#EQUALinEVERYway

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Working with Panzi, the organizer of the Invasion of the Pines, our friends at Boycott Fire Island Pines Establishments & Out NYC Hotel sent a powerful message to Ian Reisner, the owner of most of the Pines businesses, yesterday -- if you take LGBT dollars and give them to the campaigns of anti-LGBT bigots, such as Ted Cruz of Texas and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, we will take our dollars elsewhere.

The queens traveled by boat from Cherry Grove to the Pines, they got off the boat while it was cleaned, then they got right back on and went back to Cherry Grove.

That's Panzi driving her stiletto heels into inflatable dolls labeled Ian R. and Mati W., for Mati Weiderpass, Ian's business partner.

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MEDIA RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 30, 2015

CONTACT: Queer Nation: news@queernationny.org

LGBT Activists Slam Martin O’Malley for Backing Limited LGBT Protections LGBT Americans Must be Equal Under the Law, Activists Say      

New York, NY (June 30, 2015) – Responding to comments by former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley in The Hill saying he supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), Queer Nation demanded that O’Malley endorse comprehensive federal legislation that extends the rights and anti-discrimination protections given to all other Americans to members of the LGBT community.     “Martin O’Malley wants our votes, but he doesn’t know what LGBT people want and what we need,” said Duncan Osborne, a member of Queer Nation. “The LGBT community has rejected ENDA. We are pursuing comprehensive federal legislation that makes us fully equal under the law.” First introduced in Congress in 1994, ENDA had a 2007 passing vote in the House after protections for transgender people were stripped out and a 2013 passing vote in the Senate after a sweeping religious exemption was added to the bill. In 2014, Queer Nation launched a campaign that yielded tens of thousands of online and in-person contacts pointing out ENDA���s flaws and history of odious compromises and demanding comprehensive federal legislation. LGBT groups that were already expressing “grave concerns” about ENDA quickly rejected the legislation and embraced comprehensive federal legislation. Many other LGBT groups also now support comprehensive legislation. “ENDA has not been introduced in the current Congress and no one in the LGBT community is asking that ENDA be introduced in the current Congress,” Osborne said. “On the contrary, we are anticipating the introduction of comprehensive legislation by Rep. David Cicilline and Sen. Jeff Merkley that will make LGBT Americans fully equal under the law. And now we’re waiting for Martin O’Malley to catch up and get onboard.” Queer Nation continues to call for state and federal comprehensive civil rights laws that would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, education, credit, public accommodations, and federally funded programs with the limited religious exemption that is found in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

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Married on Sunday, evicted on Monday.

Ken Kidd and Andrew Miller attended yesterday's marriage rally on Christopher Street and distributed over 1,100 flyers telling people that married doesn't mean you have civil rights.

In many parts of the country, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people still face discrimination in housing, public accommodations, employment, education, and credit among other areas.

Marriage is great, but only a comprehensive federal civil rights law will give us the protections we need.

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The Queer Nation plane flies the banner “Boycott Hi/Lo Tea! Fight for Full LGBT Rights!” over the beach at Fire Island Pines and Cherry Grove while beachgoers watch. The venues for High Tea and Low Tea in the Pines are owned by Ian Reisner, a gay man who recently met with—and gave money to—Ted Cruz.

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It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Queer Nation!

LGBT Activists Fly Banner Over Fire Island Calling for Boycott of Gay-Owned Businesses There Airplane Fly-Over Exhorted Beachgoers to Fight for LGBT Civil Rights Fire Island Pines, NY (June 7, 2015) -- A plane trailing a banner reading “Boycott Hi/Lo Tea! Fight For Full LGBT Rights!” flew above the beach at Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines on Sunday, June 7. The action was orchestrated by the gay rights group Queer Nation. While nearly 1,000 people on the beach watched, the plane circled the two communities for 40 minutes, from 2:10 pm to 2:40 pm, first flying east along the beach, then circling back and flying west along the bay. The action was meant to underscore the LGBT community’s outrage over the April 20 meeting between Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and gay businessmen Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass. Reisner subsequently donated money to the Cruz campaign. The two gay men also held an April 14 fundraiser at their Manhattan penthouse for Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), another anti-LGBT politician. Reisner owns most of the businesses in the Pines—including the Blue Whale, Sip-N-Twirl, and the Pavilion, where the “High Tea” and “Low Tea” cocktail hours are held—as well as the gay-oriented Out Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Having seen some of several hundred flyers that Queer Nation members had left at houses, tacked to utility poles, and handed out prior to the fly-over, many beachgoers were clearly awaiting the plane’s arrival. Others, however, were surprised. Many snapped pictures and took video as the plane made its 7 passes. The flyers informed those sunning on the beach that even if the U.S. Supreme Court grants all LGBT Americans win the right to marry, they will still face discrimination in employment, public accommodations, housing, federal programs, credit, education, and parental rights. They prompted some lively conversation on the beach, both for and against the action. “We can get married on Sunday and then evicted or fired on Monday in many states in this country,” said Queer Nation member Ken Kidd. “Yet two gay business owners are making money off of the LGBT community at a world-famous gay vacation spot and then giving that money to outspoken anti-LGBT politicians who would keep us from winning those rights.” As a result, in part, of Queer Nation’s ongoing campaign for comprehensive civil rights legislation, a bill that would give all the rights and protections currently extended to all Americans to LGBT people will be introduced in the current Congress. “Is doing without a cocktail at Tea such a sacrifice to make in our struggle for true equality?” Kidd asked. “We will not be dragged down by those who fund anti-LGBT politicians at a moment when the sky is the limit for LGBT rights. And we’ll let them know how we feel by boycotting their businesses, from Fire Island, New York, to Fairbanks, Alaska.��

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MEDIA RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 5, 2015

CONTACT: Queer Nation: news@queernationny.org

LGBT Activists to Fly Banner Over Fire Island Calling for Boycott of Gay-Owned Businesses There

Fire Island Pines, NY (June 5, 2015) -- A plane trailing a banner reading “Boycott Hi/Lo Tea! Fight For Full LGBT Rights!” will fly above the beach at Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines on Sunday, June 7, between 2 pm and 3 pm. The action will underscore the LGBT community’s outrage over the April 20 meeting between Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and gay businessmen Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass, who subsequently donated money to the Cruz campaign. The two gay men also held an April 14 fundraiser at their Manhattan penthouse for Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), another anti-LGBT politician.

Reisner and Weiderpass own most of the businesses in the Pines—including the Blue Whale, Sip-N-Twirl, and the Pavilion, where the “High Tea” and “Low Tea” cocktail hours are held—as well as the gay-oriented Out Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

“Two gay business owners are making money off of the LGBT community at a world-famous gay vacation spot and then giving that money to outspoken anti-LGBT politicians,” said Ken Kidd, a member of Queer Nation, the gay rights group that orchestrated the flyover. “Our community is out to win comprehensive federal legislation that will make LGBT Americans fully equal under the law. We will not be taken backward by funding anti-LGBT politicians.”

As a result, in part, of Queer Nation’s ongoing campaign for comprehensive civil rights legislation, a bill that would give all the rights and protections currently extended to all Americans to LGBT people will be introduced in the current Congress.

“Even if we win marriage equality in all 50 states at the US Supreme Court this month, a majority of LGBT Americans will still face discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and other areas,” continued Kidd. “Our community will continue to speak out against anyone—including gay men—who fund any opposition to comprehensive civil rights for LGBT Americans. Doing without a cocktail at Tea is a small sacrifice to make.”

Members of Queer Nation will be on the beach and available for comment. Queer Nation is a direct action group dedicated to ending discrimination, violence, and repression against the LGBT community. Website: www.queernationny.org Twitter: @QueerNationNY Facebook.com/qn.newyork news@queernationny.org

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That's Ken Kidd flyering the crowd on the final mile of the 2015 AIDS Walk fundraiser for GMHC. Ann Northrop and Gilbert Baker are holding the Gilbert Baker banner, ‪#‎EQUALinEVERYway‬.

We were asking them to contact their senator and representative and urge them to support comprehensive federal legislation that will make LGBT people equal under the law.

The crowd eagerly took the flyers and hundreds were given out.

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The new Gilbert Baker banners and the flyer we will be using as we press for comprehensive federal civil rights legislation that will give lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people all of the rights and protections that are currently extended to every other American.

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Chanting "Don't Cruz Here" and "Boycott, Sell Out," some 130 people gathered at The Out NYC on 42nd Street at 10th Avenue in Manhattan yesterday to protest a meeting that Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass, the gay owners of the hotel, held with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a leading anti-LGBT voice and candidate for the Republican nomination for president. The meeting has launched a ferocious backlash.

Originally, the crowd numbered about 30, but it swelled when another 100 arrived from a marriage rally that was held in Times Square on the eve of oral arguments before the US Supreme Court in four marriage cases. Three new Gilbert Baker banners were unveiled at the rally.

The Out NYC action was sponsored by Gay USA, the Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn, the Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club of Queens, the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, and the Stonewall Democratic Club of NYC. Queer Nation helped.

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Author of Utah LGBT Rights Law Has Deep Ties to Anti-LGBT Right Wingers

MEDIA RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 16, 2015

CONTACT: Queer Nation: news@queernationny.org

LGBT Activists Condemn HRC for Backing Law With Right Wing Agenda    New York, NY (March 16, 2015) – The University of Illinois law professor who wrote Utah’s recently-enacted law barring some instances of anti-LGBT discrimination opposed New York’s marriage equality law as written, joined the right wing Alliance Defending Freedom in defending a broad religious exemption law in Arizona in 2014, and has ties to a leading proponent of the discredited Regnerus study claiming that children are harmed by having gay and lesbian parents. “Robin Fretwell Wilson has joined hands with some of the LGBT community’s most hate-filled opponents,” said Ken Kidd, a member of Queer Nation, about the law’s author. “It’s shocking that the Human Rights Campaign ignored widely available information about Wilson and has partnered with someone who is clearly seeking to do great harm to the LGBT community.” The Utah law has sweeping exemptions that allow religious institutions and their affiliates to continue to discriminate against LGBT Utahns in employment and housing. The law also allows all Utahns to refuse service in public accommodations to members of the LGBT community.

In 2011 letters to Republican state senators, Wilson and five other law professors argued for a “middle way” in New York’s marriage law, saying that “without adequate safeguards for religious liberty…the recognition of same-sex marriage will lead to socially divisive and entirely unnecessary conflicts between same-sex marriage and religious liberty.” Marriage equality was enacted that year without their recommendations. Wilson has made the same argument to other jurisdictions that enacted marriage equality. In 2014, Wilson was one of 11 law professors who wrote to then Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer saying that SB1062, a so-called religious freedom bill, had been “egregiously misrepresented by many of its critics.” The letter was organized by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a right wing group that has a long history of attacking the LGBT community. Brewer vetoed SB1062 after a national outcry. In 2006, Wilson and University of Virginia professor Bradford Wilcox authored an article on adoption in the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal. In 2014, Wilson and Wilcox penned a controversial editorial in the Washington Post that said that women should get married to avoid sexual assault. Wilcox played a leading role in the Regnerus study attacking gay and lesbian parents. Wilson has consistently argued in favor of broad religious exemptions in marriage equality laws, including exemptions for government employees who process marriages. In 2012, Wilson co-authored an article on marriage and religious exemptions with Douglas Laycock, a University of Virginia law professor who has also championed religious exemptions, and Anthony Picarello, the general counsel for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.   In a March 4 statement, Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said the Utah law “should serve as a model for other faith traditions” and would be a template for legislation in other states. “LGBT people are equal in every way and our community’s goal is state and federal legislation that insures that we are treated equally under the law,” Kidd said. “Utah’s law, with its sweeping religious exemptions, jeopardizes that goal by allowing discrimination by those who most want to fire LGBT people from their jobs and deny us housing or service in public accommodations. We should oppose broad religious exemptions as fiercely as we oppose the conservatives who support these religious exemptions.” Queer Nation continues to call for state and federal comprehensive civil rights laws that would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, education, credit, public accommodations, and federally funded programs with the limited religious exemption that is found in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.