HRC San Antonio Busy During the August Congressional Recess

HRC's "No Excuse" campaign during the August Congressional recess was an effort to see as many Representatives and Senators as possible to discuss upcoming legislation. Arrangements were made to visit with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson's Regional Director and State Outreach Director Jessie Hereford. On Tuesday, September 9th, HRC Governor's Elizabeth Schleigh and George Page, Steering Committee member Eric Alva,  HRC member Anna Castro, and SAGA representatives Julie Degrace and Ruby Krebs asked for the Senator's support on:

• the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
• Military Enhancement Readiness Act (repeal of "don't ask don't tell")
• repeal of DOMA or the ability to marry your partner
• the United Americans Family Act for US citizens to bring their foreign same sex partners back to the US so that they don't have to make the choice between leaving their loved ones or leaving the US
• Early Treatment for HIV/AIDS
• Domestic partnership benefits for US Government employees.

The HRC reps directly asked for the Senator to become the lead sponsor on DOMA since there is not one yet in the Senate or the House, and asked for her "yes" votes on the rest of our requests. Mr. Hereford said that he would "give the Senator our stories and the information that we gave him."

Also during the August recess, HRC San Antonio was able to visit with Congressman Ciro Rodriguez and Congressman Henry Cuellar. A visit with Congressman Ortiz of Corpus Christi is scheduled for Tuesday, September 15. Senator John Cornyn's office did not return phone calls on requests to meet with him, nor did Congressman Lamar Smith.