You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: the Every Child Deserves a Family Act.

Kim Davis’s claims that she could prevent same-sex couples from becoming state-recognized family to protect her personal religious beliefs may have been illegal, but around the country adoption agencies are allowed to claim such conscience clauses apply to them. Mississippi has the last outright ban on same-sex couple adoption — and it’s currently being challenged in court by the Campaign for Southern Equality. However, only a handful of states outright protect LGBT people from being discriminated against in the fostering and adoption process. And others have laws — like the one Michigan passed just this summer — specifically to allow faith-based groups to refuse to serve same-sex and unmarried prospective parents.

All the leading national child welfare associations universally agree: children raised by LGBTQ parents have the same social and emotional development and the same outcomes as those raised by cis, hetero parents. But we can’t ask the 400,000 children in our nation’s foster system to wait for agencies and officials to put their welfare above personal bias.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative John Lewis have each introduced the Every Child Deserves a Family Act to end state-level discrimination and give those kids a shot at finding loving, permanent homes. The Family Equality Council is supporting this legislation and has a fill-in form at FamilyEquality.org under the “Connect” tab. The letter will go to your national legislators asking them to sign on as co-sponsors and to local and state officials depending on the specific legal landscape in your area.

In the meantime, if you or someone you know need help establishing a legal parent-child relationship, the ACLU has a confidential help form you can fill out at ACLU.org through the “LGBT Rights” Issues page.

TAKE ACTION:

Tell your elected officials to SUPPORT The Every Child Deserves a Family Act through the Family Equality Council

Additional Activism/Resources:

FOLLOW the challenge to the final complete ban on same-sex couple adoption through Campaign for Southern Equality

Free Resources: Establishing Legal Parent-Child Relationships via ACLU National

Sources/further reading:

Adoption and Foster Care Federal, State, Local Landscape via Family Equality Council

ACLU may challenge newly-signed law on adoption by gays” via Detroit Free Press

"Anti-gay adoption bill another shameful moment for Michigan” via Detroit Free Press

"Preliminary Injunction Filed in Lawsuit Seeking to Immediate Relief From Mississippi Adoption Ban” via The Campaign for Southern Equality

“Discriminatory Treatment In Foster Parenting and Adoptions” via ACLU National

Hear the segment in context:

Episode #953 "Beyond Marriage Equality (LGBTQ Rights)"

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: supporting the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance Act.

This legislation — which has the unfortunately trans-exclusionary nickname “the EACH Woman Act” — is the first national legislation to explicitly affirm the right to abortion care. Roe v Wade may have decriminalized abortion, but the complete lack of anything resembling an affirmative right in the legislature or from the Supreme Court is what has allowed 231 abortion restrictions to pass in just the past four years — not to mention practically perpetual investigations of Planned Parenthood.

Coverage bans — restrictions on whether a patient’s health insurance provider is allowed to reimburse for abortion care — are the height of every kind of discrimination I rail against on this show. The poor, communities of color, immigrants, people living on reservations, the undocumented — basically all the people who already have barriers to healthcare and significant economic disadvantages — are hit the hardest.

Grassroots organizing lead by the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity (or URGE), and the National Network of Abortion Funds along with new polling commissioned by All* Above All showing Americans — by a 24-point margin — think politicians shouldn’t be able to deny abortion care to someone just because they’re poor came together to create a historic press conference this summer. More than 70 members of Congress signed on to co-sponsor the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance Act introduced by Representatives Lee, DeGette, and Schakowsky. Many stood in front of cameras to declare that abortion is a right and demanded an end to this dangerous discrimination.

Even if this legislation can’t get past the GOP’s dangerously anti-choice leadership, having a coalition this size put their names on a bill that doesn’t shy away from the word “abortion” is a huge deal and those members of Congress deserve your support. You can encourage your representatives to sign-on through the form at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health website — LatinaInstitute.org. If your reps are already supporters, likely All* Above All has included them in their “All In” social media campaign, so post the graphic at AllAboveAll.org thanking them to your networks with the inclusive hashtag #4EACHOfUs. Show favorite Barbara Lee’s graphic is up in our feeds if you don’t have a congressman of your own to thank.

TAKE ACTION:

Add your name in support of #4EACHOfUs: "Write your member of Congress today!” via the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health

Thank the #4EACHOfUs co-sponsors via All* Above All’s 100 Days For Coverage Campaign

Sources/further reading:

"Widespread Public Support Bolsters Bill to End Restrictions on Abortion Coverage” via Truthout

"New Year, Same as the Old Year? 2015 Reproductive Rights Preview”

Hear the segment in context:

Episode #952 "The battle rages whether you pay attention or not (Reproductive Justice)"

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: Support the decriminalization of sex work.

Feminism has an unfortunate and harmful rift when it comes to sex work. While activists and talking heads will all come out to defend bodily autonomy when it relates to pregnancy and abortion, a frustrating few show up to acknowledge the agency of sex workers. Despite sex workers risking stigma, future employment and even harm to speak out and tell their stories and debunk myths, many still see them as victims to be rescued or as complicit in the subjugation of women.

Amnesty International's decision to listen to the 237 organizations in 71 countries that make up the Global Network of Sex Work Projects rather than the “rescue” industry and support decriminalization has sparked a new round of public discussion on the issue. This means right now is an important moment for allies to learn and get involved.

If you’re new or have reservations, there’s no one better than Melissa Gira Grant on the topic. She has the personal and activist history as well as an accessible style for explaining the intersection of issues that make decriminalization — and ultimately legalization — important and sensible.

From her piece at The Nation on Amnesty’s policy shift:

"Using the criminal law to control sex work means police are pitted against sex workers, and sex workers can pay the price with their lives. Sex workers who are also migrants, transgender, and/or people of color or ethnic minorities are intensely subject to this kind of criminalization and exclusion...Criminal laws only add to the challenges—poverty, marginalization, access to health care—that many sex workers already face.”

Basically — as we see with almost every other thing that’s been criminalized in this country, making sex work illegal only intensifies existing hardships and marginalization while propping up private prison profits. The only way to fix it is to change prohibition laws and that starts with changing public perception — which means we need to be better allies.

The Sex Workers Outreach Project is a great starting point for becoming an ally in your personal and professional spaces. At SWOPusa.org they have basic language tips for medical professionals, advice for academics and teachers, ways to get involved in your community, support for the partners and friends of sex workers, and links to other organizations’ resources.

Their community support line — 877-776-2044 — is national and open to current and former sex workers, allies and grassroots organizers for general advice, crisis counseling, referrals, and legal information. Their resources page also has safety and screening tips for sex workers — increasingly important as sex worker-controlled avenues like MyRedbook & Rentboy are shut down.

TAKE ACTION:

Learn how to become an ally with SWOP’s Ally Resources Page

Follow & amplify: #SexWorkIsWork

Additional Activism/Resources:

Resources for sex workers: Safety tips and Screening 101 via via SWOP-Chicago

Sources/further reading:

"Amnesty International’s Long-Due Support for Sex Workers Rights” by Melissa Gira Grant at The Nation

”Playing the Whore: the Work of Sex Work” by Melissa Gira Grant

Q&A on the Policy to Protect Human Rights of Sex Workers — Amnesty International

"LGBT Rights Organizations Join Amnesty International in Call to Decriminalize Sex Work” — Lambda Legal

"How LGBT People Would Benefit From The Decriminalization Of Sex Work” at ThinkProgress

"3 Sex Workers' Rights Organizations That Fight Every Day To End The Stigma” via Bustle

"A Sex Worker Shows Why Her Job Shouldn't Be Illegal” via Refinery29

"How the Feds Took Down Rentboy.com” at Vice.com by Melissa Gira Grant

"Woman kills attacker with his gun, unknowingly takes out a serial killer” via The Daily Dot

Hear the segment in context:

Episode #951 "It is neither all good nor all bad (Sex Workers Rights)"

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: Hunger Action Month.

One in six Americans struggles with hunger. As highlighted before on this show, that number hardly fluctuates no matter what’s happening with job numbers, the stock market or the economy. Our capitalist system has created a sizable class of people — an estimated 49 million right now — who can’t take for granted that they’ll eat tomorrow. Until we can fundamentally change this system, people will go hungry.

Hunger Action Month is the perfect time to push back on all the right-wing and center-left poverty shaming tropes. Feeding America — a fantastic organization that provides over 3 billion meals annually and reaches nearly every community in the country — has fantastic graphics, memes, educational materials, and social media campaigns available to share with your networks.

Feeding America has also rebranded September: #Spoontember. To raise awareness and encourage people to volunteer, Feeding America is calling for selfies with a spoon balanced on your nose. We all know silly works on social media: buckets of ice water raised over $100 million for ALS research, after all. So take a selfie, tag @FeedingAmerica on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and include the stats on the campaign page at FeedingAmerica.org in your post.

You can also support the Thunderclap scheduled for Hunger Action Day Thursday, September 3rd by clicking the link in the segment notes and in the Feeding America Facebook and Twitter feeds. It only takes ten seconds and your social media post will go out as a blast alongside other supporters, potentially reaching millions by helping the hashtag go viral.

If you’ve been meaning to volunteer, but like most of us, forget or are reluctant to get involved with something new, take the opportunity during a month when many of the other volunteers will be new as well. You can all be unsure of yourselves together — and what better cause than feeding hungry people. FeedingAmerica.org will connect you to your local food bank, or, if in-person engagement isn’t viable for you, help you run a virtual food drive.

You can also ask your members of Congress to visit a food bank from the Feeding America home page. There’s no expiration date on this action as residents of all 3,143 U.S. counties experience food insecurity — making this an epidemic in the richest nation on the planet.

Whatever level of involvement you’re able to take makes a difference in helping end stigma, raise money, and push toward a better, more sustainable system.

TAKE ACTION:

Join one (or all!) of @FeedingAmerica’s #HungerActionMonth campaigns.

Take TEN SECONDS to support Feeding America’s #Spoontember Thunderclap!

Sources/further reading:

"Hunger and Poverty Fact Sheet” via Feeding America

"49 Million Americans Live With This — So Why Are We So Uncomfortable Talking About It?” via .Mic

"Our Perceptions About the “Unworthy Poor” Haven’t Changed” via TalkPoverty

Hear the segment in context:

Episode #949 "Throwing away food while people starve (Poverty)"

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

This is an incomplete list, one we hope listeners and followers will update by adding to it in the comments. The Black Lives Matter movement has developed and caught fire so quickly, branching out across the country into connected, but local actions, that keeping track has become impossible. We hope that continues and that you find this to be a helpful jumping off point should something in a BotL episode be what encouraged you to get involved.

Previous BotL Activism Segments:

Campaigns for #MikeBrown and #Ferguson via @LeBreed7910 — Best of the Left Activism

Demand an Executive Order on Racist, Violent Policing via @ColorOfChange, #BaltimoreUprising edition - Best of the Left Activism

Demand an Executive Order on Racist, Violent Policing via @ColorOfChange — Best of the Left Activism

Showing Up For Racial Justice @ShowUp4RJ — Best of the Left Activism

Great resources, action listings, educational content, and ways to get connected with #BlackLivesMatter as a person of color or ally:

#BlackLivesMatter

#Ferguson Response Tumblr

Listen to the full show:

Episode #947 "Understanding the schism in the progressive movement (#BlackLivesMatter)"

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: Preserve Anonymity, Stand Up For Domain Privacy.

People prefer to be anonymous online for a number of reasons — not all of them so that they can troll and leave comments without reprisal. Groups and individuals who do the majority of their social justice organizing and fundraising don’t link their personal information — names, addresses, etc. — to their websites to prevent targeting by opposition and law enforcement.

Business like Time Warner and Walt Disney — claiming they need recourse for copyright infringement — have lobbied the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (or, ICANN) to end the proxy registration of domains that keeps people’s information private. According to Buzzfeed, the entertainment industry sees proxy registration as a way to covertly steal content while privacy advocates see identity concealment as a way to enable free speech.

The Online Abuse Prevention Initiative is particularly concerned about the way this potential rule change would affect groups like: women indie gamers who sell their products online, freelance journalists and authors, small business owners who work out of their homes, activists who take donations — especially those who live under totalitarian surveillance states, and people who crowd fund medical procedures using their personal stories to solicit donations.

The affect on marginalized groups and those without financial resources to protect themselves through the legal system or fight harassment after it’s already begun could change the landscape of online organizing and commerce as well as open up even more people to being doxed.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is, of course, leading the effort to fight the proposal. Their "Preserve Anonymity, Stand Up For Domain Privacy” petition to ICANN is up at their website, EFF.org, under the “Take Action” tab. By signing their petition, you’ll be asking for ICANN to not only reject the change, but to go further to protect people’s online privacy by creating less costly, easier ways to withhold personal identifying information from online domains.

TAKE ACTION:

SIGN: "Preserve Anonymity, Stand Up For Domain Privacy” via the Electronic Frontier Foundation

Sources/further reading:

"Icann plan to end website anonymity 'could lead to swatting attacks’” at The Guardian

"Proposed Domain Name Rule Threatens Website Owner Anonymity” at Buzzfeed

Hear the segment in context:

Episode #946 "What will it take to reverse this trend? (Privacy Rights)"

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: Support MyTransHealth.

They’ve already been successful -- with a start in NYC and Miami, and a launch in San Francisco when they hit their first fundraising goal. Next up: Chicago and Philadelphia with no plans to stop.

Trans people in this country face four times the national average for HIV inception; half of trans patients educate their own doctors about their care needs; one in for trans people has delayed care due to fear of or experienced discrimination; and 19% were flat out denied care.

If you’re able, support the effort to bring quality healthcare to the more than 750,000 people who need it. You can also follow and amplify the #TransHealthFail thread where real people are telling stories that will shock and move you.

TAKE ACTION:

AMPLIFY and donate to the KICKSTARTER to bring My Trans Health to as many cities as possible.

Additional Activism/Resources:

FOLLOW and amplify: #TransHealthFail

Sources/further reading:

"6 ways the health care system fails transgender patients” via Mashable

"Trans People Are Speaking Out About Their Horrible Experiences With Health Care” via .Mic

"It's hard being trans. It's even harder when you can't find a doctor. A new site hopes to fix that.” via Upworthy

Hear the segment in context:

Episode #945 "Violence and injustice (Trans Rights)"

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: Tell Congress to Protect Funding that Supports Victims of Sexual Violence and Helps Catch Rapists.

The first round of rape accusations were leveled at Bill Cosby a decade ago. But thanks to a culture that counts one man’s word and carefully crafted reputation more heavily than the collective experiences of fourteen women, that reputation is just now taking an actual hit. Remarkably, some people still refuse to believe any of the now 35 women publicly on the record, their stories told together in New York Magazine last month.

This unwillingness to believe survivors is not the only reason 97% of rapists will never see so much as a day in jail. Centuries shrugging off a crime that disproportionately affects women, transgender and gender nonconforming people has lead to a massive backlog of untested rape kits. Untested evidence allows serial offenders to continue unabated because those victims who wish to report don’t have access to the other connected reports that bolster their cases.

Some research pins the percentage of sexual assaults just on college campuses that are committed by serial offenders as high as 90. Getting kits tested — even those where the statute of limitations has expired — is crucial.

RAINN — the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network — has an action for the current federal budget season. The “Top Priorities in Congress” section of the RAINN.org “Policy” tab lists protecting funding that supports victims of sexual violence as the fastest, most important way you can get involved with helping survivors. Using the simple script and sample posts provided, you can email, call, and/or Tweet your Representative and Senators and ask them to support funding that helps survivors and holds perpetrators accountable.

The federal budget is being appropriated right now and every day the backlog of untested kits grows.

As the RAINN script says, "Every two minutes, another American is sexually assaulted. More than half of these crimes are never reported to police, and 97% of rapists will never spend a day in jail. We can, and must, do better.”

TAKE ACTION:

Email, tweet, call your representatives from: "Tell Congress to Protect Funding that Supports Victims of Sexual Violence and Helps Catch Rapists”

Sources/further reading:

"‘I’m No Longer Afraid’: 35 Women Tell Their Stories About Being Assaulted by Bill Cosby, and the Culture That Wouldn’t Listen” by Noreen Malone at NY Mag’s ‘The Cut’

"Who Will We Choose to See? Bill Cosby and Believing Survivors” by Tọ́pẹ́ Fádìran at RH Reality Check

"The Empty Chair & 35 Women Standing Up to Bill Cosby, Rapist” by Roxane Gay at The Toast

"Serial rapists commit 9 of 10 campus sexual assaults, research finds” at AlJazeera America

Hear the segment in context:

Episode #944 "On Cosby and consent (Rape Culture) "

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: Hold Border Patrol Responsible.

Republicans have seen the light on immigration reform, the corporate, belt-way media told us earlier this year. Pay no attention to the way they refused to pass anything comprehensive — they see the benefit of incremental, piecemeal legislation and are hoping to appear less xenophobic ahead of the presidential primary season.

Well — whether we like it or not — primary season is in full swing. And with the House gone for August recess and the Senate right behind them on Friday, this supposed party line shift seems to have been mostly hype. The only members of the GOP weighing in on immigration with any enthusiasm are the primary contenders themselves. Media proclaimed moderate Jeb Bush even seems to be taken seriously despite his throwback go-to line:

"Finding a practical solution to the status of the people who are here illegally today is a nonstarter if our borders are not secure against future illegal immigration.”

Despite ongoing abuses in border towns, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has virtual free reign under the Department of Homeland Security. There is little recourse for those who live with the checkpoints and harassment happening well into U.S. territory. It isn’t just Jeb’s quote-unquote “illegals” being targeted; legal residents must pass through check points even if they aren’t living on one side of the border and working or visiting family on the other.

The ACLU has been pushing a campaign of accountability since the president’s much lauded executive order to stop deportations for over 4 million immigrants this winter. That order also ramped up the militarization of border towns and check points. Visit the “Action” tab at ACLU.org or use the link in the segment and show notes to go directly to the petition titled "Our Border Communities Are Not Constitution-Free Zones.”

The petition demands a clear, effective method for reporting human rights violations — a power that rests with the president and the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. This method must be transparent, available to non-English speakers, and followed by a strong investigation process.

While we’re fighting for comprehensive immigration reform that requires action from Congress, we must continue to push the president and his administration to stop all abuses within the power of the executive branch; bringing the Constitution back to the border and those who reside there is an important step.

TAKE ACTION:

SIGN: "Our Border Communities Are Not Constitution-Free Zones" via ACLU

Sources/further reading:

"Signs of Life For Immigration Reform” at U.S. News and World Report

"Jeb Bush unveils border security, immigration reform plan” via WSB-TV

"Documenting Ongoing Border Patrol Abuses” via Immigration Policy Center

Hear the segment in context:

Episode #943 "No human being is illegal (Immigration) "

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich

You’ve reached the activism portion of today’s show. Now that you’re informed and angry, here’s what you can do about it. Today’s activism: Keep SNAP Strong.

That video from the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities began with the voices of former Senators Bob Dole and George McGovern — the democrat and the republican credited by World Food Program USA as being pioneers in the way food assistance is delivered to those who need it in this country. Their website unequivocally declares:

"It is no exaggeration to say that every major U.S. program designed to help feed poor children bears the imprint of these two men.”

How quickly things change.

As Best of the Left’s Social Media/Activism director Katie Klabusich lays out in a piece for RollingStone, the GOP has spent the past four years proposing 10 year plans to “balance the budget" that cut more than $130 billion from food assistance programs — WIC and SNAP — that Dole and McGovern worked so hard to make more user-friendly and easier to qualify for.

Why a need to cut approximately “half of one hundredth of one percent” — that’s 0.0085 of one percent — out of a $3.8 trillion federal budget? According to the GOP the answer is priorities and redundancy. Katie, who spent the first six months of this year utilizing SNAP after an unexpected medial bill — an experience she details in the article, makes a good point: 49 million of her is pretty redundant.

That’s how many people are food insecure in this country. 49 million — or 14% of our population. One in six Americans aren’t living with or in danger of being hungry because of the economy either; the hungry segment of our population really never drops below 11%. This is simply the percentage of our friends, neighbors, and coworkers that we’re willing to live with being hungry as a trade for our capitalist culture.

Currently, the GOP is in charge of the budget and they're celebrating a drop in SNAP dollars for 2016 — actually due to factors affecting the program's funding calculator like fewer expected enrollees and a break in food inflation — as though they managed to sneak a law past the president that fundamentally undid Dole and McGovern’s legacy. Their intentions are clear by their false premise boasting and their on-the-record long-term budget plans. Now is the time to get involved in the effort to bolster these life-saving programs because they are absolutely at risk.

The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) is a national organization working to maintain funding for food assistance programs and fill the gaps with private efforts when public money falls short. They have a great Legislative Action Center at FRAC.org where you can track and support or oppose proposed state and federal budget actions.

At FRAC.org, be sure to sign the "Tell Congress to Keep SNAP Strong” which encourages Congress not just to ditch any notion of cuts, but join with the White House and Progressive Caucus in bolstering life-sustaining access to food.

You can also share your experiences and amplify others' through a hashtag Katie revived earlier this year: #PovertyIs. The hashtag trended on multiple continents and the stories are powerful. 

TAKE ACTION:

Track and support/oppose pending budgetary and program changes to food assistance through Food Research and Action Center’s Legislative Action Center

SIGN: "Tell Congress to Keep SNAP Strong”

Sources/further reading:

"What SNAP Is For” via the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

"Honoring the Legacy of Senators Bob Dole and George McGovern” via World Food Program USA

"Republicans Are Trying to Take Food Out of My Mouth” by Katie Klabusich at RollingStone

Hear the segment in context:

Episode #941 "Taking food out of the mouths of babes (Poverty)"

Written by BOTL social media/activism director Katie Klabusich