LGBT POV

I confess, my jaw dropped when I read that GetEqual’s Robin McGehee was making $89,000 as co-director of the new activism group, GetEqual. After all, I work in the LGBT press for enough money for food, rent and to take care of my two dogs.

And after reading the back and forth kicked up by The Bilerico Project’s Bil Browning challenging the legitimacy, authenticity and accountability of GetEqual in his provocative series “Is GetEqual the New HRC?” – one of the primary complaints seemed to be that Robin McGehee and her co-director Kip Williams are getting paid too much money (Kip’s getting $72,000 $80,000) by a private funder. The worry is that they are accountable to no one, least of all the tons of LGBT activists who’ve been working so hard for so long to secure LGBT rights for little or no money.

Please click inside for my opinion on this salary issue, as well as GetEqual and Robin McGehee – as well as interviews with Robin and her GetEqual co-director, Kip Williams.

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The Nazis Didn’t Even Dare This, But Mainstream And Even Progressive Media Voices Are Silent

Cross-Posted By Guest Blogger Bruce Wilson

After a burst of media coverage towards the close of 2009, the growing persecution of gays in Uganda seems to have dropped off radar screens not only of mainstream US media but also most of alternative and progressive media, on and off the Internet.

Meanwhile, if things go as planned, next Sunday May 2nd American evangelist Lou Engle, who played a major role in the push for California’s anti-gay marriage Proposition Eight, will stage one of his anti-gay, sexual purity-obsessed prayer rallies in Kampala, Uganda’s capital.

The The Bishops and Elders Council, convened by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, held a noontime vigil Tuesday at Washington DC’s National City Christian Church, in protest of legislation before Uganda’s Parliament, the Anti Homosexuality Bill, that would allow execution of homosexual Ugandans.

The bill would also create an Orwellian anti-gay police state by requiring citizens to report suspected homosexual activity to authorities or face three years in prison. Homosexuality in Uganda can already be punished by up to life in prison…..

Please click inside to read Bruce’s important and well-researched analysis.

US Sen. Barbara Boxer, who recently introduced a bill to extend COBRA health benefits to domestic partners, will be a featured speaker at Sunday’s Rock for Equality rally at the LA Gay & Lesbian Center in Hollywood. Boxer is expected to face a tough re-election battle this November.

But excitement is building over the anticipated announcement by Rep. Linda Sanchez, a member of the House Subcommittee on Social Security, that she plans to author legislation that would bring equality to Social Security benefits.

The Rock for Equality campaign organized by the LA Gay & Lesbian Center and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force demands an end to Social Security discrimination against tax-paying same sex couples. Organizers will rally at the Center’s McDonald/Wright headquarters at 1625 N. Schrader Blvd at 9:30am and then march down Hollywood Blvd and Vine Street for a “rocking chair rock-in” at the Social Security Administration building around 11:30am.

Please click inside for more info and to read the resolution passed by the LA City Council supporting efforts to bring equality to Social Security benefits.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey presented the annual State of the Movement address today at the 22nd National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change, in Dallas, Texas, where more than 2,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights advocates have gathered to strategize on how to advance LGBT equality.

Please click inside to read the text of her remarks which reportedly received several standing ovations and will be broadcast on CSPAN.

Leslie Ewing has arrived. At the NEM in DC. It’s hot out. Click inside for her POV.