My dear friend Sean, a friend who've I've maintained a relationship for coming on 20 years, has been looking into getting me back to Montana to talk about the start of Lambda Alliance some 20 years ago.
My memory can be swiss cheese at times. So many holes! It is thru this warped perspective that so many memories have been flooding back to me about those years. The struggle seemed endless while the threat palpable and all too real. This was a time 10 years before Matthew Shepard's crucifixion highlighted the violence and hatred stoically faced by LGBT people every day, year after year.
At times, those early struggles seem so far behind me. I have everything I could really want. I have a safe comfortable home in San Francisco, with a husband and a daughter, a circle of family and friends whom I love and who support me. And in the middle of the night these thoughts came to me and woke me up. The struggle is not over. The path to an inclusive yet diverse society, the path for social justice and equality that fulfills the promise of Martin Luther King's 'dream' lies in the basis of Mahatma Gandhi's teaching that "you must be the change you wish to see in the world."
In the midst of the storm, I am proud to have stood OUT and strong. In starting a LGBT student group, I didn't really know what I was doing, I just knew that doing NOTHING was NOT and option. I wrote to national organizations like HRC, GLAAD, Lambda Legal, and anyone else I could think to write. (this was before google and the modern internet)
A few did respond, most asked for money. As a poor starving College Student, that is the one thing I really didn't have. What I had was my feet, and my hands and my voice. And god help me, they will never be silenced. MCC (the queer church) has a closing benediction that I think comes from the book of John. "God has no hands but your hands, no feet but your feet, and no voice but your voice. Rejoice and go out and do the work of the Lord!"
I started Lambda Alliance on the campus of the University of Montana. The first meeting was in my apartment on a cold evening in January 1989. Twenty years later, I'm not only a community pharmacist specializing in HIV care, I'm the Vice President of Out4Immigration, a grassroots non-profit. We get e-mail and calls from around the world. People sharing their stories and desperate for help. We have no real budget to speak of. We all have jobs, lives, and struggles of our own. The work that we do, mostly comes from each person individually. And my heart goes out to those asking for help, but I don't have the answers they are looking for. The help I offer is the answer I came to 20 years ago, and it really lies in an old guilt trip my mother used to use, "fine, I'll do it myself."
The discrimination that we face is still very real. Our lives, our love and relationships are torn apart for no legitimate reason. Still today, LGBT people live in fear and desperation. And the only help I can offer is no help to the immediate situation at hand. The strength of our voices can ring mighty and triumphant, but only when joined in chorus.
Harmony and Melody are "Temporal" variations of the same sets of notes. I've got the melody down. I know the issues. I can speak to one person or a thousand, but my voice alone does nothing. The only help I have to offer is an invitation to join me in chorus with others and together we can hope to harmonize.
Gandhi, Rev. Dr King, and Mr Mandella never changed the world themselves. Their triumph was in bringing harmony to the chorus of the voices of the oppressed.
The friends you seek are the friends you cultivate. The family you're looking for are the people you love. The world you seek is the world you create
Mickey
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Del Martin - we love you! You will be missed
Yesterday was a very crazy day.... I had to attend a media briefing organized by NAM and GLAAD, rush home to wait for the arrival of my baby Alicia for her first overnight stay. In the midst of it all, the sad news came that Ms Del Martin, civil rights and gay rights leader, a hero to my husband and me, and WIFE of Phyllis Lyon passed away.
I have met both Del and Phyllis a couple of times at various functions and even had a photo taken with them. While I do not know her, my husband and I know that we stand on the ground that they and many other activist have worked and fight very hard for.
I am just so glad that she lived to see the day that we have FULL Equality in the state of California and that the CA government finally legally recognized their relationship of 50 years by issuing them a marriage certificate!
NCLR puts out a press release as well as an obituary yesterday and NY Times wrote an obit too
I have met both Del and Phyllis a couple of times at various functions and even had a photo taken with them. While I do not know her, my husband and I know that we stand on the ground that they and many other activist have worked and fight very hard for.
I am just so glad that she lived to see the day that we have FULL Equality in the state of California and that the CA government finally legally recognized their relationship of 50 years by issuing them a marriage certificate!
NCLR puts out a press release as well as an obituary yesterday and NY Times wrote an obit too
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Meet Baby Alicia
We met our little baby girl last Thursday for the very first time.... it was an awesome awesome experience to finally connect with her. She is beautiful, cute, adorable.... the lists goes on. She even fell asleep in Mickey's arms..... we are praying for her to come home with us soon....
Monday, August 04, 2008
Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) Gets 100th House Co-Sponsor
Out4Immigration Notes Milestone, Says More Work Ahead to Help Same-Sex Binational Couples Stay Together in the United States
WASHINGTON, DC-August 4, 2008-Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) became the 100th Congressional co-sponsor of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA, H.R. 2221) on 1st August 2008.
The UAFA is a bill before Congress that would make a small change to existing immigration law to close a loophole barring gay and lesbian Americans in committed relationships with foreign partners from sponsoring their partner for a green card. These same-sex binational couples are denied the right that opposite-sex couples have been afforded for decades - the right to legally keep their families together in the United States.
"We need the UAFA to become law because the United States does not recognize same-sex relationships at the federal level," explained Michael Lim, Vice President of the national grassroots organization Out4Imigration. "Gay and lesbian couples are denied the protections of more than 1,100 federal laws that come with a federally recognized marriage - one of the most critical of these being immigration rights."
According to a Human Rights Watch report, there are more than 36,000 committed same-sex binational couples in the United States who would benefit from passage of the UAFA. Many more have been forced to live in exile - to leave behind their extended family, friends, community, homes and careers - in order to be with the person they love in one of the 18 countries that recognize same-sex couples for immigration purposes. Others, not having a safe alternative country to go to, have been forced to make heart-wrenching choices.
"No one should have to choose between their partner and their country," said Lim. "But without legislation like the UAFA in place, that's exactly what's happening to gays and lesbians in the United States.
"Out4Immigration is encouraged that we now have 100 co-sponsors of this legislation in the House and 14 for the bill in the Senate (S. 1328), but there is a lot more work ahead if these bills are going to come up for a floor vote. To those lawmakers sitting on the fence with this legislation, we ask them - if you were forced to choose between your country and the person you love, what would you do?"
The UAFA was re-introduced in the House and the Senate by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) in May 2007. It has been proposed in Congress in every term since 1999 (formerly as the Permanent Partners Immigration Act). If it fails to pass before the end of this Congressional term, it will have to be reintroduced again in 2009.
The legislation would add three words to existing US immigration law - "or permanent partner" wherever the word "spouse" appears. This would close the loophole imposed by the federal government that does not allow gays and lesbians to use the word "spouse" to define their relationship.
# # #
______________
For more information:
Out4Immigration: http://www.out4immigration.org
The Uniting American Families Act (H.R. 2221): http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR02221:
The Uniting American Families Act (S.1328): http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:SN01328:
Human Rights Watch Report: Family Unvalued: Discrimination, Denial, and the Fate of Binational Same-Sex Couples under US Law: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/us0506/
end
____________
Out4Immigration addresses the widespread discriminatory impact of US immigration laws on the lives of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and HIV+ people and their families through education, outreach, advocacy and the maintenance of a resource and support network. For more information, visit www.out4immigration.org. To schedule
interviews with same-sex binational couples who are available to speak with the media on this issue, including Spanish-speaking couples, please contact Amos Lim, amos@out4immigration.org, 415-375-3765 or Kathy Drasky at kathy@out4immigration.org, 415-606-2085.
WASHINGTON, DC-August 4, 2008-Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) became the 100th Congressional co-sponsor of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA, H.R. 2221) on 1st August 2008.
The UAFA is a bill before Congress that would make a small change to existing immigration law to close a loophole barring gay and lesbian Americans in committed relationships with foreign partners from sponsoring their partner for a green card. These same-sex binational couples are denied the right that opposite-sex couples have been afforded for decades - the right to legally keep their families together in the United States.
"We need the UAFA to become law because the United States does not recognize same-sex relationships at the federal level," explained Michael Lim, Vice President of the national grassroots organization Out4Imigration. "Gay and lesbian couples are denied the protections of more than 1,100 federal laws that come with a federally recognized marriage - one of the most critical of these being immigration rights."
According to a Human Rights Watch report, there are more than 36,000 committed same-sex binational couples in the United States who would benefit from passage of the UAFA. Many more have been forced to live in exile - to leave behind their extended family, friends, community, homes and careers - in order to be with the person they love in one of the 18 countries that recognize same-sex couples for immigration purposes. Others, not having a safe alternative country to go to, have been forced to make heart-wrenching choices.
"No one should have to choose between their partner and their country," said Lim. "But without legislation like the UAFA in place, that's exactly what's happening to gays and lesbians in the United States.
"Out4Immigration is encouraged that we now have 100 co-sponsors of this legislation in the House and 14 for the bill in the Senate (S. 1328), but there is a lot more work ahead if these bills are going to come up for a floor vote. To those lawmakers sitting on the fence with this legislation, we ask them - if you were forced to choose between your country and the person you love, what would you do?"
The UAFA was re-introduced in the House and the Senate by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) in May 2007. It has been proposed in Congress in every term since 1999 (formerly as the Permanent Partners Immigration Act). If it fails to pass before the end of this Congressional term, it will have to be reintroduced again in 2009.
The legislation would add three words to existing US immigration law - "or permanent partner" wherever the word "spouse" appears. This would close the loophole imposed by the federal government that does not allow gays and lesbians to use the word "spouse" to define their relationship.
# # #
______________
For more information:
Out4Immigration: http://www.out4immigration.org
The Uniting American Families Act (H.R. 2221): http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR02221:
The Uniting American Families Act (S.1328): http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:SN01328:
Human Rights Watch Report: Family Unvalued: Discrimination, Denial, and the Fate of Binational Same-Sex Couples under US Law: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/us0506/
end
____________
Out4Immigration addresses the widespread discriminatory impact of US immigration laws on the lives of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and HIV+ people and their families through education, outreach, advocacy and the maintenance of a resource and support network. For more information, visit www.out4immigration.org. To schedule
interviews with same-sex binational couples who are available to speak with the media on this issue, including Spanish-speaking couples, please contact Amos Lim, amos@out4immigration.org, 415-375-3765 or Kathy Drasky at kathy@out4immigration.org, 415-606-2085.
Sunday, August 03, 2008
State's Medi-Cal program is being hit hard
Mickey was featured in Saturday's SF Chronicle's coverage of the Medi-Cal cuts and what effects it has on HIV+ patients.... an issue that he is close to his heart...
The full article is here
His "portion" of the interview is copied here...
Mickey Lim
Age: 44
City: San Francisco
Occupation: Pharmacist
Three weeks ago, Mickey Lim made the hardest decision of his professional life: He stopped accepting new Medi-Cal patients because he can no longer afford to, and he will no longer stock some of the costly medications that his current Medi-Cal patients need.
Lim manages the Los Portales Pharmacy, an independent pharmacy in San Francisco's Mission District - Medi-Cal represents 27 percent of his business. His special focus as a pharmacist is on patients with HIV - 85 percent of his clients have the virus that causes AIDS.
With the state's 10 percent rate reduction, Lim says he is losing $40 to $80 for every HIV prescription.
"I don't sell ice cream or shampoo," he says. "I don't have the deep pockets of Walgreens. If I lose money on every prescription, I can't pay the rent or salaries or liability insurance or toner for the printer."
Lim says when he began his pharmaceutical career 15 years ago, a gross margin of 27 percent was standard. Now, he says, he operates on a margin of 7 1/2 percent.
"If Medi-Cal takes 10 percent, it puts me in the red," he says. "Ten percent is my whole profit and then some."
In recent weeks, Lim arranged for existing patients to get a three-month supply of medications.
"For most of my boys, I'm hoping the dust will settle," he says. "I'm holding off on deciding whether I can keep them. If these cuts are not reversed, it may come to pass that I'm not going to be able to take Medi-Cal. This is my practice. It is what I care about. And this situation is tearing me up."
- Elizabeth Fernandez
The full article is here
His "portion" of the interview is copied here...
Mickey Lim
Age: 44
City: San Francisco
Occupation: Pharmacist
Three weeks ago, Mickey Lim made the hardest decision of his professional life: He stopped accepting new Medi-Cal patients because he can no longer afford to, and he will no longer stock some of the costly medications that his current Medi-Cal patients need.
Lim manages the Los Portales Pharmacy, an independent pharmacy in San Francisco's Mission District - Medi-Cal represents 27 percent of his business. His special focus as a pharmacist is on patients with HIV - 85 percent of his clients have the virus that causes AIDS.
With the state's 10 percent rate reduction, Lim says he is losing $40 to $80 for every HIV prescription.
"I don't sell ice cream or shampoo," he says. "I don't have the deep pockets of Walgreens. If I lose money on every prescription, I can't pay the rent or salaries or liability insurance or toner for the printer."
Lim says when he began his pharmaceutical career 15 years ago, a gross margin of 27 percent was standard. Now, he says, he operates on a margin of 7 1/2 percent.
"If Medi-Cal takes 10 percent, it puts me in the red," he says. "Ten percent is my whole profit and then some."
In recent weeks, Lim arranged for existing patients to get a three-month supply of medications.
"For most of my boys, I'm hoping the dust will settle," he says. "I'm holding off on deciding whether I can keep them. If these cuts are not reversed, it may come to pass that I'm not going to be able to take Medi-Cal. This is my practice. It is what I care about. And this situation is tearing me up."
- Elizabeth Fernandez
Friday, August 01, 2008
Bush Signs President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Legislation
Out4Immigration Applauds Bill's Call for Removal of Discriminatory HIV Travel/Immigration Ban
WASHINGTON, DC—July 31, 2008—President Bush signed the President's Emergency Program (PEPFAR) into law yesterday at the White House.
The landmark bill, which passed in both the House and Senate by wide margins earlier this month, provides $48 billion over the next five years for the global fight of AIDS. Within the legislation is a directive to lift the HIV travel/immigration ban, which bars foreign travelers with HIV/AIDS from entering the United States unless they obtain a spouse or family waiver. That ban is blatantly discriminatory, particularly against gay men and lesbians with the illness, because under current US immigration law, their partners do not qualify as spouses or family.
While the President's signature on this bill is a first step toward working to end immigration discrimination, one more barrier for HIV-positive visitors and immigrants must be removed. US immigration laws require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to maintain a list of diseases that render people unable to enter the United States. HIV remains on that list.
"Out4Immigration applauds the US government's continued commitment to the global fight against AIDS. We are especially pleased by the provision in this legislation sponsored by Senators John Kerry and Gordon Smith in the Senate and Congresswoman Barbara Lee in the House that repeals the draconian ban against people with HIV entering our country. We hope that the Secretary of Health and Human Services acts quickly to remove HIV from the list of diseases that prevents entry into the US as is dictated by PEPFAR" said Michael Lim, Vice President of Out4Immigration.
"Today we all know that HIV/AIDS is a preventable disease and that people who are living with the illness can take proven precautions to prevent its transmission."
Out4Immigration is a national grassroots organization dedicated to raising awareness about the discrimination gay and lesbian Americans face under current US immigration law. Because the United States does not recognize same-sex relationships at the federal level, gays and lesbians are shut out from many federal benefits that would protect their families. One of the most devastating consequences of this is lack of immigration rights.
"Prior to PEPFAR, and what we hope will be a swift removal of HIV by the HHS, an American gay person in a relationship with a foreign partner with HIV/AIDS could be permanently separated from their partner because the foreign partner did not have the right to travel in and out of the country because of the HIV travel ban," explained Lim.
"On the other hand, heterosexuals married to a foreign partner with HIV/AIDS could obtain a waiver, based on the fact that they were assumed to be in a committed, monogamous relationship that would prohibit the spread of the disease to the community at-large. This was blatant discrimination against gays and lesbians."
The PEPFAR legislation, with the lifting of HIV by the HHS, will now treat all foreign visitors and immigrants with HIV/AIDS the same.
"It is an important first step to end immigration discrimination in the US," said Lim. "According to a Human Rights Watch report, we still have more than 36,000 committed same-sex binational couples who are denied the right to a green card because our country does not recognize their right to be together."
These couples would benefit from legislation called the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), which would effectively add the words "or permanent partner" to existing immigration law wherever the word "spouse" appears. The bill currently has 99 co-sponsors in the House and 14 in the Senate. It needs many more in both chambers to come up for a vote that would have the kind of overwhelming support PEPFAR had to insure the president's signature.
WASHINGTON, DC—July 31, 2008—President Bush signed the President's Emergency Program (PEPFAR) into law yesterday at the White House.
The landmark bill, which passed in both the House and Senate by wide margins earlier this month, provides $48 billion over the next five years for the global fight of AIDS. Within the legislation is a directive to lift the HIV travel/immigration ban, which bars foreign travelers with HIV/AIDS from entering the United States unless they obtain a spouse or family waiver. That ban is blatantly discriminatory, particularly against gay men and lesbians with the illness, because under current US immigration law, their partners do not qualify as spouses or family.
While the President's signature on this bill is a first step toward working to end immigration discrimination, one more barrier for HIV-positive visitors and immigrants must be removed. US immigration laws require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to maintain a list of diseases that render people unable to enter the United States. HIV remains on that list.
"Out4Immigration applauds the US government's continued commitment to the global fight against AIDS. We are especially pleased by the provision in this legislation sponsored by Senators John Kerry and Gordon Smith in the Senate and Congresswoman Barbara Lee in the House that repeals the draconian ban against people with HIV entering our country. We hope that the Secretary of Health and Human Services acts quickly to remove HIV from the list of diseases that prevents entry into the US as is dictated by PEPFAR" said Michael Lim, Vice President of Out4Immigration.
"Today we all know that HIV/AIDS is a preventable disease and that people who are living with the illness can take proven precautions to prevent its transmission."
Out4Immigration is a national grassroots organization dedicated to raising awareness about the discrimination gay and lesbian Americans face under current US immigration law. Because the United States does not recognize same-sex relationships at the federal level, gays and lesbians are shut out from many federal benefits that would protect their families. One of the most devastating consequences of this is lack of immigration rights.
"Prior to PEPFAR, and what we hope will be a swift removal of HIV by the HHS, an American gay person in a relationship with a foreign partner with HIV/AIDS could be permanently separated from their partner because the foreign partner did not have the right to travel in and out of the country because of the HIV travel ban," explained Lim.
"On the other hand, heterosexuals married to a foreign partner with HIV/AIDS could obtain a waiver, based on the fact that they were assumed to be in a committed, monogamous relationship that would prohibit the spread of the disease to the community at-large. This was blatant discrimination against gays and lesbians."
The PEPFAR legislation, with the lifting of HIV by the HHS, will now treat all foreign visitors and immigrants with HIV/AIDS the same.
"It is an important first step to end immigration discrimination in the US," said Lim. "According to a Human Rights Watch report, we still have more than 36,000 committed same-sex binational couples who are denied the right to a green card because our country does not recognize their right to be together."
These couples would benefit from legislation called the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), which would effectively add the words "or permanent partner" to existing immigration law wherever the word "spouse" appears. The bill currently has 99 co-sponsors in the House and 14 in the Senate. It needs many more in both chambers to come up for a vote that would have the kind of overwhelming support PEPFAR had to insure the president's signature.
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