Dear friends,
I thought we would be busy advocating for budget priorities this week, because the NYC budget is due on Wednesday. But the council has its first in-person meeting since late February 2020 today and any budget discussion has been out of public view.
To be sure, the June primary diverted attention (ours and theirs) from the urgent matter of negotiating the budget. De Blasio’s proposed budget is $98.6 billion. Perhaps we’ll know more after the council meets today.
Pride weekend was full of joy in NYC. I encountered some revelers when changing trains at Union Square yesterday. I generally avoid parades and parties AND I love that most people smile (and the rest just keep on staring at their phones) when exuberant LGBTQ celebrants board the train. The man who designed the logo,
Milton Glaser, died the other day. He left a legacy. I did not know that he donated the design. As someone who moved to the city in 1981, when the design was still young and the city was having its most violent year, I am still moved by the notion of enduring love for a place that’s both impossible and necessary.
The President held a Pride celebration at the White House, too. The celebration included LGBTQ government officials, including Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine, who is transgender, and Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Secretary Pete spoke with his customary polish:
“Time and again facing that choice between service and love. Between duty and self. My whole self,” Buttigieg said. “And yet today, here I am, here you are, here we are. Standing in the East Room, in the company of the president of the United States and the first lady, wishing each other happy Pride.”
The President himself declared that
Pride is back at the White House.” The president said the month of celebration stood for courage, justice and love — “being able to love yourself, love whoever you love, and love this country enough to make it more fair and more free and more just.”
Biden called on Congress to pass the Equality Act and spoke out against the disturbing legislative initiatives from Republican-controlled states that focus on denying rights to transgender youth:
“These are some of the ugliest, most un-American laws I’ve seen,” Biden said, referring to bills regulating medical care, bathroom use and participation on sports teams. He added: “Let’s be clear: This is nothing more than bullying disguised as legislation.”
The Equality Act already passed in the House. In spite of moving testimony by trans youth at Senate Judiciary hearings, the Equality Act is stalled in the Senate. Every damn thing is stalled there.
In an interview in the Advocate, Schumer had this advice:
Reach out, make a note to yourself: I'm going to speak to five people in states with Republican senators, and get them to call them and say I want this done. This kind of pressure works. Even if you're in a state with two Democratic senators or two senators who support the Equality Act you can reach out to people in other states. That's helpful, that's a grassroots army working.
I guess he’s waiting on us, so we have to stop waiting on him. Make your list. The map shows states with two Republican senators in red and with one Republican in purple. I have friends in Florida, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.
Speak to five people in states with Republican senators, and get them to contact their senators and demand the passage of the Equality Act. Here’s a script for your friends!
A new work-from-homer wrote this weekend in response to my invite to tonight’s protest outside of Schumer’s home. She raised concerns about mimicking the right-wing playbook, which involves threatening politicians at their homes. I am in complete agreement that it is never appropriate to threaten people. That said, I trust the organizers of this evening’s action to be conducting a non-violent political protest.
DEMOCRACY IS ON THE LINE, and we have a deadline to SAVE IT.
Hosts: Indivisible Nation BK, Empire State Indivisible, VOCAL-NY, New York Communities For Change, Upper East Side Indivisible, Common Cause New York
Republicans are working overtime to disenfranchise Black voters, youth, working people and people of color across the country. Join us to tell Chuck Schumer to unite his WHOLE caucus, end the filibuster and pass S1, the For the People Act, to protect voting rights, end gerrymandering and unrig our elections before it's too late.
Sometimes we have to show up. Meet me at Chuck Schumer’s house at 5:30, 9 PPW.
We are still following up with state legislation that is pending. It wasn’t clear why the Adult Survivors Act — a bill to unlock a one-year lookback window for adult survivors of sexual abuse to file civil claims — didn’t move anywhere in the chamber despite almost no formal opposition and unanimous passage in the Senate.
Please contact your Assembly member and urge them to press leadership for a summer vote on the Adult Survivors Act, A648. Here’s a ready-made message.
Have a great day!
with love,
L