Breaking News: THE QUEER SOS! NYC Activists to Hold Daily Vigil at Senator Gillibrand’s Campaign Office Until Civil Rights Bill is FILED!
Todd Fernandez
For immediate release. September 22, 2010.
MEDIA CONTACT: Iana DiBona – 718-309-8598; Quee...@gmail.com
The Queer SOS! to Senator Gillibrand: Help Put Us In the 1964 Civil Rights Act! (BY FILING THE AMERICAN EQUALITY BILL NOW)
Bringing urgency to the call for equality now, activists in New York City will begin a daily vigil on September 27, 2010 outside of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s campaign office at 15 W. 26th Street from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day, demanding she introduce the American Equality Bill in the U.S. Senate. Absent action, on October 11th the vigil go around-the-clock, and on Election Day, November, 2, 2010, a fast will begin.
The American Equality Bill (AEB) adds “sexual orientation and gender identity” to the 1964 Civil Rights Act (CRA), The Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and fixes discriminatory language in the American With Disabilities Act. In one motion, this simple six-page bill makes non-discrimination against LGBTQ people, as well as heterosexual and gender conforming people, the law of the land.
The AEB was written by Karen Doering, former Senior Counsel for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, working with Juan Ahonen-Jover, Ph.D., co-founder of EqualityGiving.org and former National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Board chair. It has the backing of grassroots activists across the country, support from www.EqualityGiving.org and www.ActOnPrinciples.org, and was tightly drafted to garner ally support. It is time to file it and start the clock.
“We need a bill worthy of our dignity to organize around and we will wait no longer,” said Iana DiBona a lead SOS! organizer. “It’s been 46 years since the ’64 CRA passed that protects every other American from discrimination. It’s outrageous that 30 million LGBTQ people are not protected and can’t even get a bill filed to start the process.”
The focus in New York City is around Senator Gillibrand due to her long-standing platform that put LGBTQ inclusion in the CRA in play back in October 2009 (http://bit.ly/GillibrandCRAoct09). The SOS! activists point out that she has already shown the leadership of a veteran Senator for the LGBTQ cause, and now they need her help to get full LGBTQ civil rights to the front of the national agenda where it belongs.
Looking beyond politics, the urgency is real to these activists who point to the regular murders and suicides of LGBTQ people living in the U.S. – a country where homophobia is still sanctioned by federal policy. “Homophobia kills,” said Alan Bounville, a founding member of Queer Rising NYC, “and each day that Congress fails to include us in the Civil Rights Act they are complicit with more of these deaths.”
Today, the ’64 Civil Rights Act has transcended the law to become a statement of dignity for the groups it protects from discrimination. Structured already to cover traits core to our being — race, color, sex, national origin and religion – this iconic law has come to fulfill the promise of human rights itself in America. Clearly, sexual orientation and gender identity belong in this context.
On a more practical level, the CRA functions like a blanket non-discrimination insurance policy covering vast areas of public life, from housing and employment, to all public places, federal facilities (including schools), access to credit, and antidiscrimination in all federally funded programs (reaching into health programs, adoption agencies, homeless youth, etc.). We obviously deserve equal coverage.
“These laws protect our right to exist in society as who we are, which is an inalienable human right,” said Todd (Tif) Fernandez, the Campaign Facilitator for The American Equality Bill (AEB) Project and a human rights lawyer. “In real terms, by outlawing race discrimination with these laws America provided the ethical influence that allowed a young Barack Obama to dream of becoming President. Assuming LGBTQ children deserve the same opportunity, as surely they do, it is time to file and pass this bill.”
The Queer SOS! daily vigil and community commune will feature art, music and friendship, amidst steady activism, as well as a daily “Homophobia Kills Die-In” at noon, and other exciting talented performances. To see scheduled performers, volunteer to perform, to stand vigil, or to join preparations for the fast, go to www.queersos.com or email: quee...@gmail.com – or just show up.
All creativity and spiritualities are welcome. Let’s get this party started!
The AEB PROJECT is all grassroots and all volunteer. On FB at http://bit.ly/AEBnow
The QUEER SOS!: www.queersos.com (Facebook, YouTube and Twitter: Queer SOS).
The QUEER SOS! Posters (print & post): http://bit.ly/QueerSOSnycPoster
The Draft AEB language (read it): http://bit.ly/AEBsponsorshipDraftJuly4
Project Originator (thank you): www.equalitygiving.org
AEB Public Whip Count (get sponsors): www.actonprinciples.org
“Please File the AEB” Flyer (fax it, mail it): http://bit.ly/AEBposters
Gay & Lesbian Review (share it): http://bit.ly/AEBglreview
MEDIA CONTACT: Iana DiBona – 718-309-8598; Quee...@gmail.com
