Category — equality

Today, President Barack Obama signed his first major piece of legislation, boosting workers’ ability to bring pay-discrimination lawsuits.

Hooray: Obama Signs the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act | Rights and Liberties | AlterNet

Psychologists for Social Responsibility (PsySR) issued this statement on In response to the recent passage of ballot initiatives banning same-sex marriage in California, Florida, and Arizona. The statement and more information is also available on their website 

In accord with the commitments to individual liberty and equal protection under the law enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Psychologists for Social Responsibility(PsySR) affirms its support for the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States. Keenly aware of the deeply destructive effects of prejudice, discrimination, and social stigma on unjustly marginalized members of society, PsySR stands opposed to any national or state legislation that seeks to deny same-sex couples the right to marry.

We further believe that psychological research provides compelling support for this clear social justice imperative. After reviewing the empirical evidence, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the National Association of Social Workers have concluded that (1) the institution of marriage offers social, psychological, and health benefits to couples, (2) lesbian and gay parents are as fit and capable as heterosexual parents, and (3) the children of same-sex couples and heterosexual couples are equally well-adjusted and psychologically healthy.*

Psychologists for Social Responsibility therefore strongly supports efforts by concerned citizens and social justice advocates to reverse current state bans and to advance the legalization of same-sex marriage

Local gay, lesbian, straight citizens to protest passage of anti-gay constitutional amendments in Arizona, Florida, California 

A group of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and straight citizens will take to the streets of dozens of cities to protest the passage of Proposition 8, California’s anti-gay marriage amendment, as well as other anti-gay ballot initiatives in Arkansas, Arizona and Florida. 

Every day since Election Day, thousands have protested up and down streets in cities across California, including in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Sacramento. A national, grassroots coalition of LGBT activists have followed in their footsteps. 

On Nov. 15, 1:30 p.m. EST/10:30 a.m. PST, in large cities and state capitals across the country, Pro-Equality supporters will raise public awareness of the need for LGBT equality in marriage and in other civil right

JOIN THE IMPACT: UNITE FOR LGBTQ EQUALITY – Join the Impact

Group’s Study Finds Income Gap Widening – WSJ.com
The U.S. has the highest inequality and poverty rates in the OECD after Mexico and Turkey, and the gap has increased rapidly since 2000, the report said. 

Wealthy households are not only widening the gap with the poor, but in countries such as the U.S., Canada and Germany they are leaving middle-income earners farther behind.

Across the country, authorities are becoming concerned that the nation’s financial woes could turn increasingly violent, and they are urging people to get help. In some places, mental-health hot lines are jammed, counseling services are in high demand and domestic-violence shelters are full. With nowhere else to turn, many people are calling suicide-prevention hot lines. The Samaritans of New York have seen calls rise more than 16 percent in the past year, many of them money-related. The Switchboard of Miami has recorded more than 500 foreclosure-related calls this year.

As economy sinks, officials fear violent solutions – CNN.com

Our economic system has always caused immense stress for those on the bottom of the food chain. And we can trace most individual suffering back to social determinants such as inequality. Now the weight is heavier and hitting more people. The natural reaction will be to build more counseling centers and shelters to help people cope. We need to resist that urge. We need to keep the pressure on the decision-makes to re-work our economic system so that fewer people have to endure the constant stress of not having enough. We can’t treat, counsel and comfort our way out of this mess.

47 Million Americans now have no heath care coverage and twice as many people died in the US in 2006 from this lack of coverage than by homicide.  Find out your state’s numbers:Dying for Coverage

The average compensation of a CEO in 1980 was about 42 times that of the average worker in the company; in 2006, it was more than 364 times. Income Gap: CEOs vs. Workers | OurFuture.org

To Reduce Economic Inequality, Protect Workers’ Rights | OurFuture.org
Extreme economic inequality sharpens perhaps the ultimate contradiction between capitalism and democracy. This can be seen in the corrosive influence of money in the nation’s politics, as corporations and the wealthy buy ever more influence with their increasing opulence. Meanwhile, political participation by the working class and especially by the poor, preoccupied with the challenges of their daily lives and cynical about politics, trends down. Worst of all is the starvation of the public sector that occurs as the fate of the rich increasingly becomes decoupled from the rest of us, enabling them to opt for private solutions behind the high walls of their gated communities—in education, health care, public safety, and more.

AlterNet: Blogs: Video: Happy 35th Birthday Roe v. Wade [VIDEO]

Today, we owe it to ourselves, and the generations of women and activists before us, to celebrate 35 years of women collectively fighting to uphold the legal right to abortion and for accessibility to quality healthcare in the name of self determination, autonomy, political and social equality.