Category — Lend a Hand

Based upon feedback we are endeavoring to improve the look and feel of the QWB blog. And this is where all you queers and such come in (or out depending upon your frame of reference)! Please drop us an email at blog@queerswithoutborders.com with any suggestions for improving the interface, usability or whatever strikes your fancy to tell us. And remember, anyone can be a QWB blogger, no security check performed by Homoland Security or any of that crap; just drop an email at blog@queerswithoutborders.com indicating you would like to blog on the site.

  If Queers Without Borders could fly off to San Francisco we would be there for the protest against HRC’s annual dinner. We will be there in spirit, in solidarity sending out our good vibs for justice and freedom for all. We will be in the street with the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, And Castro 4 All, SF Labor Council, Pride at Work at what these groups are calling the “Left OUT Party.” I found this information on Kelli Busey’s site  (see link for planetransgender on our side bar) and she had a link to an article from San Francisco’s Alternative Online News. The article by Tommi Avicolli-Mecca can be found here. There are many fine articles stating QWB’s position on HRC. To sum it up in a nut shell, Fuck HRC!!!

If you work hard, you deserve a secure retirement. And no one would suggest that Hartford’s retired teachers, paraprofessionals, police and firefighters didn’t work hard. Of course they did.

But Mayor Eddie Perez wants to slash the health benefits that retirees bargained for while they were working. Retirees are seeing their insurance premiums double and even triple!

Hartford WFP Councilman Larry Deutsch has been the real champion on this issue. Monday evening, Councilman Deutsch will introduce a resolution to put a 90 day moratorium on any changes to retiree health benefits, to give retirees the time to figure out their options, and to limit increases in retiree insurance premiums to a reasonable amount.

But we need you to join us. It’s time to stand up for retirees.

Join us for a rally for retirees:
Monday at 5:30 PM at Hartford City Hall.
Click here to invite a friend to the rally. [Read more →]

Forgot to mention in my previous post about the Providence IWW action that it would be wonderful to get a big carpool (dare I say, caravan?) to the protest next month. I will also send a note out to other relevant listservs, but I hope we can rally some righteous queers against the fucking pigs in N. Provi. If ever you needed a reason for why they get called that, just take a glimpse of Alex’s leg. Fuck the pigs. The only people they protect are the rich.

Published in NYC Indymedia-

 The Persistent Power of Socialist Feminism

Grassroots feminists will gather in San Francisco this fall at a National Conference.

This is a national conference for Radical Women, a Socialist Feminist organization founded in 1967 and active across the U.S. The conference will feature speakers from Central America, China, Australia and the U.S., plus interactive workshops. There will be discussions about building independent grassroots movements for revolutionary change; the role of women of color and immigrants in forging labor solidarity; multi-racial organizing; and youth and queer leadership. Conference dates are October 3-6, 2008 at the Women’s building in San Francisco. Daily registration is $15; and students and low income registration is $7.50. Everyone is welcome to attend. To register for this conference go to www.RadicalWomen.org. For more information call 212-222-0633 or email nycradicalwomen@nyct.net. Radical Women can be found at Freedom Hall, 113 West 128th Street, New York, New York 10027.

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The Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective is please to announce that it has received a grant from the Susan G. Komen For the Cure Connecticut Affiliate for Breast Cancer Outreach, Awareness, Education, and Screening. The amount awarded is double the amount that the agency has received in the past. [Read more →]

Dear Friends,

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The recent votes in congress to give Bush $165 billion more for Iraq and also to authorize warrantless wiretapping make it clear that we urgently need to elect real progressive candidates, not conservative Democrats and corporate pawns in order to protect our rights and ensure peace.

In the meantime, we must keep pressuring the representatives we have now to avoid yet another disastrous war- this time with Iran.

Next week the House of Representatives is likely to vote on Resolution 362, also known as the Iran War Resolution. [Read more →]

We ALL know what you have lurking in your closet! 

Open the  closet door and you’ll find that old toaster you won for helping your friend come out of the closet, clothes you don’t like (well maybe the real reason is because they don’t fit as well anymore), that ice cream machine you JUST HAD TO HAVE, and the assorted cool avant-garde items you used to decorate with.  Let us not forget that under your bed lurking with the dust bunnies are those nubuck colored work boots you wore to the dance clubs 10 years ago.  Moving out to the garage, you’ll find that exercise equipment that has not been touched since the day it was brought home 5 years ago, and those end tables that are so last year.  We’ll now is your chance!

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Greetings to all.

Our Blogger Registration is fixed and we invite each and everyone to post with us. We would love it. Just click on Blogger Registration.  When QWB started this blog we thought of this as a people’s blog much like our SPEAK OUT cart. Who speaks? We all speak. We would like this blog to become the Queer/LGBT and Ally forum of the area. Let’s talk multi-issue. 

PRIDE IS MORE THAN A TRINKET TRIBE

PRIDE IS ABOUT A REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT AND PEOPLE

June 2008 marks the 39th year after the rebellion at the Stonewall Inn in NYC. This marked the start of the massive LGBT movement in the United states. It was on those nights in June and early July that our people in New York’s Greenwich Village fought back against police harassment, injustice and opperssion that we faced daily. Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of this rebellion. It is never too early to reflect on where we as a people have been, where we are now, and where we are going.

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QUEERS WITHOUT BORDERS (QWB) 

Who we are. 

A small group of Queers activists who are active in the anti-war movement began meeting several years back to bring a queer presence to the many movements that we as individuals were involved in. Our name Queers Without Borders was taken from the slogan, “We are here, there and everywhere.”  It logically follows in our mind then that all issues are our issues. We stand with all who fight oppression. We work to build a new day of justice and a culture of peace. 

Over the years we have actively help to plan and to participate in all sorts of activities.  We firmly believe that for the lgbt community to not take a multi-issue stand is foolish and unwise and any single issue stand denies our true heritage. The following is just some of the events that we worked on. These are not listed in chronological order. [Read more →]

On Tuesday May 27 Claude Holcomb of ADAPT brought our list of demands to City Hall that had been put together at a meeting on Friday May 23. What followed was a whirl wind of activity that proves Fight City Hall and you can sometime win. It also shows what a group of activists who stand their ground can achieve. For a list of the demands click here  

First it was the e-mail send out on Wednesday May, 28 from Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez to officials in Public Works and in the City Managers office. Since there is no privacy notation on it I will share the letter here. The mayor wrote:

“Please take immediate action to modify the front entrance to the Library with an automatic *door device that will accommodate our severely handicapped residents. While I appreciate the reasons that led to the decision to limit handicapped access to the side door on Arch Street, I feel that it is necessary to enable access in the front of the building to all. Please provide a written estimate of costs and construction start date to me no later than this Tuesday, May 29th.” Eddie A. Perez, Mayor. [Read more →]

The average gas price in Connecticut is $4.06 per gallon — prices in Hartford might be even higher. So what is Big Oil’s solution? Not cutting into their record multi-billion dollar profits to reduce your pain at the pump. Instead, oil execs testified before Congress Wednesday that their solution is to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

Please act now to protect the Arctic Refuge»

Our own government estimates that drilling in the Arctic will only affect gas prices by two pennies per gallon … in twenty years. But our polar bears could be extinct in less than 50 years.

If you believe polar bears and their Arctic Refuge home are worth more than two cents per gallon, tell your senators to protect the Arctic Refuge permanently»

From the Care2 and The Petition Team.

The Demands:

1. Install a power door opener at the Front door of Hartford Public Library.

2. Work must begin by July 1st, 2008.

3. We must have in our hands a copy of the work order with date of start.

4. The Mayor of Hartford Eddie Perez must sign a letter committing to a start date.

On Tuesday May 27th Claude Holcomb of ADAPT will once again go to city hall with the demands that were drawn up at the meeting. We will also be pursuing legal remedies with supportive attorneys and reaching out to the anti-discrimination coalitions.

On May 30th at high noon the coalition that has formed under ADAPT’s leadership to address this problem, will hold a press conference at City Hall. 

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“From the moment Nancy Pelosi became speaker she said impeachment is off the table. My slogan is as long as I am on the table, impeachment is on the table.” To regain our moral authority the American people have to make a statement that we don’t agree with what our president has done.”

“The Employment Non-Discrimination Act is suppose to be about non-discrimination right?” Yet they left out the T.  How is that not discrimination? It seems like discrimination to me, if she were fully representing the gay community’s interest Pelosi would have remembered the T.”

The above quotes are by Shirley Golub a lesbian who is running against Nancy Pelosi in the democrat primary in San Francisco. The article here was published in the Bay Area Reporter on May 15, 2008.

QWB would like to take this one step further and ask that Mr. Bush and all his cronies be tried for war crimes. 

“Over and Over again we told them, and they still don’t want to listen” my friend Claude Holcomb told me. “I guess they don’t get it”, I responded. Claude is the founder of ADAPT CT. whose site can be found here.  ADAPT has been working for 7 months now in trying to get the city of Hartford and the Hartford Public Library to fix a big mistake.  The city of Hartford built a beautiful addition to the public library. Everything is spanking clean and shiny and up to the minuet with the latest technology. They even put in a fine new ramp to get from street level up to the entrance but guess what? They forgot to make the doors accessible for people in wheel chairs. No button. No automatic door opener. Claude told me that in researching this the cost of a button and automatic door is around $2,000 dollars. Not very much at all. The city says that they can’t put a button because the door is glass. Well I don’t where they have been as many doors with a button are made of glass. In fact where I work we have them. But the thing that makes us the maddest is being told to use the back door. “Go around to the back, that’s accessible.”  Well, let me say this isn’t 1952. To say something like that is rather insulting. I wonder what it feels like to go up the beautiful ramp in your chair and then to be turned around at the door and told to go to the back. About three weeks ago I went down to Constituent Services and talked to a Sue Mc Mullen in the office. She told me that she was waiting to hear from corporation council on what the ADA law says and then could tell me how the city would proceed. Today I put another call in to her. She seemed to talk a good round and round talk, telling me what she thought I would want to hear. At one point she said, that it is only a few people who were complaining. Today May 13 I sent out a e-mail to some of my activist friends in the community about this matter. I have included it in this article. I will update this as more information comes in. All are welcomed to come to the meeting on May 23rd at 4:30 pm. The meeting will be held at 24 Park Place which is Park Place Towers, the 2nd building from the street.

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This was received by e-mail from Jon Green, Director of Working Families Party. 

You might’ve seen it in the news. The legislative session came to a close at midnight, and despite hundreds of citizen lobby visits and thousands of phone calls and even more emails to legislators, the House never brought the Paid Sick Days bill to a vote.

But because of all your support, it’s not over. We’re pushing into over-time.

Yesterday, the leaders of the House and Senate began planning for a special session to complete unfinished business. And we have a chance to get the Paid Sick Days bill on the schedule for the special session, if we act now.

We need your help to bring Paid Sick Days back to life. Click here to email the House and Senate leadership and DEMAND they put Paid Sick Days on the agenda for the special session. [Read more →]

Note: This Draft Manifesto was produced by a group of Reconstruction Party activists who met in New Orleans on Saturday, Jan. 26 in support of the International Days of Action against Neo-Liberalism. This draft is being submitted for wide discussion and amendments to all activists interested in joining the effort to build a Reconstruction Party. Sister Cynthia McKinney participated in this meeting and contributed to this Draft Manifesto.

What We Want; What We Believe; What We Need. Now!
Draft Manifesto for a Reconstruction Party

” . . . whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.” — Declaration of
Independence

In the context of what is perhaps the most important Presidential election in a generation, we feel compelled to add our voices to the deafening silence coming from both the Democratic and Republican parties on the real issues of concern to us. We therefore insert this agenda — our agenda — into the current political discourse and assert our readiness to cast our votes on the specificity with which these issues are addressed in the electoral arena. We reject “differences” that will not make a difference and “changes” that will not bring about any change. The vision of the Reconstruction Party encompasses all communities in need of reconstruction. [Read more →]

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A CRY FOR THE EARTH 

Earth Day Song sung by Penny Hamer-Sorell, Felicity, Mary on Guitar, Sean Moore on Accordion and Joey Fiasco the slide show. Thanks for this beautiful work of art for our planet our home.

Strike out

3-Strikes

Don’t Think 3- Strikes won’t Affect Your Family

Juveniles!

Rally AGAINST 3-STRIKES Legislation

Black Low and Clean Slate Committee are holding a joint press conference and educational forum on the critical importance of alternatives to incarceration and community reintegration.

…The proposed 3-strikes legislation is based on the Washington state model. According to the Sentencing Cuidelines Commission in Washington, although the law was intended to lock up the stte’s worst criminals, results show that blacks are given life sentences at a much higher rate than whites. he Sentencing Guidelines Commission in Washington report shows that blacks make up 3% of the state population, but 37% of the state’s three strike lifers.

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Read, Take Action and Forward!

Did you know that transgender individuals in CT can still be fired from their jobs or denied housing simply because of who they are?

A bill now before the CT House of Representatives (HB 5723–An Act Concerning Discrimination) would prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression.

Contact your State Representative today to support this bill.

This bill is about simple fairness and deserves to become law.

But opponents of equality are using fear tactics to try and kill this legislation. YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED TODAY!

Take Action!

For more information on this bill and this topic see our webpage on gender identity and expression.

Read, Take Action and Forward!

This picture is so beautiful that I just had to post it. For more information on the upcoming march in Chicago see here . Also see QWB archives here

“What workers everywhere need is SOCIALISM. Why? Because it’s the only system that takes the wealth of society—the wealth created by workers—out of private hands. We’re not talking about taking away workers’ personal property. It’s not socialists but capitalists who are taking away workers’ homes, cars and furniture and garnisheeing their wages. We’re talking about taking the billions stolen from workers’ labor away from the whole capitalist class and using it for people’s needs”. …Deirdre Grisworld In “Digging below the Surface” published Apr. 10 Workers World. For complete article here

People who start wars and profit from war are never those who go and do the fighting. Oh, this we know. But here is a wonderful idea. At least it would be a way of dealing with the infestation by those whom Malvina Reynolds wrote and Heather Lev sings about. You gotta love it. 

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Dear Friends,

As many of you may already know, I am running for congress outside of the two-party system. A system that a growing number of Americans have found to be bought and paid for with wealth and large corporate influence. Changing the nature of this electoral system is one of my major campaign planks; I feel that apolitical system where candidates must raise money from private interests in order to be heard is inherently undemocratic. It leaves those without disposable income without a representative voice.

I support equal media access for candidates on our publicly owned airwaves and equal campaign funding. Only this form of campaign will force candidates to discuss the real issues effecting all of us and in turn truly gauge the will of voting constituents.

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