The Progressive Project

Campaign for Southern Equality Has Launched!

jasmine — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:39:04 +0000

Over 50 people came together last night for the Campaign for Southern Equality’s kick off event, a Family Dinner that combined home-cooked food with launching a new movement for LGBT equality in the South. The event, which took place in Asheville, drew folks from the ages of 6 months to 60 and from across Western North Carolina.

CSE will be hosting Family Dinners each month until LGBT people are fully equal under the law. We hope you’ll join us to connect directly to our actions, which start next month.

We’re also organizing Support Teams in Boston, MA, and San Francisco, CA, who will be directly connected to our efforts in the South. Get in touch with us at southernequality@gmail.com if you’d like to get involved. CSE emerges from 6 years of The Progressive Project’s work on LGBT rights and political campaigns.

Here are 4 easy ways you can join CSE:

1) Come to a Family Dinner in Asheville, Boston or San Franisco to connect in person. More info: www.southernequality.org

2) Donate to CSE at: http://southernequality.org/donate/

3) “Like” us on Facebook and ask your friends to do the same: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Campaign-for-Southern-Equality/174941115857811

4) Follow us on Twitter: @CSElive

Campaign for Southern Equality to launch in June

jasmine — Fri, 13 May 2011 20:13:46 +0000

In June, The Progressive Project (TPP) will officially launch the Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE). Building on our six years working for LGBT rights, the Campaign for Southern Equality will be an innovative organizing effort to accelerate federal rights for all LGBT people, by building a strong grassroots movement in the South. We believe that this is a unique moment when this approach is both possible and critical.

Though our work will be based in North Carolina and growing across the South, we will need strong support from LGBT people and allies all over the country. We hope you will join us. There will be many ways to be involved. To start, check out this short slide show about our work. You can sign up for our mailing list at our home page and you can also take the step of being a founding donor here. Stay tuned for more information as our work gets underway.

Boston, MA: Support Marriage Equality in Rhode Island

jasmine — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:27:12 +0000

Join MassEquality in building support for marriage equality in Rhode Island. They say: “Come join our phone bank today, Wednesday, March 9 or Thursday, March 10 at our office, 262 Washington St., 7th Floor, Boston, 02108 from 5 to 9 p.m.

Can’t make it into our office? You can still make a difference this week by calling from home through CallForMERI.org.”

Asheville, NC: Voices for Economic Justice Workshop Series

jasmine — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 12:35:26 +0000

Join in an ongoing workshop series hosted by Just Economics to challenge economic injustice, organize for social change and win living wages.

Tuesdays, 6-8:30pm. February 22th – April 12th. First Presbyterian Church, 40 Church Street, Asheville, NC.

Free dinner and free childcare. Transportation assistance available and community service hours credited for participation. Contact: Just Economics at 828-505-7466 to sign up.

Asheville, NC: Feb. 15 Community Law Workshop on LGBT Family Rights

jasmine — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 17:31:04 +0000

From 6 – 8 PM on Tuesday, February 15, the Campaign for Southern Equality will host its first Community Law workshop, focused on LGBT family rights. The panel discussion will feature attorneys Diane Walton, Connie Vetter and Jeff Marsocci. It will focus on how LGBT families can best protect their rights in the current legal climate. Details below the fold:

Tuesday February 15, 2011
6 – 8 PM
First Congregational Church
20 Oak Street, Asheville (downtown)

All ages welcome and free childcare will be provided.

Hosted by First Congregational Church

Co-hosts: People of Faith for Just Relationships, GetEqualNC, Blue Ridge Pride, Asheville NOW, WNC Citizens for an End to Institutional Bigotry, NC Commit, Just Us for All, Equality NC Foundation and theNational Center for Lesbian Rights

North Carolina: Upcoming LGBT Rights Events

jasmine — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 19:34:17 +0000

The month of February is a busy one for LGBT rights in North Carolina. Mark your calendars for the following events:

February 14: GetEqualNC hosts a marriage action in Asheville
February 15: Equality NC’s Day of Action, 9 AM – 4 PM
February 15:Campaign for Southern Equality’s LGBT Family Law Panel
February 17: WNC for Change hosts a meeting about the Equality Resolution. Details to come.
February 22: Asheville City Council will vote on the proposed Equality Resolution. Show up to show your support!
March 3: Training on Hate Crimes for local Law Enforcement. Email southernequality@gmail.com for more info
March 6: State of Equality, hosted by GetEqualNC. More info. to follow

Asheville, NC: Support the Equality Resolution

jasmine — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 15:45:31 +0000

Take a few seconds to add your support to the Equality Resolution that has been proposed to Asheville City Council. If passed, the resolution will move us closer to equality under the law for LGBT citizens. Read the resolution and sign on as a supporter at NC Commit’s website. We are particularly looking for support from Asheville City residents.

Asheville, NC: Equality Resolution

jasmine — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 14:49:26 +0000

People of Faith for Just Relationships will propose an equality resolution to the Asheville City Council. To announce this, PFJR will host a news conference on Tuesday, January 25 at noon at the First Congregational Church (20 Oak Street, downtown Asheville). You can learn more about this effort at www.nccommit.org. The Campaign for Southern Equality, an off shoot of TPP, is proud to endorse this effort.

Boston: Spanish Classes for Social Change

jasmine — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:24:21 +0000

TPP is happy to share this posting, from Centro Presente about “Spanish Classes for Social Change.” Classes will run from January 14th – March 12, 2011. For more information or to sign-up for classes, please contact Jessye Weinstein at jessye.weinstein@gmail.com. Details in the full post.

Centro Presente is offering a new cycle of Spanish classes that will run January 14-March 12 2011! Classes meet at Centro Presente located at 17 Inner Belt Rd, Somerville, and are easily accessible by the orange line (Sullivan Sq) and the 91, 86 and CT2 buses. There is also parking.

There are two classes being offered: Basic Spanish and Conversational Spanish. Both offer 36 hours of instruction (4 hrs/wk) over the 9-week cycle and cost $200.

Basic Spanish: a fast-paced, comprehensive class that challenges students to explore language through thematic units that address issues of social justice such as the roots of migration, food sovereignty, development theory and free trade. There will be 2 sections of the class, one meeting Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-11am, and the other meeting Saturdays from 9-1pm.

Conversational Spanish: a class that advances Spanish language skills while bringing together English-learners with Spanish-learners to explore themes of identity, community and language. To take this class it is expected that you can speak comfortably in the present, past and future tenses. If you don’t feel quite comfortable yet operating in these tenses but would like to participate in the conversational class, Centro offers intensive booster classes the week leading up to the start of the cycle. Classes meet Mondays and Wednesdays from 6-8pm.

Centro Presente is a state-wide Latin American immigrant organization dedicated to the self-determination and self-sufficiency of the Latin American immigrant community of Massachusetts.

Campaign for Southern Equality

jasmine — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:31:19 +0000

In Spring 2011, TPP will launch the Campaign for Southern Equality (“the Campaign”), a national effort to achieve the full rights and responsibilities of citizenship for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people. To achieve this, the Campaign will build a grassroots movement of LGBT people and allies that is based in the South to (1) expose and resist the persecution that LGBT people experience in this region, (2) provide emotional, spiritual, legal and financial support to LGBT people during times of crisis; and (3) tell a new story about the LGBT experience in America to a national audience, including those who are conflicted about or oppose LGBT rights. The Campaign will be launched in Asheville, North Carolina, with planned growth across the region.

You can learn more here. If you’d like to be in touch or get involved, email us at southernequality@gmail.com