It's Human Rights Day!

I went to American University today and was mistaken for a faculty member. Awesome!

But more importantly, today is international Human Rights Day, marked to celebrate the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the UN in 1948. The day symbolizes both celebration of past accomplishments as well as ongoing struggles. Amnesty International always hosts events around the world, including the Global Write-a-thon. Even if you don't read this until after Human Rights Day, think about writing a letter from Amnesty's action prompts, or donating. Human rights are important every day.

So go celebrate.

I've been thinking a lot about what we call our rights. For example, there's a lot of bruhaha over the marriage equality debate and the use of the words "civil rights". On the one hand, we are talking about marriage which is a civil issue (correct?), and the right to marry. So civil rights. However, the term civil rights is pretty much inseparable from the Civil Rights Movement, and some people feel that it's a word that you shouldn't and can't co-opt because of that - especially in light of all the "blacks are to blame for Prop 8!" crap that came out after the election.

So if not civil rights, then what? Some people seem to think that "human rights" would be a better term. Others argue that human rights are those very basic things: food, water, shelter, medicine, safety from violence. But wouldn't you put "the pursuit of happiness" in that list? Isn't that the point of the list? It's the base of Maslow's triangle! The whole reason for advocating for these things is that people can't be happy without them. So does that mean that the pursuit of happiness is a human right? And wouldn't marriage - or whatever one might call the ability to be with the one you love and have it be legally recognized - therefore be a human right?

I'm still not sure about all this. The best I've been able to come up with is "equal rights". I feel that even if the left can't agree on the names, we can at least agree that everyone deserves equal rights.

free.will.power

Let's talk about NARAL Pro-Choice America's newest project, free.will.power.

The website, myfreewillpower.com, is meant to help young people learn about reproductive rights and how to protect them. It feature lots of cool stuff like videos of spoken word artists, a tee-shirt design contest*, a quiz, and various action alerts. You can also sign the free.will.power declaration. Go check out the site!

*Which is over today at 5, so send your designs quick!

Update!

I'd first like to acknowledge that yesterday was my friend Rachel's 22nd birthday, so happy birthday Rachel!

And now the news from Washington. Things are a bit melancholy tonight. My good friend Laura is flying home to Sweden tomorrow, and we don't know when we will see each other again. I'm getting job hunt fatigue from trying to figure out the future (soon to be present...). My friend Juliana is moving next weekend to Virginia which, at least when compared to Sweden, isn't really all that far away.

On a happier note, the Prop 8 & Frienemies protest in DC was awesome. Somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 people were there with some of the most creative protest signs I've seen. We started out in front of the Capitol Building, where I got an incriminating picture taking. I was climbing up a lamp post to try and spot my friend in the crowd when some freelancer took my picture. I'm sure it's floating out there on the internet with the caption "CRAZY GAY PROTESTERS ATTACK PUBLIC PROPERTY!!"

From the Capitol Building, we hit the Washington Monument and eventually the White House. It felt very surreal, after all the MLK references with Obama, to be protesting (at least for a short period of time) in front of the Lincoln Memorial. I suppose it's fitting. We've made a lot of great strides - particularly this month - but there's still all sorts of injustice. Separate is still not equal.

It was interesting to hear people's reasons for coming to the protest. One man spoke about his friend, who was denied bereavement time to go to his domestic partner's funeral in Florida. His domestic partner was his girlfriend. Obviously laws like Prop 8 and the rest are wrong because of the basic rights they deny to LGBTQ people. But the story is very telling about how when you mess with the laws to hurt one group, you risk hurting everybody.

Pictures to come, because they don't seem to be loading properly.

Fired Up & Ready to Go

No rest for the weary.

If you are a human who believes in the basic rights of other humans, and you are currently in the United States, you should join the impact. You can even join it on facebook.

There is going to be a nationwide protest of Prop 8 and related amendments on Saturday, November 15th. There is literally at least one protest in every state plus DC. Most states have multiple cities participating - I'm proud to say Upstate NY will be there in style.

The way I see it, we just went through a very dramatic election that showcased the power of a lot of people who get organized and get their voice heard. So now that we know we can do it, let's keep doing it.