MetaFilter posts tagged with rights and equality

US Military Cuts And A Step Towards Equality

zarq — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:00:55 -0800

Yesterday, US President Obama signed a $680bn military policy bill, which cuts military spending, including $2bn in funding for new F-22 fighter jets. However, the bill also contained the first major piece of federal gay rights legislation, and fulfilled an Obama campaign promise: acts of violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people have now been added to the list of federal hate crimes.

Prop 8 : CA :: Ref 71 : WA

hippybear — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:35:57 -0800

On May 18, 2009, the Governor of Washington state signed into law SB 5688, granting near-equal legal standing to state registered domestic partners, meaning mainly (but not exclusively) same-sex couples. This new law, nicknamed the "everything but marriage" law was to go into effect at the end of July. Due to efforts made by some conservative groups, the measure will now be up for a public vote on the November 3, 2009 ballot in the form of Referendum 71. Meanwhile, a coalition of groups has formed to ensure the law remains standing, while others seek to make the names of the petition signers public. The legal battles over the signatures have already begun. Previously.

maine ways

lalex — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:20:24 -0800

Maine Ways (SLYT)

Spare Change

gerryblog — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:08:27 -0800

Tomorrow, Obama will extend federal employee benefits to same-sex partners. But is it too little, too late to mend the growing rift between Obama and gay rights advocates, especially after last week's controversial DOMA brief (discussed previously)?

Dear Mr. President

Joe Beese — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:48:46 -0800

Dear Mr. President: ... I realized that although I and other LGBT leaders have introduced ourselves to you as policy makers, we clearly have not been heard, and seen, as what we also are: human beings whose lives, loves, and families are equal to yours. I know this because this brief would not have seen the light of day if someone in your administration who truly recognized our humanity and equality had weighed in with you. John Aravois comments: ... more important than its content is its existence. In politics, sending a letter chastising a friend is a far more significant act than what the letter actually says. It's just not done unless something very big and very bad happens. Usually things happen quietly, behind closed doors (especially with friends). When they go public like this, it means serious trouble is brewing.

workplace protection--not as hotbutton as Marriage Equality or Don't Ask Don't Tell, but far more essential

amberglow — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 18:17:01 -0800

ENDA House hearings start tomorrow --a record 94% of Fortune 500 companies now provide Sexual Orientation Discrimination Protection, and 89% of Americans polled believe Homosexuals should have equal rights in terms of job opportunities. Repeatedly introduced and then killed since 1994, the 2007 version--H.R. 2015--Employment Non-Discrimination Act (text of bill)--includes transgender protection for the very first time. The TVC is just one of many organizations fighting it. (there is a religious exemption, but groups like the TVC would be covered by it)

...at the end of the day, we're specimens to be dissected, examined and studied so that you may teach a "lesson" that you view as important. ...

amberglow — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 13:01:12 -0800

We Are Not Freaks --from Silber's Power of Narrative--and applicable to all who fall outside the norms.

The (Wedding) March of Progress

amberglow — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 15:33:51 -0800

The grooms wore khakis and leather boots. Two game rangers, Vernon Gibbs and Tony Halls, became the first same-sex couple to legally wed in South Africa on December 1, a day after President Thabo Mbeki's government authorised gay marriages. SA is the 5th country allowing fullly equal same-sex marriage rights--Worldwide timeline of advances here, from 1979 until now. (In other news: Israel just officially recognized full rights for marriages made abroad, and Mexico City just approved Civil Unions)

civil unions? marriage?

amberglow — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 12:26:33 -0800

NJ says yes to same-sex marriage! (altho it might not be called that in the end) -- link to pdf of ruling here.

Why is there more social acceptance, but less and less progress towards legal rights and equality?

amberglow — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 13:32:54 -0800

...his boyfriend Josh. --beautiful story, made all the more poignant at a time of more and more state constitutional amendments ensuring second-class citizenship, and a Democratic party urging us to just shut up already, but still give.

"She's done a lot of good."

amberglow — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 06:12:01 -0800

Laurel Hester, RIP --because she and her partner fought, New Jersey police and fire department employees can now name anyone--not just a spouse--as a beneficiary for pension rights, helping to protect those they love after they're gone. Just one person who made a difference.

Ideology of Equality

googlebombed — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 06:40:29 -0800

Coretta Scott King passes away at age 78.

Go North, Young Man

digaman — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 18:41:26 -0800

Canada Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage. "We are a nation of minorities. And in a nation of minorities, it is important that you don't cherry-pick rights," said Prime Minister Paul Martin. "A right is a right and that is what this vote tonight is all about."

Conscientious Objector Policy Act attempts to further mutilates our basic rights

taursir — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 08:06:32 -0800

Conscientious Objector Policy Act would allow Michigander doctors and health care providers to refuse treatment on moral, ethical or religious grounds. Yet another OMG MORALZ OMG sort of bill. But wait, what are morals? And does Nicole Kidman figure into this somehow?

MA, NY, CA--who's next?

amberglow — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 16:43:01 -0800

Love and Marriage, Love and Marriage... California joins New York in a lower-court decision for marriage equality, with the judge stating, "The idea that marriage-like rights without marriage is adequate smacks of a concept long rejected by the courts — separate but equal," ... And in DC, Ken Mehlman, (closeted) head of the RNC, in an interview with the AP, backslides on his party's trumpeting of anti-gay sentiment: - It's not his job as head of the party to tell states whether they should allow same-sex couples to wed or form civil unions. "Certainly our platform states that the party is committed to ensuring that there is traditional marriage," he said, but he didn't think the party should take a position on state initiatives. More on today's court decision here.

If we do not step forward, then we step back.

Jairus — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 15:05:47 -0800

Address by Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin on Gay Marriage. Taking the bull by the horns, Mr. Martin speaks to the House of Commons regarding Bill C-38, The Civil Marriage Act:

"This question does not demand rhetoric. It demands clarity. There are only two legitimate answers – yes or no. Not the demagoguery we have heard, not the dodging, the flawed reasoning, the false options. Just yes or no."

One of the finest speeches from a Canadian politician in memory, and an important read for Canadians and Americans alike.

Taking the Long View

Sidhedevil — Thu, 04 Nov 2004 11:42:36 -0800

Only in 1967 did Loving v. Virginia overturn vigorously-enforced laws against interracial marriage in these 15 states--Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Only in 1964 did the Civil Rights Act overturn laws against equal access to voting, public accommodation, and public education. Only in 1963 did the Equal Pay Act mandate that men and women be paid the same wage for the same work at the same job. History isn't a superhighway, leading us in straight lines toward utopia. We fall back and we move forward, but over the past fifty years, the United States has become considerably more inclusive and equality of access to opportunity has widened. Take a look at this article from the Atlantic Monthly in 1956--1956!--if you don't believe me.