18th December, 2009
Our Plus One city employee health benefits proposal is in the news again today and the Gazette has posted an online
poll about it. A strong showing of support in the poll and on the letters page of the Gazette could make the difference in showing City Council that there is enough public support to pass the plan. PLEASE ACT NOW!
- Vote for Plus One in the Gazette’s online poll (click here and scroll down, in the right-hand column).
- Forward this and ask your friends and colleagues to do the same.
- Write to the City Council and ask them to pass Plus One. Click here for a list of City Council Members and contact information. You can also email all council members at allcouncil@springsgov.com.
- Write a letter to the editor and post on online comment voicing your support for the plan. Send to opinion@gazette.com.
City Council members pay attention to these, so your letters and vote MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Read the story and take the poll here: http://www.gazette.com/articles/city-90978-employees-href.html
You can find some talking points in Barb Van Hoy’s comment posted in the Gazette’s online comment section, reprinted here:
“The “Plus One” policy being proposed by Citizens Project would allow all city employees to buy into the city’s employee health insurance plan for one family member, if they are not already eligible for benefits for a spouse or dependent children. It is not really accurate to call this a “same-sex benefits” plan because that is only one of several types of qualifying family members. Employees could add an adult dependent child, a dependent parent, a domestic partner, or dependent grandparent. The employee would pay the full premium, rather than be subsidized by the city as current family members are (and as the 2003 policy did for same-sex couples that cost the cit $6,000). That’s one reason it is budget-neutral (the premium covers the full per-participant cost in the health plan.) The other reason it is cost-neutral is that the demographic population as a whole that is projected to buy in is not expected to increase the overall costs (based on the analyses of benefits experts).
Now is the time for Colorado Springs to begin catching up to the private sector, as well as the most successful cities across the country by adopting better, more inclusive employment practices. Whatever your personal opinion on same-sex couples, or single mothers or 35 year-old kids living with mom & dad, the fact is that our society includes a huge diversity of families. Competitive employers do right by their employees by adopting more inclusive plans, and our city should to. Attracting the best employees will get the best use out of our limited tax dollars. In addition, it is not government’s role to enforce a religious view of relationships on its employees, so arguments labeling some people’s families as “immoral” are moot. Government should treat all citizens equally. The Plus One plan doesn’t get all the way there, but it is an improvement, expands access to health care, treats all employees more equally, makes the city a more competitive employer, and won’t cost taxpayers a dime. Seems like a pretty good deal to me.”
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5th December, 2009
Every year Citizens Project sends The December Dilemma to local public schools. It is a primer on inclusive holiday practices for public schools produced by the Anti-Defamation League.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects religious freedom by not only guaranteeing “the free exercise thereof”, but also by prohibiting our government from endorsing religion (“respecting an establishment of religion”). The December Dilemma provides expert guidance to schools on how the courts have interpreted religious liberty protections for students and staff, to ensure school holiday activities are not only legal, but inclusive and respectful of the great diversity of our country.
Download a PDF of The December Dilemma here.
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5th November, 2009
There’s no better reward than the great feeling that accompanies giving time or money to a cause 
you care about. But we also know that a few really cool incentives never hurt anyone!
Citizens Project is proud to have been selected as one of 29 great 
organizations in the Pikes Peak region as worthy of your support, and we’re honored to invite you to participate in the inaugural Colorado Springs Independent Give! Campaign. Learn more from our most recent action alert or visit the Give! site.
Whether you’re a current CP supporter or a new donor, your donation may qualify you to receive rewards! So go ahead… unleash your inner philanthropist. Give!
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29th October, 2009
Matthew Shepard
Today we celebrate a victory for the ideals of freedom and equality as promised in our United States Constitution. After a 10-year fight, our nation at last has a hate crimes law that punishes the uniquely heinous nature of hate crimes, which have the chilling effect of creating fear among entire classes of people. Thanks to Bruce DeBoskey of the Mountain States Anti-Defamation League for articulating this in an Op-Ed in Monday’s Gazette:
It has been 11 years since Matthew Shepard was beaten, tied to a lonely Wyoming fence, and left to die because his attackers hated gay men. That same year, James Byrd, Jr., was dragged to his death behind a pickup truck in Jasper, Texas, a victim of a racially motivated crime. One of Byrd’s attackers wore tattoos including the image of a black man hanging from a tree.
Shepard and Byrd were not the only victims of those horrible crimes. In both cases, the murderers were not simply committing a crime against Shepard or Byrd; they were sending a chilling message to everyone who shared the characteristics of the victims — to every American who is gay or black. “You, and anyone like you, are not welcome here,” the perpetrators said through their hateful violence. “You, and anyone like you, are not safe here.” In fact, they were sending that message to all Americans. Read more.
Signing the legislation yesterday, President Obama said,
“You understood that we must stand against crimes that are meant not only to break bones, but to break spirits — not only to inflict harm, but to instill fear,” Mr. Obama said. “You understand that the rights afforded every citizen under our Constitution mean nothing if we do not protect those rights — both from unjust laws and violent acts.” Read more.
This legislation does not punish thoughts, as conservative opponents of the legislation charge. It punishes a distinctive type of crime. Focus on the Family earnestly opposed hate crimes legislation with the baffling claim that the bill would silence religious speech. A July “CitizenLink” email states,
And, pastors who preach against homosexuality could end up prosecuted if they are found to have “induced” a hate-crime against a self-identified homosexual by preaching from the Bible.
It seems surprising that Focus would not understand the difference between preaching a belief and inciting violence. In interpreting the First Amendment, our courts have made careful distinctions in this area. With Neo-Nazis regularly demonstrating publicly without being prosecuted, can Focus really believe pastors will be arrested under this law for preaching that homosexuality is a sin? It sounds far fetched, but such rhetoric is consistent with their shrill denunciations of gay marriage as a threat to heterosexual marriage and their claims that equal rights laws threaten religious freedom (even with religious exemptions). Perhaps their supporters thought Focus went too far with these hate crimes statements, since this was the last such message they sent out. Regardless, in this case reason and fairness have won out.
Citizens Project thanks our elected representatives who supported this important legislation and will continue to fight locally for true religious freedom and equal rights for all.
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8th October, 2009
That’s right! Citizens Project staff and volunteers have been working day and night to bring you all the election information you could possibly want!
Start by reading our newest Freedom Watch Online, and don’t forget to check out our Voter Guide for the City of Colorado Springs and School Districts 11, 20 and 49, our candidate survey for School District 2, and our election information page!
Still have questions? Let us know!
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