how do you live so happily while i am sad and broken down?

The military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy is an unfair, outdated measure that violates the civil rights of some of our bravest, most heroic men and women.

That’s why I am so proud to support Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who has been working with her colleagues in the Senate and activists across the country to overturn this unfair policy. Today, there is great news: We have convinced Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, to hold the first Senate hearings on repealing DADT this Fall.

We have to prepare for these hearings, so Sen. Gillibrand has launched a nationwide call to action. I was eager to stand with her to show that this country is ready to repeal DADT. Please join us.

Click here to help end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
http://www.kirstengillibrand.com/DADT



From elucreh

Stolen shamelessly from zillah975, who got it from HRC:

The Senate is poised to vote on the Matthew Shepard Act THIS WEEK. But our allies are reporting an avalanche of 300,000 letters and calls from right-wing groups trying to stop it.

Anti-LGBT leaders like Focus on the Family's James Dobson are now calling the bill "utter evil." They're even referring to it as the "Pedophile Protection Act."

With a vote on hate crimes coming any day, we desperately need senators to hear from fair-minded people like you.

It takes about 45 seconds to call each one of your senators – and each one of them needs to hear from you today. It's just as important for supportive senators to hear from us – they've promised to pass this bill, and they need to know we're counting on them to keep fighting.

So set yourself a reminder on your computer. Make the call on your way to lunch. Or stop reading this and do it right now. Whatever you do, make sure to CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY.

If you've never called Congress, let me assure you, it's incredibly easy.

Before 5 p.m. ET, find your senators' phone numbers here:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm


Most likely, one of your senator's interns will answer and ask where you're calling from and why. You're calling to urge the Senator to vote for the Matthew Shepard Act (S. 909). Most calls end right there. But if you like, you can add:

Hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are on the rise.
One out of every six hate crimes is because of the victim's sexual orientation.
Hate crimes have more than one victim. They are intended to create an atmosphere of fear and terrorize entire communities.

After you hang up, you can click here and enter your info so that the HRC Action Center can keep track of how many calls were made.

Sacremento Morning Radio show describes transgender kids as freaks who should be beaten.


GLAAD call to action



I wrote an email to the two people listed below, urging them to fire these two men.


John Geary
Vice President & General Manager
KRXQ-FM
(916) 339-4209
jgeary@entercom.com
Jim Fox, Station Manager: jfox@entercom.com.

Amazon.com has removed sales rankings from hundreds of gay and lesbian books in the last week, thus excluding them from many best seller lists and customer searches. Their reasoning? "In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature. " Link to Source Post.

I know what some may be thinking. "Well, I didn't want to read this pornography anyway."

It's not pornography, it's not erotica they're going after. It's all LGBT literature. Looking for a list of the best college guides out there? Well, the one put out by the Advocate won't be on there. How about a list of the best Young Adult series? Well, you aren't going to find Rainbow Road, no matter how many copies have been sold.

If they are looking to truly remove 'adult materials' from their search lists, why are the novels depicting graphic heterosexual sex still there? What criteria have they applied to determine what should be labeled 'adult?'

And most importantly, WHO ELECTED AMAZON TO BE THE MORALITY POLICE?

This is censorship, people, plain and simple.

I urge you to:

• email Amazon to let them know this is wrong, at https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/general-questions.html


• boycott Amazon until they reverse this travesty.


• post a link to this source post in your own LJ, blog, and/or facebook.


• twitter the link referencing #amazonfail

ETA: A link to affected books: http://community.livejournal.com/meta_writer/11992.html
ETA2: Amazon has twitter: http://twitter.com/amazon
Below is the email I sent - I wish I could take credit for it, but it is all zillah975, who is way more eloquent than I.

( Read more... )

I just called the White House.

:) Okay, the White House comment line, but still, it was a little nerve-wracking. Anyway, I've said my peace about how I feel about the removal of the Medicaid Family Planning option. If you are interested in learning more, click here.

If not, that's okay. I'll still be your friend :)

I survived my very first political rally, mostly intact. Nothing that a few aspirin won't fix! :)

I went to the evening event (there was an afternoon march at the Capitol Building that I couldn't make). There were a lot of people, despite the cold and wind. However, very difficult to have a candlelight vigil on a windy day, even with wind guards (ok, styrofoam cups). I had to choose between holding my sign or holding a candle - I picked my sign.

( Me with sign )
I got lots of comments on it, which was cool. I'd actually made two signs, because I was going to put them back to back, but the organizers sent out an email saying no sticks allowed so I chose not to try that. I gave the other one to some kids who didn't have one - it said Let Everyone Marry.

So there weren't any hecklers or anything, although one douchebag did yell something at the group of people I was walking with from the MARTA station to the rally. The rally itself was a great crowd - everyone was hyped up and friendly, and we sang and danced and waved our signs at passing cars. The crowd started thinning out around 7pm, so those of us left took to crossing the roads (with the lights, of course) and chanting 'Gay, Straight, Black, White, marriage is a civil right' and things of that nature. Chanting was not our strongest point as a crowd :) But it was nice to move around a bit at that point.

Here's some really crappy pics of the crowd:
( pics )

+ Drug myself out of bed, wishing I had not stayed up til 2 am out of a paranoid worry that Obama's victory would somehow be snatched away.

+ Obsessively refreshed cnn.com and npr.org to track what was going on in Senate races and with Prop 8.

+ Failed at being a good aunt. I didn't forget my niece's birthday, but I couldn't think of anything to get her. I'll mail her a card and some money this weekend.

+ Pondered what I want to do to be a part of positive change in this country.

+ Got my site up and running.

+ Did some shopping on Amazon. Will soon be the proud owner of a new yoga DVD, A People's History of the United States, and a new photo album.

+ Requested a couple of books online at the library and renewed the two I have out. Fingers crossed the books I requested will be available by Saturday!

+ Filled out a form to volunteer at the library.

+ Emailed Habitat for Humanity to find out more about their Women Build program.

+ Bookmarked the CARE website to look into volunteer opportunities with them.

What a difference a battleground state makes!

I have watched a lot of cable news over the last month, every where I've traveled. This week I'm in Iowa, and it's non-stop negative ads run by Republicans. I believe I've heard Reverend Wright say "God**** America" (complete with beep) about 100 times since 3pm.

*sigh* I'm so on edge about tomorrow. In 2000, I thought there was no chance for Bush. In 2004, I thought surely he couldn't win re-election. This year? I have learned my lesson. I have no idea what's going to happen tomorrow. I wish I'd taken a few days off to volunteer for Obama's campaign.

Oh, and I got my Obama button this week. I feel bad for wrongly accusing the USPS of stealing it. MoveOn.org was just slow in sending it.

Jim Lehrer is really trying to get John McCain to engage in direct conversation with Barack Obama, and he absolutely refuses.

Also, I'm finding McCain to be acting very smug. I'm not a Republican by any means, but just as a tactic, that seems like a bad one.

Also, I don't understand the audience reaction grid on CNN. It looks like we're flatlining.

I am pleased to hear McCain say that defense spending is out of control.

Spending freeze? So no federal student loans? No Social Security payments? I'm sure that's not what he means, but when you say something like that, you open yourself up for ridicule. Defense is important, and spending is out of control, but just because I'm worried about money doesn't mean I get to stop paying my mortgage.

The thing I don't understand about McCain's approach to health care is what's different from what we do now. Healthcare is privatized. He says he wants to put health care back in the hands of people and their doctors, but I'm not hearing anything about reforming the position of insurance companies in this process. Mind you, Obama hasn't said anything about it either.

I'll admit I had to look up the difference between tactics and strategy.

Um, racial profiling much? They just showed these two CNN viewing parties. The Democratic one was mostly black people, and the Republican one was all old people.

John McCain's tie is giving me a headache. Stripes + TV = rolling.

The League of Democracies - I understand what he's saying, and yet I think there are some fundamental flaws with the idea. First, what power would this League have when the hotspots of the world are places that are not democracies? We already have means and methods of forming alliances with the democratic countries of the world (although many of them have been taxed by Bush's Doctrine). We need to learn to use diplomatic means to talk to the countries that are causing the issue. Second, is Cuba really that big of a threat? Also, how do we decide whose democracy is 'good enough' to be in the league? Places like Peru are democracies, technically.

Is it wrong that I want Obama to say something snarky about Palin keeping an eye on the Russian front for us?