Senate drops block on “radical lesbian” Latina

What should have been an easy route to a confirmation vote was anything but for Marisa Demeo.

Demeo’s judicial resume includes a brief period as staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), Adjunct Professor at Howard University School of Law, and magistrate judge in DC. She received a presidential nomination to be a judge on the DC Superior Court yet her nomination had been postponed. Sen. Jim DeMint was credited with holding up her nomination due to her "history of very leftist activism” apart from MALDEF.

Did we mention that Demeo is a lesbian? Hence, why the Traditional Values Coalition reportedly sent the following letter to its members:

As an open, radical lesbian, Demeo has openly condemned the effort to amend our Constitution to protect marriage as a one-man, one-woman union. Demeo supports gay marriage, claiming it is a constitutional right. She also claims that LGBT individuals are equal to racial minorities and can claim protection as minorities under our civil rights laws…

Demeo’s radical lesbianism, anti-marriage, anti-national security views are dangerous to our nation. She should not be confirmed to the DC Superior Court.

Whether one agrees with her previous work or whatever her sexual orientation is are both moot points. At the very least she deserves the chance for a confirmation vote rather than permit petty politics to interfere. Mercifully cooler heads have prevailed and the hold on Demeo’s nomination was dropped. Too bad it took an eleven-month delay to reach such a point.

Image- Queerty
Online Sources- Charleston City Paper, Think Progress, The Hill

Luis Ramirez and Every Mother's Sons and Daughters : Seeking Justice by All Means Necessary

Cross-Posted from VivirLatino and the Sanctuary


in 1991, in the rapidly changing immigrant community of Corona, Queens, NYC 19 year old son of Dominican immigrants, Manny Mayi Jr. was beaten to death.

Last year, Marcelo Lucero was killed.

At the start of the new year Wilter Sanchez was nearly killed.

In February of this year Jose Sucuzhañay, an Ecuadorian immigrant was beaten to death.

Speaking Spanish can get you beaten.

And most recently, Luis Ramirez was beaten and killed and those accused got away with murder.

I could go through recent and not so recent history and clearly see a pattern and practice of hate that has been growing. A pattern and practice of racism, nativism, fueled by the media and government, eaten up by the mainstream public.

People in Shenandoah celebrated, went out into the streets and rejoiced after an all-white jury found Brandon J. Piekarsky, 17, and Derrick M. Donchak, 19, guilty of lesser charges and acquitted them of criminal homicide and aggravated assault.

And then people have the nerve to ask why are more Latinos not more active in the fight for immigration change?

This is not just about laws, this about lives.

So what do we as a community do?


In the case of Marcelo Lucero, the Feds have stepped in to investigate a pattern and practice of hate crimes against Latinos while local law enforcement did nothing.

The Feds are considering opening an investigation into the 18 year old killing of Manny Mayi jr.

18 fucking years.

Federal investigations and federal hate crimes legislation will not bring sons and daughters like Angie Zapata back. Civil rights statutes do not equal justice against individuals and a society that sends the message that our lives are worth less because of what we look like, how we speak, and where we come from. Pero, they are weapons people can get behind in addition to other strategies.

MALDEF has a petition that all people should get behind. It asks that the United States Department of Justice to intervene and conduct an independent and comprehensive investigation of the brutal murder of Luis Ramirez in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania.

It is not the answer. It will not save our lives and the lives of our children. That HAS to happen on multiple fronts that include direct action, legal action, media strategies and education.

Think of all the mothers without their children this coming Sunday, Mother's Day.

Sign the petition . Our lives cannot wait.

Lawsuit filed vs. Farmers Branch measure

A lawsuit was filed last week against an anti-immigrant ordinance in the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch, Texas. The case was brought up by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the American Civil Liberties Union who contend that the city’s plan is unconstitutional. The ordinance would obligate apartment renters to obtain a special license and force rent applicants to have their immigration status checked on a federal database.

The Farmers Branch plan was supposed to take effect last Saturday but it has been impeded by several injunctions. In the latest injunction, U.S. District Judge Jane Boyle ruled that local authorities were overstepping their authority:

In granting a request for a temporary restraining order to keep the ordinance from going into effect, U.S. District Judge Jane Boyle ruled Friday that the ordinance’s opponents are likely to prevail at trial with their argument that, among other points, the city is overstepping its authority by enforcing areas of immigration law reserved for the federal government.

This can create a "slippery slope," Boyle said. "The federal government’s authority over immigration would effectively be eviscerated," Boyle said from the bench.

Image- New York Times (“Protesters gathered (in 2006) outside City Hall in Farmers Branch, Tex., to object to city ordinances that would affect illegal immigrants.”)

Sources- News Radio 1200 WOAI, star-telegram.com, Guardian UK, Dallas Morning News