Masterworks Broadway proudly announces the release of The New Broadway Cast Recording of Hello, Dolly! starring three-time Grammy Award-winning legend Bette Midler as Dolly Gallagher Levi. Produced by multiple-Grammy Award® winner Steven Epstein, with a cast of 37 and 28 musicians, the album will be released this Friday, May 12, 2017.
And WE have it first!
Last night President Obama (or his staff) went to Twitter and Facebook to post his support for ENDA, the embattled 20+ year old bill that has been sitting in Congress that would grant the LGBT community workplace protections from being fired because of who they are which they currently do not have in the United States.
In addition President Obama’s political arm is raising money from supporters to push for passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Organizing for Action, the successor organization to Obama’s presidential campaign apparatus that advocates for his policy positions, sent out an email from Executive Director Jon Carson to supporters on Thursday with the subject line, “It’s 2013 — this shouldn’t be legal.”
“A lot of Americans don’t know that it’s still legal in some states to discriminate in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Yep — it’s 2013, and every American still doesn’t have that basic protection under the law.”
The email continues to say that ENDA would rectify this issue by making sure “no one can legally be discriminated against in the workplace for being gay or transgender.”
A link within the email redirects to the OFA site, which allows the reader to sign a petition calling on Congress to pass ENDA.
After the reader enters an email address, another page pops up asking for a donation to OFA in several designated amounts up to $1,000. But what is NOT CLEAR whether the donations will be used for ENDA, the OFA or other purposes.
Meanwhile in the LGBT community we have TWO groups now that want to be the ones representing (and taking the credit) for ENDA if it passes battling for control.
First we have Tico Almeida President and founder of Freedom to Work, a grassroots organization that was launched in the fall of 2011 which started the new momentum towards bringing ENDA up before Congress yet again. FTW worked closely with Sen. Jeff Merkley setting up all the groundwork. Unfortunately though Almedia, also helped write the current religious exemption in the new ENDA which basically will grant religious business institutions including hospitals and schools the right to continue discriminating against LGBT individuals legally in hopes of an easier passage through Congress
Next up in the ENDA Control Battle Royal we have the newly formed (and “Gay Inc.” big bucks backed.) Americans for Workplace Opportunity created just 3 months ago in July led by the Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.
The AWO steering Committee includes the ACLU, the American Federation of Teachers, the American Unity Fund, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the National Center for Transgender Equality. AWO was formed after much of the current ENDA ground work was done by Almedia and FTW. Almedia’s group was not not asked to join the board, and was denied inclusion after asking. (One has to wonder where the HRC and the Task Force has been for the past few years on the issue that only NOW do they form this group.)
Also besides these two groups we also have the remnants of the now defunct, original “United ENDA” coalition from the early 2000’s still milling about in the background.
So can one really wonder why ENDA still sits waiting after 20+ years and our LGBT brothers and sisters are still discriminated in 29 states?
The answer is politics. Politics from within our government and petty politics from within our community. Which in the end hurts ENDA’s chances even more.
Like the good little “radical gay activist” blogger I am. I have myself placed myself on various anti-gay groups mailing lists under different names and emails so I can look inside thier heads. (Which believe me is always a scary place and makes me want to scrub my brian with bleach afterwards) And today I hit paydirt.
Well this showed up in my Inbox today from my Regional “Christomaniacs” (<— Look I’m Sarah Palin! I made a new word) Anti-Gay Religious Group “The Citizens For Community Values in Ohio who are hawking this “Focus on the Family” propaganda to it’s members here and is very proud of the fact that the CCV’s Sister Organization in California “The California Family Council” is run by Ron Prentice who is also Chairman of ProtectMarriage.com, the committee behind Prop 8 and has been accused of laundering monies and pocketin charitable donations. And then tried to dicredit the reporter who broke the story by having a Private Investorgator dif up dirt on him.
I will be doing more on this story in the future.
But for now Read and Watch The Focus on the Family Newletter and Video that was sent out by the CCV of Ohio after the jump…….
CLICK the LINK BEKOW to watch the Focus on the Family Fake Newscast Interview with Ron Prentice, Chairman of ProtectMarriage.com
http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/08/california-marriage-challenge-will-ultimately-impact-the-nation/
The Northern Kenticky Tea Party who is affiliated with The Cincinnati Tea Party, The Ohio Liberty Council and Glen Becks 9/12 Project has found a novel and most probably the SCARIEST way to raise funds.
They are charging thier members to be able to get a Concealed Carry Gun Permits! You do have to take a short course before you can get one of course. But as they say in their email. No shooting experience is required, (Or sanity either)
Here’s what they are charging to arm their members.
The cost is $85.00 and here is a breakdown of where the money goes:
The NTPF claims to be “A broad coalition of local and regional Tea Party groups have announced the formation of the National Tea Party Federation (NTPF). The NTPF is established to create a unified message and media response amongst key leadership and their affiliates.” But also while looking over the NTPF Membership list I saw The Cincinnati Tea Party listed. The Cincinnati Tea Party is one of the biggest and loudest Tea Party Groups in the Midwest. The Cincinnati Tea Party also has close very close ties to the Ohio organization “The Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes” (COAST) which is a conservative republican based group and founded by Chris Finney, a Cincinnati, OH lawyer and resident, who has helped defeat many tax levies on the ballot, mostly ones for Cincinnati Public Schools and who once was a Board member and stil is an active memeber of The Citizens For Community Values, Ohio’s own anti-gay hate group. Finney and the CCV were not only responsible for writing Article 12, a charter amendment passed by voters in 1993 that prohibited city officials from passing any laws that included sexual orientation as a protected class. (Which was later overturned) But Finney and the CCV also had a hand in writing the state of Ohio’s Defense of Marriage Act, which is among one of the most anti-gay in the country and will not even allow recognition to “civil unions” or “domestic partners”. Finney has also publically said landlords shouldn’t be forced to rent to gays or lesbians if they didn’t want to do so and employers shouldn’t have to hire them. Moreover, restaurants shouldn’t be forced to serve gay couples if other customers are disturbed by their presence.
So in a nutshell Finney who is anti-gay, an ex-board member of the anti-gay CCV, current founder of COAST, which is affiliated with The Cioncinnati Tea Party, which the National Tea Party Federation says is one of its group members, who has ties to the Affilate ties to the anti-gay national hate groupTony Perkin’s and The Family Research Council. (Get your scorecards here! You can’t tell your nutjobs without a scorecard)
So to make a long story even longer I sat down and emailed The Cincinnati Tea Party President, Chris Littleton about the CTP’s association with the NTPF and its association with Tony perkins and The Family Research Council, Finney, COAST, The CCV, and where the Tea Party Stands on LGBT issues especially for the fact that if Tea Party members are going to run for public office they will eventually have to vote on social and civil rights issues.
I have prepared a Word Doc transcript of the e-mail exchange and posted it on SCRIBD. I also retain all original email’s and please note that in the first email I do say my questions are for an article that I am writing and thus “on the record”
It’s an intesrting read and basically boils down to the following. The Tea Party has no clue about who it associated with and doesn’t care who it’s members are and what they stand for, be it antigay, racist, anti muslum as long as they follow their three fiscal reform points. (That is until they caught like the Tea Party Express. Then they suddenly become a sham Party group run by Republicans) They say they aren’t a “political party” despite the fact that there is now a Tea Party Caucus in the Senate and Tea Party members are running for Goverment office, and will have the reponsibilty of not only the financial welfare but also the social and civil rights or millions of United Stattes citizens in thier hands and they take absoultely no MORAL RESPONSIBILTY for any harm to other that thier members or affilate groups can and will cause to others.
After all, as Littleton put it. “I didn’t see that these are “anti-gay” groups” including this one which is the Family Research Council link that I sent him. http://www.frc.org/issues