For the last 4 months, conservatives having been screaming about the threat of healthcare reform allowing the big scary government to interfere in their personal lives. Death panels, forced government coverage that denies you services, etc...

All scare tactics, sure, but take a look at what conservatives in Oklahoma have just passed. A new law will mandate that women seeking an abortion have the following personal information about them posted publicly on a website:

1. Date of abortion
2. County in which abortion performed
3. Age of mother
4. Marital status of mother (married, divorced, separated, widowed, or never married)
5. Race of mother
6. Years of education of mother (specify highest year completed)
7. State or foreign country of residence of mother
8. Total number of previous pregnancies of the mother (Live Births, Miscarriages, Induced Abortions)

OK, so I assume I don't have to explain the hypocrisy to you...

But this also publicly reveals the very nature of extreme anti-choice conservatives and what motivates them. It is a lack of respect and absolute contempt for women... their rights, their independence, their privacy, and their standing as equal members of society.

Rachel Maddow hit the nail on the head last night when she talked about the possible motivations for such a law. Conservatives know that abortion is a safe, legal and common medical procedure, and they are having great difficulty changing this reality. So in the face of not having the constitution to stand on, they just want to make the process of going through an abortion as difficult, public, and degrading as they possibly can for women who choose to do so. It is nothing less than legalized intimidation and harassment of women... simply because they can.

The good folks at the League of Young Voters made this video to poke fun at the ridiculousness of abstinence-only education:



Remember, tell your Senators we need to get rid of the Hatch Amendment passed last week that saved abstinence-only federal funding from the grave!

J speak, you listen:

The Daily Show's Jon Stewart absolutely hammered the Democratic Party and their supposed "Super-Majority" last night. Even though they have the White House and huge filibuster-proof majorities in Congress, they have so far failed to make any progress in reforming our broken healthcare system by creating a public option. 

But what have they made progress on? Oh right.... restoring funding for Title V abstinence-only programs.

Check out the awful truth here:



And remember that in order to get rid of this awful amendment, we all need to contact our Senators and let them know that abstinence-only funding has got to go!

Thought federal funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs was a thing of the past?

Think again.

Last night, the Senate Finance Committee voted 12-11 to pass Hatch Amendment #C30 to restore the $50 million a year funding to Title V abstinence-only programs. All Republicans on the committee (including Snowe from ME) voted for it, as well as 2 Democrats, Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.

Here is the gloating response of the National Abstinence Education Association:

This positive bipartisan vote by the Senate insures that valuable programs teaching teens to make the healthiest choices regarding their sexuality will continue. Committee members courageously put politics aside in favor of the health and well-being of the American families. Tonight's vote is a show of support for valuable and proven abstinence education that has made such a difference in the lives of so many teens, while also supporting parents who soundly endorse such programs. "It is encouraging that the hard work of grassroots constituencies from across the country have prevailed to ensure these common-sense programs will continue, " said Valerie Huber, executive director of NAEA. "While the amendment still needs to pass a Senate floor vote, tonight's decision is a significant step in the right direction for the optimal health of America's youth," she added.

Let me emphasize that last point: it still needs to pass a Senate floor vote.

We can still stop this amendment if we all let all of our Senators know that this MUST be stripped out of the Baucus healthcare bill.

Click here to urge your Senator to strip the Hatch Amendment out of this bill.

This Title V money has gone (and would continue to go) to abstinence-only groups so that they can lie to students about condoms being ineffective, set up fake “crisis” pregnancy centers that tell women that abortion is unsafe and will give them breast cancer, and actually send a juggling abstinence clown into middle school classrooms to teach them about “sex”.

The abstinence clowns have to go, no matter how much fellow “Blue Dog” clowns like Blanche Lincoln and Kent Conrad try to save their funding.



We’ve come too far and learned too much about the failure of abstinence-only programs to allow this federal funding to continue. ACT NOW.

A larger percentage of young Americans are uninsured than any other demographic in this country, approximately 1 in 3. When you don't have insurance, you hold off on going to the doctor because you can't afford the prices. And then you get tragedies like the one this Wednesday in Ohio:

OXFORD — Friends say the Miami University graduate who died this week after reportedly suffering from swine flu delayed getting medical treatment because she did not have health insurance.

News of Kimberly Young’s death Wednesday, Sept. 23, came as a shock to those who knew the vibrant 22-year-old who was working at least two jobs in Oxford after graduating with a double major in December 2008.

Young became ill about two weeks ago, but didn’t seek care initially because she didn’t have health insurance and was worried about the cost, according to Brent Mowery, her friend and former roommate.

Mowery said Young eventually went to an urgent care facility in Hamilton where she was given pain medication and then sent home.

On Tuesday, Sept. 22, Young’s condition suddenly worsened and her roommate drove her to McCullough Hyde Memorial Hospital in Oxford, where she was flown in critical condition to University Hospital in Cincinnati.

“That’s the most tragic part about it. If she had insurance, she would have gone to the doctor,” Mowery said.

Tragic indeed. But unfortunately, not uncommon. In fact, Kimberly is likely to be one of the 45,000 Americans to die because of lack of health insurance this year, on average:

Research released this week in the American Journal of Public Health estimates that 45,000 deaths per year in the United States are associated with the lack of health insurance. If a person is uninsured, "it means you're at mortal risk," said one of the authors, Dr. David Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

If you haven't let your representatives know that we need real comprehensive health care reform, now is the time.

Federal funding for the harmful and ineffective abstinence-only-until marriage programs was supposed to be a thing of the past. President Obama zeroed out their funding in his 2010 budget. The House of Representatives, even former ally Appropriations Chair David Obey, approved the budget without allowing ab-only funding to be snuck back in. And it looked like the Senate would land the final blow and get rid of it for good.

But Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) has decided to make a last ditch effort to sneak abstinence-only funding back in, attaching an amendment to the Baucus Health Care Reform bill that would revive the $50 million in funding to the Title V program. 

The amendment’s fate will come down to the vote of 5 Senators in the Finance Committee who are all on the fence. 

Thomas Carper (D-DE)
Kent Conrad (D-ND)
Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
Bill Nelson (D-FL)
Olympia Snowe (R-ME)

If you live in Delaware, North Dakota, Arkansas, Maine or Florida, please click here to send them your message that over 10 years and $1.5 billion for these failed abstinence-only programs is enough. We can’t allow students to continue receiving this ineffective and harmful miseducation on the taxpayers’ dime.

More...

Today is Constitution Day all across America, recognizing and celebrating the 222 year old document that defines our political system, rights and liberties.

Except, perhaps, in Mississippi.

Why? In May, the state of Mississippi threw a state-funded abstinence-only rally for students where they were told the value of not having sex until marriage (including a chant that went “Stop! Don’t touch me there! This is my no-no square!”). That in itself is legal, but not when the rally itself is from start to finish a blatant attempt at proselytizing students in Christianity.

The ACLU just brought forth a lawsuit against the state of Mississippi last week for violating the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from promoting one religion over another. Which elicited this mind-numbing quote from Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant (also in video below):

"I was so disappointed that the ACLU has decided that we don’t need to tell young women in the state of Mississippi about our faith; we don’t need to explain to them that abstinence, we believe, is related to our faithful Christianity beliefs."

Wow.

First of all, I don't think this is going to help you out in court, Mr. Bryant. We'll just call this video "Exhibit A".

More...

I guess donating money to a group that tiptoes on the line of being domestic terrorist group is not as popular as it once was.

Some fabulous news today from the Kansas City Star, as they published this fundraising letter that Operation Rescue recently sent out:

We're now so broke (as the saying goes), we can't even pay attention.

Seriously. We struggle to pay every bill. I had to borrow money just to send you this letter, in hopes that you will come to our rescue so that we can continue to rescue babies.

The letter goes on, saying that they have a new super-duper plan to "help end abortion in America once and for all", if they weren't so... you know, broke.

However, now that we're completely out of money, I'm afraid we won't even be able to launch it... ever!

And that would be the worst defeat imaginable.

The only thing that can save this project is EMERGENCY FUNDING -- and EMERGENCY PRAYERS -- so that we can move forward as planned.

I guess harrassing women and threatening doctors is expensive work. After the tragic assassination of Dr. George Tiller, hopefully more and more people have seen the light that Operation Rescue is nothing but a fanatical organization that incites violence. May their journey in the red be a long one...

The Alabama Supreme Court has just reaffirmed its position that citizens may not buy and sell weapons of mass distruction within the state borders.

Automatic weapons? No.

Dildos.

The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday upheld the state’s ban on the sale of sex toys, but Love Stuff, the Hoover store that filed the challenge, has no plans to stop selling the devices.

While people have the right to use the devices in private, the Legislature has the right to ban public distribution of those products, the court majority ruled in a 7-2 decision.

..."Public morality can still serve as a legitimate rational basis for regulating commercial activity, which is not a private activity,” Associate Justice Michael F. Bolin wrote in the majority opinion.

..."As the 11th Circuit pithily and somewhat coarsely stated: `There is nothing `private’ or `consensual’ about the advertising and sale of a dildo,’” the majority opinion said.

That's right ladies... female orgasms are BAD BAD BAD unless your happily married husband is giving you one. Why, if you could get off without us, we'd have anarchy, I say!

Insanity.

(h/t Pam Spaulding)

The smell of social conservative hypocrisy has been overwhelming in South Carolina, of late.

First, it was Republican Governor Mark Sanford. The strong defender of the "sanctity" of marriage (between one man and one woman) apparently didn't mind occassionally leaving his wife at home while cavorting down to Argentina to hook up with his "soul mate".

And now, we have Kristin Maguire, the recently departed chairwoman of the South Carolina Board of Education. A "strong social conservative", she co-founded and lead South Carolina Parents Involved in Eduction, an abstinence-only group that received federal Title V money and listed this as their mission:

South Carolina Parents Involved in Education (SC PIE) provides a sustainable intervention model that addresses South Carolina’s persistent problem of adolescent sexual activity which results in adolescent out-of-wedlock pregnancies and adolescent sexually transmitted diseases. SC PIE’s unprecedented model equips public school teachers to provide a strong abstinence until marriage message to students and empowers adult community members to support and reinforce this message.

Teachers in seven public school districts are being trained to understand the social, psychological and health gains to be realized when adolescents abstain from sexual activity until marriage. The teachers are further provided a curriculum-specific training to implement Scott and White Worth the Wait abstinence education curriculum.

But it appears that Maguire didn't really follow this abstinence-only role model behavior in her personal life.

More...

Operation Rescue, the professional intimidation by violence group founded by this nutjob, decided to do a mass protest in front of Dr. Leroy Carhart's clinic in Nebraska this Saturday, vowing to "Close the Clinic".

Local chapters of the NOW had other ideas. They brought in supporters from all over Kansas and Nebraska, and on Saturday they outnumbered Operation Resuce almost 3:1.

The clinic will stay open. Below is their victory rally, afterwards.

No, that's not Leslee Unruh or the National Abstinence Education Association.

It's the Obama Administration.

Here's the new tv ad from 4parents.gov, run by the US Dept. of Health and Human Services:



So, let's see, you've been in office 8 months now, right Barack? And this is what we're still peddling?

It gets worse at their website. Here's what they have to say about marriage:

This Web site talks a lot about marriage, and that waiting until marriage is a sensible choice for your son or daughter to make when it comes to sex. But what's so valuable about marriage? Why is marriage any different, or any better than other family situations?

First of all, let's be clear on one important point. In general, children - and adults - do better in homes headed by a married mother and father.

****

What are the benefits married people enjoy?

• Live longer.
• Have better physical and emotional health.
• Are happier.
• Earn more.
• Enjoy better sex lives.

That's right, folks. Tell your kids they better get hitched to their heterosexual partner, or else you'll never have great sex and you'll die young, poor and unhappy. And whatever you do, don't talk about "the parts"...

Your tax dollars (still) at work...

Team Amplify was in full force at Netroots Nation in Pittsburgh recently, asking bloggers and activists what they thought of the Obama administration's performance so far.

Here's what they thought about Obama's desire for "common ground" on abortion, and it's exclusion from the health care debate.



We also asked if they thought that Obama was doing enough to expand LGBT rights:



And finally, we asked (since young people largely put Obama into office by turning out and voting for him in record numbers) what Obama should be doing for young Americans:

More...

Last night, Senator Ted Kennedy passed away at the age of 77, after 47 years of serving his country in the United States Senate.

As we currently still face the threat of harrassment and violence at women's health clinics from the likes of Randal Terry and Operation Rescue, let's remember the work of Senator Kennedy to pass the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which made it a federal crime to use force, the threat of force, or physical obstruction to prevent individuals from obtaining or providing reproductive health care services.

While we are nowhere near where we should be in terms of protecting women and employees of these clinics, lets all be grateful for the work of Sen. Kennedy to at least bring their safety one step further in America.

Here is the text of Sen. Kennedy's speech on the Senate floor in 1993:

More...

Domestic terrorist Randall Terry, who has warned of “random acts of violence” and violent "reprisals against those deemed guilty" if healthcare reform is passed, is currently on a 10-city freakshow tour of the south.

Yesterday, the freakshow went to Louisville, KY, where Terry performed a “skit” with two “actors”. Dressed as a doctor (after stabbing a baby doll), he stabbed someone playing an old women in the neck, with a sign behind him reading “Obama death-care. One dead patient at a time.” He then shook the hand of a white guy in an Obama mask over the woman on the ground.

Oh, and the politician’s office that was the target of this “protest”? Mitch McConnell, he of the 100% rating from the National Right to Life Committee over the last 10 years. Because? He hasn’t opposed Obama’s health care plan enough. Mitch McConnell hasn’t.

This is true, unbridled insanity.

Though no one attended his idiotic display besides two journalists in Louisville, a 13 and 14-year old who witnessed Terry in Nashville had this to say:

"I think this is a disgrace," said 13-year-old Jontrez London of Nashville. "Obama's trying to save people. He ain't gonna try to kill an old lady."

Another baby doll went flying and 14-year-old Malcolm Wells shook his head and sighed.

"These are adults acting like children," he said.

Not children. These are psychopathic violent people, who have every intention to act on it, if given the opportunity. And if the Justice Department lets their guard down, Dr. Tiller’s tragedy can happen again.

With Dr. Leroy Carhart’s federal Marshall protection recently withdrawn, Operation Rescue is now set to descend on his clinic in Nebraska this weekend to “keep it closed”, referring to Carhart’s intention to re-open Tiller’s clinic in Kansas.

If you live in Kansas and Nebraska, the local NOWs are organizing massive counter-demonstrations for the entire weekend, which you can find out about at the links above.

But in all seriousness, this should not be the job of private citizens to defend doctors and patients from potential terrorists. Call Attorney Gen. Holder (202-353-1555) and demand that the Justice Department return federal Marshall protection for Dr. Carhart, immediately.

(crossposted at Feministe)

Fresh off having been the butt of a murder “joke” by Glenn Beck (ha ha), Nancy Pelosi today got another veiled threat of violence by an unhinged man. This time, it was the 2008 mascot of the Republican Party, “Joe” the Plumber:

For Pelosi to write about us bein’ un-American and disprespectful — I’ll tell ya what: I respect nobody who lies to me and manipulates me and takes my money and puts my children in debt. They want me to be respectful towards them? Please! You know, I’m not the most civilized person: Those kind of people, I usually took behind the woodshed and just beat the livin’ tar out of ‘em.

While we’re all quite impressed with what a rugged manly man Sam is (he also talked about disciplining his children with his feet), what I’m constantly struck by is how easily this stuff just rolls off of the tongue of people like him and Beck. It’s a second nature reaction towards any woman who dares to disagree or stand up for what they believe in. Oh, but both of them to tell their supporters (as Sam did today) that using violence against people they disagree with is wrong, in their next breath. So persuasive, that argument…

Fortunately, as I write this, Wal-Mart (yes, Wal-Mart) has just become the 20^th company over the past two weeks to pull their advertising from Glenn Beck’s crazy hate-and-tears fest. At least blatant racism, sexism and violence provocation isn’t as market-friendly as it used to be. Not that that will stop people from trying to sell it, by any means.

(crossposted at Feministe)

We're still here in Pittsburgh at Netroots Nation, and had the chance to ask DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas about what President Obama should be doing on LGBTQ rights. Here's what he had to say:

Team Amplify (myself and 4 of our bloggers) is currently in Pittsburgh at Netroots Nation, the biggest gathering of progressive bloggers in America.

We are going around asking attendees how they think the Obama administration is addressing the needs of young people so far in his Administration, particularly regarding LGBT and reproductive rights.

One of our interviewees was Dainel Warwick, who is a 15 year old state political blogger in Washington at nwprogressive.org. In the following video, he expresses some disappointment with Obama so far.



Oh, and he also won our daily giveaway for a free Flipcam! If you happen to be at the convention too, be sure to come over to our table and register for the site in order to enter the giveaway. We'll give away one today and tomorrow, as well.

Stay tuned for more videos and posts from Pittsburgh!

On November 4th, 2008, voters aged 18-29 came out to vote in record numbers. And when the smoke cleared, Democrats found themselves with massive victories in the House, Senate, and Presidential races. 66% of young people in this demographic voted for Barack Obama.

And when President Obama addressed these voters at the Youth Inaugural Ball, he acknowledged their contribution to his election:

“When you look at the history of this campaign, what started as an improbable journey when nobody gave us a chance was carried forward, was inspired by, was energized by young people all across America.”

As the 80 million young people who make up the Millennial generation turn their attention from the election to this new administration’s policy agenda, one question remains: Seven months into their tenure, what are Democrats and the Obama administration doing for Millennials?

So far, the signs have been somewhat promising. Democrats in Congress are trying to push through the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which would facilitate more direct loans to students, instead of through private quasi-loan sharks. Federal funding for the abstinence-only sex miseducation that this generation had to endure has been eliminated. On global warming, Obama and Democrats are seeking a cap and trade bill to cut the carbon emissions that lead to climate change.

But many areas are still up for debate.

• Though candidate Obama strongly opposed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act during the campaign (with Millennials strongly favoring LGBT rights), as President he’s been reluctant to make any bold moves, instead giving Congress the responsibility to move LGBT progress forward.
• Obama also strengthened Americorps, allowing more Millennials to do “service” around the country. While this is certainly commendable, the big need for this generation is jobs. AmeriCorps service jobs are great experience, but its often sub-poverty line pay alone isn’t going to save this generation from a rough economic recession.
• Though his plans to jump start the economy through the stimulus and “green jobs” initiatives are ambitious, the jury is still out on whether these can really get the economy moving again and give Millennials financial security.

But perhaps the biggest and most direct test for Obama and the Democrats in fulfilling their promises to Millennials is occurring right now: the healthcare debate.

Almost 30% of 18-29 year-olds (approximately 13.2 million Americans) are without healthcare insurance, double the rate of uninsured in the 45-64 age range. This means that many young people are an accident or illness away from being thrown into debt or bankruptcy.

But even the 70% that are insured are not safe from this scenario. While medical problems cause a staggering 62% of personal bankruptcies, ¾ of those are people who actually have health insurance. Young people are finding that their coverage is often worthless if their bills skyrocket or their insurance company refuses to cover certain procedures.

The solution being debated right now is for a public option to health care. Under this option, people would have access to government run insurance, similar to the type of coverage currently enjoyed by Members of Congress. Ideally, the competition of a public plan would keep private insurance companies honest. They would be forced to lower the costs and improve the quality of service in order to keep their customers.

What do Millennials want from healthcare reform? Well, 90% say that healthcare should be made more accessible and affordable for all Americans. And just 36% say they are concerned about more government involvement in the healthcare system..

If you look at both the needs and preferences of young voters, it is obvious that, at a minimum, a strong public option to healthcare is what they want.

Despite having control of the White House and large majorities in the House and Senate, reports are coming out every day that the Democrats are about to cave in and abandon the public option. Presumably, pressure from the “Blue Dog” caucus of conservative Democrats (folks who just happen to be significantly financed by the very same insurance companies trying to kill this reform) and raucous demonstrations at town hall meetings, have the Democratic leadership running scared.


So what will Obama and the Democrats do? Will they cave in to insurance company-funded Democrats and Republicans? Or will they stand up for those Americans who have been repeatedly plagued by a broken healthcare system that disproportionately harms the very demographic (18-29) that put them in power?

What’s your take on the Obama administration’s youth agenda in the coming months and years? Post a diary on Amplify or stop by our booth in the exhibit hall to record your response for our Youth Agenda Video Roundup.

---

Here's a compilation of some of the answers we received in Pittsburgh at Netroots Nation:



Amplify, a project of Advocates for Youth, is an online community dedicated to sexual health, reproductive justice, and youth-led grassroots movement building. Amplify isn’t about making the world suddenly perfect – it’s about change, about standing up for what we believe in. Amplify is a place to come together for a larger cause – the movement that we, as young people, have to lead. No one else is going to do it for us.

And that’s just fine, because we’ve already taken matters into our own hands.

Right now, America seems to be flooded with delusional conservative conspiracy theorists.

“Obama was actually born in Kenya, and is a secret foreign agent sent to destroy our country from within! Obama is secretly setting up FEMA internment camps for conservative critics! Obama’s healthcare reform will set up “Death Panels” to kill old people and babies with disabilities! Obama has mandated that taxpayer funds will now cover abortions!”

Of course, none of these allegations are true. Although, providing funds for poor women to exercise a legal right is something that I wish were true. But unfortunately, it looks like it won’t be.

In an effort to reach “common ground” on abortion, it appears that coverage for any abortion under a public insurance plan was off of the table from the very beginning. From a recent interview with Katie Couric, it looks like the Hyde Amendment, which bans public funds from being used to cover the cost of an abortion, is here to stay:

Katie Couric: Do you favor a government option that would cover abortions?

President Obama: What I think is important, at this stage, is not trying to micromanage what benefits are covered. Because I think we're still trying to get a framework. And my main focus is making sure that people have the options of high quality care at the lowest possible price.

As you know, I'm pro choice. But I think we also have a tradition of, in this town, historically, of not financing abortions as part of government funded health care. Rather than wade into that issue at this point, I think that it's appropriate for us to figure out how to just deliver on the cost savings, and not get distracted by the abortion debate at this station.

Of course, this begs the question: can there really be “common ground” when one side wants to curtail the legal rights of another side, and has no intention of budging?

The most obvious “common ground” is to reduce the “need” for abortions by making sure that sex education is comprehensive and that people have full access to contraception, thus decreasing the number of unintended pregnancies.

But time after time, conservatives fail to budge on even this small concession.

The abstinence-only movement spent ten years demonizing condoms and birth control, greatly exaggerating their failure rates and side effects. Those whose main goal is the ideological purity and virginity of young people, are not willing to concede, even in the face of the research that shows their brand of “sex education” has failed.

Republicans like Rep. Chris Smith (NJ) continue to commonly use hyperbolic language referring to abortion as the “murder of millions of babies”.

Representative Tim Ryan, a “Pro-life Democrat”, found out first hand that “common ground” is a misnomer when he was kicked off the Democrats for Life of America’s advisory board because he advocated for contraceptives as a way to combat unintended pregnancies. Said Ryan:

“We’re working in Congress with groups that agree with preventative options while [the DFLA] is getting left behind. I can’t figure out for the life of me how to stop pregnancies without contraception. Don’t be mad at me for wanting to solve the problem.”

In fact, one of the few small concessions the anti-abortion movement has made occurred when Mike Huckabee appeared on The Daily Show. When asked by Jon Stewart if he could reach common ground by supporting comprehensive sex education and contraception as a way to reduced unintended pregnancy, Huckabee passed, instead offering his own brand of a common ground solution that we (pro-choice and anti-choice) shouldn’t yell at each other and “we shouldn’t shoot each other.”

Last time I checked – the only people being shot were the doctors and other health care professionals at women’s clinics.

So, if the only ground they are giving up is that they agree not to shoot us… then, I’m sorry, we really have a long way to go to reach common ground.

We should never concede the right of a woman, even a poor woman, to obtain a legal abortion. We should not concede that the right should be covered under a healthcare insurance plan.

Women have the right to exercise control over their bodies. That’s the moral high ground of this argument and we must never forget that.


Is there “common ground” on abortion and reproductive rights? Does the left need to compromise – and if so, how? Or, alternately, what would bold leadership on these issues look like from the Obama administration? Post a diary on Amplify or stop by our booth in the exhibit hall to record your response for our Youth Agenda Video Roundup.

---

Here's a compilation of some of the responses that we got in Pittsburgh at Netroots Nation:



Amplify, a project of Advocates for Youth, is an online community dedicated to sexual health, reproductive justice, and youth-led grassroots movement building. Amplify isn’t about making the world suddenly perfect – it’s about change, about standing up for what we believe in. Amplify is a place to come together for a larger cause – the movement that we, as young people, have to lead. No one else is going to do it for us.

And that’s just fine, because we’ve already taken matters into our own hands.

What do you do when you’re told that the President you worked to elect, voted for, agree with on almost every issue, and absolutely adore – is to the right of former Vice President Dick Cheney?

“Say it ain’t so!”

Well, stop the presses… it’s so.

Dick Cheney on Marriage Equality:

“ People ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish. .”

President Barack Obama on Marriage Equality:

“…marriage is between a man and a woman.”

When Darth Vader himself makes Barack Obama look like Pat Robertson on an issue… well, that’s when we’re going to start having some issues.

Additionally, with each passing day and new opinion poll, it appears that more and more Americans are joining the “Cheney faction” when it comes to marriage equality. Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and Maine have all moved to legalize same-sex marriage over the past year. Polls also show that those supporting marriage equality have almost crept into the majority, and young Americans are overwhelmingly for it. While California narrowly passed Prop 8 in 2008 to ban gay marriage, young voters rejected it by a large margin.

Though Obama personally is against gay marriage, he did campaign for two years as a “fierce advocate” of LGBT rights in other regards, particularly opposing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act. But so far is his term, he appears to be resigned to letting Congress do the heavy lifting for him. Obama has faced heavy criticism not only for his hesitance to overturn DADT, but also his administration’s perceived reversal on DOMA. Here’s Rachel Maddow taking him to task on this, as only she can:


The questions are piling up from the LGBTQ community and their allies who advocated for his election: Are you the “fierce advocate” for LGBT rights like you claimed? Or will we have to wait until you’re “ready” to spend your “political capital”?

If Iowa is ready, America is ready.

I say the time for nice words has passed. It’s time for some action.


What kind of leadership does the United States need from President Obama in the fight for LGBT equality?

---

We asked this question to many people at Netroots Nation in Pittsburgh this weekend and got some great answers. Here are some of them:

These are hard economic times. Jobs are scarce, health insurance rates are skyrocketing, and many companies and organizations are hemorrhaging money.

Fortunately, one of those organizations is Focus on the Family.

Here's a letter I received in the mail this weekend:

"Right now we're facing a serious budget shortfall that threatens our ability to reach out to parents, families and married couples who count on our help. Income is down nearly $6 million from what we expected and planned for this year."

Gee, I guess when folks are in rough economic times, they aren't as easily swayed by calls for money from an organization warning about the "evils" of homosexuality and reproductive freedom?

Fortunately, it would appear so...

Brian Safi takes a look at LGBTQ portrayals in mainstream commercials: some are overt, some are subliminal, and some got left on the cutting room floor: