That Development Lady

This Saturday, President Obama will be the keynote speaker at the Human Rights Campaign’s big New York fundraiser. As the largest gay rights fundraiser in the U.S., it’s a big deal to score a personality like the President. But his presence has many members of the LGBT community worried. Here’s a guy who has done virtually nothing for gay rights since his election. What can he possibly say?

I’m sure his speechwriters have cooked up something special for the night, but I’ve got a few ideas of my own. I’ve written a little speech for the beloved President - the kind of speech we wish the man would give, just once.

Tonight is a night to celebrate the Human Rights Campaign - the work they have done, tireless, well organized, well executed work, to promote the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual people in this country. It’s also a night to celebrate all of you, the people who donate their money and time to help make this country a more equal and just society.

But it is also a serious night, a night to reflect on where we have been and, more importantly, a night to plan and commit to where we are going.

I have a plan and I am ready for that commitment.

I understand that, in the face of the economic crisis facing us at home, the military crisis facing us abroad in Iraq and Afghanistan and the environmental crisis facing the international community, there is a very real struggle for basic human rights engaged in everyday by LGBT people in the United States.

This struggle is not overshadowed by the big news issues. It is not lessened by them. It is a constant and painful inequality. I know something about this kind of discrimination. My family knows something about this kind of discrimination.

And so, I do not stand before you tonight with excuses for the delays in Washington, for the setbacks and political conflicts that have crippled many important equality initiatives and stalled others.

I am here tonight because my administration is committed to full equality for LGBT people in this country. I pledged that commitment early in the campaign and have not swayed from that position.

I believe in the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the passage of inclusive immigration reform and the widespread protection of LGBT employees from retribution for their sexual orientation or gender identity.

I believe in hate crimes legislation that protects Americans from homophobia as well as racism.

And here’s what I’m going to do to make the things I believe in, a reality.

Within one year, by November 2010, we will introduce comprehensive immigration reform. This immigration package will include spousal sponsorship for same-sex couples in a committed relationship. Immigration reform is a priority for my administration and no reform package will be complete without this provision for the unification of American families thus far separated by discriminatory immigration policies.

Within six months, by April 2010, we will introduce a bill repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. When we ask so much of our troops, send them back for repeat tours, ask them to fight in harsh conditions so far from home, we must support their right to be open with their colleagues and superiors. We simply cannot afford to lose anymore good people from our military simply because of their sexual orientation.

As we speak, members of Congress are mobilizing around an inclusive hate crimes bill. That is a success that is imminent and my administration pushed to include the Matthew Shepard Act in the defense bill before Congress. We will push to get it passed.

These campaigns will not happen without roadblocks. Sometimes it will seem like we are moving backwards. We have already seen this with Proposition 8 in California and the proposed Proposition 1 in Maine.

But, the United States of America is a community of people from many different countries and many different cultures. It is a nation that vibrates with diversity and rises from its people’s differences as much as their shared experiences.

We are ready for progress. We are ready for equality. We, together, are going to make that equality happen.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/emma-rubysachs/the-big-gay-speech-we-wis_b_313425.html

President Clinton opened the second day of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting by reciting damning statistics about women’s economic marginalization, including that only 30% of the world’s workforce is made up of women. Women do 66% of world’s work, make only 10% of world’s income, and own only 1% world’s property. He said investing in women “can unleash an estimated $15 billion in annual productivity.”

Investing in Girls and Women was hosted by Diane Sawyer. The panelists were: Edna Adan, Director and Founder, Edna Adan Maternity and Teaching Hospital; Lloyd Blankfein, Chairman and CEO, The Goldman Sachs Group; Zainab Salbi, Founder and CEO, Women for Women International; Rex W. Tillerson, Chief Executive Officer, ExxonMobil Corporation; Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Women’s Issues, U.S. State Department; and Robert Zoellick, President, The World Bank Group.

For the businessmen on the panel “empowering” women seemed to be more about using them as the person that funds go through. Blankfein said investing in women has the highest leverage because they support their families. The point was reiterated a number of times by a number of speakers that funds are best used when they go to women.

While the businessmen seemed to lack much of a focus on anything but investing in women to benefit their own bottom line, the women on the panel who are actually engaged in this work brought excellent incite.

Salbi was amazing. She said women are dying, being displaced and raped at alarming rates during warfare. “But they have no choice but to stand up on their feet because they have children.” Women are the ones who maintain culture. They’re the only ones not raping, pillaging, murdering, but they are not included at the table to discuss solutions.

Salbi said in southern Sudan 9 year old girls are being exchanged for cows in marriage agreements. She said we can criticize these cows or we can invest in women’s education and show the economic benefit of empowering women as an alternative source of income for parents.

Tillerson made a number of remarks that were either incomprehensible or deeply problematic (or both). In response to Tillerson saying that funding is not the issue, Salbi emphatically pointed out that 1 cent of every funding dollar goes to women. There is a need for both education and resources so women can renegotiate the decision making process in households and countries.

Sawyer asked Tillerson: given the extreme poverty of women in Detroit, how do you decide to invest here or overseas? Once again Salbi jumped in with an important point: women’s issues and girls issues are not just a third world issue. it’s a global issue.

Salbi emphasized three needs: political will and the will of leadership; women organizing, which is happening globally; and societal acknowledgement of women’s role.

Edna Adan, Director and Founder, Edna Adan Maternity and Teaching Hospital, was also an amazing speaker. She focused on the importance of skilled birth attendants in Somalia. “Reproductive health is affected by nutrition, is affected by age at which she is married, so many other factors.” She said women are dying in childbirth, “because nobody cares… [People think] she’s dying because she was meant to die. She was not meant to die. She could be safe.” “The decision of whether she has treatment must be left to the woman. often its a husband or a brother or a father who decides whether she will be taken to the hospital or not.” There is a view that the husband owns the unborn child and therefore the decision is his, which must be countered through education.

Adan said these issues are not just women’s issues and that we need to engage men: “It is demanding men stand up and recognize women belong on this earth.”

The No Child Left Inside Act aims to trade computer screens for grass-stained jeans.
By Robynne BoydTue, Aug 18 2009 at 5:50 AM EST

GARDEN CLASSROOM: Environmental education has enjoyed the spotlight since First Lady Michelle Obama started working with kids in the new White House garden. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)   Imagine a day when humans are so adept at punching buttons and wiggling joysticks that our thumbs evolve to be exceptionally large and brains uncommonly small. Sound like science fiction? Perhaps. But Ira Blumenthal, director of the Captain Planet Foundation, which promotes children’s environmental education and literacy, believes humanity is headed in this direction unless children start getting out more.   “If you ask a 4- or 5-year-old where a carrot comes from, they usually say from a grocery store and their mom buys it in a bag,” Blumenthal says. “The only way to study the environment is to get outside.”

Yet time for outdoor exploration is more difficult to come by these days, especially during school hours. One reason is that many boards of education responded to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 by eliminating social studies, science and recess from curricula. Teachers focused instead on the skills prominent in standardized tests — reading and math — even though research shows that exposure to the natural world helps students develop critical thinking and social skills, and boosts achievement.   In an effort to restore physical activity to the classroom and repair the schism between school performance and environmental education, U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes of Maryland authored the 2007 No Child Left Inside Act, which he reintroduced to Congress on April 22, Earth Day.   If passed, the bill would provide $100 million a year to support environmental education in public schools around the country. It would help train teachers to understand environmental issues, like climate change and water shortages, offer field trips for students, and build capacity within states for increases in both quality and quantity of environmental education curricula. The bill also encourages environmental professionals to teach environmental education.   “The ultimate goal is for the bill to be incorporated into the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act [the overarching federal law that funds primary and secondary education] so that environmental education becomes a formal part of the education system,” says Sarbanes, who’s been involved in resource conservation and wildlife preservation in his home state for years.   Getting children outside may seem like a simple notion, but the implications are vast, adds Brian A. Day, director of the North American Association for Environmental Education, who says that when children become more Earth-savvy, they’re better prepared to make wise individual and societal choices.   “In the coming decades, we are going to have to make all kinds of important environmental decisions to do with energy, climate change, green jobs and green economy,” Day says. “If people have a real understanding of how our social and natural systems interact, then they’re in a position to be able to participate in a realistic way in lifestyle decisions, like which type of light bulb to use, what kind of car to drive, or larger policy decisions.”   Day isn’t alone in his enthusiasm for the bill’s foresight. His association is but one of the 1,000-member No Child Left Inside Coalition, an advocacy group created to help encourage kids to learn about the environment and promote the bill. Supporters hail from all 50 states and range from parent groups and environmental organizations to nature centers and education associations. In other words, an avalanche of support is building.   Last September, the U.S. House of Representatives readily passed the NCLIA with a vote of 298 to 109. It was reintroduced to Congress this spring since it never reached the Senate floor. On June 4 it was referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education. In the meantime, the NCLI Coalition hopes to continue garnering support. So too does Sarbanes, who’s appealing to members of Congress, as well as the public, for backing.   “We feel very positive about the bill,” Sarbanes says. “We ended last Congress with about 70 members of Congress as sponsors, and this time around we have members who are already familiar with the work of NCLIA. We would love the bill to go to the floor and say there are 50 states that already have environmental programs in place. And now the federal government needs to catch up and head in that direction.”