Today is blog Action Day. In the organizers' own words:
Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Blog Action Day 2009 will be the largest-ever social change event on the web. One day. One issue. Thousands of voices.
Although The Opportunity Agenda does not directly work on climate change, the problem is so pervasive that it impacts the issues we do work on. Climate change is not an abstract phenomenon when it comes the lives of everyday people in America. There is mounting evidence that greenhouse gases are increasing the potency of hurricanes, whose impact disproportionately affects those most vulnerable in our society. And as the climate does change, it will be the poorest among us that suffer in increased fuel costs. Finally, the polluting elements that cause climate change are also most common in low-income communities of color. As a result, the health of residents in these areas is worse than those in more affluent neighborhoods.
For these reasons, climate change isn't an issue simply to be addressed by environmental groups. Social activists, too, must see the connections and address this universal concern—a step in realizing the promise of opportunity for all.
A truly functional democracy depends on the ability of everyone to have a voice—a chance to contribute their views and perspectives, and to have them heard and respected.
That everyone be able to participate in public debate, in decisions that affect us, and to be part of the social and cultural life of that nation is essential to our ability to achieve our full potential, as individuals and together.
Recent news has shown advancement in this notion of voice. The first is the administration's announcement that the 2010 census would, for the first time count same-sex marriages. Second, the Supreme Court let stand a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.
On June 19th the administration made their announcement about the 2010 census. This is a significant departure from censuses past. The 2000 census does have data on gay couples who checked "unmarried partner." (Gay couples who ticked the "married" box were reclassified as unmarried partners.) In 1990, gay couples who checked the "married" box were simply reclassified as heterosexual. A demographer at the Brookings Institution, William Frey, believes this census will "open people's eyes" to the number of gay men and women living in the United States, thereby making issues such as their right to marry harder to avoid.
(FYI: After the last census, the Urban Institute took a look and analyzed the results to provide some more information on gay and lesbian demographics. Read more here.)
While this is an important step forward, as the Urban Institute points out, as is the census will continue to undercount single gay men and lesbians because—estimates in 2001 put—only about a quarter of gay men and two-fifths of lesbians in couples at any given time.
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