Last year GLAAD released a report detailing more than 160 protests and threats targeting drag events, many of them carried out by violent hate groups like Proud Boys, white supremacists, and other far-right extremists.  This Pride Month, violent groups are still targeting the LGBTQ community.  Yet federal law enforcement agencies have been virtually silent about these domestic extremist threats.  We demand that federal law enforcement: 1. Create and maintain a comprehensive, publicly-available database tracking all threats to pride and drag events. 2. Commit to robust monitoring of threats at upcoming pride celebrations. 3. Issue public statements condemning anti-LGBTQ extremism and affirming their commitment to protecting our community. Hateful politicians want to intimidate us and legislate against our art and identities. But we will not be silenced. Qommittee is an organization of drag artists, many of whom have faced these threats directly. We demand safety and the freedom to express ourselves and our pride in every community. By signing this petition, you're sending a powerful message that hate has no place at Pride. Together, we can make this Pride Month a celebration of love, joy and resistance in the face of hate.

We must restore and preserve the San Juan Hotel and be a model for the rest of the Valley to preserve our history.

Instagram is going to use your photos, your likenesses, your images, your art, to train their Artificial Intelligence, Meta, without consent or compensation. This will affect artists, who will be out of a job if and when AI becomes advanced enough to create art without human involvement. This will affect people who decide to put their faces on the app, that will have to worry about fake inappropriate photos of them being spread across various platforms. We witnessed this happen with celebrities such as Taylor Swift a few months ago. None of this is acceptable, and we cannot let them get away with this.

The safety and security of our homes and neighborhood are fundamental rights that every resident deserves. The recent spike in car thefts in the Shipyard not only disrupts our daily lives but also erodes the sense of community and security that we cherish. When we, as residents, are forced to live in fear of our properties being stolen, it undermines our quality of life and well-being. This issue transcends individual losses and affects the entire community. When crime rates rise, it impacts property values, community trust, and overall safety. By joining together, we can amplify our voices and ensure that our concerns are heard by those in positions of power. Collective action is crucial to driving the changes needed to protect our neighborhood and prevent future incidents. Your support can help us achieve a safer, more secure environment for all residents of the Shipyard.

Many members, in recent months, have repeatedly raised concerns and resolutions to leadership and specific pediatric sections. However, we often meet significant resistance and are told calling for a ceasefire is too divisive of a statement to make. Humanitarian groups and international organizations have consistently pushed for Israel to make stronger efforts to increase humanitarian assistance and prevent civilian casualties, as well as call for a ceasefire, but there is instead more targeting of civilians and humanitarian aid workers.  The International Court of Justice has pushed for Israel to take actions to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza. There has been, to date, little-to-no adherence to this ruling. Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in Gaza, was completely destroyed after an Israeli military operation. Humanitarian aid workers, of any nationality, are also not protected: 7 individuals from the World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli attack on their convoy after coordinating their movements with the Israeli military. The purported last safe place in Gaza, Rafah, is already being invaded by Israeli forces, killing dozens of civilians, including children, despite American and international warnings to halt the Israeli offensive in the enclave. The Academy has already released statements asking the United States government to consider the unique needs of Gazan children in conflict, and to refrain from putting children at risk of death. While commendable, we believe these aims will only be achieved by a permanent end to the ongoing violence.  We also note that in 2022, in the face of similar violence in the Ukraine, the Academy called for members to donate to UNICEF to care for Ukrainian children in the face of the Russian invasion, a push that has not occurred for the children affected by the Israel-Hamas war. The starvation rates that affect children in Gaza, has reached a catastrophic point, with 1.1 million civilians at risk of imminent famine. If war and siege continue, deaths will occur at an even more frequent rate. Our concern, as that of many members of the Academy, should be that of children who are at imminent risk of dying because of war. 

Parking permits and fines place an undo financial burden on SLCC students, especially for those who are already struggling financially. It is especially unjust in the sense that you are unable to appeal a ticket unless you pay the fine regardless if it is warranted with no room to defend yourself until after you are found guilty. Especially since SLCC holds the right to hold your transcripts and ability to graduate hostage unless you pay these fines. Not to mention that SLCC students are already spending thousands of dollars to simply attend classes and this nickeling and diming maneuver serves nothing but to further alienate and impoverish SLCC students. Additionally our campuses severely lack accessible parking spots for those who may struggle if forced to park further away. Please sign here or at https://sign.moveon.org/p/Bruinsunbooted

Ms. Ziegler's conduct has been a continuous distraction from the business of the Board  — the education of our students, and the Board's stated commitment of "Every student every day."  At the May 7, 2024 School Board meeting she proposed a resolution defying constitutional officer responsibilities by refusing to uphold changes to Title IX. She claims she was protecting "our girls" while openly discriminating against certain students. This makes our students unsafe.  Ms. Ziegler has damaged countless students' lives and is an embarrassment to the Sarasota County School District.  She needs to resign or be removed. Join us in this effort. 

Hundreds of students have recently been arrested for participating in protests against the Israeli government’s war in Gaza at dozens of universities across the country. But blue lights and zip ties aren’t making students on any campus safer, and sending in armed troops will only increase the tensions — and the potential for tragedy. We don’t have to guess what that looks like because we already know: At Kent State on May 4, 1970, 28 National Guard soldiers fired into a crowd of thousands protesting the Vietnam War. They killed four students and wounded nine others. Those protests weren’t so different from the ones we are seeing today. From Columbia to the University of Texas-Austin to the University of California, Berkeley, and back again, young people across the country are exercising their constitutionally protected rights to free speech and assembly to protest horrific violence in Gaza. President Biden has an opportunity to show the kind of leadership necessary to meet this moment of crisis. As the protests spread, Republican governors could act unilaterally to bring more military presence to college campuses across the country. That’s why your voice is urgently needed today: Will you help us send the president a clear and crucial reminder that dissent is not a crime, and protest is patriotic?

90% of us will have a parasitic infection or bout at some point in our lives . These infections can cause life threatening health complications.   Please help us, as we have suffered entirely too long. Help us improve the system for you and your loved ones future's. We do this so no one will ever suffer the health problems, isolation, and possible suicide from feeling helpless.

Trump’s first term was chaotic and incompetent. But this time, MAGA is prepared with a detailed plan to quickly seize power and ruthlessly reshape America. Project 2025 is a 920-page document authored by Christian nationalists that provides a step-by-step blueprint to impose the MAGA agenda on every aspect of Americans’ lives and make Trumpism the rule of law. Their goal is the elimination of our freedoms and protections: eliminating Social Security and Medicare, corporate regulations, environmental protections, rights for LGBTQ+ people and religious minorities, contraception and IVF, resources we need for public education, and more.  Their plan also includes systematically sabotaging our elections for their own benefit. And they want to dismantle our democracy and its checks and balances by centralizing power to the White House, giving the president control of previously independent agencies, such as the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, and even the Department of Justice. As one expert, Mary Guy, warned in response to Project 2025, "Democracies have crumbled before, and that’s on the verge of happening here." Project 2025 details a concerted plan for how the MAGA movement seeks to control us, decide our futures for us, and take us backward. Instead of representing "We the People", they want to rule over us and for their corporate interests.  We deserve to know where our elected leaders stand on this extreme, dangerous blueprint. It’s time we sound the alarm about this MAGA vision and demand all Republicans in Congress go on record with their position on Project 2025. A banner at a protest against Project 2025 in Washington D.C. on January 27, 2024 (Credit: Elvert Barnes/Flickr.com)

The NFL has a responsibility to show respect to its viewers, including women, men and LQBTQ+. But, by letting Harrison speak like this they are instead promoting hatred towards women and the LGBTQ+ community. This needs to stop. If they don't punish him, they are stating that this behavior is ok and it is not ok. He is inciting hateful and outdated stereotypes, that do nothing but harm people. These stereotypes have been used to keep women and LQBTQ+ from being able to live their lives they way they want and instead forces them to live in constant fear of violence. The NFL and the Kansas City Chiefs need to send a clear message that this hatred can not be tolerated and they can do it by firing and banning Harrison Butker from the NFL. 

Right now—in 2024—in 27 states it's completely legal to discriminate against people for wearing their natural hair. Formal and informal "dress codes" are used to shame and punish Black people for wearing hairstyles that are consistent with their natural hair texture. And for many in the Black community, it's about more than just hair. Locs, twists, coils, braids, and other natural hairstyles are an expression of identity. Discriminating against Black people for wearing natural hairstyles isn't only a violation of civil rights, it's a direct attack on Black culture. And it has real-life consequences. Black people are being robbed of job opportunities, education, and their dignity all because of racist policies designed to make them tone down who they are. The CROWN Act (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair), a bill aimed at ending race-based hair discrimination in schools and workplaces for Black Americans and other communities of color, was just reintroduced in the Senate. Now is our chance to end hair discrimination nationwide. It's time to put an end to this. Sign the petition to urge Congress to pass the CROWN Act NOW so no one suffers the injustice of experiencing racial discrimination because of their hairstyle.