical surgery, they found a little more than anticipated or more than had shown on the mammogram. I did not need Chemotherapy or radiation. That in itself was a huge relief. They had caught it so early. Seven years later, I have since married and we have a four year old together. I will see my 12 year old Batmitvah next year. I am alive. Had I not been diagnosed then and had they not had earlier base grams to diagnose from, I do not think I would be writing this piece today. The way I see this recommendation -? Well its tantamount to saying Melanie your life is worth nothing. Its okay if you would have died – because 1299 others would have lived – or whatever number they attribut to it. In fact I bet my fellow breast bearers out there will agree that their ten minute anxiety to save my life was worth every moment of said anxiety.

GALS- lets fight – this is not okay. Thank you Senator Gillibrand for your keeping a stern stand on this issue.

BY: Melanie Nathan

Ten days ago, the House passed the Stupak Amendment, which would be one of the biggest setbacks to women’s health and rights in recent decades; unless we stand together and stop it, this will provide license for our rights to be rolled back to where the right wing would have us. Do not think the backlash would stop at women’s issues. It will go every which way!

The Stupak Amendment is discriminatory, extreme, and just plain wrong. At Lez Get Real we have been reporting and commenting on the Stupak Amendment, and we are not letting up – why? Because it will take away health insurance coverage that women already have. This would be a huge step back for women’s health. Now this together with the suggestion by Government Task Force regarding Breast Cancer screening at age 50 as the new recommendation is simply unacceptable and worthy of a revolution for our health!!! The mere fact that they can think this up is disturbing to me….

We support Senator Barbara Boxer’s (D-CA) launch of a petition because women must not be denied access to safe and legal medical procedures. If you want to join : click here -Senator Boxer wrote her supporters and saying: “For decades, a very difficult and delicate compromise has held firm: Women can use their own private funds for legal reproductive health care procedures, but federal funds cannot be used for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or to protect the life of the mother. But in a stunning turn of events, anti-choice House members passed the Stupak Amendment as part of the health care reform bill and shattered that compromise. The House amendment would tell women who participate in the new health insurance exchange that they can’t even use their own funds to buy a policy that includes abortion coverage. We need to be sure that all our voices are heard clearly on this issue.”
Boxer asks: “How can we tell women that they will lose coverage that they already have? How can we tell women that they can’t buy insurance coverage for a legal health care procedure, even if it’s paid for with their own money?”

 SIGN THE PETITION and then visit our site in the next few days for my personal story on how Breast Cancer Screening in my forties saved my life…   

Blogged by: Melanie Nathan, nathan@privatecourts.com : Picture – Credit to Artist Benny Ovid, Tel Aviv, Israel – Thanks to  Dorit Israel, from her Personal Art Collection.

   By Melanie Nathan- Congratulations to Shirley Tan and Jay Mercado  and the boys and Mommy. Shirley was named  ADVOCATE MAGAZINE ’s  Activist of the Year for 2009.   This is well deserved.  However they may have been used in a way that could result in resentment from the community rather than the applause they deserve:   Here are the comments from Immigration Equality’s (IE) BLOG site where IE makes the announcement:   Quoting the Announcement by IE on their BLOG:

“Congratulations are in order for Shirley Tan (pictured here with her family), who has been chosen as one of The Advocate’s “People of the Year” for 2009.   Shirley, who testified before the Senate in June and was also recently featured in People Magazine, was chosen by Advocate editors as their 2009 Activist.  “There are two types of activists,” the magazine writes, “. . . those who revel in the spotlight, and those who would rather slink away from it when the speech is over. Speaking with Shirley Tan, who catapulted into national discourse following an early-morning arrest last January by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in her Pacifica, Calif., home, you get the sense that she’d prefer going back to relative anonymity.”  But, the magazine notes, Shirley “is visible, but not eagerly.”    “I’m certainly not used to this,” she told The Advocate. “I’m just an ordinary housewife, living my own life, doing everything for my kids and my family. But this is what I have to do now. It’s not only for our family, but the 36,000 bi-national couples who are relying on UAFA.”

 Indeed, Tan has become a passionate and effective advocate for bi-national families. In addition to her testimony before the Senate, she has also met with White House officials and spoken out widely in the media about the need to pass immigration reform that will help families like hers.  All of us at Immigration Equality applaud – and thank – Shirley and her family for their extraordinary work. We are proud to be standing with them to end our country’s discriminatory immigration laws.

 To read the full write-up about Shirley, pick up a copy of the December/January issue of The Advocate, on newsstands now. ”

HERE are the first seven comments that followed the post - including my own – number 7….

1. Check this out on Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125816110639347917.html
If they are the key players for the immigration overhaul, we might be screwed, especially with Rep. Luis Gutierrez’s bill because he is a co sponsor of UAFA, but under his bill, he did not include us in his bill. On the other hand, Chuck Schumer is also a big supporter of UAFA, but whether he will include us in the bill remains unknown. Unless we can gain momentum for UAFA, let’s keep fighting for the inclusion of bi national couples in the bigger immigration bill. If we don’t do anything, we will be ignored and defeated again!! Comment by Chung Cheng Fang — November 14, 2009 @ 11:08 pm

2. I am so sincerely happy for this family. At the same time, disappointed that all of us are not being afforded the same opportunity with extended stays for our partners, etc. We all deserve the same attention and “exceptions” – Again, I truly, am happy for you! Tom Comment by Very happy For the Tan Family But Disappointed For the Rest Of Us — November 15, 2009 @ 4:32 am

3.We don’t yet know if Gutierrez has included us. His bill hasn’t been introduced yet. The House version of the CIR will be introduced in December. Or perhaps I missed something. Comment by nola — November 15, 2009 @ 10:02 am

4. There is a lot of talk about moving Immingration reform to the top of priorities for Obama…ARE YOU ON IT IE? We need to be in there getting our rights! Comment by Brian — November 15, 2009 @ 12:30 pm

5. re – the talk about moving immigration reform to the top of priorities – where is this information coming from or is it hearsay? Comment by Where Is This Talk Comming From — November 15, 2009 @ 3:51 pm

6. It would really piss me off if any immigration bill didn’t include UAFA. I think I would leave and never come back to this country again. It would be disgusting if 12 million illegal immigrantsget in front of someone that has been in the usa legally, and has been in a relationship with an American citizen for almost 4 years. Comment by Gerry D — November 15, 2009 @ 11:15 pm

7.  MY COMMENTS :- This week I testified together with Shirley Tan at a symposium with the Immigration Commission in San Francisco.  Nancy Pelosi sent a staffer as did Zoe Lofgren. The symposium had a group of panelists including Professors at Law schools etc.  NCLR was invited and did not show up.**(update)  IE had no rep there either.  There were no panelists to speak for UAFA- yes at a symposium that was looking for advice on Immigration Reform, reporting to Mayor Newsom and the SF  Board Of Supervisors . My verbal testimony is  published on my BLOG at http://oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com/uafa-hearings/.   Reluctantly trapped in IE’s strategy I did promote UAFA as a component of CIR and asked the commission to work on behalf of its locals to ensure that UAFA is included in CIR.  Afterwards a  key Immigration Organization insider in D.C. who was on the panel suggested that IE had made a big mistake – that we should have pushed for UAFA as a stand alone.  This is something I have been writing about since June 4th, 2009. I brought Shirley and Jay to IE and worked as the lead advocate and strategist on Shirley Tan’s Private Bill. I promised Julie Kruse of IE that Shirley would advocate for UAFA, as she had given me her word in exchange for my pro bono work.  Indeed instead IE used Shirley to promote UAFA as a component of CIR.  A strategy I would only have pursued AFTER exhausting all opportunities to get UAFA moving on its own. Shirley and Jay have innocently followed their lead.   A mere few made this decision on behalf of all binationals.  The grassroots have had no control over this as only IE has an effective lobby with the HILL and no other LGBT organization seems to show much interest in UAFA. IE left Shirley with no choice but to advocate for CIR. 

I just want to be clear- that if UAFA is not in CIR – Shirley was used by IE for their own strategy and should not be blamed.   If UAFA is in CIR, it may be very bad for us because then we can  no longer promote it as a stand alone and we will be at the mercy of the bigger Immigration Lobby, including the faith based groups who are anti LGBT.  If we are NOT included it could be very bad because then UAFA may be perceived as DOA…. Basically we are screwed either way. HOWEVER maybe it is best left out and we can be sneaked in -through committee – we have our necks in a very tight noose right now, the noose of IE strategy and the components that were not thought through.  I hope that this will have all LGBT and friends call reps tomorrow to sign on to UAFA NOW, regardless of CIR!!!  “”     end of Immigration equality BLOG comments

 I am documenting this in the hope that for prosterity we all remember that Shirley and Jay are innocent bystanders to their own activism – who got caught up in a situation where they received help due to their unique circumstances.  They have been inadvertent, yet willing  activists and are being guided by those around them. If anything goes wrong it will not be for lack of trying on their behalf to help others. It would have been much easier for them to remain silent.  I resent those who display their short vision by thinking Shirley and Jay received special treatment – they did not – their case was unique and as their advocate I seized the oppportunity and took the risks that relied completely on their particular circumstances.    We were told that a Private Bill could not be done and yet we went ahead.  The risk was great and no others were willing to take it on.  It happens our strategy worked.  So I am asking for 3 things:

1. Tell ALL your stories NOW to local press; tere are still not enough stories out there. Once you have told your story report the publication of it to my BLOG or to OUT4immiggration.com You can keep the foreign partner/ spouse invisible. Its the American partner who is missing his/her right;

2. Ask your National Reps to Support and co-sign UAFA NOW.  It will help whichever Strategy we end up with;

3. Call your local city councils, counties, state legislators, commissions and ask for Resolutions to support LGBT bi-nationals with UAFA and to ensure that we are part of ALL Immigration Reform discussions. Our leadership is asleep at the local level when it comes to advocating. That was clear to me when NCLR had signed up as a partner for the Symposium in San Francisco and failed to provide a speaker, or even show up and also failed to refer our interests out to another LGBT organization.

4. Always respect what Shirley and Jay are doing, regardless of your own needs and regardless of the strategy that they may find themselves hhaving to support; and most of all regardless of outcome.  When I asked them to go out for UAFA, they had no conditions except one – they did not want any money or fundraising in relation to their advocacy.  All they wanted to do was help others and ensure ultimately that Shirley, who is still at risk, is not deported.   

** UPDATE; 11/18/09  re: “NCLR was invited and did not show up” Today I received a phone call from NCLR’s communications director, Calla Devlin, who explained that NCLR was ONLY asked to co-sponsor the event, but was never asked to to participate in any form. This was clearly a misunderstanding in that the organizers seemed to think that NCLR would be there.  Nonetheless Calla reassured me that NCLR has UAFA and its LGBT immigration asylum cases at the helm of pivotal issues.  Of course resources are limited.  This is one organization that I would send my dollars to especially because while others are decreasing staff, they plan to ramp up on legislative staffer/s in DC.  Perhaps I should have called NCLR before mentioning this as a ‘no show’ and I apologize for that to NCLR.   I am pleased that we were able to have a discussion that touched on a lot more about LGBT binational interests . 

Thanks for the visit and the support…… keep the fight for UAFA strong. Contact me if you want to get involved in a bigger better way…. nathan@privatecourts.com     
  You can see my Testimony to the SF commission (albeit a strategy I disagree with – I am cornered into having to promote UAFA  with Comprehensive Immigration reform and so I will do it..)

 Blogged by MELANIE NATHAN, CEO of Private Courts, Inc. Consulting, mediation & private advocacy ; motivated by injustice, I blog about family law/mediation, politics, news and LGBT equality and anything that ‘tickles my fancy.’ Otherwise blogging as O-blog-dee-o-blog-da. Websites and blogs include: http://www.privatecourts.com; http://www.divorcemediators.us; www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com.

11/16/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Southern Voice and David Atlanta have both shut their doors as the downturn in the news media’s economy strikes the smaller, minority directed newspapers hardest. The Washington Blade’s site has slowed to a crawl as the financial issues of Unite Media and Window Media begin to affect the operations of the various newspapers and magazines. In July, David Unger, the head of Window Media stepped down for a job in the financial sector.

The parent company of Window Media, Avalon Equity Partners, is heavily in debt. They received some $35 million in loans from the Small Business Administration, but did not maintain to the required amount of outside capital flowing into their business for the loans to be considered valid. The business is in receivership with the SBA which has the right to sell off its assets in order to recoup the loans that were paid to Avalon Equity.

The Georgia Based free newspaper Creative Loafing is reporting that the doors at Southern Voice were locked and a message informing their employees to come back on Wednesday to get their personal belongings and their severance package would be discussed at that time. People logging into The Washington Blade, Southern Voice, David Atlanta and other Avalon Equity Partners publications today found it difficult with long load times. The sites themselves finally came back online.

Window Media owned some of the oldest and most professional LGBT newspapers in the United States. The Washington Blade has been in operation for thirty-five years and has been the newspaper of record for the Community for some time.

There is, as yet, no word on what the impact of the loss of SOVO will have on The Washington Blade, or what their twenty employees will do in the future. Many of them were part of the fight to get LGBT rights passed in this country. The closing of the newspaper is a blow to the Atlanta LGBT Community. Their reporters were often seen in the midst of several of Atlanta’s biggest news stories.

The news came as a shock to SOVO editor Laura Douglas-Brown, who recently was informed about the probable sale of the paper. “No one was in it just for the job. Everybody was in it for the cause too, in their own ways. People have put up with a lot difficulties over the past year, and have hung in there because they cared. It’s tragic and I’m desperately sorry it ended this way, especially for the people who’ve worked so hard. [The closure] didn’t happen because of a lack of need for our publications. It didn’t happen because of a lack of hard dedicated work by local staff. And that’s the shame of it…It’s a sad tale, how it all came crashing down,” she told Creative Loafing.

Statements confirming the closure were posted on SOVO’s Facebook page, but no similar comment was forthcoming on any of the other related newspapers.

As of 10:30 am, The Washington Blade has not been affected by the shutdown.

See also: Project Q Atlanta
SOVO Facebook Page

11/13/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
The lobbying by the Roman Catholic Bishops to get the Stupak-Pitts Amendment made into law has drawn the ire of several people, including MSNBC commentator Dr. Nancy Snyderman. On a recent episode of her show, Dr. Snyderman and Terry O’Neill, President of the National Organization for Women, discussed this particular issue, and the fact that, as a religious institution, the Roman Catholic Church is not suppose to be involved in political activities due to the First Amendment’s clause regarding state establishment of religion. NOW is a non-profit as well, but because it is not religious in nature, is exempt from the threat of losing its status over political activities.

Often times, the Conservatives talk about the Stupak-Pitts Amendment as if it maintains the status quo, but what it does is effectively make it impossible to get coverage for a voluntary abortion, which is not the same as what many anti-choice groups would have many people believe.

“I started getting calls and E-mails and texts saying, you know, there’s a deal that’s been cut and a terrible, disastrous deal. The Stupak/Pitts amendment, in fact, I believe, essentially overrules Roe v. Wade. That’s the intention of the Catholic bishops who pushed it. That, I believe, is the intention Mr. Stupak and Mr. Pitts who offered it,” stated Ms O’Neill. While slightly hyperbolic, the intention of this amendment would, in essence, prevent many poorer women from being able to afford abortions.

Dr. Snyderman, who does not make many of the same protestation of impartiality as some cable news commentators, stated later in the interview, “This is going to be a Pollyannaish statement. The Catholic bishops appearing and having a political voice seems to be a most fundamental violation of church and state.” To this, Ms O’Neill responded “You know, that’s the first thing that I said. I don’t know where the Internal Revenue Service is, but I hope they’re paying attention.” Of course, Representative Lynn Woolsey has already called on the IRS to investigate the Catholic Church for its activities directly related to their lobbying activities during the build up to the Stupak-Pitts Amendment.

Despite Scott Whitlock’s attempts to make it appear that Dr. Snyderman and Terry O’Neill are, somehow, engaged in some form of hatchet job against the Roman Catholic Church, it is clear that the amendment itself was heavily influenced by the Roman Catholic Bishops, and that is shaky with regards to legality. He also ignores the fact that Dr. Snyderman is not labeled as being totally impartial.

It should be noted that the Stupak-Pitts Amendment may face the biggest issue possible. According to some, it is possible that the amendment may be stripped if the Democrats make the decision to push the healthcare reform through via Budget Reconciliation. It would not meet the requirements regarding the process.

It has been common practice for the Conservatives to employ

 Last night the city council of Salt Lake City unanimously passed an ordinance outlawing discrimination against gays in employment and housing, the first such law in the entire state of Utah. Very surprisingly, among those speaking in support of the bill were official representatives of the LDS Church.

Hours after the LDS Church announced its support Tuesday night of proposed Salt Lake City ordinances aimed at protecting gay and transgender residents from discrimination in housing and employment, the City Council unanimously approved the measures.

Mormon teachings assert that the Church believes in human dignity, respect even when in disagreement.   The Council opted to vote after dozens of residents in the overflowing crowd expressed their support. “Guaranteeing a right to fair housing and fair employment is not an issue of compromise,” Councilwoman Jill Remington Love said. “We are a stronger, better city this evening. I’m proud to serve on a City Council where this isn’t even controversial.”

Yet that said what about the Mormon money for Prop 8 Hate ads which I believe got the vote against Gay marriage. Perhaps we should read into what may be a slap in the fact statement when Michael Otterson, a spokesperson  intrigued with “The church supports these ordinances, because they are fair and reasonable and do not do violence to the institution of marriage.”  I imagine still justifying their interference in another State. If described in these terms as to do VIOLENCE- imagine how passionate they must have been when parting with those furtive millions! So inferring that gay marriage may do violence to marriage by virtue of their support of prop 8 – is not too far reaching…

Although an astounding feat, the LDS Church’s endorsement was applauded by LGBT leaders in Utah’s gay community.   Although I agree this can and must be viewed as positive in the big scheme of things; please call me ungrateful because “AS LONG AS the queers (you know the ones your compassionately adorn with limited equality) do not cause havoc to your marriages there in Utah – even those where your teaching and silence condones many wives – you will remain solid behind your church influenced dollars that robbed my buddies of their right to one spouse each!

Blogged by MELANIE NATHAN, CEO of Private Courts, Inc. Consulting, mediation & private advocacy; motivated by injustice, I blog about family law/mediation, politics, news and LGBT equality and anything that ‘tickles my fancy.’ Otherwise blogging as O-blog-dee-o-blog-da. Websites and blogs include: http://www.privatecourts.com; http://www.divorcemediators.us; www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com.

 NY assembly shelves gay marriage vote…

(AFP) –reported  8 hours ago-  NEW YORK — New York’s state assembly on Tuesday put off a tentatively planned vote on a bill that would allow same-sex marriage. “A vote did not take place. They are negotiating,” a spokeswoman for the assembly’s upper house, the State Senate, told AFP.

Governor David Paterson had asked Monday for the upper house to vote Tuesday on a bill allowing gay nuptials. The bill was approved in the state’s lower house in May, but faces a tougher battle in the Senate. Commentators said it was unlikely to have mustered the necessary 32 votes.

No date was set for the next possible debate and vote on the measure. The issue is being raised in New York days after voters in Maine voted in a referendum to overturn a gay marriage law passed by their state legislature in May.

Maine was the third state where voters repealed the local government’s approval of same-sex marriage rights, following California and Hawaii. Gay marriage has not yet won a popular vote in any US state. Five states that have moved to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples have done so through court rulings or votes in the state legislature. Those states are Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont. New Hampshire will allow gay marriage starting in January.

Melanie Nathan’s Comment  :  This is just too much.  I keep thinking why do they disapprove of us?  Why are we so badly thought of  by our fellow Americans-  that they would not want to give us our equality?   It makes me realize that we need a PR Campaign. One where we can introduce our families to America. We must get out there and be visible. Perhaps activists in a less aggressive fashion. (Although there is room for that too! )  But we must march our families to the fore of public opinion.  By Showing America who we are and waht we do for our Communities and  Country.  We have depended for too long on Non-profits with itemized and limited agendas.  Although great progress has been made, most of America does not know who we truly are, that we are the same as they are. We must pitch stories to local press, volunteer in our communities, join Board and Committees, Be on the PTA, . Perhaps readers can comment on PR ideas.

We should all take up the MANTRA:  “look me in the eye and tell me I am not the same as you” Per openly gay NY City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.    I Invite you all to JOIN the Great Gay PR Campaign. We must change minds and public opinion win hearts or whatever that cliche suggests…. this is up to eacg and every one of us.   This is the only way we will win – together of course with unified and not fragmented advocacy. 

Blogged by MELANIE NATHAN, CEO of Private Courts, Inc. Consulting, mediation & private advocacy ; motivated by injustice, I blog about family law/mediation, politics, news and LGBT equality and anything that ‘tickles my fancy.’ Otherwise blogging as O-blog-dee-o-blog-da. Websites and blogs include: http://www.privatecourts.com; http://www.divorcemediators.us; www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com.

 By Melanie Nathan -  If there is one thing to come out of healthcare reform’s ultimate house bill, is the need for the Democrats to take lessons in the “Lockstep Tango” and who would be better teachers than the experts on the other side of the aisle.

History nonetheless -as an unusually emotional Nancy Pelosi graced the gavel on a 220-215 House Vote – to cheers and tears and amidst a barage of defections.   I invite comments about the Reproductive Rights Amendment thrown in to produce the vote. 

 Visit  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOQ-Iw6_wTA&feature=player_embedded   

Blogged by MELANIE NATHAN, CEO of Private Courts, Inc. Consulting, mediation & private advocacy ; motivated by injustice, I blog about family law/mediation, politics, news and LGBT equality and anything that ‘tickles my fancy.’ Otherwise blogging as O-blog-dee-o-blog-da. Websites and blogs include: http://www.privatecourts.com; http://www.divorcemediators.us; www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com.

11/07/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
There are dozens of statements about how one should not disparage another, especially when you, yourself, have dirty little secrets. It’s all about being a hypocrite. Ms Carrie Prejean, the former Miss California, found out the hard way that cashing in on your loss by becoming the spokesperson for a movement to deny people equality can backfire and badly. Not only was Ms Prejean’s use of “performance enhancing” breast augmentation revealed, but Ms Prejean ended up in her own sex scandal.

Ms Prejean recently counter sued the Miss California USA organization on grounds of wrongful termination after they sued her for breach of contract and the cost of her augmentation. This suit came after attempts to sabotage Ms Prejean’s celebrity by the public revelation of her rather racy pictures in a variety of magazines. The suit came to an end when a sex tape involving Ms Prejean surfaced and was aired in court. The revelation has already lost Ms Prejean a major speaking engagement for an anti-marriage equality group in New Jersey. It may, in the end, result in her losing most of her moral issues support.

As was mentioned by one supporter of David Letterman, the reason why he has managed to withstand the recent controversy over his affair with a member of his staff is because he never pretended to be incredibly moral or anything more than human. Ms Prejean’s decision to try to capitalize on her disastrous run for Miss America ultimately set her up for this fall.

Last night, Kieth Olbermann of MSNBC’s Countdown did a pretty good job of explaining the whole mess.

Edit: Corrected the organization. As a note to readers, I do, upon occasion, make mistakes. A simple polite note of correction is welcome. Insulting me in any way in order to either a) insinuate that I am stupid, b) ill informed, c) not doing research, or d) wrong because of a factual mistake is a guaranteed one way trip to the ‘delete’ bin. I welcome constructive debate, but direct attacks upon me in order to disprove my points are not welcome.

Tell the U.N.:

To: Ban Ki-moon (U.N. Secretary General)

Sponsored by: CARE go to http://change.org

To: Ban Ki-moon (U.N. Secretary General)

 Just weeks ago in the West African country of Guinea, countless women were brutally raped in a public stadium when soldiers stormed a peaceful protest. The world reacted with outrage, but Guinea is just the tip of the iceberg.

What happened in Guinea is a visible example of the violence and abuse that threatens women and girls all over the world. In the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, 36 women and girls are raped every day. This is the world’s shame.

You can do something to change it. Sign the petition at www.change.org to urge the U.N. Security Council to appoint a special representative now who can help hold government forces and armed groups accountable for stopping repeated gender-based violence, and assist survivors of rape and assault. This special representative was called for in a recently passed U.N. resolution to protect women and girls from sexual violence, but pressure is needed to ensure urgent action.

America is not far off in terms of the brutality. Shame USA – what in our culture breeds gang rapists that feel good about brutalizing a 15 year old, 100 pound child at her school dance for over 2.5 hours.  Its man vs. woman – its crimes against women .  Flagrant disregard for humanity. Selflish momentary instances of feeling powerful, which turns back upon itself because of itself;  and serves only as a constant endeavor because in truth those who suffer such loss of their own humanity can barely sustain that feeling of power; and so must compensate by perpetuating the crime.  Its unconscienable in Africa, America and anywhere. It has got to stop.  To my way of thinking omission and inaction is as bad as the bad action itself. If you can do something to stop crimes against humanity you are obligated to do so; and for us that means waking up to the call of our sisters. Silence is tantamount to participation.

Post by Melanie Nathan, Contact nathan@privatecourts.com
www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com; www.privatecourts.com

Melanie Nathan: Considering Maine and Reflecting on California:

Does marriage equality and more specifically same-sex marriage hurt traditional marriage? This most confounding question has yet to be answered by anyone, especially those who expound the rhetoric while seeking to ban same-sex marriage.  The derogatory impact of same-sex marriage on straight marriage has yet to be quantified.  I wonder how one would be able to figure it out.

Could it be that for every 4 gay marriages one straight person will not marry his fiancé; could it be that for every 4 gay marriages one straight couple will divorce?  Could it mean that allowing gay marriages will result in less straight people marrying and thereby reduce the numbers of married people?  I am trying so hard to come up with a formula, can someone please help me?   

Proposition 8 succeeded in California, and effectively removed a fundamental constitutional right, as endorsed by the Courts by way of popular vote – the right for any couple in California to marry regardless of gender was stripped.  Prop 8 was initiated in direct response and its mantra was  to “protect the institution of marriage” by keeping lesbians and gays out.  

After the barrage of voracious advertisements led 51% of voting Californians to believe that gay marriage would by its mere legality threaten straight marriages. Churches poured their money into the advertising coffers, tacitly claiming the interests of their God.   Silly them there is a better way to save the institution of marriage and just think it can be done without stripping other Americans of their inherent rights, as well as the advantage of quantification.  The obvious, unambiguous and only one absolute vehicle to sustain the precept of marriage is clearly the “The outlawing of Divorce.”  We must bring a new proposition to the voters in this earnest quest and that would be  ahh maybe -Proposition 9 – “Repeal of the Legislative Right to Divorce Act.”

Notably, divorce, unlike same sex marriage, can be easily quantified.  I believe in California the divorce rate is approximately 1 in 3. There you go – for every 60,000 marriages ending in Divorce, we can save 60,000 saved – see how easy that was. Not like our difficulty when we attempted to quantify the impact of same-sex marriage on ‘ traditional marriage.’ – that means we would have 60,000 out of every 180,000 marriages saved… How powerful is that!

This is a call to all those who truly believe in the sanctity of marriage. Support the rescue of marriage by ending divorce for good. Here is a safer and better plan – how about making that retroactive.  Anyone who has been divorced consider your good-selves remarried.

Indeed the next obvious step is legislation that prohibits one’s right to divorce.  Divorce is not an inherent right; it is one that is granted by specific statute. For example in California there would be no divorce if the Family Law Code did not deal create it. It gets worse – Divorce involves one spouse suing the other for divorce.  In California the first paper served by a plaintiff spouse on a defendant spouse reads “SUMMONS- You Are Being Sued.”  How bizarre – to separate church and State in this fashion.  It is an abomination to the sacred right of marriage to think that after spouses have said “till death do us part” that one may sue the other for divorce and that our law allows that to happen.

If Maine supports the ban of same-sex marriage tonight, I profess this to be the nest obvious step there too. 

Is this ban on Divorce a joke?  Not according to a Sacramento man, John Marcotte who is collecting signatures to place a new piece of legislation on the 2010 ballot for the people of California to decide on. He wants to make it illegal to divorce in California. Read his petition here.

Why? He contends that this is a natural extension of what religious conservatives did when they voted “Yes” on a ballot measure to ban gay marriage so that they could “protect traditional marriage”.

From John Marcotte’s Rescue Marriage website, here’s the statement announcing the new ballot measure:

“I loved Proposition 8, but felt it did not go far enough. So fresh from the office of our legal counsel, I present the 2010 California Protection of Marriage Act.

No party to any marriage shall be restored to the state of an unmarried person during the lifetime of the other party unless the marriage is void or voidable, as set forth in Part 2 of Division 6 of the Family Code.”

Marcotte has just launched his first couple of PSAs on the 2010 California Marriage Protection Act. Here they are:

Few Choice Quotes From the PSAs:

“My kids are being taught in school that divorce is all right.”

“You said ‘Till death do us part’. You’re not dead yet.”

“Hell is eternal, just like your marriage is supposed to be.”

“If we allow anyone to get divorced, before you know it, people will be divorcing their dogs.”

Lock Step-lock-jaw-Republicans-and conservatives- and those on the right – do not fail – put your money where your mouth is and support the BAN on DIVORCE.

Blogged by MELANIE NATHAN, CEO of Private Courts, Inc. Consulting, mediation & private advocacy ; motivated by injustice, I blog about family law/mediation, politics, news andLGBT equality and anything that ‘tickles my fancy.’ Otherwise blogging as O-blog-dee-o-blog-da. Websites and blogs include: http://www.privatecourts.com; http://www.divorcemediators.us; www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com. nathan@privatecourts.com

This is Paula Brooks reporting from Portland, ME… 05:35 EST 11/3/09
Today voters in Maine could make history by becoming the first U.S. state to make same-sex marriage legal by popular vote as they head to the polls to decide Question 1, which seeks repeal of the Maine’s marriage equality law.

Five other states, including four in New England, have legalized same-sex marriage through the courts or legislation. If Question 1 is defeated and the now-suspended law upheld by voters, Maine would be the first state in the nation where gay and lesbian couples won the right to wed through a statewide vote.

Most public opinion polls in the state show a dead heat on Question 1.

Yesterday armies of volunteers from both side of the issue hit the streets across the state armed with lawn signs and cell phones, making a final push for votes as Mainers prepared to cast their ballots.

Both sides likewise worked the phone banks hard yesterday and I doubt there is a voter in Maine that has not been contacted in some from.

In addition, television commercials pro and con same-sex marriage crowded the airwaves all yesterday evening here in the Pine Tree State.

The campaign against same-sex marriage has been recycling commercial from the effort that overturned a California Supreme Court ruling allowing same-sex marriage a year ago, featuring melancholic parents bewailing how their young children will be taught in school that marriage between two women or two men is the norm.

However, the No on One people have been running a very sophisticated public relations program focusing on the people of Maine’s wariness of outsiders, and calling attention to the fact that most of the money financing the “Yes-on-1″ campaign came not from Mainer’ but from out of state. No on One is also making this an election of basic decency and rights.

News items questioning “Yes on 1”’s largest contributor, The National Organization for Marriage, and the investigation by the state ethics commission into that organization and stories about rallies by supporters on both sides of the issue were getting prominent airtime on Maine’s news programs.

Yesterday, No on One held a noontime rally in downtown Portland that attracted an estimated 1000 people. Over the weekend both sides of the issue held rallies and vigils across the state.

The weather here in Maine should not be a factor in this election. Right now it is overcast and cool, but the forecast for today is calling for partly sunny skies with highs in the lower 50s across most of the state.

Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap predicts 35 percent of the states voting age residents, an expected 500,000 voters, will turn out for today’s election… so now it all comes down to who can do a better job getting out their vote…

LGR will be here bringing you updates all day and the final results when the polls close at 8 pm tonight.

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Quoting: The Democratic Party Site – CALL OUT: 

 “A lot of folks use Facebook to stay in touch with friends and family. For Sarah Palin, it’s a great way to spread lies about health insurance reform.  A few months back, Palin took to Facebook to declare that health reform would create “death panels,” and drive private insurers out of business — and nonpartisan fact-check sites and the independent Congressional Budget Office debunked those lies.

But that hasn’t stopped Sarah Palin. She’s back with a new Facebook note claiming that reform will raise costs on families and drive up deficits. Unfortunately for her, even the conservative “Tax Foundation” says those claims are false. “

So we’re calling out Sarah Palin, and taking to Facebook to debunk her lies on the very same pages she’s using to spread them.  Call Sarah Palin at 202-747-1812″

No more lies – it is not going to work anymore….

Refs: http://www.democrats.org/page/content/callemoutpalin

 Melanie Nathan -Quoting from Democratic Party Webpage and e-mail. Spread the word good lezgetrealpeeps- especially on your facebook sites!

Bishop E. W. Jackson Sr., who leads Exodus Faith Ministries in Chesapeake, Va., says that while he’s against anti-gay violence, he also opposes homosexuality and wants to be free to preach against it, as reported in the Virginian-Pilot. While reading this I am clear that the smiling Bishop and I clearly do not share the same Adonai. His comments were made in conjunction with President Obama’s signing of the Mathew Shepard Hate Crime Act into law, yesterday. Jackson stated that federal legislation defining attacks on gays and lesbians as “hate crimes” will stifle religious freedom.

I say – if stifling religious freedom saves lives, so be it!

Jackson told the newspaper he fears religious leaders could be prosecuted for inciting anti-gay violence, even though the legislation — expected to be signed Wednesday by President Barack Obama — contains language meant to preclude prosecution of religious leaders and others on the basis of speech or beliefs.

I say – let the chips fall where they may!

“We could find ourselves in a situation where we’re accused of inciting someone,” Jackson said. “I am categorically opposed to the hate crimes bill.”

I ask -Why did he not come out against Hate Crimes before sexual orientation was included?

Thank my Adonai for the solace I find in the voice of Rev. Steve Jolly of Freemason Street Baptist Church in Norfolk’s who disagrees, telling the Virginian-Pilot: “If I stand up in the pulpit and say the consumption of alcohol is evil and we should pour it all in the river, that’s a personal opinion. That’s very different from saying, ‘There’s a bar down the road; let’s break in and pour all the alcohol into the river.’”

But I must say – people like the BISHOP – scare me still! Has he considered that the Hate Crimes ACT protects lesbians like me from people like him? His intent is clear and I am pleased to recall my law school lesson where I learnt mens rea is mens rea!

Refs: http://blackchristiannews.com/news/2009/10/virginia-pastor-says-hate-crimes-bill-stifles-religion.html

Blogged by MELANIE NATHAN, of Private Courts, Inc. Consulting, mediation & private advocacy; motivated by injustice, I blog about family, law, mediation, politics, news and LGBT equality and anything that ‘tickles my fancy.’ Otherwise blogging as O-blog-dee-o-blog-da. Websites and blogs include: http://www.privatecourts.com; http://www.divorcemediators.us; www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com. nathan@privatecourts.com

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Today a Binational married lesbian couple (names private) attended Senator Gillibrand’s meet and greet at the LGBT Center in NYC. They went armed with a letter setting out their dire circumstances, including reference to the unconscionable detention suffered by one of the spouses. 

After asking the pertinent question about the passage of Uniting American Families Act (UAFA)  and its relationship to comprehensive Immigration reform (CIR) , the Senator spoke specifically of an integrated approach. Privy to this information through my advocacy on behalf of this particular couple I was told- “Meeting with Sen. Gillibrand was great; she’s indeed a great advocate for the LGBT community. She seems a very authentic person, genuine, kind and responsive, sensitive to all matters regarding LGBT issues. The Senator referred to Sen. Schumer who is writing the bill. She also said that CIR and UAFA should be on the table by the end of this year, so it can be passed by spring.  She stressed the fact that it is important to have things dealt with before March. They’re going for an integrated approach.”

This may be interpreted to confirm that CIR will in fact include UAFA, when introduced by Senator Schumer.  However in August of 2009, when I asked Julie Kruse of Immigration Equality why would we be concerned that an overt champion of UAFA and LGBT issues such as Schumer would fail to include LGBT in CIR,  she cautioned that there was no guarantee that Senator Schumer would  in fact include UAFA.  However it would seem that Senator Gillibrand may now be providing some valuable insight as to what we can expect.   

That said, we must take heed of the Senator’s most fervent suggestion. We cannot ignore the overt and bland advice when she told her participants today that she recommends we push, push and push for the legislation now.  That we write like we have never written before and specifically that we bombard our representatives, urgently.  I know out4Immigration is doing an amazing job in the 34^th week of their letter writing campaign, but it is not enough and they cannot do it all. We need to hear from our brothers and sisters in the community who may not be directly impacted by this. 

The Senator emphasized the importance of Senator Schumer introducing Immigration reform legislation by year’s end; and the fact that it is imperative that the legislation passes by Spring 2010, the latter in her estimation possibly being a last opportunity.

I challenge every single person reading this, regardless of whether their rep is supportive or not of the Uniting American Families Act, to get 5 members of your community, friends, family to write and simply as follows: “Where do you stand on Uniting American Families Act and will you support it in comprehensive immigration reform. What are you doing to ensure this legislation passes before the Spring.” That’s all you have to do!!!

At the moment though, everybody is focused on DADT  (Don’t Ask Don’t Tell) as priority and that seemed to dominate the conversation, especially given that Lt. Dan Choi was there to introduce the Senator.

A community, advocates and activists, thank Senator Gillibrand for holding the meet and greet on this perfect Sunday.  In doing so she clearly displays her championship of our equality and that there is a good chance she could step forward to lead the more timid amongst our allies

Blogged by MELANIE NATHAN,  CEO of Private Courts, Inc.  Communications, public policy consulting, mediation & private advocacy; motivated by injustice, I blog about family, law, mediation, politics, news and LGBT equality and anything that ‘tickles my fancy.’ Otherwise blogging as O-blog-dee-o-blog-da. Websites and blogs include: http://www.privatecourts.com; http://www.divorcemediators.us; www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com. Contact Nathan@privatecourts.com

“Pass the Uniting American Families Act” and I say

now!

Senator Leahy and Melanie Nathan June 2009.

 

The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) of 2009,  would grant same-sex couples the same immigration benefits — and responsibilities — as opposite-sex couples, under the same existing legal framework.  It is cosponsored by 22 senators and 117 members of the House of Representatives and has the support of a diverse coalition of businesses and civil rights organizations, including the NAACP, the American Bar Association and the Anti-Defamation League. In highlighting some of the hardships, the article should be read, and more importantly the comments that appear thereafter.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.)   reflect on the legislation introduced to what they refer to as “to right the  wrong”.   The words of both Senators appear in a jointly authored article appearing in publication  –  ”THE HLL” today.   

“We must change the law to end the gratuitous cruelty being imposed  thousands of couples  around the country. We urge Congress to incorporate UAFA into the forthcoming comprehensive immigration reform. No immigration reform we enact can be truly comprehensive unless it also addresses this deprivation of the civil rights of bi-national families. There is no rational reason to continue this discriminatory treatment. It is long past time that Congress did something about it.”

I for one have always feared that UAFA will take a back seat as a stand alone bill to Comprehensive Immigration Reform. while I understand and truly appreciate the Senator and Congressman’s plea for inclusion in CIR, I fear that this may derogate from the work that still needs to be done to sweeten UAFA  and pass it as a stand alone, this year.  My own comments, together with the very valuable input by Lavi Soloway, founder of Immigration Equality,  are noted in the posting’s comment section. I for one believe that if organizations such as Immigration equality worked directly with the Senator and Congressman, they could forward UAFA.  Instead IE has nailed their hat onto the Comprehensive Immigration reform hat stand.    This action could have served well to compliment out4immigrations letter writing campaign, but again we find our organizations’  inability to unite in strategy.

What I find most interesting is the Article’s heading – “PASS THE UNTING AMERICAN FAMILES ACT” and so I hold hope that Senator Leahy and Rep. Jerrold Nadler will continue to lead and motivate to acheive this ultimate goal.  I am still urging Immigration Equality to work on the underlying impediments to UAFA with Senator Leahy and Rep. Nadler. Please work on the Feinstein concern – the underlying contractual nexus issue – it is the ultimate key to passage and you have known this since 2007.

I am calling on all Gay and Lesbian and Bisexual and Transgender communties to appeal urgently to your representatives to help those who are suffering now.  Those who are about to leave their homes for countries abroad.  I have 25 cases on my list right now of people facing this huge challenge – who are set for exile in the coming months and it is plain wrong!  Some have aging parents, one has a heart ailment;  these Americans are being forced to leave the US to be with their loved ones at great cost.  Its a civil rights and a human rights abomination and American Law is the culprit.  It must change and I for one am intolerant of the fact that they are being asked to wait for Comprehensive Immigration reform when in fact they are the subject of discrimination and inequality that has nothing to do with Comprehensive immigration reform.     If you want to learn more about how to effectively advocate, contact www.Out4Immigration.org

Melanie Nathan, of Private Courts Inc.  An Advocacy and Conflict Resolution Firm. www.privatecourts.com and www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com  and www.divorcemediattors.com  nathan@privatecourts.com

by   Melanie Nathan:  
Some organizations focus on fundraising and remain furtive in their strategy, citing “we know best” while purporting to advance the cause of binationals in their self appointed autocracy.  However  Out4Immigration remains consistent in its plan – a transparent one- and as always makes  public and involves the public. 

 The group is now in the 34th week of its letter writing campaign and is responsible for much of the traction of UAFA  gaining support on the Hill.  What is noteworthy is the fact that out4Immigration works steadily and consistently to put people on the ground.

We can never underestimate the value of LGBT personal stories. We must introduce ourselves, one by one to Congress. The few organizations are indeed just that,  too few on the Hill, and they do not have the power of the personal story. Congress wants to hear from us. They would rather hear from us than lobbyists and groups. The power of each and every story is as unique as a fingerprint and as relevant as our family entitlements.  This is a skill so beautifully honed by Out4I and passed on to all willing to take the plunge.

Week 34 -” Please sign on to sponsor Uniting American Families Act“   A letter campaign to Congress. If you are in a binational relationship you have not yet done enough unless you write to at least ten congressional representatives, including your own.  Even if your own rep already co-sponsors the legislation, we should all question their leadership on moving it forward. 

 Amos Lim says:-”  Out4Immigration –  is an all grassroots organization and our letter writing campaign is now in its 34th  week.  We have had successes in our campaign by getting more cosponsors on board.  We are also constantly adapting the campaign from feed-back that we received from our members and from our allies. There are people who are interested in doing more than just simple cut and paste and after some discussion, we are incorporating those request into our letter writing campaign. Out4 I provides guidance and options for your own advocacy either on your own behalf or as someone who abhors the fact that so many American are subject to this horrendous inequity that separates our couples.” There are three options in using the names and addresses of the Congressional targets O4I provide:  (1) Send an Out4Immigration form letter.. go to http://out4Immigration.com to join as a member. It is free. (2) Write your own letter telling your personal story (3) Send each representative a self-made booklet that tells your story, shows pictures of your family, includes letters from your employer or others in the community identifying their support for you and the UAFA.  Again, you should send this an individual, although you can use news clippings and links to organizations that advocate for same-sexbinational couples like O4I,  Marriage Equality.

See the OUT4I toolkit: http://tinyurl.com/o4i-toolkit1 for more ideas. Whichever option you choose (and please, choose at least one!) Amos Lim says “know that you are making a difference — and please don’t give up!”

Please join out4Immigration in its quest to help our gay and lesbian families in exile, in hiding or living in uncertainty. we should not have to choose between our heart or home.  Also remember we are all one heart beat away from falling in love with a foreigner.  I encourage all readers to visit Out$Immigration website to see what they are up to.  They ask for nothing except your personal advocacy. It is the least we can all do.

Blogged by, MELANIE NATHAN, C  of Private Courts, Inc. “ Consulting, mediation & private advocacy ; motivated by injustice, I blog about family law/mediation, politics, news and LGBT equality and anything that tickles my fancy.  Otherwise blogging as O-blog-dee-o-blog-da. Websites and blogs include: http://www.privatecourts.com; http://www.divorcemediators.us; www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com. CONTACT:- nathan@privatecourts.com

Melanie Nathan -  pursuant to Press release where NAACP President for Iowa and Nebraska endorses Republican Vander Plaats for Governor in IOWA;

In the wake of a recent endorsements and due to his flagrant disregard for the NAACP stand on LGBT equality as a civil rights issue, I call for the resignation of Rev. Ratiff President of IOWA and NEBRASKA NAACP. Unless willing to explicate a public withdrawal of support for the 2010 Republican Gubernatorial candidate, Bob Vander Plaats, who has taken an open stand against Gay marriage, I expect a resignation and an apology for the Rev’s unabashed endorsement of the anti-gay – hence anti civil rights ticket of the Governor ‘wanna be.’

Quoting the website of Vander Plaat’s Issues statements, he asserts that he is “FOR – a stay on same-sex marriages until the General Assembly rewrites state law or Iowans are allowed to vote on the definition of marriage as one man and one woman.”  

Notwithstanding this overt indictment against legal Gay marriage in Iowa, the Reverend Keith Ratliff, pastor of the Maple Street Missionary Baptist Church and president of the Iowa/Nebraska Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,(NAAC) announced his support for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats.

I ask, where is the consistency in the NAACP?   In at least two prominent appearances, Julian Bond Chairman of  the NAACP has categorically stated that LGBT equality is a civil rights issue and that the NAAC fully supports LGBT equality.  These statements could not have been clearly. The first time I heard Mr. Bonds assert this stance, was on June 3^rd of this year while sitting directly behind him at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the equal immigration legislation, Uniting American Families Act.  The video of his testimony is available on You Tube. The more recent affirmation was at this past weekend’s Equality march in D.C.

In a press release appearing on Vander Plaat’s website:

“Speaking at a morning news conference at the Statehouse, Rev. Ratliff noted that his support for Vander Plaats is “an individual decision based on Bob’s commitment to improving our educational system, economic opportunities for all Iowans and ensuring that our criminal justice system is equal to all.” He added, “I know that Bob Vander Plaats is not afraid to stand up for what is right. That takes courage. He has what it takes to be a fiscally responsible governor who gets Iowa’s financial house back in order, but there is so much more work to be done,” Ratliff said.

No only does Ratliff endorse Vander Plaat, but he also ascribes to the anti-gay marriage tickets when he stated, “Vander Plaats talked about the importance of defending the institution of marriage. And, most importantly, he won’t just talk about those things he’ll do something about them. That takes backbone and determination. That’s what I want in my governor – and that’s why I’m standing here today to show my support for him.”

This is an imperative opportunity and must not be missed – so I encourage all to write Mr. Bonds and express your feelings about this sad contradiction.  Demand that an organization such as the NAACP cannot have at a State’s helm any person who is unable to separate church from state, personal from NAACP position, and one who does not place civil rights as the paramount issue above all else.

watch?v=70wZwx247MQ

Blogged by, MELANIE NATHAN, CEO of Private Courts, Inc. – Consulting, mediation & private advocacy ; motivated by injustice, I blog about family law/mediation, politics, news and LGBT equality and anything that ‘tickles my fancy.’ Otherwise blogging as O-blog-dee-o-blog-da. Websites and blogs include: http://www.privatecourts.com; http://www.divorcemediators.us; www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com. CONTACT:- nathan@privatecourts.com

10/06/09 – The influential Rev. Troy Perry has written a persuasive guest post for Unite The Fight titled “Why I Support a Return to the Ballot in 2012″.

Rev. Perry, founder of the Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) and long-time LGBT rights activist, sued California along with his husband to have his Canadian marriage recognized which led to the state Supreme Court ruling legalizing marriage equality. Unfortunately, the passage of Proposition 8 stripped gays and lesbians of their new-found right to marriage shortly after. Rev. Perry believes that a 2012 ballot initiative gives the LGBT population a better chance of restoring marriage equality to California.

You can read the post at Unite the Fight.

09/23/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Representative Joe Sestak has published an open letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi asking that the Respect for Marriage Act be brought to the floor of the House for debate, and asked for the support of the LGBT Community and our allies in lending weight to the letter by asking us all to electronically sign it. Representative Sestak is running for Senate in an attempt to topple current Senator Arlen Spector.

The retired Admiral has been a vocal opponent of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, and of the passage of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act or MREA. The RMA is intended to repeal at least the portion of the Defense of Marriage Act which blocks the Federal Government from recognizing same-sex couples with regards to many Federal benefits.

While President Barack Obama has stated his support for the repeal of DOMA, his Justice Department has come under fire for filing briefs often designed to put an end to lawsuits regarding the law.

Here is the letter in its entirety at Joe Sestak, Democrat For Senate.

09/10/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Christian Pro-Gay billboards are causing something of a major uproar in North Texas where a coalition of five local churches who are all part of the Worldwide Metropolitan Community Church have paid to spread a message of toleration. Their billboards include messages like “Jesus Said Some Are Born Gay”, and “Ruth Loved Naiomi More Than Adam Loved Eve.”

The reaction among many people in North Texas is heavily negative with many demanding that the pastors of the five churches reread the Bible, of course demanding that they do so with the same exact interpretation that they are using. Of course, most of the people who are demanding this are likely using the King James Bible or later editions.

One of the billboards states “Jesus Affirmed a Gay Couple”, and the citation for that is held in the Greek where the word ‘pais’ is the word used to indicate a same-sex partner. Greek culture, especially in ancient times, was very open to homosexuality with both historical figures like Socrates and Sappho as well as mythical figures like Apollo and Athena being linked heavily with same-sex lovers.

“If we go back to the gospel readings, we don’t find anything within those texts that discriminate or exclude against gay and lesbian people. Gay and lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender people are part of God’s creation too,” said Reverend Jon Haack of the Promise Metropolitan Community Church, one of the five churches involved in this campaign.

“There are people who have told us to reread our Bible which is the very question we’re asking others to do. We’ve had people say, ‘How dare you take the name of God in vain’ and that God hates homosexuals,” Reverend Colleen Darruagh with the Metropolitan Community Church of Greater Dallas explained about the emails that they have been receiving on this issue.

“I’m hard pressed to find that scripture advocates that it’s alright to live in a gay lifestyle. Just like I’m hard pressed to find that scripture advocates that’s it’s alright to live in an adulterous relationship or as a wife abuser or as a murderer,” stated Pastor Sam Dennis, of Parkway Hills Baptist Church who disagrees with the use of scripture to spread a pro-gay message of toleration.

Part of the problem in the interpretation of the Bible is that many of the words that were used in the earliest versions were changed over time. Adding to the muddle is that around AD500, the Bible undergoes a heavy edit in an attempt to centralize the Bible and make it more affirming of the structure of the centralized Church in Rome. Several early Saints are said to have lain down with women and not been tempted, and that this was the reason for their being sainted in the first place. According to Celticist Peter Berrisford Ellis, St. Brigid of Kildare had a woman for her lover throughout her whole life. According to the story, St. Brigid was to marry a man of her father’s choosing in order to bolster the political situation within the kingdom. Rather than marry, she plucked out one of her own eyes. Repulsed, her betrothed called off the wedding and Brigid went into self-imposed exile (called White Death) whereby she renounced her family and tribal allegiances before setting off to the holy site of Kildare where she met and fell in love with Darlughdacha, the woman who would be with her the rest of her life.

CBS Channel 11 Dallas/Ft Worth
Would Jesus Discriminate?
Why Would We?

8/19/09-by Paula Brooks
In the first step to getting the legal fight over same-sex marriage to the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal judge has set Jan. 11 as the trial date for a legal challenge to California’s Proposition 8.

Former U.S. Solicitor Theodore Olson and premier attorney David Boies filed the federal lawsuit in May on behalf of a lesbian couple from Berkeley and a gay couple from Burbank challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8. The suit was the first in California to seek a right to same-sex marriage under the federal rather than the state constitution.

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker also denied the motions from a coalition of three gay-rights groups, as well as of the conservative Campaign for California Families, to intervene as parties to the case. The excluded parties will also be permitted to submit advisory friend-of-the-court briefs, but will not be able to have a say in the management of the case.

However, Judge Walker did grant a motion to intervene from the City and County of San Francisco, which he said is asserting governmental interests such as lost tourism dollars, and the cost of providing social services to those against whom Proposition 8 discriminates that the plaintiffs don’t represent.

In addition, Walker took noted that California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who has argued the law is unconstitutional, is not defending the law, nor is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and that they have taken no positions in the case, “I must say I’m surprised at the governor’s position in this case. … This is a matter of some importance to the people of the state and it would be useful to have his input on a constitutional matter of this magnitude,” said Walker.

Walker last month let the conservative legal group, the Alliance Defense Fund, intervene as defendants because the original defendants, Schwarzenegger, Brown and various other state and county officials have essentially declined to defend the measure’s constitutionality.

This past spring, the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, which amended the California Constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage in that state, but left intact an estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages that took place last year before voters approved the measure by 52 to 48 percent. Boies and Olson, who argued on opposite sides of the Bush v. Gore case that decided the 2000 presidential election, filed their lawsuit four days before the California Supreme Court’s decision.

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08/18/09 – You may or may not have read about the recent incident that occurred when I tried to use the self serve computers at FedEx Kinko’s.

In my article I talked about how I went to a local FedEx Office to try to print out a contract for the Gay Ad Network and was blocked from viewing their website because it was filtered out as ‘pornography’.

At the time, knowing that I am a blogger and Executive Editor of this site, I knew how big of a problem this could be for the company; and so I wanted to give them an equal and fair opportunity to fix the problem before I posted any information on the incident.

I called FedEx as soon as I got home to register my complaint. During the call I received an apology and validation that what happened to me was wrong. My main concern was in having the filters fixed and making sure that this didn’t happen to anyone else. I was told that the company would contact me once they had reached a resolution.

I want to make it clear that I very well could have rained a media storm on FedEx Office over the incident that happened to me. Being the Executive Editor of this site gives me access to many media outlets and allies. I very well could have pursued the situation via various well known LGBT organizations who could have took this story way more public than I chose to.

My main reason for approaching the situation the way that I did in the end was to show the world exactly what happens to average, everyday LGBT individuals on a frequent basis. As any customer would, I gave the company 48 hours to respond to my customer complaint with a satisfactory resolution. When three days passed and there was no word from FedEx on the incident, I then posted an article on the situation, asking for other customers to register complaints as well.

However, time continued to pass, and one week later there had still been no word back from FedEx as to a resolution or any type of information relating to my complaint. I forced myself not to call and be a pesky customer and simply wait for a call back on my original complaint. I truly believe that if I had told the clerk right off the bat that I was the Executive Editor of a major LGBT news site, or told the woman on the phone that I was with the media, I would have gotten a much quicker fix to the problem.

Some readers did let me know that they were able to access their documents at other FedEx Office locations throughout the U.S. and so the outcome did look good. Yet, contacting the company with a customer complaint of discrimination was not enough to warrant a call back by them, so about one week after posting my article here I contacted FedEx via email to inquire about my original complaint.

Here is what I said to them in the email…

Re: Discrimination Complaint Made on July 31
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
To: fedexoffice.customerrelations@fedex.com

Dear FedEx Office,

My name is Julie Phineas. I made a complaint to your customer service phone number on July 31st and still have not heard back from your company with a resolution. I wrote a story on my blog about the situation which you can read here: http://lezgetreal.com/?p=20058. I have found since then that the problem I encountered was not an incident that was isolated to just one store. My main concern is in having your company implement a plan to update the filters on all self serve computers so that the word “gay” is not considered adult content. My experience was with just this word, but I suspect that words like “lesbian” and “transgender” might not pass your filters either which would be discriminatory, so that is something that needs to be evaluated as well.. I hope that there is a satisfactory resolution to this problem that I can report back to my readers and I truly thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.

You can contact me with any questions at (### or ###)

Sincerely,

Julie Phineas

That prompted an auto response which let me know that my email had been received and would be responded to within 48 hours.

The next day I got this reply…

Response from FedEx Office Customer Relations
Thursday, August 13, 2009
From: “FedEx Office – Customer Relations”

August 13, 2009

Dear Ms. Phineas:

Thank you for your e-mail.

A third party automated monitoring system automatically blocks content
that could be potentially harmful to FedEx Office’s systems or
customers. Occasionally, content is incorrectly blocked by this
automated system. When this matter was brought to our attention, we
corrected the problem within hours. We also have adjusted some of the
settings to prevent similar content from being blocked in the future.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We regret any
inconvenience this may have caused our customers.

Alisa Nielsen
Customer Relations

I was very happy to receive this response, but disappointed that FedEx did not contact me to let me know a resolution had been made ‘within hours’ as they claim.

I am really glad that they took the initiative to fix the problem, but they weren’t really falling over themselves to make me happy. I am not saying that I expect that personally, I just know that in situations where you have disappointed a customer you should want to make that customer happy so they won’t take their negative opinion of your company around with them everywhere they go. FedEx kind of missed that lesson.

I did take a trip back to the same FedEx location where the incident occurred to reenact the situation and verify that the filters had in fact been fixed. I already knew that one reader (thanks Sue!) was able to verify that they had been in fixed in her location, but it was important to me to see if this location had been fixed as well.

I am happy to report that I was in fact able to access the very same forms I had been blocked from accessing before, and the Gay Ad Network is no longer considered pornography by the FedEx Office self-serve computer filters.

The clerk who initially told me that corporate wouldn’t have time for ’stuff like this’ was not on duty at the time. Although I would have loved to have had a conversation with her afterwards and get her thoughts on the matter at this point. I have to say I was very proud of myself for standing up and helping make a change in the world with this small victory.

I also feel very grateful to the people who wrote in, commented, and circulated this story. Thank you to Nerve, Back2Stonewall, and L.A. Metblogs for circulating the story to their readers, and thank you to FedEx office for updating their filters.

I hope that other corporations with similar services are able to take away a more sensitive attitude towards customer diversity and the needs of all communities of customers, not just those that are considered mainstream.

One very good resource for corporations and business owners is the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. You can also find some goood information about how you can become more sensitive to diveristy at work and more from the Out and Equal organization.

Thanks again to those who supported me through this situation, and also a BIG thank you to YOU, the readers, for without you this site wouldn’t exist.

I also want to mention, if something like this happens to you (no matter your orientation!), don’t stand for it. Don’t be afraid to register a complaint, write a letter or make a phone call; and if that is not enough to warrant a resolution, let us know and we’ll post your story here.

In addition, to help say thank you to FedEx for fixing their filters, please send an email to fedexoffice.customerrelations@fedex.com.

There is so much going on – all the LGBT organizations are putting out uniform calls to action – ENDA-DADT- DOMA – this being the time now! Now!  Now!

In this scrap for your attention, I hear this Hortonesque sound, a speckle of a voice; it is small and it is getting louder.  It is as loud as you want to hear it and so we leave the world of Dr. Seuss and enter Julius Caesar with “friends, Americans, and Countrypersons…lend me your ears….”   Okay this is not funny this is serious, but now that I have your ears in my sack of slack I scream and you hear WHAT ABOUT US?   BINATIONALS – UAFA!

Binational  is a term coined to denote LGBT spouses/partners who by virtue of US exclusionary laws are treated unequally; whereas straight US spouses have the right to petition under immigration law for fiancé visas and spousal immigration, the US Partner/spouse of a binational couple is not afforded this inherent right and cannot petition for a partner. Hence here is our call to action.  Allies are sought NOW  - urgently. Please speak out for those less fortunate. Those on the UAFA waiting list – because their congress members either know nothing of their plight or are sitting back in Co-sponsor complacency.

The ‘UAFA Waiting List’  is one no one wants to be on – it is one that keeps binational exiles abroad, others in hiding, and inter alia some fifty year olds pleading to stop time so that they are not sixty by the time they get to cohabit with their spouses/partners.

This year a synchronicity of events and increased sponsorship of UAFA gives us hope that maybe we can gain more support in this  111th Congress in a push for passage of the Uniting American Families Act.  We are urging fast and prompt action – where all and anyone can help by contacting representatives and pushing for this legislation.  While binationals are doing their own work, it would make a significant difference if support could be engendered from straight allies, clergy, organizations, state legislatures and of course the LGBT community at large.

Binational couples need your help. Unlike other unfortunate discriminatory practices against our community, here in the US and abroad, this is the one that either keeps partners apart or forces them to choose between heart and home.

I had the great pleasure this past month working with Out4 Immigration in developing their Grassroots Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) Campaign, manifesting in a comprehensive and invaluable Action Kit.  The Kit introduces the campaign to Out4Immigration’s abundant membership throughout the USA and in Exile, abroad and now I am bringing it to you:

“Thank you for participating in our Out4Immigration Congressional Visits, a coast-to-coast effort where we will meet with our Members of Congress during the August Congressional Recess (August 3 – September 4) to keep pushing for the passage of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) and for its inclusion in Comprehensive Immigration Reform. This kit will give you the basic information you need before, during and after your meetings.”

The contents indicate the extent of the collaboration and work by the extraordinary volunteers of the unfunded Out4Immigration.   The forty page Action Kit covers everything needed to guide participants through the process of advocating for the passage of immigration equality and reform;  guidelines for meeting with members of Congress, Talking Points, Do’s and Do Not’s,  Exit Question Checklist, Sample Letter to Request Meeting, List of Senate Co-sponsors, List of House Co-sponsors,  Tri-Fold Brochure, Testimony and Statements from Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, Fact Sheet on LGBT Immigration and  UAFA– Stories /Related Media Coverage/Articles.

The Group has taken the further step of devising and setting up an all volunteer tracking system as the members report back about their congressional activities.   Not only does this lend credence to a well coordinated effort, but also assists in a comprehensive and organized check list for future coverage and follow-up.

There are a few dedicated volunteers who have worked vigorously in their contributions to out4I and the cause, to make this month a productive one for the advancement of UAFA.  They know who they are, and you, the rest,  who can further this mission to one of success also know who you are. So I am writing this piece to urge you all, LGBTQI, Straight, bi-national or not, to read the Action Kit and find what you can do to help in what has been a long and arduous struggle for immigration equality.

In the hope that you will come forward and ask your representatives to support UAFA I urge you to read the KIT and be inspired by remarks such as that of Julian Bond of the NAACP in his testimony at the UAFA hearing on June 3^rd, stated:

“Given all the benefits, socially, economically, and morally, of ensuring that effective family reunification is an integral part of our nation’s immigration policy there can be no question that the NAACP supports an overhaul of current law to ensure that the family preferences policies are functioning well and without discrimination. As I said earlier, the NAACP would also like to stress that the definition of “family” should not be interpreted so stringently as to omit people who are in a loving, committed relationship but happen to be of the same gender.”

This type of positive support is worthless if it sits in isolation. I t is now our duty to utilize such statements to the advantage of UAFA – by bringing this to the attention of every single member of Congress.  Do not be put-off by Republicans or conservative viewpoints.  This is an opportunity to walk into the consciousness of all of America – It is up to us…Good-luck and lets go for it!   Oh and by the way – when you go and speak to your Rep about ENDA, DADT AND DOMA, DONT forget UAFA! Thanks.  Now that Senator feinstein has signed on to ENDA she and the other co-sponsors must be urged to immediately sign on to UAFA.

If you have any questions please contact Melanie Nathan or OUT4Immigration through their websites.

The ACTION KIT can be located at  www.divorcemediators.us – fill out form or go directly to PDF.

For more information and a read into the unconscionable hardship suffered by your fellow American citizens/ residents in their inability to Petition for their partners to immigrate to the USA, here are some references:

http://oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com/2009/04/15/update-shirley-tan-deportation-out-of-options/

http://www.out4immigration.org/immigration/page.html?&mimid=JXT45G1GQCVR9GUS471KP1QXJRNGC9PC&cid=1130
Out4Immigration Grassroots Action Kit

Blogged by MELANIE NATHAN, CEO of Private Courts, Inc. Consulting, mediation & private advocacy ; motivated by injustice, I blog about family law/mediation, politics, news and LGBT equality and anything that ‘tickles my fancy.’ Otherwise blogging as O-blog-dee-o-blog-da. Websites and blogs include: http://www.privatecourts.com; http://www.divorcemediators.us; www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com.

FedEx Kinko’s, which recently became FedEx Office, offers self-serve computer service to it’s customers through store locations worldwide.

On these self-serve computers customers are able to access the internet for a variety of reasons along with other basic computer functions such as printing or creating documents. The fee for using the self-serve computers is calculated by the amount of time you are on the computer plus a charge for any printing that is done. On Friday July 31, 2009 I entered the FedEx Office on Hawthorne Blvd. in Torrance, CA to use their self-serve computer service. I needed to print out a contract with The Gay Ad Network, an internet advertising network for the gay and lesbian community. Upon attempting to visit the website www.gayadnetwork.com, I was blocked from viewing their website when the computer filter categorized The Gay Ad Network as “pornography”. The computer asked for an administrator password to bypass the filter if the site I was trying to view was not adult content.

The clerk at the counter made degrading statements about what I was trying to view once I told her I was trying to print out a document from The Gay Ad Network.

She told me that I “would not be able to look at that stuff here”. I showed her the email I had from the network, clearly showing her that there was no adult content involved, yet she assured me that because the word “gay” was in the content it was considered adult. I explained to the clerk that I felt I was being discriminated against, that it was equally offensive to me as if they had filtered out the word “hispanic”. I felt I should have had equal access to the internet to retrieve my business documents as any other customer in that store. The clerk refused to enter the password, saying “I don’t have the password”, “there is no password”, and “only the tech guys have the password” then offered to issue me a refund. She issued me a refund for the time I was connected to their self service computer, and while she did she felt it necessary to mention that “other customers would be offended” if I were allowed to view “site’s like that”. I asked her who I could contact to change the filters. There was a sign on the wall with contact information and I asked her if I should contact the store directly or the number on the wall. She told me “Oh, they don’t have time for stuff like that” and waved off my question with her hand.

When I returned home, I contacted the FedEx Customer Relations line and spoke with a woman who took an incident report and apologized profusely for what had happened at their Torrance location.

I explained to the woman on the phone that I felt discriminated against, and she said that she felt that I was right. She mentioned that there was in fact a password, and that the clerk should have entered the password after I showed her that the website I was trying to view was not adult content. However, I mentioned to this woman that I felt that these filters should not filter the word “gay” as “pornography”. I explained that I felt I should be able to walk into any of their locations and print out my business documents like anybody else, and I wanted to know if it was their policy as a company to filter gay websites or if this was an incident that was isolated to their Torrance store. The woman on the phone could not answer that question for me. She assured me that someone would return my call and let me know what their resolution was after some research.

I contacted Mark Elderkin, the head of the Gay Ad Network, at which point he confirmed that this is not the first time one of his publshers has encountered this particular problem with FedEx Kinko’s/FedEx Office.

This fact alone tells me that this was not an isolated incident, and it seems to be a company wide policy to filter gay websites as “pornography” from self-service internet usage on their computers.

If you disagree with the choice FedEx Office has made to automatically filter gay websites as “pornography” you can call 1.800.Go.FedEx (1.800.463.3339) or send an email to fedexoffice.customerrelations@fedex.com.

UPDATE:
To address some of the comments below:

-The location was 23325 Hawthorne Blvd. not 17252 Hawthorne Blvd.

-The woman on the phone said that someone would get back to me right after they contacted their Torrance store. It had been close to 72 hours since the incident when I reported this story, which I did in hopes of having others contact them as well. I have still not received a phone call back, yet I know that the phone calls and emails from readers of this story have helped raise awareness of the situation with FedEx Kinko’s/Office.

-My main intentions on reporting this story were to prevent this situation from happening to others. Allan in San Diego and Mark Elderkin (plus more) have confirmed it has in fact happened to others. As one person alone I, or any others, didn’t have much luck with changing the situation. I think that with the others who have contacted FedEx such as Geron, Tom P, and TRC have helped me bring this matter to the top of their priority list.

- I do not blame FedEx Kinko’s for their employee refusing to enter the password to bypass the filter. The way she talked to me was not in their hands at the time, but I sincerely feel that filter should not be there in the first place. Savvy technicians can program their software to do what they need it to and not what they don’t. I refuse to believe that FedEx Kinko’s doesn’t have the resources to implement a change in their software, as some commenters are insinuating. Filtering the word “gay” or any other word that segregates a particular community of people from their services is wrong.

-When talking with the woman on the phone, I asked her if this filtering problem was company wide or location specific. She “couldn’t answer that” question for me, and had to simply take an incident report. I was very happy that she apologized for the employees behavior, but was very disappointed that she avoided the issue of changing the filters. I told her that I really enjoy using their services and want to be able to continue to use them in the future. I also said that I wanted to know that I could walk into one of their locations and use their computers to print out my business documents like anyone else.

- To those who think I am just being a “whiner” – when/if FedEx Kinko’s changes their policy on those filters I will make just as much noise about it singing their praise. I’m not trying to get into a lawsuit, sue for money, or get anyone fired – I just want to see the filters changed (and perhaps some employee education). What’s right is right.

UPDATED UPDATE:

Please see my post with the resolution to this article here…

FedEx Fixes Filters on Self-Serve Computers

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Please join together with us Monday evening August 3rd for a San Francisco memorial in the face of meaningless murder at the LGBT Center in Tel Aviv. Together we will gather at Congregation Sha’ar Zahav 290 Dolores Street at 5:30 pm. We will walk from Sha’ar Zahav by 6:00 pm to the San Francisco LGBT Center at 1800 Market Street.

When we arrive together at the LGBT Center at 6:30 pm Rabbi Camille Shira Angel, Supervisor Bevan Dufty, among others, will offer words of meaning. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this attack, their families, friends and communities.

l’Shalom,

LGBT Alliance of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin & Sonoma Counties

Samuel Strauss, LGBT Alliance of the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay

In addition: On Monday night at 8:30pm, Mt. Sinai Jewish Center will be reciting Tehillim for those who were killed or hurt in the attack following Mincha/Ma�ariv services. They are located at:

Mount Sinai Jewish Center
135 Bennett Avenue
New York, NY 10040

I hope those of you who live in New York will be able to make it.

Also, The Jewish and LGBT communities in the Washington DC will be holding a gathering and candlelight vigil to mourn the violent attack on LGBT youth center in Tel Aviv at the Dupont Circle fountain Monday night, at 8:15 p.m. EST August 3rd, to call an end to hate-motivated violence.

Speakers will include Rabbi Toby Manewith, Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, and Rabbi Elizabeth Richman as well as DC policy leaders, and community activists.

If anyone knows of other services/ tehillim gatherings, please list them in the comments section below.