Dear Friends and Family:

As you know, Komen has been a major charity for my family and me for the last decade. I served on Komen NYC's Board for 6 years. Thanks to donations from friends and family, my spouse and I have raised over $250,000 over the last 6 years for Komen NYC. For the past 4 years, Komen NYC has given an award annually in memory of our niece, Hally. Every year, the New York Race for the Cure, the brunch we hold after the walk, and our aggressive fund-raising for Komen renew our commitment to fight this stubborn disease.

We are not alone in being part of the Komen team. All across the nation, even the world, Komen has galvanized this fight and has been the dominant activist force publicizing this disease.

Komen is the #1 breast cancer organization by a long shot. It has funded more breast cancer research than any other and provided more care/screening for under-served women than any other organization. Most importantly, it has been a publicity machine, creating and harnessing public involvement, attention and participation in the fight against this disease. No other organization has the infrastructure to have that reach. It would take years for any other group to ramp up to meet the many needs that Komen fills.

So when I read Nancy Brinker's statement on Friday reversing Komen's decision about funding Planned Parenthood, it mattered that I felt continued disappointment. Can I trust Komen again? Many of you have asked me.

Brinker's words struck me as vague and hollow--no future commitment to Planned Parenthood and no specific apology to the low-income women who would have become the collateral damage from the defunding.

I also don't believe Brinker and her board when she claims that Komen's decision wasn't political.

Nancy Brinker was a George W. Bush Ambassador appointee and is a Bush family friend. Is it just coincidence that the head of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, is the daughter of that feisty progressive nemesis of the Bush family, the late Governor of Texas, Ann Richards?

Take some truth serum, Nancy Brinker, I found myself thinking.

If I needed further proof that this was a politically motivated action, the Washington Post reported yesterday that Brinker told affiliates (Komen NYC, for instance, is an affiliate) that they would be getting help on crisis communications by Ari Fleischer, former White House Press secretary in the Bush Administration. How did the Komen action originate? Is women's health a political game, Nancy Brinker?

But then I realized that I don't actually need Nancy Brinker to admit that the decision to defund Planned Parenthood was political in order for me to rejoin the Komen team. We need her to resign.

Then I and the millions of people who have walked and talked for Komen can trust again.

Komen's reversal is a step in the right direction.

But there needs to be more.

Komen needs to clean house.

1. Again, Nancy Brinker needs to resign.



2. Karen Handel needs to be terminated.



3. The Board needs to be replaced.

A clean house would enable Komen to carry on its much-needed, admirable work without the baggage of being the organization that had actually deliberated on and subsequently made the heartless decision to defund Planned Parenthood and to endanger the heath of thousands of women. When we have a clean house, we should get answers to how this happened, and a clear refocus that Komen stands for all women's health.

Each person needs to do what feels right for herself or himself. I was glad to receive some emails after the reversal applauding the decision as though all was forgiven and, I wondered, perhaps even soon to be forgotten.

My breast cancer survivor friend, Joan, rejoiced, "Yippee! They heard us! Now I can wear my survivor's tee shirt again!!!!"

I am truly happy for Joan as I remember how elated she was when we walked together in this past year's Race--her first ever.

For me, though, it's not enough.

In continued sadness and still in fighting spirit,

Eve

Dear Friends and Family,

I write to tell you, that it is with a heavy heart and an angry mind, that I have raised and donated my last dollar for Komen. As you know, I served on the Komen Board for 6 years, and Komen has been near and dear to me and our family in our fight against breast cancer. The stand that Komen National has taken on Planned Parenthood is not only misguided, but -- contrary to their stated remarks -- is political, or at the very least, gives the impression of being political.

Nancy Komen Brinker, the founder and current head of Komen, is a friend of George and Laura Bush and was an ambassador named by Bush. While I knew this fact in the past, I had always felt that the organization respected its 501(c)(3) status as a non-partisan organization. I no longer believe this.

I also know that Komen National is not the same as the Komen New York Affiliate. But they are connected, and monies pass between the two groups.

You have been supportive of me in the past for my fundraising for Komen, and I have appreciated your support. I apologize for this ugly turn of events.

Komen surely should become one of those organizations that any progressive stays far away from -- if we truly believe that breast cancer affects women on both sides of the aisle and that the possibilities for cures should extend across the aisle as well. I know we will all find other ways to fight breast cancer together to end this terrible disease.

In sadness, and yet, in fighting spirit,

Eve

Although the administration will continue to enforce DOMA in its entirety as long it remains on the books, Wednesday's announcement by the Attorney General that it will no longer defend Section 3 of DOMA in court creates an important opportunity for policy makers within executive branch agencies such as the Citizenship and Immigration Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Executive Office of Immigration Review to develop innovative strategies to ensure that DOMA does not tear apart any married gay or lesbian binational couples while Congress works to repeal the law and the federal appeals courts continue to decide its ultimate fate.

To have the nation's president and highest law enforcement agency conclude that discrimination based on sexual orientation should be approached as being of dubious validity -- like laws that discriminate based on race, national origin, sex, religion, alienage, or illegitimacy -- will send out ripples, if not waves, touching all laws that continue to oppress lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals, and will influence many in our nation to rethink whether those laws should be maintained.

"Yes- I am OUT at my job... Yes the students like my shirt :)."

A little after 3pm today, after classes were over a few teacher came over to me to tell me what they thought of my OUT SHIRT I had worn to school today... They said that they had heard all about Tratner wearing it. They asked where they could get one so they too could wear them at school- gay and straight teachers asked to have one. I was never so proud to be OUT

To
be sure, there were a number of factors which affected Ford's decision
not to run, but none had a more damaging effect on Ford's aspirations
at a more critical moment than the image of him speaking before an angry crowd of New
Yorkers holding up signs with the word "LIAR" written in 10-inch
high letters and chanting "Snake oil Harry, go away!" Such
was the scene two Wednesdays ago when Ford appeared at a meeting of the gay Stonewall Democratic
Club of New York City. It was the last stop on Ford's listening
tour of New York before he made his decision not to run. Ford
appeared at the club to tell its members and the invited public that
he had evolved from his previous opposition to gay marriage and that
he now supported the cause, just like his would-be opponent, Senator
Kirsten Gillibrand. The Stonewall event and the images that came
out of it sent the clear message that the LGBT community would campaign
relentlessly against him not on a "social issue" or a gay issue
of limited appeal to a minority community, but on the issue that straight
politicians have used against each other for years: trust.

Gay
people protested against the potential candidacy of Harold Ford Jr.
not because of his position on marriage, but because he lied to us.
He lied when, as a congressman in 2004, his office told his gay constituents,
including the president of the Memphis chapter of the Stonewall Democratic
Club and the president of the Memphis LGBT Center, that he would not
support a Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and that
he would never write discrimination into the United States Constitution.
He went on to vote for the Federal Marriage Amendment twice, once each
in 2004 and 2006. He boasted about those votes in television ads when he ran for U.S. Senate from Tennessee
in 2006. He also became an outspoken advocate of a successful
referendum that amended the Tennessee Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
When Ford came out in support of same-sex marriage in January 2010,
and when he stood before gay voters at the Stonewall Democrats meeting
just last week, he was asking people to believe in the sincerity of
his evolution. At the Stonewall Democrats protest the message
to Ford was clear, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice,
shame on me." The message to voters couldn't have been more
obvious: Harold Ford cannot be trusted to represent New York.

Ford told close friends he was shocked by the anger directed at him
from the LGBT constituency. After all, he had changed, or as his
non-campaign liked to say "evolved." Gay people have been
trying to get elected officials to change their positions on gay issues
as long as there has been an organized gay rights movement. So
Ford's evolution is a good thing. But Ford's belief that changing
his position on marriage somehow qualified him to represent one of the
largest LGBT populations in the world is the highest form of narcissism.
It is offensive in how it minimizes the radical, hateful, and even violent
nature of his past acts. While many elected officials across the
country have recently come out in support of gay marriage, Ford is one
of only 36 Democrats in a 535 member Congress who voted to amend the
Constitution to discriminate against gay people. Even Republicans
John McCain and former Congressman Bob Barr, who wrote the Defense of
Marriage Act, were vocal opponents of the measure. Ford also voted
to prohibit federal funding for public school programs designed to stop
gay bashing and for needle distribution programs to stop the spread
of HIV among IV drug users. Ford's shock over gay people's
anger indicates just how totally indifferent he is to the violent impact
of his actions on the lives of real people. If gay people weren't
angry at him, they would be suicidal. They are entitled to be
angry at him. They are entitled to yell at him. And they
are entitled to insist that he not represent them.

Gay
people must be seen as a pretty docile population if someone with Ford's
record, both when it comes to lying and to his votes, is shocked when
confronted with our anger. We saw this last year when President
Obama seemed bewildered about the anger gay people expressed about Proposition
8 proponent Rick Warren delivering the benediction at the inauguration.
We've seen it locally when New York State Senator Josesph Addabbo
voted against gay marriage after receiving over $500,000 in contributions
from LGBT donors. This has to stop. It has to stop not just
for the betterment for gay people, but for all people. Because
what we are talking about here are character issues and the integrity
of our leaders. A politician who would lie to one person about
supporting his equality as a person is a politician who will lie to
anyone about anything. That's something that should make every
American furious. This is not a gay issue or a straight issue.
It's about the truth. The Obama campaign was about "Change
you can believe in." As stakeholders in our government, we are
entitled to "Change we can trust."

Fortunately,
gay people are beginning to recognize that they are entitled to be angry
and that that they are entitled to demand integrity in government in
connection with their issues. Any politician who takes our money
and our support during his or her campaign and then when in office either
fails to act or, as in Ford's case, joins with the forces of hate by
voting against us, must know that the LGBT community has the power and
the will to deliver consequences. Whether you are a Democrat in
the New York State Senate who took our money and support in the last
election and then voted against same-sex marriage last December, a New
Jersey Republican who represents the gayest district in your state but
voted against marriage in January, or the President of the United States
who ran on a promise to support full-equality for same-sex couples but
has yet to deliver, this action should put you on notice: don't take
us for granted.