Today: NGLCC Rings Closing Bell At NYSE

Representatives of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce will ring the stock market's closing bell today in recognition of Pride Month. The market closes at 4pm.

Study Links Marriage Bans To Rise In HIV

An Emory University study has linked same-sex marriage bans to a rise in new HIV infections.

The study used data from the General Social Survey (GSS), which has tracked the attitudes of Americans during the past four decades. The economists calculated that a rise in tolerance from the 1970s to the 1990s reduced HIV cases by one per 100,000 people, and that laws against same-sex marriage boosted cases by 4 per 100,000. "Intolerance is deadly," Mialon said. "Bans on gay marriage codify intolerance, causing more gay people to shift to underground sexual behaviors that carry more risk."

Yeah, interesting, but I'm not so interested in making "but we'll get HIV if you don't let us marry!" into a new battle cry.

Sacramento GLBT News

Gender Community Safety Seminar

June 6, 2009, 1:00 - 4:00pm
Sutter Cancer Center
2800 L Street
1st Floor, CLassrooms 1-4
Sacramento, CA

LGBT people and those perceived as LGBT are being targeted for violent crimes in Sacramento. Now is the time to take responsibility for our personal safety and self-defense. We, the gender community, are pledging to take action in partnership with families, allies, working professionals, and law enforcement. Promoting crime prevention and its principles is the first step. Building a foundation to put an end to hate crimes within our community through mobilization, education, and organization is essential to protecting ourselves, our ch! ildren, and our loved ones.

Workshops on:

• Safety Awareness
• Local Law Enforcement
• Emotional Trauma
• Self-defense

PRIDE is almost here!

The Sacramento Pride Festival will be held on Saturday, June 20, 2009, at Southside Park (6th & T) from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Celebrate change in 2009: Pride Rally and March--Changing the World with Pride! Rally at the California State Capitol West Steps at 9:30 a.m., then join up with the 2009 Sacramento Pride Parade for a march to the Pride Festival at Southside Park. All are welcome to join us in this community-wide celebration of the Pride season, featuring plenty of food and games, live entertainment, curated art show, Butch-n-Nellie's Coffee Grounds, a Kidzone and carnival, volleyball tournament, Beer Garden for adults, and more!

MEUSA Sacramento needs volunteers for tabling and to march with us in the parade - please email ca-sacramento@marriageequality.org if you are interested in helping out!

Camp Courage is Coming to Sacramento!

July 11-12, 2009
Location TBA

Inspired by the Camp Obama trainings that developed a new grassroots force in American politics, Camp Courage is an intensive two-day training designed to teach the principles and skills of community organizing to activists committed to winning marriage equality in the state of California.

Drawing on techniques honed for decades by progressive social movements, Camp Courage teaches empowerment, team building, leadership development, and grassroots organizing skills.

Camp Courage is designed primarily for new activists or those who have never engaged with the broader community about marriage equality. But Camp Courage welcomes veteran LGBT activists and allies.

Camp Courage covers basic community and political organizing skills, including:

• Finding your voice by telling your story of self
• Leadership development
• Principles of successful organizing
• Developing collaboration and building effective teams
• Techniques of voter persuasion
• Organizing a phonebank
• Canvassing
• Tabling
• Throwing house parties
• Online organizing

Attendees will be expected to commit to organizing to overturn Proposition 8, including circulating the Courage Campaign pledge, which asks Californians to support a ballot initiative repealing the ban on same-sex marriage.

A background in community organizing or an organizational affiliation is not a requirement to attend Camp Courage. The only requirements are energy, commitment, and a desire to broaden your leadership abilities.

The Weekly Message from HRC

Dear Daniel,

Pride season is upon us, and there is plenty to celebrate!

On Wednesday, New Hampshire became the sixth state to recognize full marriage equality. Marriages will officially begin on Jan. 1, 2010.

The historic advancement in New Hampshire would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of many of our LGBT movement's coalition partners. To see the level of cooperation and coordination by both state and national organizations in New Hampshire was awe-inspiring.

As for HRC, in 2006, we saw an opportunity in the New Hampshire Legislature. We worked with our local partners in the state to help elect fair-minded majorities in the New Hampshire House of Representatives and Senate. That laid the groundwork for the 2007 passage of civil unions and this week's historic vote for marriage. And in the lead-up to this marriage vote, HRC sent 10 staff members to New Hampshire, four of whom were on the ground for two full weeks in early May. Additionally, with the help of our members in NH, we collected more than 11,000 signatures on a petition urging Gov. John Lynch to sign the legislation when his support seemed unlikely. For a complete recap of HRC's work in New Hampshire, visit www.hrc.org/NHMarriage.

Our work in New Hampshire is far from done. Legislators there failed in this session to pass a bill that would have protected the state's transgender residents from discrimination, and so HRC will be back next session, and we won't give up the fight until we secure equality for our whole community.

Talk of marriage equality is buzzing in Washington, D.C., too. After the May 5th vote by the D.C. Council in support of a bill to recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions, which Mayor Fenty signed, the rhetoric has been heated. The bill is now in front of the U.S. Congress for a 30 legislative day review period, and out-of-town groups are pushing for a referendum to attempt to undo the council's vote. On June 2nd, HRC's Religion and Faith Program, Diversity Program, Communications Program and others assisted in the organization of a press conference that brought together ministers from across the city to speak out in support of marriage equality. Over 60 pastors attended and over 130 clergy from the District have signed a religious declaration for marriage equality. Learn more about marriage in D.C. and to watch the press conference.

And of course, to quote HRC's National Field Director Marty Rouse, "the marriage equality express continues to steam ahead. Next stop, New York." Click here for more information and ways to get involved in New York. Also, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine reiterated his support for marriage equality this past week, saying that he wants to sign a bill by the end of 2009.

And pride season didn't just bring cause for celebration in the states, it also marked the first-ever hearing on the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) on Capitol Hill. UAFA would allow U.S. citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their same-sex partners for family-based immigration by meeting the same standard as different-sex couples. UAFA's champions Senator Leahy (D-VT) and Representative Nadler (D-NY) helped make the historic hearing a success. Additionally, on Thursday, Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., introduced the Reuniting Families Act, a larger immigration bill that includes UAFA as a provision. This historic hearing and legislation demonstrates that our allies in Congress are aware of the discriminatory situation that lesbian and gay binational couples face and are dedicated to ensuring that these loving couples are not torn apart or forced to flee in order to stay together. For more information about UAFA and the Reuniting Families Act, click here and here.

And as I mentioned in the opening, June kicks off pride season. HRC is excited to be at over 70 prides across the country this year. For a complete listing, go to: www.hrc.org/pride. Please be sure to stop by the HRC booth for more information on our exciting progress and for more opportunities to become involved and to help keep the good news streaming in. We hope to see you there!

Warmly,

Joe Solmonese
President, Human Rights Campaign

Where the USA Stands

Coretta Scott King - wiki

LGBT equality - from wikipedia

On April 1, 1998 at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, King called on the civil rights community to join in the struggle against homophobia and anti-gay bias. "Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood", King stated. "This sets the stage for further repression and violence that spread all too easily to victimize the next minority group."

In a speech in November 2003 at the opening session of the 13th annual Creating Change Conference, organized by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, King made her now famous appeal linking the Civil Rights Movement to the LGBT agenda: "I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people. ... But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream, to make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."

King's support of LGBT rights was strongly criticized by some black pastors. She called her critics "misinformed" and said that Martin Luther King's message to the world was one of equality and inclusion.

In 2003, she invited the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force to take part in observances of the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech. It was the first time that an LGBT rights group had been invited to a major event of the African American community.

On March 23, 2004, she told an audience at Richard Stockton College in Pomona, New Jersey, that same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue. King denounced a proposed amendment advanced by President George W. Bush to the United States Constitution that would ban equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. In her speech King also criticized a group of black pastors in her home state of Georgia for backing a bill to amend that state's constitution to block gay and lesbian couples from marrying. King is quoted as saying "Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection, whether by marriage or civil union. A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriage."