Human Rights Campaign Applauds Obama Administration for Supporting UN Declaration Affirming Human Rights of LGBT People

Some amazing news is coming off of the HRC wire. This is the change we can believe in:

Human Rights Campaign Applauds Obama Administration for Supporting UN Declaration Affirming Human Rights of LGBT People

Bush administration had previously refused to sign



WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, issued a statement today on the Obama administration’s announcement that it formally endorsed a United Nations declaration calling for an end to discrimination and other human rights abuses based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The move is a reversal of the Bush administration’s refusal to sign the statement, which made the United States the only western nation not to support the measure when presented by the U.N. General Assembly in December.



“This is a welcome step forward as it signals to the world that, after years of a hostile administration, the United States recognizes the humanity of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people at home and abroad,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “We applaud the Obama administration for joining the other 66 member nations that have officially recognized that basic human rights include the equality of LGBT people.”



“The United States supports the U.N.'s statement on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity and is pleased to join the other 66 U.N. member states who have declared their support of the statement,” the State Department said in a statement released today. “The United States is an outspoken defender of human rights and critic of human rights abuses around the world. As such, we join with other supporters of this statement, and we will continue to remind countries of the importance of respecting the human rights of all people in all appropriate international fora.”



In December, HRC was a vocal critic of the Bush administration’s refusal to sign the declaration. Nearly 2,500 HRC members called the State Department urging it support the declaration. HRC also released a joint statement denouncing the Vatican’s opposition to the declaration. The statement, which was signed by faith program directors from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and National Black Justice Coalition, can be found read online by visiting, http://www.hrc.org/news/11728.htm.

HRC Launches Endthelies.org

The Human Rights Campaign launched a new website this past week. When the right-wing attacks the LGBT community, their messages usually consist of one main ingredient - lies. HRC's EndtheLies.org will help you counter to those lies with the truth. EndtheLies.org has videos, audio, pictures and quotations calling out those who knowingly use lies and misinformation to disrupt the LGBT community's path to equality. Users can add comments on multimedia discussion boards, learn how to fight the far-right's misdeeds and nominate their own candidates for inclusion on the interactive wall of shame.

Click here to find more!

More Grins Than Grumbles at a Gay Ball

Just a little insight into the big gay party this weekend. Here's a report from the NY Times blog:

“I’m so tired of Rick Warren,” Rufus Wainwright sang, tweaking the lyrics to his anthem “Going to a Town.” (”I’m so tired of you, America.”) “I’m so tired of California,” he sang, earning a smattering of “woos” at the Human Rights Campaign’s Out for Equality ball at the Mayflower Hotel on Tuesday night.

But the crowd was far more effusive when Mr. Wainwright brought out another performer, Cyndi Lauper. For one duet, she climbed up on the piano like an old-fashioned chanteuse, albeit one in leather pants.

There were far more tuxedos than gowns in the crowd; their owners feasted on miniature Chicago pizzas and miniature Chicago sliders, and posed for photos in front of a bright rainbow ice sculpture.

Still, President Obama’s choice of Mr. Warren, the California pastor and author of “The Purpose-Driven Life,” whose anti-gay-marriage stance has drawn criticism from the gay community, to deliver the invocation on Tuesday was much-remarked upon.

“I translated to Jerome that it was a controversial character,” said Robert Gould, 40, an administrative law judge from New York who attended the inauguration with his Parisian boyfriend, Jerome Riesterer, 36, an airline employee. When Mr. Warren addressed his prayer “to everyone,” Mr. Gould added, “all the people around us, who I assumed were straight — they said, ‘Except for gays.’ ”

But Mr. Gould said Mr. Warren’s presence did not put a damper on the festivities. “When you see this big achievement,” the grandness of it overshadows this one person, he said.

You can find the rest of the article after the jump...

Civil Rights Leaders Support Eric Holder for Attorney General

Please read the following media advisory about HRC's enthusiastic support for the potential Attorney General:

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, will join with other civil rights leaders at a press conference tomorrow in support of Attorney General nominee Eric Holder. The Human Rights Campaign announced its support of Holder in a December 18, 2008 letter along with the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. The letter is available from the Senate Judiciary Committee here: http://judiciary.senate.gov/resources/documents/upload/121808-LeadershipCouncilOnCivilRights.pdf



“In Eric Holder, President-elect Obama has chosen an attorney general who has demonstrated his dedication to civil rights, protecting communities from hate violence, and the fair and equal application of our laws,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “Eric Holder has recognized the deleterious effect that hate and bias crimes have not just on victims, but on entire communities. President-elect Obama’s appointment continues to prove his commitment to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.”



WHAT: Press Conference in Support of Attorney General nominee Eric Holder



WHEN: Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 10:30 a.m. ET



WHERE: 226 Dirksen Senate Office Building



WHO: Sens. Whitehouse and Cardin along with leaders representing the civil rights community



BACKGROUND: After graduating from Columbia Law School, Mr. Holder joined the Department of Justice’s Attorney General's Honors Program. In 1988 he was nominated for and confirmed as Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. In 1993 President Clinton nominated Mr. Holder for United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, and he was confirmed later that year. In this role he worked vigorously to reduce crime and increase neighborhood safety. Notably, he emphasized hate crimes enforcement to ensure that bias-motivated crimes would receive adequate resources, attention, and punishment. Hate crimes continued to be a priority for Mr. Holder after his 1997 appointment by President Clinton to Deputy Attorney General. His dedication to the issue of addressing hate-based violence is exemplified in his 1999 testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. The text of his remarks is available at: http://www.hrc.org/11605.htm

FBI Reports Six Percent Increase in Hate Crimes Based on Sexual Orientation in 2007

WASHINGTON—The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, responded today to the Federal Bureau of Investigation report which showed the incidence of bias-motivated crimes based on sexual orientation increased by 6 percent in 2007. Hate crimes based on sexual orientation remain the third most common type of hate crimes, behind race and religion. This increase comes as the Hate Crimes Statistics, 2007, also reported that the overall incidence of bias-motivated crimes decreased in 2007.

“The FBI’s 2007 hate crimes report shows once again that hate crimes protections for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are long overdue,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “We are hopeful that after next week’s election we will finally have a President and a Congress that will enact federal hate crimes legislation into law.”

The FBI report shows the continuing crisis of hate violence in America. This month marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard from hate violence. In those ten years, the FBI has documented over ten thousand hate crimes based on sexual orientation alone. A decade after Matthew’s death, federal hate crimes legislation protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens has yet to be signed into law.

Last year, Congress passed federal hate crimes legislation in both the U.S. House and the Senate in a bipartisan vote. Unfortunately, President Bush’s veto threat blocked enactment of the legislation.

Federal legislation is crucial to ensuring local law enforcement is given the tools they need to combat hate violence in our communities. If signed into law, the Act would give the federal government expanded jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute violent crimes based on a person’s race, color, religion or national origin as well as their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, and disability. It also provides assistance to local law enforcement to investigate and prosecute bias-motivated violence. Existing federal hate crimes law covers only certain hate crimes that are based on a victim’s race, color, religion and national origin.



BACKGROUND:

Historical Pervasiveness of Bias-Motivated Violence

Each year the FBI releases statistics of bias-motivated crime in the United States. While thousands of crimes are reported by hundreds of jurisdictions each year, the Human Rights Campaign believes this is only a fraction of the actual number of bias-motivated crime that occur in any given year. Reporting by state and local authorities to the FBI is voluntary and many jurisdictions lack the time and training to effectively report each incident of bias-motivated violence that occurs in a year.

While the FBI statistics provide a glimpse of the pervasiveness of bias-motivated violence in the United States, these statistics should be used as a starting point, not a comprehensive number. The Human Rights Campaign compiles media reports of hate crimes throughout the United States, in 2007 alone the media reported dozens of incidents of violent, bias-motivated crime that were clearly not reflected in the FBI report. While not authoritative, the Human Rights Campaign was able to match up several jurisdictions that reported zero incidents and non-reporting jurisdictions with media reports of bias motivated violent crime towards the LGBT community.

FBI statistics show that since 1991 over 100,000 hate crime offenses have been reported, with a slight decrease in the number of hate crimes reported in 2007. In 2007, 2,025 law enforcement agencies reported 7,624 hate crime incidents involving 9,006 offenses. This is a decrease from the 2006 report in which 2,105 law enforcement agencies reported 7,722 incidents involving 9,080 offenses.

Violent crimes based on race-related bias were by far the most common, representing 51 percent of all offenses for 2007. Violent crimes based on religion represented 18 percent and ethnicity/national origin, 13 percent. Violent crimes based on sexual orientation constituted 16.6 percent of all hate crimes in 2007, with 1,265 reported for the year. This is an increase from the 2006 report where hate crimes based on sexual orientation totaled 15.5% of incidents reported (1,195). The FBI does not report hate crimes based on gender identity.

In contrast, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), a non-profit organization that tracks bias incidents against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people,1 reported 1,833 incidents for 2007 from only 14 regions, compared to the 2,025 agencies reporting to the FBI in 2007.

The historical trend regarding hate crimes based on sexual orientation is unclear. While violent hate crimes based on sexual orientation declined from 2004 to 2005 according to both FBI statistics and the NCAVP, the NCAVP records show that one-year decline merely dropped the levels back to the pre-2003 levels.

VP Nominee Joe Biden to Address HRC Dinner

With Barack Obama's campaign continuing its outreach to LGBT voters, Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden is expected to speak at the Human Rights Campaign National Dinner this weekend in Washington, D.C.

Biden’s decision to speak comes on the heels of the Obama camp’s landmark policy call discussing the Democratic presidential ticket’s opposition to “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Biden has long supported a repeal of the policy.

"If the support Senator Biden has proven on our issues is any indication of the type of vice president he will be," HRC President Joe Solmonese said in a statement just after Biden was added to the Democratic ticket, "then our community can be assured that Senator Obama has chosen a thoughtful and staunch advocate for equality as his closest adviser."

Biden returned the compliment, expressing his support of the HRC in a statement.

"I'm honored to participate in this event," Biden said. "Discrimination has no place in this country and I am proud to stand with HRC in the fight to end it."

In recent years Biden served as one of the most vocal advocates of repealing the U.S. ban on HIV-positive visitors and immigrants in the latest renewal of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

Biden has also vocally opposed “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the Federal Marriage Amendment. Additionally, Biden supports extending hate-crimes and job bias protection to LGBT people. (The Advocate)

Uncovered Questionnaire Shows Republican VP Nominee Palin Opposes Hate Crimes Laws

WASHINGTON – During her 2006 run for Governor, Sarah Palin filled out an Alaska Eagle Forum questionnaire that reveals even more about her stance and view on equality for LGBT equality.

One of the questions the conservative group asked her on the questionnaire was her views on expanding hate crimes laws. The question reads, “Will you support an effort to expand hate crimes laws?”

Palin answered, “No, as I believe all heinous crime is based on hate.”

Another question from the same survey asked, “Do you support the Alaska Supreme Court’s ruling that spousal benefits for state employees should be given to same-sex couples? Why or why not?”

Palin answered, “No, I believe spousal benefits are reserved for married citizens as defined in our constitution.”

And last, but not least, Palin was asked what her top three priorities, as regards to families, would be while Governor.

Palin answered, “#2 - Preserving the definition of ‘marriage’ as defined in our constitution.”

“I’d say we have a pretty definitive understanding of where Sarah Palin stands on issue of equality for our community. Sarah Palin is against recognizing our relationships, against domestic partner benefits, and against hate crimes laws. She championed that her second top priority in office would be preserving an anti-gay definition of marriage. The more we find out about her record, the more frightening her record becomes,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.

The full questionnaire and answers can be found here...

When asked about the right-wing’s reaction to the choice of Gov Palin, the New York Times quoted Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition as saying, “They’re beyond ecstatic”.

Highlights of Governor Palin’s Anti-Equality Record

· Prior to being elected governor, Palin supported the 1998 constitutional amendment barring marriage for same-sex couples and has said she would support a ballot measure overturning a state supreme court decision mandating benefits for domestic partners of state employees

· She is close to “traditional values” groups, like Family Research Council, because she is strongly anti-choice

Marriage and Relationship Recognition

· Palin told the Anchorage Daily News that she supported the 1998 constitutional amendment on marriage.

· In addition, she told the Daily News that she would support a ballot question that would deny benefits to the domestic partners of public employees, which were ordered by an October 2005 decision of the Alaska Supreme Court, because, she said “honoring the family structure is that important." http://dwb.adn.com/news/politics/elections/governor06/story/8049298p-7942233c.html

· While she followed the Court’s decision and he also signed legislation –her first legislative act as Governor of Alaska—to put the issue on the April 2007 ballot for a nonbinding advisory vote. This was the only issue on the ballot and that election cost the state taxpayers $1.2 million. This measure passed, but the legislature did not follow the public’s advice and it chose not to take any further action to overturn the court’s decision.

· She did, however, veto legislation passed by the state legislature in 2006 that would have prohibited providing DP benefits to state workers, in defiance of the Alaska Supreme Court’s ruling. She did this after the Supreme Court had already ruled and the Attorney General (Republican) advised her that the legislation was unconstitutional. Palin went on to state that, as a matter of policy, she was in favor of the bill.

Ties to Anti-LGBT Groups

· She will be honored alongside anti-gay Representative Michelle Bachman (R-MN) at an event at the 2008 Republican Convention, the “Life of the Party,” sponsored in part by long-time opponent of GLBT rights, Phyllis Schlafly.

HRC Expands Mission to Include Latino Communities

The Human Rights Campaign represents a grassroots force of more than 700,000 members and supporters nationwide. As the largest national gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, HRC envisions an America where LGBT people are ensured of their basic equal rights, and can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community. The Diversity Department is one of HRC's newest sectors. The mission of the Diversity Department is to foster an environment where diversity is explicitly recognized as a fundamental part of our organizational culture. Through strategic initiatives, we position HRC as one of the most successful organizations in the country at uniting LGBT people and straight allies with people of all races and backgrounds to improve the quality of our lives.

The Diversity Department houses the HBCU program, The Transgender alliance program, which is coming soon, and sponsors multiple People of Color Prides. The Department hopes to expand again by integrating a staff member dedicated to bridging the Hispanic community’s fight for equality with that of the LGBT fight for equality. Currently, the LGBT community often overlooks the Latino community along with other racial and ethnic minority groups. HRC hopes to change this by immediately hiring a Diversity Intern dedicated to the aforementioned cause.

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Position Description: Diversity Intern
Time Period: June 16 to September 19, 2008
Reporting Line: Diversity Coordinator
Department: Diversity
Location: HRC Headquarters, Washington, DC

Position Summary:
The Diversity internship is a paid internship providing programmatic and administrative support to the projects of the Diversity Department. This internship will focus on expanding HRC’s work with Hispanic-serving organizations by working with Latino/a youth specifically. The Diversity intern reports to the Diversity Coordinator, who manages the intern’s tasks, responsibilities, and professional development.

The mission of the Diversity Department is to foster an environment where diversity is explicitly recognized as a fundamental part of our organizational culture. Through strategic initiatives, we position HRC as one of the most successful organizations in the country at uniting GLBT people and straight allies with people of all races and backgrounds to improve the quality of our lives.

The summer internship can be either a full-time position of 37.5 hours/week or a part-time position of 20 hours/week. Compensation consists of $262.50/week or $131.25/week respectively and/or academic credit.

Position Responsibilities:
The Diversity Intern will focus on providing programmatic support to the following areas:

Work with LGBT students of color, Latino students specifically, through focused programming and outreach
Work across HRC to integrate the Hispanic community into HRC’s legislative, policy, communications, and membership priorities
Organize cultural events to create dialogue, education and advocacy on identity and other issues that LGBT Latinos/Latinas face today
Work across Hispanic-serving organizations to create coalitions and partnerships with HRC.
Other duties as determined by the Diversity Coordinator

Outcomes:
From this internship, the Diversity Intern will learn about:
Strategies to engage the participation of diverse communities in our local leadership
Community organizing techniques
Incorporating partnerships and alliances into issue campaigns
The logistics and challenges of coalition-building

Required Skills:
The successful applicant for this position must have skills for timely multi-tasking; tactful verbal and written communication; proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook; and a mature sensitivity to working with people of diverse backgrounds and identities. Fluency in Spanish is a plus.

Application
To apply for this internship with the Human Rights Campaign, you must submit a detailed cover letter and resume by June 11, 2008.
Your cover letter should include the following information in the first paragraph:
Ø All your contact information, including addresses both at home and at school
Ø Your major and minor programs of study
Ø Your current level of education (e.g. freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, graduate student)
Ø The hours you are available

In addition, please answer the following questions in your cover letter:
Ø Have you previously applied for a job or internship at HRC? What was the approximate date of your previous application?
Ø How did you hear about our internship opportunities? If from a job posting website, please be specific.
Ø Why are you excited to intern at HRC?
Ø What are some of the skills, experiences and personal attributes you would contribute to HRC?
Ø How would an internship at HRC relate to your personal and professional goals?
Ø What type of experience do you hope to get while interning at HRC?
We will not consider applications that do not include all of the above information.
Please e-mail your cover letter and resume as separate attachments, in either MS Word or PDF format, to josh.crosson@hrc.org.
We will contact you directly if there are any problems opening your attachments, if we have any further questions about your candidacy or if we would like to schedule an interview with you.
Send any questions you have to josh.crosson@hrc.org — no phone calls please. We do not accept applications via mail or fax. Thank you for your interest in interning at the Human Rights Campaign.

What she should expect

Hello All and Welcome to HRC+HBCU’s New Blog!

I have many hopes and goals for our new blog. Essentially, this blog will give you the news, events, information, and causes important to us. I anticipate, however, that this blog will do and create much more. While browsing the internet, I noticed a lack of virtual communities dedicated to us – young, gifted, queer, and Black students and recent alum. A basic Google search would imply that we are an invisible group – layered minorities with hopes of acceptance that do not coincide well with our brothers and sisters in the Black community as well as dreams of equality that have often been overlooked by those in the gay community. I believe this to be a small step toward our much-needed recognition. I am optimistic that this blog will offer a convenient community - a place where we can commiserate each of our fears and validate each of our celebrations. Whether it is to vent or to praise, to deconstruct or to create, I, along with others at the Human Rights Campaign, am happy for the opportunity to share it with all of you.