Today Spencer Pride, Inc. is proud to announce that we’ve endorsed The Pledge for Full LGBT Equality. This is the first time that Spencer Pride, Inc. has come out to formally endorse an effort of its kind. The goal of The Equality Pledge is to get the LGBT Congressional Caucus and other congressional allies to file a full-equality bill.
Details of The Pledge are below, and can also be downloaded from this page by clicking the PDF link below
The Equality Pledge is a culmination of work begun in 2009 at eQualityGiving.org, an association of LGBT major donors that created the first proposal for an omnibus equality bill, or a one-bill strategy.
The Equality Pledge was drafted in consultation with its early supporters, Act On Principles, GetEqual, The AEB Project, Marriage Equality USA, Out4Immigration, and others. The document contains a detailed list of all existing non-discrimination laws that protect race, sex, national origin and religion, and calls for sexual orientation & gender identity to be added to those. It also calls for federal marriage equality, and includes immigration and family leave for same-sex couples.
Beyond the legal content, it makes a principled statement as to the obligation of the United States government to protect the human rights of LGBT Americans, and calls upon Congress and the LGBT Congressional Caucus to act by 2014 – the 50th Anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The Equality Pledge currently has more than 116 group endorsements nationally, from a diverse array of community organizations including PFLAG, Marriage Equality USA, NOW, as well as several statewide equality groups, many LGBT community centers, marriage groups, veterans, transgender, political, direct action, civil rights, AIDS and mental health, social groups, grassroots/grasstops, major donors, Pride groups, gay-straight alliances, and major faith groups such as the Metropolitan Community Church and the United Church of Christ.
The Equality Pledge is intended to empower the community at large to pressure for greater and faster enactment of nondiscrimination protections as a matter of human rights’ entitlement and urgency. It buttresses and capitalizes on existing strategies, by building a bigger demand from a broader constituency, thereby leveraging the collective power of our disparate voices into a shared intention and clarion call through which all efforts are lifted.
Endorsement of the Equality Pledge pertains document itself only, and does not represent support of any particular group associated with it, or strategy undertaken for equality. Endorsement, however, does signal a powerful intention to seize this historic moment, and lead on a matter of highest urgency and principle.
Organizers of The Equality Pledge are making a major push in June in order to achieve a goal of 250 organizational endorsements for Pride Month. Spencer Pride, Inc. is pleased to be one of the organizations helping to achieve that goal.
The Pledge for Full LGBT Equality
IN ORDER TO FULFILL the promises of life and liberty, and to ensure equal protection of the law as guaranteed by the United States Constitution;
TO PROTECT the inalienable human right to be safe from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity as required by international law and treaty; and
TO END the systemic stigmatization, cease the societal rejection and heal the suffering of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans as mandated by conscience;
WE, the undersigned, pledge our support for the passage of omnibus LGBT equality legislation that grants full non-discrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity equal to those accorded other statuses under existing civil rights laws and Supreme Court jurisprudence, specifically including:
- Public Accommodations (Title II, 1964 Civil Rights Act)(e.g., restaurants, hotels, theaters)
- Public Facilities (Title III, 1964 Civil Rights Act) (e.g., courthouses, jails, hospitals, parks)
- Federally-Funded Programs (Title VI, 1964 Civil Rights Act) (e.g., adoption, police, schools, homeless youth, health care)
- Employment (Title VII, 1964 Civil Rights Act; 1978 Civil Service Reform Act; 1991 Government Employee Rights Act; 1995 Congressional Accountability Act; 10 U.S.C. Ch. 37) (e.g., civilian and military government, private sector)
- Housing (Title VIII, 1968 Civil Rights Act, aka the Fair Housing Act) (e.g., rental, purchase, finance)
- Education (Title IX, 1972 Education Amendments Act) (e.g., schools, bullying)
- Credit (1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act) (e.g., credit cards)
- Federal Marriage Equality (based on gender, SO) (e.g., 1967 Supreme Court Decision, Loving v. Virginia)
- Immigration, Disability, and Family Leave (Uniting American Families Act (proposed), the American With Disabilities Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act)
We call upon the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus to lead the way by filing an omnibus LGBT equality bill immediately that includes all of the provisions enumerated above.
We further call upon Congress, and all candidates for elected office, to sign this pledge to pass such omnibus LGBT equality legislation immediately, but no later than 2014 — the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act — fulfilling both their individual duty and that of the United States government to ensure justice, equality, and fundamental human rights protections for all Americans.
(For Legal Details go to: http://bit.ly/PledgeLawDetails)