Archive for August, 2007

Victoria Taft Lashes Out At Oregon Families

Published by
ktno
at August 28, 2007 in Uncategorized. 63 Comments

On her blog, Victoria Taft, an extreme right-wing fanatic, has posted about the efforts to protect Oregon families from discrimination.

Sadly, she strongly opposes these efforts to protect ALL Oregon families, despite what she might call her pro-family stance and it is more than shameful.

Below we deconstruct her misguided viewpoint.

Victoria says:

“Now this group’s aim is to use blackmail, if you will, to discourage people from signing a petition to call for another vote on these two issues that Oregonians have already voted on and decided (but which the legislature overturned).”

The Truth:
No Victoria, neither of these issues have been voted on in Oregon. That is a complete fabrication to further your cause and only goes to show that you take your marriage for granted - as domestic partnerships only offer 1/3 of the rights, responsibilities and protections afforded to your family.

What we ARE talking about here is a new law that protects Oregonians, regardless of their sexuality (yes, gay or straight) from being fired from their job SIMPLY for their sexual orientation.

What the domestic partnership law does is lets same-sex couples go to the county courthouse, sign a legal contract with one another and then it grants them such rights and responsibilities as end of life decisions, hospital visitation, bereavement leave, the ability to share health and auto insurance etc. BASIC Victoria. Basic.

Victoria then compares gay and lesbians to the “Klan”:
Besides being a tasteless comparison, the KKK has a long history of killing gay and lesbian people.

Victoria says:
;…Homosexual rights clan (klan?) now have lowered themselves to threatening people who disagree with them.”

THE TRUTH:
By you supporting this petition drive to overturn Oregon law that ensures families are able to protect one another in times of crisis is an all time low. The signature gathering effort to overturn these laws in a blatant threat from the extreme-right to those who do not agree with them.

Continue reading ‘Victoria Taft Lashes Out At Oregon Families’

Turn The Tables.

Published by
ktno
at August 27, 2007 in Uncategorized. 23 Comments

A few are upset that we would post public information on this website if you were to sign the petitions to overturn two laws that simply protect Oregon families by prodiving them with Domestic Partnerships, as well as ensuring that no person - be it straight or gay can be fired from their job SIMPLY based on sexual orientation.

NOW TURN THE TABLES.

What if a group of Oregonians was attempting to put your family on the ballot? Would you sit back and take it?

No you wouldn’t. You would do everything in your power to protect your family and the ones you love.

Our goal is to create an open dialog between our fellow Oregonians on the issue of basic fairness. We believe in family and basic fairness for each and every one of us.

Think before you sign these hateful petions to tear families apart. We are one Oregon and one people. Stop divisive politics and do not sign petitions that will allow blatant discrimination.

THINK. DECLINE TO SIGN.

Know Thy Neighbor Oregon on KATU

Published by
admin
at August 26, 2007 in media coverage. 4 Comments

 

    

Portland Mercury on Know Thy Neighbor

Published by
ktno
at August 22, 2007 in media coverage. 0 Comments

[T]he group—started by “a number of queer folks,” explains spokesperson Jenn Stewart—is modeling their effort after a similar one in Massachusetts launched in 2005. There, knowthyneighbor.org published the names and addresses of roughly 120,000 people who signed a petition to ban gay marriage or civil unions—a move that stirred up plenty of controversy. Here, “a bunch of rabble-rousers in Portland decided to see what we could do in Oregon,” Stewart says.

She explains why: “If people are willing to take a stand against rights of other people then they should be willing to stand behind their signatures,” she says. “It’s incredibly important that you know whenever you sign something, what you’re signing and what they’ll be using the information for, and if it’s public domain.” These petitions, she points out, are public info.

“Plus, there is a lot of petition fraud, and we’re trying to monitor that,” Stewart adds. If someone believes their name landed on a petition—and Know Thy Neighbor’s site—erroneously, they can speak up. (In Massachusetts, people could send in an affidavit if they believed they were victims of petition fraud; PDFs of the affidavits are linked to names of those who filed them. Some of those who filed affidavits explained that a signature gatherer tricked them into signing the petition, while others simply say that they didn’t know what they were signing.)

In addition to holding petition signers accountable, Stewart explains the underlying idea behind the project’s name, Know Thy Neighbor. “To me, it’s important as a queer woman to be able to look up people and see, are the people in my neighborhood on this petition? Are there people in my zip code on this?” she says. Finding out that people she knows—like friends or coworkers or even a boss or local business owner—signed the petition is valuable information, “if for no other reason than protection.”

And discovering that gay rights activists “have to do more education or work” in a certain zip code, for example, can help with the campaign against the referendum.

Read the entire story at the Portland Mercury.