Civil Union Lobby Day

Just passing this along.

Hello all,
My name is Brian Curtin and I work for State Rep. Greg Harris. I wanted to send along my thanks as well as thanks from Rep. Harris for all of your e-mails filled with kind words and your dedication to action for House Bill 1826. In many of the e-mails people asked how to become more involved and how to help further assist in the effort for House Bill 1826. On April 18th, Equality Illinois is organizing a lobby day event for House Bill 1826 which will give you the opportunity to do just that. By attending this lobby day and speaking with legislators, you can put a face on this issue; you can help alert legislators to the lack of basic fairness for Same-Sex committed couples; you can let legislators know what this bill means to you; and you can make a difference. Although this bus leaves from Chicago and its suburbs, people from all around the state are invited to join Equality Illinois in their lobbying efforts for House Bill 1826. So please, if you can, come to Springfield on April 18th. Also, do not forget to RSVP for this event with Equality Illinois, whose information is listed in the e-mail below.

Thank you,
Brian

Brian Curtin
Chief of Staff
State Representative Greg Harris
13th District
1967 W. Montrose Ave.
Chicago, IL 60613
Brian@gregharris.org
773/348-3434
773/348-3475 Fax

Article Accepted For Publication

I just heard today that the article I submitted for publication in the Illinois Journal for Undergraduate Research got accepted. While this isn’t a huge deal since it is only a undergraduate journal, it is still nice. Gives me something to put on my resume. 🙂

My article is titled: “A Hypervisor for Embedded Computing” and will soon be available at http://academic.ec.uiuc.edu/ijur/. It isn’t up yet. In theory, I had several coauthors, but most of the writing and work is mine.

Daily Illini Editorial: Civil union bill an opportunity for Illinois

If they keep this up, I may have to revise my opinion of the DI. First, their good editorial on the Chief Illiniwek issue and now this. They seem to have a pretty decent editorial staff this year.

Civil union bill an opportunity for Illinois
By The Daily Illini Editorial Staff
Posted: 3/29/07 Section: Editorials

http://www.dailyillini.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&uStory_id=96637380-cac2-4c4f-a6c3-267bb5789971

Directions for Illinois GLBT College Conference

As sent to me today.

Spectrum DePaul looks forward to hosting you at the Illinois LGBTQA College Conference on Saturday, March 31^st , 2007. This year’s conference will be held at the University Center of Chicago located at 525 S. State Street, Chicago, IL 60605. This year’s conference will begin promptly at 10 AM and will conclude at 5:30 PM. We are happy to inform you that a continental breakfast as well as lunch will be provided through a generous donation from DePaul University’s Residence Hall Council. Computer stations will be available for use in the common area of the conference center. For more information regarding the University Center of Chicago please visit http://www.universitycenter.com .

Please find directions to the conference center listed below.

*By Car:*

_From the North and Northwest: _

> From the Kennedy Expressway (I-90/I-94) exit at Jackson Boulevard and
turn east. The Loop campus is approximately one mile from the expressway on Jackson Boulevard at State Street.

_From the West:_

> From the Eisenhower Expressway (I-290), continue toward downtown. As you
approach the downtown area, the expressway becomes Congress Parkway. Turn left (north) on Dearborn Street, go two blocks to Jackson Boulevard and turn right (east). The Loop campus is one block east on Jackson Boulevard at State Street.

_From the South:_

> From the Dan Ryan Expressway (I-90/I-94) exit at Jackson Boulevard and
turn east. The look campus is approximately one mile from the expressway on Jackson Boulevard at State Street.

_From Lake Shore Drive (North or South):_

Exit Lake Shore Drive at Jackson Boulevard and turn west. The Loop campus is approximately ½ mile from Lake Shore Drive on Jackson Boulevard at State Street .

*Please find parking information listed below:*

Unfortunately, the University Center of Chicago and its partner institutions do not have parking facilities available in the Loop area. However, there are a plethora of parking garages around the area that have either discounted rates for students and/or Saturday flat rates. You should expect to pay between $10-$15/day for parking. The following parking garages remain available:

· Grant Park Garage (Underground; enter at Van Buren and Michigan Avenue)

325 S. Michigan Avenue

312-747-2519

Exits to street level onto Michigan Avenue at Jackson and Van Buren

Evening rate (after 4pm): $14

Matinee Rate (2-10 hours before 4pm): $17

· Monroe Street Garage (underground)

350 Easy Monroe Street

312-616-0600

Saturday Parking: 0-12 hours, $13 dollar flat rate

· Crosstown Auto Park

328 South Wabash

312-939-9462

Saturday Parking: All day, $10 flat rate

· CNA Building

65 East Jackson

312-765-0252

Saturday Parking: All day, $11 flat rate

· Loop Auto Park

524 South Wabash Ave

312-922-1499

Everyday Rates: 3 hours, $6; 6 hours, $10; 12 hours, $14

*Please find alternative methods of transportation listed below:*

_Rapid Transit Lines_

All six rapid transit train lines service the downtown Chicago area and DePaul’s Loop campus. From the subway trains, exit at Jackson Boulevard.
> From the elevated trains, exit at Adams Street/ Wabash Avenue. For a
more complete set of directions visit http://www.transitchicago.com and choose Trip Planner on the left hand side to assist you with your travels.

_Busses_

Bus routes interconnect throughout the city. MANY buses stop very near the Loop campus. You may contact the CTA at (312) 836-7000 or TDD (Hearing Impaired) (312) 836-4949. For more information, visit http://www.transitchicago.com and choose Trip Planner on the left hand side to assist you with your travels.

_Metra Train Stations:_

All Metra Train Stations are located within a short walking distance (or car ride) of the Loop campus:

· Union Station, Canal Street and Adams Street: Walk east on Adams Street until State Street. Turn right (south) for one block to Jackson Boulevard.

· Chicago & Northwestern Station, Canal Street and Madison Avenue: Walk east on Adams Street until State Street. Turn right (south) for three blocks to Jackson Boulevard.

· LaSalle Street Station, LaSalle Street and Congress Parkway: Walk east down Congress Parkway until you reach State Street. Turn left (north) for two blocks to Jackson Boulevard.

· Illinois Central Station (includes service for the South Shore Line), Michigan Avenue and Van Buren Street: Walk north on Michigan Avenue for one block to Jackson Boulevard. Turn left (west) on Jackson Boulevard to State Street.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you on March 31st.

Spectrum DePaul

Google destroying search records

According to an EFF newsletter item, Google will start destroying any identifying information in their search records that is more than a year old. This is a very good thing. I’ll have to see if I can find a demo of how easy it is to profile someone based off their search history. Some of the AOL results released were traced back to individual people and that was without IP addresses! Really Google should be doing a lot more than it is, but this is better than nothing.

* Google’s New Plan to “Anonymize” Search Logs: A Good
First Step, But More Is Needed

After years of criticism from EFF and other privacy
advocates, last week Google announced a new policy on how
it handles logs of its users’ searches: after 18-24 months,
it will delete key information in its server logs that
could be used to link particular users to records of their
search queries.

This is a big change from Google’s previous policy, which
was essentially to keep all of those logs forever in
identifiable form, and we’re certainly glad to see that
Google is starting to limit its retention of such sensitive
data. Your Google search history can paint an intimate
portrait of your most private interests and concerns.
Particularly in light of the disastrous AOL search terms
disclosure, recent scandals involving government
surveillance, and Google’s own recent court fight with the
government over a subpoena for search records, it seems
that Google has finally realized that limiting the
retention of such records is essential to protecting your
privacy.

Hopefully, Google’s change in policy will spur other online
service providers to consider how they can minimize the
amount of personal data that they store, and perhaps even
prompt competition between service providers to offer the
most privacy-protective services. However, we hope that
this new announcement is only Google’s first step in
changing its privacy practices, because additional changes
would better protect user privacy and set an even better
example for the industry:

* Google should shorten the retention period for
identifiable logs to six months at the outside, and ideally
to only thirty days (which is AOL’s retention limit for
similar logs). Barring this, it should at least justify why
it needs such records for up to two years, beyond offering
one-sentence platitudes about how such records are used to
improve Google’s service.
* Google should also shorten the retention of the
“anonymized” logs, which Google apparently still intends to
keep forever. As Google itself admits, the new policy
changes still don’t guarantee users’ anonymity, and holding
onto those records indefinitely still poses a serious
privacy threat.
* Therefore, Google should consider more robust
anonymization techniques, up to and including scrubbing
entire IP addresses rather than just the last quarter or
“octet” of such addresses.
* Finally, Google should expand its new anonymization
policy to include the search records of users with Google
Account log-ins, and to records generated by their myriad
other services, rather than limiting the policy change to
regular search logs.

Beyond making these additional policy changes, there’s one
more thing that Google should be doing–something we think
it actually has a duty to do as a good corporate citizen
and as a preeminent Internet powerhouse–and that is using
its considerable political clout to fight for better
Internet privacy laws on Capitol Hill. Right now, there are
significant questions as to whether or how Internet search
logs are protected by existing federal privacy laws, and
Google owes it to its customers to publicly advocate for
updating those laws for the 21st century.

Expanding FIOA

I urge everyone to contact the senator on this. FIOA is one of most powerful tools citizens have to watch our government. Expanding it is a _very_ good thing!

From an EFF newsletter:

* Action Alert – Tell Congress to Update the Freedom of
Information Act!

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) helps protect the
public’s right to know, and new legislation would provide
some much-needed updates to this crucial law. One open
government bill has already passed the House — make sure a
similar one passes in the Senate:

H.R. 1309 and S. 849 give federal agencies, like the FBI
and the FCC, greater incentive to follow the law and make
it easier for all FOIA requesters to access government
documents. Among other reforms, the bills will help
government watchdogs keep track of FOIA requests they’ve
sent and ensure that more journalist requesters get
preferred treatment under the law. The bills will also
penalize agencies that don’t respond to requests within the
time limits set by the FOIA.

Revelations about the secret NSA spying program, the FBI’s
misuse of a key PATRIOT Act power, and other privacy-
invasive initiatives clearly demonstrate the importance of
government transparency. EFF’s FOIA Litigation for
Accountable Government (FLAG) project relies on FOIA to
expose the government’s expanding use of new technologies
that invade Americans’ privacy, and these bills would
greatly help in our and other organizations’ efforts to
protect your rights.

Teacher suspended over pro-gay article

Isn’t this just ridiculous? I think the lawyers are going to have *fun* with this principal. And you know what? He’ll deserve every moment of it.

Teacher suspended over pro-gay article
Tue Mar 20, 7:28 PM ET
SUMMARY: An high school journalism teacher near Fort Wayne, Ind., is suspended for two months after allowing an op-ed piece that advocates tolerance of gays.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/po/20070320/co_po/teachersuspendedoverprogayarticle

CIVIL UNION BILL PASSES ILLINOIS HOUSE COMMITTEE!

Quoted directly from an Equality Illinois announcement.

CIVIL UNION BILL PASSES ILLINOIS HOUSE COMMITTEE!
Please Thank Our Yes Votes

An Illinois House committee passed a bill today (March 21) that would extend legal recognition and many of the benefits of civil marriage to same sex couples.

The Religious Freedom and Civil Union Act (HB1826) passed the Illinois House Human Services Committee with a vote of 5-4 today. The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.

HB1826 guarantees many of the rights and responsibilities to persons in civil unions that are currently granted to persons in civil marriages. Among those rights are the ability to participate in healthcare visitation and decision making for one’s partner, survivor benefits and the right to make disposition decisions about deceased partner’s remains.

The bill also affirms religious institutions’ right not to recognize such unions or to solemnize a civil union.

“While this bill does not provide for recognition of same-sex marriages in the State of Illinois, it does give gay couples legal recognition and many of the same benefits and responsibilities of marriage,” said Rick Garcia, political director of Equality Illinois. “It is a step in the right direction for full equality in Illinois.”

Please contact the sponsor Representative Greg Harris (D-Chicago) and thank him for his sponsorship:
Email: greg@gregharris.org
Phone: 217-782-3835 Fax: 217-557-6470

Also, please contact the following Human Services Committee members who voted for this bill:

Representative Naomi Jakobsson (D-Champaign)
Email: naomi@naomijakobsson.com
Phone: 217-558-1009 Fax: 217-557-7680

Representative Constance Howard (D-Chicago)
Email: staterep-constance-a-howard@comcast.net
Phone: 217-782-6476 Fax: 217-782-0952

Representative Annazette Collins (D-Chicago)
Email: annazettec@sbcglobal.net
Phone: 217-782-8077 Fax: 217-557-7643

Representative Elizabeth Coulson (R-Glenview)
Email: coulson@earthlink.net
Phone: 217-782-4194 Fax: 217-782-7613

Representative Al Riley (D-Matteson)
Email: rep.riley38@sbcglobal.net
Phone: 217-558-1007 Fax: 217-557-1664

Great opinion piece on gay’s in the military (from a Republican)

See there are some decent Republicans out there. This is probably the single best opinion piece I’ve seen on this issue. I strongly suggest everyone read it.

Bigotry That Hurts Our Military
By Alan K. Simpson (“The writer was a Republican senator from Wyoming from 1979 to 1997.“)
Wednesday, March 14, 2007; Page A15
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301507.html

Civil Unions in Illinois this year?!

It turns out there are now TWO marriage related bills in the Illinois legislature this year. One is the original marriage bill that I already mentioned and the second is a civil union bill. Most importantly, I’m being told that WE MIGHT ACTUALLY PASS the civil union bill THIS YEAR.

Below is a quick briefing from Allie Carter with Equal Marriage Illinois. Apparently, the hearing mentioned below was delayed one week, but everything else should still be accurate.

Philip-

I got permission to send you the media advisory. Here’s my take:

House Services Committee to Vote on Civil Unions Bill

Several weeks ago, Rep. Greg Harris filed a historic piece of
legislation to end the denial of marriage to LGBT couples in Illinois.
However, despite his tremendous efforts, he and the other sponsors
simply could not find enough support to move the bill out of committee.

What Rep. Harris did discover was the potential to pass, this year, a
comprehensive civil unions bill. This bill represents an enormous step
towards full equality for gays and lesbians, and will guarantee many of
the rights and benefits needed by LGBT families in Illinois.

While there is a great deal of work to be done, I am told that this bill
has a great deal of support through out both chambers – and has a real
chance of passing this year. While full marriage equality is, obviously,
our goal, I think this legislation will add momentum to the fight and
move us closer.

Allie

P.S. I’m attaching a copy of the media advisory. Below are Rick Garcia’s
comments on the bills:

The Religious Freedom & Marriage Fairness Act (HB1615) sponsored
by Representatives Greg Harris (D-Ravenswood), Constance Howard
(D-Chicago), Sara Feigenholtz (D-Lakeview) and Harry Osterman
(D-Edgewater) has been assigned to the House Human Services
Committee.

Unfortunately, we do not have the necessary votes to pass this
bill out of committee at this time — but we continue to educate
legislators and their communities on the importance of equal
marriage for glbt Illinoisans.

A comprehensive Civil Union Act (HB 1826) has also been introduced
by Rep. Harris and is co-sponsored by more than a dozen members of
the Illinois House. This bill is assigned to the House Human
Services Committee and a hearing and committee vote is scheduled
for Wednesday, March 14, 8 a.m. in Room D-1 of the Stratton
Building in Springfield.

This bill has an excellent chance of passing the committee on
Wednesday and going to the full House of Representatives for
consideration.

For copies of the bills, list of their sponsors, list of committee
members and schedules please go to http://www.ilga.gov
.