Year: 2018

Beginning with the nominations of officers meeting on December 11, 2018, Fresno Stonewall Democrats will meet an half hour earlier at 6:30 p.m. The social hour will begin at 5:30 p.m.

Today, Gap Inc. announced they are signing the Open to All Business Pledge and urging other business leaders across the nation to add their names and to declare they are Open to All and oppose discrimination.
There are over 2,300 Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta, and Intermix stores in the country, spanning all 50 states.
Gap Inc. joins Yelp, Levi Strauss & Co., Lyft, as well as more than 1,500 small businesses, and 200 nonprofits, in partnering with Open to All, a public education campaign focused on the longstanding principles that affirm that when a business opens its doors to the public, it should be open to everyone on the same terms. To welcome all customers, Gap Inc. stores will also feature the Open to All window cling in select stores across America. In addition, Marriott International Inc. has announced that they are joining Open to All and signing the Open to All Business Pledge.
It’s shocking that many people of color, LGBT people, people of minority faiths, and many others still face discrimination when they seek goods or services from businesses in their local communities. Far too often, we hear stories like the couple that was kicked out of an Uber simply because they’re gay, Muslim women who were ordered to leave a café, people of color facing abuse and violence in a diner, or people with disabilities being harassed in a restaurant.
That’s why the Open to All campaign is encouraging businesses across the country to join together to declare that they are Open to All.
Open to All businesses pledge to:
• Maintain a welcoming and safe environment for people—including employees, visitors, customers, vendors and clients—regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, religion or disability.
• Not discriminate against any individuals or deny them goods or services based on any of these characteristics, and to provide all goods and services to everyone on the same terms.

And most Americans supports businesses that are open to all. The Harris Poll®, conducted in conjunction with Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, finds that 75% of Americans believe when a business opens their door to the public, they should be open to all and serve everyone on the same terms. The poll also found that a vast majority of Americans agrees that businesses should not be allowed to deny services to people based on their race, ethnicity, or national origin (87%), sex (87%), sexual orientation (81%), gender identity (80%), religion (85%), or disability (88%).
In a time when many people of color, LGBT people, people of minority faiths, and many others still can’t be sure they won’t be discriminated against when they seek goods or services, it is more important than ever for businesses to affirm inclusive values and declare they are Open to All.
TAKE ACTION!
• DONATE: Please support collaborative campaigns like Open to All with $50 today!
• SPREAD THE WORD: Ask local businesses to sign the Open to All pledge and order window clings to show their support publicly!
• SIGN THE PLEDGE: If you are a business owner, sign the Open to All business pledge and let your customers and your community know that you pledge to serve everyone on the same terms.
• SHARE Help spread the word about Open to All on social media using #OpenToAll. Check out some of the great Open to All graphics to share. And don’t forget, if you see an Open to All window cling at your favorite business, snap a photo and share it!
o SAMPLE POST: I support businesses like @Gap, @BananaRepublic, @OldNavy, @Athleta, @Intermix, & @MarriottIntl that are #OpentoAll!
• BE COUNTED Add your voice to the growing chorus of Americans who reject discrimination! Be a part of the Open to All campaign!
• OPEN TO ALL ON YELP Let businesses know about Yelp’s new “Open to All” attribute and encourage them to check the box!

Click here to download PDF version

June 4, 2018 — This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the case where an LGBTQ couple was denied service by a cake baker. In a very narrow ruling limited to this specific case, the Court voted 7-2 in favor of the anti-LGBTQ baker.
The good news is that this ruling is very limited and applies narrowly to the unique facts of the Masterpiece Cakeshop case. It did NOT create a license to discriminate or overturn existing LGBTQ non-discrimination protections. Instead, the court reaffirmed the need to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in the market place through nondiscrimination laws. Places like California, which have strong non-discrimination laws, will continue to protect its LGBTQ people.
But this case also presents new challenges. As we’ve always said, this case was never about cake. Fundamentally, this was an attempt by our opponents to attack marriage equality and carve away LGBTQ civil rights protections, which we’ve fought so hard to obtain. This decision will embolden our opponents to continue to attack the civil rights of LGBTQ people through the courts, the legislatures and ballot boxes across the country. This case demonstrates that the right-wing will accelerate their attacks on the LGBTQ community across the country and that we have much more work to do.
SIGN OUR PLEDGE >>

More than half a century ago, our nation decided that when a business is open to the public, it must be open to all. Not just a policy, this is a fundamental principle at the heart of who we are — and how we treat one another — as Americans.
Ultimately, the overwhelming majority of Americans do not support discrimination, and will continue to use our wallets to support businesses who value fairness and inclusion — and our ballots to support candidates who will fight to protect LGBTQ Americans from discrimination, including passing the Equality Act in Congress.
Equality California and our partners will do everything in our power—in state legislatures, in Congress, at the ballot box and in the courts—to fight these attempts to roll back our civil rights—and we will continue our work to shape hearts and minds. We will not stop until we achieve our ultimate goal of creating a world that is healthy, just and fully equal for all LGBTQ people. And we need your continued support to do so.
Join us in pledging to stand with Equality California in the fights ahead:
http://action.eqca.org/masterpiece-pledge

Rick Zbur
Executive Director
Equality California

Fired ‘Marketplace’ Reporter Wonders: Is Objective Journalism Dead?

Lewis Wallace, former “Marketplace” reporter. (Sam Worley / KCRW)

In this week’s episode of “Scheer Intelligence,” Truthdig Editor in Chief Robert Scheer interviews Lewis Wallace, a former reporter fired for questioning objective journalism in the age of Trump.

Wallace had been working for the American Public Media show “Marketplace” for months when he was abruptly fired in February. The reason? He’d written a personal blog post, titled “Objectivity is dead, and I’m okay with it,” in which he explored how journalists will “adapt to a government that believes in ‘alternative facts’ and thrives on lies, including the lie of white racial superiority.”

“Marketplace” executive Deborah Clark stated that the blog post “was a clear violation of our ethics code.” Wallace, who is transgender, tells Scheer that he can’t be objective when it comes to LGBTQ issues in the news — nor should he have to be. The two also discuss diversity in journalism. Listen to the full interview below: