April, 20 2009, 11:15am EDT
Freedom to Marry Launches Voices for Equality Program
50 Voices for Equality Already Nominated, Help Us Reach 100 Voices by May 2009
NEW YORK
Freedom to Marry announced today the creation of its new
program-Voices for Equality-an online record of prominent Americans
who have spoken out against discrimination in marriage. From religious leaders
to entertainers to politicians, these non-gay and gay women and men are
refusing to be silent at a time when America's promise of equality is at
stake.
"The Voices for Equality program highlights those who are
speaking out for marriage equality in order to honor these voices and help
promote conversations across the country with these individuals as
examples," said Evan Wolfson,
executive director of Freedom to Marry and author of Why Marriage Matters: America,
Equality and Gay People's Right to Marry. "A great
example of a Voice for Equality is Steve Schmidt, chief strategist of John
McCain's presidential campaign, who spoke out in support of marriage equality
just recently, and gave a speech about why Republicans should embrace the
freedom to marry."
Our first
50 Voices for Equality, including Steve Schmidt, are already profiled on the
Freedom to Marry website (https://www.freedomtomarry.org/about_us/voices_for_equality.php),
but everyone can help spotlight the next 50. Beginning April 20, 2009,
nominations will be accepted to build the roster of Voices for Equality.
Make sure your hero is among that group by sending an email to
Tahlib@freedomtomarry.org today.
"A
small group of volunteers from across the country put together this first group
of prominent individuals," noted Tahlib Disney-Britton, Freedom to
Marry's Voices for Equality Program Director. "Now we want everyone
to help us meet our goal of 100 Voices for Equality by May 1st."
Submissions
can be made by e-mailing your nomination to Tahlib@freedomtomarry.org and
describing why you think this person deserves to be a Voice for Equality. While
we welcome all allies who are supportive of equality for gay people, only those
who have taken a public stand expressly for marriage equality can be
spotlighted as one of Freedom to Marry's Voices for Equality.
Read
Online: https://www.freedomtomarry.org/press_center/voices_for_equality.php
Freedom to Marry is the gay and non-gay partnership working to win marriage equality nationwide. Headed by Evan Wolfson, one of America's leading civil rights advocates and lawyers, Freedom to Marry brings new resources and a renewed context of urgency and opportunity to this social justice movement.
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A retired general suggested Monday that the Trump administration’s strike on shipwrecked survivors on September 2 may have been a war crime.
In the face of mounting scrutiny, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has continued to defend what has been described as a "double-tap" strike off the coast of Trinidad, alleging that the two survivors were drug traffickers bound for America who could have still theoretically harmed it in some way despite clinging to the wreckage for their lives following the first strike.
NBC reported this weekend that Adm. Frank "Mitch" Bradley, who oversaw the strikes, told lawmakers that Hegseth had given direct orders for all 11 men aboard the vessel to be killed because "they were on an internal list of narco-terrorists who US intelligence and military officials determined could be lethally targeted.”
Last week, when reports first emerged of a second strike, Hegseth denied that it had taken place, calling it “fake news” before the White House later confirmed and defended the killing of the survivors.
Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, who served as the commanding general of the US Army Europe from 2011 to 2012, discussed the strikes on Monday in an appearance on MS NOW's (formerly MSNBC's) "Morning Joe."
"It is, in fact, in my view, a war crime," Hertling said.
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Hertling suggested that the frequent use of the term "double-tap" to refer to the strike was a misnomer, as was Hegseth's invocation of the phrase "fog of war" to defend the military's actions.
“That’s a term that special operators use when there are two successive rounds at a target to eliminate it, and to get rid of someone who is attacking them,” the general explained regarding the claims of a "double-tap" strike. “This was a restrike, with time between the first strike and the second. That gives you time to figure out what you’re going to do and clear that so-called ‘fog of war.'”
He cited the definition from Carl von Clausewitz, the 18th-century Prussian general and military theorist who coined the term to describe the “uncertainty” of battle.
"Secretary Hegseth is basically convening everyone to think he has been in war for 20 years, and this is the kind of thing that happens in war. It's not," Hertling continued. "What I'll tell you, having been involved in strikes like this on the ground, the only time you consider a restrike is when the enemy continues to fight, and you're continuing to either strike them with artillery or some type of faraway missile. So a restrike like this occurs when you realize the individuals on the ground or in the water are trying to fight back."
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The strike was the first in a months-long campaign of extrajudicial bombings by the Trump administration on boats that they have claimed without evidence have contained drug traffickers bound for the US. At least 87 people have been killed in the two dozen strikes since September. Some of those killed in the strikes were later reported to have been ordinary fishermen, and others who had nothing to do with the drug trade.
While focus has been centered on the details of the September 2 strike in recent days and Hegseth's role, experts have emphasized that the entire boat-bombing campaign is illegal.
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