Equality NC

I'm pretty psyched about Equality NC's day of action where they, among other things, help put constituents who support LGBT equality in meetings with their elected officials in the General Assembly. I've never been before, but after getting my activist on with Democracy NC at the HKonJ march/rally on Saturday (I was happy to see Equality NC there too!), I'm pumped for this. I'm all about protests and rallies and all that, but I believe that such actions work best in a comprehensive approach in concert with contacting your representatives through letter writing, e-mail sending, phone calls, and direct meetings.

This week, Rep. Larry Brown sent out an e-mail denouncing gay people as "queers," and making fun of the Speaker of the NC House for receiving an award from Equality NC. He also refered to gays as "fruitloops" (activists happen to be sending him some). As we said the other day:

Brown was hinting that some legislators are gay by calling them "fruitloops," not calling gays in general fruitloops. If you know anything about North Carolina politics, you know that the only legislators who attend the Equality NC gala will be Democrats.

Well, it seems like a candidate for NC House has just as much of a problem with Equality NC as Rep. Larry Brown and his collaborator Rep. Paul Stam. Steve Henion, running against American Hero Rep. Grier Martin in NC-HD-34, wouldn't mention an endorsement for his opponent unless he thought it was a bad thing:

Grier Martin III is now endorsed by Equality NC http://bit.ly/bSdzLk #NCGOP #NCPOL #CONSNC #TCOT #NC34 #NCGA #TPP #TEAPARTY

Are the Republicans running against Equality NC in addition to equal rights? It was Rep. Stam that announced Speaker Hackeny's ENC award to the Republican caucus, and Stam is unafraid to equate same-sex marriage with polygamy. Candidate Henion released a similar tweet concerning Rep. Martin's Planned Parenthood endorsement, and Republicans have run against Women's rights organizations for a long time.

If you follow your nose to Henion's website, you find a candidate who supports "a Defense of Marriage Act in North Carolina." Organizations like Equality NC have kept North Carolina from passing such an amendment, and perhaps that's why they're on the recieving end of attacks from the GOP - even though battling human rights is a losing issue, morally and electorally.

What happens if you follow your nose to other Republican legislators?

Is this who you want in charge of North Carolina?

According to the News & Observer's Under the Dome Blog, North Carolina House Republican Larry Brown "referred to gays as 'queers' and 'fruitloops'" an e-mail to Republican caucus members:

Brown was responding to an e-mail House Minority Leader Paul Stam of Apex sent to members of his caucus about House Speaker Joe Hackney getting an award from the Equality NC Foundation, a gay-rights group.

Brown sent his reply to nearly 60 e-mail addresses.

"I hope all the queers are thrilled to see him," said the message dated Sept. 27. "I am sure there will be a couple legislative fruitloops there in the audience."

Where the News & Observer gets it wrong, however, is in the details. Brown was hinting that some legislators are gay by calling them "fruitloops," not calling gays in general fruitloops. If you know anything about North Carolina politics, you know that the only legislators who attend the Equality NC gala will be Democrats.

This Republican member of the General Assembly is so juvenile that he's got to call his legislative opponents "gay."

11/5/2009: So I receive this email from Kay Flaminio of Equality NC and she said no one signed up to dine with us at the ENC Gala! Wow, rejection, that sux! Is it the drive to Greensboro, or are all social calendars booked? In any case, I'm running this post again just in case someone's game...

Kate and I don't want to dine alone as we celebrate a great year of legislative gains in North Carolina, so why don't you join our table at Equality NC Foundation's 2009 Equality Gala on Saturday, November 14 (6:30PM-9:00PM) at the beautiful Empire Room in downtown Greensboro?

This year Equality NC Foundation will be honoring Sen. Julia Boseman for her courageous leadership in getting the School Violence Prevention Act passed. Special recognition will also be given to Winston-Salem's young Kate Mabe for drawing statewide media attention to how it feels to be bullied and to the strength of character our young people need to move forward in a tough world.

There will also be a special presentation by Lennie Gerber. She and her partner Pearl Berlin are currently gracing billboards in Greensboro, the latest campaign by Triad Equality Alliance to show through pictures that we're just like everyone else. Click here to see the beautiful photo of Lennie and Pearl.

Kate and I don't want to dine alone as we celebrate a great year of legislative gains in North Carolina, so why don't you join our table at Equality NC Foundation's 2009 Equality Gala on Saturday, November 14 (6:30PM-9:00PM) at the beautiful Empire Room in downtown Greensboro?

This year Equality NC Foundation will be honoring Sen. Julia Boseman for her courageous leadership in getting the School Violence Prevention Act passed. Special recognition will also be given to Winston-Salem's young Kate Mabe for drawing statewide media attention to how it feels to be bullied and to the strength of character our young people need to move forward in a tough world.

The Equality NC Foundation Conference and Gala will be held on Saturday, November 14 in Greensboro.

Registration is open now for the daytime conference, the evening gala, or both! Prices go up after October 30, so register early.

Full schedule here

The daytime conference at UNC-Greensboro's Elliot University Center includes an opening session, three breakout sessions with five workshops to choose from during each breakout session, and a closing keynote in the afternoon.

The evening gala will be held at downtown Greensboro's Empire Room. Senator Julia Boseman is this year's Legislative Leadership Award recipient.

Crossposted on Amplify

Bullying in schools is a huge problem, and GLBTQ people face violence, verbal abuse, and discrimination everyday in schools across North Carolina.  There is a great organization called Equality NC, and they are working very hard to promote an anti-bullying bill called the School Violence Prevention Act.  It which includes "gender identity or expression" and "sexual orientation" as reasons why you cant bully someone at school.  Heres what they have to say on their website:

Rep Deborah Ross, staffer and Sen Julia Boseman explain School Violence Protection Act to House Judiciary I Committee

North Carolina Conservatives are lying about sexual orientation and gender identity to bully the anti-bullying bill into submission. To defeat SB 526, the School Violence Prevention Act, Republican House Minority Leader Paul Stam and the Christian Action League have been claiming the existence of 30 sexual orientations as listed in the DSM-IV, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) of the American Psychiatric Association. No such list exists. It is a fabrication of conservative Christians used to defeat any legislation that can be presumed to protect the human rights of gay people.

Whether through ignorance, invective or indifference, Stam and the Christian Action League have been falsely equating sexual orientation and gender identity with sexual disorders or deviations and have perpetuated a myth originated by the American Family Association that incorrectly references and misquotes the DSM-IV-TR. The American Psychiatric Association would describe this as "irrational discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation." The Christian Action League compounds the error by variously attributing the bogus "list" to the American Psychological Association and to the American Psychiatric Association, two separate professional organizations.

Cross-posted at Pam's House Blend.

It was a wonderful sunny and crisp day in Raleigh on Tuesday, and there was a great turnout for the Equality NC Day of Action. It drew 250 people from across the state -- that more than doubled the attendance at prior lobby days. We had people come from as far away as Duck (that's on the Outer Banks) and to the mountain town of Hendersonville to meet with the legislators to discuss pro-LGBT legislation in the queue and to urge them to oppose the marriage amendment. (ENC):

"We are thrilled to see so many North Carolinians, both LGBT and allies, who took time off of work to travel to Raleigh and make do the hard work of building support for fair and equal treatment of everyone, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity," said Ian Palmquist, Executive Director. "We know that face-to-face conversations are the single most effective tool we have to get more legislators to support our issues."

It was my first time participating in the Day of Action, and it was also the first opportunity for longtime activist Mandy Carter.

We got together with other black LGBTs and allies in attendance to meet with members of the legislative black caucus. Things got very interesting during those meetings. More on that below the fold.

Updated 12/27 to add fund information below.

I had trouble sleeping last night after what I read. A horrific hate crime was visited last week upon an openly gay woman in Richmond, California.

Police believe the woman was targeted due to the suspects' anti-gay bias. The victim got out of her car to visit a friend, and was attacked and raped by a multi-ethnic posse of hate-filled men.

Why do I mention multi-ethnic? Simply because I find it interesting how last week's hate crime victim may be this week's hate crime perpetrator. That victim could be any of us. A sister, a neighbor, a daughter.