Tomorrow, our friends over at are having another national event to support LGBT equality. They鈥檙e calling it the 鈥,鈥 but it鈥檚 actually much more than that. Tomorrow鈥檚 event is a day of action, with people in cities across the country taking to the streets to gather signatures on an open letter to President-elect Barack Obama, asking him to follow through on the promises he made to LGBT people during the campaign.
Last February, Barack Obama鈥檚 campaign released an . In it, he said that, if elected President, he would work to:
- Repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and ensure that states treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws
- Enact a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) to outlaw workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity
- Repeal 鈥楧on鈥檛 Ask, Don鈥檛 Tell鈥
- Enact the Matthew Shepard Act to outlaw hate crimes against our community
- Confront the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the stigma surrounding it
- Amend the Uniting American Families Act to afford same-sex couples the same rights and obligations as married couples in our immigration system
The open letter Join the Impact is asking people to sign tomorrow reminds President-elect Obama of his promises to the LGBT community and gently reminds him that we鈥檙e counting on him to make good on those promises. I have to say, if his administration is willing and able to follow through on this list, it would have a dramatic positive impact on gay lives, all across the country.
I hope you鈥檒l take part in this national day of action tomorrow. You can even get started today! There鈥檚 more information about what activities are going on in your community . Whether you stand on a street corner, bring the letter to a party, or circulate it among friends, co-workers and neighbors (as I鈥檓 doing), the signatures you collect will help ensure that the next administration does as much to forward LGBT rights as the last one did to hurt them.