LGBT Leaders send Dan Choi an Open Letter over his loose statement

Last week, Dan Choi said this in an article in The Village Voice:

"Harry Reid is a pussy," Choi angrily said after the failed vote in the Senate last month, vowing to speak out about the Democratic leader, "and he'll be bleeding once a month."

Well, a few LGBT leaders were not feelin' it and sent Dan an open letter:

AN OPEN LETTER TO DAN CHOI

Dear Dan,

The Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN) and the undersigned advocacy
organizations were shocked and extremely disappointed by your comments
about women in your recent interview in the Village Voice. You should
know as we do that there is no room for misogyny, racism or other
forms of hate speech among people who are working to end
discrimination and bring about equality in the military, and
throughout society.

Your comments about women are irresponsible, indefensible and
inexcusable, and you should publicly acknowledge that fact.  As a
human rights advocate, you should know that degrading one group of
people to promote the rights of another disserves everyone.  Your
sexist comments also undermine SWAN’s efforts to achieve our policy
objectives, which include promoting equality for all servicemembers.

As an organization that advocates for equal opportunity for all
servicemembers and veterans, SWAN is keenly aware that there is still
a tremendous amount of misogyny both within the military and the LGBTQ
community, and that misogynistic and homophobic language is rampant in
the military.  Comments denigrating women’s bodies, or suggesting that
simply being a woman is abhorrent, are unacceptable. Unfortunately,
this type of language is all too familiar to women in the military.

As a direct result of misogynistic language, a hostile work
environment for servicewomen–both heterosexual and lesbian–is
allowed to thrive. Hate crimes, sexual harassment, lesbian-baiting,
gay-bashing and sexual assault have flourished. Adopting and
promulgating hate-filled speech against women only serves to increase
the danger that servicewomen and LGBTQ servicemembers face on a daily
basis.

We must hold you accountable for what you say as a spokesperson for
equality. We encourage you to render a genuine apology, rather than a
half-hearted, perfunctory tweet on Twitter. We also encourage you to
discuss this issue with us further. It is part of our mission to
educate the public about the serious challenges facing military women
and women veterans, and we’d be more than happy to assist you in
deepening your understanding of these issues.

Service Women’s Action Network
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network

HRC's Joe Solmonese sends an Open Letter to President Obama

Dear Mr. President:

Years from now, students of the movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality (LGBT) will no doubt see this fall as a pivotal period in the history of our struggle for fundamental fairness.  In January, we were all inspired by your State of the Union pledge to end our nation’s discriminatory ban on open service by gays and lesbians.  Equally inspiring was the testimony in support of repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law by the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  We have come so far, but the only true measure of success is whether the thousands of brave gay and lesbian Americans who are serving their country, and the many more who want to serve their country, can do so openly and honestly.  We have not yet met that goal, and without your leadership and unparalleled efforts, this historic opportunity to remove a stain of discrimination from our nation will pass all of us by. 

Last week, lawyers for your administration asked for an emergency stay from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, seeking to end a worldwide injunction of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law while they work to overturn a federal judge’s conclusion that this law – one that you have called discriminatory and contrary to our national security on many occasions – offends the protections of our Constitution.  I continue to struggle with how your administration can defend a law you oppose, and how it could be even remotely constitutional for a statute to single out one group of brave Americans, because of who they are and who they love, and order them serve in silence and deception.  How can our government have a duty to defend a statute that is clearly so contrary to our Constitution’s guarantee of equality for all?

The Ninth Circuit’s decision to stay Judge Phillips’s decision further frustrates repeal advocates and puts a bright spotlight on you to reconcile this endless legal wrangling with your public promise to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”  While we continue to call on your Administration not to appeal, if the Justice Department does insist on defending this discriminatory law, I strongly urge you to instruct government lawyers to inform the appellate court that the Executive Branch believes that the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law is unconstitutional. I agree with the esteemed lawyer and former head of the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice, Walter Dellinger, that such a move would send the Ninth Circuit a critically important message.

Furthermore, the litigation strategy challenging “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is made all the more critical by the challenges a legislative repeal has faced in Congress.  While the House approved repeal by a wide margin, the Senate’s first and second attempts to move forward on the critical Defense Authorization bill were stymied by Republican obstructionists looking to score political points before the midterm elections.  There is still an opportunity for the Senate to send the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to your desk in the lame duck session, but it will not happen if you do not put the full weight of the Office of the President of the United States behind it.  Republican opponents would rather see the Defense Authorization and everything in it – military pay raises, critical armor and equipment for our troops, health coverage for their families on the home front – fail than let gays and lesbians serve their country openly.  This is an outrageous insult to our troops, to their Commander-in-Chief, and to the Defense Department charged with their operations and their care.  You and Secretary Gates must be full partners in making clear to Senators that it is doubly unacceptable to hold hostage the needs of every soldier, sailor, airman and Marine in a desperate attempt to preserve a law that flies in the face of the American ideals they sacrifice to protect every day. 

It is because “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is contrary to our core values as a nation that it must end.  And we must have a durable solution – legislative repeal or a solid judicial decision.  But if those fail, you must not allow another day to go by in which a brave gay or lesbian service member is discharged based simply on sexual orientation.  HRC has urged your administration, privately and publicly, for more than a year to use every tool at your disposal as Chief Executive to at least significantly reduce discharges, if not end them entirely.  More can be done in this regard.


You can and should issue a stop-loss order suspending enforcement of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”  This discriminatory law has already deprived our military thousands of service members, many with critical skills in fighting terrorism.  You have acknowledged that it harms our national security.  If we fail to achieve legislative repeal this year, and if you will not abandon the defense of this discriminatory law in court, then it is imperative that you use your clear authority as President to end the discharges.  Anything less is unacceptable.    
We have fought long and hard to get this close to ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”  We pledge to continue that fight, every step of the way, until this unjust law is gone for good.  Future generations will look back at this moment – we must not let it become a setback in the long march toward full equality, but instead make it the turning point it is poised to become. 

Sincerely,
Joe Solmonese
President

source

An Open Letter to Nancy Pelosi about ENDA

Several LGBT orgs wrote a letter to Nancy Pelosi about putting ENDA on the floor.

Here it is:

From San Francisco Pride at Work, One Struggle, One Fight, GetEqual, Harvey Milk Democratic Club, Transgender Law Center, National Center for Lesbian Rights, El / La, and National Pride at Work

An Open Letter to the House Speaker on ENDA

We are writing to express how extremely troubled we are that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) has not yet been scheduled for a vote by the full House of Representatives. We believe a floor vote must be scheduled for ENDA immediately.

It would be devastating for LGBT workers for this Congress to not complete its work on ENDA before the end of this session. ENDA would be historic in the number of LGBT people who would benefit from its passage. During this economic crisis, it is more important than ever to prohibit the often impoverishing effects of workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Most LGBT workers have no protections from workplace discrimination. ENDA would provide legal protection against discrimination nationally. Over and over we have been promised that a vote would be scheduled on ENDA, and these promises have been repeatedly broken. In 29 states, it is still legal to fire someone solely because they are lesbian, gay or bisexual. And in 38 states it is legal to fire someone solely for being transgender. The current version of the bill would outlaw discrimination on both sexual orientation and gender identity.

A 2006 study by the San Francisco Bay Guardian and the Transgender Law Center found that 60 percent of transgender people in San Francisco earn less than $15,300 per year, only 25 percent have a full-time job and nearly 9 percent have no source of income.

Only 4 percent reported making more than $61,200, which is about the median income in the Bay Area. More than half of local transgender people live in poverty, and 96 percent earn less than the median income. Forty percent of those surveyed don't even have a bank account. What this study reveals is that even in a city that is considered a haven for the LGBT community, transgender workers face profound employment challenges and discrimination.

A 2007 meta-analysis from the Williams Institute of 50 studies of workplace discrimination against LGBT people found consistent evidence of bias in the workplace. The analysis found that up to 68 percent of LGBT people reported experiencing employment discrimination, and up to 17 percent said they had been fired or denied employment.

Public opinion polling shows that Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of making sure LGBT Americans get the same employment opportunities as everyone else. In fact, the latest surveys shows that nearly 90% of Americans support workplace fairness for LGBT workers.

As you know, in a few weeks, Congress will finish it's legislative business for the year so that they can return to their districts to run for re-election. Last month at a LGBT Pride event, Congresswoman Jackie Spier announced to the LGBT community that not only would we not get ENDA before the end of the legislative session, that she did not think we would get it for five years because we won't have enough votes in Congress again to ensure passage. It is ironic that Congress plans on leaving town and going home to campaign for their own jobs while leaving thousands of LGBT workers without protections for the next five years. When 90% of Americans support workplace fairness, it is challenging to believe that anyone fears a backlash from the voters. The time to pass ENDA is now. The American people support it, the politicians promised it. No more broken promises. We demand that a vote be scheduled now.

Sincerely,

SF Pride at Work, One Struggle, One Fight, GetEqual, Harvey Milk Democratic Club, Transgender Law Center, National Center for Lesbian Rights, El / La and National Pride at Work

source

My Open Letter to McCain

John McCain... What happened?

When I saw you with Sarah Palin this weekend, I shuddered.

Especially when she said: We're all tea partiers!

I thought, seriously McCain? Really?

Your career was based on putting Country First. By allowing Moose Mess to say that silly statement, just erased all the hard work you have done.

Tea Partiers? This is a group that celebrates racism, this is a group that advocate violence, this is a group that's being used and tricked for election wins. I can't believe you would stoop so low, to claim these folks on your team.

If Country was first, you would not allow these folks to be manipulated. You would informed them, help them get on their feet. You would not rejoin with Sarah Palin to win an election and you would allow Tea Party to be any part of you.

I always thought of you as the Good Repub, but lately, you have been falling out. This past weekend's foolishness is proof of your desperate attempt to stay in the game.

However, if you were a true leader, you would bow out. You have had a good run, but now, you are ruining your legacy. Do you want this to be your last hurrah?

I hope not, I really do.

Cleve Jones' open letter to Nancy Pelosi

This from GetEqual website :

Dear Speaker Nancy Pelosi --

With health care legislation passing, now is the time to institute workplace protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people by passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Rep. Tammy Baldwin says she believes that we have the votes to pass ENDA, and Rep. George Miller has said the bill is ready to come out of committee now that the health care bill has passed. As Speaker of the House of Representatives, we call on you to act boldly and decisively and bring ENDA to the floor for a vote now.

for more, go here

The 1st of the 3 RNC Blacks speaks out against Chip Sh**man, while the 2nd one defends him

Dr. Ada Fisher is one of three Blacks in RNC (go figure) who is pissed at Chip Stupid Ass's Magic Negro joke. Known for drama at times, Dr. Fisher wrote an open letter to Chip saying...

It is time we all grew up and exhibited some sophistication in how we act as it relates to this Republican party we supposedly love and support. Racist actions and deeds have no place in the party. The lack of sensitivity in understanding the historical election we just had and the challenges this nation faces as we must bind our wounds as well as bring our people together requires that we set aside our biases and search out those constitutional principles inherent in our nation's foundings and our parties operation which must undergrid us as we move forward.

This is the party of Lincoln and it was founded on the backs of the oppression of blacks. If we are to be the leading party we had better understand that and act responsibly in addressing the needs of all of the citizens as we strive for more inclusiveness.

Ada M. Fisher, MD
NC Republican National Committee Woman

However Black person no. 2, Ken Blackwell, who's running for the RNC chair position defends Chip saying:

"Unfortunately, there is hypersensitivity in the press regarding matters of race. This is in large measure due to President-Elect Obama being the first African-American elected president. I don't think any of the concerns that have been expressed in the media about any of the other candidates for RNC chairman should disqualify them. When looked at in the proper context, these concerns are minimal. All of my competitors for this leadership post are fine people."

Personally, if I was Blackwell I would join Dr. Fisher and oust Chip. What better way to get the chair position, than to get rid of "bigot" of the RNC...just saying.