Unfinished Lives

Remembering LGBT Hate Crime Victims

Hate Crimes Victims Remembered at Dallas Day of Decision Protest

Queer LiberActionHundreds gathered to hear speakers call for protests in the streets to show the determination of the LGBT community to have equal rights.  The Dallas gayborhood rang with with voices of protesters in the largest street demonstration in years along Oaklawn and Cedar Springs.  Blake Wilkinson of Queer LiberAction named Matthew Shepard whose death 10 years ago has not yet been vindicated by federal hate crimes legislation.  He urged protesters to get angry that LGBT advocacy for hate crimes victims is so ineffective that a decade out from the Shepard murder, the queer community still does not have laws protecting LGBT people from being bashed and killed.  Then Wilkinson called on the crowd to channel that anger into effective local, state and national action, starting in the streets, with gay folk taking their message of equality to the people.

The large crowd moved up Cedar Springs Road to TMC, The Mining Company, a popular gay bar on the strip with a large, street side patio, where the rally heard a number of powerful speeches protesting “separate but equal,” second-class status for LGBT Americans.

Dallas Queer LiberAction protest at the Legacy of Love column

Dallas Queer LiberAction protest at the Legacy of Love column (Dallas Voice photo)

May 26, 2009 Posted by | anti-LGBT hate crime murder, Bisexual persons, gay men, Legislation, Lesbian women, Marriage Equality, Monuments and markers, Popular Culture, Protests and Demonstrations, Social Justice Advocacy, transgender persons | , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Hate Crimes Victims Remembered at Dallas Day of Decision Protest

President Obama Meets Judy Shepard at White House

SHEPARD_OBAMAWashington, DC – President Barak Obama met Judy Shepard, mother of slain gay son, Matthew Shepard, in the Oval Office of the White House, according to Jon Barrett of The Advocate.  President Obama affirmed his support of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act still pending action in the United States Senate.  The House version of the bill has already passed by a wide margin.  While a Senator, President Obama voted in favor of the act, and told Mrs. Shepard that he would sign it once it reaches his desk.  Though brief, the meeting was a significant indication of the support of this president for justice for LGBT people and their families and friends.  The Obama administration has been criticized for moving slowly on LGBT issues.  Former White House aide to President Bill Clinton, David Mixner, for example, is calling for a march on Washington to pressure the president to follow through on his support for the LGBT community, such as the repeal of DADT (Don’t Ask Don’t Tell) and of DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act).  Critics point out that other groups who helped elect President Obama have already received significant support and legislation, such as women, blacks, and hispanics.  The LGBT vote went heavily in favor of the president in the November general election, playing a significant role in swinging states into the Democratic column in the case of Florida, Indiana, and North Carolina, where slim margins suggest the necessity of the queer vote.  Shepard counseled patience with the president today.  “We are victims of our own hope,” she says. “These bills are going to get passed, it’s just going to take time and work.”  For now, Shepard is calling on citizens to call their Senators to urge them for passage of the Shepard Act when it comes to floor of the Senate.  She also calls on friends of anti-LGBT Hate Crimes legislation across the country to discourage Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada from attaching the Shepard Act to a Defense Department Appropriations Bill, which she believes will hurt its chances of passage.

May 20, 2009 Posted by | African Americans, anti-LGBT hate crime murder, Washington, D.C., women | , , , | Comments Off on President Obama Meets Judy Shepard at White House

California Senate Approves “Harvey Milk Day,” May 22

harvey-milk

By a bipartisan vote of 24-14, the California Senate has approved May 22 as Harvey Milk Day, according to Advocate.Com.  Milk, the first openly gay elected official in the United States, was slain on November 27, 1978 by jealous San Francisco City Supervisor, Dan White, along with Mayor George Moscone. Milk’s murder rocked the gay rights world, and secured a martyr’s respect for the affable politician whose advice to all LGBT activists was “You gotta give ’em hope!”  Milk would have been 79 this coming May 22, the choice of his birthday a deliberate effort to preserve his story and legacy for generations to come.

Harvey Milk Day will be a “Day of Significance” throughout the Golden State.  The designation differs from a state holiday in that state employees will not be given the day off, and state offices will not close.  Nonetheless, the action of the state Senate is unprecedented in recognizing the importance of Milk’s contribution to the struggle for human rights in general, and for LGBT rights in particular.  In view of the controversy surrounding same-sex marriage and Proposition 8, this first annual commemoration becomes even more timely.

Among those testifying in favor of the Harvey Milk Bill was Dustin Lance Black, who received an Academy Award for his screenplay of the film Milk, starring Sean Penn in the title role.  Black expressed his debt to Harvey Milk who kindled hope in him as a Mormon boy in Texas who was isolated and hedged in by anti-gay sentiment.  The sole Republican to join the Senate’s 23 Democrats to vote for the creation of Harvey Milk Day, Senator Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, credited Black’s testimony before the Senate Education Committee with causing him to flip his vote from “no” to “yes.” “I rarely get swayed by testimony,” Maldonado said.


May 15, 2009 Posted by | Bisexual persons, gay men, Lesbian women, Marriage Equality, transgender persons | , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on California Senate Approves “Harvey Milk Day,” May 22

Clergy Call for Passage of Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act on Capitol Hill

Unfinished Lives Project Director, Dr. Stephen Sprinkle, delivers the Opening Prayer at Clergy Call 2009

Unfinished Lives Project Director, Dr. Stephen Sprinkle, delivers the Opening Prayer at Clergy Call 2009

More than 300 LGBT Clergy and Allies hit Capitol Hill to pray and lobby for the passage of the Matthew Shepard Act and a fully trans-inclusive Employment Non-Descrimination Act.  A new breeze seemed to be blowing in the halls of government.  The Human Rights Campaign Religion and Faith Program, directed by Harry Knox and Sharon Groves, coordinated three days of events, May 4-6, 2009.  Among the speakers for the Press Conference were Dr. Tony Campolo, noted evangelical leader, and Dr. Jo Hudson, Rector and Senior Pastor of Cathedral of Hope in Dallas.  Clergy from all 50 states attended.  The Matthew Shepard Act awaits the action of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and chief sponsor Senator Ted Kennedy in order to bring the legislation (which has already passed the House of Representatives by a healthy margin) to the floor of the Senate.  President Obama has publicly indicated that he would sign the bill into law when it reaches his desk.  Federal Hate Crimes legislation was first introduced in Congress 17 years ago.  So much has happened since, and so many have needlessly died.  With the Hebrew Prophets, the ministers, rabbis, and priests meeting for Clergy Call 2009 cry out, “How long, O Lord?”

The gathering of large contingents of LGBT Clergy and Allies to lobby for passage of fully inclusive hate crimes federal legislation, first in 2007 and now, has done much to persuade fence-sitting members of Congress that the radical right does not own the religious vote on this issue.

May 14, 2009 Posted by | Hate Crimes, Washington, D.C. | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Clergy Call for Passage of Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act on Capitol Hill

    Next Entries »