Blog: What's New

eQualityGiving Authors blog about what's new in the topic of their articles and other news of interest to donors who want to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Americans.

Check also: Fundraising Events | Maverick Giving Blog | Giving for Equality Blog

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ASK YOUR PARTY TO HAVE A FULLY PRO EQUALITY PLATFORM

It is not a matter of one party better than the other... it is a matter of the party of your choice to be fully pro equality. Check:

Ask the party committee of your party to be fully pro equality. We will report the actual platform for each party once it is issued.

SPPECH FROM MICHELLE OBAMA ABOUT LGBT EQUALITY

Read her speech in full, instead of the summary provided by the press!

NEW CAMPAIGN: DON'T ASK SAM NUNN

Former Senator Sam Nunn has been repeateadly mentioned as a potential running mate for Senator Obama. We have started a campaign asking Senator Obama not to choose Sam Nunn.

Read why and contribute your own thoughts...

TOP GIVING RECOMMENDATIONS ISSUED

This is an important year for LGBT rights. Democrats are very likely to widen their majority in the US Senate and House as well as in state legislatures. But if we get two critical priorities: The presidency and defeating the constitutional amendment in California, achieving equal rights for our community will be in a very fast track. More than we have ever seen before.

Check our report with our 2008 top priorities for giving in this crucial time.

Tell your friends about it and give generously your time and money!

INDUCTION OF CONGRESSWOMAN TAMMY BALDWIN

We are honored to induct Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin as an Equality Hero for her tireless work on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. Read the induction written by Dean Fred Hochberg.

EQUALITY GOALS PRIORITIES

Check our new article. It includes a survey of priorioties ranked based on the age of the participants in the survey as well as their level of information.

The article also presents eQualityGiving's view of what is achievable by when. We can achieve several Equality Goals in the next two years!

You also have a chance to comment on the article and your view of the priorities and achievability.

THINKING ABOUT MARRYING IN CALIFORNIA?

Starting June 16, 2008, same sex couples can marry in California (independently of where they live). Read the new article by Professor Tobias Wolff about the intricacies, especially if you do not live in California, because of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Also, if you plan to marry in California one day, take a quick moment to vote on our poll.

Jeff Merkley defeated Steve Novick in yesterday's Oregon primary, a contest between two endorsed candidates.

CONFERENCE CALL ABOUT CALIFORNIA MARRIAGE RULING AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE

We are pleased to organize a conference call with three leaders who made possible this wonderful marriage equality ruling by the California Supreme Court:

> Shannon Price Minter, Esq, the lead attorney for the case. He is also the legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and transgender.
> Kate Kendell, Esq, the Executive Director of NCLR, the lead organization for this case.
> Geoff Kors, Esq, the Executive Director of Equality California, the lead organization fighting for equal rights in California.

In this call we will discuss, among many other topics:
> The inside story: what questions from the Supreme Court Justices were a surprise?
> Who can get married in California? In Massachussetts?
> What do we need to do next to protect this critical right?
> What are the results of test advertisements?
> What are the implications for the future?

The conference call is scheduled for
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
From 9 am to 9:45 am PST (noon to 12:45 pm EST)

There will be time for Q&A from the participants. To ensure that we can have a frank discussion this call is only for registered members of eQualityGiving. To register (it's free, and your info is not given to anyone), just click here. Since we verify your information, registration is not instantaneous... so register right now (you only need to register once for this and all future conference calls).

Registered Members can obtain the dialing information instantly by clicking here.

As always, our conference calls are for sharing information, not fundraising. Your information is not given to anyone.

CALIFORNIA BECOMES THE FIRST STATE TO PROVIDE FULL LEGAL EQUALITY

Today is one of the most historical days for LGBTQ equality. The California Supreme Court ruled that same sex couples have the right to marry in that state.

More significantly, with today's ruling, California becomes the first state to provide full legal equality to the LGBTQ population. It has now met all of the Equality Goals that have been established.

Since California is the largest state in the nation with 12% of the nation's population, this victory today means many Americans now have equal legal rights. Unfortunately, LGBTQ Californians are not yet recognized as equal under the law by the federal government because the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prohibits the federal government from recognizing same sex marriages approved in states. Also the federal government forbids all gays and lesbians, including Californians, from serving openly in the US military.

This victory today is at risk because there is a ballot initiative this November in California to amend the state constitution by defining marriage as between one man and one woman. If passed, this constitutional amendment would essentially overturn today's Supreme Court decision. It is a top priority for all of us, not just Californians, to protect the equality that the California Supreme Court provided today.

If you want to see which states have which LGBTQ rights, see our comprehensive analysis: States of Equality Scorecard.

CHECK THIS ARTICLE IN THE ADVOCATE

The Advocate's issue of June 17, 2008 describes eQualityGiving and quotes its founders.

WINNER OF $1,000 CONTEST

We invited you to vote for your favorite organization listed by eQualityGiving. The poll closed last night at
midnight Eastern Time.

With more than 3,000 people voting, the winner is... Love Makes a Family

This morning we sent $1,000 contribution to them as they continue to work to bring marriage equality to Connecticut.

Here are the detailed results of the poll:

eQualityGiving Poll of organizations

This poll was set up to highlight the important work that our statewide organizations perform in achieving equality. Please support the statewide organizations listed by eQualityGiving. If your organization is not listed is because they have not submitted materials to us... encourage them to do so!

Please take a moment to vote on our new poll.

ANALYSIS OF THE EQUAL AND GAY QUIZ

Last week, we invited you to take the one minute Equality Quiz that eQualityGiving has developed to help inform the community of the work we need to do in our states in order to achieve equality.

So how did everyone do on the quiz? Did you know the protections that your state offers? Or did you understimate or overstimate them?

Just click here to find out all the results.

If you missed it, you can still take the one minute quiz.

Permalink - click for full analysis on the results of the quiz

NEW SECTION ADDED TO THIS ONLINE COMMUNITY

Registered Members can now post major fundraising events ob this section of the website:

www.eQualityGiving.org/Fundraising-Events

TAKE THIS 1 MINUTE QUIZ

eQualityGiving is challenging you to take this quiz about equality. Find out the state of equality in your state, and compare it to the other states. See which state offers the most equality. Hint: It's not Massachusetts. In fact no state is 100%.

www.eQualityGiving.org/Equal-and-Gay-Quiz

OUTFRONT MINNESOTA ADDED TO OUR $1,000 GIVE AWAY CONTEST

Read the article by Paul Tuchman, donor and board member of OutFront Minnesota, about OutFront Minnesota's work. OutFront Minnesota is also listed in our directory, Donor to Donor, and is participating in our contest.

ANOTHER $1,000 GIVE AWAY

During April you can vote for your favorite participating statewide organization that is advancing LGBTQ legal equality.

Simply go to the home page and vote. It takes just seconds. You can only vote once, though you can promote your favorite organization by asking your friends to vote and by posting this link on websites and blogs.

If you're undecided for whom to vote, read the letters from donors written in support of the organizations. If your favorite statewide organization is not there, let them know that they should submit the required materials to eQualityGiving.

The poll closes on April 30, 2008 at midnight eastern time, and the next day we will send $1,000 to the winning organization.

WINNER OF $1,000 CONTEST

The poll for your favorite eQualityGiving Endorsed Candidate closed last night at midnight Eastern Time.
With more than 1,000 people voting, the winner is... Jim Neal, running for US Senate in North Carolina.

This morning we sent $1,000 to Jim Neal's campaign. Please contribute to his campaign, too, if you can. He is in a competitive primary race which will be held on May 6th. He could become the first (openly) LGBT member of the US Senate.

The runner up was Ed Fallon running for the US House in Iowa. Ed's campaign fought hard to win the $1,000. Please contribute to his campaign, and show him his efforts were not in vain.

Jim and Ed are two of the 12 pro-equality candidates in close races that we have endorsed. They are running for Congress or for a statewide position. Because they believe in full legal equality for our community, these are the types of candidates that will make a difference in passing Hate Crimes and ENDA, and repealing DOMA and Don't Ask Don't Tell.

Today is the last day of this quarterly reporting period, so please take a moment to contribute generously to their campaigns. They are all listed here.

Stay tuned for our next $1,000 contest starting in a few days.

POSITIONS ON EQUALITY OF CLINTON, OBAMA, AND McCAIN

Here is the summary table comparing their positions on LGBT equality.

You can also read quotes that Clinton, Obama and McCain have on each of the Equality Goals.

Which Candidate do LGBT Democratic Superdelegates Support?

There are 21 superdelegates in the Democratic Party who are openly LGBT. Here is the summary of whom they support:

Declared for Clinton = 13
Declared for Obama = 2
Undeclared = 6

The superdelegates declared for Clinton include the two openly LGBT members of Congress, Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Representative Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.

Click here to read the names of the open LGBT superdelegates as well as other information about the Clinton and Obama LGBT policy differences.

We hope you will find this information to be both useful and timely.

TAX DAY IS ARRIVING: TAX-WISE GIVING

If you still give by just writing a check you may be missing some tax advantages. Check our tax-wise giving article for simple ways for anybody to take full advantage of all the deductions the tax code allows.

To reach LGBT legal equality, donors need to consider giving to both nonprofits and political causes. Although giving to political candidates and political candidates is not tax deductive, there are very little known ways in which you can donate appreciated stock and not pay capital gain taxes. This is only worth for large donations and it only applies in certain circumstances, but check this article about giving appreciated stock to c(4) organizations.

THREE NEW ENDORSED CANDIDATES TO FUND

Linda Ketner in South Carolina, Jeff Merkley in Oregon, and Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona are now endorsed by eQualityGiving.

Ketner is on the Advisory Board of eQualityGiving and is running for Congress

Merkley is co-endorsed with Steve Novick for US Senate.

Giffords is for re-election in the congressional seat once held by openly gay Jim Kolbe.

http://www.equalitygiving.org/Endorsed-Candidates

RSS AVAILABLE FOR eQualityGiving

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a simple way to receive news when new pages added or significantly updated on the eQualityGiving website, as well as new postings added to our three blogs, and comments added to pages in the website. It is very convenient.

The RSS feed is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/eQualityGiving or just click on the universal RSS logo

Get more information here: www.eQualityGiving.org/RSS

WHAT'S NEW: NEXT GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK INDUCTED AS AN EQUALITY HERO

On Monday, March 17, Lt. Governor David Paterson will become the new Governor of New York State. He supports all seven of the Equality Goals and is, therefore, an Equality Hero.

He joins our list of 18 current officials elected to a federal or statewide office who support full equality for LGBTQ Americans, including marriage equality.

His predecessor, Governor Eliot Spitzer, was elected in a landslide on a platform that included marriage equality. We are grateful to Governor Spitzer for keeping his promise and for becoming the first governor in the nation to introduce marriage equality legislation without a mandate from the courts.

New York State could legalize marriage for same sex couples as early as next year. Since the State Assembly already passed Spitzer's marriage equality bill, the only obstacle now is the State Senate - which is currently controlled by Republicans who oppose the bill. Marriage in New York is likely to happen if the Democrats pick up just one more seat this November giving them control of the State Senate. Paterson is expected to sign the bill into law.

Our States of Equality Scorecard shows that New York has a rating of 3 out of 6, so the new Governor will need to do some work, in addition to marriage, to make all its citizens fully equal under the law.

We are honored to add Governor Paterson to our list of Equality Heroes. We need to support New York Senate Democrats so that he has the chance to bring full legal equality to all LGBTQ New Yorkers.

WHAT'S NEW: SENATOR McCAIN SECURES NOMINATION... CHECK HIS POSITIONS ON EQUALITY

Last night, Senator McCain won enough delegates to SECURE the Republican nomination at the GOP convention in September. Check here to view a summary of his postions on equality.

You can also read quotes that we have compiled on his stance on each of the Equality Goals, the goals that we need to fulfill in order to reach LGBTQ legal equality.

$1,000 CONTEST FOR ENDORSED CANDIDATES

Vote for your favorite eQualityGiving endorsed candidate! It has been just 24 hours since the launch, and already several hundred people have voted in the poll.

Just go to the home page and vote for your favorite candidate. You can only vote once, so make it count.

And please promote your candidate by asking your friends to vote, too.

If you're undecided, check out the information on the endorsed candidates, including letters from their prominent donors and links to their websites.

The poll closes on March 30, 2008, and the next day we will give $1,000 to the winner.

We hope that you will make all of the candidates winners by contributing to their campaigns today. Each of them is superb on our issues - totally pro-equality, including marriage. Each of them can win the real election, not just our contest.

SMOOTH AND SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH TODAY

Today we entered a new phase with the expansion of this online donor community. Everything went smoothly. And got great reviews.

We look forward to this community playing a key role in achieving legal equality for LGBTQ Americans.

Juan and Ken Ahonen-Jover

THREE MORE ENDORSED CANDIDATES TO FUND

Today we have sent an alert to notify donors of three more candidates for federal/statewide office who are pro-equality and are in close races. They are Ed Fallon running in Iowa for US House, Darcy Burner running in Washington State for US House, and John Kroger running for Attorney General in Oregon. You can see all nine endorsed candidates here.

LAUNCHING IN FEBRUARY 2008

We continue to work furiously for the launch in February of the additional capabilities for this Online Donor Community.

Many invited authors are already submitting their articles... great content, with lots of information.

Stay tuned.

Juan and Ken Ahonen-Jover

EXPANDING eQualityGiving

We continue the development of a significant expansion of eQualityGiving with many new and exciting features.

The focus of our work is in growing and supporting an online community of donors who want to achieve equality.

The extensive technical and conceptual development we have undertaken is based on extending eQualityGiving's Discussion Network, which has been so successful. We will now provide a permanent home for the most generous and engaged donors and the movement leaders to express their best strategies to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Americans.

We have not yet determined the date of the announcement of the release of the expanded eQualityGiving, but stay tuned, as it will be announced first in the Discussion Network before being sent as an alert to our entire list.

Stay tuned,

Juan and Ken Ahonen-Jover

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Last Modified 2008-04-17