The Characters Unite campaign is a movement and pledge created by the USA Network. When you sign the Characters Unite pledge, you are making a commitment to combat intolerance, prejudice, discrimination and hate. You pledge to promote greater acceptance, understanding, and mutual respect.  For every pledge made this month, USA Network will donate $1 to its Children’s Defense Fund, National Council of Women’s Organization, and other non-profit partners.

The Pledge

“As a character of the USA, I pledge to stand against intolerance, prejudice, discrimination and hate, and to promote greater understanding and acceptance.  I believe life is richer and we are stronger as a country when we see beyond stereotypes and appreciate each other for the characters we are.  After all, characters are what makes us, USA.”

USA Network has pledged to donate $1 for every pledge made over the next four weeks. I urge all of my readers to take this pledge. You can do your part to help raise money to fight intolerance, prejudice, discrimination and hate by taking the pledge here.

For more information, please check out the Characters Unite website, “like” the Facebook page, or follow on Twitter.

Questions or thoughts? Please share.

(photo courtesy of Think Progress)

Islamic Fundamentalism is to Islam as  ________________  is to Christianity.

This nation has a long history of persecuting various religious, racial, and ethnic groups, something that goes against the very core of the origin of the United States. It is constitutionally and ethically wrong and unjust to persecute the Muslim people. Muslims are not responsible for 9/11 and they should not be held accountable for the Islamic fundamentalists responsible for terrorizing our nation. We need to stop protesting their community centers and Mosques. Instead, we need to help build them.

As we take the time to observe September 11th, we need to work harder to eradicate the ignorance and fear that lurks behind outward hateful discrimination. We need to counter the hate-mongers and the political and religious leaders and media outlets that ignite these firestorms of hate and fear. Apathy will not work here anymore. If we want to coexist more peacefully, we need to act like it.

For centuries, women have had to fight to establish equality in a very paternalistic society. Women had to band together to form the Suffrage Movement. Women fought for equality during the Civil Rights Movement and created the Feminist Movement when society still treated them like second-class citizens. In the last 100 years, women have been incredibly successful in overturning anti-discriminatory laws and creating new laws to protect our rights. There is no doubt that the time we live in now is markedly different than the era of our mothers and grandmothers.

As women:

• We lived without voting rights until 1920.
• We lived without FDA-approved birth-control until 1960.
• We lived without discrimination laws and equal opportunity in the workplace until 1964.
• We lived with sex-segregated employment ads until 1968.
• We  lived without the Equal Pay Act until 1970.
• We lived without Title IX until 1972.
• We lived without reproductive rights until 1973.
• We lived without the Pregnancy Discrimination Ban until 1978.
• We lived without the Lily Ledbetter Act until 2009.

From our mothers to our great-great-great grandmothers, women have worked hard to ensure a better future for their daughters, and the women of today continue to take a stand against injustice and inequality. As women, we have lived with discrimination and intolerance. We have lived as second-class citizens. We have lived without laws to protect ourselves and our rights. So, I ask my mama-sisters, why aren’t we working harder to ensure a better future for our children and grandchildren?  Why aren’t we doing more to stand up to injustice and inequality?

I live in California where Prop 22 passed in 2000 with 61.4% of the vote. On May 15, 2008, Prop 22 was ruled unconstitutional and invalidated. The reaction was mixed, to say the least. Financed by powerful religious organizations and anti-gay organizations, Prop 8 passed just this last year with 52.2% of the vote. I have gay friends who were able to legally marry without problem between May 15th and November 4th. I have other gay friends who missed that small window and do not have that same right. Shortly after the election, I was talking with a few women about the outcome. One mom mentioned that she was tired of all the talk and didn’t want her child exposed to people discussing gay rights. She said, in so many words – it’s so hard for kids these days anyways, so why do we need to add one more thing? I thought about that and replied, yes, it is hard. So why don’t we work to make it easier for them.

Opponents of gay equality rights often cite the Bible as a source for their discrimination. I take issue with that, especially as woman. I am a woman of faith, but I do not take the Bible as a literal and valid source for establishing laws in our society. If that were the case, then equality laws and protections for women would never have been created.

Many of us look back to our history and think, wow, how did women live in a world without equal rights? Within 10 years, I want people to look back and think the same thing. Legal discrimination against gays is a major problem of today. So, I ask you, let’s work to make sure that it’s still not a problem in 10 years. Let’s make sure that future generations look back and think, wow, how did people ever think that discrimination against gays and gay rights was acceptable?

The best place to start making a difference is in the home. As the parents, we are the primary role models for our children. They look to us for guidance on how to navigate this world and how to interact with others. If we are intolerant, discriminatory, and judgmental of others, our children will learn to do the same. Teach your children well. Teach them by being a role model for tolerance, acceptance, and for what is right. It might be your child that needs legal protections and anti-discriminatory laws in the future.  But, even more so, it might be your child that needs to know they are always loved and accepted by you…no matter who they love.

Learn more about what you can do for gay rights:

Human Rights Campaign
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Gay Rights

In California:
Courage Campaign
No on 8