Highlights of Senator Boxer's Record on LGBT Issues

Download PDF version

California is one of the most diverse states in the country, and our diversity is one of our strengths. Senator Barbara Boxer has been a champion of freedom, equality and justice for all Americans.

• Equality under the Law: Senator Boxer supported the Hate Crimes Prevention Act to expand the federal hate crimes law to cover sexual orientation. She has supported – and voted for – legislation to have the U.S. Department of Justice assist local law enforcement in the investigation and prosecution of crimes motivated by prejudice based on sexual orientation and to provide grants to local law enforcement to investigate and prosecute hate crimes.
• Equality in the Workplace: Senator Boxer is a long-time cosponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which protects gays and lesbians from discrimination and harassment in the workplace.
• Equality in Marriage: Senator Boxer supports marriage equality and was an early opponent of Proposition 8. She was one of only 14 Senators to vote against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. She has been vocal in her opposition to the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would enshrine discrimination against gays and lesbians into the federal Constitution.
• Equality in the Military: Senator Boxer believes that gay men and lesbians should be able to serve their country openly in the military. In 1993, she authored the amendment in the Senate that would have stopped "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" from being written into law, and she continues to support efforts to overturn this discriminatory policy.
• Equality in Benefits: Senator Boxer believes the federal government should treat the partners and spouses of all employees equally. She supports legislation to make all benefits, such as health and pension benefits, currently offered to the spouses of heterosexual federal employees available to the spouses and partners of all employees. In addition, she has cosponsored bipartisan legislation to allow domestic partners who receive employer-provided health benefits to be treated the same as spouses under federal tax law. She voted to allow the District of Columbia to fund programs to allow city employees to treat their domestic partners the same as married spouses. In December 2001, Senator Boxer urged the Department of Justice to rule that benefits for survivors of the September 11 terrorist attacks should not be limited to those who were legally married.
• Equality in Immigration Law: Senator Boxer supports allowing Americans and permanent legal residents to sponsor their foreign-born domestic partners for legal residency in the United States. This would treat domestic partners the same as married spouses under immigration law.
• Equality in Access to Public Facilities: In 2001, Senator Boxer offered an amendment to grant youth groups access to public school meeting facilities regardless of the group's views on sexual orientation. The Human Rights Campaign called the Boxer Amendment "a bold move to offset a previous anti-gay amendment offered by Sen. Jesse Helms."
• Equality in Healthcare: For nearly 30 years, the LGBT community has been hit particularly hard with the devastating effects of HIV and AIDS. From the early days of the crisis when she was a member of the House of Representatives, Senator Boxer has been committed to fighting for increased funding for prevention, education, research, and housing for people with HIV and AIDS.
  • Senator Boxer is a long-time supporter of the Ryan White CARE Act that provides the largest federal investment in community-based HIV/AIDS health care services.. She has repeatedly supported the program's reauthorization and continues to press for the highest level of funding possible.
  • As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Boxer has been one the leaders in the Senate in the effort to fund international HIV/AIDS relief. She has introduced legislation to dramatically increase funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development's HIV/AIDS program, and she continues to push for greater funding.
  • When she was a member of the Senate Budget Committee in the 1990s, Senator Boxer supported efforts to double research funding at the National Institutes of Health, including funding for research into HIV/AIDS.
  • She supported legislation to allow states to extend Medicaid coverage to low-income HIV-infected individuals, even if they did not otherwise qualify for the Medicaid program.

Make the jump here to Senator Boxer's Website

Via Portugal Gay: BRASIL: Três milhões de pessoas contra a homofobia

A 14ª edição da Parada LGBT de São Paulo reuniu mais de 3 milhões de pessoas, segundo a organização.

O evento foi focado este ano na luta contra a homofobia e até a bandeira arco-íris foi trocada pelo preto e branco nos materiais de divulgação para reforçar esta luta.

A marcha começou ao meio-dia na Avenida Paulista e terminou com uma concentração na Praça da República. A animar a multidão estiveram 18 carros de som entre empresas, ONGs e entidades oficiais. Os carros tinham origens muito diferenciadas desde o Ministério do Turismo, o Sindicato dos Engenheiros do Estado de São Paulo, Revista Arco Íris, a Coordenadora de Assuntos da Diversidade Sexual da Prefeitura de São Paulo, um site de relacionamentos, um hotel e até uma Drag Queen, Salete Campari.

Para evitar problemas um efectivo de 1300 agentes foi utilizado pelas forças policiais reforçados com segurança privada, entre outros.

A câmara municipal (Prefeitura) de São Paulo investiu cerca de 1 milhão de reais no evento, cerca de 450 mil euros. É estimado um impressionante retorno de mais de 100 milhões de euros do evento na economia da cidade.

make the jump here to read the full article

Via Change.org: Glee’s Controversial Homosexuality

Glee’s Controversial Homosexuality in GAY RIGHTS Does the religious right have a problem with the television show Glee portraying homophobic people as ... too mean? Sure seems like it. Gay Rights blogger Mike Jones writes that one religious right leader is out with a call for Glee to stop portraying people against homosexuality as thugs, and instead treat the subject of homosexuality with more of a "love the sinner, hate the sin" mentality. Too bad there's just no sin to hate here. Read more »

Via JMG: DJ Earworm - Like, OMG Baby (Capital FM Summertime Ball Mashup)

Via JMG: Anti-Gay Prop 8 Witness Confesses: I Lied About Using Dr. George Rekers' Research

On May 25th, Prop 8 witness David Blankenhorn wrote to the New York Times complaining that columnist Frank Rich had wrongly associated him with Dr. George "Anal Longstroke" Rekers.

My expert report to the court — which was written entirely by me, includes a list of scholarly sources and is available for anyone to read — includes no mention of Mr. Rekers. And for good reason: I have never met Mr. Rekers or read any of his writings. I recently learned that a separate, lawyer-generated document submitted to the court apparently does list an article by Mr. Rekers in connection with my testimony, but that document, on this point, is in error.

Only, whoops! This week Blankenhorn wrote back to the Times with the truth.

In a letter published on May 25, I incorrectly stated that I have never read anything written by the conservative minister George Rekers. In fact, in preparing for my report and deposition in the California Proposition 8 trial, I read one report to the court on a previous California marriage case written by Mr. Rekers, as well as a report to the same court taking a position opposed to Mr. Rekers’s.

"Incorrectly stated." Yeeeeeeah.reposted from Joe

Rea Carey speaks at ENDA press conference

Minorias aos milhões

Mais do que o retrato de uma classe, a parada gay de São Paulo é um retrato do povo brasileiro

06 de junho de 2010 | 1h 21

• Leia a notícia

Santiago Nazarian - O Estado de S.Paulo

A Parada do Orgulho GLBT de São Paulo é o maior evento do gênero no mundo. Estima-se que mais de 3 milhões de pessoas passaram pela última e a tendência é que o número aumente este ano. Mais de 3 milhões de gays, lésbicas, bissexuais e transgêneros, incluindo uma parcela significativa de simpatizantes. É um evento que nasceu da busca pela cidadania, respeito e direitos iguais, mas hoje se assemelha a um carnaval fora de época, com sexo livre pelas ruas, consumo desenfreado de drogas e bebidas, assaltos e uma programação intensa de festas paralelas nos clubes da cidade. E daí?

Pesquisas apontam como 10% a parcela de gays entre a população. Infelizmente, ainda é esperar muito que 10% da população brasileira (ou paulistana), seja educadinha, politizada, limpinha e com a libido sob controle. Mais do que um retrato de uma classe, a parada é um retrato do povo brasileiro ? e é importante que seja assim. É desejável e seria louvável que a parada fosse mais organizada, politizada, limpa e segura ? mas não é esse ainda o país em que vivemos. E os gays não vivem num mundo à parte. Mais do que dar um bom exemplo, a parada está aí para dar exemplos. Ser homossexual não é prova de caráter.

Questiona-se por que a parada paulistana se tornou tão grande. Não é fácil entender? São Paulo é das maiores cidades do mundo. O brasileiro é "um povo carnavalesco", com poucas opções de divertimento. Pronto. A importância da parada hoje se dá principalmente pelo seu volume. E talvez o volume seja mais importante do que o foco. São esses milhões que podem parar a Av. Paulista e emporcalhar as ruas. Milhões ? não é um personagem coadjuvante a cada quatro novelas ou um rapazinho no fundo da classe. É importante que as pessoas vejam. E se os clubes resolvem fazer festas, as empresas resolvem distribuir publicidade, qual é o mal?

Estamos no mês dos namorados. Propagandas com casaizinhos apaixonados rodam na TV. Os gays não estão lá. O homossexual ainda está longe de ter sua representatividade na mídia, nas artes. Entre os artistas, só assumem os que não conseguem disfarçar. Galã não pode se assumir gay porque ? diz-se ? vai afastar o público feminino. O adolescente que começa a se perceber diferente não se reconhece ? não tem exemplos ? "eu não sou afeminado", "não gosto de homens musculosos". É difícil se assumir diferente quando exemplos são só estereótipos.

Diz-se que a parada reforça estereótipos. Bem, são 3 milhões de pessoas, a imensa maioria tão neutra fisicamente quanto qualquer imensa maioria. Natural que, entre cem manos de bermuda e boné, uma drag queen se destaque. Natural que a imprensa prefira fotografar alguns milhares de drags e transexuais do que alguns milhões de manos. Mas quem está na parada vê o que qualquer homossexual com alguma estrada pode ver diariamente ? que os gays são seus colegas, dentistas, açougueiros, professores, cobradores de ônibus e pais de família.

Pode-se alegar que hoje já não há tanto preconceito ? os gays não estão sempre no Big Brother? (Já chegaram até a ganhar!) Mas a homossexualidade ainda é vista como uma coisa distante ? "não na minha família!". O que é visto com simpatia na televisão ou na Av. Paulista tem outros olhos dentro de casa ? e olhares de ódio em outras cidades.

Frases de senso comum são proferidas em programas de TV por pretensas simpatizantes bem-intencionadas: "Adoro os gays, mas não gostaria que meu filho fosse porque sei que ele sofreria com o preconceito". Por que não ouvimos "adoro os gordos, mas não gostaria que meu filho fosse"? Provavelmente, no meio artístico, alguém acima do peso é fruto de tanto preconceito quanto um homossexual. Mas sempre se pode emagrecer.

Os exemplos servem para vencer o preconceito. Para quê? Para que não tenha tanta gente apanhando, para que não tenha tanto gay se matando; para que não tenha tanto marido fugindo de noite de casa para pegar garoto de programa na rua; enfim, para que as mães possam aceitar e educar seus filhos para serem mais limpinhos, educadinhos, saudáveis e politizados. A palavra de ordem é "diversidade" e a Parada GLBT ? com orgulho ou não ? está aí para mostrar isso.

SANTIAGO NAZARIAN, ESCRITOR, É AUTOR DE

FERIADO DE MIM MESMO, ENTRE OUTROS



Tópicos: , Suplementos, Aliás

comentários para este post ₁

Via JMG: This Week In Holy Crimes

Over the last seven days...

Illinois: Pastor Christian J. Johnson and his wife arrested for car theft and meth possession.
Maryland: Pentecostal Bishop Roan Samuel Faulkner arrested for sexually assaulting a female parishioner.
Canada: Bishop Raymond Lahey set to begin trial for possession of child pornography. Lahey has also been accused of molesting an orphan boy in his care.
New York: Pastor Phillip Joubert puts his church up for bail collateral after being charged with rape, incest, and sexual abuse of a child. Joubert does not own the church.
Maryland: Father Michael L. Barnes pleads guilty to child molestation.
Ireland: Father Oliver O'Grady will get $94K from his diocese in an annuity payment, even though he's been convicted of child molestation.
Connecticut: Pastor Iura Godenciuc to pay $26K in fines after larceny arrest for lying about his address to change the school his kids attend. The school district says he owes $76K.
Australia: Father Victor Farrugia charged with eight counts of indecent sexual assault.
Florida: Youth Pastor Paul A. Lisowski stabs himself in the neck as deputies close in to arrest him for violating a protection order on an underage girl.
Nigeria: Father Felix Afolayan charged with defrauding 110 people of millions by promising them Canadian visas.
Colorado: Pastor Douglas Alan Scott loses appeal on $12M hedge fund scam conviction. Scott defrauded more than 400 parishioners.
Italy: Bishop Gino Reali charged as an accessory for covering up multiple child molestations committed by a priest in his diocese.

This Week's Winner
Denmark: In 2005 a Catholic priest in charge of teaching children was convicted of downloading 38 child pornography films, but it wasn't until last month that he was suspended. And Bishop Czeslaw Kozlon, head of the Catholic Church in Denmark, didn't even tell his parish why the suspension finally took place. (They learned the truth from reporters.) The Danish Catholic Church is also facing accusations that an elderly senile nun froze to death after she was locked out of church for making noise during the morning prayers.reposted from Joe

Sen. Kerry called the couple heroes for persevering in their marriage

Gay couple get a boost in winning bid to reunite

Kerry helps Brazilian return to Haverhill

Tim Coco (left) with Genesio Oliveira and their dog, Q-tip, at home in Haverhill yesterday. Oliveira can now try again for legal residency. (David Kamerman for The Boston Globe)

By Maria Sacchetti Globe Staff / June 4, 2010

Tim Coco and Genesio Oliveira married in 2005, among the throngs who wed after same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts. But for nearly three years, they lived apart — Coco in Haverhill and Oliveira in his native Brazil — because federal law does not recognize their union.

make the jump here to read the entire article

Via JMG: GLAAD Demands Apology From Bill O'Reilly For Comparing Gays To Al Qaeda

GLAAD has issued a call to action, demanding that Fox's Bill O'Reilly issue an apology for comparing gays to al Queda.

On the June 2 edition of Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” host Bill O’Reilly made highly offensive comments while discussing a gay themed McDonald’s advertisement currently airing in France. After playing the ad for his viewers O’Reilly asked Jane Skinner to weigh in on the content. Skinner pointed out that the ad campaign is “part of an overreaching campaign called ‘come as you are,’ which you saw at the end there. So they show people in different walks of life.” O’Reilly then asked, “Do they have an al Qaeda ad, you know, come as you are? You know?” Instead of evaluating the commercial in a fair manner, O’Reilly used the occasion to defame the LGBT community, suggesting that McDonald’s might begin marketing to terrorists simply because the company produced a gay friendly television commercial. His lighthearted tone in the segment was equally disturbing. Cable opinion programs like “The O’Reilly Factor” have a responsibility to cover issues with a level of respect and civility. Bill O’Reilly failed to live up to that standard in making these defamatory remarks. Fox News Channel is equally accountable for allowing O’Reilly a platform for this insulting and irresponsible commentary.

Join in GLAAD's demand here.

reposted from Joe