Quinnipiac University Poll, meet summer NYPD offensive and ''broken windows policing''

Mayor de Blasio's high poll approval ratings from minority communities will soon clash with the summer police offensive by controversial NYPD Commissioner William Bratton that targets communities of color.

RELATED William Bratton Putting Desk Officers on Streets in Neighborhoods of Color to Aggravate Tensions in Communities During Hot Summer Months (The New York Times) A Tale of Two Cities : Racial Divide Over Bill de Blasio’s Support Widens : Political Poll shows Black voters support for mayor, for now (The New York Observer)

In last month's Quinnipiac University Poll, it was affirmed that Mayor de Blasio had lost support amongst a majority of White voters. How long will the mayor enjoy support from people of color as Commish Bratton releases the Kracken upon minority neighborhoods and the city's public housing developments ? According to a Quinnipiac University Poll release in June, Mayor Bill de Blasio had lost support amongst White voters, but he still has the support of some minority groups. How long that support will last under the racist ''broken windows policing'' policies of NYPD Commissioner William Bratton will soon be revealed. Commissioner Bratton is unleashing approximately 400 desk cops onto the city's "troubled police precincts" -- a euphemism for public housing developments and other minority neighborhoods -- in a policing crackdown that appears to be discriminatory based on income and race. The new NYPD offensive, known in the department as “Summer All Out,” will last 90 days, and it follows the controversial, military-like "shock and awe" raids conducted at dawn one day several weeks ago targeting low-income residents, who live in public housing developments in Harlem. Mayor de Blasio, Commissioner Bratton, and their public relations advisors, such as Dan Levitan, left, from the corrupt lobbying firm Berlin Rosen, are tone deaf to the concerns of minority communities. During the Harlem public housing raids, the police mobilized helicopters, officers in riot gear, and even counterterrorism officials, and the cops even hauled out all of their expensive police toys that they use to make themselves feel so strong and powerful, and, instead of targeting the suspects of interest, the police under Commissioner Bratton drew the entire residents of the public housing complexes of the General Ulysses S. Grant Houses and the Manhattanville Houses in Harlem into the dawn raid. It's clear that the intent of the NYPD was to instill fear and terror into the residents, to make the major psychological impression that to round up suspects of interest the police will raid entire public housing developments using "militaristic invasions" to make communities of color more submissive to police in a perverse form of sociological behavior modification. This was what the U.S. military meant by using "shock and awe" under former President George W. Bush in the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003. But the implications for Mayor de Blasio may be the same as they were for former President Bush. U.S. popularity plummeted when we are seen as the aggressor. As more and more voters become disenchanted with the duplicitous political machinations of Mayor de Blasio (witness the collapse of Long Island College Hospital on Mayor de Blasio's watch and the swift community sense of betrayal and anger that that engendered), and you have a open window into what the mayor will likely soon face, as the residents of low-income and minority neighborhoods have to put up with aggressive policing that targets the poor and people of color. The mayor's last vestiges of political polling support amongst minorities will likely collapse before this summer is over. Already, the police are targeting low-income artists and performers, who put on shows in the subway system for tips. The unemployment rate for minority youths is stubbornley high, and the mayor has no alternative plan to give subway artists a legal and meaningful way to earn a living. These, and other violations of minority New Yorkers' civil rights, such as the right to be publicly accommodated on buses without fear of being brutalized or discriminated, are driving minority leaders and activists to question Mayor de Blasio's unbridled support for Commissioner Bratton's racist ''broken windows'' theory of policing. And if Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn closes this year, the political perceptions of more and more minority communities will turn decidedly anti-de Blasio. Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a legislative landmark that was meant to address the violent discrimination in the South. Perhaps the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice needs to look into the actions of the North, starting right here, with the NYPD. Commissioner Bratton's "broken widows" theory of policing is a form of de jure discrimination, and it must be dismantled. It can be done through the work of the Justice Department, or voters can vote Mayor de Blasio out of office after one term, after he loses critical voting support amongst minority voters as early as this summer, at the rate that he and his police commissioner are going.

Forty years after Rep. Abzug filed Equality Act of 1974, LGBT elected officials lack such vision

40th Anniversary of the filing of the proposed Equality Act of 1974

From Queer Nation NY :

Forty years ago today, Bella Abzug quietly introduced legislation in the House that would have added sexual orientation to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. With a single reference in the Congressional Record reading “H.R. 14752. A bill to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, marital status, and sexual orientation, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary,” Abzug made the very bold statement that lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are entitled to the same rights and protections that are extended to every other American. That statement is as bold and as true today as it was 40 years ago.

• RELATED : On 40th Anniversary of the filing of the proposed Equality Act of 1974, Queer Nation NY reiterates its demand for comprehensive federal LGBT civil rights legislation (Facebook)

The next year, Abzug took to the House floor to introduce the legislation again.

“This bill would insure that gay individuals would be entitled to jobs, to housing, to education, to utilization of public accommodations, to participation in federally assisted programs, on the same basis as other Americans and would be provided with a legal remedy if such rights and opportunities were denied to them,” the New York Democrat said in 1975.

"What is at issue here is equal rights for all Americans,” she said. “Equal protection of the laws and respect for the rights of individuals are fundamental principles of our Constitution. I have long been a proponent of measures which would insure that these principles are guaranteed for all individuals -- women as well as men, married individuals as well as those who are unmarried, people of every nationality, ethnic groups, race, or religion. Likewise, sexual orientation should be no barrier to equal treatment under the law."

In 2014, our political leaders lack such a vision. They consider only what they believe can be won using focus group-tested rhetoric and slick ad campaigns. Their views are driven by polling and what the Democratic and Republican parties will tolerate. And so they will spend millions to enact legislation such as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that only bans employment discrimination and has religious exemptions that are so broad that our leading legal groups have refused to support it.

What remains true, whether any poll produces this result or not, is that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans are equal in every way and in all things to every other American. The sole exception to this principle, which is rooted in the founding documents of this nation and in the founding of our community, is that we are not equal before the law.

ENDA will not make us equal before the law. On the contrary, its religious exemption will enshrine discrimination in federal law and guarantee that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people will continue to experience discrimination in employment.

Only comprehensive federal civil rights legislation will make us equal under the law. It is time for us to seek that and to win that.

Outside GLAAD Awards, LGBT activists demand the equal civil rights that ENDA fails to provide

ENDA is NOT equal

At the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, activists from Queer Nation NY held a peaceful "educational leafleting" early Saturday evening, handing out flyers with messaging that demanded equal LGBT civil rights. The flyers, distributed to guests attending a fundraiser to benefit GLAAD, marked a turning point in grassroots LGBT activism in New York City.

GLAAD is a well-funded non-profit group that promotes the positive images of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and trans individuals (LGBT's) in the media, and GLAAD is one of many LGBT organizations that support a Congressional bill, known as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, that proposes to prohibit employment discrimination based on the categories of sexual orientation and gender identity. Some activists, including activists from Queer Nation NY, believe that religious exceptions to the proposed ENDA bill would provide a loophole, enabling any religiously-affiliated employer to legally discriminate against LGBT employees. Furthermore, the ENDA bill fails to prohibit discrimination in the realms of housing, public accommodations, education, and other federal programs.

• RELATED : ENDA is NOT Equal (Queer Nation NY)

Activists from Queer Nation NY estimated that they had distributed 250 flyers to guests of the GLAAD fundraiser, informing GLAAD supporters that grassroots LGBT activists were seeking "comprehensive civil rights legislation that includes sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes" instead of "piecemeal stopgap legislation." Among the GLAAD guests receiving Queer Nation NY's ENDA-themed flyers were author and political operative David Mixner, gossip personality Perez Hilton, and members of The Imperial Court of New York.

While activists were distributing ENDA-educational flyers outside the storied Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, a man with visible health issues pushed a cart up Park Avenue and collected recyclables from a public garbage can near the main entrance to the hotel.

Support for ENDA, with its religious exemption shortcomings, has been a source of controversy amongst LGBT groups. Last year, a leading LGBT grassroots activism group, GetEQUAL, raised concerns about the religious exemptions to ENDA. But big money LGBT groups, like the Human Rights Campaign, support ENDA with its broad religious loopholes. ENDA has been passed by the U.S. Senate, but it has not been able to be passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. Since the House is controlled by rightwing Republicans, the likelihood of ENDA passing is remote, leading some activists to press President Barack Obama to adopt ENDA by executive order. In spite of President Obama's support for ending employment discrimination, he has balked from standing by his principles, creating a pause in ENDA-centered organizing that has allowed grassroots LGBT activists to see how imperfect ENDA really is. That activists from Queer Nation NY are now peacefully leafletting outside big money LGBT group fundraisers points to a new expectation amongst grassroots activists.

Instead of settling for imperfect legislation, activists from Queer Nation NY, along with other activists, are making another push for a comprehensive federal LGBT civil rights bill. Prior to Queer Nation NY's recent demonstrations, activists with the grassroots group QueerSOS undertook a more aggressive effort in 2010 when they occupied the public sidewalk outside Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's campaign office, demanding that she express support for a bill to update the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that would extend equal civil rights protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The 2010 activism, which would later motivate an activist to fast, was insufficient to move Sen. Gillibrand to stand up for full LGBT federal equality. Prior to that, the entrenched big money LGBT groups, sometimes derided as "Gay Inc.," have essentially controlled the LGBT narrative in Washington.

The modern-day idea for a comprehensive LGBT civil rights legislation can be traced back to when U.S. Reps. Bella Abzug and Edward Koch introduced in 1974 in Congress a "federal bill to ban discrimination against lesbians, gay men, unmarried persons and women in employment, housing and public accommodations," according to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. That bill, known as the Equality Act of 1974, originated as a project of the Task Force, but the bill failed to garner enough support to ever pass Congress.

Grassroots LGBT civil rights groups are now trying to raise the consciousness of big money LGBT groups like GLAAD and HRC on the importance of introducing draft Congressional legislation to codify comprehensive equal LGBT civil rights laws.

Bratton seeks to continue Kelly's police policies, in spite of civil rights concerns

Why does the New York City Council fund police tactics that violate the Civil Rights Act ?

NYPD Commissioner William Bratton "has signaled few dramatic changes in policy from his predecessor," Capital New York reported last week, but he has focused "his efforts on boosting the department’s image in the eyes of the City Council... ."

• RELATED : NYPD Commissioner William Bratton’s Lament to a Sympathetic City Council (Capital New York)

In his first testimony before the New York City Council, Commissioner Bratton expressed a desire to boost the number of police officers, saying that he though the size of the police force was "too small," which represents a contradiction to statements he made upon his formal appointment, when Commissioner Bratton had said that he was satisfied with the number of NYPD officers.

Some police reform activists note that Commissioner Bratton has notified the City Council that "continuity" of former Commissioner Ray Kelly's controversial policies is the primary goal of his administration. As if to gut the hopes of police reform activists, who had pinned their dreams of ending controversial police tactics, Commissioner Bratton observed in gratitude that the City Council, which is led by Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, was the most friendly municipal legislature with which he's ever worked.

Police reform activists have expressed concern that the City Council will abdicate its duty to hold the police commissioner accountable for enacting reforms.

At a town hall meeting last week of the Police Reform Organizing Project, it appeared that PROP Director Robert Gangi, pictured, kept saying that it was incumbent upon community groups to hold Commissioner Bratton accountable for enacting reforms that would end the police force's violations of civil liberties and civil rights, but Mr. Gangi seemed to avoid embracing any call to actually hold the commissioner's, the mayor's, or City Councilmembers' feet to the fire, even as some panel members at last week's town hall urged police reform activists to focus on continued civil rights violations apparent in NYPD tactics. After hearing Mr. Gangi congratulate Mayor Bill de Blasio in absentia for having a "progressive" record, one audience member pointed out during the question-and-answer period that Mayor de Blasio arguably made the most "regressive" police commissioner appointment by selecting Mr. Bratton.

Each year, the mayor and the City Council approve the NYPD's budget, usually with little to no oversight, thereby funding the police force's most controversial tactics and programs, even the ones that are eventually ruled by federal courts to violate the civil liberties and civil rights of innocent New Yorkers.

In the time leading up to last year's mayoral campaign, police reform activists staged numerous protests against the police force's unconstitutional program known as stop-and-frisk. At one protest in Jackson Heights, Queens, activists highlighted former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's practise of fully funding controversial police tactics that appeared to violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with complete impunity.

Christine Quinn Looks Other Way As NYPD Menace LGBT New Yorkers Based On Fashion

"The elasticity that officers in New York and elsewhere have been given to police quality-of-life violations has had the unfortunate effect of leaving transgender women, especially, susceptible to the charge that they must be engaged in sex work."

The NYPD are arresting gays, lesbians, transgenders, and other gender non-conforming New Yorkers as part of their stop-and-frisk dragnet, and increasingly they are charging people, who do not conform to gender roles, with criminality. The charges are often suspicion of prostitution, and the police use and/or plant condoms as evidence of sex work, The New York Times has reported. See : Arrests By The Fashion Police

Christine Quinn is not quoted in this article. How odd is it for the city's highest ranking LGBT official to not be visible, to be outraged by this crisis ? Or is her absence intentional ?

What a disgrace for the NYPD to menace the LGBT community like this. In an article of such gravity, it is notable that no LGBT leader in this city is quoted here to denounce the institutional discrimination by the NYPD of LGBT New Yorkers. Most notable is the absence or silence by Christine Quinn, the highest elected LGBT official in New York City politics. She is somebody, who has a sensibility of what it means to be treated different because of her identity as a woman and as a lesbian. And yet she says nothing about how the NYPD treats others in the LGBT community solely based on their identity. And in all the articles about how stop-and-frisk is used by the NYPD against communities of color and other minority groups, there remains a radio silence about how can a municipality discriminate against people in public spaces based on sex, race, and other factors that are expressly prohibited by the Civil Rights Act. When were municipalities given the option of opting out of enforcing the Civil Rights Act ? And how can the NYPD deliberately violate Griswold v. Connecticut, the landmark case that legalised the use of contraceptives in the United States ? When did carrying contraception or prophylactics become a criminal behaviour ? How can this be ?

Christine Quinn, who is speaker of the New York City Council, each year approves the NYPD budget without defunding the unconstitutional stop-and-frisk policy, but Speaker Quinn has become silent about how the NYPD menace the LGBT community. Some observe that her actions enable the NYPD to continue to use stop-and-frisk against the LGBT community, because Speaker Quinn is seeking the endorsement of the police union in her campaign for mayor.

Related : Christine Quinn betrays the LGBT community

2013-04-01 Roots of Betrayal © 2013 by Louis Flores - Uncorrected Proof Not For Sale Chapter I Excerpt by Connaissable

Using Taxpayer Money To Violate Title III Of The Civil Rights Act And A Southern Strategy To Become Mayor

In her campaign to become mayor of New York City, is New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn using a ''Southern Strategy'' in order to gain political support in the ''outer boroughs'' to win this year's election by appearing to support the NYPD's racist ''stop-and-frisk'' policy ?

''Stop-And-Frisk'' Violates Title III Of The Civil Rights Act ; Why Is Christine Quinn Using Taxpayer Money To Pay For State-Sponsored Forms Of Discrimination ?

Title III of the Civil Rights Act prohibits state and municipal governments from denying access to public facilities on grounds of race, color, religion, or national origin. Access can be construed to be peaceful enjoyment.

Yet, the NYPD deny access or peaceful enjoyment of public facilities, such as sidewalks, streets, and subway stations based on a person's race, color, religion, or national origin when the NYPD ''stop-and-frisk'' people of color, of a certain faith, or of a certain nationality.

Since Christine Quinn has become speaker, 3.7 million New Yorkers have been stopped-and-frisked.

Black and Latino communities continue to be the overwhelming target of these tactics. See the NYCLU Stop-And-Frisk Fact Page for more information.

Christine Quinn - Stop-And-Frisk violates Title III of the Civil Rights Act

March Against Christine Quinn and Stop-And-Frisk Featured On NYCGA.NET

The March against Christine Quinn and Stop-And-Frisk is being featured on NYCGA.NET.

Join us on Sunday, Dec. 30 at 1 p.m. at 74th Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights.

View March Against Christine Quinn/Stop-And-Frisk in a larger map

A Failure of Leadership

Nothing has come of the proposed law known as the Community Safety Act, and, under New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, probably nothing ever will. We need to defund the NYPD of the resources that go into allowing the police force to carry out the practise of stop-and-frisk.

If the City Council won't pass the Community Safety Act, then it needs to begin to defund the NYPD of our tax money. How can tax money be legally used to discriminate against citizens ? Title III of the Civil Rights Act prohibits state and municipal governments from denying access to public facilities on grounds of race, color, religion or national origin. Yet, isn't that exactly what the NYPD are doing ? Are they not denying us peaceful access and peaceful enjoyment to public spaces solely based on prejudices about race, color, religion or national origin ?

Bigot Bell - Episode 2

Bigot Bell - Episode 2 - Failure of Adequate Protections

The LGBTQ civil rights group Connecting Rainbows has announced a world-wide boycott of Yum! Brands restaurants following a case of alleged employment discrimination against a member of Connecting Rainbows.

In April 2011, Jason Smith, an openly gay employee of Taco Bell in Louisiana, who is a member of Connecting Rainbows, was dismissed from his job, after another employee made a threat against Mr. Smith based on his sexual orientation. A Taco Bell manager witnessed the threat. After Mr. Smith was dismissed, Taco Bell conditioned Mr. Smith’s return to his job only after Mr. Smith deleted each of his Facebook profile and the entire website of Connecting Rainbows, the former which Mr. Smith refused, and the latter over which Mr. Smith has no control. Connecting Rainbows is a democratic collective of LGBTQ activists and allies, with no hierarchy.

To read more about the incident, please read Mr. Smith’s own description of the events on Connecting Rainbows website.

Connecting Rainbows is outraged by this discriminatory treatment and has launched a parody campaign that lampoons Taco Bell for its apparent bigotry.

To spread word of the injustice that Mr. Smith has suffered, members of Connecting Rainbows launched a petition on Change.org, to publicise Mr. Smith’s plight.

Connecting Rainbows demands that :

• Yum! Brands restaurants apologize to Jason and the LGBT community;
• Rehire Mr. Smith and provide a hostile-free work environment, or compensate Jason for his loss of income and other damages; and
• Provide diversity and cultural competency training to every employee -- worldwide!

Connecting Rainbows also demands legislative remedies :

• Connecting Rainbows demands that Congress amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include ‘’sexual orientation’’ and ‘’gender identity’’ to the major forms of discrimination that are outlawed ; and
• Connecting Rainbows also demands that federal legislators pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (''ENDA''). ENDA is routinely introduced in Congress, but never passed. It is time for Congress to prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Connecting Rainbows is a group of active people organizing civil rights walks and other actions in America. The group’s mission is to create a mass movement, demanding full civil rights for LGBT Americans. Connecting Rainbows uses the power of a social media platform, where people create online profiles, meet others, plan events, join groups, blog, and participate in online forums.

Visit : http://connectingrainbows.ning.com/ or http://www.bigotbell.com/

They were on the Wrong Side History in respect of Civil Rights -- and Marriage Equality

OP-ED : My prediction for how history will judge the New York State politicians, who are blocking marriage equality :

‎''You should not be inbetween on equality,'' to quote Iana Equality Di Bona.

THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 *	NEW YORK MARRIAGE EQUALITY **
The bill came before the full Senate for debate on March 30, 1964 and the "Southern Bloc" of 18 southern Democratic Senators and one Republican Senator led by Richard Russell (D-GA) launched a filibuster to prevent its passage. Said Russell : "We will resist to the bitter end any measure or any movement which would have a tendency to bring about social equality and intermingling and amalgamation of the races in our (Southern) states."	The bill has yet to come before the full Senate for debate and already the notorious hate group National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has forged an alliance with Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. (D-Bronx), to prevent its passage. Diaz and NOM sponsored a hate rally in the Bronx on the same day as AIDS Walk New York. Said Diaz : "We're sending a message to the governor that the Hispanic community is against gay marriage."
The most fervent opposition to the bill came from Senator Strom Thurmond (D-SC) : "This so-called Civil Rights Proposals, which the President has sent to Capitol Hill for enactment into law, are unconstitutional, unnecessary, unwise and extend beyond the realm of reason. This is the worst civil-rights package ever presented to the Congress and is reminiscent of the Reconstruction proposals and actions of the radical Republican Congress."	The most fervent opposition to the bill came from Senator Martin Golden (R-Staten Island), who introduced a hostile "defense of marriage" bill that would declare same-sex marriages entered into outside of New York void under New York law : "I am sending the message that there is some normalcy in this great state when it comes to the principled idea that marriage is between a man and a woman."
Michael Rubens Bloomberg attended Johns Hopkins University, where he joined Phi Kappa Psi, and graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in electrical engineering.	In 2005, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg appealed a landmark marriage equality ruling and has been providing financial support to right-wing Republican legislators, including Senator Golden.
Christine Quinn was not yet born when the Civil Rights Act was enacted.	In 2008, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn changed the term limits law to reward Mayor Bloomberg with a third term in office.
Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr., was born in 1964.	Sen. Joe Addabbo (D-Queens) voted against marriage equality in 2009 and is sitting on the fence as to whether he will support or oppose the pending marriage equality bill.
Carl Kruger was a teenager when the Civil Rights Act was passed into law.	Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn) voted against marriage equality in 2009, even though Sen. Kruger has recently been outed as being gay. Yet, he still has the gall to yet say whether he will support marriage equality in 2011 for other LGBTQ New Yorkers.
President Lyndon B. Johnson, who wanted the bill passed as soon as possible, ensured that the bill would be quickly considered by the Senate. Normally, the bill would have been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Senator James O. Eastland, Democrat from Mississippi. Given Eastland's firm opposition, it seemed impossible that the bill would reach the Senate floor. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield took a novel approach to prevent the bill from being relegated to Judiciary Committee limbo. Having initially waived a second reading of the bill, which would have led to it being immediately referred to Judiciary, Mansfield gave the bill a second reading on February 26, 1964, and then proposed, in the absence of precedent for instances when a second reading did not immediately follow the first, that the bill bypass the Judiciary Committee and immediately be sent to the Senate floor for debate.	Governor Andrew Cuomo, who wanted the bill passed as soon as possible, has not yet ensured that the bill would be quickly considered by the Senate. Normally, the bill would have been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Senator John J. Bonacic, Republican from Mount Hope, New York. Given Bonacic's firm opposition to marriage equality, it would seem impossible that the bill would ever reach the Senate floor. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Long Island) has backed away from initially signaling that senators should "vote with their conscience" on the bill and has now, instead, threatened to not allow a vote on marriage equality. Thus far, excepting for intense lobbying and some major political demonstrations, the bill has not progressed within the state legislature after having been first introduced in the Assembly on May 10, 2011, by Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell.
Shirley Huntley participated in the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery.	Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Queens) marched in Selma and didn't learn a thing.

Key :

* Quoted entirely from Wikipedia, excepting for the references to Speaker Quinn's birth, Sen. Addabbo's birth, Sen. Kruger's age, and Sen. Huntley's march in Selma.

** Quoted from other sources over the Internet.

Bigot Bell - Episode 1 - We Have a Problem

Connecting Rainbows Members Launch Parody YouTube Campaign Against Taco Bell

The LGBTQ civil rights group Connecting Rainbows has announced a world-wide boycott of Yum! Brands restaurants following a case of alleged employment discrimination against a member of Connecting Rainbows.

In April 2011, Jason Smith, an openly gay employee of Taco Bell in Louisiana, who is a member of Connecting Rainbows, was dismissed from his job, after another employee made a threat against Mr. Smith based on his sexual orientation. A Taco Bell manager witnessed the threat. After Mr. Smith was dismissed, Taco Bell conditioned Mr. Smith’s return to his job only after Mr. Smith deleted each of his Facebook profile and the entire website of Connecting Rainbows, the former which Mr. Smith refused, and the latter over which Mr. Smith has no control. Connecting Rainbows is a democratic collective of LGBTQ activists and allies, with no hierarchy.

To read more about the incident, please read Mr. Smith’s own description of the events on Connecting Rainbows website.

Connecting Rainbows is outraged by this discriminatory treatment and has launched a parody campaign that lampoons Taco Bell for its apparent bigotry.

To spread word of the injustice that Mr. Smith has suffered, members of Connecting Rainbows launched a petition on Change.org, to publicise Mr. Smith’s plight.

Connecting Rainbows demands that :

• Yum! Brands restaurants apologize to Jason and the LGBT community;
• Rehire Mr. Smith and provide a hostile-free work environment, or compensate Jason for his loss of income and other damages; and
• Provide diversity and cultural competency training to every employee -- worldwide!

Connecting Rainbows also demands legislative remedies :

• Connecting Rainbows demands that Congress amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include ‘’sexual orientation’’ and ‘’gender identity’’ to the major forms of discrimination that are outlawed ; and
• Connecting Rainbows also demands that federal legislators pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (''ENDA''). ENDA is routinely introduced in Congress, but never passed. It is time for Congress to prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Connecting Rainbows is a group of active people organizing civil rights walks and other actions in America. The group’s mission is to create a mass movement, demanding full civil rights for LGBT Americans. Connecting Rainbows uses the power of a social media platform, where people create online profiles, meet others, plan events, join groups, blog, and participate in online forums.

Visit : http://connectingrainbows.ning.com/ or http://www.bigotbell.com/

Alan Bounville is Fasting for LGBT Civil Rights

Call Sen. Gillibrand : 1-212-688-6262

A link to this new YouTube video has been added to the link list at the bottom of the Civil Rights page on The Huffington Post.

Mr. Bounville began a water-only fast on Election Day, November 2, 2010, and he has said that he will continue fasting until Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) or another member of Congress introduced the American Equality Bill, or similar legislation, that would extend civil rights to LGBT Americans and thereby end most major forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Mr. Bounville, Iana Di Bona, Joe Birdsong, and other activists kept a vigil for 36 consecutive days outside Sen. Gillibrand's New York City campaign office before Mr. Bounville began his fast. During that time, the Honourable Senator did not acknowledge the LGBT activists.

For more information, please visit : http://www.civilrightsfast.com

Chalking Gillibrand American Equality Bill

Adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the Civil Rights Act of 1964

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE : Please contact: Louis Flores (646) 400-1168 louisflores@louisflores.com

October 24, 2010 -- New York, NY – On Tuesday, October 26, at 6 p.m., LGBT New Yorkers and allies will gather outside 780 Third Avenue in Manhattan, to write chalk messages on the sidewalk outside Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s legislative offices.

Date : Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Time : 6:00 p.m.
Location : 780 Third Avenue, btwn. 48th / 49th Streets

Register to attend at : http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=101087546628080

Bring Your Own Chalk.

October 26 will mark the 30th day that a vigil called QueerSOS! has been continually held outside Sen. Gillibrand’s campaign office at 15 West 26th Street. In the month that has passed, the Honourable Senator has not said when she will introduce the American Equality Bill. Tuesday night’s chalking party at 780 Third Avenue is to encourage Sen. Gillibrand, who supports the extension of civil rights to LGBT Americans, to introduce the American Equality Bill.

Other actions sprouting up in support of the American Equality Bill :

* Since September 27, 2010, a vigil called QueerSOS! has been held outside Sen. Gillibrand’s campaign office at 15 West 26th Street in Manhattan. The vigil participants have been requesting that the Honourable Senator file the American Equality Bill. For more information, please visit : http://www.queersos.com/blog.html

* The East Village blog of The New York Times published photographs of the activist, Iana Di Bona, writing chalk messages in support of the American Equality Bill on St. Mark’s and First Avenue. See : http://eastvillage.thelocal.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/spreading-a-message-of-equal-rights/

* LGBT Americans are turning to social media power of FaceBook and have created a group, which people are joining to learn more about the American Equality Bill. See : http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=278882199073

* Another American Equality Bill group has been organized in San Francisco. See : http://www.aebnow.com/

* A group of LGBT Americans in Ohio has been formed, and they have created a page on FaceBook to organize support for the American Equality Bill. See : http://www.facebook.com/pages/American-Equality-Bill-AEB-ColumbusOhio-Team/118120201581299

About the American Equality Bill :

The American Equality Bill would amend all existing civil rights laws, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” It would end de jure discrimination in vast areas of life, such as : employment, housing, credit, public places and facilities, and all programs operating with federal funding. It would also cover school discrimination and bullying, adoption, and all federal health programs.

About Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand :

Sen. Gillibrand has said that she supports the inclusion of sexual orientation into the 1964 Act. To view Sen. Gillibrand's statement on this topic, listen to the following video at minute 7:43 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnZWFfwx4mg

# # #

Wear Purple Day DIE-IN at Sen. Gillibrand's Campaign Office

Oct. 20 Wear Purple Day HOMOPHOBIA KILLS DIE-IN Outside Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's Campaign Office

Alan Bounville and Iana Di Bona hold a DIE-IN demonstration on West 26th Street, across the street from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's campaign office. Alan and Iana read some of the names of LGBT Americans, who have died because of hate, bullying, and discrimination.

Call Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Ask her to introduce the American Equality Bill. The American Equality Bill will add sexual orientation and gender identity to the Civil Rights Act. Call : 1 (212) 688-6262.

Waiting for Sen. Gillibrand's Leadership on LGBT Civil Rights

American Equality Bill Message to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and to all LGBT People and Allies

Our message to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand : file the American Equality Bill to add ''sexual orientation and gender identity'' to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. File it today -- so we can start organizing to pass it tomorrow.

Call Sen. Gillibrand. Ask her to introduce the American Equality Bill. The American Equality Bill will add sexual orientation and gender identity to the Civil Rights Act. Call : 1 (212) 688-6262.

Sen. Gillibrand Ducking the American Equality Bill

Solemn LGBT Civil Rights Message to Sen. Gillibrand - Introduce American Equality Bill

Alan Bounville talks about his plan to begin a water fast, set to begin on Election Day. Alan's demand, which he is making on behalf of QueerSOS and on behalf of LGBT persons, is that Sen. Gillibrand introduce the American Equality Bill or similar legislation, that will add sexual orientation and gender identity to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Kirsten Gillibrand's LGBT Rights Records

Vigil outside Kirsten Gillibrand's Office in NYC for LGBT Civil Rights - QueerSOS

On Sunday, Oct. 17, Iana Di Bona, was holding a vigil across the street from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's campaign office, demanding that Senator Gillibrand file an LGBTQ civil rights bill that would add sexual orientation and gender identity into the Civil Rights Act of 1964. For more information, visit : http://www.queersos.com/

Gay Activist Arrested Outside Sen. Gillibrand's Office

LGBTQ Activist Arrested Outside Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's Campaign Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 16, 2010
Media Contact: Iana Di Bona: (718) 309-8598 iana.dibona@gmail.com

New York, NY – LGBTQ activist Alan Bounville was arrested on the evening of Friday, October 15 at Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's campaign office on 15 W 26 Street.

Bounville and fellow activist Iana Di Bona have been holding a vigil there since September 27. The vigil, entitled QueerSOS!, demands that Senator Gillibrand file an LGBTQ civil rights bill that would add sexual orientation and gender identity into the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Bounville was arrested on the charge of erecting a structure in relation to two fabric banners used to communicate the vigil's message: "How long do LGBTQI people have to wait for civil rights?" and: "It's time to extend every basic right and freedom to every member of America's LGBT community," quoting the Senator's own words one year ago.

Di Bona and Bounville have sat vigil outside of Senator Gillibrand's office for 19 days, the most recent four of which have extended into 24 hour vigils. While this work is exhausting, Di Bona said, "Our sacrifice is nothing compared to 30 million LGBTQI people not having their rights. Being out here is an honor. We demand full equality now and wait out here only until the Senator files an LGBTQ civil rights bill."

Bounville is slated to be arraigned in the morning at 100 Centre Street.

For more information regarding the vigil, please visit www.queersos.com