Boise Approves Transgender-inclusive Non-Discrimination Ordinance

Dec4 by D Gregory Smith

Boise just did something Helena was terrified to do – made discrimination against anyone because of sexuality and gender identity illegal.

From the Idaho Press-Tribune:

The Boise City Council unanimously approved a nondiscrimination ordinance for the city of Boise Tuesday evening.

“… Big win for equality in Boise,” the city tweeted Tuesday.

The ordinance, proposed by Council President Maryanne Jordan and Council member Lauren McLean, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression in employment, housing and places of public accommodation in the city.

There are exceptions for religious corporations, associations, education institutions and societies. The U.S. Government and state of Idaho and any of their departments or agencies except the city of Boise are also exempt.

During a packed public hearing on the ordinance in November, the Council heard from 60 people (who) supported it and 12 opposed.

The new law takes effect Jan. 1, 2013.

Read the full ordinance here.

It includes perceived sexuality and gender identity. Which is amazing for any city.

I just can’t believe Boise beat Helena to the punch…. Or maybe I can.

Sigh.

City of Boise to consider non-discrimination ordinance (ktvb.com)

Writers Wanted!

Dec4 by D Gregory Smith

St. Augustine writing, revising, and re-writing: Sandro Botticelli’s St. Augustine in His Cell (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With my counseling practice becoming busier, my work at AIDS Outreach taking more of my time, etc., I’ve been having a hard time keeping up with all the news ind information that is of interest to the readers of this blog (Montana politics, LGBTIQ issues, HIV, Spirituality)

It’s still important work, so I’m looking for a few people who might be interested in contributing to this site on (at least) a weekly basis.

If you are interested, just drop me a line at dgsma@hotmail.com with “Writing!” in the subject line.

Thanks!

Anti-Discrimination Law Passed in Missouri County

Nov28 by D Gregory Smith

From The St Louis Post-Dispatch:

In one of the longest and most emotional meetings in the St. Louis County Council’s history, an ordinance was narrowly passed Tuesday night that adds gender identity and sexual orientation to the county’s anti-discrimination regulations and hate crimes law.

An overflow crowd of more than 250 people spilled out of the council chambers in Clayton; 92 of them signed up to address the council, and most took advantage of that opportunity in a public comments segment that lasted more than two hours.

And as could be expected on an issue that involved religion and civil rights, most of them spoke fervently.

The ordinance adds protections for people in employment, housing and public accommodations in unincorporated areas, regardless of their sexual orientation. It also expands protections on the basis of gender and disability.

Are you watching Helena? It can be done.

Full story here.

City of Boise to consider non-discrimination ordinance (ktvb.com)
NRA Holds LGBT Protections Hostage To Firearm Restrictions That Are Already Law (thinkprogress.org)
St. Louis County Council Votes 4-3 in Favor of Extending LGBT Anti-Bias Protections (towleroad.com)
Passionate, overflow crowd packs St. Louis County Council chambers for anti-discrimination vote (stltoday.com)

Help Strengthen American Service!

Nov13 by D Gregory Smith

AmeriCorps (Photo credit: St. Bernard Project)

Last week, 40 Montana Conservation Corps members deployed to New York City to help with hurricane recovery efforts. In Montana, last year AmeriCorps members mentored 10, 970 youth. 10, 306 adults received legal support from Justice for Montanans, and 76,676 pounds of were collected for food banks. Since 2005, more than 10,000 homes have been weatherized by AmeriCorps members in all 56 counties and 7 reservations and since 1994 more than 11 thousand miles of trail have been built or maintained by Conservation Corps.

We know there are amazing community impact stories behind these numbers. Let’s tell our Members of Congress and President Obama that service should be part of the strategy to strengthen our country.

Please sign this petition.

We know that Montana Conservation Corps, Food Corps, Energy Corps and VISTAs positively impact our communities and our economy, now we have to let our elected leaders know.

Please post this or forward this link in an email to others who support service.

http://www.onemillionnewjobs.org/112-2/

AmeriCorps Volunteers Leave the Woods and Fill the City’s Shelters (wnyc.org)
Montana firefighters, incident commanders joining superstorm Sandy cleanup (billingsgazette.com)
Getting Things Done for America (jccvista.wordpress.com)
Wouldn’t Be Who I Am Without AmeriCorps (americorpsalums.wordpress.com)

Montana Group Petitions for Secession

Nov13 by D Gregory Smith

These “patriots” would rather withdraw from the Union than recognize the reality of a lawfully elected democratic government. I’m having visions of cranky children taking their toys and going home, telling their parents that they’d rather move than play with the other kids in the neighborhood….

Crazy.

PUT THE WHITE HOUSE ON NOTICE

Enough is enough!

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

TO:Peacefully grant the State of Montana to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government.

As the founding fathers of the United States of America made clear in the Declaration of Independence in 1776:

“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

“…Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and institute new Government…”

PLEASE VISIT THIS WEBSITE

AND SIGN THE PETITION TODAY!

Seriously? This is the complete opposite of patriotism which is defined as “love for one’s country”. These folks have no love for country. Their love is for their exclisivistic, twisted ideology….

Secession petitions filed on White House Web site (washingtonpost.com)
Some Missouri residents file secession petitions to White House (kansascity.com)
Sore Loser Secessionists Let Out A Rebel Whine With White House Petitions (addictinginfo.org)

Tester’s All Over Montana. Rehberg? Nowhere to Be Found

Nov3 by D Gregory Smith

United States Senate Seal (Photo credit: DonkeyHotey)

From Politico:

Sen. Jon Tester and Rep. Denny Rehberg are locked in possibly the closest Senate race in the country, but their final weekend of campaigning suggests it’s anything but.

Tester is on an 800-mile sprint across this majestic state, energizing his base and trying to persuade Mitt Romney backers to split their ticket and give the Democratic incumbent another six years in the Senate.

Rehberg, meanwhile, is nowhere to be seen on the campaign trail. He’s employing the classic, play-it-safe strategy of a frontrunner running down the clock — even though polls indicate the race is a true tossup.

But the thing that made my skin crawl:

Rehberg declined a request for an interview.

Typical.

Rehberg’s Anti-LGBT Record (dgsmith.org)
Crystal ball: Senate race projections (politico.com)
‘Outside money’ in Tester-Rehberg U.S. Senate race approaches $30 million (missoulian.com)
Road to Senate majority runs through Montana (cbsnews.com)
Tester, Rehberg strategies diverge (politico.com)

Big Sky, Dark Money

Oct31 by D Gregory Smith

The Frontline special “Big Sky, Big Money” was pretty amazing. The dark money issue isn’t going away- and the cloudier the issue becomes, the longer it will be with us- and it is getting cloudier. But first, I wanted to share a few things about one of the key figures of last night’s broadcast.

Jim Brown, the lawyer for Western Traditions Partnership intrigued me.

From The Atlantic:

When asked about the documents found in Colorado, Jim Brown, a lawyer for the group, said he was unfamiliar with them.

After being shown some of the documents by Frontline, Brown, in a follow up email, said his review indicated that they appeared to belong to a company called Direct Mail. Direct Mail and Communications is a print shop in Livingston, Montana, run by a one-time key player in WTP and his wife.

Brown urged Frontline to turn over the documents. “If the documents are purported to be what you say they are, then you may knowingly be in possession of stolen property,” Brown wrote.

The records are in the hands of the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices, which considers them public and reviewable upon request.

Who is this Jim Brown- the Republican Party’s legal counsel- AND the legal counsel to Western Tradition Partnership? The Commissioner of Political Practices website allows you to track who registered lobbyists are working for. The list of his clientele is VERY interesting…

List of his 2011 lobbing clients: https://app.mt.gov/cgi-bin/camptrack/lobbysearch/lobbySearch.cgi?ACTION=LOBBYDETAIL_ALL&LOBBYID=5035&SESSION=2012
List of his 2009 lobbying clients: https://app.mt.gov/cgi-bin/camptrack/lobbysearch/lobbySearch.cgi?ACTION=LOBBYDETAIL_ALL&LOBBYID=4516&SESSION=2010
And his blog for the Billings Gazette from the Republican National Convention: http://billingsgazette.com/news/opinion/guest/blog-montanan-at-the-republican-national-convention/article_a1186a00-ef90-11e1-8455-0019bb2963f4.html

Go ahead. Draw your own conclusions.

It also looks like Christian LeFer is now saying the documents were stolen- the documents they once denied were theirs. From ProPublica:

On Monday, LeFer also confirmed the documents found in a meth house were stolen from his wife’s car and belonged to him and his wife, Allison. The documents included material from outside groups and candidates, and communications between LeFer and candidates. There were surveys of candidates by outside groups and drafts and final copies of mailers marked as being paid for by the campaigns.

LeFer, described as WTP’s director of strategic programming in memos in 2009, said in an email that the boxes of documents were stolen in Colorado in June 2010.

“These stolen documents appear to be a mix of those from my consulting and volunteer work and from my wife’s independently owned and operated mail and printing shop,” wrote LeFer, whose wife runs a company called Direct Mail and Communications in Livingston, Mont. “Both my wife and I have scrupulously endeavored to avoid any possibility of illegal coordination.

“The stolen documents, which were in the process of being transferred to storage when the theft occurred, have been mingled to infer that the work of two separate people is in fact the work of one person and therefore improper. This is false.” (Here is LeFer’s full response.)

Like I said: cloudier.

More Evidence Key Dark Money Group May Have Misled IRS (pbs.org)
Conservative political `dark money’ group in news again over stolen documents, allegations (billingsgazette.com)
Documents Found in Meth House Bare Inner Workings of Dark Money Group (crooksandliars.com)
Big Sky, Big Money (dgsmith.org)
More Evidence Key Dark Money Group May Have Misled IRS (propublica.org)

Bozeman Rally For Jon Tester Today

Oct29 by D Gregory Smith

Join Jon Tester & Max Baucus in Bozeman on Monday!

Cheer On Jon!
Sign Up To Volunteer!
Get A Yard Sign!

Jon Tester & Max Baucus
The Emerson
111 S. Grand
Monday 10/29
5:00 p.m.

Join Montana farmer Jon Tester for a rally in Bozeman! Montanans go to the polls on Nov. 6. Help give Jon the momentum needed to win on Election Day!

Questions? — Email: sam@mtfield.org

Ad for Tester urges conservatives to choose Libertarian over Rehberg (missoulian.com)
Group sympathetic to Tester drops $500K on TV ad – for libertarian (billingsgazette.com)
Veterans, union members rally for Tester in Missoula (missoulian.com)

The Wealthiest Person In Each State

Oct24 by D Gregory Smith

Know the richest person in your state? The list is here.

Fascinating- I never knew Dennis Washington was worth $5 billion. That puts Montana in the billionaire resident category…

Post’s wealthiest and least wealthiest members of Congress (jsonline.com)
The Wealthiest Cities in the US (dailyfinance.com)
Wealthiest members of Congress have prospered since recession (democraticunderground.com)
How The Wealthiest 400 Americans Got Rich [INFOGRAPHIC] (valuewalk.com)

AIDS Vote 2012

Oct23 by D Gregory Smith

What is AIDS Vote 2012?

This is an important election year especially as we consider where we are with the HIV & AIDS epidemic.AIDS Vote 2012 is a national awareness-raising and education campaign designed to inform candidates and voters of the public policies necessary to advancing the fight against HIV/AIDS. We demand a country in which the lives and health of individuals, workers, families and communities are prioritized over ideology and the interests of the wealthy and corporations. We have the science, the treatments, and the resources to end theHIV epidemic, but do we have the political will?

If elected, how would they fight HIV/AIDS?

What will the next President of the United States, whomever he will be, do to help combat AIDS/HIV both domestically and abroad? Click here for more information on both candidates stances on the issue as well as their plans for future AIDS funding.

Your vote matters!

One of the most important rights we enjoy as citizens of our state and nation is the right to vote. Click herefor information regarding how and where to register to vote in the state of Montana.

(Thanks to Open AID Alliance)