In the News:

Task Force responds to President Bush’s State of
       the Union address
Oppose the war in Iraq: March on the Capitol
       this Saturday
Upon her shoulder: In ’07, women gain wider role in
      government and politics
Join us Feb. 2 for DC Leadership Awards kickoff event

Task Force responds to President Bush’s State of the Union address

“Perhaps the election results served to check the president’s use of dangerous wedge politics since he chose not to lobby for a federal constitutional amendment to ban marriage rights for same-sex couples. While this is positive news, it hardly erases the last six years of legislative and policy attacks our community has suffered under this administration.” — Matt Foreman, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

[ Read Matt Foreman’s full statement ]

[ Read and respond to Jason Cianciotto’s OutSpoken blog entry on the State of the Union ]

Oppose the war in Iraq: March on the Capitol this Saturday

In December 2002, the Task Force joined Win Without War, a broad coalition of groups — including the NAACP, the National Council of Churches, the Sierra Club and NOW — opposing the invasion of Iraq. The coalition’s statement said: “We believe that a preemptive military invasion of Iraq will harm American national interests. Unprovoked war will increase human suffering, arouse animosity toward our country, increase the likelihood of terrorist attacks, damage the economy and undermine our moral standing in the world. It will make us less, not more, secure.”

Four years later, every single part of this statement has become reality, only far worse than anyone could ever have imagined. Rather than finding a way out of this immoral morass, President Bush is committed to making it worse.

This Saturday, tens of thousands will march on the Capitol to oppose the war. Pride at Work is organizing an LGBT contingent, which will march right behind the labor contingent. We urge you to join the contingent and come to CWA Building at 501 Third St NW (Judiciary Square metro stop). People will start assembling at 10:30 a.m. and start marching at 11:15 a.m. Just look for the rainbow flag in the crowd and join us. If you’d like more information, contact Jeremy at jbishop@aflcio.org.

Upon her shoulder: In ’07, women gain wider role in government and politics

“The diverse group of women now answering the call to public service revives a legacy that converted protest into policy and made the founding principles of this country a credible standard for reform the world over. So powerful is this collective force of conscience that it will outlast even the Bush years.” — Task Force board member Hans Johnson

[ Read and respond to this full commentary by Hans Johnson ]

Join us Feb. 2 for DC Leadership Awards kickoff event

Please join us for a cocktail reception to kick off this year’s
DC Leadership Awards, our national dinner. The reception takes place at the home of Bill Eskridge on Friday, Feb. 2, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Our special guest will be Lane Hudson, who broke the Foleygate scandal. To RSVP for this event or for more information about the DC Leadership Awards, please contact Janice Thom, director of special events, at jthom@theTaskForce.org or 646.358.1467. And mark your calendars for the 2007 DC Leadership Awards: Saturday, May 5, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel.

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