Is It Time To Rise Up Yet? - Bilerico

[MarieDelta]

http://www.bilerico.com/2010/05/is_it_time_to_rise_up_yet.php#more

The LGBT civil rights movement is in disarray.

We must live in shame and secrecy to serve the country we love, but which seems to hate and despise us.

Is it time to rise up yet?

AIDS funding has dropped, leaving thousands of our sick and dying in crisis.

Is it time to rise up yet?

We are denied the simple right to get and keep a job free from harassment.

Is it time to rise up yet?

Our youth are prey to an epidemic of homelessness and suicide.

Is it time to rise up yet?

The marriage equality movement has been stopped, and DOMA still rules the land.

Is it time to rise up yet?

Many of our leaders have called for this to be a week of protest, culminating with Harvey Milk Day on Saturday, May 22. Harvey was born on that day, but he wasn't born to be a national symbol. He became one because he stood up for himself and his community.

Will you tell them you reject their prejudice? A list of local protest activities after the jump. Rise up!

Larry Kramer issued a clarion call this week when he said (http://www.actup.org/forum/th/content/remarks-made-larry-kramer-act-up-healthgap-demonstration-against-obama-thursday-may-13-2010-st-regis-hotel-new-york-city-u-s-440/):

I beg of us all. Re-assemble! Re-unite! Fight back once more with the passion and honor and truth and unity and brotherhood as we once did. We once accomplished miracles. Why do we not recall our glorious fights and build anew upon them? They treat us like shit because we let them treat us like shit. When will we get that into our heads and hearts and fight back?

If you want to pretend we're equal, or that making progress incrementally after 40 years of a movement is sufficient, fine. I'm glad your life is working for you. But I'm with Larry Kramer.

These activities have various primary causes, but their underlying root is the same:

IT IS TIME TO RISE UP AGAINST HOMOPHOBIA AND FOR CIVIL RIGHTS.
Check Equality Across America's website (http://equalityacrossamerica.org/) for a list of local actions. Also look at the sidebar, which has a number of actions not on the main list. Facebook's Harvey Milk Day Actions Page also has some actions listed that aren't yet on EAA's page.

There are actions in many major cities, including places where you might not expect them, such as Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, and New Mexico.

Some of these actions may be small, but in combination with others around the nation, they combine to make a larger statement.

In New York City, where a crowd of 100 gathers every few minutes at major bus stops, we don't expect more than a few hundred for our Harvey Milk Day March on Saturday the 22nd. But I'm going because it's not about being at an "event." It's about my need to speak up against homophobia, transphobia, and discrimination, and for civil rights like ENDA. (Click here to send letters to your Congressmembers with one click. (http://www.rallycongress.com/enda123/3187/enda-now/))

Get out into your community and rise up!



Great article....

[TwylaTwobits]

May 15, 2010

Dear Representative Guthrie ,
Dear Senator Bunning,
Dear Senator McConnell,

Please support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, H.R.3017/S.1584. It will prevent employers from discriminating or harassing employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity. I strongly support inclusion of both sexual orientation and gender identity in the bill.

Please remember that the supporters of this bill are also voters. So make YOUR vote count.

Sincerely,

my name and addy


Your email to Sen. Jim Bunning (R KY) sent!Your email to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R KY) sent!Your email to Rep. Brett Guthrie (R KY-2) sent!
Did you know?
You are the 4th person from Kentucky to sign this petition!

[Long Duck Dong]

seriously, the lgbt movement is in disarray, cos they are not using their bloody brains.....

you have 3 groups in the lgbt

1) the group that have nothing to fear, they could not give a shit about what is said about them, they just stand up and speak their minds..... and feel the support of the other 7/8's of the lgbt,...the second and third groups

2) the second group are the net jockeys, they live in the forums, the chat rooms and the blogs, in their warm rooms, with their coffees etc.... not on the front line, but by god they are vocal from their chairs, how things should change.... yet they will not change from their net lives, to a cold street corner and wave a banner... and they like to judge the third group

3) the third group are the closet people, that want change... but they are realistic, they can hardly wave a banner about their right to be lgbt at work with fear, cos the moment they wave that banner in public, guess what.... they have no job, no home and possibly no family...... yet they are the ones judged the harshest for not standing up for their rights or being in the closet..... well news flash.... of course they are in the bloody closet, homeless people do not get that much attention for banner waving for lgbt job and home protection......

so we create ingenious ways to protest, like using crap2.....I mean care2.com where you can create a mass online petition to bombard some poor persons email account..... and they can use the spam filter to block the same email sent to them about 4000 times.....

we can talk with our votes..... yes we can..... for how many options ??? 2 ??? 3 ??? people.....
fuck, in nz, we have 7 and thats not including the minority parties....

at the end of the day, the LGBT are splintered .... and we hardly have any government people by the balls and thats mainly cos, we are worried about our balls, playing with others balls, have no balls or too busy kicking other lgbt in the balls

and yes, as always, I am happy to be wrong... but hey... the proof is in the us law, isn't it.....not anything I say......

now in nz, we had it harder than you lot..... so people playing the card that nz is smaller, will not work.....
we had to get the churches backing us, and we had to convince a person that was anti marriage ( only got married for her own political gain ), did not want kids, did not believe in religion or god etc.... to stand up in government made up of a number of different people made up of 7 different political parties, including two religious groups, and talk to them about looking out for the nz public

now in nz, we can not fight everything in court either, we had to make a case worth listening to, so online blogs, forms, and chatrooms and petitions did nothing... instead we have to face off with aggressive churches and white power supremacists in the middle of the street in broad day light....
and they were openly united ......

now let the excuses roll in.....

[Annika L]

seriously, the lgbt movement is in disarray, cos they are not using their bloody brains.....

you have 3 groups in the lgbt

1) the group that have nothing to fear, they could not give a shit about what is said about them, they just stand up and speak their minds..... and feel the support of the other 7/8's of the lgbt,...the second and third groups

2) the second group are the net jockeys, they live in the forums, the chat rooms and the blogs, in their warm rooms, with their coffees etc.... not on the front line, but by god they are vocal from their chairs, how things should change.... yet they will not change from their net lives, to a cold street corner and wave a banner... and they like to judge the third group

3) the third group are the closet people, that want change... but they are realistic, they can hardly wave a banner about their right to be lgbt at work with fear, cos the moment they wave that banner in public, guess what.... they have no job, no home and possibly no family...... yet they are the ones judged the harshest for not standing up for their rights or being in the closet..... well news flash.... of course they are in the bloody closet, homeless people do not get that much attention for banner waving for lgbt job and home protection......

...

at the end of the day, the LGBT are splintered .... and we hardly have any government people by the balls and thats mainly cos, we are worried about our balls, playing with others balls, have no balls or too busy kicking other lgbt in the balls


LDD, I don't tend to agree with you on much these days, it seems, but I think you've summed things up pretty darned insightfully in what I've quoted here.

The rest of your post? Yes, yes, we know, the US sucks and NZ rules. I can't wait until you take us over and we get to benefit from your enlightened society and government. :tong:

[Long Duck Dong]

cool .........go for it...

if you think nz is puurrfect, cigarettes are about to hit $20 for a pack of marlboro and I am talking about 25 cigarettes ( 80 cents a cigarette ), 50% of nz is now owned by 14% of nz cos of cultural and racial appeasement, the tax on food is going up to 15%, the weekly wage is going up by $6 a week, the average wage is $420 a week, the average salary for a politician is 78K a year and you have 133 of them to pay, plus all their perks and you are gonna pay $2.08 a litre for gas ( $9.40 a gallon)...

now I am moving to the moon
no politicians, no laws, no equal rights / anti discrimination, no illegal aliens and you have the right to euthanasia......

lil hint, different country, different shit, same fucking issues.... but there are shuttles to the moon.......

[MarieDelta]

Survey shows 'shocking' figures on sexual harassment

ONE in ten lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people in the South-West have suffered harassment, abuse or physical violence at work in the last two years according to interim findings from a survey carried out by Equality South West.

And one in six received the same treatment outside their homes after dark, although 70% of them did not bother to report the offence, often because they felt the authorities would not take them seriously.

With over 300 responses so far from people across the region, Pride, Progress and Transformation is the most detailed ever survey of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people’s experiences and attitudes carried out in the South-West.

Katie Pratt, from ESW, said: “When you think about the attitudes that lie behind these shocking figures, they show we still have a long way to go when it comes to creating an equal society.

“What is particularly worrying is the amount of people having trouble at work, sitting and standing alongside people every day, people who are supposed to be their colleagues.

“We have evidence of workers taking sickness or absence because they can’t cope with going to work in the morning. We want to know what employers are doing to stop this routine abuse of their staff.”

The survey also shows 15.1% of respondents were abused in their local area after dark and 10.2% were abused in their local area during the day.



http://www.bridgwatermercury.co.uk/news/8159171.Survey_shows__shocking__figures_on_sexual_ harassment/

[Long Duck Dong]

now if you apply that to the rest of society, you will find a higher percentage for non lgbt being harassed and bullied and assaulted..... and thats just the reported offenses......

the lgbt are no different to the rest of the world, we just like to use our sexuality as the reason for any issues....