Quote from: Kylie on April 11, 2015, 10:16:44 PM
Just out of curiosity, in what way do you feel that the government has put a boot on your throat recently?  I hear this a lot, but never hear an explanation.  I am sincerely interested, not mounting an attack.

Certainly.

For starters, the alternative minimum tax. It's a tax designed for rich people to "pay their fair share." Problem is it's triggered for me because we have the combination of 3 kids, a house with a mortgage and sufficient income to sustain those in New Jersey which is a high cost of living state. No kids, no AMT. We never paid it as DINKs. Usually you hear of people getting tax breaks if they have kids. well, we don't. We get punished for it.

Ever increasing property taxes are another. There were years we saw $1000 per year increases per year. We are almost at $10,000 per year. There is no opt out short of selling your house and moving.

I thought you were going in a different direction with that.  That is crazy that 3 kids would trigger AMT, that makes no sense at all.  I just wish they would go to a graduated flat tax and get rid of all of the nonsense, deductions and loopholes.  I don't see why I should get tax deductions for buying things that other people may not be able to afford, that makes no sense either.  I am philosophically a libertarian which makes it hard to vote for either party, but my lack of religion and my faith in empirical evidence leans me more to the democrat side when I choose an evil.

To the actual thread topic......I agree with Susan.  Hilary's transgender stance doesn't matter a whole lot to me, I don't like the idea of political dynasties and would probably not vote for Clinton or Bush.  The more entrenched the politician, the more favors they owe, the less they will work for the citizens except in a few rare cases.  I wish someone like a Colin Powell would step up, but I fear the recent political climate will keep any decent/honest candidates from stepping in.

  I have seen a lot of politicians promise a certain group of people the moon and then renege on the promises or not act on them when they reach office. There is some improvement in rights for our group during the Obama administration. This from a moderate Republican. There are other things I didn't like on his other decisions though. I do not bash the President of the United States nor call him and his wife dirty things like my some of my Republican brethern do. This applies to Hillary Clinton as well. She does have a good stance on transgender rights as with some of the good things she has done in the past. However, the current roster of probables for the 2016 presidential ticket is the worst I've seen since I started voting in 1972, including Ms. Clinton. She's in the middle of the ratings.

Joelene

I would appreciate it if all could stay on task within this thread please.  When I first started this I would have loved to state my own feelings toward her, not to mention all of the non-transgender rights issues, but I wanted this to be a focused topic.  Maybe someone else can start a thread addressing the other facets of her negative or positive aspects.  Thanks Much,   Dani

Hillary Clinton made some very strong statements on LGBT rights while serving as Secretary of State.  She is the one who originated the statement that gay rights are human rights.  She is the person who banned gender identity discrimination in the State Department before it was banned throughout the federal government.  The current policy on changing passports was adopted on her watch.

I actually feel pretty good about her as an ally of trans* people.  Now . . . I'm not sure she'd be my first choice as a candidate for president.  But that's another issue.

It was during Clinton's tenure at State that her Department wrote to its primary insurance providers, urging coverage of transgender medical care.  Thanks to those efforts, at least one and maybe more of those providers now allow such treatments to be reimbursed,as of this year.  Also, Clinton pushed strongly for equal status for for same sex domestic partners of State employees, and in fact I believe her Department led the way on those issues among the U.S. agencies.  I consider her a proven advocate for gay and transgender issues.

In the end, it doesn't really matter what her record on the subject is. Obama has already done as much as he can with executive authority and I don't believe any Democratic candidate would undo that. Congress is going to have to flip for there to be any more significant progress.

So apparently this happened today. Cant say I'm exactly surprised 

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/15/politics/hillary-clinton-same-sex-marriage/index.html

Quote from: TransSasha on April 15, 2015, 08:31:05 PM
So apparently this happened today. Cant say I'm exactly surprised 

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/15/politics/hillary-clinton-same-sex-marriage/index.html

She's been for gay rights for a while. I don't see how it's for "convenience" as implied others in the article.

Quote from: jennyfer on April 12, 2015, 11:57:10 AM
It was during Clinton's tenure at State that her Department wrote to its primary insurance providers, urging coverage of transgender medical care.  Thanks to those efforts, at least one and maybe more of those providers now allow such treatments to be reimbursed,as of this year.  Also, Clinton pushed strongly for equal status for for same sex domestic partners of State employees, and in fact I believe her Department led the way on those issues among the U.S. agencies.  I consider her a proven advocate for gay and transgender issues.

She is the one who conducted all of her official business on a private email server and had a subordinate fired for doing the same.

Quote from: Newgirl Dani on April 11, 2015, 12:30:41 PM
I would be interested now that her running for POTUS is looking pretty solid (as if it were not before  ), any info people in the know have on this subject would be appreciated.  Views on legislation or her own particpation while in office etc..

P.S.  Because this is an almost exclusive political news thing, I placed this here rather than discussions.  If anyone thinks discussion is better......well ok by me.   Dani

Don't expect any politician to be a friend to any of us. Plus I would say don't put all of your trust in one person because that's a guaranteed way to fail. Look at the the LGBT protections that are getting peeled back at the state level. Heck even towns and school districts get tied up in knots over "bathroom bills". The people who speak for the community are doing a pretty bad job of educating people or putting the wrong message out.

Hillary Clinton is a liar and a hypocrite. The only things she cares about is the almighty buck and power. Those people who think she will stand up for anyone else's rights are gong to be terribly disappointed, if elected.

Sad to say but we are not the Koch brothers with millions to spend influencing the elections.  So we are left with one powerful tool.  Our vote! 

Educating ourselves about a candidates record or platform need not include invective and ad hominem attacks.

Let us please stick to the facts as best we can find them.

Nothing will happen for transgender rights even if we elected Secret Squirrel to be our president. People at the local and state level still cannot wrap their brains around transgender people. If we can't win there, we might as well forget it altogether. They might say wonderful things to appease certain people in the community, but in the ballot box do you honestly believe that anyone would give a rat's hiney about TG people??? Seriously?? You cannot legislate people to act a certain way. It will never work and will set back our cause 100 years. Instead look at the bigger picture when voting. Hillary is a war hawk like the republicans. She will get us sucked into something else with ground troops and drone strikes. The madness has to end sometime. I'm not saying republicans are any better. Many of them are war mongers like Hillary. I'm thinking we need to look a little further afield for a candidate.

Quote from: Tessa James on April 26, 2015, 06:44:54 PM
Sad to say but we are not the Koch brothers with millions to spend influencing the elections.  So we are left with one powerful tool.  Our vote! 

Educating ourselves about a candidates record or platform need not include invective and ad hominem attacks.

Let us please stick to the facts as best we can find them.

Our votes don't count anymore. The same billionaires control both parties. While we are sitting here fighting over stupid points of order, the rich are cleaning out the banks and treasury with everything they can carry. This isn't just about the Koch brothers. It's about the Gates, Buffets, Waltons, etc. They control the majority of the wealth and can do anything they want. They throw us a bone every now and then so that we will be happy and continue to show up for work ontime. Other than that? We are just the people who keep them rich and behinds polished.

Quote from: gennee on April 26, 2015, 06:24:02 PM
Those people who think she will stand up for anyone else's rights are gong to be terribly disappointed, if elected.

But she already has. I would understand if you questioned the motivation behind her actions, but she has at least done something.

I will vote for Hillary if she wins the primary because I think that most of the politicians (with some possible exceptions) being considered for the Republican Nomination are hostile to LGBT equality. I do not wish for her to win the nomination though because I think it is a bad idea for political power to become concentrated in the hands of a only a few families. I would like an Elizabeth Warren/Bernie Sanders presidency, but I have a feeling that is unlikely. There are far worse choices for president though.

Currently the only possible exception of non-hostility to LGBT groups would be the new Republican candidate who announced a few days ago. I can't for the life of me remember her name but apparently she was horribad at maintaining a company and almost ran it in to the ground. Though I suspect she's not any better.

Quote from: Tessa James on April 26, 2015, 06:44:54 PM
Sad to say but we are not the Koch brothers with millions to spend influencing the elections.  So we are left with one powerful tool.  Our vote! 

And the liberals have George Soros who is even worse than the Koch brothers.   

Quote from: BenKenobi on April 27, 2015, 08:57:19 PM
Currently the only possible exception of non-hostility to LGBT groups would be the new Republican candidate who announced a few days ago. I can't for the life of me remember her name but apparently she was horribad at maintaining a company and almost ran it in to the ground. Though I suspect she's not any better.

carly fiorina

At least she was actually in charge of something.  I would give her my vote any day of the week before Hillary.