PRIDE It's important!

[Omaha Steve]

In case you missed this message, we wanted to remind you how much Pride At Work counts on and appreciates your support. If you've already given a gift, we thank you sincerely.

As you probably know, Pride At Work is YOUR organization: YOU own it. Our unique, ultra-democratic structure makes us a truly membership-based and driven national organization. Through YOUR local chapter, YOU elect the members who sit on our National Board. YOU directly elect the Executive Committee members and YOU vote on our program and internal priorities at Pride At Work's Convention. As such, we rely on YOU for our existence: YOUR commitment to social and economic justice, YOUR input on Pride At Work's programs, and YOUR financial assistance keep us going. We need YOUR help to guarantee that this critical work carries on.

It's been a big year for Pride At Work and LGBT-labor activists. Thanks to YOUR support:

* We rolled out the Union Certification Program, directly training union locals in how to create and win LGBT-inclusive contracts.
* We united many of the nation's major mainstream LGBT organizations to support the Employee Free Choice Act, Labor's top legislative agenda item.
* We coordinated an intense campaign against California's Proposition 8, calling over 12,000 union members with the message to Vote No.

Because we are the sole Labor and LGBT organization in the nation, we truly rely more on your support than you might realize. We do not have the same access to the corporate world as other LGBT organizations do because we are part of Organized Labor; and we cannot count on as much Labor endorsement as other Labor groups because homophobia and transphobia often get in the way. Our extremely independent organization is extremely reliant on YOUR gifts to survive.

YOU determine how we will be able to build on this momentous year. With your donation, in 2009 Pride At Work will be able to:

* Continue to educate union staff, leaders, and rank-and-file members, on inclusive bargaining and contracts, as well as securing homophobia/transphobia-free workplaces and communities.
* Organize our network of activists to support key federal legislation for working class LGBT folks, including an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, as well as the much needed Employee Free Choice Act, Uniting American Families Act, and the Matthew Shepard Act.
* Persist in our struggle for marriage equality and relationship recognition, especially in key states such as New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Iowa, and Vermont.

These days, we have all been feeling the pinch. But remember, Pride At Work was founded and grown by working class people - no strangers to tough times. We will stay strong with the support of working and middle class people. Please join us as we enter a new year of demanding equality in our workplaces and communities.

Sincerely,
T Santora and Nancy Wohlforth

Your Pride At Work Co-Presidents

P.S. Becoming a monthly donor is the best way to ensure Pride At Work is solid and secure throughout the year. Please put your money where your heart is by giving up one movie, or one dinner or one new book each month and become a monthly sustaining donor! We thank you for being part of this growing movement for social and economic justice for all.

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.
Tell-a-friend: http://www.unionvoice.org/outandorganizing/join-forward.tcl?domain=outandorganizing&r=

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Pride At Work: http://www.unionvoice.org/outandorganizing/join.html?r=B7Mx3HKqtUevE

[dipsydoodle]

1. How did that get abbreviated ?

I noticed that a picture a few weeks back of a protest, which I guessed must've been in London from the policemen's helmetsk, that only the word pride was visible and I assumed that gay has been masked by a waving flag.

Pride, as a lone word, in the UK is the abb of this beer which I think was just re-named ESB from the early seventies :