Animal Rights, Sex Trafficking, LGBT Issues: 10 Petitions To Sign Right Now To Make A Difference

We can’t help but to follow along closely as heartbreaking stories about young girls getting trafficked and gay Boy Scouts volunteers getting fired unfold.

But as these injustices perpetuate, sometimes just reading these pieces, and sharing them with our friends, doesn’t feel like enough.

It often gets to a point where we want to stand up for the teacher who was fired for helping her students organize a Trayvon Martin fundraiser and make sure that babies, like Caylee Anthony, are better protected when they disappear.

To do more than just shake our heads at the latest scandalous headlines, we've rounded up 10 stories of injustice, and the petitions you can sign, to help make a difference in the lives of those who are suffereing

Check out these 10 petitions below

SLIDESHOW:

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• Stop Child Sex Trafficking

  Sign a petition to urge the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/02/sex-trafficking-changeorg-backpagecom_n_1317627.html" target="_hplink"><em>Village Voice</em> to close down its adult section, Backpage.com</a>, which politicians and activists believe is being used by pimps to traffic young girls. "Village Voice Media must ensure that children and teenagers are not being abused in the commercial sex industry with help from their website," <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/02/sex-trafficking-changeorg-backpagecom_n_1317627.html" target="_hplink">said Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-Manhattan/Bronx) in a press release.</a> Learn more about the petition -- and sign it -- <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-village-voice-media-to-stop-child-sex-trafficking-on-backpage-com" target="_hplink">here</a>.

• Allow A Gay Mom To Volunteer With Tiger Scouts

  Jennifer Tyrrell was dismissed from her position as a den leader with her son's Tiger Scouts group because she's gay. "I'm heartbroken,"<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/22/jennifer-tyrrell-ousted-boy-scouts-den-mother-speaks_n_1443803.html" target="_hplink">Tyrell told the Huffington Post.</a> Despite the Boy Scouts of America's anti-gay policy, Tyrell hopes to get her position back with the help of a <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/boy-scouts-of-america-reinstate-cub-scout-leader-who-was-removed-for-being-gay" target="_hplink">petition</a> that's garnered 275,744 signatures.

• Help Teacher Fired For Supporting Trayvon Martin Fundraiser

  After offering to help her students organize a fundraiser for the family of slain teen Trayvon Martin, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/10/brooke-harris-michigan-teacher-fired-trayvon-martin-fundraiser_n_1414870.html" target="_hplink">a Michigan journalism teacher was fired from her job.</a> Learn more about Harris' mission and sign the petition to help reinstate Brooke Harris' position<a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/fired-for-teaching-about-trayvon-re-hire-brooke-harris-at-pontiac-academy-for-excellence" target="_hplink"> here</a>.

• Protect Dogs In Puppy Mills

  To keep breeders from packing puppies into mills, a number of states are taking steps to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/16/puppy-protection-act-michigan-breeders-puppy-mills_n_1428512.html" target="_hplink">limit the number of female dogs they're allowed to own </a>, among other regulations. A <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/petland-usa-stop-selling-pets-fire-puppy-mills-petland-canada-has" target="_hplink">Change.org petition </a> is calling for even stricter regulations to be implemented on a national scale. It's urging Petland USA to stop buying dogs from puppy mills altogether, as its Canadian counterpart has. To learn more about the petition and to sign it, click <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/petland-usa-stop-selling-pets-fire-puppy-mills-petland-canada-has" target="_hplink"> here</a>.

• Conflict-Free Apple Products

  As hot as Apple products are, some customers are eagerly pushing for an improved feature: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stefani-jones/post_2850_b_1236815.html" target="_hplink">conflict-free products</a>. Advocates are specifically urging the company to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stefani-jones/post_2850_b_1236815.html" target="_hplink">stop mining in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa. </a> To push Apple CEO Tim Cooke to take the next step in manufacturing conflict-free products, sign the Change.org petition <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/ceo-of-apple-inc-make-a-conflict-free-product-that-includes-minerals-from-eastern-congo" target="_hplink"> here.</a>

• Create Caylee's Law

  To help prevent such senseless tragedies as the death of 2-year-old Caylee Anthony from happening again, child advocates are pushing for the passing of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/07/caylees-law-petition-casey-anthony_n_892317.html" target="_hplink">Caylee's law</a>, which would make not reporting a missing child to police a crime. To learn more about the petition and to sign it, click <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/create-caylee-s-law-3" target="_hplink">here. </a>

• Let Therapy Dog Into School

  To help improve his behavior and academic progress, Sean Forsythe, a second grader with autism, relies on his therapy dog -- a support system that isn't allowed in his Pennsylvania elementary school. "She sees things before we do," Sean's mother, <a href="http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2012/03/21/boy-with-autism-wants-to-bring-service-dog-to-school/" target="_hplink">told CBS</a> of the dog's role. To urge the administration reverse its decision, Sean's parents have set up a petition on Change.org, which you can learn more about and sign <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/let-sophia-into-school" target="_hplink"> here</a>.

• End Hunger And Poverty

  As the G8 leaders prepare to meet, urge them to pay close attention to the global fight to end poverty and hunger. "Malnutrition leads to irreversibly stunted development and shorter, less productive lives," a petition addressed to the G8 leaders reads. "Less productive lives mean no escape from poverty. We have to break this cycle." To learn more about the petition and to sign it, click <a href="http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/382/826/972/" target="_hplink"> here</a>.

• Protect Wolves

  Soon after Congress took wolves in the Northern Rockies off of the endangered species list, Idaho and Montana planned to allow wolf hunts, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/16/wolves-endangered-list-congress_n_850046.html" target="_hplink">the AP reports</a>. <a href="http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/wolf_torture_and_execution_continues_in_the_northern_rockies" target="_hplink">Outraged by the cruelty,</a> and determined to protect wolves from harm, the Center for Biological Diversity, started a <a href="http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/247/332/306/" target="_hplink"> campaign</a> to keep wolves save from hunters. To learn more about the petition and to sign it, click <a href="http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/247/332/306/" target="_hplink"> here</a>.

• Save The Home Of 2 Sisters Suffering From Rare Diseases

  A community stepped in when Kathy Sontag's two daughters were diagnosed with rare immune disorders to install a better ventilation system in their home. Now, that improved house is up for foreclosure, <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/wells-fargo-save-the-home-of-bone-marrow-transplant-recipients" target="_hplink">according to Kathy's petition on Change.org</a>. "I just want to be able to live in the home I've lived in for years with my daughters and to continue to make mortgage payments at a reasonable level," Sontag writes. To learn more about the petition and to sign it, click <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/wells-fargo-save-the-home-of-bone-marrow-transplant-recipients" target="_hplink"> here</a>.

Comments

[FrenchKissed]

03:40 AM on 08/06/2012

Not another thinly veiled attempt to tell women what they can and can't do with their bodies, disguised as an anti-sex trafficking petition! Signing it is an affront to women's autonomy, and I hope the people who read this have the sense not to fall for it.

Sex trafficking should always be stopped when and where it rears its ugly head, but the vast majority of prostitution does not involve any kind of slavery. Taking away a free source of advertising from an already marginalized group of people is just kicking them when they're down. If driven off the web and onto the street, these women are put in greater harms way, with less transparency and less traceability.

Helping victimized women is very important and should be commended. Forcing women out of prostitution by robbing them of their resources is just plain cruel. I hope this petition is a total failure.

[catz1515]

07:05 PM on 08/18/2012

I find this comment astounding in its ignorance and unconscionable in its support of child prostitution!

To date, 92,315 people have signed the petition and concerned council members in New York are now also fighting to put a stop to the site's trafficking.

Backpage.com became the "prostitution-ad leader," according to aimgroup.com. The site's ad revenue increased 15.3 percent, to at least $1,671,685, in just one month.

"Pimps are turning to the Internet," Lauren Hersh, a Brooklyn prosecutor, told The New York Times. "They're not putting the girls on the street so much. Backpage is a great vehicle for pimps trying to sell girls."

I JUST SIGNED THIS PETITION.

[FrenchKissed]

07:41 PM on 08/18/2012

I find your comments outstandingly ignorant, but hardly surprising.  You've demonstrated your vulnerability to propaganda.  Child prostitutes are fortunately few and far between, despite what a group of man-hating, anti-sex, anti-choice women say.

Backpage is not used by traffickers.  It is a place where prostitutes advertise their business and is much safer than walking the streets.    I bet you could look in every city at all ads up right now and not find a single underage girl, even if you were able to check her ID.

Yes, some women are managed, and while I think every sex worker should
work independently, I think the best you can do is be there to help them
if they need it, and offer support when you can, but not try to force
them out of what they think is their best option.

I don't expect you to do anything that would be helpful to sex workers.  And I'm hardly surprised you signed such a damaging petition.  It's inline with your character.

[Ken Scherer]

08:38 AM on 05/10/2012

I signed the first 8 petitions. The ninth one (Protect Wolves) expired 5 days before this article was posted. And the tenth one (Save 2 Sisters' Home) was a success; the forclosure was stopped. That's great news! :)

[3x]

09:49 AM on 05/09/2012

Petitions mostly don't make a difference. They don't have an impact. All they do is make people who sign them feel like they've done something, and then they don't go out and do something that would really help.

"...sometimes just reading these pieces, and sharing them with our friends, doesn’t feel like enough." Exactly - and signing a petition isn't enough either.