It's our Last Meeting of the Year! Come and join us tomorrow (Tuesday May 31, 2011 @4pm in Vu 464B) to wind down the year. We are going to talk about how you can bring what you have learned home with you so that you don't lose the momentum you have gained this year. We are also going to playing a fun game and if you want to join us...HEADING TO THE QRC END OF THE YEAR SOCIAL...it happens right after Qaafa and will be a great way to say fair well to all your amazing friends and allies till next year.
Pride Prom is June 4th...this Saturday...at 8pm in the MPR!!!!
I look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow/next year!
Briana
P.S below is some information on a gay rights activist that was sent to our Qaafa email, so I figured best to pass in on to you all to inform you about what's going on and what you can do to help!
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Joshua Norton <nortonj3@students.wwu.edu>
Date: Thu, May 26, 2011 at 2:04 PM
Subject: FW: URGENT: Gay Tanzanian activist to be deported Thursday unless you act now! Attend the protest, sign the petition!
To: "wwuqaafa@gmail.com" <wwuqaafa@gmail.com>
Free Edson Cosmas Now!
leaders who deserve to be treated as heroes is shocking and
unacceptable.
Join us on Tuesday, May 24th to picket the British Consulate to demand the release of Edson Cosmas from detention immediately in solidarity with U.K. supporters' demonstration at the British Home Office.
** Press Conference, Rally and Picket of the British Consulate in San Francisco
** Tuesday, May 24th, 4:00pm
** 1 Sansome St, San Francisco, California 94104
** (Near the intersection of Sutter and Market St., and the
Montgomery St. BART station)
-----------------------------
Please sign on to the following statement of support:
democratic and human equality. When one set of religious or
cultural values is imposed on everyone, the whole society is divided
against itself. We demand the Home Office follow the law and free
Edson Cosmas now!
Edson Cosmas is not safe in Tanzania – Free Edson Now! Stop deporting
gay activists to persecution and death! Fight racism and anti-gay
prejudice! Amnesty now for all immigrants – no more second class
citizenship! End the dehumanizing, wretched system of detention!
-----------------------------
For more information, see:
http://www.movementforjustice.org/2011/05/free-edson-cosmas-amnesty-now-for-all/
-----------------------------
What you can do immediately:
(1.) Sign on to the statement of support as an organization, as your
organization's officers, or as individuals. Please circulate among
your organization's membership and forward this to other people you
know.
(2.) Come to the Rally and Picket on Tuesday, May 24th @ 4:00pm in
front of the British Embassy in downtown San Francisco.
(3.) Sign the Online Petition to the UK Home Office at: http://bit.ly/j1GRQf
(4.) Email, Call, and Fax the British Embassy right now to demand that
Edson Cosmas be freed and to stop the detention and deportation of gay
rights activists!
Phone: San Francisco: 415-617-1300; Los Angeles: 310-481-0031; New
York: 202-745-0200; Washington DC: 202-588-6500
Fax: San Francisco: 415-434-2018; Los Angeles: 310-481-2960; New York:
202-754-3062; Washington DC: 202-588-7870
Email: britishembassyenquiries@gmail.com or
public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
From: Joshua Norton <nortonj3@students.wwu.edu>
Date: Thu, May 26, 2011 at 2:04 PM
Subject: FW: URGENT: Gay Tanzanian activist to be deported Thursday unless you act now! Attend the protest, sign the petition!
To: "wwuqaafa@gmail.com" <wwuqaafa@gmail.com>
From: Tyler Wood [tyler.wood@bamn.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 5:27 PM
To: Joshua Norton
Subject: URGENT: Gay Tanzanian activist to be deported Thursday unless you act now! Attend the protest, sign the petition!
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 5:27 PM
To: Joshua Norton
Subject: URGENT: Gay Tanzanian activist to be deported Thursday unless you act now! Attend the protest, sign the petition!
I'm hoping you will sign-on to the letter demanding the release of Edson Cosmas (see below) and attend the rally and press conference in San Francisco this Tuesday. The timeline is very tight, as Eddy is currently to be deported to Tanzania on Friday -- a virtual death sentence, given the anti-gay regime.
Please let me know ASAP.
Thanks,
Liana Mulholland
BAMN
Picket the SF British Counsulate
Tuesday, May 24th - 4:00 PM
We call on the UK Home Office to release Edson "Eddy" Cosmas from
detention immediately! As a gay Tanzanian activist, Eddy has been a
fighter for freedom, justice, immigrant and LGBTI rights and democracy
in Britain and internationally. Eddy is in Britain to escape
imprisonment, Tanzania's anti-gay laws, assault, torture or murder at
the hands of the police or anti-gay mobs. He was known to be gay in
Tanzania, where homosexuality is illegal and carries prison sentences
of 25 years, and gay and lesbian activists are targeted for arrest. He
has been attacked, beaten and denounced in Tanzania because of his
sexuality – a typical experience for LGBTI people who are "out".
We call on the UK Home Office to release Edson "Eddy" Cosmas from
detention immediately! As a gay Tanzanian activist, Eddy has been a
fighter for freedom, justice, immigrant and LGBTI rights and democracy
in Britain and internationally. Eddy is in Britain to escape
imprisonment, Tanzania's anti-gay laws, assault, torture or murder at
the hands of the police or anti-gay mobs. He was known to be gay in
Tanzania, where homosexuality is illegal and carries prison sentences
of 25 years, and gay and lesbian activists are targeted for arrest. He
has been attacked, beaten and denounced in Tanzania because of his
sexuality – a typical experience for LGBTI people who are "out".
Eddy's detention is part of an anti-gay and racist policy of the Home
Office aimed at circumventing the UK Supreme Court decision that
requires the Home Office to treat gay rights activists as political
leaders, no different from any other refugee fighting for democracy
and basic human rights. Openly gay activists like Eddy who should be
granted asylum without question, are now being "fast-tracked", held in
detention with no right to secure a lawyer of their choice and set up
for a series of hastily scheduled sham hearings that are certain to
result in quick deportations. The level of the UK Home Office's
blatant racist and anti-gay disregard for gay refugee political
Office aimed at circumventing the UK Supreme Court decision that
requires the Home Office to treat gay rights activists as political
leaders, no different from any other refugee fighting for democracy
and basic human rights. Openly gay activists like Eddy who should be
granted asylum without question, are now being "fast-tracked", held in
detention with no right to secure a lawyer of their choice and set up
for a series of hastily scheduled sham hearings that are certain to
result in quick deportations. The level of the UK Home Office's
blatant racist and anti-gay disregard for gay refugee political
unacceptable.
Join us on Tuesday, May 24th to picket the British Consulate to demand the release of Edson Cosmas from detention immediately in solidarity with U.K. supporters' demonstration at the British Home Office.
** Press Conference, Rally and Picket of the British Consulate in San Francisco
** Tuesday, May 24th, 4:00pm
** 1 Sansome St, San Francisco, California 94104
** (Near the intersection of Sutter and Market St., and the
Montgomery St. BART station)
-----------------------------
Please sign on to the following statement of support:
(E-Mail me back to add your name to the signature list.)
Free Edson Cosmas Now!
We call on the UK Home Office to release Edson "Eddy" Cosmas from
detention immediately! As a gay Tanzanian activist, Eddy has been a
fighter for freedom, justice, immigrant and LGBTI rights and democracy
in Britain and internationally. Eddy is in Britain to escape
imprisonment, Tanzania's anti-gay laws, assault, torture or murder at
the hands of the police or anti-gay mobs. He was known to be gay in
Tanzania, where homosexuality is illegal and carries prison sentences
of 25 years, and gay and lesbian activists are targeted for arrest. He
has been attacked, beaten and denounced in Tanzania because of his
sexuality – a typical experience for LGBTI people who are "out".
Eddy's detention is part of an anti-gay and racist policy of the Home
Office aimed at circumventing the UK Supreme Court decision that
requires the Home Office to treat gay rights activists as political
leaders, no different from any other refugee fighting for democracy
and basic human rights. Openly gay activists like Eddy who should be
granted asylum without question, are now being "fast-tracked", held in
detention with no right to secure a lawyer of their choice and set up
for a series of hastily scheduled sham hearings that are certain to
result in quick deportations. The level of the UK Home Office's
blatant racist and anti-gay disregard for gay refugee political
leaders who deserve to be treated as heroes is shocking and
unacceptable.
As a proud supporter of immigrant rights and LGBTI equality, we know
if we want to live in a fully democratic society based on real
equality and justice, it is essential that we fight against
anti-immigrant prejudice, racism, the oppression of women and
discrimination against the lesbian/gay community. When our communities
or are discriminated against, oppressed or victimized we are denied our basicFree Edson Cosmas Now!
We call on the UK Home Office to release Edson "Eddy" Cosmas from
detention immediately! As a gay Tanzanian activist, Eddy has been a
fighter for freedom, justice, immigrant and LGBTI rights and democracy
in Britain and internationally. Eddy is in Britain to escape
imprisonment, Tanzania's anti-gay laws, assault, torture or murder at
the hands of the police or anti-gay mobs. He was known to be gay in
Tanzania, where homosexuality is illegal and carries prison sentences
of 25 years, and gay and lesbian activists are targeted for arrest. He
has been attacked, beaten and denounced in Tanzania because of his
sexuality – a typical experience for LGBTI people who are "out".
Eddy's detention is part of an anti-gay and racist policy of the Home
Office aimed at circumventing the UK Supreme Court decision that
requires the Home Office to treat gay rights activists as political
leaders, no different from any other refugee fighting for democracy
and basic human rights. Openly gay activists like Eddy who should be
granted asylum without question, are now being "fast-tracked", held in
detention with no right to secure a lawyer of their choice and set up
for a series of hastily scheduled sham hearings that are certain to
result in quick deportations. The level of the UK Home Office's
blatant racist and anti-gay disregard for gay refugee political
leaders who deserve to be treated as heroes is shocking and
unacceptable.
As a proud supporter of immigrant rights and LGBTI equality, we know
if we want to live in a fully democratic society based on real
equality and justice, it is essential that we fight against
anti-immigrant prejudice, racism, the oppression of women and
discrimination against the lesbian/gay community. When our communities
democratic and human equality. When one set of religious or
cultural values is imposed on everyone, the whole society is divided
against itself. We demand the Home Office follow the law and free
Edson Cosmas now!
Edson Cosmas is not safe in Tanzania – Free Edson Now! Stop deporting
gay activists to persecution and death! Fight racism and anti-gay
prejudice! Amnesty now for all immigrants – no more second class
citizenship! End the dehumanizing, wretched system of detention!
-----------------------------
For more information, see:
http://www.movementforjustice.org/2011/05/free-edson-cosmas-amnesty-now-for-all/
-----------------------------
What you can do immediately:
(1.) Sign on to the statement of support as an organization, as your
organization's officers, or as individuals. Please circulate among
your organization's membership and forward this to other people you
know.
(2.) Come to the Rally and Picket on Tuesday, May 24th @ 4:00pm in
front of the British Embassy in downtown San Francisco.
(3.) Sign the Online Petition to the UK Home Office at: http://bit.ly/j1GRQf
(4.) Email, Call, and Fax the British Embassy right now to demand that
Edson Cosmas be freed and to stop the detention and deportation of gay
rights activists!
Phone: San Francisco: 415-617-1300; Los Angeles: 310-481-0031; New
York: 202-745-0200; Washington DC: 202-588-6500
Fax: San Francisco: 415-434-2018; Los Angeles: 310-481-2960; New York:
202-754-3062; Washington DC: 202-588-7870
Email: britishembassyenquiries@gmail.com or
public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
