Human Rights Campaign Scorecard for the 110th Congress

justinVELEZgreenhalgh

The HRC’s Scorecard is a publicly-available assessment released every 2 years, which helps the LGBTQ community and its friends identify those members of Congress who are truly most supportive of EQUALITY, as measured by their voting records.

Especially since Colorado, of all states, is choosing between Rep. Mark Udall and former Rep. Bob Schaffer in an important Senatorial election, I think we in the gay community should really take a close look at who is really our friend. Just to make it simple, Mark Udall is clearly the ally we need in the Senate – and I truly hope he’s victorious on November 4th.

Can I just give a special shout-out to Rep. Diana Degette (D) (CO 1st Congressional District – Denver and Denver County) (A++ for her efforts), who has stood with us and TRULY been our friend on each and EVERY one of the legislative issues affecting the gay community that have been presented during the 110th Congress!!??!!

Congressman Mark Udall (D) (CO 2nd Congressional District) (A+ for his work) has voted with us on all but one issue, on which he did not vote and did not oppose us. Bob Schaffer, in the 107th Congress, which was the last one in which he served as a representative, voted AGAINST us 100% of the time – he is not our candidate!

Senator Ken Salazar (D) received a B+ on this scorecard for his 85% pro-LGBTQ voting record during the 110th Congress. His brother, Representative John Salazar (D) (CO 3rd Congressional District), received a B for his record. Representative Ed Perlmutter (D) (CO 7th Congressional District) also received a B for his efforts.

Reps. Marilyn Musgrave (R) (4th Congressional District), Doug Lamborn (R) (5th Congressional District), and Tom Tancredo (R) (6th Congressional District) all get Fs for their consistent failure to embrace EQUALITY in their Congressional voting patterns.

Sen. Wayne Allard (R), consistently one of the Senate’s least useful members, also gets an F for his opposition to legislative fairness.

Outside of Colorado, but totally relevant to the Presidential election, it should be noted that BARACK OBAMA is our friend and gets an A rating for his work in the 110th Congress, while JOHN McCAIN gets an F for his 100% opposition to LGBTQ legislation. I believe that choice is abundantly clear – Obama must win on 11042008!!!

The following LGBTQ-affecting issues have been dealt with during the 110th Congress:

Kennedy Amendment to Department of Defense Authorization Act (S.Amdt. 3035): an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act of 2008 that expanded federal jurisdiction to include hate crimes perpetrated on the basis of one’s race, gender, color, sexual orientation, gender-identity, etc. Note: SENATORS BARACK OBAMA and HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON BOTH WERE COSPONSORS of this LEGISLATION (source: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:SP3035:)
o Status: invoked cloture on 09272007 – passed by voice vote after cloture invocation (note: to invoke cloture means to abruptly and quickly end debate on an issue)

Judge Leslie Southwick Confirmation: 5th Circuit Court of Appeal – HRC-opposed nomination – the source of HRC’s opposition was in large part due to a decision made (Judge Southwick was part of the 8-2 majority) while he was a Mississippi state judge to grant sole custody of a child to the father in a case where the mother was an out and open lesbian – the mother’s homosexuality was cited in this decision as an important factor guiding the judges’ decision to grant custody to the father
o Status: confirmed – 59yea38no

Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act (HR 5501): reauthorizes the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) – a TRULY PROGRESSIVE piece of legislation in that it eliminates the ban on the entry of HIV+ visitors and immigrants into the United States
o Status: Senate voted FOR this Act (roll call vote – 80yea16no)

Early Treatment for HIV Act (S. 860): introduced in 032007 – would allow individual state Medicaid programs to cover HIV+ Americans in lowINCOME brackets before they develop fullBLOWN AIDS
o Status: 40 cosponsors as of 100308

Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S. 1105): legislation introduced in 042007 that would expand federal jurisdiction to include hate crimes perpetrated on the basis of race, gender, gender-identity, color, sexual orientation, etc.
o Status: 45 cosponsors as of 10032008

Uniting American Families Act (S. 1328): legislation to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide samSEX partners of UScitizens and legal residents the same immigration benefits as legal spouses have NOTE: the following 22 – yes, 22 – countries already provide this kind of commonsense recognition: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom
o Status: 19 cosponsors as of 100308

Tax Equity for Domestic Partner and Health Plan Beneficiaries Act (S. 1556): legislation designed to equalize tax treatment for employer-provided health coverage for domestic partners and other beneficiaries – the value of employer-provided health coverage for a domestic partner (or DP’s dependent(s)) would be excluded from the imputed income of the employee so long as the domestic partner is an eligible participant under the plan supported by over 50 major US employers that have joined the Business Coalition for Benefits Tax Equity
o Status: 26 cosponsors as of 100308 – referred to the Senate Committee on Finance

OBAMApride

BARACK OBAMA IS RIGHT FOR ME…
AND AMERICA…
AND THE WORLD…

justin velez-greenhalgh

To say that our social, economic, and cultural woes of late have been editorialized ad infinitum and ad nauseam would be a gross understatement. We all know. We all understand it. But we don’t all agree on or perhaps even know what would be the best course of action going forward. Not since the Presidential election of 1992, when Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton electrified the national political scene, has there been such an exciting American election.

I am, and have been since my 18th birthday, a registered Democrat. I naturally drift toward left-of-center candidates because I want politicians installed who have a true and compassionate sense of social welfare. I believe the best politicians are people who combine capitalist competitive advancement with necessary and beneficial governmental intervention in the development of broad-based military, economic, and social policy. That fact notwithstanding, I voted for George W. Bush and stand by my assessment of him as one of the finest foreign policy hawks and global information gatherers in the history of the presidency.

Wealth and wellbeing trickle up – not DOWN. Laissez-faire economics (taken to its illogical extreme) is a garbage source of public policy – nothing more than myths people have told us like…wait a half an hour after eating before entering the swimming pool or you’ll become sick AND santa claus loves the poor children too. Laissez-faire economics leads to market anarchism and brings us to the brink of capital market collapse – i.e. NOW. THIRD WAY economic thinking produces solutions and gives domestic and international policies that provide just the right balance of governmental intervention and private capital growth necessary to foster creativity and wealth augmentation. The redistribution of some wealth from the more productive sectors to the less productive sectors actually has the effect of creating opportunity, creating jobs, increasing levels of education, and therefore STABILIZING the American economy. Bill Clinton was dead on like the expert marksman Vice President Dick Cheney actually is when he advocated these policies in the 90s, and Barack Obama can be trusted to return this type of sense and stability to the Executive Branch.

And beyond domestic economics, what about the destructive nature of our international policies and their gruesome impact on the world’s impoverished? We hear conservatives and Republicans decry welfare programs, while they repeatedly advocate an Omnibus Farm Bill that gives unfair and unnecessary subsidies to large corporate farms at the expense of and to the detriment of smaller, deserving farm owners. Conservation, alternative energy, and nutrition programs repeatedly take a back seat – when they should be the drivers of reform. And FOOD DUMPING in the continent of Africa, one of the end results of overproduction, prevents hard-working African farmers from acquiring a livable income from the agricultural output they have to offer on the market (why pay for domestically-produced food products in Africa, when America dumps excess production, the result of its unjust policies, on an impoverished continent?).

Furthermore, we are spending far beyond our capacity to wage a war in, invade, and COLONIZE a nation that never attacked us. I admit I once was taken in by George W. Bush’s seductive arguments about not waiting for the terror to find us, but stopping it in its tracks. But alas, there is a reason why the international community respects the rights of sovereign nations. The Iraq War was WRONG – it wasIS costly – and it must be brought to carefully-planned, responsible end. The VERIFIED terrorists are in Afghanistan – yet it seems our efforts there have not been quintupled (or more) as they should be. Barack Obama was RIGHT to point out that our attempts have not been focused enough on finding Osama bin Laden and his ILK in the caves where they live. They should be hunted and destroyed. We should praise our veterans of war – and provide them with the POSTcombat assistance and healthcare they truly need. The GOP claims it stands with the military more than the Democrats, but they fail to honor the lifelong contract created with these brave men and women AFTER they have endured the daily risking of their lives in battle. Barack Obama will honor our servicewomen and servicemen in the right way.

And finally – on social issues – Barack Obama is our man. Senator Obama understands that abortion is a personally moral and individual decision for WOMEN to make. I, for one, will not tolerate a government that obstructs women’s health and refuses to respect the autonomy of the individual. The right to a safe and legal abortion is more than a right guaranteed under the Constitution, it is a HUMAN RIGHT. Feminists have worked too hard and for too long to see the right wing begin to strip away fundamental human liberties.

Not surprisingly, some people don't think that a crime committed against someone simply because s/he is gay or lesbian qualifies as a hate crime or is even an aggravating factor in the commission of violent assaults and/or murders. If you attack someone because he is gay and you hate that about him, then you are guilty of a HATE CRIME and there should be special and extended punishment waiting for you. Anyone with the integrity, bravery, and honor to serve in our military should have that ability. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was a disgusting compromise – a horrifying example where the social justice advocated by President Bill Clinton was perverted by hateful influences. DADT should be replaced by a permanent policy of non-discrimination that applies to all branches of the military. The Defense of Marriage Act is more legislative filth that deserves eradication. People who love one another and desire to enjoy all the legal rights that legally-recognized marriage can offer are coming together to make gay marriage a reality. It will happen. For those who oppose it and think God has anything to do with your viewpoint – YOU ARE WRONG. God is not on your side – you are working and coming from and organizing around a position of hate. The tide is turning and there will be social justice for all – and the far-right, religious conservative movement in this country will go down as one of the last, if not most powerful, groups to have held on to those elements of humanity that are ugly, morose, and destructive. God is at work – and what a surprise it will be for so many that love and kindness is actually available to each and every last one of us WITHOUT REGARD to GENDER, RACE, ETHNICITY, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, and RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION.

I pray for an Obama/Biden victory on November 4th - I have faith that it will be a good day.