LGBT Group: Statement Of Purpose:

[Zorra]

Statement of Purpose

A group for LGBT DUers and allies. All topics of interest to the LGBT community are welcome.

[Zorra]

1. Thread has been unlocked.

[mitchtv]

2. as this is a political site

I am here to develop community and to advance the political/social agenda of said community (other than world domination).Also to have fun.Also here to testify on the Gay Rights movements last 40 years that I have witnessed and participated in.

[unclesammysays]

12. My Opinion

It seems to me that LGBT people Excel in our society. I have thought much about the fact that so many people seem to demonize them etc. I think that one of the best words to describe why certain people are against the Gay Community is because of
Jealousy.

[mitchtv]

13. "but of course"

surviving is a win for us

[Fearless]

3. As one of the hosts and avid reader of LGBT...

My primary interests are maintaining a positive environment in the group and enjoying feel-good stories of LGBT successes.

[closeupready]

4. To keep myself informed of GLBT current events, offer moral support for all GLBT people,

to discuss any and all issues relating to GLBT living and also, just to have a little fun once in a while.

[kiernen143]

5. Kansas House Bill 2260

I was very disappointed this bill passed the judiciary committee today, and even more upset that our own Jan Pauls is still throwing us under the bus. This is a very important bill to the religious anti-gay because it gives them the legal right to discriminate against LGBT people.

Kansas Equality Coalition has a lobbyist in Topeka, and here is the email I just received from him:

STATE REP JAN PAULS INSINUATES PEDOPHILIA AS JUSTIFICATION FOR DISCRIMINATION

In the House Judiciary Committee today, State Representative Jan Pauls repeatedly asserted that "gays and crossdressers" don't deserve protection from discrimination, and insinuated that we shouldn't be allowed to work in day care centers, and shouldn't be permitted to be foster parents. In a committee session lasting two hours, Pauls repeated attacked the right of LGBT Kansans to live our lives in peace, without having to worry about being fired, evicted, or refused service just because of our sexual orientations and gender identity.

At a legislative forum in Hutchinson on Saturday, Pauls launched a vicious attack on Kansas’ LGBT community. Saying local laws shouldn’t protect “gays and crossdressers,” she declared her support for HB2260, the pending bill that will nullify all local laws banning discrimination against LGBT Kansans.

Check out her rambling, anti-LGBT remarks here:

This isn’t the first time Jan Pauls has attacked the LGBT community. In her 20 years as a state representative, Pauls has targeted our community with a series of bigoted legislative attacks:

--- In 1996, she drafted and backed the Kansas “Defense of Marriage Act,” which banned recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states;

--- In 2005, she drafted and backed the constitutional amendment permanently banning marriage equality in the state of Kansas;

--- Last year, she blocked the repeal of the unconstitutional law criminalizing gay and lesbian relationships;

--- In every legislative session since 2007, Jan Pauls has opposed our efforts to add LGBT discrimination protections to Kansas law. She testifies against us in every hearing, and has often referred to LGBT Kansans in very insulting and demeaning terms.

--- Year after year, she has allied herself with the most anti-LGBT extremists in the Kansas legislature, and has used that alliance to make sure we are denied the same rights everyone else enjoys.

It’s time for Jan Pauls to be held accountable for her out-of-touch views. It’s time for Jan Pauls to be removed from any position of authority, and voted out of office.

While it’s important to note that Kansas Equality Coalition is a non-partisan organization, many of our members are Democrats and are active members of the Kansas Democratic Party. Pauls is also a Democrat, and she needs to hear from the Democratic Party that her views are in direct violation of that party’s official platform (http://ksdp.org/party/platform):

====================================================================================================
“Kansas Democrats believe in equal rights for every Kansan regardless of race, color, age, physical abilities, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity.”
--- From the Kansas Democratic Party Platform
====================================================================================================

Even though Pauls has worked against her party’s own platform for years, she keeps being rewarded with leadership appointments. This must end!

HOW YOU CAN HELP

--- Let Jan Pauls know how unhappy you are with her out of touch, anti-LGBT statements:

Rep. Janice L. Pauls
Kansas State Capitol
300 SW 10th St., Room 451-S
Topeka, Kansas 66612
785-296-7657
[e-mail]

Home Information
1634 North Baker
Hutchinson, Kansas 67501
Phone: [phone]

--- Support our continued work across the state of Kansas. If you’re not already a member of the Equality Coalition, you may join at http://www.kansasequalitycoalition.org/join/. If you’d like to make a contribution, your money will be invested in fighting every attempt by the anti-LGBT extremists to limit our rights. Contribution information is at http://www.kansasequalitycoalition.org/contact.php

--- Tell the Democratic Party it’s time to stop coddling Jan Pauls. She is currently the Ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary committee. This committee is responsible for hearing almost all bills regarding our Kansas system of justice – from jails to courts, from corporate law to civil rights law. Her support for the unconstitutional criminalization of gay and lesbian relationships is unacceptable, and should immediately disqualify her from serving in a position of such grave responsibility. Democratic Party leadership has also rewarded Pauls with an appointment to the Kansas Sentencing Commission, a position in which she participates in the oversight of jails and prisons around the state. Her support of unconstitutional criminal laws renders her unfit for either position. We call on the Democratic Party to stop rewarding Pauls for her anti-LGBT agenda, and immediately remove her from these appointments.

Joan Wagnon, Chair
Kansas Democratic Party
P.O. Box 1914
Topeka, KS 66601-1914
[phone]
[e-mail]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KansasDems
Twitter: @ kansasdems

Paul Davis, House Democratic Leader
Kansas State Capitol
300 SW 10th St., Room 359-W
Topeka, Kansas 66612
Email: [e-mail]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davisforkansas

--- If you live in Reno County, contact the local Democratic Party:

Reno County Democrats
PO Box 622
Hutchinson, KS 67504-0622
Email: [e-mail]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Reno-County-Democrats/150536981640532

--- If you are a Democratic Party activist, make your views known at this weekend’s Kansas Democratic Party’s state convention. More information on their annual conference, known as Washington Days, is at http://www.kansasdems.org/washingtondays . There is no charge to attend any of the meetings; the ticket prices are for the banquet and luncheon only.


We did not pick this confrontation with the Legislature, or with Jan Pauls, but we are not going to walk away from it. This isn't 2005 anymore, when an unorganized LGBT community could be walked over by an extremist minority. We will not back down, we will not go away; we will fight bigotry every step of the way.

Tom

Thomas Witt, Executive Director
Kansas Equality Coalition
Mobile [phone] | Office 316-260-4863
[e-mail]
http://www.KansasEqualityCoalition.org

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

6. have you seen this video on Santorum?

In his own words:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f93_1329777755

[fightthegoodfightnow]

7. Thanks for Posting

Need to save for 2016....we haven't heard the last from this nut.

[Zorra]

8. Please, don't post anything that may be insulting/degrading to the LGBT community.

This is a group, not a forum. Groups often serve as safe havens for members who share similar interests and viewpoints. Individuals who post messages contrary to our group's stated purpose can be excluded from posting in this group.

Statement of Purpose: A group for LGBT DUers and allies. All topics of interest to the LGBT community are welcome.

To all the sincere DU members posting here, you are so very welcome to share in our group. We are open to discussing a wide variety of ideas, and are sincerely grateful for your support of the LGBT community.

Please, if you are not significantly experienced with LGBT issues, try to understand that there are some folks outside the LGBT community who do not realize the extent and magnitude of the bigotry that all of of the individuals who comprise the LGBT community have encountered. There are also a number of people outside of the LGBT community that do not realize the extent to which anti-LGBT bigotry and language have become enculturated within the general non-LGBT culture.

If there is something that you wish to post and discuss here, please first consider what is written in the above paragraph, and be as sensitive to that as possible when you post in our group. We all want to avoid any misunderstandings to the greatest degree possible.

Thanks.

To malicious intruders:

Be aware that all members of this group are very sensitive to, and experienced with, subtle anti-LGBT posters. If you are a bigot, and you believe that you are so clever that you can get away with posting childish messages containing language, ideas, scenarios, questions, etc., intended as subtle insults to the LGBT community, think again.

We will recognize these types of posts for what they are immediately, and group hosts will block you from this group. Some of our hosts are also members of the MIR, the Malicious Intruder Response team.

If anyone posts here with the primary intention of asserting their right to free speech, and subsequently posts language or ideas that members of the LGBT community and/or LGBT allies find offensive, they will most likely be blocked from this group.

Once again: This is a group, not a forum. Groups often serve as safe havens for members who share similar interests and viewpoints. Individuals who post messages contrary to this group's stated purpose can be excluded from posting in this group.

Hosts
Group Hosts are assigned either by the DU Administrators, or by other Hosts of that group. Group Hosts have the following abilities: 1) They can lock threads which they believe violate the group's stated purpose; 2) they can pin threads to the top of the group; 3) they may completely block out members whom they believe are not adhering to the group's purpose;

[BillStein]

9. To help keep informed about issues

I want to know what is happening in our community, and how others affect us. That said, I also hope to learn what I, as an individual, can do to further strengthen the LGBT community, and promote our civil rights.

[Smarmie Doofus]

10. Would it be possible to combine the first three "pins" into one?

Less clutter.

Easier to locate "live" threads at a glance.

Thanks.

[DryRain]

11. Deleted: posted this in wrong forum