February, 18 2009, 03:43pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Vaishalee Raja, Communications Director,PHONE: (916) 284-9187,EMAIL:,vaishalee@eqca.org
Legislative Committee Passes Equality California-Sponsored Measure Challenging Prop. 8
Diverse group of more than 700 supporters descend on Sacramento for EQCA Lobby Day
SACRAMENTO
The Assembly Judiciary Committee passed a resolution yesterday
in a 7 to 3 vote opposing Prop. 8 as an illegal revision to the
California Constitution. The hearing took place during Equality
California's Lobby Day at the state capitol where more than 700
volunteers from across the state met with legislators and staff urging
them to support companion resolutions, SR 7 (Leno) and HR 5 (Ammiano).
The resolutions are sponsored by Equality California and would put the
legislature on record as opposing Prop. 8 as an invalid revision to the
California Constitution.
The
hearing included powerful testimony from resolution proponents, Dolores
Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, Shannon Minter, legal
director for the National Center on Lesbian Rights and Geoff Kors,
executive director of Equality California. Lobby Day
participants also shared their personal stories in testimony before the
legislature, putting the real harm caused by discrimination into the
legislative record.
"This was one of the
most impactful lobby days of its kind I have seen in Sacramento," said
Senator Mark Leno, Chair of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Caucus. "The determination that Lobby Day participants from all over
the state showed toward fighting Proposition 8 was moving and powerful.
In ever greater numbers, we continue to demonstrate the importance of
ensuring that the laws of our state treat all Californians equally."
"We
sponsored Lobby Day to help connect grassroots activists with elected
officials so that volunteers could engage with our legislators and help
them understand why supporting the invalidation of Prop. 8 is
absolutely crucial to preserve the equal protections guaranteed to all
Californians by the Constitution," said EQCA Executive Director Geoff
Kors. "We are honored that so many allies and supporters of equality
came together with a single purpose - to overturn Prop 8."
Lobby day brought together a diverse group of civil rights and faith leaders, community members and allies from across the state.
"As an African-American man of faith,
I believe it's my duty to speak out against the injustices of Prop. 8,
which threatens the fundamental purpose of our constitution - providing
equal protection for all people," said Lobby Day participant Rev. Art Cribbs, pastor of San Marino Congregational United Church of Christ.
"For the Constitution to have any meaning, core principles such as
equal protection simply can't be up for grabs in every election." Rev.
Cribbs also testified before legislators during the public comment
portion of the hearing on HR 5.
Lobby Day
followed a series of coordinated actions over President's Day weekend
focused on the effort to invalidate Prop. 8. EQCA also co-sponsored a
rally with Equality Action NOW, Marriage Equality USA, and California
Outreach at the Capitol.
"With the
resolutions opposing Prop. 8 moving forward this spring, we need to
make sure the necessary votes are secured to pass them in both houses,"
said EQCA Director of Government Affairs Alice Kessler. "And we are
absolutely thrilled with the tremendous outpouring of interest from
allies who took the time to talk to their elected officials about why
this issue is important not only to them but for all Californians."
Equality California is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots-based, statewide advocacy organization whose mission is to achieve equality and civil rights for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Californians.
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Warring factions in North Darfur state must "avoid locating military installations within or near densely populated areas, including towns and camps for internally displaced people," said one U.N. official.
Apr 26, 2024
The United Nations' top humanitarian affairs officials on Friday called for an immediate deescalation of hostilities in Sudan, where rival factions in the military government have been fighting for a year and where an attack on the city of El Fasher is reportedly imminent.
About 800,000 people in the city, the capital of North Darfur state, are in "extreme and immediate danger," U.N. aid operations director, Edem Wosornu, told the U.N. Security Council earlier this week, as she reported that clashes between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group, and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) are nearing El Fasher.
Fighting between the two groups has intensified in recent weeks, forcibly displacing an estimated 40,000 people.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Friday that the security situation in North Darfur has left more than a dozen aid trucks with relief supplies for 122,000 people stranded in neighboring Northern state, unable to proceed into the only capital city in Darfur that is not controlled by RSF.
"A patchwork of armed actors, including the Darfur Joint Protection Forces, the SAF, and the RSF control different parts of the El Fasher area," Human Rights Watch reported this week. "Tense calm alternating with episodic fighting has prevailed for months."
Since April 14, when RSF began to push into El Fasher, at least 43 people—including women and children—have been killed due to fighting between the SAF and RSF.
"Civilians are trapped in the city, afraid of being killed should they attempt to flee," said Seif Magango, spokesperson for the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk. "This dire situation is compounded by a severe shortage of essential supplies as deliveries of commercial goods and humanitarian aid have been heavily constrained by the fighting, and delivery trucks are unable to freely transit through RSF-controlled territory."
The lack of humanitarian aid in North Darfur has pushed the state toward a famine, with one child dying of starvation every two hours, according to a February report by Doctors Without Borders.
In December, the U.S. State Department announced an $85 million sale of radar and other military equipment to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which The New York Times reported last year has been covertly supporting the RSF.
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) proposed a joint resolution to block arms sales to the UAE in January, in light of its support for the paramilitary group.
Omar was among several lawmakers who wrote to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this week, urging them to "deliver urgently-needed humanitarian assistance" and to help end the hostilities.
Sudanese-Australian writer Yassmin Abdel-Magied urged Americans on Friday to pressure lawmakers and the White House to take more action.
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The Tennessee win "is breaking the brains of Republicans in that region. They're truly astonished that workers might not trust their corporate overlords with their working conditions, pay, health, and retirement," Thom Hartmann wrote in a Friday opinion piece.
"The problem for Republicans is that unions represent a form of democracy in the workplace, and the GOP hates democracy as a matter of principle."
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Just before voting began in Chattanooga, GOP Govs. Kay Ivey of Alabama, Brian Kemp of Georgia, Tate Reeves of Mississippi, Henry McMaster of South Carolina, Bill Lee of Tennessee, and Greg Abbott of Texas claimed that "unionization would certainly put our states' jobs in jeopardy" and the UAW is "making big promises to our constituents that they can't deliver on."
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As workers gear up for the election, the Alabama House of Representatives on Tuesday voted 72-30 for a bill that would withhold future economic incentive money from companies that voluntarily recognize unions rather than holding secret ballots. The state Senate previously passed a version of the legislation but now must consider it with the lower chamber's amendments.
The Associated Pressnoted that "Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed similar legislation on Monday" and that Tennessee already has one on the books.
With his signature on Senate Bill 362, "Kemp's aim is to thwart future organizing attempts by workers at automotive plants in Georgia, such as those operated by Hyundai Motor Group," according toThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
As the newspaper detailed:
Georgia has been a right-to-work state since 1947, when Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act, allowing workers to refuse to join a union or pay dues, even though they may benefit from contracts negotiated by a union with their employer. Just 5.4% of workers in the state belonged to a union in 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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The new Georgia law is expected to be challenged in court, labor experts have said.
Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su told the AP on Thursday that she is not sure if the department will challenge the laws, given the National Labor Relations Board's responsibilities, but she stressed that "there are federal standards beneath which no worker should have to live and work."
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The U.S. labor chief also slammed "unacceptable" union-busting efforts by companies and suggested that protecting the right to unionize is part of President Joe Biden's "promise to center workers in the economy."
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During congressional testimony earlier this month, USAID Administrator Samantha Power answered in the affirmative when U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) asked whether "famine is already occurring" in Gaza.
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Biden's February directive states that "the recipient country will facilitate and not arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance."
Not only has Israel blocked aid from entering Gaza as children there die of malnutrition and dehydration and millions teeter on the brink of starvation, Israeli troops have attacked Palestinian and international humanitarian workers attempting to deliver aid and desperate Gazans trying to receive it.
Observers say these attacks—which include the infamous " Flour Massacre" and the drone strikes that killed seven World Central Kitchen staffers—were deliberate, which Israel denies.
The blocking of humanitarian aid is a key component of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) genocide case against Israel brought by South Africa and supported by more than 30 nations. On January 26, the ICJ issued a preliminary ruling that found Israel is "plausibly" committing genocide in Gaza and ordered it to prevent future genocidal acts. Critics argue Israel has ignored the order.
According to Lynch:
The paper was cleared by 10 USAID officials, underscoring its widespread backing of the findings. But Sonali Korde, the agency's deputy assistant administrator and head of the Bureau for Humanitarian Affairs, signed off on the document with the phrase INFO, bureaucratic shorthand for passing it up the chain of command without committing to its conclusions. Blinken is required to formally certify to Congress in the coming weeks whether Israel complies with the White House determination.
Last month, the Biden administration
said that Israel's use of U.S.-supplied weapons complies with international law, an assessment lambasted by many observers including Palestinian American political analyst Yousef Munayyer, who called it "absolutely scandalous."
Palestinian and human rights advocates and more than two dozen congressional Democrats have challenged the Biden administration's claim that Israel is using U.S.-supplied weapons in compliance with domestic and international law, pointing to the use of 2,000-pound bombs—which can wipe out an entire city block—in densely populated areas and other potentially illegal actions. In December, Biden acknowledged that Israel's bombing was "indiscriminate."
Critics including progressive members of Congress have called for an arms embargo on Israel. However, Biden this week signed the biggest-ever U.S. aid package for Israel and has
repeatedly bypassed Congress to fast-track armed assistance to the key ally—which already receives nearly $4 billion in U.S. military aid annually. The Biden administration has also quietly approved more than 100 arms sales to Israel since October.
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