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The Pledge for Full LGBT Equality by 2014 -- The 50th Anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act

With equality inevitable yet too long denied, over 65 LGBT groups from 17 states and D.C. have joined in taking The Pledge for Full LGBT Equality calling for their full and equal protection under federal nondiscrimination laws nationwide by 2014 -- the 50th Anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Boldly grasping the spirit of our times and as a testament to the will of the people, an amazing diversity of voices has already assembled around the Equality Pledge from direct action to community centers, pride groups, trans activists, military veterans, faith organizations, and many more acknowledged below who have stepped up as leaders to point the way. Equality groups and seekers everywhere are now invited to add their voice to this clarion call for justice whose time has come.

THE PLEDGE FOR FULL LGBT EQUALITY

IN ORDER TO FULFILL the promises of life and liberty, and to ensure equal protection of the law as guaranteed by the United States Constitution;

TO PROTECT the inalienable human right to be safe from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity as required by international law and treaty; and

TO END the systemic stigmatization, cease the societal rejection and heal the suffering of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans as mandated by conscience;

WE, the undersigned, pledge our support for the passage of omnibus LGBT equality legislation that grants full non-discrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity equal to those accorded other statuses under existing civil rights laws and Supreme Court jurisprudence, specifically including:

1. Public Accommodations (Title II, 1964 Civil Rights Act)(e.g., restaurants, hotels, theaters)


2. Public Facilities (Title III, 1964 Civil Rights Act) (e.g., courthouses, jails, hospitals, parks)


3. Federally-Funded Programs (Title VI, 1964 Civil Rights Act) (e.g., adoption, police, schools, homeless youth, health care)


4. Employment (Title VII, 1964 Civil Rights Act; 1978 Civil Service Reform Act; 1991 Government Employee Rights Act; 1995 Congressional Accountability Act; 10 U.S.C. Ch. 37) (e.g., civilian and military government, private sector)


5. Housing (Title VIII, 1968 Civil Rights Act, aka the Fair Housing Act) (e.g., rental, purchase, finance)


6. Education (Title IX, 1972 Education Amendments Act) (e.g., schools, bullying)


7. Credit (1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act) (e.g., credit cards)


8. Federal Marriage Equality (based on gender/sexual orientation) (e.g., 1967 Supreme Court Decision, Loving v. Virginia)


9. Immigration, Disability, and Family Leave (Uniting American Families Act (proposed), the American With Disabilities Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act)

We call upon the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus to lead the way by filing an omnibus LGBT equality bill immediately that includes all of the provisions enumerated above.

We further call upon Congress, and all candidates for elected office, to sign this pledge to pass such omnibus LGBT equality legislation immediately, but no later than 2014 -- the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act -- fulfilling both their individual duty and that of the United States government to ensure justice, equality, and fundamental human rights protections for all Americans.

Endorse the Pledge for Full LGBT Equality

To bolster our claim to justice, endorsements of the Equality Pledge can be made directly via the website hosted by Act On Principles at www.ActOnPrinciples.org/ThePledge. The site includes a list of endorsing groups detailed more below. There is a formal Board Proposal Document  that contains background and contact information for internal review. Official organizational endorsements can be made via the site. Individual endorsements can be made on the site.

For those ready to take action, please add your endorsement, share this posting, and welcome to the Equality Pledge. Additional information on the movement context and existing support is provided below. And everyone is encouraged to please share the pledge. The more who hear and say yes to this call, the sooner our liberation will be at hand.

The Movement Context for Full Equality

The Equality Pledge encapsulates six decades of movement progress and seizes upon the vast forward momentum in our cause driven by movement veterans and the grassroots vanguard alike. It builds on the vision of major donors at Equality Giving who initiated the first Comprehensive Equality Bill in 2009. It carries forth the grassroots National Equality March where 250,000 joined in calling for full federal equality. And it honors the spirit of the Dallas Principles and echos the demand for civil rights now from the NYC Grand Central Die-In of 2010.

The pledge also stands on the Official proclamations garnered in 2011-2012 by The AEB Project from elected leaders across the nation who called on Congress to enact full federal LGBT civil rights immediately. Leaders including openly gay Mayor John Heilman and the City Council of West Hollywood, with a population 40 percent gay, and out lesbian Mayor Anise Parker of Houston, the forth largest city in America. And allied leaders like Mayor Becker of Salt Lake City, Mayor Osborne of Boulder, Mayor Quan of Oakland, Mayor Leffingwell of Austin, Mayor Holden of Baton Rouge, Mayor Jones of Mobile, Mayor Bell of Birmingham, the City Council and Mayor Parks of Tallahassee, as well as President Yellow Bird Steele of the Oglala Sioux, together representing millions of constituents from California to Florida and South Dakota to Louisiana.

Finally, it harnesses the social change evident from the success of Freedom to Marry and many others that garnered support from 289 Mayors from 33 states, the Democratic National Committee, and the President of the United States for marriage equality in 2012. Combined, these milestones show strong momentum within our movement on all fronts, at the local level where it counts most, and an obvious trajectory for equality.

A Diverse Array of Pledge Support

Thanks to the work of many, the Equality Pledge launches publicly now with over 65 diverse endorsements from 17 states and D.C., with several more in play. The list spans a wide range of community voices, including, for example, direct action (GetEQUAL, Join-the-Impact MA, Occupy Wall Street, Direct Action Network of San Antonio), faith-based (Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, No Longer Silent - Clergy for Justice, The Reform Catholic Church, More Light Presbyterians), political (Arizona Stonewall Democrats, PRIDE Democrats of NY), and LGBT pride organizations (Honolulu Pride, Outer Banks North Carolina, River City Florida, New Orleans Pride, Kauai Pride and The Pride Network).

There are LGBT community centers (Philadelphia's William Way Community Center, Palm Springs' Center of the Desert, Jacksonville's Rainbow House) and community activists (Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Duke City Darlin's). Specific issue groups are also well represented, including marriage (Marriage Equality U.S.A.), same-sex couples immigration (Out4Immigration), trans rights (Arizona Trans Alliance), gay military veterans (The Sanctuary Project), college leadership (CUNY LGBT Task Force), student groups (Univ. of New Mexico), statewide advocacy (Equality Nevada), media/business (Montrose Star, Gay and Lesbian Yellow Pages), major donors (eQualityGiving, Faith In America), equality champions (Act On Principles, Walk Across America), human rights lawyers (Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law), and, notably, the STONEWALL Veterans' Association of NYC's infamous 1969 rebellion.

An equality tapestry is in the making:

Miley Cyrus: On Gay Fans, Same-Sex Marriage And Why London Is Her Favorite City

 

Like Barbra Streisand, Cher, Madonna and Lady Gaga before her, Miley Cyrus has always courted a sizable gay fanbase. In a new interview, the superstar even gives special props to London specifically because of the freedom it affords for her many LGBT fans.

"My favorite place to perform is London, because I have never seen more gay people in my whole life,"

She then went on to imply that she found America's checkered stance on same-sex marriage and other LGBT rights to be a bit stifling, saying she felt "very free" with her European audience in comparison.

"When I go to London that's what it is," she said. "I feel like they are so much more open, much more than here in the U.S. when they're feeling trapped, where it's like, 'Can I even say I believe in gay marriage? Can I say that my favorite fans are my gay fans? Am I allowed to say that, because half of America is still against it?'"

This isn't the first time the 20-year-old pop sensation has spoken out on behalf of the LGBT community. Last February, she sparked controversy among some fans when She revealed a new tattoo -- a small "equals" sign on her middle finger -- in support of marriage equality.

"I believe every American should be allowed the same rights and civil liberties," She wrote in Glamour Magazine at that time. "Without legalized same-sex marriage, most of the time you cannot share the same health benefits, you are not considered next of kin and you are not granted the same securities as a heterosexual couple. How is this different than having someone sit in the back of the bus because of their skin color?"

Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin is first openly gay person elected to Senate

 

Tammy Baldwin made history Tuesday night -- twice. She became the first openly gay politician, and first Wisconsin woman, elected to the U.S. Senate.

The seven-term Democratic congresswoman edged past former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson in a win that advocacy groups hailed as a significant stride toward bringing diversity to the Senate.

Baldwin said she ran "to make a difference" and not to make history. But she said she hopes the Senate will be more reflective of America and the "life experience" of women.

"Having a seat at the table matters and I think we will see a Senate that is more reflective of America. We're certainly not there yet, but this will be a change that moves us forward," she told CNN.

"People ... see our country and our states moving toward full equality in many respects," Baldwin said. "When you have legislative bodies that look more like America, that happens."

Baldwin was one of many successful gay and lesbian candidates in local and state races this election cycle, which also included her successor in her legislative district in Madison, state Rep. Mark Pocan. At least 118 gay and lesbian candidates won their races as of Wednesday, according to political action committee Victory Fund, which supports gay and lesbian candidates.

Political commentator Sally Kohn was ecstatic.

"This is a big day for gay women in America, and really, for all communities who aren't the typical straight, white, wealthy men elected to Congress," she said.

There has never been an openly gay or lesbian member of the U.S. Senate, according to several LGBT advocacy groups. Baldwin is one of four openly gay House members of the 112 U.S. Congress, along with fellow Democrats Barney Frank of Massachusetts, David Cicilline of Rhode Island and Jared Polis of Colorado.

"For the LGBT person growing up in Wisconsin or anywhere across the country, seeing an openly gay woman who is able to rise up to become a senator in the U.S. Congress is an incredible role model," said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Compaign.


Though Baldwin's sexual orientation makes her victory notable, it rarely came up during the campaign, unless it was called a nonissue. The race pitted Thompson's "conservative leadership" platform against Baldwin's progressive Agenda. Thompson, a four-time governor and secretary of Health and Human Services under George W. Bush, said he returned to politics to make America a better place for his grandchildren.

"I wanted to so much help lead back America," he said in his concession speech. "To be the country of growth and opportunity. To build America for future generations. I certainly didn't need the job. And I guess I'm not going to get it."

What started as a long shot for Baldwin eventually narrowed to a close finish, with the born-and-raised Wisconsinite capturing 51% of the vote.

"This campaign has been run on who's the most qualified candidate and who has the best vision for the state," Griffin said. "We're eager to have her move from one side of the Capitol to another and take a seat in the chamber as the first openly gay person."

Maryland, Maine, approve same-sex marriage

To those watching the race, it was no surprise that Wisconsin, a state that approved a gay marriage ban six years ago, would send the first openly gay politician to the Senate. Baldwin has made no secret of her sexual orientation as she rose through local and state politics during the last two decades. When she was elected in 1998 to represent Wisconsin's second congressional district, she was the first out candidate to be elected to the chamber, said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Victory Fund, a political action committee that supported LGBT candidates including Baldwin this election.

"The electorate already knew what they needed to know about her, and they continued to elect her every step of the way," Wolfe said.

"She is a force with very deep roots in Wisconsin. She has a backbone of steel, but she's polite and compassionate, and people enjoy their interactions with her."

Born and raised in the Congressional district she has represented for the past decade, Baldwin's track record reflects a commitment to LGBT issues and diversity. As a Wisconsin representative, she was a co-founder and co-chairwoman of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, leading efforts to advance the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and other civil rights initiatives. She also led successful efforts in the House in 2009 to pass expanded hate crimes legislation and was the lead author of legislation to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.

"Tammy has been a driving force because of her ability to tackle issues without having to use double-speak," Wolfe said. "Having someone like her in the Senate changes the tone and tenor of this discussion."

Democrats keep control of  Senate

Others are hopeful that more women in Congress will change the discussion of policies affecting women and families. Women in the 112th Congress made up 17% of both the Senate and the House, according to the Center for American Women and Politics.

"A lot of research has shown that more women in leadership leads to better outcomes for the community," said Tiffany Dufu, president of The White House Project, which trains women for leadership.

"We know that women in political leadership reach across the aisle more often and are inclusive when it comes to taking constituents into consideration. They care deeply not just about the outcome, but the process," she said.

"For us, the biggest thing about Tammy Baldwin is her visibility. You can't be what you can't see."

 

DOMA Ruled Unconstitutional By Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Setting Up Final Showdown at the Supreme Court

 

“Last Week, in a 2-1 decision in the case ofWindsor v. United States, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional because it violates the equal protection guarantee of the Fifth Amendment.  The Court’s decision was written by Dennis Jacobs, Chief Judge of the Second Circuit, a conservative jurist appointed to the bench by President George H. W. Bush in 1992.  The Second Circuit ruling is the 8th consecutive ruling striking down DOMA since July 2010, and it is the second such ruling from a federal court of appeals. (The First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on May 31, 2012 that DOMA is unconstitutional.)

The ruling in Windsor is likely to be the last appeals court decision on DOMA before the U.S. Supreme Court announces later this year that it will formally agrre to review the constitutionality of this law  by accepting one or more challenges to DOMA now pending before the high court.

Importantly, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals not only found that DOMA was unconstitutional, it also determined that a heightened level of scrutiny must be applied to any law that discriminates against LGBT persons. That means, that in the Second Circuit, any provision of law that treats LGBT people unequally must be presumed to be unconstitutional. The Supreme Court may adopt the same standard when it takes up one or more of the pending challenges to DOMA next year (including Windsor) and decides the issue once and for all.

Last week’s victory over DOMA in the Second Circuit is historic, unprecedented and of such critical, far-reaching, potential legal significance that its full impact is hard to measure. But it is first and foremost a victory for an inspring, courageous, and determined DOMA Warrior, 83-year-old Edith (Edie) Windsor.

Edie and her wife, Thea Spyer, were married in Canada in 2007 after lmore than forty years together as a couple in New York. In 2009, when Thea passed away, the Internal Revenue Service, citing DOMA, denied recognition of their marriage and refused apply the marital deduction that protects surviving spouses from estate tax. Instead the IRS forced Edie to pay a $363,000 tax bill on Thea’s estate. Not only was she contending with the loss of her life-partner, but she was, in fact, being told that the life they had built together meant nothing to the government; to the IRS, it was as though it never happened. It is often so difficult for couples to quantify the heartache, the pain, and the hurt that a law like DOMA causes. Windsor v. United States leaves no question as to a very specific harm DOMA caused to Edie. Edie Windsor is not only a litigant, however; for years, she has demonstrated throught her advocacy that our most powerful tools are the storiesof our own lives. Edie’s belief that we must all be treated with dignity and respect was the reason for her lawsuit, and it is the reason that we, as binational couples, continue to fight DOMA by demanding nothing less, every day. What she accomplished in court last week is valuable to the LGBT movement in a way that defies any measure in dollars and cents.

As a grassroots campaign, The DOMA Project focuses on DOMA’s devastating impact on binational gay and lesbian couples who are denied access to green cards and all other vital family unification provisions of our immigration law, e.g. fiancé(e) visas, waivers for unlawful presence bars, stepchildren petitions, derivative non-immigrant status, status as spouses of refugees, spouses of green card lottery winners, etc. solely because of DOMA.  Each day that DOMA remains the law of the land, it forces gay couples couples into exile, separates couples from each other and from their children, and forces spouses and partners of U.S. citizens to remain in the United States without lawful immigration status, all with devastating effects not only on LGBT families and on our marriages, but also on our extended American families, our communities, our businesses, our friends and our own dreams for the future.

DOMA is tearing apart our families, and while every court ruling helps us build the foundation for its demise, we should not lose sight of the fact that federal courts are not the only, or even the primary forum, for our fight. We must keep up the momentum by continuing to focus our advocacy of the harmful consequences of DOMA, and on the policies that must be implemented now to counter those consequences. We cannot become complacent and simply trust that DOMA will ultimately be struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. If we adopt such a passive approach, we are gambling, in a sense, with our marriages, our families and our futures. Instead, we must continue to help build a receptive climate for the powerful cases against DOMA by exposing the truth of what it is doing every day to our families. All of us can play a part if we choose to be a part of this fight to the finish line.  We all have too much at stake to simply sit back and watch events unfold.

The DOMA Project continues to work to empower binational couples and fight for immediate remedial policies to prevent the catastrophic, destructive impact DOMA is having on our families.

Like Edie Windsor, we will continue to fight for a federal government that no longer disrespects the love and commitment that same-sex couples have made to one another, where couples are no longer forced to choose between their love and their country, where LGBT families are not torn apart or forced into exile.

In his decision, Chief Judge Jacobs notes that the final decision on the constitutionality of DOMA, which discriminates against all same-sex couples by prohibiting the federal government from recognizing our marriages, “will have a considerable impact on many operations of the United States.”

Indeed, DOMA is not an abstraction; as the Windsor case reminds all, its consequences are devastating: our families are harmed every day by this law, often irreparably.  As such, while we celebrate every ruling as another nail in the coffin, we continue to fight to end the consequences of DOMA today.  There can be no waiting in the fight for full equality.  The slow and complex litigation will continue with a constant drumbeat of speculation as we near a final judicial resolution of DOMA, while tens of thousands of binational couples will struggle to make it through another day, trying to hold their marriages and their families together. As we celebrate last week’s tremendous victory, we cannot forget that there are remedies available to the government to protect and reunite all lesbian and gay binational couples and their families today. We will continue to fight to stop every deportation, separation and exile of binational couples.

To achieve immediate policy solutions it is important not to find oneself passively waiting for another court ruling, but rather to join other binational couples in active engagement and participation in our campaign. Over the the next eight months, our country will focus increasingly on this issue, and its expected resolution by the Supreme Court by June 2013.  But that should not become a distraction for binational couples eager to fight for immediate executive branch policies that will keep our families together now.

There is one court in which all of us dwell and that is the court of public opinion. We must continue to score victories in the court of public opinion in order to reach our goal of full equality. Edie has shown us how our own lived experiences, shared with a wide audience in compelling and personal terms, served to persuade of even the most conservative jurist. For her, and all the courageous men and women who have come before us and who have made our fight possible, let us never waver in our determination to achieve full equality.”