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Compiled by GayToday
 Voters in five cities will be voting on ballot measuresimpacting the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community today, Tuesday, November 6.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force today summarized the campaigns and outlined its work on the ballot measures. Measures will be voted upon in three Michigan cities, Houston, and Miami Beach on civil rights and domestic partnership issues. "Conservative forces are engaged in a multi-issue assault on our rights," said NGLTF executive director Lorri L. Jean. "These five initiatives and at least that many again next year are evidence of the right wing's efforts to enshrine bigotry and discrimination in the laws of our land. The Task Force is working hard to support and train local communities to fight these measures." NGLTF has prioritized work against anti-GLBT ballot measures as an important component of its work. The Task Force has assigned staff to work on these initiatives and has committed $100,000 to give grants to state and local campaigns. Already this year, NGLTF gave $10,000 to Kalamazoo Against Discrimination, $5,000 to Traverse City Campaign Against Discrimination, and $20,000 to Basic Rights Oregon, which expects to face an anti-GLBT ballot measure next year. Additional grants are pending as plans for 2002 measures become more solidified. The Task Force is the only national organization that provides electoral training in how to defeat anti-GLBT ballot initiatives. The following municipalities are facing initiatives today, Tuesday, November 6: Miami Beach, Florida
NGLTF field organizer Dan Hawes has been in Dade County for three weeks working with the Miami Beach Workplace Equality campaign on voter education and get out the vote efforts. Campaign contact: Miami Beach Workplace Equality, 305-751- 7283, savedade@savedade.org, http://www.savedade.org Houston, Texas Houston voters will be casting ballots on City Proposition 2, which would amend the City Charter to prohibit domestic partnership benefits for city employees. This is the second time Houston voters will decide a GLBT-related measure, the first being in 1985 when the local law banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was repealed by a margin of 82 - 18 percent. NGLTF director of training Dave Fleischer is working with Progressive Voters in Action who is coordinating the field portion of the campaign to defeat the anti-gay ballot measure. NGLTF is also working with People for a Fair Houston, which is handling the paid media voter contact portion of the campaign. NGLTF's work is part of a training for campaign managers and organizers hailing from Washington, D.C.; Boston, MA; New York City; Louisville, Kentucky; Lexington, Kentucky; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Portland, Oregon. Campaign contact: Progressive Voters in Action, 713-521-7161, http://www.votepva.org Michigan Three municipalities in Michigan will be facing measures. Kalamazoo and Traverse City each face a measure to amend the city's charter to prohibit the city council from enacting a law to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Huntington Woods voters will decide a ballot measure to preserve or repeal a law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. Campaign contact: Kalamazoo Against Discrimination, 616-388-3911, kalamazooagainstdiscrimination@hotmail.com, http://www.kzooagainstdiscrimination.org; Traverse City Campaign Against Discrimination, 231-883-1058, info@tccad2000.org, http://tccad2000.org; Huntington Woods, basherb@juno.com. |
