Come Out For Our Youth-Making Calls To Congress For Safe Schools Now

In light of the terrible string of 9 suicides due to bullying in the last month, October 12th, which is the anniversary of Matthew Shepherd's death, will be a day where everyone everywhere will-

Come Out For Our Youth and call on Congress to pass the Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Student Non-Discrimination Act to end bullying now.

The LGBT community is overwhelmed with sympathy and anger but feelings are not enough. The loss of these young lives is a clarion call to action to end the epidemic of bullying in our schools. It’s time to make it better.

October 12th will be a day of nonstop calling on Congress to pass the Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Student Non-Discrimination Act to end bullying now.

Go to http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt to find out who your Congressperson is and call, fax or email them on October 12th and call on them to pass this important legislation before another young life is taken from us.

You can also call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202)224-3121 and ask for your senators' and/or representative's office.
Remember that telephone calls are usually taken by a staff member, not the member of Congress. Ask to speak with the aide who handles the issue about which you wish to comment.

After identifying yourself, tell the aide you would like to leave a brief message, such as: "Please tell Senator/Representative (Name) that I support The Safe Schools Improvement Act and The Student Non-Discrimination Act and call on him/her to support it also to end bullying in the schools now."

It just takes a moment of your time. You could even do it while on a coffee or lunch break. And each call will get us closer to ending the horrible string of suicides because of bullying LGBT or LGBT-percieved youth.

Please Come Out For Our Youth and make that call on October 12th.

thank you

Kelly Rivera Hart

Call To Make It Better

Asher Brown and Seth Walsh, both 13, Billy Lucas and Justin Aaberg, both 15, and 18-year-old college student Tyler Clementi all killed themselves after suffering anti-gay harassment. Aaberg, Brown, Lucas, and Walsh had endured bullying at school for years; Clementi’s roommate secretly recorded him having a sexual encounter with another man, and then posted the images online.

Seth Walsh, 13 years old, of Tehachapi CA, hanged himself; Billy Lucas, 15, of Greensburg, Indiana, also hanged himself; Asher Brown, 13, of Houston, shot himself in the head; and Tyler Clementi, a college freshman in New Jersey jumped off the George Washington Bridge after classmates allegedly violated his privacy and web cast live images of him in a sexual encounter with another male.

The LGBT community is overwhelmed with sympathy and anger but feelings are not enough. The loss of these five young lives is a clarion call to action to end the epidemic of bullying in our schools. It’s time to make it better. And we all have a part to play in making it better.

A week of nationwide events are taking place to come out for our youth. We can all come out and make it better for our Youth by calling for change.

The week from October 5th and leading up to October 11, Coming Out Day is a week to

1)Remember those Youth that we have lost because of bullying in schools,

2)Show support for the LGBTQQ Youth now with It Gets Better and other ways

3) Most importantly, Call on our congress to pass the Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Student Non-Discrimination Act to end bullying now.

A website has been set up for LGBTQQ Youth to get support and to find comfort with the It Get’s Better messages. It also hosts a list events happening this week of events leading up to Coming Out Day. Organizers are invited to post their actions. And it calls for the LGBT community to make it better by calling on all senators and representatives to get legislation passed to make our schools safe. The website is at: http://makeitbetterproject.com/

This is being organized by Sean Chapin and Kelly Rivera Hart. Currently, GLSEN, GSA Network, The Trevor Project, Dan Choi, Dan Savage, Affirmation- Gay and Lesbian Mormons, Marriage Equality USA and many other groups and individuals across the country are jumping onboard to send a positive message of support and a call to pass the legislation in the House for safe schools.

“Our LGBTQQ teenagers are dying at the hands of homophobia, and as National Coming Out Day approaches, it is time for all of us in the LGBTQQ and straight ally community to not just come out for ourselves but also come out for each other and especially for our young ones who need us now more than ever,” said co-organizer Sean Chapin.

Go to the site at makeitbetterproject.com and check out the events and the videos and the resources for teens that may be considering suicide. And notice that we are all pushing for October 11th to be a day of nonstop calling on congress to pass the Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Student Non-Discrimination Act to end bullying now. Everyone everywhere is asked to go to http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt to find out who their Congressperson is and call, fax or email them on October 11th and call on them to pass this important legislation before another young life is taken from us.

If I can say anything personally, is that I had a neighbor who was much younger than me who was constantly bullied by his father to "be a man." And in the end, he hung himself in his basement. I didn't know what words I could say to him to keep him going. I didn't know of any groups that would support him in the 70's. Today, it's a very different picture and these terrible stories of lives cut short have got to end.

thanks

Kelly Rivera Hart

Moment of silence tonight for the recent suicides

Tonight at 8pm ET and 5pm PT, The Trevor Project is asking all Americans for a moment of silence to mourn the loss of the six young LGBTQ people who recently died by suicide.

Raymond Chase, 19, RI
Tyler Clementi, 18, NJ
Seth Walsh, 13, CA
Asher Brown, 13, TX
Billy Lucas, 15, IN

Justin Aaberg, 15, MN

We will never know what they would've contributed to the world around them. We will never know how they would've brought beauty and joy and innovation to the world. Potential cut like a flower before it could bloom. Please share with everyone..

thank you

Kelly Rivera Hart

Come Out For Our Youth

Hi there

Looking at the headlines in the last month has me horrified. There have been four instances of LGBTQQ Youths and those perceived to be who have taken their lives after bullying in their schools. The ages range from 13 to 18 and the locations are everywhere in the US. This is devastating news!! And we must come out for our youth now to put a stop to this.

We can put all our attention to marriage, to the military, to the workplace, to whatever is our personal favorite issue but what good is it if we create these things and there is no future generation to keep it going?

So..

A week of nationwide events are taking place to Come Out For Our Youth. We are focusing on remembering the youth that have taken their lives because of bullying, calling nationwide attention to the huge problem of bullying in our schools and calling for the legislation for safe schools to be passed. This is all happening from Oct 5 up to Oct 11, Coming Out Day.

The week from October 5th and leading up to October 11, Coming Out Day is a week to

1)Remember those Youth that we have lost because of bullying in schools,

2)Come out and show support for the LGBTQQ Youth now with It Gets Better and other ways

3)Come out and call on our congress and senate to pas the Safe Schools Act to end bullying now

Stay tuned for more info..

Kelly Rivera Hart

Poz Activists Network

Revise Social Security HIV Disability Requirements Says Institute of Medicine..

Hi there

This could be bad news for a number of us. But we all need to be aware of what's probably coming up soon..

A new report issued by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) on September 13 says the criteria used by the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) to gauge HIV-related disability is outdated and should be overhauled to include new qualifications based on CD4 cell counts and specific sets of medical conditions.

The IOM recommendations, which have yet to be officially reviewed by SSA, reflect the fact that modern-day antiretroviral (ARV) therapy can often improve the health of HIV-positive people with low CD4 counts or a history of AIDS-related opportunistic infections and, in turn, effectively reduce the need for disability benefits. The report also stresses the need for disability benefits for people living with HIV experiencing certain non-AIDS-related complications and ARV treatment-related side effects that can lead to disability.

The HIV Infection Listings, established in 1993, are the criteria currently used to determine whether people living with HIV are disabled by their infection and eligible for benefits. For example, a person living with HIV and a history of employment may be eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)—and, with it, access to Medicare—once a serious AIDS-defining illness has been diangosed, such as Mycobacterium avium complex or cytomegalovirus. Other benefits, including Social Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid for people living with HIV who have limited employment histories, are also dependent on disability status as determined by SSA.

Since the Listings were created, the IOM report argues, HIV care has advanced and the disease has dramatically changed from a uniformly fatal condition to a potentially chronic manageable infection, in which CD4 cell recovery and a return to physical health—and ability to work—is an expected positive consequence of contemporary ARV treatment. Conversely, a number of non-AIDS-related health complications are becoming increasingly prevalent among people living with HIV receiving ARV therapy—such as neurocognitive impairment, chronic kidney disease, osteoporosis and a number of treatment-associated side effects—many of which can cause disability and were not included in the original 1993 HIV Infection Listings.

To account for the more recent reality that opportunistic infections can be cured or prevented by ARV treatment and prophylaxis, the potential health consequences of ARV therapy and the increasing prevalence of conditions that can occur jointly with HIV infection, IOM is now recommending to SSA that people living with HIV meet one of the following criteria to qualify for disability benefits:

• A CD4 cell count at or below 50 cells per cubic millimeter of blood serum, a laboratory benchmark that indicates an advanced stage of illness.
• One of a few rare but fatal or severely disabling HIV-associated conditions, such as pulmonary Kaposi's sarcoma, lymphoma and dementia.
• An HIV-associated condition that appears in another section of SSA’s full Listing of Impairment, such as cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease and hepatitis.
• An HIV-associated condition that is not already included in any other section, such as neuropathy, neurocognitive disorders and wasting syndrome.

In short, the IOM committee recommends that SSA move away from a list of less common AIDS-defining opportunistic infections and focus on manifestations and disease states that are more likely to be associated with disability today.

In addition to IOM’s disability-defining criteria recommendations, it also stresses the importance of mandated, regular reassessments of a person’s disability status by the SSA. “Since antiretroviral treatment often allows clinical improvement over a period of one or two years,” the IOM report suggests, “the committee believes claimants allowed under such a listing should be reevaluated periodically for disability status. The committee believes three years would allow for a sustained response and is the maximum practical period forSocial Security Administration (SSA) reassessment.”

For example, in a person living with HIV deemed disabled because of a CD4 count below 50 cells, “if the claimant’s CD4 count exceeds the minimum threshold and the claimant is not disabled according to other sublistings [after three years], he should no longer receive disability benefits. However, in the event that the CD4 count drops below 50 cells, his disability benefits should be reinstated.”

IOM notes that the proposed revisions to the Listings affect new HIV-positive SSDI and SSI applicants only and are not to be applied retroactively. While this means that people currently receiving SSDI or SSI, based on the 1993 HIV Infection Listings, will not be automatically disqualified if they do not meet the proposed criteria revisions, it is unclear if the qualifications for continued disability benefits in the proposed SSA reassessment recommendations will apply to current SSDI and SSI recipients.

Confusing matters further, the IOM report only addresses changes to SSDI and SSI qualification requirements—the committee sidesteps the important issue of access to care that, for thousands of people living with HIV, is tied to SSA disability status. At present, people living with HIV who are uninsured can access Medicare or Medicaid, once they have been deemed disabled by SSA. While the new recommendations may make it easier for some people living with HIV to qualify for these public health insurance programs, it is possible that the absence of list of serious opportunistic infections—some of which can occur at CD4 counts above 50—will hinder the ability of others to access health care when they need it.

"Although the issues of … access to care [is] critical in the discussion of Social Security disability benefits," the IOM report authors write, "in-depth discussion of the means by which people receive treatment and medications was deemed outside the Committee’s scope." SSA, in turn, will be left to grapple with the issue of how to retain people in care and on ARV treatment if the criteria for disability benefits are changed, a task that will likely be made much more difficult in light of existing AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) waiting lists for uninsured or under-insured people living with HIV and other changes stemming from the recent passage of health care reform legislation.

Still, the IOM committee members envision a more streamlined approval and reassessment process, should their recommendations be acted upon by SSA.

"The SSA claims process for people infected with HIV once reflected an early belief that HIV infection would result very quickly in an opportunistic infection or malignancy and lead to death over a short period," the authors conclude. "Medical advances and constant scientific progress have rendered those ideas out of date, as people infected with the virus can live longer, and more medically complicated, lives. Today, disability in HIV-infected claimants can be more precisely identified by clinical markers and specific sets of medical conditions. By updating the HIV Infection Listings to better reflect current clinical practice, SSA will be able to more accurately identify those people in need of Social Security disability benefits."

A more comprehensive review of the proposed revisions to the SSA’s disability criteria for people living with HIV will be posted soon by AIDSmeds.com.

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thanks

Kelly Rivera Hart

Why we probably won't get much in LGBT rights this year or next..

Hi there...

In the last 30 or so years, I've been conscious of civil rights advances and have seen it go from, comparatively, fast to very slow. Obviously, human rights for LGBT people are advancing at a snails pace. Am I mad about this? Definitely. Am I disappointed? Very much so. But am I surprised? No, not really..

I'm an optimist but with a bit of realism and try to live and work from that point. My optimism says that while we're not going forward very quickly, at least we're not going backward, well not everywhere. But my realistic part of my mind has to analyze the present situation and come to the conclusion that we may not get more than a few smaller wins here and there for a little while. And why?

We have to look at the big picture to understand what is slowing everything down. In spite of the fact, and in some ways, because of the fact that we now have a Democratic majority, a woman as the Speaker of The House and an African American as President, there are roadblocks to everything and anything that the present administration tries to accomplish. Things that are just basic common sense for the good of all citizens have been shot down as socialist acts. Things that are needed right now to help improve the economic freefall that, incidentally, started during and because of the Bush administration, are being attacked as too much government in our lives. Even proposals that were introduced by the Republicans are being shot down once accepted by the Democrats. And the Idiot Train just keeps on chugging with lies like Pres. Obama's religion or background. Palin, Beck and Faux News just keep grinding out one stupid and misleading line after another.

While we need and deserve all the rights promised to every American, the more careful and less socially aware middle America is focused on their jobs, and major lack thereof. By the way, the skeletal job market is affecting us all, Gay and straight so that is an issue we all need to pay attention to. America is focused on the horribly slow moving recovery from one of the worst recessions we've ever experienced. We're all barely hanging on financially, especially those of us with living with limiting health issues like AIDS and cancer. So we all are in this fight for economic recovery. And then there's the much needed Healthcare Reform that got whittled down to almost be more of a symbolic gesture than a true fix to a very damaged system.

And the state of party politics in DC have gotten so bad that every move towards advancement for the nation is a landmine for Democrats. In Ted Kennedy's memoirs, the Senator Kennedy spoke of a Washington DC that would debate, argue, filibuster and still find a way to find mutual ground. He also spoke of how different is has become. And while Democrats have become the donkey without much of a kick, the Republicans have blasted, lambasted and often out and out lied to the public to keep their private interests intact.

We deserve the rights promised to all Americans but delivered mostly to only heterosexual Americans. We should have the right to marry, to openly serve in the military, to work and attend school free from discrimination and attacks. But while everything Obama or Pelosi says is disputed, even when they side with the Republicans, we probably won't see too many major gains in the next few years and, if we don't ensure that the Repubs don't win back the Senate, House or White House, we'll be waiting a lot longer..

We need to keep on pushing for our rights, definitely, but we need to accept that a lot of what is being tackled in DC is also a big part of our lives and so we need to also push for the right decisions that affect all us, Gay, Lesbian, Trans, Bi and Straight.

thank you

Kelly Rivera Hart

The Conclusion of the Ruling on Prop 8

Hi there

Below is the text of the conclusion of the ruling that prop 8 is unconstitutional. To read the full ruling, go to: https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cand/09cv2292/files/09cv2292-ORDER.pdf

CONCLUSION

Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite- sex couples are superior to same-sex couples. Because California has no interest in discriminating against gay men and lesbians, and because Proposition 8 prevents California from fulfilling its constitutional obligation to provide marriages on an equal basis, the court concludes that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.

REMEDIES

Plaintiffs have demonstrated by overwhelming evidence that Proposition 8 violates their due process and equal protection rights and that they will continue to suffer these constitutional violations until state officials cease enforcement of Proposition 8. California is able to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as it has already issued 18,000 marriage licenses to same- sex couples and has not suffered any demonstrated harm as a result, see FF 64-66; moreover, California officials have chosen not to defend Proposition 8 in these proceedings.

Because Proposition 8 is unconstitutional under both the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses, the court orders entry of judgment permanently enjoining its enforcement; prohibiting the official defendants from applying or enforcing Proposition 8 and directing the official defendants that all persons under their control or supervision shall not apply or enforce Proposition 8. The clerk is DIRECTED to enter judgment without bond in favor of plaintiffs and plaintiff-intervenors and against defendants and defendant-intervenors pursuant to FRCP 58.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

VAUGHN R WALKER United States District Chief Judge