WP: Gay Rights Groups Map Common Agenda

[DeepModem Mom]

Gay Rights Groups Map Common Agenda
Priorities Include Right to Marry, Ending Restrictions on Military Service

By Evelyn Nieves
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 17, 2005; Page A03


The November elections seemed to spell trouble for the gay equal rights movement, what with 11 new state laws banning same-sex marriages and wins for social conservatives in Congress.

Now, after weeks of soul-searching and much internal, and even public, debate over how to navigate the current political waters, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy organizations, known as LGBT rights groups, have a plan: to advance an ambitious agenda, including marriage rights.

To underscore their determination, 22 LGBT organizations, representing a spectrum of political goals and strategies, have, for the first time, released a joint list of priorities. They include pushing for equal employment opportunities; adding sexual orientation and gender identity to federal hate crimes law; fighting for protections for children of LGBT couples; overturning military restrictions on gay soldiers; opposing anti-gay state and federal legislation; and fighting for the freedom to marry....

***

The groups banding together include the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, which focuses its efforts on depictions of gays in the media; Log Cabin Republicans; National Stonewall Democrats; the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; and others....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14261-2005Jan16.html

[BR_Parkway]

1. Wow, there really IS a gay agenda. n/t

[rodeodance]

2. starting from the ground up--the only way to go