In case you missed the handout at Ventura’s own Pride Festival – you can catch up here!
UPDATE! STATE ACTION #1: THIS PASSED! Tell your assemblymembers to pass SB-107 – Gender-Affirming Health Care to provide refuge for trans kids & their families from states that are criminalizing them & threatening to remove transgender children from their homes.
Minimal script to your assemblymember: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want to[Assemblymember [___] to support and pass SB-107 – Gender-Affirming Health Care.
Action #2: Tell your legislators to support H.R. 1201/S.424 – International Human Rights Defense Act
Action #3: Call the chairs of the Congressional Foreign Affairs Committees directly.
Action #1: Call your senators, and make sure your friends and family members call theirs. 75% of Americans say ‘Yes” to S.393 – The Equality Act.
As we near the end of another great Pride month, it’s easy to forget how very recent some of our LBGTQ+ rights are – the U.S. Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states in Obergefell v. Hodges just six years ago, on June 26, 2015, making us one of 29 countries with marriage equality. Then the Trump administration showed us how fragile some of our progress was, banning transgender personnel from serving in the military and excusing those claiming religious beliefs from treating fellow Americans with dignity and fairness. (List here.) Even with Trump removed, our LBGTQI+ community still faces harrassment and discrimination that effect their mental, physical and economic wellbeing. Just this year, GOP-controlled legislatures, ignoring the will of 75% of Americans, passed the largest number of repressive anti-LGBTQ+ bills since 2015. As a result, CA’s attorney general just added five more states to the state-funded travel ban list.
But what about that recent Supreme Court decision that employers can’t discriminate against workers based on their sexual orientation or gender identity? It doesn’t apply to small businesses that employ as many as one in six Americans. Plus, it doesn’t protect access to housing, prevent denial of services or settle the question of who can use which restroom. (link to tweet here)
The H.R.5/S.393 – the Equality Act would amend existing federal civil rights laws – including the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 – to extend protections for LGBTQ Americans, extending protections on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity. It would also protect those with special needs. 48 out of 50 Democratic senators are already on board. If you have one, thank them. For those with friends and family in red states, you need to get your friends and family on the phone, every day, giving a piece of their mind to their GOP senators. Every day.
Minimal script for cosponsoring senators: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want to thank Sen.[___] for supporting S.393 – the Equality Act. It’s past time to recognize the essential humanity of all our citizens and remove this last bar to equal treatment of our LGBTQI+ community.
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 