Posts Tagged ‘Congress’

March 13 Webinar: Taking Love to Congress for Compassionate Immigration Reform

No Comments | Share On Facebook| March 13 Webinar: Taking Love to Congress for Compassionate Immigration Reform Share/Save/Bookmark Mar 06, 2013

We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to pass compassionate, comprehensive immigration reform. Our plan is for a massive mobilization of our community and partners to hold visits with members of Congress during the in-state district work period from March 25-April 5.

Join the Standing on the Side of Love webinar on Wednesday, March 13 at 8pm ET for an informative presentation on meeting with your federal representatives.

Congress will likely pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) legislation this year and whether it is compassionate in addition to comprehensive depends on how much we and other faith communities influence the outcome.

We asked you to commit to doing an in-district advocacy visit, i.e. neighbor-to-neighbor meeting, with your members of Congress. In-district visits are one of the most effective ways to ensure that your voice is heard.

More than 30 congregations have already signed up to conduct visits and several UU State Advocacy Networks are making plans for these as well. We’ve also heard from UU leaders of congregations participating in interfaith community organizations that are visiting their Members of Congress. Please call now and make an appointment to meet with yours ASAP. It’s easy to make an appointment to speak with your legislators, and a small group from your community can have a real impact.

Never done a lobby visit before? No worries! We can help walk you through the process. This call will also be informative for folks who are comfortable with advocacy, but want a refresher, along with some up to the minute details on where we currently stand with compassionate immigration reform.

Join the Standing on the Side of Love webinar on Wednesday, March 13 at 8pm ET and you’ll learn everything you need to set up and conduct and effective advocacy visit.  

Speakers: Unitarian Universalist Association Witness Ministries and Standing on the Side of Love staff and leaders from UU congregations, UU state networks, and districts.

RSVP here!

See our step by step guide on how to set up a district advocacy visit, talking points, and more at www.standingonthesideoflove.org/CIR.

With your help, people of faith will play a key role in ensuring that immigration reform is compassionate, and reflects the worth and dignity of all people. Commit to doing an in-district lobby visit today!

Love keeps families together, love respects the inherent worth and dignity of all people, love has no borders.

In faith,

Susan Leslie
Lead Organizer
Standing on the Side of Love

PS: The first 50 congregations to sign-up will receive a packet of Standing on the Side of Love goodies to support their work–click here to register your in-district visit today!

The message above went out on Tuesday, March 5, 2013 to Standing on the Side of Love supporters. You can sign-up for these emails here.

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Day 2: Our Nation Needs Our Message

1 Comment | Share On Facebook| Day 2: Our Nation Needs Our Message Share/Save/Bookmark Jan 20, 2013

Today is Day 2 of the Thirty Days of Love. Today’s action is to ask your members of Congress to commit to civil and respectful discourse in the new legislative session. Click here for resources, family actions, and more! Click here to sign up for the daily Thirty Days of Love emails.

Like you, I am frustrated by the current state of our national political discourse.

After a contentious election year culminating in the nail-biting fiscal cliff negotiations and in the face of upcoming debates on several big issues like preventing gun violence, comprehensive immigration reform, and the debt ceiling, we all find ourselves in search of a more compassionate national dialogue. None of us has all of the answers. What we do have is our hearts. When we stand on the side of love, we allow our hearts to be our guide, and we ask others to do the same.

In honor of Inauguration Day tomorrow, ask your members of Congress to stand on the side of love by denouncing vitriolic language in the public discourse and committing to a more respectful, bipartisan climate. Click here to send your message to your national lawmakers.

When I first moved to Washington, DC as a college freshman, I was enamored with politics and government. I loved The West Wing and dreamed that one day I would help bring a vision of social justice to our nation’s capital. But after I saw our political system up close (sans Martin Sheen), I lost hope that justice-making could ever survive amid the pervasive vitriol.

Now, working with the Standing on the Side of Love campaign, I’ve seen firsthand the way our message of love can change a conversation, bring people together, and carry us a step closer to the Beloved Community. Imagine what a difference it would make if that message were to permeate the halls of Congress?

Take this opportunity to ask our leaders to work with us for something better. Click here to take action.

In faith,

Meredith Lukow
Program Assistant
Standing on the Side of Love

PS: Do you have ideas for the future of the Standing on the Side of Love campaign? Join our Facebook chat with Campaign Manager Jennifer Toth on Friday! You can find details here.

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Congress: Do Your Part to End Border Patrol Abuses

1 Comment | Share On Facebook| Congress: Do Your Part to End Border Patrol Abuses Share/Save/Bookmark Nov 16, 2011
NMD congressional briefing

Panelists: Jennifer Podkul from the Women's Refugee Commission, Tania Chozet from the ACLU of New Mexico, and Danielle Alvarado from No More Deaths.

Yesterday afternoon advocacy organization representatives and congressional staffers gathered in a small room in the Canon House Office Building for a congressional briefing on No More Deaths’ “Culture of Cruelty” report.  As we have reported previously (here and here), No More Deaths conducted interviews with nearly 13,000 migrants and documented 30,000 incidents of abuse and mistreatment by the U.S. Border Patrol in short-term detention over the course of three years. At the briefing, Danielle Alvarado from No More Deaths, Jennifer Podkul of the Women’s Refugee Commission, and Tania Chozet from the ACLU of New Mexico’s Regional Center for Border Rights each spoke about their experiences working with migrants near the border and their frustration surrounding the Border Patrol’s flat out denial of the report’s findings.

While the report presents a multitude of alarming statistics about the situation on our southwestern border (for example: “out of 433 incidents in which emergency medical treatment or medication were needed, only 59 (14%) received it before being deported – the other 86% were deported without receiving needed medical care”), yesterday’s briefing focused on the actions that members of Congress can take to alleviate the situation.

Despite the report’s disturbing findings, the Border Patrol has been unwilling to meet with No More Deaths locally.  This is not an isolated incident–Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has a reputation for being unresponsive to both civil society and congressional information requests.  The only existing oversight mechanism–the Department of Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights & Civil Liberties (CRCL)–is understaffed, does not have the authority to issue penalties or make binding recommendations, and is not independent enough to truly hold the agency accountable.  Consequently, no one is asking questions about questionable Border Patrol policies.

In contrast, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has introduced access policies to allow advocacy groups to visit their detention facilities and conduct independent monitoring.  This program allows ICE to benefit from the expertise and advice of the advocacy community as well as fosters dialogue about ICE policies.  This model could provide similar accountability for Border Patrol policies and facilities.

The panelists emphasized that they are not asking that the laws go unenforced, just that they be carried out in a humane way.  This kind of abuse and mistreatment is inexcusable, particularly in the United States of America.  Moreover, though these policies are conducted under the guise of national security, human rights abuses do not make us safer.  Congress can do a number of things to hold the Border Patrol accountable for their actions including adding oversight and reporting conditions in budget bills and calling for oversight hearings.  Our members of Congress need to start asking the tough questions and requiring the executive agencies to take responsibility for the abuses occurring on their watch.

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Want to do something about Border Patrol abuse?  Sign our petition.  Call the White House and ask the administration to launch an investigation.  Contact your members of Congress and ask them to call for an oversight hearing.  Make your voice heard!

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The Pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness

1 Comment | Share On Facebook| The Pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness Share/Save/Bookmark Jul 20, 2011

Lisa Polyak & Gita Deane were lead plaintiffs in litigation against the state of Maryland which challenged the constitutionality of denying marriage licenses to same-gender couples. The couple of 30 years remain vocal, visible leaders in the efforts to achieve marriage equality in Maryland and across the country.

The message below went out to Standing on the Side of Love supporters on Wednesday, July 20, 2011. You can sign-up for these emails here.

This week the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear for the very first time testimony regarding the discrimination faced by gay and lesbian families due to marriage inequality. The first-ever hearing on repealing the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), passed by Congress in 1996, is scheduled for today. Finally, the real effects of DOMA will be reckoned with the rhetoric that coerced its passage.

Gita Deane & Lisa Polyak, with daughters Devi & Maya, are leaders in Maryland's marriage equality movement. They will soon celebrate 30 years together.

Gita Deane & Lisa Polyak, with daughters Devi & Maya, are leaders in Maryland's marriage equality movement. They will soon celebrate 30 years together.

For the two of us, marriage inequality has meant navigating moments when our family was threatened with dissolution due to immigration status, being forcibly separated by medical staff during the birth of our daughter, and never being able to share the essential protection of family health insurance — all for want of a civil marriage license

Now, with DOMA being aggressively challenged in the federal judiciary, the President of the United States endorsing its repeal, and a hearing this week on that very prospect, it’s clear the beginning of the end of DOMA is already here. Public policy must answer to public opinion, and recent polling shows that the American public is no longer willing to tolerate the second-class status of gay and lesbian couples and their families.

As members of Congress consider the testimony of families like ours in favor of repeal, it is essential that they hear from fair-minded citizens like you who want your laws to reflect your values– values of compassion and equality and love.

Will you take a moment and let your members of Congress know that you wholeheartedly support repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act?

Click here to express your support for eliminating DOMA once and for all.

In the 8 years that we have been advocates for marriage equality, we have come to know that there is no demographic litmus test when it comes to those who support equality. Our friends and allies come from all political parties, all races, all religions and ideologies. Equality transcends these superficial differences – and Congress needs to hear that those who support marriage equality do, too.

Later this year we will celebrate our 30th anniversary as a couple. Although it is not a wedding anniversary, we take comfort in the fact that we have been blessed with good health, steady work, wonderful children, and the capacity to navigate the challenges that life has brought us. It is our hope that in the very near future, anniversaries will be only for celebration of what was achieved – not for wistfulness of what might have been.

This week, elected officials and policymakers are being called to account for laws that deny our families equal treatment. Congress will no longer be able to avert its gaze from the faces of our families, our hopes, or our harms.

Please join us as we raise our voices to Congress and insist that all loving families be afforded the dignity and protection of civil marriage.

Send a message to your Congresspersons today and help put an end to DOMA once and for all.

The harm suffered by our lack of legal connection did not defeat us. The indignity suffered by our children did not deter us. The simple reality of our lives has transcended the stereotype and the prejudice. We now claim our place – openly – in our communities, workplaces, schools and houses of worship. We are, and have always been, entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

In solidarity,

Lisa Polyak & Gita Deane

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Tell Congress: Stop Defending the Indefensible

2 Comments | Share On Facebook| Tell Congress: Stop Defending the Indefensible Share/Save/Bookmark Mar 31, 2011

Bruce Knotts is a former Foreign Service Officer and the current Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office

The message below went out to Standing on the Side of Love supporters on Thursday, March 31, 2011. You can sign-up for these emails here.

Equal Benefits for Equal Work. That was the motto of GLIFAA (Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies) when I served on their Board of Directors. For 25 years, I served my country as a Foreign Service Officer at the Department of State in American embassies and consulates general in places like Athens, Lusaka, Calcutta, Lahore, Karachi, Khartoum, Nairobi, Abidjan and Banjul.

Bruce Knotts and his husband Isaac

I’m married to Isaac Humphrie. We were married in Canada and our marriage is recognized by the State of New York. However, our marriage is not recognized by the Federal Government because of the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA).

What does that mean to us? My heterosexual colleagues enjoy benefits for themselves, their spouses and children. These health and pension benefits are worth thousands of dollars every year. Despite having done as much or more work than my colleagues and faced as much or more danger in the line of duty, my spouse has no access to my benefits. That means that Isaac has no health benefits and no access to my pension benefits.

It’s time to end institutionalized discrimination based on sexual orientation in this country. Tell Congress it is time to repeal the “Defense of Marriage Act” and restore the rights of lawfully married same-sex couples to receive the protections of marriage under federal law.

Send a message to Congress today to repeal DOMA.

In Nairobi, I survived the terrorist bombing of our embassy in 1998 and earned two awards for heroism, superior honor and meritorious honor, which are among the highest awards that can be given to an American diplomat. While in Abidjan, I learned that there were reports that the Liberian President had sent an assassin with orders to assassinate me. It seems that Charles Taylor believed that I was sending Liberian refugees to the United States (I sent over 7,000 to safety in the United States). Charles Taylor, believed that these Liberian refugees (mostly women and children) would be trained to kill him, so he wanted me dead. I served my country with distinction and honor. In 2007, I retired from the Department of State and took my current position at the Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office in New York City.

While the families of my colleagues enjoy benefits worth thousands, my 25 years of work facing life-threatening danger earns me not a penny in benefits for my family. To add insult to injury, in the State Department, pets (dogs and cats) receive travel benefits up to $1,000 per trip, while same-sex partners receive nothing. We are treated with less value than a dog. It is past time that those who have served this country with courage, and all Americans, receive equal benefits for equal work.

Can you join me to stand on the side of love and help our country move towards a place of inclusion for all families, and respect for all love?

Tell Congress to end marriage discrimination and to repeal DOMA now.

Thank you,

Bruce Knotts
Executive Director
Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office

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