The Highs, the Lows: DADT and Dream Act Meet Opposite Fates in Senate

After 17 years, 13,500 dismissed service members and enough debate to have launched a thousand ships, the US Congress finally did what's right: on Saturday, December 18th, the US Senate repealed Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the military's ban on openly serving gay and lesbian soldiers. This repeal is a tremendous win not just for gay and lesbian service members, or for women and people of color (who, we now know, were disproportionately impacted by the discriminatory policy); it is also a remarkable win for our nation as a whole, as it moves us ever closer to becoming a truly inclusive democracy --one where who we are puts no limits on what we can be, and what we can do.

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They're Voting Today! Stand Up for the DREAM Act Now

This is it: Today, Congress is set to vote on a motion that could bring the DREAM Act to the floor for consideration by the full House. There are literally just hours left to convince your representatives that the DREAM Act must be passed, once and for all.

The DREAM Act provides an all-important path to citizenship through education and/or service for those brought to this country as undocumented minors. "This is a no-brainer," says Caroline Hotaling, Program Officer at the Ms. Foundation for Women. "Originally drafted by Republicans and Democrats together, the DREAM Act gives our country the chance to benefit from the work of young people who just want to contribute, whether it be through higher education or military service. There is no good reason to say 'no' to this legislation."

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Tell Congress You Support Paycheck Fairness, Dream Acts

When the 111th Congress returns to Washington next week for its so called "lame-duck" session, two important legislative issues are likely to find their way to a vote: the Paycheck Fairness Act (which would "deter wage discrimination by closing loopholes in the Equal Pay Act and bar retaliation against workers who disclose their wages") and the Dream Act (which provides a path to citizenship through education and/or service for undocumented minors).

If you'd like to weigh in with your reps in Congress about the importance of both of these acts, here are two campaigns you can take part in today:

• Paycheck Fairness Act: On Wednesday, November 17, the Senate is scheduled to vote on this essential update to the 1963 Equal Pay Act. According to Ms. Foundation grantee Wider Opportunities for Women, the bill aims to "hold employers accountable for wage discrimination and finally close the earnings gap between men and women."
  
  WOW is encouraging all those who support passage of this act to contact their Senators and voice their support. One easy way to do this is by signing on to an online campaign run by the National Women's Law Center (another Ms. Foundation grantee), which will email your support directly to your Senators.
  
  
• Dream Act: This week, outgoing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi expressed her determination to bring the Dream Act to a vote before the end of this session. Take the time to thank her for her support of the act -- and encourage her and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to keep pushing for passage of this legislation, which could radically improve the lives of thousands of undocumented youth.
  
  America's Voice is running an online campaign to let Pelosi and Reid know just how widespread support for the act is; sign on today, and let our leaders know how much we care about the future of all our nation's children.
  

Young Women Lead the Way in Immigration Reform

If you want an up-close look at what makes the Dream Act such an important piece of legislation, take the time to read Maggie Jones' piece "Coming Out Illegal," which ran in this weekend's New York Times Magazine.

Jones profiles a young, undocumented woman named Leslie: a senior at UCLA, who has taken on a prominent role advocating for passage of the Dream Act between studying for her classes and working multiple part-time jobs alongside her mother to help pay for her education. The act -- which has bipartisan support in Congress but failed to pass in September -- would allow students like Leslie, who came to this country illegally, to earn legal status by completing two years of college or military service after being in the US for at least five years and graduation from high school (or earning a G.E.D.)

The reality of Leslie's life -- and her future prospects without the Dream Act -- are heartbreaking: the constant fear that she, her friends and family will be deported; the knowledge that even with the sacrifices she's made to get herself a college education, she'll likely have to take a low-paying job because she still has no path to obtaining legal status. None of that, however, has stopped her, and other young women like her, from standing up, and risking their lives in the US, to push for passage of legislation that could change so much for so many.

And the fact that so many of the individuals on the front lines of this particular fight are indeed women doesn't go unnoticed by Jones. She argues that much of the movement for passage of the Dream Act has been "powered by women," noting that,

At recent sit-ins, two-thirds of those arrested were women, including founders and leaders of their local Dream organizations. Women have also stuck with the movement long after many men have dropped out or burned out. Lizbeth Mateo, co-founder of Dream Team Los Angeles, said she and other leaders tried to get more undocumented men to participate in a sit-in in McCain’s Arizona office this year. “We wanted to balance it out,” she said. But with one exception, the men said they were not ready.

We're not surprised that women may be leading the charge on these efforts. As Caroline Hotaling, program officer for National Policy & Strategic Opportunities put it, "Just as we've seen in other disastrous situations, like Hurricane Katrina, women are often the 'last men standing' in these battles to ensure justice. They rise to leadership in the face of these difficult situations because their options for avoiding them are much more limited. They can't for example, just move to a new city when there's an immigration crackdown -- they have children and elderly family members depending on them. So they stay, and they fight."

With the news that Georgia has now joined South Carolina and Alabama in barring undocumented students from attending public universities, Leslie's story is more important than ever. She is just one among more than 800,000 undocumented young people whose lives could be positively impacted the passage of this bill. Here's hoping the powers that be see to it that the "American dream" remains open to us all.

Ms. Foundation grantees the National Latina Reproductive Health Initiative and the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights have both spoken out boldly on the need to pass the Dream Act. Visit their websites to learn more about their important work.

Dream Act, Don't Ask Don't Tell Blocked in the Senate

It looks like both the Dream Act and the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell will have to wait until after the November midterm elections for a vote.

On Tuesday, the Senate voted not to take up a significant piece of military legislation that includes a provision that would have made way for the repeal of the military's current ban on openly gay and lesbian soldiers, as well as the immigration reform policy known as the Dream Act, which would have provided thousands of undocumented young people a path to US citizenship.

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Help Build an Equitable America: Support the DREAM Act Today

This week, the Senate is set to vote on the DREAM Act, a long overdue piece of legislation that would provide thousands of undocumented young people a now-illusive path to citizenship.

The bill (officially known as the Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act) would, as an editorial in Monday's New York Times put it, "[open] the door to military service and higher education for young people whose parents brought them to this country as children without proper documentation. If they finish high school, show good moral character and serve at least two years in the military or earn a college degree, they can earn citizenship."

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