UPCOMING ACTIONS
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Stop SB 2012 - The Attack on Trans Students
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We need your help. Florida Senate Bill 2012 seeks to prohibit trans students, particularly trans girls, from participating in sports by forcing trans children to prove their gender despite already living as their authentic selves.
Hate filled bills like SB 2012 have popped up in 25 states this year after Trump blew the conservative dog whistle last month at CPAC. We need you to contact your State Senator now.
SB 2012 is headed to its final committee stop as soon as week after being fast-tracked by conservative leadership.
We need you to take action so your Senator knows his constituents like you are against this bill and that you support trans students (Below are sample messages for you to use):
- Call your Senator office and leave a message.
- Email your Senator.
- Share this Facebook post to engage your friends and neighbors online.
It’s up to us to protect trans youth. Please take action now.
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Call your Senator office and leave a message:
Sample Script:
Hi Senator __________, my name is ________. I live at _______ and I vote. I am calling to urge you to vote no on the anti-transgender athlete bill SB 2012. Transgender students deserve the same opportunities as everyone one else including playing sports at school and being part of a team. My phone number is ________. Thank you.
Notes:
- Be polite but firm.
- If you are a parent let him know.
- If you are a person of faith let him know.
- If you are a conservative let him know.
- If you are an athlete or parent of an athlete let him know.
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Email your Senator:
Sample Email:
Dear Senator ________,
I am writing you today to urge you to vote no on the anti-transgender athlete bill SB 2012, and I am concerned that you have not yet publicly come out against this bill.
Transgender kids, like other students, deserve the same chances to learn teamwork, sportsmanship, leadership and self-discipline, and to build a sense of belonging with their peers. When we tell transgender girls that they can’t play girls’ sports—or transgender boys that they can’t play boys’ sports—they miss out on this important childhood experience and all the lessons it teaches.
Schools across the country know that transgender students, like any student, thrive when they’re treated with dignity and respect. When school officials recognize that a transgender girl is a girl during the school day, but then treat her as if she’s a boy when sports practice starts, it’s hurtful to the student and disrupts the school’s policy of treating all kids fairly.
SB 2012 is an overt attack on transgender students. I urge you to vote no.
Sincerely,
<<Full Name>>
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Share on Facebook post to engage your friends and neighbors online:
Please share it and tag your friends and neighbors that support equality.
Sample Post:
Help protect transgender students and stop SB 2012. I just called and emailed our Representative, Vance Aloupis (@VanceForFlorida), to urge him to vote NO, and I need you to do the same. HB 1475 is an overt attack on transgender students and would essentially ban transgender students from playing sports in school. Visit www.save.lgbt/stopsB2012 for talking points and sample emails.
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Transgender Youth in Florida Lost This Week, as did Human Decency
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This year, state legislators across the United States have introduced 35 bills restricting transgender girls from participating in youth sports. In Florida, HB 1475, a bill seeking to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s only leagues, filed by State Rep. Kaylee Tuck, R-Lake Placid, passed the Florida House of Representatives on Wednesday, April 14th. The bill goes as far as requiring any dispute of a student's biological sex to be resolved by a health care provider by examining "the student's reproductive anatomy." Bewilderingly, Representatives Vance Aloupis, R-Pinecrest, and Demi Busatta Cabrera, R-Coral Gables, put party politics above their past pledges to be pro-equality, and voted in favor of HB 1475 without voicing any opposition.
To say we are deeply disappointed by these fear-mongering actions would be an understatement. Transgender youth deserve equal chances to learn teamwork, sportsmanship, leadership, and self-discipline, and to build a sense of belonging with their peers. Don’t we deserve to belong in our communities?
Sadly, this bill is not the only one trying to restrict transgender women from participating in sports. The New York Times reports, citing the ACLU, that at least 25 states have had similar bills introduced during this year's legislative sessions. This demonstrates a coordinated effort that is well funded to harm LGBTQ youth. Where is the compassion and human decency?
This fight is much bigger than state-level legislation. Earlier this year, President Biden signed an executive order aimed at protecting LGBTQ rights. That order stated, "Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports." Legislators in the US House of Representatives under the leadership of David Cicilline, D-Rhode Island have also reintroduced the Equality Act, which would establish federal non-discrimination protections for the LGBTQ community at the highest level of government.. On the opposing side of history, former President Donald Trump made anti-tran bills like HB1475, and it’s Senate companion SB2012, and those seen across the U.S. a priority for his party at CPAC earlier this year.
As we continue to advocate for LGBTQ rights in Florida, we are disheartened to see SAVE-endorsed Florida legislators support a bill that directly harms and ostracizes children that are living as their authentic selves. Representatives Aloupis and Basata Cabrera are SAVE-endorsed elected officials who turned their back on our community. The worst part? They know better.
Why are we discriminating against any student by banning them from playing sports just because they’re transgender? Transgender students want the opportunity to play sports for the same reasons other students do: to be a part of a team, give back to a collective pursuit, and feel like they belong.
We urge Representatives Aloupis and Basata Cabrera to explain their shameful votes, or risk perpetually being associated with the wrong side of history.
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SAVE Action PAC withdraws its Endorsement of Vince Lago
Continue reading →Patricia Keon is the clear choice to lead Coral Gables as a thoughtful, competent, and compassionate leader
We are disappointed to learn that Coral Gables candidate for mayor Vince Lago denounced efforts by Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart’s leadership to address the issue of racism in the United States in a letter signed by parents and alumni of the school. Vice Mayor Vince Lago was co-endorsed by SAVE Action PAC for Coral Gables Mayor along with Commissioner Pat Keon. However, the latest news report in the Miami Herald draws a stark contrast between the two candidates. Last year the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor brought forth the critical need to address racism in our nation. This systemic crisis has caused many compassionate citizens, leaders, captains of industry, and heads of government to dig deep into what can be done to denounce racism and to take on a deliberate anti-racist agenda.
The letter to the school leadership states that the school’s efforts to address racism were incompatible with its Catholic foundation. However, we find that perspective to be contradictory with the values to uphold human dignity. Furthermore, racism and anti-LGBTQ perspectives are intertwined and the advancement of one community can’t prevail without the other as a matter of basic human rights.
We applaud the leadership of Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart which is part of the global Network of Sacred Heart Schools. Their philosophy has five goals:
- Educate to establish a personal and active faith in God
- Educate to establish deep respect for intellectual values
- Educate to establish a social awareness which compels one to action
- Educate to establish the building of a community with Christian values
- Educate to establish personal growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom
Educational institutions are the sacred spaces for enriching the minds of our youth. Schools tackling systemic racism are helping to end the harms of that legacy in our country. If anything the leadership at the school took action with a deep sense of compassion and responsiveness to the social issues that engulf our community and country. The school leaders took their guiding principles to heart and put them into action. To separate the need to address racism from Christian values is a perverse and inhumane preservation of the injustice. Vice Mayor Lago’s decision to sign on to this letter makes clear that Pat Keon is the best choice for Coral Gables Mayor.
Election Day is April 13th. To volunteer to help Get OUT the Vote, sign up at www.save.lgbt/action. To learn more about our endorsements and your local elections visit our Election Center at www.wevote.miami.
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History Project
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We have started a special project to document SAVE’s history. The SAVE History Project was created to develop a record of the milestones that SAVE has achieved since its founding in 1993 as well as some of the preceding activities that took place leading up to its formation. We want to include a list of the individuals involved as volunteers, members of the board of directors, and staff who have all significantly contributed as leaders in helping to enact landmark legislation to advance equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community in South Florida.
TELL US HOW YOU WERE INVOLVED
If you served on the staff or on the board, click on this link to tell us how you were involved. This will help us compile the names and roles of people that have contributed to advancing and improving the lives of people that are LGBTQ in South Florida. Click here to submit your name.
DO YOU HAVE MEMORABILIA TO SHARE?
In your box of memories, you may have pictures, documents, invitations, stickers, etc. We would love to include those items in our project. If you would like, we will return what you share with us. All the items will be scanned or photographed so that they can be included in the final project. If you provide photographs, please provide the names of the people in the photo if possible. To submit items, follow these instructions:
To mail materials:
Send to SAVE (History Project), 1951 NW 7th Avenue, Ste 600, Miami, FL 33137.
Mark “Return” or “Keep” so that we know what to return to you. Kindly provide a return mailing address.
To email materials:
Send to [email protected]. If the files are too large to email, please contact us at [email protected] for instructions on how to upload them to Google Drive.
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