Tampa Bay
Coalition
Newsletter ~ July 5,
2001
Hello My
Friends
Hope you
and yours are all well and enjoyed the July 4th
celebrations in
your neck of the woods. I spent the day with
my 85 pound baby,
Sasha the wonder dog, laying across my
chest. She isn't
to fond of fireworks and can only feel safe if
she's crushing the
air out of her daddy's lungs. But, if that's
what she needs,
then I that's what I'm here for. I imagine it
may be how many of
you dog owners/lover spent your 4th.
Thank goodness
Sasha doesn't fear flags, turkey, pumpkins,
bunny's
and Christmas
trees.
Now back
to matters that effects us all.
Action Alert:
Dr Laura & Amazon.com
January 2001,
that Amazon.com
had on and off placed banners
on Miss Laura's
web site. The
banners were void of their name
and only when
banners were click did we know it took us to
their site. Well,
Amazon.com has come out of the banner closet
and now proudly
features their name on their affiliate, Miss L's
web site. Yes Miss
L. is an affiliate, gets paid for each hit to the
banner and
possibly % of sales [I am not sure of this, it's common
for some affiliate
programs.]. Never the less, this violates Amazon's
own policy on web
sites affiliates. Which one clause reads as follows
* promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion,
nationality, disability, sexual orientation,
or age.
What is a slap in the face to us is
their banner appears on Miss L's
Activism Center.
On this page is Miss L's call to action to
support
the Helms
Amendment, the recently passed Boy Scouts Equal Access
Act. Helms, Boy
Scouts and Miss L are the leaders of discrimination
of people based on
their sexual
orientation. Yet when Amazon was
questioned on
this, they replied, Miss L's web site didn't promote
"illegal
discrimination". Does the line above, taken directly from their
enrollment policy for affiliates, include the word illegal? Seems
just
another case of
claims to profess non-discrimination for GLBT's, but,
when the ole
mighty dollar vs. GLBT discrimination, we lose
again.
I and many others
have already sent Amazon messages expressing
our disgust with
their double standard on GLBT discrimination. It
is also has been
clearly pointed out to them, supporting Amazon.com
with our hard
earned GLBT dollars, is not going to happen. I ask you
read the material
posted, links to the About.con Forum and Miss L's Activism Center, Two
messages sent to them, their complete policy
statement,
Amazon.com contact info. I would also ask you to please,
write to
Amazon.com on their affiliate, blatant Miss L violation their
own
policy
and tell them you won't support them with your hard
earned
$$$$'s.
ExxonMobil
Boycott
I wish to
thank all who have placed our Boycott ExxonMobil Banners
on their web site
and email. And to those who have sent messages to
them. It is
difficult to send any email to them, as they have closed
most
email boxes listed
on their web sites. Snail mail may be the only way to
have your voice
heard. I don't want to forget all of you who are buying
your gas at
stations with written non-discrimination based on sexual
orientation policy
and offer domestic partner benefits. This is our best
tool to fight
discrimination and your participation is appreciated.
We
Hope your still
not buying Hallmark Cards, they have yet to acknowledge
or change their stance
either.
I am happy
to announce we finally have registered our TBC Domain.
In the
near future, we will be relocating our web site to it. As soon
as
I can figure out
how to use new programs I downloaded to transfer
our
web pages, front
page and smartFTP. Any suggestions or help would be much appreciated. This will make a
big difference on how our fast web
site will load,
improvements in
design and navigation. I apologize in advance for any problems you may experience during
the transfer.
It is
my hope we can
bring your TBC web site into the 21 century and make
you proud.
[Fingers Crossed]
PRIDEfest 2001 Tampa Bay
This
weekend Tampa Bay's get to show our Pride and get
together
in celebration of
our community. I think of it as Our Gay Thanksgiving,
to give much
thanks to all of you gay, straight or whoever, who cared
about supported
us. Any gains we have made is due to your efforts and
grateful we all
are for you. If your able to join us, I hope you get a
chance
to stop by the
Human Rights Campaign Booth. I 'll be there after 2 pm,
would
love to meet ya
and thank ya in person.
As always,
I can't thank you all enough for all you do. The number
of
messages you send
and send me copies, just increases all the time. I
will keep you all
in my prayers, you are godsends and we would be lost
without your
support and efforts.
Should we
remain silent and refuse to be involved,
We lose all right to complain on
how things are or should be,,
But, if we join our voice with others and
speak out against injustice,
And, if we get actively involved in the
pursuit of change,
Then, We will all see, we'll have much less to complain
about. Z.
Take Good Care My
Friends