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For Immediate Release
January, 20 2012, 08:24am EDT
Contact:
Jackie Yodashkin
917-620-4502
Jackie@freedomtomarry.org
Mayors from Across the Country to Launch Mayors for the Freedom to Marry
Freedom to Marry, the campaign to win marriage nationwide, will launch Mayors for the Freedom to Marry at a press conference during the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, D.C. today. 80 Republican, Democrat and Independent mayors from cities across the country have pledged to support gay and lesbian couples' freedom to marry. By joining the group, mayors hope to expand public and political support for ending the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage.
WASHINGTON
Freedom to Marry, the campaign to win marriage nationwide, will launch Mayors for the Freedom to Marry at a press conference during the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, D.C. today. 80 Republican, Democrat and Independent mayors from cities across the country have pledged to support gay and lesbian couples' freedom to marry. By joining the group, mayors hope to expand public and political support for ending the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage.
The broad-based coalition of mayors includes Rahm Emanuel of Chicago and is chaired by mayors Jerry Sanders of San Diego, Thomas Menino of Boston, Michael Bloomberg of New York, Annise Parker of Houston, and U.S. Conference of Mayors President Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles.
Date: Friday, January 20, 2012
10:00 a.m. ET ***Please note updated start time
Location: Capital Hilton Hotel
2nd Floor Foyer outside Presidential Ballroom
1001 16th Street NW
Washington, D.C.
Participants: Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa of Los Angeles
Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York
Mayor Jerry Sanders of San Diego
Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston
Mayor Annise Parker of Houston
Mayor Marilyn Strickland of Tacoma
Marc Solomon, National Campaign Director of Freedom to Marry
Tom Cochran, U.S. Conference of Mayors CEO and Executive Director
Journalists who are uable to make it in person will be able to conference in by phone. Those interested in dialing into the press conference by phone should please contact Angela Dallara at angela@freedomtomarry.org/ 646-430-3925 for conference line information.
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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Human rights groups on Tuesday marked two years of civil war in Sudan by decrying "international neglect" and urging the international community do more to end the conflict, while one United Nations official warned that the worst of the conflict may be still to come.
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The head of the U.N. Children's Fund warned that Sudan is experiencing the world's largest and most devastating humanitarian crisis, according to a statement from last month.
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The two year mark of the start of the civil war comes on the heels of a wave of attacks in displacement camps and around the city of El Fasher carried out by paramilitary forces, according to The Guardian. Nine workers with Relief International were killed as part of the attacks.
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According to Rosas, both the Sudan Armed Forces, Rapid Support Forces, and their allies have committed atrocities, such as sexual violence against women and girls and tortute, that amount to war crimes. "Despite these atrocities, the world has largely chosen to remain passive. Alarmingly, the U.N. Security Council has failed to implement a comprehensive arms embargo on Sudan to halt the constant flow of weapons fueling these heinous crimes," she said.
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