HRC Blog

Good afternoon, This week has been quite a whirlwind. Within four days, Vermont joined Iowa in enacting marriage equality, this time by overriding the governor's veto. And in the midst of the groundbreaking marriage news, the White House appointed HRC Religion and Faith Director Harry Knox to the President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. But just as I’ve warned you over the past few weeks, immediately, our opponents unleashed an assault by falling back on the only tools they have: hateful rhetoric, deception, distortions and outright lies. Hours after Vermont's historic action, the National Organization for Marriage rolled out an advertisement attacking marriage equality. HRC immediately called out the lies embedded in this ludicrous ad, and drew attention to the actor audition reel. To view the ad and the auditions, watch Rachel Maddow sum up the situation as only she can on her MSNBC show last night. And when Harry's appointment was announced, there was an avalanche of distortion from the right. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called Harry "an anti-religious, left wing zealot" on Fox News. Well, Newt's sister, HRC's own Candace Gingrich, has had enough. Read her response to Newt’s comments on Huffington Post here. This is exactly why we launched EndtheLies.org.  We are using this site aggressively to refute the fear mongering, whether it centers on marriage equality, the passage of overdue hate crimes legislation, or our right to participate in religious dialogue. Today, I invite you to visit HRC's latest website, FightHateNow.org, which we've initiated to help equality supporters take action and refute the untruths used to defeat important hate crimes legislation. And it’s interesting that in the middle of the news from Iowa and Vermont, we face another Tax Day. April 15th reminds us of the many financial inequities we face when the federal government refuses to recognize our relationships, from getting taxed on health care benefits, to overpaying because we're forced to file as single tax payers, to our inability to ensure a strong financial future for our families. Join our Tax Chat on Tuesday, April 14th at 2 pm ET and talk to financial experts who know the challenges we face. They are equipped to answer a range of financial questions affecting LGBT individuals, couples and families. To learn more or to submit a question, visit www.hrc.org/taxchat. And for a final bit of television that sums up this last week, watch Maggie Gallagher of National Organization for Marriage and I go at it on MSNBC's Hardball. Again, our thanks for your unending support. Warmly,

P.S. We also had some great news out of New Hampshire and Washington this week. The New Hampshire House of Representatives passed a bill that would amend the state’s anti-discrimination law to include gender identity. And in Washington, the House has approved a Senate bill adding “gender expression or identity” to the state’s hate crimes law. The bill now heads to the governor’s desk for signing.