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PLAYING POLITICS
The Equality PAC is New Mexico's only political action committee dedicated to electing LGBT friendly politicians. We are not a federal PAC and do not endorse candidates in federal elections. We are, however, concerned about recent statements made, and questions asked in the 3rd Congressional Primary race, that amount to a distraction from pressing issues [
].
A candidate's sexual orientation is irrelevant to issues that are important to voters: health care, ending the war in Iraq, the failing economy, etc. Using this issue as a wedge to weaken a candidate reduces the discourse of the race to mudslinging, and insults voters. We don't support candidates because they are gay or straight; we support candidates based on the vision that they carry for a better New Mexico and, importantly, how they vote on issues.
There have been recent LGBT victories, namely the upholding of marriage equality by the California Supreme Court. There are now two states that allow marriage for same sex couples and six states that enable protections for people in domestic partnerships or civil unions. Nineteen states have actually passed laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. Sixteen states have hate crime laws (including New Mexico) that provide for enhanced penalties for crimes perpetrated upon someone just because they are gay.
But we have a long way to go. People who are gay still cannot serve openly in the military despite our desperate need for soldiers. Every year Congress tries to pass federal employment protections based upon sexual orientation, but it fails. There's a federal definition of marriage act that needs to be overturned and LGBT young people need protections and assurances that schools will be safe.
If congressional candidates are looking for ways to elevate LGBT issues and to call attention to the need for a culture shift, we strongly recommend educating oneself and integrating such issues into public platforms to end inequality. We can only have that honest and constructive debate in an atmosphere where candidates aren't taking inappropriate swipes to score political points.
THE NEW MEXICO EQUALITY PAC
ALBUQUERQUE
LET'S DEBATE
With regard to John Greenspan's recent letter to the editor and his conditioned-by-personal-prejudice response to the 9.11 event [
Letters, May 21: "Don't Believe It"
], I offer him, and anyone else, a challenge to debate this issue, either on my radio show, "Camp Lovewave" or at a Cinematic Town Forum at the Film Center. Former CIA Senior Officer Bill Christison and I will sit down with you and discuss your evidence that supports your claims.
I have interviewed scientists and scholars who have studied the evidence and John has not. For example, a 757 crashing in to the Pentagon at 400 mph does not leave a 16-foot-diameter hole. Do you think the Neo-cons, who lied about everything that got us into this war in Iraq, didn't lie about 9.11? 9.11 is the lynchpin, the False Flag Event, that drew us into this war.
Best case scenario, the government either allowed the attack to happen, or they did it! John says "find a good therapist" if you doubt the government story about 9.11 and I say to John, "WAKE UP" or it's off to Iran!
TERRAN LOVEWAVE
SANTA FE
HUMAN RIGHTS
To publicize the New Mexico Human Rights Torch Relay, I brought Ms. Jane Dai and her 8-year-old daughter, Fadu, to be interviewed by SFR several weeks ago [
Cover story, May 14: "Broken Rings"
]. Jane shared her story about her husband, who was tortured to death in China for upholding his belief in Falun Gong's principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.
Knowing what we now know about the Holocaust, I don't think anyone would consider anything Hitler said to justify his crimes as having any merit. So I asked the reporter not to repeat the propaganda the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses to attempt to justify their brutal treatment of Falun Gong. When the paper came out I was shocked to find a whole section repeating the CCP's propaganda. Repeating this propaganda perpetuates misconceptions about Falun Gong and perpetuates the persecution. This is very serious, as people's lives are at stake.
It was not until the Chinese government discovered that 70-100 million people in China had taken up Falun Gong, that the regime unlawfully banned the practice and launched a brutal persecution in which thousands of Chinese citizens have been tortured to death. Meanwhile, Falun Gong has been welcomed in more than 80 countries and awarded for its health benefits by governments worldwide.
I encourage everyone to investigate this issue and when considering who to believe, consider the motives of those speaking. The CCP wants to "eradicate" Falun Gong and are committing genocide. Falun Gong practitioners only ask for the persecution to end and to be given what is rightfully theirs-their human rights.
SARA EFFNER
SANTA FE
FOR ART'S SAKE
The Orphan Artist bill is a bad idea, not only for artists but for all of us [
Zane's World, May 15: "Lil' Orphan Artist"
]. First, the "searchable databases" are not in operation…guess what, this is our tax money at work (probably to help pay for the Iraq invasion…and the deficit) Second, even a well-organized artist does not file for copyright these days when they show a new body of work or mail a postcard, so filing to protect the work and paying to do so will cut work out of being seen because these are more difficult financial times for artists. We were adequately protected by the older law. Museums and scholars already have an easier financial road than the producing artist…hey, how many of us have a research or legal staff?
Does it occur to Zane Fischer that all the work on Web sites, postcards and even on gallery walls will have to be accounted for by the artist and gallery to protect their futures? This will impose huge burdens on productive artists and their business partners, the galleries and publishers. On the Web site
, one registers pieces one at a time.
How does that help the artist with files full of diverse studies that don't fit into "a body of work" designation? How are we to easily have Web sites with 50 works on them without registering each piece? No, I'm not a whiner; I'm a well-organized producer. The US is in big trouble when the government starts adding more cost to the artist. This is another truly difficult situation added to just making a life. Maybe, we should all pull our Web sites, stop mailing postcards and no longer seek to have our images published; that would solve a lot of problems. And we could take our careers into a new, off-grid world where art is part of the underground, just like jazz once was. That would be truly creative…
H MARGRET
SANTA FE
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