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January 2011 Newsletter and Urgent Legislative Action Alerts!
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Greetings!
The following action alerts need you immediate attention; it will only take a moment for you to review each action alert and sign!
Each action alert contains information on the importance of signing the action alert. The following legislation is currently before the Kentucky House and Senate for consideration; please sign today!
- Statewide Equality Law: We need your help with Kentucky House Bill 106, House Bill 117, and Senate Bill 138! These bills would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the Kentucky Civil Rights Act of 1966 as a protected class along with religion, smoking, disability, race, sex, and disability.
- Expand Kentucky's Domestic Violence Laws to Include ALL Couples in a Dating Relationship! Kentucky Equality Federation and the Kentucky Domestic Violence Association have formed a coalition to push House Bill 35. Kentucky House Bill 35 would expand the protective order statute to allow persons who are dating, or have dated, but who have never lived together, and do not have a child in common, to petition for protective orders. The bill would also expand the warrantless arrest statute to cover all persons in a dating relationship.
- Marriage Equality: Repeal Kentucky's 2004 Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage, civil unions, and domestic-partnerships.
For a complete list of action alerts, click here. |
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Another volunteer dies:
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In as little as six months Kentucky Equality Federation has said goodbye to volunteers who died before their time. Click here for the official statement.
- Funeral services concluded on Monday, January 10, 2011 for Dustin Sizemore, a former volunteer for Kentucky Equality Federation. Mr. Sizemore died at the age of 23 years old.
- Kentucky Equality Federation also lost a co-founder of Kentucky Equality Coalition, Inc. in late 2010. Kimball Roy passed away on August 17, 2010 from a heart attack at the age of 45.
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Marriage Equality Kentucky names Halyn Roth as Managing Director:
|  Mr. Halyn Roth was named Managing Director of Marriage Equality Kentucky. Click here for the official statement.
Mr. Roth was a volunteer with Kentucky Equality Federation for years, and recently served as the Campaign Manager for Democrat Jim Holbert, who opposed Republican U.S. Representative Hal Rogers in Kentucky's Fifth Congressional District during the 2010 election.
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Victory at the United Nations:
|  A culture war at the United Nations ended with victory for gay rights organizations.
Nearly a month after the United Nations General Assembly's Human Rights Committee approved an Arab and African proposal to cut the reference to slayings due to sexual orientation from a resolution on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, international pressure lead by the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, as well as the United States Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, the original text has been reinstated. |
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Facebook statement receives positive reaction from both gay and straight people:
|  A Facebook post on the personal account of Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer created a lot of likes and conversations. Palmer stated:
"I give and do the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end. People ask me why I am so passionate about causes and our Governments. No government can survive without the support and will of the People. Being gay, if the laws of this Commonwealth do not recognize me and protect me, then they should not apply to me either."
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Governor Beshear, DADT, and Love is Love:
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- Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear responds to Kentucky Equality Federation about the Equality Bill currently being considered by the Kentucky House and Senate. (more)
- Kentucky's U.S. Senate Delegation Opposed Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT); U.S. Senate Passes the Bill! (more)
- Artist shares "Love is Love" music video with Marriage Equality Kentucky. (more)
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Letter to the Editor: Equality for All
| Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer wrote an editorial to the Editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal about the Statewide Equality Bill being considered by the Kentucky House and Senate. The editorial was published on January 12, 2011. (more)
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Thank you for your time, attention, and dedication to equality!
Please forward this email to as many people as possible!
Sincerely,
Richard T. Jones
Chairman of the Board
Halyn Roth
Managing Director, Marriage Equality Kentucky
Dean Byrd
Treasurer and Secretary of the Corportion
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Public Advocate
| Part of Kentucky Equality Federation's Mission is to act as public advocate for citizens of the Commonwealth who suffer from discrimination, hate crimes, school and workplace bullying. If you or someone you know needs our assistance, please contact our Discrimination, Hate Crimes, and School Bullying Committee directly. Kentucky Equality Federation will be your advocate!
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Financial Help
| Kentucky Equality Federation also offers financial assistance to qualified individuals who need help paying for rent, utilities, life-saving medications, and other essential items as our budget permits.
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LGBTI Religious Icon Retires
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If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God.
When will we learn that human beings are of infinite value because they have been created in the image of God, and that it is a blasphemy to treat them as if they were less than this and to do so ultimately recoils on those who do this?
In dehumanizing others, they are themselves dehumanized. LGBT people are part of God's family.-
Archbishop Desmond Tutu |
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