Recently we asked for reader feedback on why they are against Prop 8 and for gay equality. For more information on this open call for participation and using YOUR voice: Why Are You Against Prop 8? Share Your Stories. Keep your submissions coming, here is Volume V!
“It’s simple. Prop 8 does NOT protect [...]

Join Melissa Etheridge, Salman Ahmad, Deepak Chopra in an experience that will reach the world through critical mass. On December 21st at noon, created by Ring Your Bell For Peace, a incredible peaceful movement will be taking place. You can participate where ever you are: at work, home, or school.
Get outside, meditate, intention, pray or wish silently for one minute, and then ring a bell for peace for one minute.

We’ll be participating and we hope you will too.

Recently in October, we interviewed Director Justin Dillon from Call & Response, the feature rockumentary exposing the truth about modern day slavery:

BW: What drove you to create the movie Call + Response?

Justin: The issue that came in the full focus for me when I was traveling abroad and I learned about the issue [of slavery] by reading a couple of newspaper articles here in the States, particularly a New York Times Magazine Article called “The Girls Next Door.” It talked about this cartel that was luring young girls and women from Eastern countries with opportunities to be waitresses, or even something glamorous like being a model in the West. They would set up modeling agencies in these countries, pay their way to the West, get their passport, everything they’d need; then they would force them through Mexico City “on their way to the States” and there the cartel would pick them up from the airport and take them to a brothel and break their will sexually.

After they have been properly broken, then they would be trafficked into the United States and put into brothels. It’s so unbelievable, it sounded like a movie. Fast-forward three months later, I was in Russia playing music and talking to people and there were all these girls around telling me the same stories about getting all these offers to come to the West to be a model. I started telling them, ‘Do you guys know about human trafficking? Do you know what’s going on?’ None of them would believe me, and that’s what was so disheartening. I told these girls exactly what was going on, but they weren’t having it.

Today is Human Rights Day, a very important day for those of us in the gay community, as well as anyone who is suffering or who have suffered from human rights violations. The theme this year is “dignity and justice for all of us.”

Check out this great article by Emma Brownell “Hunger and Human Rights.”

Also please remember and donate to, Sylvia’s Place, which is apart of MCCNY Homeless Youth Services. They are doing important work helping LGBTQ homeless youth who are homeless and displaced that come from around the country to be in their shelters in NYC.

Remember those who have suffered and continue to suffer, both nationally and internationally and keep fighting for equality, peace and justice for all.

There are more people in Ethiopia without clean water than any other country in Africa. There are 70+ million people living in the country, and 75% of the population lacks access to safe, clean drinking water.

Only one in every four people in Ethiopia have access to clean water while just 13 percent have access to basic sanitation.

Collecting water is a back-breaking chore. Many women walk up to 3 hours, carrying 40-pound jerry cans filled with polluted water that is likely to make them sick.

Many girls never get an opportunity to go to school because the responsibility of collecting water takes precedence.

[Facts from charity: water]

Please support Ladies Lotto’s Online Auction for Charity:Water. This is a great way to spend money for a good cause and get a incredible deal back! Bambi Weavil, CEO of Out Impact, Inc., is a proud member of Ladies Lotto and fully supports charity:water!

In INDIA’S HIDDEN PLAGUE, Hollywood superstar Ashley Judd is on a mission. Far from her glamorous life in Hollywood, she is on a journey to Mumbai, India in her role as Global Ambassador for Youth AIDS and Population Services International (PSI) Board Member.

Mumbai is a city of shocking contrasts, where extreme poverty sits next to huge wealth, the poor next to millionaires. It’s a place where HIV is rife.

Ashley’s mission becomes a rollercoaster of emotions as she meets the people for whom AIDS is a frightening reality. As they tell their stories candidly and openly, Ashley hopes to take their voices and experiences back to a world that might take notice. She meets people such as Kausar, a gritty single mother of two, now helping others that have been affected; Geeta, who was kidnapped and sold into the sex trade and many others. All of them are trying to cope everyday with this deadly virus. Through this emotionally overwhelming story, Ashley tries to come to terms with the fragile way of life and the dire consequences resulting from the instability that the forgotten people of India face daily.

Lead by her heart and guided by the voices of those she meets along the way, Ashley takes her experiences to influential thinkers and policy makers to raise awareness and funds for PSI’s HIV programs throughout India. In her mission, Ashley recruits the help of fellow Bollywood stars like Shahrukh Khan, Sushmita Sen and Akshay Kumar, all of whom want to play their part in this war against AIDS.

We proudly support YouthAIDS and Ashley Judd’s work – and we hope that you will watch this amazing documentary, brought to you by Snag Films, India’s Hidden Plague.

Off Broadway’s Arclight Theater will host a two performance preview staged reading of David
Gaard’s heartwarming new comedy Happy New Year, Lady Lou! The performances will be benefits for “Sylvia’s Place–MCCNY Homeless Youth Services” a shelter and drop-in services for homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning teenagers. Set in New York’s uninhibited downtown club scene, HAPPY NEW YEAR, LADYLOU! tells the story of a raucous drag king who is forced to confront the son she gave birth to twenty years earlier and how the two, with the help of their eclectic friends, create a wonderfully loving, but unorthodox twenty-first century family.

Performances will be Saturday December 27 at 8:00PM and Sunday December 28 at 4:00PM The Arclight Theater is located at 162 West 71st Street (at Broadway) (1,2 and 3 trains to 72nd Street). All tickets are $35.00 and are available at 212-868-4444 or online at Smartix.com.

Who are you remembering today for World AIDS Day? Please feel free to post your memories of loved ones here, please donate to a AIDS charity today such as YouthAIDS and visit our past coverage at Empower All People.

Recently we asked for reader feedback on why they are against Prop 8 and for gay equality. For more information on this open call for participation and using YOUR voice: Why Are You Against Prop 8? Share Your Stories. Keep your submissions coming, here is Volume IV!

Read More: Against Hate and Prop 8 Series – Volume IV

Californians Against Hate has researched and named the top 12 financial contributors to the “Yes on Proposition 8” campaign that heavily influenced people in key states to discriminate against and take away the rights of LGBTQ people in America. For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, Proposition 8 is an amendment to the Constitution that restricts same-sex couples from marrying. Despite all the efforts and progress which allowed and recognized same-sex couples the right to marry, and despite the many same-sex couples who did get married, Proposition 8 overrides all of those marriages. It is amazing to me that our Country still has such a conservative mindset even after electing President Obama, who views all people as equal no matter their sexual orientation.