January, 15 2010, 02:01pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Inga Sarda-Sorensen
Director of Communications
(Office) 646.358.1463
isorensen@theTaskForce.org
Honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
WASHINGTON
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force honors the Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. on this, the day of his birth, as well as on
Monday's official holiday commemorating the civil rights leader.
Statement by Rea Carey, Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
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"We honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s enduring message of
courage, hope and equality. Dr. King is one of history's towering
beacons of inspiration to people around the world who struggle and
strive each day to show our common humanity. The global outpouring of
support and care expressed following the devastating earthquake in
Haiti is an example of how people from everywhere, and all walks of
life, can share in compassion and kinship, even in the most challenging
times. Dr. King knew we were capable of this human connection, and
spoke beautifully of its promise.
"Dr. King's legacy is everlasting. His words - 'injustice anywhere
is a threat to justice everywhere' - continue to resonate deeply
worldwide. We believe that were he alive today, he would be standing
side by side with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community
as we too reach for equality.
"Fortunately, we continue to have Dr. King's wisdom to lift us, even
in the face of setbacks. As he said, 'We must accept finite
disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.' We never will, because
we are on the right side of history."
Statement by Darlene Nipper, Deputy Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
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"Sharing a birthday with Dr. King has helped me to stay focused on
the dream and to fight for equitable and just treatment of all people
in society. I am profoundly thankful for his words and inspired by his
actions."
The National LGBTQ Task Force advances full freedom, justice and equality for LGBTQ people. We are building a future where everyone can be free to be their entire selves in every aspect of their lives. Today, despite all the progress we've made to end discrimination, millions of LGBTQ people face barriers in every aspect of their lives: in housing, employment, healthcare, retirement, and basic human rights. These barriers must go. That's why the Task Force is training and mobilizing millions of activists across our nation to deliver a world where you can be you. Join us!
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While applauding the U.S. House of Representatives' bipartisan passage of a bill to ensure that "law enforcement and intelligence agencies can't do an end-run around the Constitution by buying information from data brokers" on Wednesday, privacy advocates highlighted that Congress is trying to extend and expand a long-abused government spying program.
The House voted 219-199 for Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (FANFSA), which won support from 96 Democrats and 123 Republicans, including the lead sponsor, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio). Named for the constitutional amendment that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, H.R. 4639 would close what campaigners call the data broker loophole.
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Wednesday's vote followed the House sending the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act to the Senate. H.R. 7888 would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows for warrantless spying on noncitizens abroad but also sweeps up Americans' data.
The House notably included an amendment forcing a wide range of individuals and businesses to cooperate with government spying operations but rejected an amendment that would have added a warrant requirement to the bill, which the Senate could vote on as soon as Thursday.
Noting those decisions on the FISA reauthorization legislation, Ruddock stressed that "today's vote is a victory but follows a recent loss and ongoing threat as that Section 702 bill moves to the Senate this week too."
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Jeramie Scott, senior counsel and director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center's Project on Surveillance Oversight, also praised the House's FANFSA passage on Wednesday.
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Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at ACLU, similarly said Wednesday that "the bipartisan passage of this bill is a flashing warning sign to the government that if it wants our data, it must get a warrant."
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Leaked cables obtained by The Intercept show U.S. pressure on Security Council members including Malta—which currently presides over the body—and Ecuador.
While claiming that President Joe Biden backs "Palestinian aspirations for statehood," one of the cables asserts that "it remains the U.S. view that the most expeditious path toward a political horizon for the Palestinian people is in the context of a normalization agreement between Israel and its neighbors."
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As The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein and Daniel Boguslaw noted:
Since 2011, the U.N. Security Council has rejected the Palestinian Authority's request for full member status. On April 2, the Palestinian Observer Mission to the U.N. requested that the council once again take up consideration of its membership application. According to the first State Department cable, U.N. meetings since the beginning of April suggest that Algeria, China, Guyana, Mozambique, Russia, Slovenia, Sierra Leone, and Malta support granting Palestine full membership to the U.N. It also says that France, Japan, and Korea are undecided, while the United Kingdom will likely abstain from a vote.
Along with the United States, China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom are permanent members of the UNSC, so they also have veto power.
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Belgium—which is seeking economic sanctions against Israel in response to its genocidal war on Gaza—is expected to join Spain's push for Palestinian statehood after the country's European Union presidency expires in June.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who has also claimed to support a so-called "two-state solution"—has alternately boasted about thwarting Palestinian statehood.
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"After a year of preparation, we finally open the doors to our new research consortium, exposing the global network of reactionary forces that corrode our democracies, destroy our planet, and drive us closer to world war," the group added.
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