Animal Protein As Bad As Fossil Fuels Says UN

Wish us well. Jaye and I are entering month two of a full on transition to Vegan. More on LGBT Power Vegans, Divias and Hotties later on down the road. One good reason is the planet. Veg Awards 2010 says:


"Global Powerhouse
In June, the United Nations Environment Program released a report calling for a worldwide shift away from animal products, stating that a plant-based diet was the best way to save the planet from world hunger and the impact of climate change. The report states the only sustainable diet is one rich in plant-based foods and details the damaging and far-reaching effects of eating animals, declaring that factory-farming practices are as harmful to the environment as burning fossil fuels."

- Kathleen Connell, M.A.

The Invisible War

Every veterans day I feel I was a part of a slow motion war in San Francisco ( and elsewhere) that is never honored. It could be called The War against GIRDS. Around 1981 AIDS, a mystery disease, began to create sudden, horrible deaths in San Fran. I want to acknowledge the fallen and the wounds of the survivors. There is a great more to say about it than I am going to say here, but the war analogy has been reported by survivors and studied by academics. As our friends died, the right wing placed Prop 64 on the ballot, which proposed to place gays in concentration camps. Reagan never said the words AIDS. We were all we had, and we lived in a shelled shocked world. Every week we opened the BAR newspaper and looked at the obituaries. Searching for friends, honoring strangers by taking time to read thier life stories.
To read one man's experiences google Uncle Donalds Castro and read his discription and memories. There are foreign wars and domestic wars and this one deserves it's own public acknowledgement. (Image Credit: Uncle Donalds Castro).





- Kathleen Connell, M.A.

Warming Is A Moral Crisis Equal To Civil Rights, Slavery Says NASA's Jim Hansen

As I have said in other Op-Eds, it will do us no good to attain our equality, only to be swept aside by global warming. Yes gay people will survive. But in the struggle for survival, our 2nd class citizenship will not position us to thrive or be a social priority.
Dr. Jim Hansen was given The Blue Planet award by Japan recently. His view, as perhaps the globes greatest and most activist climate expert, is that to not act now is a form of a intergenerational crime against humanity of the highest, or lowest, order. Our next generation will pay a horrific price in a global warming catastrophe, as he discusses in his book, Storms of My Grandchildren.
Many of us in the Stonewall Generation did it all for the next generation. This era requires a new marriage of our civil rights with the struggle for planetary protection. It seems daunting, but it can and must be done. And enviros must take the high ground and support the moral imperative of equality for all, in order to gain our support. Support the Green movement needs in the face of a very right wing, anti-


science, anti-nature, and anti-gay strategic thrust being acted on by the Republicans and Tea Party movement. We can, as a friend said recently, turn thier power against them by a united coalition of the very people they disdain. For the present and the next generation.

Vote CCSE: Teach Green to San Diego Kids

You can vote for CCSE, a huge community resource that is Greening our community! The Next Gen needs Green Literacy so please take a minute and follow the 3 steps below to bring $250K to our region from Pepsi Refresh. Thanks!


- Kathleen Connell, M.A.
Source:CCSE
Subject: [SASC_Forum] Vote for the Green Learning Adventure for San Diego kids

Hello SASC folks!

I am writing to enlist your help. CCSE has been running a free, hands-on education program for San Diego area schools for about a year. It has been funded by Sempra and Walmart and friendly folks like yourself through our raffle and special events in 2010, and that has enabled us to bring the Green Learning Adventure to middle schools across the county this year, reaching more than 8000 students with interactive lessons and information about what students can do in their lives and at home to conserve energy and water, reduce waste and implement other sustainable practices.

The program is easy for teachers to bring to their classrooms and we have a number of teacher testimonials about how well the students respond. We are very excited to build upon its success and bring the Green Learning Adventure to many more schools in 2011. To that end, we applied for a Pepsi Refresh grant. Since we launched on November 1 we have managed to move from 250th place to 115th and slipped back today to 124th. I know it seems low, but we can see that the votes count and I am hoping you can help us and mobilize your network to help us.

Any one person can vote for this project up to three times a day and San Diego will be successful if we can get as many people voting as persistently as possible. Can you help us? The directions are here and below. THANK YOU!

HELP SUPPORT FREE EDUCATION!
We are trying to win $250,000 for kids in San Diego. Vote each way, every day during November! It’s free, and you will get no spam messages from Pepsi when participating.
Help us go viral, please reach out to your contacts and get them to vote!

1. Text (104095) to 73774 (Pepsi will respond to your message but they do not send subsequent messages or market to your phone)

2. Go to http://www.energycenter.org/vote and create an account

3. Go to www.energycenter.org/vote and log in via Facebook

Best regards,

Siobhan
CCSE San Diego

No Apologies from Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi At The HRC Annual Dinner

One of our best hopes going forward for federal LGBT legislation in the Republican controlled House is Nancy Pelosi. As a home town San Franciscan, I know she has done more than most in Congress for the gay community. She is also pro environment. This means in turn she is pro health. The LGBT community faces many health challenges because of our oppression...HIV( where is the cure?), Breast cancer, and stress related disease. All of this is mitigated by clean air, and in general, the curbing of global warming. I am pleased to see Nancy is hanging in and will run for leadership of the Dems in the House to deal with all of these issues, and clean tech job creation as well.
Her quotes here in Playbook/Politico are spot on.
"--NO APOLOGIES -- E.J. Dionne interviewed Pelosi: "[E]verything she said made clear that she's not ready to allow millions of dollars in Republican attack ads to drive her from public life. She wants another crack at winning electoral vindication for a record she believes stands well on the merits. ... Republicans always look for a liberal they can target, she said, and for decades, the choice was the late Edward M. Kennedy. ... 'Now they didn't have him,' she adds. 'To some extent they did this with Mrs. Clinton for a while. ... Now you take a woman and a progressive and you put it together. ... Because I'm effective. ... It's why they had to do it. They had to put a stop to me because we were effective in passing health-care reform, which the health insurance industry wanted to stop; Wall Street reform, which Wall Street wanted to stop; [reforms of] students loans ... I'm one of the most effective fundraisers that the Congress has had . . . because I believe in something. ... What made a difference in the election is the fact that they said we are spending money, and where are the jobs?" "



- Kathleen Connell, M.A.

Time To Hang Together

HRC election summary below. Equality Green says...it's time for us to hang together. Or we will hang seperately.
Source: HRC
"Since 2006, the U.S. House has been led by committed supporters of equality. But yesterday, a wave of anti-LGBT radicals seized control. Their leaders – Reps. Boehner (R-OH), Cantor (R-VA), and Pence (R-IN) – all received scores of zero on HRC's congressional scorecard, meaning they've NEVER supported a single pro-equality bill. Key Senate seats were lost as well.

In Pennsylvania, arch-conservative Pat Toomey beat the staunchly pro-equality Joe Sestak, and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal leader Rep. Patrick Murphy lost his seat. Longtime LGBT rights champion Sen. Russ Feingold lost to multi-millionaire Ron Johnson in Wisconsin. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who's called homosexuality a "dysfunction" and "personal enslavement," continues as a U.S. Representative. See our analysis of yesterday's most critical races »

But there were major victories last night as well. A record number of openly LGBT candidates prevailed, including newly elected David Cicilline (D) of Rhode Island, Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) spent millions to gin up hatred and fear, and although they ousted three Iowa judges who ruled for marriage equality, many of their favored candidates lost – like Tea Party darlings Christine O'Donnell in Delaware (who founded a group to "cure" homosexuality) and Sharron Angle in Nevada (who refused donations from pro-equality companies), as well as Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman in California and Carl Paladino in New York. The man who likened homosexuality to alcoholism, Colorado's Ken Buck, also went down in defeat.

The upside is that we are now better positioned to win marriage equality or other forms of family recognition in multiple states. HRC's Campaign for New York Marriage helped pick up three state senate seats, building significant momentum for a marriage equality vote. Maryland re-elected Governor O'Malley, who has committed to signing a marriage bill, and flipped a key state Senate Judiciary Committee seat. In California, Hawaii, Rhode Island and Colorado, pro-equality governors will take office.

These elections also proved again that pro-LGBT candidates don't lose because of their belief in equality. New Hampshire voters rejected the bigotry and hate of NOM and other anti-equality forces and re-elected Governor John Lynch, who signed marriage equality legislation last year."


- Kathleen Connell, M.A.

We Did It: Prop 23 Fails

Prop 23 is dead! I met many LGBT folks who were and are key motivators and leaders and organizers in this broad state-wide coalition. Thanks to all of you for
just saying no to the dictates of big oil. Media Release from the Dirty Energy coalition:
Proposition 23 Fails in Resounding Victory for California Economy and Clean Energy Future

SAN FRANCISCO – Voters in California soundly defeated Proposition 23 today, delivering a decisive and historic victory for the state’s clean energy economy, clean air and climate policy.

The defeat of the Dirty Energy Proposition signifies the first and largest public referendum in history on clean energy policy. With today’s election, California voters cemented their state’s role as a trailblazer for clean energy policy across the country and worldwide. Today’s results also signal an important triumph for the broad coalition that stood up to out-of-state oil refiners who sought to unravel California’s groundbreaking clean air law to protect their own profits.

“In the midst of a major economic downturn, and with a barrage of fear mongering and scare tactics, voters still said they want a clean energy future,” said Tom Steyer, co-chairman of the No on 23 campaign.

The campaign brought together leaders from the environmental, health, labor, business, clean technology and national security sectors, along with community groups, faith-based organizations and more. The co-chairmen of the Stop Dirty Energy Proposition effort, Steyer and former Reagan-era Secretary of State George Shultz, are leaders within their parties and are emblematic of the unlikely allies that banded together to defeat Proposition 23.

Shultz said this sweeping coalition must continue to work together to urge California’s newly elected officials to carry out voters’ wishes to continue to invest in the clean energy economy. “This is the new face of the clean energy economy. This broad coalition will continue to push for California to be on the cutting edge in building the new energy economy,” Shultz said.

Economists say California’s leadership in curbing pollution already has attracted jobs to the state and will lead to hundreds of thousands more in the clean energy sector, one of the few growing areas of the sputtering economy.

“Voters understand clean energy jobs already exist and offer the best promise for economic growth. They recognize that we can have a clean environment and a healthy economy,” Steyer said.
- Kathleen Connell, M.A.