The Push Is On For Equality

I'm excited Obama passed the federal hate crime bill.

Here is a helpful website with this issue
http://whosigned.org/
Who we are

WhoSigned.Org is a grassroots organization of Washington State residents who believe that fairness, equality and freedom from discrimination are core values of our state.

We believe the process for initiative and referendum petitions that maintain discrimination by opposing equal rights and protections for Washington State residents must meet a high standard of transparency to ensure a fair and open discussion in the public forum.


Why we exist

In April 2009 our elected representatives in the Washington State Legislature passed SB 5688. This bill expands existing Domestic Partnership legislation that protects both same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples aged 62 and older.

The bill also provides more protection and security to thousands of children who are growing up in the homes of same-sex couples in Washington State (according to analysis of US Census data, 18% of all same-sex couples in Washington State are raising children under 18 years of age).

The Faith and Freedom Network, under the leadership of Oregon resident Garry Randall and Larry Stickney, have lodged Referendum 71 to prevent these expanded Domestic Partnership protections from being enacted. Once the referendum title and description are approved, they have until July 25th 2009 to collect the 120,577 signatures needed to place Referendum 71 on the ballot in November 2009.

At a time when many states are moving from Domestic Partnerships and Civil Unions to providing Civil Marriage equality to their citizens, Washington state is still struggling with whether and how they will treat all couples and families equally.

equalityboy81 wrote:

I'm excited Obama passed the federal hate crime bill.

Obama had very little to do with its passage. Please do not give him credit when none is due. He has done more for marijuana smokers than he has done for his gay/lesbian citizens.

Dubya wrote:

<quoted text>
Obama had very little to do with its passage. Please do not give him credit when none is due. He has done more for marijuana smokers than he has done for his gay/lesbian citizens.

He did not campaign against it, as Bush has done. He did not kill it. He signed it with fanfare.

It's a start.

Quest wrote:

<quoted text>
He did not campaign against it, as Bush has done. He did not kill it. He signed it with fanfare.
It's a start.

I will agree that it's a start, but as it was part of other must-sign legislation, I'm not sure he would have signed it if were a single bill since he has nothing else. At the least, we need to let him know that talk is cheap; we need to see some real leadership from him in this area. There has been precious little shown!