"The road has potholes but equality is on the horizon," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.

WASHINGTON - Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) Americans scored big wins in 2005, according to a new report from the Human Rights Campaign. The report - "Equality from State to State: GLBT Americans and State Legislation 2005" - details record-setting and historic state legislation affecting the GLBT community over the past year.

"The road has potholes but equality is on the horizon," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "This report proves that as the national conversation over equality continues, Americans come down on the side of fairness. When the fog of divisive politics recedes, the real stories emerge of hard-working GLBT Americans seeking equality wins."

More state anti-discrimination bills passed in 2005 than in any other year. Eleven bills were passed in state legislatures that established or strengthened statewide anti-discrimination protections for the GLBT community.

While last year, 13 states amended their constitutions to

White flags on top of houses and cars, plenty of American and Iraqi military vehicles, too many check points and blocks on the road, many frightening walking patrols, curfew after sunset, heaps and heaps of destroyed houses, shops, offices, the only bridge, hospitals and medical care centers, walls covered with bullets shots, and election posters…empty faces with bleak looks wandering in the streets. This is the picture of Al-Qa’im after the “Steel Curtain” military operation which began on November 5, 2005 with 3,000 American and Iraqi troops participating in it.

The Ohio Honest Elections Campaign called for a series of regional town hall meetings featuring candidates for state Democratic Chair to engage ordinary Democrats and others interested in restoring democracy to the state of Ohio.  Mayor of Dayton and Democratic Vice-Chair Rhine McLin, succeeding to Chair of the Ohio Democratic Party upon Denny White’s resignation, set up a process for candidacy notice, resumes, questionnaires and oral interplay on December 19, 2005, the date she scheduled the State Central Committee  meeting for the election of a new chairperson. She expressed openness to a candidate forums within that time frame.

Others have proposed that the Party owes it to Ted Strickland, currently the only declared Democratic candidate for Governor, to select the candidate he has endorsed for State Chair-- State Representative and House Minority leader  Chris Redfern.

The Ohio EPA and U.S. Army at Ravenna Army Ammunition Plant are seeking public comment on whether or not to clean up contaminated soils at an area known as the Winklepeck Burning Grounds.  Obviously the proposed cleanup of the 200-acre site is necessary; the Army’s own studies verify that contaminant levels constitute a significant risk to human health.  The real question is – is this enough?  You should know that proposed cleanup goals (the highest allowable contaminant concentration that can be left after soils are excavated) at Ravenna will not afford adequate protection of human health and the environment when compared to facilities elsewhere.  This is due in part to the fact that Ravenna limits its evaluation of risk to soldiers to direct dermal contact with soils and fails to address other equally plausible routes of exposure such as inhalation of fugitive dust and emissions, incidental ingestion, and exposure through the human food chain (consumption of food crops, wild game, dairy products, fish, etc.). 

The Senate on Friday rejected attempts to reauthorize several provisions of the USA Patriot Act as infringing too much on Americans' privacy and liberty, dealing a huge defeat to the Bush administration and Republican leaders.

In a crucial vote early Friday, the bill's Senate supporters were not able to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a threatened filibuster by Sens. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and their allies. The final vote was 52-47.

The Libertarian Party played a crucial role in bringing together conservative and liberal opponents of the PATRIOT Act to form Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances (http://www.checksbalances.org/index.php). The Patriots lobbied Congress intensively over the past year to allow the controversial provisions to expire on Dec 31 2005.