9/22/09

Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition (TTPC) Fundraiser


The TTPC will hold it's fifth annual fundraiser on Saturday, October 17, 2008, 7 pm at the Holy Trinity Community Church. The keynote speaker will be Jeanne Richardson
State Representative (pictured right). Representative Richardson is a proponent of LGBT equality and has recently sponsored the House Hate Crimes (HB335) and Birth Certificate (HB334) Bills.

Details and a RSVP may be found at the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition web page.

9/21/09

Pass ENDA in 2009! "Tell Congress to Pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act NOW!"


From Equality Federation:

"Tell Congress to Pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act NOW!"
Click here to take action

"On September 23, the House Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing to discuss ENDA, the federal employment nondiscrimination bill that would ban discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans. It is past time for Congress to pass ENDA -- please take action NOW to help us get the support we need. We must tell our Representatives and Senators how important these protections are to LGBT people".
Click here to take action

"To pass ENDA in Congress in 2009, we must speak up loud and clear! We must flood their offices with calls and emails!"

Click here to take action

"Contact your Representative and Senators to ask them to take swift action to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Do it today. They need to hear that this bill is our top priority. Then send this message to friends and family and ask them to do the same."

Sincerely,

Toni Broaddus
Executive Director
Equality Federation

9/17/09

My Worst Nightmare Lunch with Coworkers and the "Maury Show - Man or Women?"

Imagine when approaching your break room for lunch to be greeted with shouts "oh no I won't do that, he's really guy' and a non stop cascade of laughter and jeers as coworkers compared factual features and body types of contestants as they tried to 'trick' the studio audience into believing they were born woman.
Maury Show - Man or Women?


To a cisgender man or woman this maybe great fun. To a transgender person who has just started working part time after being unemployed and homeless for 8 months, this is your worst nightmare.

To put this into context. Imagine that you are one of the many ethnic people who were in the break room and were compelled to remain quite as coworkers bet on a contest if your parents and family were "Real Americans" by determining if their backs were wet or dry. Winner remains, losers shipped to a 'resettlement' camp or homelessness.

Or maybe you were a informed intelligent person in the break room or perhaps a closeted homosexual. Either way you could not hold my gaze as I stood in front of the TV and explained why I was so insulted by this show.

Do the last two scenarios seem a little ridiculous? That is true. Human rights have been earned and laws enacted that require society to respect ethnicity. It is expected and required.

Closeted homosexuals are so scared to be 'outed' they are among the most homophobic, transphobic and shameful of all and remain indiscernible to most.

Transgender people do not have that respect yet. Unlike LGB people most of us do not have the option of invisablity. However, transgender people are striving towards workplace equity with ENDA. Unfortunately there will be Judases like these people on the Maury Show who would sell their humanity for money and a chance for momentary fame.

Until societies mores change I will be compelled to stand up for my dignity and human rights whether it is in a break room, a transphobic Church or a bigoted politician.

Today I am meeting with HR to explain my mysterious I behaviour in the Lunch room that day. I will answer why I shut the TV off after what may have seemed to some in the room as irrational behaviour.

Wish me luck.

Fred Karger founder of "Californians Against Hate" Subpoenaed!

Picture courtesy of Latter Day Chino The as yet unanswered notice to reveal the NOM funders as required by law.

Prop. 8 Supporters Subpoena Activist Who Revealed Contributors

Source dailyjournal.com

"SACRAMENTO In its continuing efforts to protect the identity of those who bankrolled the campaign to pass Proposition 8, lawyers for The National Organization for Marriage have issued a subpoena for one of the leaders behind the opposition, Californians Against Hate founder Fred Karger, who led boycotts and created websites outing top contributors."
"The subpoena compels Karger to produce the group's financial records and all communications and documentation regarding affiliated websites and the dissemination of donor information. It also directs him to appear for a deposition on October 13th."
"This is harassment and they are trying to silence me," said Karger, who points out that he's not a party to the case. "I'm a citizen activist, and my organization is just me, funded entirely by myself versus the power of a group who has millions and millions of dollars behind it."

Source: Mike Tidmus Blog NOM subpoenas Fred Karger

"According to a press release sent a few minutes ago by Californians Against Hate, the group’s founder, Fred Karger, has been hit with a subpoena ordering him to produce the organization’s financial records and correspondence and to appear for a 13 October deposition. Clearly Karger’s complaints, filed in California and Maine, have the National Organization for Marriage’s collective knickers in a knot. This is, obviously, nothing more than a blatant attempt by NOM’s Maggie Gallagher to throw her considerable weight behind a shameless legal maneuver intended to suppress her opposition and conceal the sources of NOM’s substantial and mysterious funding."

Support the upcoming ENDA Congressional Hearing on 9/23/09


Join the "Hearing on Inclusive ENDA" Facebook group, and get info on how to contact the committee members in and near your state.

Go to the Facebook page for more information.

We are rapidly moving towards a vote. Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of their party.

Jillian T. Weiss
Co-Chair, Inclusive ENDA

Memnosyne Foundation

World peace!



What we do this moment directly affects people around the globe. It is our responsibility to make this a GOOD Thing! Please watch this video and pause to reflect. Did that coffee purchase mean? What does that extra tank of gas a week do? What can we do? Did 9/11 have to happen?

When in history can we recount acts of violence precluded violence?

http://www.memnosyne.org/