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800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
Seattle OUTProtest has brought together a grassroots coalition of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and straight people and organizations to organize a series of solidarity events to coincide with the National March for Equality this October.
March and Rally
Forty years after the Stonewall Rebellion, we march in solidarity with our brothers and sisters and allies in Washington, DC to demand equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states and to show our public support for the Approval of Referendum 71 here in Washington state.
Sunday, October 11
2:00 pm: Volunteer Park, 10th Ave E & E Prospect
5:00 pm: Rally, Federal Courthouse, 7th & Stewart
Thinking Queerly: Community Workshops on LGBT Issues
Community organizers and activists will present a series of workshops on a range of issues affecting the lgbt community including Stonewall and lgbt movement history, homelessness, hate crimes and self defense, lgbt health, Donât Ask Donât Tell, lgbt legal issues, Gay-Straight Alliances, marriage equality, and more.
Saturday, October 10
9:30 am to 5 pm
Piggot Auditorium, Seattle University
HIV/AIDS Vigil
As the AIDS pandemic nears its fourth decade, we gather to educate and raise awareness about the continued struggles of people living with HIV/AIDS and their families, friends, and support networks as well as to demand all resources and all funding necessary for prevention, treatment, and a cure.
Saturday, October 10
Starting at 6 pm
Seattle Central Community College South Plaza, Broadway & E Pine
Generation Q Mega Mixer
Come mingle and mix with seasoned leaders and activists of the GLBTQ community at the Generation Q Mega Mixer. Young leaders (25 and under please) will have the opportunity to socialize, learn from, and quite possibly have a dance off with some of the community's most inspiring members in a relaxed social environment.
Sunday, October 11
6:30 pm
Sole Repair Shop, 1001 E Pike
Seattle LGBT Equality Weekend March & Rally
http://nationalmarch.seattleoutprotest.o…
Get involved with one of our planning committees! Contact for more time and details:
March/Rally Committee, March@seattleoutprotest.org
Workshops Committee, Workshops@seattleoutprotest.org
Outreach Committee, Outreach@seattleoutprotest.org
Mixer Committee, Mixer@seattleoutprotest.org
HIV/AIDS Vigil Committee, Vigil@seattleoutprotest.org
Biweekly General Organizing Meetings, please contact whitney@seattleoutprotest.org for time and location.
National Equality March: Equality Across America
www.equalityacrossamerica.org
Endorsed by Seattle Gay News, Washington Families Standing Together, Radical Women, Queer Ally Coalition, International Socialist Organization, Socialist Alternative, Freedom Socialist Party, Gay City Health Project, Entre Hermanos, Cascades Rainbow Community Center/Skagit, Seattle OUTProtest, Community to Community Development, Bellingham, Sub Pop Records, 5th District Democrats (www.5thdems.org), American Friends Service Committee, Inlaws & Outlaws and the True Stories Project, Pride at Work, Washington Jobs with Justice - MLK, Seattle Education Association, Out in Tacoma, Rainbow Center of Tacoma, Queer Kidz, Temple B'Nai Torah, PFLAG Olympia, Amnesty International, Metropolitan Community Church - Seattle, Center for MultiCultural Health, Washington Marriage Alliance, The Backpack Project, A.N.S.W.E.R., Party for Socialism and Liberation, PFLAG - Olympia, The Queer Foundation, PFLAG - Bellevue
Approve Referendum 71
Keep the Domestic Partnership Law
...but I still won't buy a Zune!
We should all continue to contribute as much as we can so we're not caught off guard by a huge donation from NOM, or a church, or elsewhere.
Approve Referendum 71 to keep the domestic partnership law http://www.approve71.org
I like the way you think!! I hope folks don't see this gift as a good reason not to help support the campaign themselves! We absolutely cannot afford to be outspent on this fight, my friends. Pool your money with mine, and with Microsoft's, and let's win this thing BIG.
APPROVE 71!!!
Also, thanks MS for the $$$.
The pro 71 people have raised over $700,000 and they have about $470,000 cash on hand. The anti-71 people have raised just over $50,000 and have about $10,000 cash on hand. They can barely afford donuts and coffee for their volunteers, if they even have volunteers.
Since the Christians have no money this time around, no chamber of commerce support, and no newspaper endorsements, why is this race so close? R71 should be way ahead.
Are the pro-71 people a bunch of incompetents? Because if they are, Microsoft money won't be able to save them.
Or not. But it might make for a fun slog post.
And yes, I too congratulate Microsoft. It's just good business to fight a stupid initiative like this. But I also credit the late Mary Gates. Bill had an exceptional mother, and she taught him well. I believe her values strongly influenced Microsoft in the beginning, and are still felt there today.
There is far too much "cloak and dagger" with LGBT "leadership" lately, even in Washington State. We are on the right side of democracy and the right side of the "moral argument" here if you dare to call our fight for Equality such (and I do). I am not afraid to speak out for my Rights as an American and I have no problems calling out who our friends are. If you think you are Equal, act like it. There is NO Shame in that!
Would you also like a gift basket for the trauma we've put you through?
Anyone else seen these signs around the hill about Microsoft illegally firing an HIV-positive employee? Maybe they're the ones that stipulated that no ads in support of R-71 will actually mention R-71. Or else they're just resting assured that this focus-group-tested, money-bloated strategy of the yes on 71 campaign will fail as miserably as no on 8...
Another argument: it's bad business. MS is going to lose more than $100k in business from the opposition, and yet $100k isn't enough to do very much at all. If they were going to take a stand politically and socially, they should've had the balls to do it right.
Don't show up to the party with a bottle of two-buck-chuck and stand in the corner. Show up to the party with a bottle of Dom & make yourself known. Gay basics, page 7 of the handbook.
Every time "spouse" is mentioned anywhere on the internal HR site at Microsoft, it's in the context of "spouse or same-sex domestic partner (SSDP)." Except where federal law gets in the way, as with taxation of health care benefits to same-sex partners, MSFT treats domestic-partners as spouses.
I find it a good place to work and be out. I was very proud the first time I went to Pride in Seattle and saw the Microsoft booth. I"m more proud now.
For those who don't think that $100K is much, MS matches our charitable contributions regardless of cause (so long as they're not political) so this is not the only avenue through which they're supporting gay rights. Their track record hasn't been perfect (see 2005 waffling) but today I think they're doing pretty well supporting GLBT causes in Washington. If you think more effort needs to be made, I"m sure the campaign would love to have you. Money isn't going to win this, it just makes the resources available that are needed to win.
Ya don't have to marry the first person that ask you to dance, Sb 5688 / Ref 71 should be soundly rejected so it can be re-worked; much like any new operating system Microsoft has EVER released.
es we the taxpayers by the price for badly written legislation.
In that reality, Microsoft is also a public supporter of the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the Tax Equality for Health Plan Beneficiaries Act which would remove the government tax penalty for same-sex couples that @44 referred to.
I'm not sure what reality is for people like @40, but I can tell you that $100,000 donations from Microsoft are rare, even before the recession, and a donation for a rights issue like this is frankly unheard of. Looking through the donations from for-profit corporations in the high profile and high stakes Prop 8 battle, arguably the most expensive campaign of its type in the nation's history, the largest donation I can see is $100,000 from Apple, Inc.
Boy-howdy, those Apple folks must really suck, huh?
In this reality where companies are answerable to their shareholders for prudent financial management and investment in the future, Microsoft's donation is well calibrated to the importance of the issue in its headquarters state, and with donations made by other for-profit companies in similar campaigns.
Whatever reality you live in, I suggest that we stop whining about what other people should be doing for us, and get out there and do it for ourselves. Have you donated? Have you phone banked? More importantly, have you spoken to everyone you know about what Approving Referendum 71 means to you and your family?
This election is about driving turn-out by voters who know they have to APPROVE Referendum 71. If what' you're doing isn't accruing to that goal, stop right now and do something that does.
REJECT R-71
SB5688 / Ref-71 redefines husband and wife. Why? This was not necessary in order to give gay unions equal rights. This is one reason this is bad legislation. The referendum process is a difficult constitutional method to give the voters the final say when the legislator passed a real stinker. The people who ran the Ref-71 are patriots.
Laws are forever until they are changed. Generally this is very difficult. If there is a problem with the legislation, the lawyers sue, sue and sue and we the taxpayers take it in the wallet.
Iâd rather send it back to the legislatiors with a big fat RECJECT and have them not redefine husband and wife. The implications and potential lawyer job stimulus if Ref-71 is approved is staggering.
Have the courage to read the legislation and look at it objectively.
Then vote to REJECT Ref-71.
Vote APPROVE on Ref-71!!
Vote APPROVE REF 71 for protecting minority from narrow minded evil people.
You kidding me right? The gay people create the software problem. You know that majority of the people who work in Microsoft are straight people of all races right? Microsoft is trying to stay in competition national and international therefore they don't really care about your sexuality or race but just want to get the best of people they can. If not why would they spend thousand of dollars to hire interns to see who are good and to look for them when they graduated from University.
Beside did hear about the new Window 7 program lately? It is going to be good.