Taking it to the Weekend

LGBT-Inclusive Immigration Bill Reintroduced

Earlier this week, Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) joined by Senators Harry Reid (D-NV), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), John Kerry (D-MA), Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) reintroduced the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2011, which includes the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA). UAFA allows United States citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their same-sex partners for family-based immigration.
UAFA would provide lesbian and gay individuals the same opportunity as different-sex, married couples to sponsor their partners and spouses for marriage-based immigration. The United States lags behind over 25 countries that recognize same-sex couples for immigration purposes, including Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
UAFA, as a standalone bill, was introduced in the 112th Congress by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) in the Senate and by Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) in the House. This is the second time Senator Menedez has championed LGBT-inclusive immigration reform in the Senate. Representative Mike Honda (D-CA) also included UAFA in the Reuniting Families Act of 2011 introduced in the House.

ATT and GLAAD Mash-up's result in resignations

AT&T denies that its $50,000 donation to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation was meant to help win the endorsement of its proposed T-Mobile merger by the national activist group, an eyebrow-raising move that culminated in the resignation of GLAAD President and former Massachusetts state senator Jarrett Barrios. Barrios, who could not be reached, resigned on Saturday amid growing criticism over his letter of support to the Federal Communications Commission for AT&T’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile. The endorsement, following a $50,000 donation from AT&T’s charity arm to GLAAD, was a rare move by an organization that has no history of weighing in on issues that lack an obvious link to gay rights. Does this action pass the smell test? Obviously not, since the whole deal came to light another 6 board members have tendered their notices and the entire agency is being scrutinized by bloggers as well as onlookers.Who knew that GLAAD was such a shot caller among the Fortune 500! But when you look at their board of directors of 23, there are some top tier people at the table. If we only had 7 of their 23 that could get their deep pocketed friends to send us some cash here at COP!  In case you missed it, these are the same folks who added their two cents to "double O" event in Batesville this week. Seems like they got some issues on the home front that may muddy their own credibility. Meanwhile, even as HRC entered the fray with a full page ad, they were met toe-to toe by the paper with a counter "bitch slap" advertisement that boldy proclaimed that they didn't owe nobody nothing and they ain't mad about it. And so it's on, I guess. We'll bring the latest as soon as someone blinks! Until then, stay locked and loaded to COP24/7!

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