I Write Letters: on DADT
2009 November 12 at 3:47 PM (2009, DNC, GLBTQI rights, i write letters, Pres. Barack Obama, Rep. Nancy Pelosi)
Boosting the signal from Keori. Feel free to copy or alter and send to your elected officials. Find your senators here, your representatives here, and the White House here.
Dear Senator Feinstein / Senator Boxer / Speaker Pelosi* / President Obama,
I am writing to urge you to introduce a companion bill to HR 1283 in the Senate. HR 1283 would repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and replace it with a policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, queer and intersex people currently serve in the military, making the same sacrifices for the country that heterosexual service members, do–but they serve a country that refuses to accept or recognize their open service. Numerous military leaders and troops have stated that there is no rational basis for discriminating against queer service members. A non-discrimination policy would not disrupt troop cohesion, it would not affect morale, it would not negatively affect the military. What it would do is allow queer people to serve their country without fear of persecution and expulsion; uphold equal rights for all people; and end a discriminatory policy that has been a stain on the honor of our country and our military.
It has been one year since millions of Californians voted to take away the civil rights of their GLBTQI Californian friends and family. Please take a leadership stance on civil rights for GLBTQI people and set an example for our state, and inspire people to stand up for equality.
Sincerely,
PD
*Looking at the page on HR 1283, I am disappointed to see that Speaker Pelosi has not yet co-sponsored the bill. Please call or email her and urge her to take a leadership position on equality and co-sponsor the bill. How is CA supposed to uphold equal rights for queers when our representatives won’t do the same?
I Write Letters: on Stupak and Health Insurance Reform
2009 November 12 at 3:02 PM (2009, birth control & IUD, DNC, i write letters, Pres. Barack Obama, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, reproductive rights)
Feel free to copy or alter and send to Speaker Pelosi and your elected officials. Find your senators here, your representatives here, and the White House here.
Dear Speaker Pelosi [Senator Boxer / Senator Feinstein / Senator Reid / President Obama],
Thank you for your leadership on health insurance reform. I appreciate the hard work you’ve put into this issue; however, I am concerned that the recent Democratic compromises over women’s medical rights will jeopardize the health and lives of millions of women, with the impact falling the hardest, as ever, on women who are poor, who are disabled, who are of color–in short, women who are part of the most vulnerable groups that health insurance reform was supposed to help, not hurt. I request that in conference, you amend the bill to (1) remove the Stupak Amendment; (2) put gynecological wellness exams and birth control on the list of services that health insurers must cover.
The Stupak Amendment would drastically limit a woman’s ability to access a legitimate medical procedure, one that one in three American women[1] will have in her life. By expanding the Hyde Amendment and banning any plan purchased with any federal subsidy from covering abortion services, the Stupak Amendment dramatically raises the financial cost of having an abortion. The amendment does not include exceptions for the mental or physical health of the women or severe fetal abnormalities (e.g. anencephaly, a cephalic disorder that makes it impossible for a fetus to survive after birth). The amendment will force many women carry pregnancies to term, even if they can’t afford to raise the child; even if the pregnancy will destroy their mental or physical health; even if the fetus suffers from disorders that will make it impossible for it to live past birth; even if they miscarry and the dead fetus remains inside the womb.[2] In short, the Stupak Amendment will deny women the right to make decisions about what they do with their own bodies, a right that is granted to children, to men, and even to corpses.
As for gynecological wellness exams and birth control, these are vital parts of womens’ health care. The current health insurance reform bill cover pap smears and mammograms, but that is insufficient. Access to STI counseling, pelvic exams, domestic violence screening, and birth control are necessary if women are to be healthy, informed, and protected.
The founders of our country declared that among the unalienable rights of men are “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” If the principles of the Declaration of Independence are to hold true for all people and not for men alone, then you must ensure that health insurance reform does not come at the sacrifice of womens’ rights to their bodies, their freedom, and their health.
Sincerely,
PD
[1] Guttmacher Institute, Facts on Induced Abortion in the United States, July 2008
[2] For an example of the far-reaching ways in which limiting abortion access will affect women, see Robin Marty’s post at RH Reality Check, Will the Stupak Amendment Affect Insurance Coverage for Miscarriages? I Think So.
