Wednesday, January 25, 2012 Long Island Community Fellowship will host a Transgender Rights Advocacy Meeting at 7:00pm in our Fellowship Room. Long Island Community Fellowship is committed towards working to ensure all people are treated with respect regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or any other classification..

Campaign for Transgender Civil Rights

GENDA is a bill that adds the category of “gender identity and expression” to the already existing New York State human rights laws. Current law makes it illegal in New York State to discriminate on the basis of age, race, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, sex and other categories in the areas of employment, housing, public accommodations, education and credit. This act would extend current law to ban discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression as well. Similarly, it would add gender identity and expression to these same categories already included in New York’s hate crimes law.

This tragedy calls on all persons to respond in Christian love by supporting our brothers and sisters in the Haiti community.  You can donate by clicking on below to support the people of Haiti.

DONATE HERE

All funds will be donated to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.  The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund will work to provide immediate relief and long-term support to earthquake survivors. We will channel the collective goodwill around the globe to help the people of Haiti rebuild their cities, their neighborhoods, and their families.

From a press release:
The Ali Forney Center received a gift of $300,000  today from the Estate of legendary actress Bea Arthur.

The Ali Forney Center, the nation’s largest organization dedicated to homeless LGBT youth, announced at Bea Arthur’s Memorial Service on September 14th that they planned to purchase a building to house 12 youths and name it her honor.

“We work with hundreds of young people who are rejected by their families because of who they are. We are overwhelmed with gratitude that Bea saw that LGBT youth deserve as much love and support as any other young person, and that she placed so much value in the work we do to protect them, and to help them rebuild their lives.” says Executive Director Carl Siciliano.

The Ali Forney Center offers emergency shelter and transitional housing in seven residential sites in New York City, and operates two drop-in centers offering food, clothing, medical and mental health treatment, HIV testing, treatment and prevention services, and vocational and educational assistance. It provides services to over 1000 young people each year.

Watch Governor Paterson’s speech at the Fall Dinner here.

Today newspapers across the state reported that the Governor wants to have the session on November 10, which means a vote on marriage could be two weeks away. (Associated Press)

We need to make sure that State Senators hear from all of us during the days leading up to the special session. They need to know that it would be unacceptable to return to Albany and not vote on the marriage bill. They also need to know that you, as their constituents, expect them to vote in favor of the bill.

The most effective way to advocate for marriage in this crucial time is to call your State Senator. It’s important that they hear from you even if you know that your Senator supports the bill. We need every State Senator to know that our community and our allies expect nothing less than a debate and vote on this issue of equal rights.

Click here to call now.

We’ve made calling your Senator as easy as possible—by using our “Click-to-Call” campaign, you can be patched through to your State Senator in moments with a few clicks of your mouse and at no cost to you. It’s extremely important that you call your Senator today and let them know that you expect a vote when they return to Albany and that you want them to support marriage equality for same-sex couples.

We’ll continue to send updates as things become clearer in Albany. For now, be sure to take action by calling your Senator and getting your friends and family to do the same!

PS – Check out news coverage from across the state on the Governor’s commitment to get a vote on marriage in the coming weeks: Newsday (Long Island), The New York Times(New York City), The Journal News (Hudson Valley), WSYR-TV (Syracuse), WIVB-TV(Buffalo)

(Announcement provided by Pride Agenda Action Center)