In the News:

Tell Congress: No ENDA without
      gender identity protections
Southwick confirmation an ‘outrage’
Conference registration is now under way
Special events

Tell Congress: No ENDA without gender identity protections!

After a month of debating whether or not to move forward with a bill that provides employment protections on the basis of sexual orientation, but leaves out protections for gender identity (which would leave vulnerable transgender people and lesbian, gay, bisexual and even heterosexual people who don’t fit certain gender norms), Congress is finally deciding how to proceed.

Your U.S. representative needs to hear from you, again, about the importance of only passing legislation that provides critical gender identity protections. Please call your representative today. Just dial the Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121 and ask to be connected to your representative’s office based on your zip code.

When a staff member answers the phone, say:

Hello, my name is [YOUR NAME ] and I’m calling to make sure the representative knows I only support an Employment Non-Discrimination Act that includes protections on the basis of gender identity. Please tell the representative that I don’t want Congress to vote on H.R. 3685, as it would fail to protect many people in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. If H.R. 3685 does come up for a vote, I oppose it. Congress should instead get back to work on H.R. 2015, the original version of ENDA that includes both sexual orientation and gender identity.

Southwick confirmation an ‘outrage’

The Task Force, Inc., expressed outrage over the Senate’s confirmation last week of Leslie Southwick to a lifetime seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

“It is unconscionable that a Democratic-controlled Senate, by an overwhelming majority, would confirm a judge with such a troubling civil rights record to a lifetime seat on the federal bench.”
— Matt Foreman, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Inc.

[ Read our full statement ]

Conference registration is now under way

You can now register to attend The National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change, the country’s preeminent political, leadership and skills-building conference for the LGBT movement. This year’s event will be held Feb. 6–10, in Detroit, Mich. During the past two decades, Creating Change has been the place where thousands of committed people have developed and honed their skills, celebrated victories, built community and been inspired by visionaries from movements for justice and equality.

At the 2008 Creating Change Conference — our 20th — the Task Force will celebrate 20 remarkable years of training activist leaders and nurturing community. To launch our third decade, we’ve moved the conference from the fall to early in the year, giving our movement the opportunity to prepare and set a proactive agenda following each election cycle. We will also be adding new and exciting elements to the conference, including more rigorous training for leaders at the state and local level.

[ Get full details and register here ]

Special events

Please join us this Saturday for the 11th Annual Miami Recognition Dinner, the premier gathering of the South Florida LGBT community. We are proud to present the first Eddy McIntyre Community Service Award to Jerry Chasen, who has contributed his time, money and professional service to most of Miami’s LGBT organizations. He has also played a major role in fostering the growth of the Miami Recognition Dinner and Winter Party Festival. And even if you won’t be in Miami this weekend, you can still participate in this event by bidding in our online auction on items such as “Urban Forces,” an original artwork created for the Miami Recognition Dinner by the artist Noel. Also available for bidding on are an R Family Vacations cruise and Winter Party Festival weekend package. To bid on these items or to purchase tickets to the event (tickets are available online until 6 p.m. EST Friday, Nov. 2), please go to www.theTaskForce.org/miami. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door.

The limited engagement of Die Mommie Die, starring the inimitable Charles Busch, is under way at New World Stages, 340 West 50th St., in New York City. Check out this hilarious mixture of whodunits, double crossings and suspenseful twists, where no one is who they seem, all served up with a funny, false-eyelashed wink! You can enjoy this show and benefit the Task Force, all in one easy click. Purchase your tickets at http://www.broadwayoffers.com/ and enter the code DMNGLTF and, magically, $5 will be donated to the Task Force for each ticket purchased. For purchases at the box office, mention this code during your transaction.

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www.theTaskForce.org