Tomorrow's meeting and announcements

First Thursday Meeting at the LGBT Center
to Discuss Single Payer Plan

At tomorrow's general meeting of Queer Justice League we will discuss the broken US healthcare system. Advocates for a single payer plan (longtime activist Eric Sawyer along with Dr. Laura Boylan from Physicians for a National Health Plan) will present views and answer questions in a discussion format.

First Thursday General Meeting
November 1, 2007
8 PM
LGBT Center 208 West 13th Street NYC

QJL NEEDS VOLUNTEERS

Queer Justice League is building itself up toward future feats of strength and superheroism. In particular right now, we need:

-- people who will contribute facts and opinions to this blog
-- people who will help us raise funds
-- people experienced with formal consensus decisionmaking who will help us get comfortable with it as an organization.

If you have any of those skills, or ideas for future actions, please let us know.

Upcoming Meetings & Events from QJL's friends and allies:

Youth Empowerment Action Addressing HIV (Y.E.A.A.H.)Forum
an "Open-Space Technology" youth event for two Saturdays
Saturday, November 3, 2007
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
NYC Department of Health
49-51 Chambers Street 1st floor

FREEHELD/SAVING MARRIAGE
two film screenings and a panel with Marriage Equality
Saturday, November 3, 2007
1 PM
admission: $7
Jersey City Museum
350 Montgomery Street, Jersey City, NJ
(at the corner of Monmouth Street)
sponsored by CHILLFEST - the mostly gay & lesbian film series

Outing the Water Closet: Sex, Gender, and the Public Toilet
Saturday, November 3, 2007
11 AM - 5:30 PM
FREE Admission
Center for Architecture
536 LaGuardia Place, between West 3rd and Bleecker Streets.
co-sponsored by New York University, the Center for Architecture, and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) New York Chapter

HOLDING TREVOR
film screening
Sunday, November 11, 2007
2 PM
admission: $7
LITM (Love Is The Message)
140 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, NJ
sponsored by CHILLFEST - the mostly gay & lesbian film series

THE JOY OF DUCT TAPE
Workshop
Friday, November 16, 2007
8PM
$5 members, $10 non-members
This event is being presented by Lesbian Sex Mafia in cooperation with the Gay Male S/M Activists of New York/ Leatherfest 2007 and is open to all genders. It's a tool, it's a toy, it's bondage, it's clothing, it's a scene just waiting to happen. Duct tape is everywhere! Find out how something so practical can be so perverse.

NATIONAL TRANSGENDER DAY OF REMEMBRANCE
Tuesday, November 20, 2007

HIGH ANXIETY: WHy Having Private Health Insurance
Doesn't Mean You Are Really Covered
with Consumer Reports Editor Nancy Metcalf & Baruch Professor Shoshanna Sofaer
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
7:30 PM
FREE Admission
Beth Israel Medical Center
Phillips Ambulatory Care Center
10 Union Square East (between 14th & 15th Sts.)
Second Floor - Lecture Hall
for information contact:www.pnhpnymetro.org

Here's a little assignment for everyone:

If you live in NYC... try going one day without seeing a cop. I bet you can't...well unless you stay inside your apartment all day.

-Kody

Announcements from QJL's members and friends

1) One of our Canadian friends on MySpace asked that QJL help spread the word about Alvaro Orozco, a Nicaraguan man Canada is trying to deport despite the oppression he previously experienced in Nicaragua related to his sexuality:

Alvaro's personal website

Recent article about queer people's problems with the Canadian immigration system

Older article about Alvaro's situation

Please take a moment to sign this petition and secure Alvaro's essential human right to live in safety.

2) A resource for NYC-area trans people interested in securing legal name changes:

The West Village Trans Name Change Clinic offers legal information, and assistance filling out the forms required, for changing your name through the New York State Courts. The Clinic takes place on the first Monday of each month (unless it's a holiday) at the LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St. in Manhattan. Sign-in is from 6 to 6:30 p.m. For more information, contact agoad AT law dot nyc dot gov.

3) From the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF):

An "action portal" for contacting your congressional reps about the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (HR 2015/"ENDA"). ENDA, as proposed at the start of this Congressional session, is a potential federal law that would ban workplace discrimination on the basis of "sexual orientation or gender identity." On 9/27 the ENDA bill was abruptly revised to drop "gender identity" -- but making that change would sell out the trans community AND weaken protection for *all* people who experience discrimination on the basis of perceived gender nonconformity. Democrats in Congress have postponed voting on this issue, so there is a short window of time for informing representatives that gender identity needs to stay in the bill.

Press Coverage of Caliente Situation

Recent Media Coverage of Caliente Incident and Recently Filed Lawsuit:

FOX NY

New York Times

NY Times Blog

New York Post

New York Daily News

365gay.com/LOGO

Gay.com

Don't forget to show up to the ACTION at Caliente on 10/16 at 5:30pm! Khadijah Farmer and others will speak about why Caliente's discrimination merits a response.

March Against the Profiteering Health Insurance Industry!

Wednesday October 17th 4pm rally/5:30pm march
42nd Street between 5th & 6th Avenues (Bryant Park)
B, D, F, V, 7 trains to 42nd St/5th Avenue Bryant Park Station

Over 47 million people are without health insurance in the U.S. and millions more are one serious health problem away from choosing between being untreated or thrown into financial ruin. A recent N.Y. Times poll found 9 out of 10 Americans believe the healthcare system must be rebuilt. It's time to do away with private healthcare insurance companies and institute a single-payer health insurance program like that in the House Resolution 676 which would cover all people residing in the U.S. under a publicly-funded MEDICARE FOR ALL system.

Sponsored by the PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE MUST GO! COALITION of which QUEER JUSTICE LEAGUE is a member.

PHIMGC@ gmail.com www.phimg.org 646 322 0848

We're not gonna take it!

QJL has formed a working group to discuss what can be done in regards to Police Brutality in NYC. There have been countless incidents of the queer community being targeted by the NYPD and we are tired of this police state! We hope to form a large coalition with other minority groups and social justice groups because the NYPD targets anyone they perceived to be 'weak' and that means minorities and the poor. Anyone interested in planning, contact us!