Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving began as a celebration of a bountiful harvest and has evolved to become a holiday where we spend time with our family, friends and loved ones to reflect upon the many blessings bestowed upon us over the year.

As lesbian civil rights activists, we are thankful:

• First and foremost, that we share our lives together, for our love and strong commitment to one another, to our family and to our community;
• For our children: two daughters, Kylie (and her husband Darren), Katie (and her partner Meghan), son, Colin, parents, Hedy and Dick, and beautiful grandchildren, Jareth and Eowyn;
• For good friends;
• For our good health;
• That we have enough food, warm clothing and a self-made roof over our heads;
• Finally, that we are blessed with an ability to give back to our community via our activism and writing.

We are also grateful for the progress made since last November in the advancement of LGB rights:

• The House of Representatives approved the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) which offers protection from workplace discrimination against gays, lesbians and bisexual employees based on sexual orientation;
• An amendment to the Massachusetts constitution banning equal marriage rights was defeated in June, keeping marriage safe in that one and only state where it is available to gays and lesbians – at least until 2012;
• A similar amendment banning marriage equality was also defeated this year in Arizona;
• And lastly, it seems (with the exception of marriage equality), the National Democratic Party has finally embraced the issue of civil rights and legal protections for the LGBTQ community.

And while we appreciate these gains, we must remember that the battle for equality rages on.

The best way to counter the wing-nut's lies and cruel gutter-style tactics is to continue to live out and proud.

The truth about our ordinary and everyday lives is the only antidote for the negative stereotypes used to incite fear and hatred against our families.

Have a great holiday! See you next week!

Still at the ENDA the Line

Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), albeit without protections for Transgendered employees.

Although we are deeply disappointed that the approved version of the bill does not include our Transgendered sisters and brothers, we recognize that yesterday's vote was historic.

For more than 20 years, advocates for workplace protections for LGBTQ people have been working tirelessly for this legislation. We often wondered whether we would live to see the day that a majority in either House of Congress would vote to support our right NOT to get fired simply for loving someone.

As the song says, The Times, They Are A-Changing... yet, lest we forget, we are just one-third of the way to the finish line.

Keep in mind that the Senate has yet to vote on ENDA because we are still waiting for Senator Ted Kennedy to introduced it!

And even if the Senate does pass an ENDA bill while Bush is still in office, he has promised a veto.

Still, with all of the hurdles that remain, we feel it is important to recognize this moment as a reflection of how far we've come and how much further we must travel before we become full and complete American Citizens.

Please take a moment to watch this short clip of Representative Barney Frank's emotional plea for his colleagues to vote in favor of ENDA:





We hope you will call Barney Frank and thank him for NOT abandoning the LGBT Community -- even though he has many of the legal rights and protection that remain unavailable to the rest of us.

Representative Frank can be reached at (202) 225-5931 or emailed via a web form on his website.

Not the Be All And ENDAll, But Better Than Nothing

Today -- or at the latest, tomorrow -- the full House of Representatives will vote on whether or not to extend protections from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The bill, known as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007 (ENDA), prohibits employment discrimination against an individual on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation by employers, employment agencies, labor organizations, or joint labor-management committees.

Contrary to the lies being spread by anti-equality wing-nuts, the Bill does NOT extend preferential treatment to LGB employees. In other words, there are no "special rights."

And, despite what they are saying otherwise, religious organizations and the US military are free to go on discriminating against us with abandon!

If you ever said to yourself, "I want to make a difference" -- now is your BIG opportunity!

There is a good chance this legislation will pass but first we must overcome the objections raised by the hundreds of thousands of bigoted sheeple who will also -- upon orders from their leaders -- be writing and calling to attempt to defeat this legislation.

ENDA may not be the be all and ENDAll but it is just one more rail on the track to equal rights.

PLEASE CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE RIGHT NOW!

It's so easy, even a caveman can do it!

Fruit for Thought...

Recent debate about ENDA (the Employment Non-Discrimination Act) has gay rights activists pitted against gay rights activists who are arguing over the breadth of coverage of the protections afforded by the act.

Broadly speaking, on one hand, you have gay rights activists who believe that ENDA will only pass by a veto proof margin if the protections do NOT cover job discrimination against transgendered and transsexual people. On the other side are those who argue that the LGB's must stand in solidarity with the T's because there is strength in numbers and/or it is the right thing to do.

Some LGB activists are uncomfortable that issues regarding the T’s have been “tossed into the pot” of legislative protections for L, G and B employees. They argue that to compare the T’s with the LGB’s is like comparing apples and oranges. Both queer and fruity but otherwise, not the same.

Another rationale we’ve heard (in support of excluding the T’s from ENDA) is that the T’s do have access to rights and protections that are currently NOT available to LGB people.

For example, because the T’s are not necessarily gay or lesbian, it is true that those who have opposite sex partners can and do take advantage of rights and benefits not available to those of us in same-sex relationships. Those rights and benefits might include marriage, adoption, military service, the ability to collect government benefits, etc.

We read a post about an activist who challenged the T’s to show their solidarity with the LGB’s by refusing to take advantage of their right to marry an opposite sex partner until the LGB’s also have that right.

Still others contend that it makes political sense to pass a watered down version of ENDA now – even if its protection is limited to the LGB’s. Those who believe in this approach include Representative Barney Frank, himself a G-man, who said that the important thing to do is get the bill passed and then we can try to add the T’s later.

We (Carrie & Elisia and therefore, Rainbow Law) find the entire debate somewhat distasteful if not disgraceful!

How often have you heard us rail against other minority groups for their unwillingness or inability to empathize with our (LGB) oppression?

If every member of a minority group in America – Gay, Lesbian, Transgendered, Transsexual, Bi-Sexual, Native American, Hispanic, African American, Black, Asian, Muslim, Jew, Arab, Indian, etc. -- who has ever experienced state sanctioned discrimination would just for one second reflect on that fact that all of us have, in common, the knowledge and understanding of oppression and the denial of basic rights simply because of our religion, skin color, ethnicity, gender and/or sexual orientation.

If only we can all be courageous enough to empathize with one another on this basic, human level, NONE of us would BE in a minority group because together, WE ARE THE MAJORITY.

When we are able to rise above the our own fear of “the other,” we will understand that the only true “US AGAINST THEM” dynamic is the one that pits the HAVE-NOTS -- mostly old, very young, and/or poor, people of color, LGBTQ people, religious, ethnic and racial minorities – against the HAVES -- mostly White, male, christian, wealthy, straight, holders of political and financial power.

Together, in solidarity, we would be a MAJORITY. It is essential to the survival of the true MINORITY that we continue to fear and mistrust one another.

Otherwise, the HAVES would no longer be free to go on raping and pillaging the Earth and our collective Spirit.

When we step back and look at the BIG picture, we cannot justify excluding the T’s from a law that THEY need just as much as we do.

Especially when we are asking other (often reluctant) minority groups to support OUR struggle for legal equality.

Somewhere, someone has to stop the cycle of climbing up the citizenship ladder by stepping on the backs of the next lowest despised minority.

Whether GLB, T or the other T, we're all oppressed by the same folks for similar reasons.

To us, it's perfectly clear: we're all Queer here.