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Scouting For All
Committed to Scouting.... Open to Diversity
Dear Friends,
We are making a special appeal to all PFLAG, GLSEN, Open and Affirming Churches and GLBT organizations to assist us with our National Day of Protest against the BSA's practice of discrimination scheduled for August 21, 2000. A kick off protest will occur in Baltimore Maryland on July 5th. We need support from your members to organize protests at Scout Councils throughout the United States including our protest at the Boy Scouts of America's national headquarters in Irving Texas. Please encourage your members to stand with us by organizing protests. You can refer them to our web page at
www.scoutingforall.org at the Action Alert Command Center on the cover of the web page. It has listed instructions to help organize the various protest sites.
The purpose of the protest is to give out a strong positive self affirming message to our gay youth that we love them and embrace them and are going to continue to help make this world a safe and loving place for them and with them. Our gay youth should not be made to feel invisible out of fear of being the beautiful individuals they are. Our protest also represents a stand by the American people for human rights. The BSA's practice of discrimination is immoral, bigoted, and a violation of our human rights. When one segment of our society is discriminated against the rights of all Americans are violated. Help us by becoming a voice against this social injustice of the Boy Scouts of America.
You can contact Scouting For All at info@scoutingforall.org or by calling
707-778-0564.
Sincerely
Scott Cozza, President
Scouting For All
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Public Policy Statement
Same-Gender Marriage
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) believes that society at large benefits from an environment that supports committed stable relationships, including same-gender committed relationships, which provide mutual emotional, social, financial, legal and medical support. PFLAG, therefore, supports revision of federal and state statutes to extend to persons in same-gender committed relationships the right to marry with the full legal rights and benefits, as well as responsibilities and obligations.
Adopted by the Board of Directors
January 17, 2000
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HRC HAILS AUTOMAKERS' UNPRECEDENTED MOVE TO OFFER DOMESTIC PARTNER BENEFITS TO SAME-SEX PARTNERS
Decision by Big Three Punctuates Growing Trend to Offer All Employees Equal Benefits for Equal Work, Says HRC
WASHINGTON - The Human Rights Campaign hailed as unprecedented the announcement today by the Big Three automakers that they plan to offer health coverage to the same-sex domestic partners of their employees.
"This is a landmark announcement," said Kim I. Mills, HRC's education director who oversees WorkNet, the organization's workplace project. "Never before have we seen virtually an entire industry, along with its leading union, announce domestic partner benefits simultaneously. And the fact that these are three of the largest companies in America, with hundreds of thousands of employees, demonstrates that domestic partner benefits are becoming a standard business practice."
The three automakers -- DaimlerChrysler Corp., Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. - issued a joint announcement today, along with the United Auto Workers. The decision to offer the benefits came after a pledge to study the subject that was part of current United Auto Workers and other labor union contracts, according to the auto companies and the UAW. The expanded coverage will begin Aug. 1, with specific details left up to each company. To qualify for benefits, employees will have to meet certain criteria, which include being in a committed relationship with a partner of the same-sex for no less than six months.
"By taking this step together, the Big Three have bolstered the traditional American value of equal pay for equal work, regardless of sexual orientation" Mills said. "Domestic partner benefits are one of the strongest signals a company can give to demonstrate that it values its lesbian and gay employees."
More than 3,400 private and public employers provide these benefits to their employees. Since the beginning of this year, an average of nine employers have announced these benefits each week, according to HRC's WorkNet, which tracks such trends. Many of America's leading companies offer these benefits, including: IBM, Microsoft, Shell Oil, Walt Disney, Fannie Mae, Citigroup, Xerox, Time Warner and United and American Airlines. With today's announcement, at least 97 Fortune 500 companies provide these benefits or have announced that they intend to. This includes at least 12 that have announced the benefits since January. Additionally, more than half of the Fortune 500 include sexual orientation in their written nondiscrimination policy. (A complete list is available on HRC's website at
www.hrc.org/worknet).
The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national lesbian and gay political organization, with members throughout the country. It effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support and educates the public to ensure that lesbian and gay Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.
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