Bye Bye DOMA?

(Originally from Nevada Progressive)



Apparently, some good things have been happening since Tuesday. Legislation to repeal DOMA has been introduced, and now there's a chance it might actually pass the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Now in case you were wondering why this is so important, take a look below.

The so-called Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, purports to give states the "right" to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. A number of authorities, including Laurence Tribe, a Harvard University law professor, have challenged the constitutionality of such a move. The full faith and credit clause of the U.S. Constitution requires states to recognize the "acts, records and proceedings" of all other states. For example, marriages performed today in Mississippi are considered valid in Wisconsin, Oregon, Arizona and every other state. Under this law, same-sex marriages that are legal in one state may or may not be legal in another state.

DOMA also creates a federal definition of "marriage" and "spouse" for the first time in our country's history. This is an unprecedented intrusion by the U.S. Congress into an area traditionally left to the states. Marriage is defined as a "legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife," and spouse is defined as "a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife." Marriages that do not fit this description would not be eligible for any benefits offered by the federal government. Under DOMA, even if a state were to recognize same-sex marriages, the federal government would not. The people involved would be unable to receive a number of benefits, including those related to Social Security, survivorship and inheritance.

Basically, Congress mandated federal agencies in 1996 to treat LGBTQ families as second-class citizens. This blatant and disgusting discrimination must end. And for the first time ever, there's real momentum to make it happen.

According to HRC's new poll, a full 51% of Americans oppose DOMA, while only 34% still support it. So why does House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) still want to waste our tax dollars defending it in court, as well as waste everyone's time whining about this rather than doing anything on job creation?

This is why this legislation matters. As I've said before, it's about time we do some offense after being beaten to death with no real defense. We need to keep reminding our members of Congress to do what's right for all our families instead of using our community as political footballs for any longer.

Andrew's Testimony for SB 180

(Also at Nevada Progressive)

Earlier this week, I testified to The Legislature, in this case The Senate Judiciary Committee, in support of SB 180.

So what exactly is SB 180? Click the above link, then come back to this page to read my testimony below, then please contact your legislators and ask them to support SB 180. Thanks.

---

When a violent crime is committed, it may seem like a no-brainer to call the police. But when the victim is transgender, the situation all too often becomes much more complicated. The victim might be treated as the criminal, or the victim's case is not taken seriously, or perhaps the victim is too afraid to even report the crime.

This is why SB 180 is needed, and this is why SB 180 should not considered some sort of "special treatment". Rather, it levels the playing field and ensures that everyone in our state is treated equally. Many local law enforcement have had past problems handling crimes against transgender victims, and perpetrators have used excuses like "gay panic defense" to seek leniency from the courts, so there is critical need for state guidance to ensure transgender people are no longer easy targets for violent crime.

Human Rights Campaign has recently analyzed FBI crime statistics and estimated that one of every 1,000 homicide victims in this country is transgender. At least 15 transgender people are killed in hate crimes each year in this country. Just in 2002 alone, 27 known transgender people were killed in hate motivated murders. Remember that these are not just statistics, but real people as well.

I know people who have survived attacks, and I have close friends who have lost friends to violence. This is certainly no laughing matter. The passage of SB 180 may very well mean the difference between life and death, so I urge you to pass SB 180 and help save many Nevadans' lives.

Lobby Training and Phone Bank

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and
Progressive Leadership Alliance
invite YOU to a special

Update on Legislative Progress,
Lobbying Training and
Phone Banking
In Support of Transgender Equity

Please Join Us:
Sunday 6 March from 2p to 5p
PLAN’s Southern Nevada offices
732 S. 6th Street (at Gass), Ste. 200

Please RSVP to
Michael Ginsburg: mginsburg@planevada.org or 702.418.4999
Howard Watts: hwatts@planevada.org

Food and Refreshments will be served

We are making good progress in our work to gain legal protections in employment and public accommodations for Nevada’s transgender citizens. Learn more about this work from the folks who are doing the most to support transgender civil rights. We are honored to have several members of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (www.thetaskforce.org) joining us. The Task Force has been at the forefront of advocating for transgender justice since before it was hip, way back in the early/mid-1990s, and they were on the conference call that started this latest round of legislative advocacy with me and others in December 2007. PLAN has made Transgender Equity one of their highest legislative priorities and has contributed generously in time and money to support these efforts in the past two-plus years – in my opinion, we wouldn’t be where we are without the good folks of PLAN.


Resources
* Employment Bill: AB211 https://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/76th2011/reports/history.cfm?ID=480
* Public Accommodations Bill: BDR799 http://leg.state.nv.us/Session/76th2011/BDRList/page.cfm?PageNum_qInfo=1&s2=Go&txtSearch=leslie
* The Task Force Reports: Injustice at Every Turn: the National Transgender Discrimination Survey (February 03, 2011)
Transgender and gender non-conforming people face rampant discrimination in every area of life: education, employment, family life, public accommodations, housing, health, police and jails, and ID documents. This data is so shocking that it will change the way you think about transgender people and it should change the way you advocate. The National Transgender Discrimination Survey was conducted by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality (www.nctequality.org). http://www.thetaskforce.org/reports_and_research/ntds

NSDC Statement on Education & The Budget

IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT EDUCATION
From
NEVADA STONEWALL DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS

Chris Miller, President
Olivia Gobert-Hicks, Vice President
Karen Grayson, Treasurer
Andrew Davey, Secretary & Political Director

At Large: Sandy Eddy, Derek Washington, Daela Gibson, Angela Brooks


Whether you are a student yourself, a parent of young ones in school, or just a concerned citizen hoping for a sustainable economy in Nevada's future, you are affected by the state budget and whether or not we allow Brian Sandoval and his far right "Tea Party, Inc." friends to abuse the budgetary process to destroy public education in this state. Already those in college are being hit by tuition and other fee increases and K-12 students have to endure overcrowded classrooms and inadequate classroom resources. We can't take any more cuts... Now is the time to let our state heal and build a brighter future!

Brian Sandoval's budget would take $270 away from every Nevada student if allowed to pass. Since Nevada's schools are already among the most underfunded in the nation, this would mean even fewer resources for needed textbooks, after school programs, sports programs, other extracurricular activities and much, much more! Since everyone from the London School of Economics & The Brookings Institute to local business leaders have stated that Nevada must invest MORE (not less!) in K-12 and higher education to develop the kind of workforce that companies will want to locate here for, it is imperative that we save our schools in order to finally diversify our economy and create more lasting jobs in this state.

This is why this is an "LGBTQ issues" that our community should care about, and this is why we ask you to join us next Monday at 5:00 PM for a special Nevada Legislature Town Hall at Green Valley High School. Please come and let your voice be heard if you're free Monday evening, and please consider testifying if you are a student and/or you have children in public school.
Please stay tuned for future updates from Stonewall on this and other important Nevada issues. As the 76th Legislature rolls on, the Nevada Stonewall Democratic Caucus and Stonewall Democrats Southern Nevada will keep you informed on important legislation pending in Carson City, and what we can do about it.


Blog: nvstonewalldems.blogspot.com
Facebook: NV Stonewall Dems
Twitter: NVStonewallDems


--
Nevada Stonewall Democratic Caucus was founded in 2005. Our membership consists of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Nevadans and our straight allies. We will lobby and educate members of the Nevada State Legislature to protect the rights and advocate on behalf of Nevadans who are routinely discriminated against because of their sexuality and gender identity.

The Part Where You Come In

{Why exactly are schools and the state budget "LGBTQ issues"? Whether you are a student yourself, a parent of young ones in school, or just a concerned citizen hoping for a sustainable economy in Nevada's future, you are affected by the state budget and whether or not we allow Brian Sandoval and his far right "Tea Party, Inc." friends to abuse the budgetary process to destroy public education in this state. Already those of us in college are being hit by tuition
and other fee increases, and already K-12 students have to endure overcrowded classrooms and inadequate classroom resources. We can't take any more cuts... Now is the time to let our state heal and build a brighter future! Please consider joining us at Green Valley HS next Monday if you're in Southern Nevada, and stay tuned for more budget updates here!}

Do you really need me to restate the facts that we've covered extensively? And that our friends at The Nevada View, The Sausage Factory, and Desert Beacon have detailed?



Our state is in dire straits. There's no way to avoid the awful truth. Our unemployment rate is the highest in the nation. Our economy has suffered from extreme boom and bust cycles for decades. There's a growing chorus of economists and business leaders telling us we must have better schools to produce the better educated workforce our state so desperately needs to diversify the economy and thrive, but Governor Sandoval continues to blithely ignore them and hopes to proceed in cutting our schools (and our economic future) to death.

So what else can be done? What else can be said? Can anything be done to change this?

This is the part where we come in.





We MUST let our legislators, the public servants we elect to represent us in state government, know what direction we want our state to take. Are we the masters of our own fate? Or will we let some nebulous external force (insert Tea Party Inc link) make us into its ideological slaves?

What are you prepared to do to save our state? What are you planning to do to rescue your state? Go to Green Valey High School next Monday and speak some much needed truth to power? Ask Governor Sandoval and The Legislature to agree on a fair budget?

Whatever you can do, just do it. This is the part where you come in. What will you do to save our state?

NSDC Statement on MGM Resorts' New Health Care Policy

NSDC STATEMENT ON MGM RESORTS INTERNATIONAL 

MAKING ITS WORKPLACE TRANSGENDER INCLUSIVE

Contact: 

Andrew Davey, Secretary & Political Director

(702) 806-1340/ atdnext@gmail.com

Chris Miller, President

(702) 569-6744/ chrisisademocrat@gmail.com 

We at the Nevada Stonewall Democratic Caucus (NSDC) are delighted to learn that MGM Resorts International, Nevada's largest employer and the world's second largest gaming company, is reiterating its commitment to transgender inclusive non-discrimination policies and revising its health care policies in order to ensure a fair and inclusive workplace for all its employees, including its transgender employees. MGM has a long and distinguished record of treating its gay and lesbian employees with respect and dignity, and in supporting Nevada's LGBTQ community, so we are glad to see MGM step up and give the same respect and dignity to transgender workers who have long sought this level of equality.

We want to thank all our NSDC members and activists who have worked months, and even years, to secure workplace equality for all LGBTQ workers at MGM Resorts International, as well as other Nevada employers. We particularly want to thank our friends and partners at HRC Las Vegas who have worked tirelessly in lobbying MGM leadership to make their company and their workplace fully inclusive and welcoming to all LGBTQ Nevadans. In addition, we want to thank our friends and colleagues at Equality Nevada, including the always awe inspiring equality activist Jane Heenan, for constantly beating the drum for equality and taking direct action to let MGM know that we Nevadans wanted them to give its transgender workers the same fair and equal treatment as every other MGM employee. And finally, we would like to thank all the rest of our amazing fellow community activists for working inside and raising noise outside to make this all happen. We are incredibly proud of everyone who worked alongside each other and with MGM to do this for MGM's transgender workers and Nevada's transgender community.

We at NSDC understand that our work is far from over, and we will not stop or rest until all LGBTQ workers in Nevada and nationwide can enjoy the same fairness and equality that LGBTQ workers have now achieved at Caesars Entertainment, Wynn Resorts, and now MGM Resorts International. We hope to continue to work with our community partners here in Nevada to continue encouraging more local employers to make their workplaces fully inclusive, and to let our legislators in Carson City and Washington, DC, know that we all prosper when we are all equal.

###

Nevada Stonewall Democratic Caucus was founded in 2005. Our membership consists of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Nevadans and our straight allies. We will lobby and educate members of the Nevada State Legislature to protect the rights and advocate on behalf of Nevadans who are routinely discriminated against because of their sexuality and gender identity. 

@NVStonewallDems 

nvstonewalldems@gmail.com

NSDC STATEMENT ON “SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE” SKIT AND NEVADA’S NEED FOR END DISCRIMINATION

Last Saturday, NBC aired an episode of “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) containing a skit that is still haunting us. In this skit, male actors with facial hair dressed in women’s clothing and proceeded to mock transgender women in a fake ad for “Estro-Maxx”, a fictional estrogen replacement therapy. Not only did we find this skit far from amusing or comical, but we were also horrified by SNL’s horrifying use of misleading, bigoted stereotypes of the daily lives of transgender people.

Many in our community are transgender, and the rest of us have transgender friends and family members. We know that this kind of humorless “humor” does nothing but reinforce the ugly stereotypes that are used to excuse continued discrimination against transgender people, and against lesbian, gay, and bisexual people as well, for that matter.

We at the Nevada Stonewall Democratic Caucus urge local media not to make the same mistake made by Comcast and “Saturday Night Live”, and to instead do their homework and realize that transgender people are people, too, and not some flat caricatures we can point and laugh at.

We also hope this will be a wake-up call for the people of our great State of Nevada. Transgender people are currently being denied work, housing, health care, and numerous services and accommodations that the rest of us take for granted. And as of now, they have no options for legal remedy. This must change, and we hope our Legislature will take action this year to fix this and stop the cycle of “legal” discrimination here in Nevada.

What we saw on SNL last weekend may have been disgusting, but we can take action now to ensure this anti-transgender hatred and bigotry is legitimized no more.