Fresh Updates from RAC

After months of negotiations and a heated mark-up by the Judiciary Committee, S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, is finally headed to the floor of the Senate for debate. Yesterday, the Senate voted 84-15 to proceed with consideration of what could be the most comprehensive reform of our immigration system in a generation. Today begins a long three weeks for the Senate, as they start to debate, amend and vote their way through the over-1,000 page bill. So what’s included in this mammoth piece of legislation? Here are some of the key items the RAC is focusing on:

Reuniting Families

This bill includes provisions that prioritize family reunification and contains new merit-based legal channels for loved ones to enter the United States. We are supportive of the elimination of the decades-long backlogs in family visas over the next 8 years as established by the bill. However, we believe that family reunification must be inclusive of all family members and we are thankful that Senator Leahy (D-VT) introduced an amendment to the bill to extend spousal visas for LGBT couples.

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Machon Kaplan is an internship program run by the Religious Action Center for undergraduate students interested in the intersection of Judaism and social justice. Every summer, the Machon Kaplan program places students in internships at a wide variety of advocacy organizations in Washington, D.C., ranging from the NAACP to the Center for Middle East Peace, and offers regular workshops and community activities at the RAC. You can follow their experiences this summer at the MKBlog feed.

Welcome to my first day in D.C. When the RAC’s Rabbi Michael Namath called to tell me I’d be interning at the RAC all those weeks ago, amid all my uncertainties and unanswered questions about my internship in Washington, D.C., I knew there was one thing I could expect with certainty: adventure. I knew I would have the opportunity to learn about and advocate for a wide variety of people and issues while working at the RAC. And on my very first day, I proved myself right. I visited an anti-genocide art installation on the National Mall and a panel on queer reproductive justice all in the same afternoon.

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The very first Pride Parade took place on June 28^th, 1970 in commemoration of the first anniversary of the Stonewall raid in New York City. The parade, almost a year in the making, was an opportunity for gay men and women to step out of the proverbial closet and respond as a community to the horrific attacks at the Stonewall Inn by proclaiming loudly and proudly that the gay community cannot be brought down. The courageousness and sheer strength of will in organizing this first Pride Parade cannot be overstated, as our country’s gay rights record in 1970 was not deserving of too much pride; sodomy laws were on the books and routinely enforced, discrimination was rampant, and gay visibility in the social and cultural landscapes was virtually non-existent, except as seen as a threat or a mockery.

Now 43 years hence, the LGBT community has grown in strength, in numbers and in visibility, and we have so much about which to be proud, as the arc of our country’s history bends more and more toward equality and justice for all. This is why every year I march with pride and with hope: pride in how far we’ve come, and hope that our trajectory will continue this trend.

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Throughout Pride Week RACblog has featured a number of stories about the long struggle for LGBT rights and the significant problems we have left to address. But it’s Shabbat today, and as we sing in the prayer ‘Yismechu,’ we remember that Shabbat is the most precious of days, a symbol of the joy of creation. So as we prepare for Pride Parade tomorrow, let’s focus a little bit on all that we have to be joyful for this year.

Since last year’s Pride Parade six new states have joined the ranks of those with equal marriage laws. Maryland, Maine and Washington became the first states to pass marriage equality by popular ballot initiative last November; this spring the state legislatures of Rhode Island, Delaware and Minnesota all voted for marriage equality laws (and even though the Illinois house declined to vote on its marriage equality bill last week, there is still hope going forward in the Land of Lincoln). Outside the United States the number of countries with full recognition of same-sex couples has grown, including new laws in France, Uruguay and Brazil, and a new law in Great Britain looks likely.

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This Saturday hundreds of people will take to the D.C. streets for the annual Capital Pride Parade. But each night, hundreds of thousands of LGBT youth take to the streets because they have nowhere else to sleep. LGBT youth are disproportionately represented in the homeless youth population, making up between 20 and 40 percent. This alarming statistic is just the tip of the iceberg; when we think of LGBT rights, we tend to think of Pride Parade, rainbow flags and gay marriage, but LGBT rights are an inseparable issue from economic justice.

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The struggle for LGBT rights has been gaining ground on many fronts around the country. These victories are cause for celebration (celebrations that will be in full force as the RAC joins the Capital Pride Parade this Saturday), but still we must pause to reflect in those moments when we face setbacks in the march toward equality.

Last week the shareholders of oil and gas company ExxonMobil met to consider, among other things, finally adopting a non-discrimination policy that includes protections for employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Sadly, the result wasn’t good.

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Monday marked the beginning of Pride Week, a week of celebration and consciousness-raising about the LGBT community and a range of LGBT issue. For the Religious Action Center Pride Week will culminate with our participation in the Capital Pride Parade on Saturday afternoon (join us if you’re in the area, all the information is here).

Pride is a moment for the LGBT community and its allies to say loudly and openly, “Here we are.” These words are not unlike Abraham’s famous statement, “Hineni – behold me.” And like Abraham, we face this Pride Week with a number of critical achievements behind us, major challenges ahead, and – most importantly – an enthusiasm and readiness to take up a call to action.

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If Puerto Rico were an independent country, today it would have surpassed the United States in the struggle for equality and fairness for the LGBT community (speaking of countries who have surpassed the U.S., the first gay couples married in France today!). If Puerto Rico were a state it would have become the 22^nd state to enact protections for people in the workplace based on sexual orientation and the 17^th to do so based on gender identity. But no matter what, the law signed today by the Puerto Rican Governor, Alejandro García Padilla, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in workplaces, public accommodations and housing, and which updates domestic violence provisions to include discussion of same-sex couples, is a major step forward for LGBT equality.

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