Activists rally to add sexual orientation and gender identity into the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Now that we are in the month of June, a lot of people are gearing up for the PRIDE festivities across the country, but some are pushing for the LGBTQ community to remember the roots of what PRIDE is all about.

A Pride Rally 4 Equality will be held in San Francisco on Saturday, June 5th from noon to 3:00 p.m. to demand full federal equality for the LGBTQ community. The goal is to unite and self-empower the LGBTQ community and their allies to aggressively push for full federal equality in healthcare, marriage, the military, immigration, housing and employment.

According to the facebook event page, the rally is endorsed by the following organizations:

• The Alice B Toklas Democratic Club
• GetEqual
• National Center For Lesbian Rights
• One Struggle, One Fight
• Poz Activists Network
• Transgender Law Center

The rally will start at Harvey Milk Plaza where community members will push for full federal equality in employment, the military, marriage, immigration, healthcare and housing. Participants will then march down Market Street to the Federal Building on 7th and Mission. There we will have a brief rally and distribution of the petition for full federal equality for signature gathering.

The petition is an attempt to revive the proposal of writing "sexual orientation and gender identity" into the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as first proposed by then Representatives of New York Bella Abzug and Ed Koch in 1974. It is hoped that this would be a simple, sweeping move to finally end the second class status of Americans who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Transgendered or Bisexual.

What do you think readers? Do you support adding sexual orientation and gender identity into the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Should the LGBTQ community switch gears to push this instead of individual pieces of legislation like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act or repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Click here to RSVP for the rally on facebook.

Click here to view the petition to add "sexual orientation and gender identity" into the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

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