NGTLF Retracts Support For ENDA

"The morning the sun rose after the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling, we all woke up in a changed and intensified landscape of religious exemptions being used as an excuse to discriminate. The reality is that while politics is about compromise, some compromises are too great. After much soul searching, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund has decided to withdraw its support for the current version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. As one of the lead advocates on this bill for 20 years, we do not take this move lightly but we do take it unequivocally — we now oppose this version of ENDA because of its too-broad religious exemption." - Rea Carey, head of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, joining the increasing chorus of opposition to the current form of ENDA.

RELATED: Leading that chorus has been Queer Nation, which has protested and picketed outside of numerous LGBT events to raise awareness of the religious exemptions in ENDA. 

ALSO RELATED: Under its previous executive director Matt Foreman, the Task Force also opposed the 2007 version of ENDA due to its then-exclusion of transgender protections, which were stripped from the bill in a compromise led by former Rep. Barney Frank. In May of this year, Foreman called for "pulling the plug" on the current form of ENDA.

NYC Pride Reveals 2014 Grand Marshals: Laverne Cox, Rea Carey, Jonathan Groff

Via press release:

Heritage of Pride, organizers of NYC Pride and the annual New York City Pride March, today announced the Grand Marshals for 2014. This year’s marshals are Rea Carey, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; Transgender Activist and “Orange is the New Black” actress Laverne Cox; and Broadway, film, and television actor Jonathan Groff, appearing this summer in “The Normal Heart.” “Our 2014 marshals are leaders in brilliant forms of activism through which LGBT people and their allies engage,” said March Director David Studinski. “Individually, they represent the diversity within the LGBT community and the various struggles our community members have and continue to face. Collectively, their stories reinforce that no voice is too small nor weak to make change in our world - and it starts with being yourself.”

SLIDESHOW: Under One Sun

Yesterday Father Tony and I spent the afternoon at the Winter Party Festival's Under One Sun event at Miami Beach's Surfcomber Hotel. As you can see, it was quite the festive mob scene, so I spent much of the party comfortably removed in one of the poolside balcony cabanas. And I still got sunburned.
SLIDESHOW: Many hotties within. Full-screen images here.

PODCAST: Same Sex Sunday

Same Sex Sunday is a weekly LGBT news podcast hosted by activists Phil Reese and Joe Mirabella, the latter of whom is being subbed for this week by Metro Weekly reporter Chris Geidner.

This week's guests:

Rea Carey, Executive Director of the NGLTF
Michael Cole, Press Secretary for the HRC
R. Clarke Cooper, Executive Director of the LCR
Paul Crist, Board Member for Americans for Democratic Action
Diego Sanchez, Senior Legislative adviser for Rep. Barney Frank
Shawn Werner, Dir. of Campaign Services for the Victory Fund

Topics discussed this week:

*White House DADT meeting that took place early last week
*What to expect in the lame duck session
*What the fate of the LGBT agenda may be next Congress

Subscribe via iTunes.

April 22nd: LGBT Leadership Town Hall

SiriusXM radio host Michelangelo Signorile will host a national LGBT leadership town hall in Washington DC on Thursday, April 22nd. The show will aired live nationally.

The Panel: National Gay & Lesbian Task Force executive director Rea Carey; Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese;National Center for Transgender Equality executive director Mara Keisling; Servicemembers Legal Defense Network executive director Aubrey Sarvis; former Clinton White House adviser on gay rights Richard Socarides and blogger and activist Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend.

When: Thursday, April 22, 2-4 ET, Sirius 109, XM 98.

Where: XM studios, Washington DC. (Listeners can enter a drawing to win tickets to be part of our studio audience, must be in by Friday at the end of the day to win). Will be aired live on The Michelangelo Signorile Show, 2-4 ET, Sirius 109, XM 98 and streamed online.

Signorile reports that activists David Mixner and GetEQUAL's Robin McGehee will be among the special guests asking questions from the studio audience. Solmonese vs. McGehee, that should be very interesting.

David Mixner's 20 Most Powerful Lesbians

For those you who have issues with yesterday Out Power 50 list, former Clinton White House adviser David Mixner has his own list of the 20 most powerful lesbians in politics. Mixner's top ten: Rachel Maddow, Tammy Baldwin, Hilary Rosen, Pam Spaulding, Randi Weingarten, Christine Quinn, Annise Parker, Rea Carey, Urvashi Vaid, Dr. Marjorie Hill. Hit the link for the complete list and Mixner's explanations.

Rock For Equality: Hundreds Rally In CA For Social Security Benefits

Hundreds of activists and politicians rallied in West Hollywood this weekend calling for equality in Social Security benefits. Speakers included Sen. Barbara Boxer and NGLTF head Rea Carey.

State and local officials joined hundreds of people outside the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center in Hollywood on Sunday morning to kick off a national grass-roots campaign demanding equal Social Security benefits for same-sex couples. The rally and march -- dubbed Rock for Equality -- was put together by the center and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in conjunction with the Aids Community Action Foundation, said Jim Key, a spokesman for the center.

At the rally, Rep. Linda T. Sanchez (D-Lakewood), who is a member of the House Subcommittee on Social Security, announced that she would sponsor legislation to provide equal Social Security benefits for same-sex couples. "I don't think it's right that Americans should be treated differently by the country they love because of who they love," she said, triggering thunderous applause and cheers from the crowd. "Right now, same-sex marriage couples pay equally into a system that they don't receive equal benefits from in return," Sanchez told the crowd. "Shame on this country for allowing that to happen." As of now, people in same-sex relationships are denied Social Security survivor benefits from their deceased partners because the federal government does not recognize same-sex marriages or domestic partnerships as valid relationships.

Go here for many more photos of the event. In the clip below, West Hollywood Mayor Abbe Land addresses the crowd.

Father Tony At The Winter Party

Father Tony had the grueling assignment of covering this weekend's Winter Party for The Bilerico Project. I don't imagine you'd care to look at a slideshow of hotties in Speedos, so definitely don't click here. The Winter Party is an all-volunteer annual fundraiser by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force which provides a boatload of money to local South Florida LGBT and HIV/AIDS groups. Below, NGLTF executive director Rea Carey sends a shout-out to JMG readers.

Reversal: Task Force Endorses National Equality March

UPDATE: The Task Force writes to note that the below is actually their first official statement on the National Equality March and as such should not be considered a reversal of earlier positions.

Reversing the position they gave me in a statement in early June, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force has issued an endorsement of the National Equality March.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, a leader in building grassroots lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) political power, endorses the National Equality March, which will be held in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 10-11. Thousands of people from across the country will march and rally in front of the U.S. Capitol demanding equal protection under the law for LGBT people and their families in all 50 states. At the march, the Task Force will engage new activists, support fair-minded clergy and other people of faith, and mobilize volunteer activists to return home engaged and energized.

"For the past 30 years, LGBT people and our allies have come together in Washington to be inspired, to engage in political action, and to go home geared up to create change. The National Equality March will bring together those of us who have never marched, those who want to renew their passion for action, and those who demand their voices be heard. When we mobilize for LGBT equality, for racial and economic justice, for a transformed society, and to make our love and lives visible, the Task Force is there. The Task Force will be there at the march to support the voices of new activists, LGBT people and our allies who push and push for the end to hatred, discrimination and unjust laws," says National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey.

Back in June, the Task Force said: "National marches can certainly have a community-building impact when energized participants return to their hometowns and get involved, but in an economic downturn — when resources are extremely limited for individuals and organizations, and critical work remains to be done locally — focusing on grassroots organizing at home is all the more critical."

What Would YOU Say To Obama?

National Gay & Lesbian Task Force executive director Rea Carey will be attending Monday's LGBT cocktail party at the White House and wants to know what you'd like her to tell the president.

I will be joining a group of LGBT leaders that President Obama has invited to a reception on Monday to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, the 1969 Greenwich Village demonstrations that gave birth to the modern LGBT rights movement. When I go to the White House, I want to take your voice with me. What would you say to the president? What would you ask? What story would you want told? Let me know by filling out the form below and I'll deliver your message.

Here is the form. Let us know your message.

NGLTF's Rea Carey On New Fed Benefits

NGLTF On The March On Washington

I've asked some major LGBT rights organizations to issue a statement saying whether they support the proposed March On Washington in 2009. The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force's executive director Rea Carey responds:

“The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has long held that equality begins at home and that power is built from the ground up. We have seen enormous progress made in towns, cities and states across the country as grassroots activists have focused their energy and talents on creating change in their own backyards.

“Out of the nationwide Equality Begins at Home campaign, organized by the Task Force in the late 1990s, thousands of activists got to the hard work of affecting policies and changing hearts and minds through 350 political actions in all 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico. We saw the incredible potency of tens of thousands of activists getting engaged in their own states — which in turn helped drive the national dialogue about and advancement of LGBT equality. With the tremendous opportunities and challenges that face us in states across the country, we encourage people to get involved in their local communities, meet with their elected officials to educate them about the broad range of issues that are important to LGBT people, and stay engaged with the work of achieving equality.

“Activism takes many forms, from netroots organizing, to people taking to the streets after the November elections, to people talking with their family members and friends about being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender — sometimes for the first time in their lives. National marches can certainly have a community-building impact when energized participants return to their hometowns and get involved, but in an economic downturn — when resources are extremely limited for individuals and organizations, and critical work remains to be done locally — focusing on grassroots organizing at home is all the more critical. To make change, to be part of making history, one need go no farther than our own hometowns, our own dinner tables, our own places of worship, our own statehouses.”

That feels like a definite "No" from the Task Force. The HRC's response is here. Response from other major LGBT orgs are in the works and will be posted here as they come in.

Gay Orgs React To Warren Selection

Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force:

"President-elect Obama campaigned on a theme of inclusivity, yet the selection of Rick Warren to give the invocation is a direct affront to that very principle. This was a divisive choice, and clearly not one that will help our country come together and heal. We urge President-elect Obama to withdraw his invitation to Rick Warren and instead select a faith leader who embraces fairness, equality and the ideals the president-elect himself has called the nation to uphold."

Joe Solmonese, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign:

Dear President-elect Obama

Let me get right to the point. Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans. Our loss in California over the passage of Proposition 8 which stripped loving, committed same-sex couples of their given legal right to marry is the greatest loss our community has faced in 40 years. And by inviting Rick Warren to your inauguration, you have tarnished the view that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans have a place at your table.

Rick Warren has not sat on the sidelines in the fight for basic equality and fairness. In fact, Rev. Warren spoke out vocally in support of Prop 8 in California saying, "there is no need to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population ... This is not a political issue -- it is a moral issue that God has spoken clearly about." Furthermore, he continues to misrepresent marriage equality as silencing his religious views. This was a lie during the battle over Proposition 8, and it's a lie today.

Rev. Warren cannot name a single theological issue that he and vehemently, anti-gay theologian James Dobson disagree on. Rev. Warren is not a moderate pastor who is trying to bring all sides together. Instead, Rev. Warren has often played the role of general in the cultural war waged against LGBT Americans, many of whom also share a strong tradition of religion and faith.

We have been moved by your calls to religious leaders to own up to the homophobia and racism that has stood in the way of combating HIV and AIDS in this country. And that you have publicly called on religious leaders to open their hearts to their LGBT family members, neighbors and friends.

But in this case, we feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination. Only when Rev. Warren and others support basic legislative protections for LGBT Americans can we believe their claim that they are not four-square against our rights and dignity. In that light, we urge you to reconsider this announcement.

Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California:

"It is appalling that President-elect Barack Obama would invite California Pastor Rev. Rick Warren, an ardent supporter of Prop 8 and someone who is opposed to the equality of LGBT Americans, to give the invocation at his inauguration. Would President-elect Obama invite someone to give the invocation who supported eliminating the civil rights of a minority other than the LGBT community? Of course he wouldn't! This is a slap in the face to the millions of LGBT Americans who supported his historic candidacy"

Rea Carey Takes Over Task Force

Rea Carey, deputy executive director under Matt Foreman for the last four years, has been tapped to replace Foreman as executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force. Foremen left the Task Force four months ago to helm the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund.

Foreman reacts to Carey's appointment: “Rea is an extraordinary leader, a brilliant thinker and passionately committed to complete equality for our people. Her appointment as the new executive director is not only wonderful for the Task Force and its future, but for the entire movement."