Anyone interested is urged to apply by speaking to any of the current executive board members of emailing [email protected] to have a discussion about qualifications and a full job description.
Since our Vice President of Communications has recently transferred from URI to George Washington University to study Law, we now have a vacancy for the position of Secretary and Vice President of Communications.
Anyone interested is urged to apply by speaking to any of the current executive board members of emailing [email protected] to have a discussion about qualifications and a full job description.
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Here are the Marriage Equality candidates facing primaries this year. Voting in the primaries is this Tuesday September 11th. You can help out by heading to http://fightbackri.com/events/ and joining a Get Out The Vote campaign these few days before the elections. Rhode Island Senate District 9 (West Warwick) – Adam Satchell District 14 (East Providence) – Bob DaSilva District 19 (Cumberland, Lincoln) – Ryan Pearson District 24 (Woonsocket, North Smithfield) – Lewis Pryeor District 26 (Cranston) – Rev. Gene Dyszlewski District 29 (Warwick) – Laura Pisaturo District 33 (Coventry, West Greenwich, East Greenwich) – Dave Gorman Rhode Island House of Representatives District 2 (Providence) – Chris Blazejewski District 8 (Providence) – Libby Kimzey District 11 (Providence) – Grace Diaz District 12 (Providence) – Joseph Almeida District 18 (Cranston) – Art Handy District 40 (Coventry, Foster, Glocester) – Jon Restivo District 44 (Lincoln, Smithfield, Johnston) – Peter Petrarca District 49 (Woonsocket) – Michael Morin District 59 (Pawtucket) – J. Patrick O’Neill District 63 (East Providence) – Charles Tsonos District 65 (East Providence) – Gregg Amore District 73 (Newport, Middletown) – Marvin Abney These endorsements are taken from http://fightbackri.com/ which endorses Marriage Equality candidates.
To find out what district you are in, visit the Secretary of State's Website at http://sos.ri.gov/vic/ “They Won’t Magically Turn You Into A Lustful Cockmonster,” says Chris Kluwe in an open letter response to this letter written by Emmett C. Burns, a Maryland state delegate. Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo has spoken out in favor of a Maryland ballot initiative that would legalize gay marriage. Yahoo has published a letter that Maryland state delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr. wrote last week to Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, urging him to "inhibit such expressions from your employee." This is Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe's response to Burns. Dear Emmett C. Burns Jr.,
I find it inconceivable that you are an elected official of Maryland's state government. Your vitriolic hatred and bigotry make me ashamed and disgusted to think that you are in any way responsible for shaping policy at any level. The views you espouse neglect to consider several fundamental key points, which I will outline in great detail (you may want to hire an intern to help you with the longer words): 1. As I suspect you have not read the Constitution, I would like to remind you that the very first, the VERY FIRST Amendment in this founding document deals with the freedom of speech, particularly the abridgment of said freedom. By using your position as an elected official (when referring to your constituents so as to implicitly threaten the Ravens organization) to state that the Ravens should "inhibit such expressions from your employees," more specifically Brendon Ayanbadejo, not only are you clearly violating the First Amendment, you also come across as a narcissistic fromunda stain. What on earth would possess you to be so mind-boggingly stupid? It baffles me that a man such as yourself, a man who relies on that same First Amendment to pursue your own religious studies without fear of persecution from the state, could somehow justify stifling another person's right to speech. To call that hypocritical would be to do a disservice to the word. Mindfucking obscenely hypocritical starts to approach it a little bit. 2. "Many of your fans are opposed to such a view and feel it has no place in a sport that is strictly for pride, entertainment, and excitement." Holy fucking shitballs. Did you seriously just say that, as someone who's "deeply involved in government task forces on the legacy of slavery in Maryland"? Have you not heard of Kenny Washington? Jackie Robinson? As recently as 1962 the NFL still had segregation, which was only done away with by brave athletes and coaches daring to speak their mind and do the right thing, and you're going to say that political views have "no place in a sport"? I can't even begin to fathom the cognitive dissonance that must be coursing through your rapidly addled mind right now; the mental gymnastics your brain has to tortuously contort itself through to make such a preposterous statement are surely worthy of an Olympic gold medal (the Russian judge gives you a 10 for "beautiful oppressionism"). 3. This is more a personal quibble of mine, but why do you hate freedom? Why do you hate the fact that other people want a chance to live their lives and be happy, even though they may believe in something different than you, or act different than you? How does gay marriage, in any way shape or form, affect your life? If gay marriage becomes legal, are you worried that all of a sudden you'll start thinking about penis? "Oh shit. Gay marriage just passed. Gotta get me some of that hot dong action!" Will all of your friends suddenly turn gay and refuse to come to your Sunday Ticket grill-outs? (Unlikely, since gay people enjoy watching football too.) I can assure you that gay people getting married will have zero effect on your life. They won't come into your house and steal your children. They won't magically turn you into a lustful cockmonster. They won't even overthrow the government in an orgy of hedonistic debauchery because all of a sudden they have the same legal rights as the other 90 percent of our population—rights like Social Security benefits, child care tax credits, Family and Medical Leave to take care of loved ones, and COBRA healthcare for spouses and children. You know what having these rights will make gays? Full-fledged American citizens just like everyone else, with the freedom to pursue happiness and all that entails. Do the civil-rights struggles of the past 200 years mean absolutely nothing to you? In closing, I would like to say that I hope this letter, in some small way, causes you to reflect upon the magnitude of the colossal foot in mouth clusterfuck you so brazenly unleashed on a man whose only crime was speaking out for something he believed in. Best of luck in the next election; I'm fairly certain you might need it. Sincerely, Chris Kluwe P.S. I've also been vocal as hell about the issue of gay marriage so you can take your "I know of no other NFL player who has done what Mr. Ayanbadejo is doing" and shove it in your close-minded, totally lacking in empathy piehole and choke on it. Asshole. See the Full article on Deadspin.com "Democrats became the first major American political party to approve a platform endorsing marriage equality." The Democratic Party made history at its national convention Tuesday when it became the first major American political party to endorse marriage equality in its platform, drawing a sharp contrast with the Republican Party’s official stance on the issue. Delegates approved the platform with its explicit mention of “marriage equality” by voice vote on the floor of the Charlotte Convention Center in North Carolina shortly after 6 p.m. Part of the difference between the parties includes LGBT civil rights, which are addressed under the Democratic platform’s “Protecting Rights and Freedoms” section. The section includes an endorsement of the Employment Non-discrimination Act, saying that, “People should not be fired based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.” The section also includes the new “Freedom to Marry” plank that the platform committee approved unanimously for the first time last month. “We support the right of all families to have equal respect, responsibilities, and protections under the law,” says the document. “We support marriage equality and support the movement to secure equal treatment under law for same-sex couples. We also support the freedom of churches and religious entities to decide how to administer marriage as a religious sacrament without government interference.” “We oppose discriminatory federal and state constitutional amendments and other attempts to deny equal protection of the laws to committed same-sex couples who seek the same respect and responsibilities as other married couples,” continues the platform. “We support the full repeal of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act and the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act.” This article was taken from the Advocate.com http://www.advocate.com/politics/election/2012/09/04/democrats-approve-marriage-equality-platform The Full Democratic Platform is available at http://www.democrats.org/democratic-national-platform First Night was a Huge Success with over 150 joining the Gay Straight Alliance and the LGBTQ Center. Like in years past, we had a booth near the LGBTQ Center - so close, we were literally the same booth. Also, we were glad to have a former executive, Portia Burnette, with us promoting the Women's LBTQ Group. We made frozen mocktails and provided a new signup form for people to join our group by providing a computer for people to access our form on our Website. All in All, a successful evening. Thank you to all our members that helped out. (Matt Curtis, Kevin Cruz, Emily Goupil, Ryan Lee, Drew Anderson, and the many others that made this night a success were not part of this picture that happened earlier in the night) Both President Obama and Governor Romney agree that the Boy Scouts of America should not discriminate based on Sexual Orientation.
White House spokesperson Shin Inouye said in the statement:
http://www.towleroad.com/2012/08/white-house-obama-opposes-boy-scouts-anti-gay-policy.html "I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married."
This is the first time a standing president has done so. "His endorsement comes less than a week after Vice President Joe Biden embraced the issue during an appearance on Meet The Press and a day after North Carolina banned marriage equality and civil unions in its state constitution." Watch the Video here: http://urigsa.weebly.com/1/post/2012/05/obamas-endorsement-of-same-sex-marriage.html http://www.glaad.org/news/president-obama-supports-marriage-equality http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/obama-comes-out-i-think-same-sex-couples-should-be-able-to-get-married/ http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76103.html http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/05/09/481147/obama-marriage-2 http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/09/politics/obama-same-sex-marriage/index.html http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/05/09/152356770/president-obama-gay-marriage-should-be-legal http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/obama-likely-to-speak-about-same-sex-marriage-in-interview/ The Rhode Island Legislature is having a hearing on Marriage Equality right now.
follow the action on Twitter: #RI4M https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23RI4M Willkommen! to the newsletter of things that are happening and have happened.
First, we do digests to reduce the number of emails we send so each time, you get all the most important stuff all at once but if you'd rather stick your head in the sand, just reply with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. Topics in this Awesome Newsletter: 1) New Officers! 2) Day of Silence and Break the Silence Dance 3) Camp Pride Applications due today 4) Transgender Hate Crimes Reporting Bill 5) Taste of Tibet Dinner at the Diversity House 6) Life in a Day Screening 7) TD Summer Fair 8) First Night 9) Rhode Crew - move in early! 10) Rhode Island pRIde 11) Job opportunities! New Officers! We had elections on Wednesday the 25th. Congratulations! The Executive board is now composed of: President - Brian Sit Vice President - Jessica Fedorko Vice President - Shannon Collins Treasurer - Ryan Lee PR Chair - Dario Rodriguez If you would like to join, come to our nearly last meeting of the academic year, Friday 3pm in the Multicultural Center. Day of Silence and Break the Silence Dance We had a great time with the Day of Silence - We distributed Pledge Cards and informational fliers throughout campus and held our First super-awesome Break the Silence Dance featuring DJ International Nasty. Our Dance turned out to be a success due to the huge amount of work put in by our members. Next time you see a GSA member, be sure to say "thank you for your hard work" Also, thank you to the many Organizations that helped us. Uhuru Sasa, BOND, eXposure, Interfraternity Council, LASA, The Office of Student Affairs, the LGBTQ Center, and many supportive others. Camp Pride Applications are Due Today The Office of Community, Equity, and Diversity and the LGBTQ Center will sponsor two students to attend the annual Camp Pride Summer Leadership Camp, sponsored by Campus Pride, a national leader in LGBT inclusion and advocacy on college campuses. http://www.campuspride.org/camppride/ Attached is the application for a scholarship to attend Camp Pride. All applications are due to Annie Russell at [email protected] Thursday by Noon. Applications also at https://docs.google.com/file/d/1HAAOwzgG8dF5w5TBkuFp_tDXWGyzrgqUf2u6LYpcEOGpc3ccLBbK-BKH3q4c/edit?pli=1 Transgender Hate Crime Reporting Bill The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing on Senate Bill 2488 - adding gender identity and expression to hate crimes reporting. The hearing will be on Thursday, April 26th at 4pm in room 313 at the State House which Vice President Shannon Collins will be attending. Please consider attending the hearing to testify in support of this legislation. If you are unable to attend, you can still send written testimony to Jaye Watts at Youth Pride at [email protected] by Noon. Taste of Tibet Benefit Dinner @ 6pm-8pm in the Diversity House Join the Diversity House for their last event, a free casual Tibetan dinner & open house to benefit an orphanage school in Tibet. Donations are welcomed. A silent auction will follow the dinner. Further information is available at http://www.uri.edu/nonviolence/tasteoftibet & https://www.facebook.com/events/341673645894981/ Meet up at the LGBTQ Center and someone will guide you to the D-House or head to 17 Fraternity Circle. President Brian Sit and Treasurer Ryan Lee will be attending. Life in a Day Screening @ 7pm in Swan Auditorium LIFE in a DAY @ URI is a URI Film Collaborative student-made feature length documentary film which depicts exactly what it says; life in ONE day (November 14th, 2011) at The University of Rhode Island. Follow students as they go about their day, answer questions such as "What's in your pockets?", "What do you love?", "What do you fear?", and "Why did you choose to come to URI?". This artistic expression of appreciation towards the University will surely open your eyes as you experience others' lives as they show you the University through their lens. More Information at https://www.facebook.com/events/259335647475560/ Talent Development Summer Fair @ Wednesday July 25th The Gay Straight Alliance will have a presence at Talent Development's Summer Fair and we need your help. If you will be around RI during the summer and would like to help, get in contact with us by replying to this email with "I'd like to help" in the subject line and we would love to be blessed with your presence. First Night First Night is the best time for recruitment and acts as the first impression students have with the various Student Organizations. We will have a booth for GSA but we need help. If you could help out, again reply with "I'd like to help" in the subject line. We need ideas for promotional material and things to buy. So, please help us spend our money. We need to go shopping soon. Rhode Crew - move in early! Participate in the fall 2012 move-in “Rhodeside Assistance” program for a free “Rhode Crew” t-shirts with your organization’s name on the back, “Rhode Crew” water bottles, and will be provided bag lunches on both move-in days. Also, all resident students who volunteer to work on the “Rhode Crew” will be allowed to move into their own assigned residence hall rooms on Thursday August 30. In return we are seeking URI student volunteers to assist in unloading vehicles and carrying things to first year student rooms during one 4-hour shift (either morning or afternoon) on each of the two freshman move-in days. Each “Rhode Crew” volunteer will be asked to attend a brief informational meeting on Friday August 31 as well. Sign up and get more information at http://housing.uri.edu/info/volunteer-for-move-in.php and write Gay Straight Alliance on the Organization line. Rhode Island pRIde @ June 16th PRIDE is Rhode Island's Gay Pride Event with Parades, floats, free stuff, and rainbows. We're planning to go and if you would like to come with us or meet us there, Reply with "PRIDE" in the subject line. Here's more information http://www.prideri.com/?page_id=30 Job Opportunities! Marriage Equality Rhode Island Looking for something to do this summer? Want to make a difference for LGBTQ rights in Rhode Island? Marriage Equality Rhode Island is looking for Summer Fellows! For more information, contact Dawn Euer at [email protected] or our very own Vice President Shannon Collins. Reply to this email with "MERI Fellowship" in the Subject line. Intern with Astraea Lesbian Foundation Astraea is a dynamic global foundation providing critically needed financial and technical support to lesbian-led, LGBTQI and progressive organizations. For more than 30 years, Astraea raises funds and distributes grants based on the belief that everyone can participate in philanthropic process -- from giving to grantmaking. Today, Astraea grantee and donor partners are fueling the movement for social, racial, economic and gender justice in villages, towns, and cities around the world. http://www.astraeafoundation.org/take-action/job-and-volunteer-postings/internships Work for U.S. PIRG Train dozens of students how to effectively organize campaigns that help increase funding for mass transit, build support for clean energy legislation, and alleviate poverty. With U.S. PIRG, you can actually get paid to take on and solve the problems our country face: from advocating for policies that will protect consumers from big banks and credit card rip-offs to educating citizens and students about energy efficiency, and increasing participation in democracy. U.S. PIRG is a federation of state-based public interest advocacy groups. And working together we have a much greater opportunity to make a difference. We have a 40-year track record of organizing on these issues, and, we’re hiring graduating seniors to jump right in and make a critical impact as a campus organizer or in our fellowship program. Learn more about both of these positions at www.uspirg.org/jobs. For more information check out our website, or feel free to send me an email [email protected] or give me a call at 517-617-7003. Volunteer with Sojourner House RI Domestic violence and sexual assault are issues intimately tied with a person’s sexual health. The Sexual Health Education & Advocacy program works to highlight the importance of sexual health and fulfillment in the overall healing process. Current needs include an LGBT Outreach Volunteer. Familiarity with LGBT issues and community resources preferred but not required. Contact: Aida at 861-6191, ext. 121 or e-mail [email protected]. This is the official newsletter of the URI Gay Straight Alliance. If you would like something added to the newsletter, please submit a blurb of 100 words about who, what, where, when, and why to [email protected], by midnight on Saturday with "Newsletter Addition" in the Subject line and we'd be glad to pass it along. |
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