Dolphins:

Once again U.S. Representative Clay Shaw has voted against our interests: this time by voting against HR 3132 which, if passed, will expand federal hate crimes law to include sexual orientation, disabilities, and gender. Please see the attached press release fromFlorida State Senator Ron Klein who is running for the Democratic nomination to oppose Clay Shaw's reelection in 2006. Clay Shaw mustgo!
Ken Keechl, President.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
September 19, 2005 Contact: Brian SmootFor Immediate Release 561) 995-9626

STATEMENT FROM SENATOR RON KLEIN (D-FL) ONCLAY SHAW'S PRO-DISCRIMINATION VOTE

"Nothing is more American then affirming the belief that allpeopleare created equal. That is why it is so important to end all typesof discrimination. Last week the United States House ofRepresentatives had the opportunity to vote on a moderate piece oflegislation. HR 3132 expanded federal hate crimes law to includesexual orientation, disabilities and gender. Every member of theSouth Florida Delegation, Republicans and Democrats alike, voted forthis common sense bill, except Congressman Clay Shaw. This is abill that passed in the Republican led congress with bipartisansupport.I am running for Congress because it is time Florida's 22ndcongressional district had a congressman that recognizes that everysingle person is important. This hate crimes legislation is non-controversial and a matter of common decency. It is unconscionablethat in South Florida, Mr. Shaw continues to be a rubberstamp for TomDelay and the ultra-conservatives in Congress.There are many important issues facing our state and our country.Congress can and should play a role in actually helping to addressproblems and plan for the future. Some of these issues include, theprotection of Social Security; affordable, quality health care;economic development and high-wage job creation; addressing skyrocketing home owners insurance premiums; and planning a clear 21stcentury energy policy that addresses rising gas prices.This is not the time in Congress to take divisive and backward votesthat do not reflect the people of South Florida."###

As promised, Schwarzenegger vetoes gay marriage billGay advocacy groups bemoan governor's lack of leadership
By EARTHA JANE MELZER & STEVE KOVAL Sep 29, 10:31 PM

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill on Thursday to legalize gay marriage in California.


In vetoing the same-sex marriage bill, Gov. Schwarzenegger stated, 'This bill simply adds confusion to a constitutional issue.' (File photo)
In a letter to the California Legislature on Thursday, Schwarzenegger said he did "not believe the Legislature can reverse an initiative approved by the people of California."
Schwarzenegger was referring to Proposition 22, a ballot initiative passed in 2000, which provided, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."
The governor stated, "I am proud California is a leader in recognizing and respecting domestic partnerships and the equal rights of domestic partners. I believe that lesbian and gay couples are entitled to full protection under the law and should not be discriminated against based upon their relationships. I support current domestic partnership rights and will continue to vigorously defend and enforce these rights and as such will not support any rollback."
California law forbids the legislature from overturning a law adopted through ballot initiative, but there is debate over whether the same-sex marriage bill changes the part of the California Family Code that was modified by Proposition 22. The legality of California’s marriage law is being challenged in court.
Gay rights groups had been lobbying Schwarzenegger against vetoing the marriage equality bill.
On Sept. 14, just days after the General Assembly passed the bill which would have legalized same-sex marriage, Schwarzenegger announced that he would veto it.
Equality California, a statewide gay rights group, quickly expressed it's displeasure with the governor's veto.
"The governor has simply delayed — not ended — the inevitability of marriage equality in California," said Equality California Executive Director Geoffrey Kors in a statement released on Thursday.
"When called upon to take a position on the civil rights issue of the day, Gov. Schwarzenegger decided to block the doorway to equality," Kors continued. "As a result of his veto, hundreds of thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Californians and their families will continue to live without equal protection of the law. However, the veto cannot take away the incredible progress that was achieved when the majority of California’s elected Legislature passed this legislation. History has shown time and time again that the path to equality, justice and fairness can be blocked, but ultimately, the door will be opened."In response to the announcement of Schwarzenegger’s intent to veto the bill approximately two weeks ago, Equality California launched a media and lobbying campaign in hopes of changing his mind, and groups spanning the political spectrum urged him to reconsider the move.
Equality California had aired a television commercial, "Governor: BE A HERO," claiming that Schwarzenegger’s handling of the marriage legislation would be the defining moment of his political career. The ad included images of labor leader Cesar Chavez, President John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy — uncles of Schwarzenegger’s wife, Maria Shriver — and George Wallace, who as governor of Alabama tried to block black students from attending white schools.
National gay advocacy organizations also criticized the veto in statements issued on Thursady."Governor Schwarzenegger's veto put politics over people today," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "The Governor's veto delays equal treatment under the law for thousands of California families."
Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said, "This was an opportunity to demonstrate real leadership and a true commitment to justice and the governor was not up to the challenge. We do recognize and appreciate that the governor stated he did not support current efforts to roll back domestic partner protections, but that is not enough."
State officials had urged the governor to allow the same-sex marriage bill to become law.
In a Sept. 23 letter to the governor, Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante, State Treasurer Phil Angelides, State Controller Steve Westly, and Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, all Democrats, called marriage equality for lesbian and gay couples, "the civil rights issue of our time."
The state officials said that the U.S. Constitution and the California Constitution require that citizens be treated equally, and cited a 1948 California Supreme Court decision that "marriage is a fundamental right of all citizens."
The group advised Schwarzenegger to take no action on the bill, an option that, "[would respect] your understanding of Proposition 22 as well as the concerted efforts of the Legislature."
The bill would then have passed into law, and would have immediately been challenged by Proposition 22 supporters. The group wrote, "The issue would then ultimately be decided in a court of law which is in accordance with your stated desire."
Though same-sex marriage bill was passed along a party line vote, with no Republicans supporting it, Jeff Bissiri, director of the Log Cabin Republicans, rejected the idea that it was a symbolic, partisan move designed to weaken the standing of a Republican governor.
"I think the effort to pass the bill was part of a strategy to achieve marriage equality," Bissiri said.
Craig Christensen, a gay professor of law at Southwestern University, agreed that the effort to pass marriage equality legislation was more than symbolic.
"The legislators and all the rest of those who supported it knew the bill might well be vetoed by the governor," Christensen said. "But we also believe he will not be governor much longer. Thus the historic passage was meant to begin a process that will eventually lead to a fully approved law."
Christensen added that for many gay people marriage is more important as a symbolic matter than for its practical benefits. The state of California now grants domestic partners most of the same rights and responsibilities as married partners. There are many federal benefits that are not available to domestic partners.
"The symbolism is that our relationships not be seen as outside the law, but that they have the same societal imprimatur as all other unions."
Schwarzenegger, whose term is up in January 2007, has already announced his intent to run for re-election.

Eartha Jane Melzer can be reached at emelzer@washblade.com.

Thursday September 29, 2005
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

This event does not repeat.

Event Location: New Moon Bar
Notes:

Gay Black Pride South Florida FUBU Urban Mixer:
Mark Your Calender's Thursday Sep. 29th 7-9pm
a night of classy, sassy and jazzy mingling and
chit-chatting. Come with your urban classical wear.
Come with your Funky beat wear. Just come see and be
seen. This Month's keynote speaker- Organizer/Activist
Mr. Derrick Hankerson
This Months Feature Performer- Jazz Saxophonist
Mike Hewlett

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_
county/12606464.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Posted on Sun, Sep. 11, 2005

BROWARD SCHOOLS

Board to dissect diversity mission
Broward School Board members will decide what they want the district's
diversity committee to be at a workshop Tuesday.

BY HANNAH SAMPSON
hsampson@herald.com

What, exactly, is the role of a School Board diversity committee?

To ensure that textbooks, technology and facilities are the same for all
students? Make sure gay students are protected from bullying? Monitor hiring
of a diverse pool of teachers?

All of the above?

Following the ugly fight over the We Are Family children's music video,
which thrust the diversity committee into a drawn-out public controversy,
the Broward County School Board is set to re-examine what they want the
panel to be.
Some of the questions to be hammered out are basic.

''I want us to make sure we know what we mean by diversity,'' said School
Board member Ben Williams, who plans to ask Tuesday that another workshop
with experts on diversity be held.

Tasked since 2000 with monitoring the district's compliance with a racial
equity lawsuit, the committee has also taken up controversial issues such as
the Boy Scouts' refusal to allow gay leaders and sensitivity training with a
gay and lesbian support group.

The latest hubbub came when the committee discussed the We Are Family DVD,
designed to promote tolerance in elementary schools. A couple of members,
notably talk-show host Steve Kane, who has since resigned, made statements
that gays and others found offensive.

The committee, which has no authority over curriculum, voted 10-7 against
recommending the DVD.

Board members had floated the idea of temporarily suspending the committee
until new rules could be agreed on. A heated meeting drew dozens of
speakers. The board decided to keep the panel going.

One idea was to create a second committee -- one to monitor the lawsuit
settlement and the other to focus on diversity issues.

''I think it's a splendid idea,'' said Chris Fertig, an attorney who
represented the group of parent activists called Citizens Concerned About
Our Children in the 1995 lawsuit, settled in 2000.

School Board Chairwoman Stephanie Kraft said an anti-discrimination
committee, or a subcommittee of the existing group to deal with that issue,
may be needed.

''I just don't want to see [tolerance efforts] focused on any one group,''
she said.

Melissa Fojtik, vice president of the gay-oriented Dolphin Democrats, said
she would support the idea of a subcommittee.

''Too frequently we try to separate people instead of looking at these as
civil rights for everybody,'' she said. ``Then you're treating gay kids or
disabled kids separate . . . We want to encourage all kids to be tolerant of
each other.''

The video flap led the board to consider whether it should have the power to
remove committee members appointed by individual members. Currently a
committee member can only be removed by the board member who appointed him
or her.

Kraft, the board chairwoman, will be out of town for Tuesday's meeting, but
sent a proposal to Superintendent Frank Till and other board members
suggesting that appointees to all committees must agree to abide by the
district's nondiscrimination policies or face removal by a majority of the
board.

Fojtik said such a change is all she and other gay-rights activists are
looking for.

''The gay community has just said we just want a nondiscrimination policy
enforced,'' she said. ``So then nobody can play politics with that
committee.''

Bill Rettinger, who chairs the diversity committee, does not think that the
board should have that power.
''You shouldn't have to serve in fear,'' Rettinger said.

Said Williams: ``It is not a process that we as a board should undertake.''

And Fertig, the attorney, said the committee is supposed to oversee the
board and should not be at risk of removal if they make board members
unhappy.

''To make them into lapdogs rather than watchdogs would be to deconstruct
the entire purpose of the committee,'' he said.

The diversity committee grew out of a task force that focused on
desegregation, looking mainly at issues of racial equality.
Members of the 31-person committee spend hours visiting schools, combing
through libraries, laboring over reports and recommending boundary changes.

It is hard work, which hasn't received a lot of attention, said Rettinger.

``There is a lot of time, a lot of caring being done by the people on this
committee that is being dismissed capriciously by some members of the
community because they're upset over one thing and they're forgetting
everything else.''


© 2005 Herald.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miami.com

21 California Democrats Vote "Yes", All Republicans Oppose

Today, the National Stonewall Democrats (NSD) praised the work of Democrats in the California Senate for passing Assembly Bill 849, the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act. The California Senate passed the bill by a 21 to 15 vote, almost exclusively along party lines. The passage marks the first time any elected state body in the nation has endorsed marriage equality for same-sex couples.

"The actions of Democrats ensured this victory for California families," said Eric Stern, NSD Executive Director. "The Democratic Party in California has displayed its strength by demonstrating its commitment to the family. Most importantly, we are proud of our Stonewall members, who spent this past year galvanizing local Democratic parties and elected bodies in support of this legislation."

21 Democrats voted in favor of the legislation, while 24 Republicans were joined by one Democrat in opposition. The legislation moved to the Senate floor this week after the California Senate Judiciary Committee voted in July to advance the bill. The vote in committee also followed party lines, with all five Democrats voting in favor and the committee's two Republican members voting to block the legislation.

"Equality California should be praised for the strategic vision executed to help ensure passage of this legislation," said Stern. "The organization effectively communicated with Californians and their legislators in a manner that conveyed how crucially beneficial marriage equality and religious freedom are to the state. The success of Equality California, with whom our members were proud to partner, underscores that victories are won most often by organizing on the ground, and not out of Washington."

The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act now moves to the California Assembly, where it was defeated by a narrow margin of four votes earlier this year. Stonewall Democrats will once again work with its members to encourage Democrats to pass the bill, authored by openly-gay Democratic Assemblymember Mark Leno (D-San Francisco).

National Stonewall Democrats is the only national organization of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Democrats, with more than 90 local chapters across the nation. NSD is committed to working through the Democratic Party to advance the rights of all people regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.