We are excited to have Dr. Katherine Fobear back at our meeting tonight! She’ll be talking about being counted and Senate Bill 957.
Also, we’ll have information about postcarding and how you can help save Democracy. Not everyone is cut out for phone banking and door knocking but postcarding is easy, you can do it at home, and there are numbers to show that it can be effective.
Please join us tonight at Los Amigos at 5:30 pm. Dinner orders start going in about 5:45 so we can call to order at 6:00 pm and proceed with our agenda for the evening.
We hope to see you there!
Terry Stasio (he/him)
President
As the saying goes, if you’re not counted, you don’t count.
LGBTQ+ people are more likely to rely on social welfare programs, income assistance, shelter and housing assistance, public health insurance and programs like Medicaid and Medicare, and student assistance and relief.
However, it was only until January 2023, under President Biden’s Executive Order 14075, that federal agencies like Housing & Urban Development, Health and Human Services, and Education collected data on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). Before last year, millions of LGBTQ+ Americans were left out of federal health, housing, and education statistics, ensuring that their needs were not addressed in federal policies.
The California State Auditor recently released a report revealing a lack of progress by the California Department of Public Health to collect SOGI, despite several state laws requiring them to do so.
Without accurate data on LGBTQ+ Californians, it makes it impossible to understand fully how the LGBTQ+ community is impacted by public health disparities and to create comprehensive programs.
Dr. Kat Fobear, an Associate Professor at Fresno State’s Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and the founding coordinator of the LGBTQ2+ Studies program, will discuss the need for better collection of federal and state SOGI data. She will also discuss Senate Bill 957, proposed by Senator Scott Wiener, making it mandatory for the California Department of Public Health to collect SOGI data.
Meeting documents (agenda, minutes, reports, etc) can be viewed / downloaded at:
https://bit.ly/fsd-mtgdocs
If you have additions to the agenda, future speaker suggestions, or announcements to be included on our meeting handout please send them to info@fresnostonewalldemocrats. org.
For Zoom and other links visit our LinkTree at https://linktr.ee/ fresnostonewall
POSTCARD TO SWING STATES
Writing postcards to Democrats in swing states boosts voter turnout. It engages voters, but also gives us a proven way to do our part in those key swing state elections. In addition, writing postcards helps us relieve the anxiety about the election that so many of us feel this year. Losing this election is not an option – we need to do everything in our power to win.
With our help, Postcards to Swing States hopes to send over 26 million postcards to Democratic voters in the key swing states. Postcards are estimated to boost turnout by 1.3%, so this campaign can boost turnout by over 300,000 Democratic voters, and that can make the difference in close swing state elections.
Democratic Clubs like ours can make the difference in this election, and many are already writing postcards. Our members are proven advocates for our side and they can play a key role in the 2024 election by handwriting postcards to Democrats in swing states.
Postcards to Swing States
https://www.turnoutpac.org/postcards/
FACEBOOK EVENT
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