Tag: LGBT rights

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Jack Antonoff of fun. joins “Americans for Equality”

The newest video in HRC’s ‘Americans for Marriage Equality’ campaign featuring fun. guitarist and vocalist Jack Antonoff.

Fun’s “We Are Young (Feat. Janelle Monáe)” is the highest-selling single so far in 2012.

Says Antonoff:

“Hey! I’m Jack Antonoff from the band ‘fun.’ Touring around the country my bandmates and I are completely blown away by the love and support we get from our fans. And it’s completely insane to us that some of them aren’t afforded the same rights simply because they’re gay or lesbian. Join me, my band mates and the majority of Americans in the fight for marriage equality nationwide.”

Approximately 53% of the American public supports marriage for same-sex couples, according to a number of nonpartisan polls, including Gallup, CNN, and Washington Post/ABC News.

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Today is Harvey Milk Day

Today is “Harvey Milk Day,” a day of honor for the slain gay rights activist, which is officially recognized by the State of California and celebrated worldwide. Milk was one of the first openly gay politicians to be elected to public office when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. He and Mayor George Moscone were shot and killed by former Supervisor Dan White at City Hall on Nov. 27, 1978. While Milk served only 11 months in office, he was responsible for passing a stringent gay rights ordinance for the city. The ordinance extended employment protections to gays and lesbians in San Francisco, and became a model for anti-discrimination legislation throughout California and the nation. In 1978, Milk campaigned across the state of California against Proposition 6, also known as the Briggs Initiative. Had it passed, Proposition 6 would have banned gays and lesbians, and possibly anyone who supported gay rights, from working in California’s public schools. The proposition was defeated in the November 1978 election in part because Milk successfully appealed to Californians’ basic sense of fairness. Despite his short career in politics, Milk became an icon in San Francisco and a martyr for gay rights, and has been referred to as “the most famous and most significantly open LGBT official ever elected in the United States.” Legislation designating Milk’s birthday, May 22, as a day of “special significance” in California, was passed in the state legislature in 2009 and signed into law by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 2009, Milk was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Later that year, Milk was inducted into the California Hall of Fame. Milk, born on this day in 1930, would have been 82. (source)

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Andrew Sullivan on President Obama’s Support For Marriage Equality

Andrew Sullivan, whose Newsweek article “The First Gay President” is getting a lot of attention as much for its text as its cover image, appeared on The Chris Matthews Show on Sunday and offered an emotional account of what Obama’s announcement meant to him.

Said Sullivan:

It’s hugely important and to tell you the truth, I didn’t realize how important it would be until it happened. Beforehand, I was kind of steeled. I was like, ‘I don’t care, he’s going to disappoint us again.’ And then I sat down and watched our president tell me that I am his equal, that I’m no longer outside, I’m fully part of this family and to hear the president who is in some ways a father figure speak to that, the tears came down like with many people in our families, to be included.

I never understood the power of a president’s words until that day, really. I thought, all that matters is the states and the Congress and the Defense of Marriage Act and I had all this in my head and suddenly this man saying, ‘I’m with you, I get it, you’re like me, I’m like you, there is nothing between us, we are the same people and we are equal human beings and I want to treat you the way you treat me.’ That — that was overwhelming. That’s all I can say. I was at a loss for words.

(source)

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Mitt Romney – in true fashion – flipflops on gay adoption

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Friday backed away from his support of adoptions by same-sex couples, saying that he simply “acknowledges” the legality of such adoptions in many states.

Mitt Romney said on Thursday: “And if two people of the same gender want to live together, want to have a loving relationship, or even to adopt a child — in my state individuals of the same sex were able to adopt children. In my view, that’s something that people have a right to do. But to call that marriage is something that in my view is a departure from the real meaning of that word.”

But then on Friday, he was asked, in an interview with CBS’ WBTV in Charlotte, N.C., how his opposition to same-sex marriage “squared” with his support for gay adoptions. Romney told anchor Paul Cameron: “Well actually I think all states but one allow gay adoption, so that’s a position which has been decided by most of the state legislators, including the one in my state some time ago. So I simply acknowledge the fact that gay adoption is legal in all states but one.”
(source)

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Rp. Allen West: LGBT workplace discrimination “don’t happen out here”

From Think Progress: Rep. Allen West (R-FL), no stranger to controversy, declared on Thursday that gay people are never fired because of their sexual orientation in the United States.

“That don’t happen out here in the United States of America,” West told ThinkProgress during an interview on Capitol Hill.

When pressed for clarification, the Florida congressman dismissed the importance of protecting LGBT people from discrimination. “I don’t see that as being a big issue with small businesses,” West said.

KEYES: What about something like a law that say that it’s illegal to hire or fire people because they’re gay?

WEST: That don’t happen out here in the United States of America.

KEYES: You don’t think people get fired because they’re gay?

WEST: Well, I don’t see that as being a big issue with small businesses. I sit on the Small Business Committee. You know what they’re concerned about? They’re concerned about onerous tax policy, regulatory policy, and lack of access to capital because Dodd-Frank is absolutely decimating small community banks.

Workplace discrimination against LGBT people is very real. In 29 states, it is perfectly legal to fire you for being gay. (In 34 states you can be fired for being transgender.)

Between 8 and 17 percent of gay and transgender workers have been fired or not hired because of their sexual orientation or gender identity; that rate more than doubles for gay and transgender people who have experienced workplace discrimination.

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It could happen to you

I worried about this exact same scenario for a long time.

Thankfully Michael and I are legally married AND we’ve done all the legal paperwork to cover ourselves.

But this actually happens folks. I don’t really understand how Tom Bridegroom’s family could act so callously, but it happens. And this is why marriage equality is necessary.

If you think you may not understand the issue, please read and talk about it so you can form your own independent view of the issue.

Every time we see gay rights put to a vote of the heterosexual majority, we are at risk of being made “less than.”

All Americans, all people, should have the same rights as issued by a civil government.

Enough lecturing. Watch the video, please.