Tag Archives: activism

Via press release: With the recent tragedy of 49 innocent lives lost at the LGBT nightclub, Pulse, in Orlando, FL on June 12, 2016, the global community was left to mourn those unjustly taken by hate. As we continue to grieve in the wake of the Orlando tragedy, it is important to confront hate face-to-face and let the LGBT community …

Fox News shrieker Todd Starnes is having a Twitter meltdown over the still-going House gun control sit-in. According to Starnes, Speaker Paul Ryan should order that Democrats be physically dragged from the building. If Todd Starnes is pissed, you know Democrats are doing the right thing.

CNN reports: Although Republicans leaders shut off House cameras, Democrats were continuing Thursday morning to livestream their activities on the House floor. Rep. Mark Takano plugged his phone into an external power source, set it on top of a chair facing the podium, and was streaming on his Facebook page even though he’d left the chamber to appear on CNN’s …

NBC News reports: House Democrats led by Civil Rights veteran Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, are in the midst of a sit-in on the chamber floor to try and force a vote on gun control. “Now is the time for us to find a way to dramatize it, to make it real,” Lewis said. “We have to occupy the floor of …

Via press release: Over 100 LGBT and AIDS activists turned up outside Trump Tower last night to protest Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump meeting with 400 Evangelical religious leaders in New York City. The protest was organized by activist group ACT UP NY (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) to combat Trump’s use of the recent massacre at an Orlando gay …

Via Raw Story: Protesters disrupted a press conference on Tuesday of religious leaders as they discussed their meeting earlier in the day with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, NPR reported. Footage from the event posted by Newsday shows a woman telling the group, “Your hate is killing us. Your lies are killing us.” Another woman asked Tony Perkins, who appeared …

Via press release: ACT UP NY along with leaders from Muslim, Latinx and LGBTQ organizations will rally in front of Trump tower in New York City against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s use of the recent massacre at a gay bar in Orlando to polarize Americans. On Tuesday June 21st, 2016 Donald Trump will meet with the leaders of multiple …

In the wake of the Orlando nightclub massacre, a coalition of 50 groups – most of them LGBT – have signed onto a pledge to pressure lawmakers to enact gun control reform measures. Conspicuously absent from the list of signatories is the Human Rights Campaign. Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: The organizations issue the joint statement as congressional …

Via press release: London’s LGBTI community will join hands in a tribute for the victims of the Orlando shootings tomorrow (Monday 13 June). At least 50 people were killed and 53 injured in the shootings in the early hours of Sunday morning in gay nightclub Pulse. Venues along London’s Old Compton Street, at the heart of London’s gay village, will …

With only a few hours notice, a massive crowd of New Yorkers jammed tiny Sheridan Square in Manhattan’s West Village late this afternoon to express anger and heartbreak over last night’s massacre in Orlando. As a steady stream of mourners arrived to lay flowers outside the iconic Stonewall Inn, veteran activists including Ann Northrop and Ken Kidd clambered onto a …

USA Today reports: President Obama told gay rights activists Thursday that they need to be vigilant to continue the progress they’ve made over the last eight years of his presidency. “Together we’ve proven that change is possible, that progress is possible,” he told a reception for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender activists at a White House reception — the eighth …

Back in January it was big news when members of the massive progressive group MoveOn voted overwhelmingly to back Bernie Sanders. Today they are handing him his hat. Talking Points Memo reports: One of the largest advocacy groups to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Wednesday gently nudged the Vermont senator toward the exit, arguing that the Democratic nomination can’t …

From the Human Rights Campaign: HRC, The Ally Coalition (TAC) and American Apparel have launched the “Make America Gay Again” and “Make America LGBTQ Again” campaign to raise awareness for LGBTQ equality. The campaign features a limited-edition tank top and t-shirt, which includes the phrases “Make America Gay Again” and “Make America LGBTQ Again”. Thirty percent of American Apparel’s sales …

In a press release that name-checks pioneering gay activists Frank Kameny and Sgt. Leonard Matlovich, the Department of Defense celebrates LGBT Pride Month. They write: Diversity is one of our nation’s greatest strengths. During Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Pride month, we celebrate our rich diversity and renew our enduring commitment to equity. The dedication and contributions of our …

Yesterday openly gay New York state Sen. Brad Hoylman (white shirt) led a march across the Brooklyn Bridge in support of his bill to reform the statute of limitations on child abuse. From the New York Daily News: More than 200 advocates for reform of the state’s statute of limitations on claims of child sexual abuse marched across the Brooklyn …

Michael Lavers reports at the Washington Blade: A prominent LGBT rights activist in Honduras was murdered this week. La Prensa, a Honduran newspaper, reported Rene Martínez’s family reported him missing on Wednesday after he left his home in the city of San Pedro Sula’s Chamelecón neighborhood and got into someone’s car. La Prensa reported that Martínez’s relatives identified his body …

From the Facebook page of noted HIV/AIDS activist Peter Staley: “Feeling used and abused by the Sanders campaign right now. They just issued a press release making it sound like our meeting was about his endorsement of AHF’s drug pricing ballot initiative in CA. Senator Sanders never brought the issue up during our meeting. WE brought it up near the …

The Charlotte Observer reports: As the Charlotte City Council prepares for a possible vote Monday on repealing its own nondiscrimination ordinance, the Human Rights Campaign has mounted an intense lobbying effort to keep it in place and has accused the Charlotte Chamber of being an “anti-LGBT bully.” The Washington-based HRC, a gay rights group that helped the city write the …

Lambda Legal’s Jon Davidson put it in context for what’s happening today: To quote late New York Yankee baseball great Yogi Berra, “it’s déjà vu all over again.” Today marks the 20th anniversary of the groundbreaking U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Romer v. Evans, Lambda Legal’s successful challenge, in partnership with the ACLU and some of Colorado’s top lawyers, to …

Most expect currently suspended Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore to run for governor in 2018 if the SPLC’s ethics complaint results in his being booted from the bench for a second time. Moore’s archenemy, local drag star Ambrosia Starling, yesterday revealed that she just might challenge him for the governor’s mansion. From the Huffington Post: Starling, who publicly …