"[It's easy to fall for the] myth that the fight for LGBTQIA rights was only about protecting wealthy white people like Caitlyn Jenner. This false narrative is currently spread by numerous online commentators, who are hostile to the idea of transgender people. I discovered the irony of this false narrative when I started to investigate the history of trans-gendered people across the world. The white supremacy that caused racist whites to segregate schools based on race was the same white supremacy that attempted to invalidate the fluidity of gender and sexuality identities.  

     While it may seem like endless letters are being added to the LBGTQIA label, a deep dive into human history reveals just how fluid the idea of gender has always been in cultures around the world.

On the eve of the nail biting Virginia elections and Supreme Court hearings on reproductive rights it may be hard to feel optimistic or to stay determined. We get it--right wing groups and the public officials who support them seem at times to be holding sway even though our positions on issues are popular among voters. The public knows that things like the Build Back Better Act will help many people, especially folks facing health and housing insecurity issues, workers, seniors, kids and everyone who lives in a community that desperately needs public resources and government support. That’s why we need to keep organizing; we can’t let others discourage us from speaking up and speaking out for better laws and public policies.

This week the Build Back Better (BBB) agenda may finally get a vote, along with the infrastructure bill (BIF.) These budget proposals and policies in their final form will not contain all the things for which we have been advocating. But if taken together (BBB and BIF)  the approach that the Congressional Progressive Caucus has insisted on,  they will create a framework for delivering hundreds of billions of dollars in investments for education, universal pre-K,  jobs, healthcare programs, home care, housing, clean energy and climate initiatives, The passage would mean that long overdue upgrades to human and physical infrastructure can finally begin to happen.  We have also not  given up on getting Rx price negotiations into the final package; nor will we  back down on demanding that the Medicare expansion piece include dental and vision care.  Many organizations and dozens of Congressional Democrats, not a single Republican it should be noted, have joined together to save Medicare expansion (see below.)   

Thanks for keeping the faith and for rallying, texting, phone banking and volunteering to win the transformative change we need.

In Solidarity,

The Progressive Maryland Team

We can build a better Maryland with grassroots supporters like you! We need to push local, state and federal officials to address the investments we need in our communities and to make positive changes to our social and economic systems. We’ll all do better when our public policies put people first.  That’s what the Build Back Better Act  does and  why we’re laser focused on getting it across the finish line in Congress. This Thursday we’re hosting a Town Hall conversation with Senator Van Hollen to discuss the impact of BBB on Maryland and our nation. Our national affiliate People’s Action is supporting this timely event, too, and has been helping to lead the fight to expand Medicare, lower child care and housing costs, reduce prescription drug costs and to invest in green jobs and solutions to the climate crisis, all of which are currently contained in the Build Back Better Act.

 So we need to keep the pressure on!

The Fight for Justice and More:  PM Weekly Memo for Tuesday, October 12, 2021

As we marked another Indigenous People’s Day yesterday around the state and around the nation, we were moved by the Native elders, activists and faith leaders who came to Washington, D.C. to demand that President Biden declare a Climate Emergency. We’re inspired by the courage, vision, and determination of these front line activists who are raising awareness about the need to  save our waterways and restore our ecosystems. For decades, their communities have witnessed first hand the environmental destruction caused by the fossil fuel and other extractive industries. We should heed their call to “build back fossil free” and institute public policies that put the planet and people first. Congress can take a major step forward by keeping  the climate provisions in Build Back Better and then getting to work on a robust Green New Deal. 

Federal action is needed now to address the existential threat of human induced climate change. Such measures will help all of our communities, particularly those that have suffered environmental degradation, like many areas of Baltimore. Read the post in today’s Maryland Matters by PM’s Executive Director about this topic: Build Back Better has the pieces for a better Baltimore

Thanks for reading our update and for being part of this movement.

In Solidarity,

The Progressive Maryland Team

Progressive Maryland's Executive Director Larry Stafford Jr. sees the pro-urban and pro-Baltimore elements embedded in President Biden's Build Back Better plan. It's important to keep it intact as GOP indifference and some neolib Democrats want to dismantle it. Protecting it is vital, for Baltimore, for Maryland and for democracy. This piece first appeared as a guest commentary in Maryland Matters on Monday, Oct. 11.

‘What do we want? A Caring Economy! Medicare expansion and lower Rx prices! More good jobs! Climate Action! A Pathway to Citizenship! Corporate accountability and tax fairness! When do we want it? Now!’ 

We’re marching in the streets, contacting Members of Congress, mobilizing our base, and lifting up progressive messages and progressive champions to counter the tired old Joe Manchin and mainstream narrative.

"We" of course means you, all of you ready for change from your neighborhood to Annapolis to DC, and holding elected officials accountable to work to improve your lives, not those of lobbyists and corporate CEOs. Read on to see how.

As the full horror of Donald Trump's attempt to seize power and dump democracy fades in the public mind, the mainstream media -- which collectively had been pointing out the difference between facts and lies -- have slumped back into he said-she said vanilla coverage. Take the word "strict," analyst Sean Dobson suggests -- a word with a lot of positive connotations for most readers. Does it make sense to describe as "strict" scuh recent state-level atrocities as Mississippi's or Texas's draconian new abortion laws, or the blatant voter-suppression laws being passed by Republican legislators in a dozen-plus states where they have control? Or is the press slipping back to its old duck-and-cover strategy to avoid being tagged as "liberal"?

A new report from People's Action and Demos details the avalanche of corporate spending to stop or trim important measures that would expand Medicare, childcare, paid family leave, community health programs, green jobs and critical climate initiatives.

“It’s not surprising that these businesses that represent billionaire and multi-millionaire CEOs and stockholders are lobbying hard to keep the status quo in place -- big tax breaks for them, higher prices and lower wages for us -- and that they are spending tens of millions of dollars to vocalize their demands and to drown out the peoples’ voices” said Larry Stafford, Executive Director of Progressive Maryland.

Congress is back and we are stepping up the  Build Back Better campaign! We can’t let a few conservative Democrats stand in the way of a plan that will  enact $3.5 trillion dollars of funding for much needed investments in Medicare expansion, community health programs, green jobs, paid family leave, and the framework that will create a path to citizenship for those who need it. Let’s remind Congress as we did last week at the Welcome Back rally that they work for us, not for Big Pharma, the U.S.Chamber of Commerce and Big Oil. Join the fight!  More on this in our updates and news sections below.