View My VisualCV Online: http://www.visualcv.com/melnathan

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Examples of Accomplishments :-


Advocate:- Orchestrated and led advocacy to obtain the introduction of Private Bill # 867 by Senator Feinstein in April 2009, on behalf of Shirley Tan, a lesbian mother who faced immediate deportation; resulted stay of deportation and in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the issue.

 

Advocacy strategy -  led and successfully orchestrated by advocating to member of the U.S. Congress the release of an undocumented lesbian partner from detention.


Provided testimony to Senator Patrick Leahy, (D- VT) for the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA)  (June, 2009);

 

Testimony in California Assembly and Senate for a resolution in support of UAFA;

 

Participated in conference to advise Secretary for Housing & Urban Development for President Obama's commission on discrimination against gays and lesbians (LGBT) in housing and tenancy; the series led to sweeping reforms.

 

Creator and author of innovative special LGBT immigration visa currently in the form of a Petition on Change.org to assist same-sex spouses and partners with entry and residency in the U.S.A.

 

(http://www.scribd.com/doc/41596148/Binational-VISA-Pledge-and-Cover and http://immigration.change.org/petitions/view/special_visa_for_binational_lgbt_spouse-perma-partners)

 

Pitched and accomplished publication of Shirley Tan's story as a matter of urgency to press as a strategy to win public support - the story written by other journalists was published in PEOPLE MAGAZINE and San Jose Mercury News, to be picked up by multiple TV networks and news outlets.

 

Advocated successfully to deny Ugandan Anti-gay editor a Visa to USA and further to isolate him as a journalist from academia http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/uganda-tabloid-editor-says-hang-gays-story-was-mistake231012 and http://oblogdeeoblogda.me/2012/10/20/ugandan-university-regrets-invitation-to-editor-of-hang-the-gays-article/

 

Appointed by Marin County Board of Supervisors to serve on Marin County Human Rights Commission;


Activist -After blogging and following the story of so called "corrective" rape victims and survivors, in South African townships, writing numerous articles which served as the impetus for the international on-line petition on change.org resulting generated over 200,000 global signatures. This resulted directly in an invitation by South Africa's Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, the Hon. Jeff Radebe, to attend a meeting with him in Parliament to discuss reforms. http://lezgetreal.com/?s=corrective+rape

 

Drafted reforms for ministerial meeting, prepared NGO's and attended meeting as lead spokesperson for Luleki Sizwe, resulting in a second meeting and an agreement for Government and LGBTI to partner in a task force for reforms and hate crimes legislation in South Africa. (2011)

 

Advocated in the case of Ugandan deportee, Brenda Namigadde, and numerous other LGBT Asylum cases around the world.

 

Blogging platforms and advocacy for decriminalization of homosexuality in Africa.

 

As a Political Editor for LGR Media; assisted in bringing new blog to a popular high ranking and politically influential News/ Magazine/Blog site;

 

As an LGBT Activist Blogger / Writer:- Written over 1491 Articles (news, opinion & advocacy)  in 2 year period - LGBTI, social justice,  human rights and political Issues: so called "corrective rape" of lesbians in Southern Africa,  Ugandan Anti-homosexuality law,  Same-Sex couples and immigration to the USA,  marriage equality, immigration reform, international LGBTI refugee and asylum advocacy;

 

Attorney: Successful representation in  death sentence case in South Africa during Apartheid era;

 

Mediator: Settled approximately 200 divorce/ custody cases/ and 30 commercial disputes;

 

Fundraiser: Support of LGBT friendly candidates and progressive Democrats through writing fundraising pleas; participated in  fund raising events and work for Fair Housing of Marin. Committee Chair for Annual MHRC Martin Luther King Dinner Awards ; Raised funds and international awareness for Luleki Sizwe, South Africa.


Change.org - Recent Petitions: 

Religious Right Interference Hurts LGBT Equality:  http://gayrights.change.org/petitions/view/halt_the_harm_-_stop_advocacy_by_usccb_and_nae_causing_harm_to_lgbt_community

 

Binational Visa Petition:
http://immigration.change.org/petitions /view/special_visa_for_binational_lgbt_spouse-perma-partners


Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill:

http://www.change.org/petitions/uganda-is-set-to-pass-the-kill-the-gays-bill-within-two-weeks

 

Film: Producer Short Videos:  Gay PSA Announcement , Music Video, LGBT  Commercials,

 

Guest and OP-ED Contributor:


  • The Advocate
  • LGBTQ Nation
  • Florida Agenda
  • MS. magazine
  • Bilerico Project
  • SDGLN

Speaker:


  • Keynote Speaker: Cape Town Pride, South Africa 2011 -  Gala and Stadium Main stage
  • Speaker:Rally Teen Suicide , County of Marin,  2010
  • Speaker:Castro memorial for Ugandan Activist, David Kato (2011)
  • MEUSA: Proposition 8 Rally; Ninth Circuit Rally (2011)
  • FHOM: MC Not a Genuine Black Man - Brian Copeland Performance 2010
  • FHOM: Annual Fundraiser Fashion Show - (2007, 2008, 2009)
  • MHRC: Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Award Dinner, San Rafael, CA - Speaker and Presenter (2010)
  • Guest Host on Swirl Radio; (2011)
  • Equality Across America: Speaker & Workshop Presenter, Austin Texas, (2010)
  • Beverly Hills Bar Association: Guest Speaker  (2007)
  • San Francisco Human Rights Commission: Guest Speaker with Tom Armiano on immigration equality (2010)
  • Marriage Equality Rally Across Golden Gate Bridge: Rally speaker

 

 Motivational Speaker:

  • “Mediation as  “Preferred Dispute Resolution,” 
  • “An Out-of the Box approach to Professional Life;”
  • “Re-birthing Naivety to Quell the Taint of Time.” 
  • "Exploring the Ultimate Benchmark- LGBT Activism"
  • GAY Equality | Where do we go from here

 


WORK HISTORY

PRIVATE COURTS, INC.

San Francisco, CA, United States
Jan 2000 - Present
Executive Director 

 

Services include:

Advocacy - strategy, orchestrating and representing select private advocacy  clients for domestic equality and international human rights cases; legislative reform consulting  (25 years)

Conflict resolution - mediation, settlement consulting, multi-party consensus building (12 years)

Politics - strategy, communications, writing, speaking, consulting (7 years)

Editor/ Writer / Journalist / Blogger / Social Media Strategy  (7 years)

Co-Producer & Publisher for GAY U.S.A. the Movie and BLOG

Speaker (25 years)

Expertise in LGBT issues and community in  United States of America and Africa; well sourced globally to include European Union, United Kingdom,  and Middle East.

GAY U.S.A. the Movie  - Co Producer - Release date 2013
The film will address the law and politics of LGBT rights in the U.S.A., and how these issues impact our families across the countries and generations, the philosophical core of the religious and scientific debate. Gay U.S.A. is an in depth exploration of the gay rights debate. The making of the film has impacted the LGBT movement through work in the LGBT community to include the sting operation on the Bachmann Clinic in MN, blogging, and networking with LGBT families and activists around the USA.  www.gayusathemovie.com

Blogs - Publisher and Editor

O-Blog-Dee-O-Blog-Da 

GAY U.S.A. the Movie and Blog




Singer Horwitz Favish & Barrable

Johannesburg/ Benoni, GP, South Africa
1980 - 1983
Attorney/ Articled Clerk 

Nathan & Associates

Los Angeles/ Marin County, CA, United States
1986 - 2000
Consultant 

Consulting - Entertainment Industry - Tax Shelter Financing for Film Industry;
Contract Legal work for Law Firms.
Advocacy and Mediation

Business Consulting

 

Law Office of Melanie Nathan

Pretoria, GP, South Africa
1983 - 1985
Attorney 

Campus Law Clinic

Johannesburg , GP, South Africa
Intern 

Urban Training Project

Johannesburg, GP, South Africa

Union Law Clinic for Factory workers- Associate Attorney

SUMMARY

 

Melanie Nathan, born in South Africa, learned the practice of law in a system that encourages resolution at the onset of conflict.  She attended law school at the University of The Witwatersrand, where she graduated with B.A. and LLB in 1980.  While a student, Ms. Nathan, together with 13 other final year students, pioneered the “Campus Law Clinic,” which helped members of the public unable to afford legal representation.  She also worked at the “Urban Training Project," in Johannesburg, assisting African workers who were victims of apartheid’s discriminatory laws.

Qualified with the higher of available law degrees, she chose to be an attorney, instead of a barrister, which satisfied her aspiration for direct client contact and relationships.  By age 23, Ms. Nathan had passed the South African Bar exam, been admitted as an Attorney to The Supreme Court of South Africa and served a rigorous two year articles of clerkship.  In accordance with South African tradition, Ms. Nathan emerged a generalist, with a particular interest in family law, civil rights and the law of contract.  She developed an expertise in contracts and business law, and after practicing in a large law firm for 4 years, started her own civil rights and family law practice before immigrating to the United States in 1985.

In Los Angeles, she became a consultant specializing in international financing for the motion picture industry.  She continued to hone her business and negotiating skills, emerging with an expertise in public relations, advocacy, organization project development and strategies. 

In 2001 - (Current) she founded Private Courts Inc. a Conflict Resolution, Mediation ,Consulting firm - and Advocacy dealing with local and international clients, to include The United Kingdom, South Africa, Uganda, USA, and Israel.

Currently she is the Vice President on the Board of Directors: Fair Housing of Marin (six years);
Committtee Chair: Legal Committee Fair Housing of Marin;
Member of Social Action Committee: Rodef Sholom Congregation, Marin County, California; and
Commissioner on Marin County Human Rights Commission (2009-2013)- Appointed by the Board of Supervisors.

 

EDUCATION

University of Witwatersrand

Johannesurg, South Africa
1980
B.A. LL.B, Law

University California, Berkeley

San Francisco, CA, United States
Mediation Certification, Conflict Resolution

South African Law Society

Johannesburg, GP, South Africa
1980
Bar Exam

Interests

 

 

 

Skills

Advocacy

(Rockstar)
10+ Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_5

I am a 'throw me in the deep end swimmer. ' What makes advocacy easy for me is my passion and my sense of justice.  When I see an injustice, I have this urge for a remedy.  In my most profound advocacy cases the common denominator has been this choir-like-mantra from others:  "it cannot be done"  or "all remedies have been exhausted...you are wasting your time."    However to my way of thinking that is when the advocacy starts. 

It is important to get a good grasp on the facts. The skill is being an attentive listener, hearing the nuances, and looking for the uniqueness of the circumstances.    This work requires strong analytical skills, research skills, clear and effective strategy , the ability to delegate, and attention to detail. 

Although the implementation of a plan must include room for changes in strategy, one must remain focused and committed to the goal.  In most advocacy cases one finds an all or nothing situation and often there is no possibility for compromise.  Hence the "sell" must be strong and unwavering.    Belief in the cause is thus imperative. 

Consensus Building

(Rockstar)
10+ Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_5

Consensus building is often the invisible, yet essential tool, in the kit of a conflict resolution specialist.  The expert usually tackles conflict by first exposing what parties are able to agree upon. In my practice I use this skill to explore the unknown where parties are challenged with creative ideas that they probably have not thought of previously. Validation is the starting point for collaboration and hence as parties continue to devise and create in tandem, consensus often forms in a seemingly magical way.  Equal investment in outcome is a key to sensible remedies.  This means that the scales may well balance with apples on one side and oranges on the other - as long as they are edible in the short term and effectively digested in the long term.

The Key to resolving conflict is the exposure of the assumptions, and the fear that flows via  assumptions.  Once parties transition to a real understanding of motive and intent, the path is paved for  effective "listening and hence resolution.

DRAFT AGREEMENTS

(Rockstar)
10+ Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_5

I enjoy drafting Contracts;  includes drafting legislation.  Nothing is a challenge enough when it comes drafting.  I am skilled and have the ability to produce a well crafted contract from scratch.  I am known for my ability to recognize long term impact of clauses and hence draft accordingly.. 

LEADERSHIP

(Expert)
10+ Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_4

I have led since the day I was born, always forming teams as a youngster. I played field hockey, netball, and  was a competitive swimmer, and captain of swim team;  Victrix Ladorum and Prefect, denoting qualities that translated into adulthood  as competitive desire to accomplish, willingness to endure challenges, overcome hurdles,  team player, and leading the way.

 

In Sum:- Benchmarking for goals; accomplish mission through effective strategy and distinct protocols. 

 

 

Led legal teams in court settings (2 multi million dollar cases involving International litigants);  project leader using 40 paralegals to abstract contracts thousands of  Deeds, easements etc. for client's acquisition of  Alaska pipeline from the Pacific Rail Road Company; managed staff of up to 25 people in corporate settings;conducted multi- party mediations; led strategy teams for numerous consulting projects.

 

MEDIATION

(Rockstar)
10+ Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_5

Before founding the mediation firm PRIVATE COURTS, Inc.  Melanie practiced law overseas before immigrating to the USA in 1985.  She has chalked up many hundreds of mediation hours and settled over 400 cases in both family and business law arena.  She attributes her success in mediation to a combination of personality, her ability to listen, and her unique style and mediation technique, which includes an analytical assessment that exposes the assumptions and underlying fears that exacerbate the conflict.    She has a proactive style where she enjoys helping parties find solutions that ultimately results in the compromise needed to bring cases to settlement.

Writer

(Rockstar)
3-4 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_5

Social Media - Developed News and advocacy Blogs and News Magazine - built a large following. 

Site is ranked high and influential in progressive political arena, Jewish community, equality community, and global sphere of international human rights.  OPED Contributor :The Advocate, LGBTQ Nation, Gay Star News, MS Magazine, SDGLN, and others...  

 

http://oblogdeeoblogda.me 

http://gayusathemovie.com/blog

 

http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/commentary/2012/08/08/see-photos-ugandans-both-proud-and-brave

 

All Article Topics:
Human Rights
Israel/ Judaism
South Africa - Corrective Rape
Uganda- Anti-Homosexuality Bill
LGBT Global -Asylum - Refugees
Gay, Lesbian (LGBTI) Civil Rights
Equality - Marriage
Green cards for Same Sex Couples and remedies

SHOWCASE & EXCLUSIVE ARTICLES

(Expert)
<1 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_4

http://oblogdeeoblogda.me/published-articles/u-s-a/
What GetEQUAL Told The White House Today

Melanie Nathan;- 11-17-2010 – Today Robin McGehee did something most unusual for a school mom. Now turned activist., the lesbian mother and Executive Director of the LGBT organization, GetEQUAL, Robin took the words of LGBT grass root into the White House.

-------------------------------------------=----------------------------------------------------------------------   

 

Exclusive Interview with Editor of Ugandan Tabloid which Outed Gays - "We Will Defy Court Order"            

My Interview with Giles Muhame, Managing Editor, Rolling Stone -

After reading his Press Release, I called Mr. Muhame, the Managing Editor of the Rolling Stone Publication in Uganda.  He was very friendly – greeted me like a long lost friend with a resounding, Happy New year.  I said,  “Sir I am surprised, you sound like a really nice person, so friendly;  He said “I am really nice,  people are demonizing me but that do not know I am a very nice person.” And so we continued…..

Melanie: Most people in the western world think your statement and what the tabloid has done is outrageous and so they assume you are not a nice person.

Muhame: I am confused, I do not understand why people are outraged by us putting those pictures on our magazine page. We did the right thing to show those pictures. The Tabloid will win the appeal. We must expose criminals. read more.....

 

Lesbian Corrective Rape Victim has her day in Court        

TOP5K   FBShare4308  Views 21,007

By Melanie Nathan NOV 05-2010.

This is the face of South African lesbian who was beaten and raped for five hours by a man who told her he wanted to “turn her into a woman”.  This is the face of a warrior who despite all odds, trauma, and police victimization, found her way to Court today by public transportation, to testify against her brutal attacker, who remained free on bail  to -in essence- board the same bus. The Police were simply not willing to give this young woman a ride to the Court.....  read more http://oblogdeeoblogda.me/published/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   

 

 

Op-ed: Equal Sacrifice Demands Equal Rights

By Melanie Nathan, op-ed contributor - The Advocate:-

While the Wilfahrt family shows us the right way to honor soldiers who died in combat, the Republican presidential candidates show us the wrong way.

 

Op-ed: Equal Sacrifice Demands Equal Rights 

We say the greatest sacrifice of all is to give one’s life for one’s country.  It is those who are left behind who ensure the legacy. Corporal Andrew Wilfahrt was willing to die for his country, and notwithstanding their insurmountable grief, his parents are charged with ensuring their son’s relevance in a country that has failed LGBT service members.

Until the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” gay and lesbian service members had to serve in silence unable to reveal their true selves.  On September 20, the Draconian law died, but not before Corporal Andrew Wilfahrt’s death. He was never able to enjoy the openness he deserved.

And as a result, his parents are left in a fight that most others who have lost a son or daughter to war can skip. Most parents whose children’s lives ended in the service of our freedoms do not have to justify their family and their dead son’s life. Lori and Jeff Wilfahrt now boldly perceive that added burden as their obligation to their son, his military family and their country. The grieving and loving parents are reminding America that even though their son served in great honor, he served in exclusion. Even though others can now serve openly, the discrimination our service members carried through silent service persists until such time as full equality is attained for all LGBT people in the United States.

 

http://www.advocate.com/Politics/Commentary/Op_ed_A_Right_and_Wrong_Way_to_Honor_Fallen_Gay_Soldiers/ 

 

Writer

(Advanced)
5-6 Years Experience, (Last Used 5-6 years ago)
Skillometer_3

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/11/15/Oped_Lesbian_Filmmaker_Debates_Rick_Santorum/

 

 

http://www.advocate.com/Politics/Commentary

/Op_ed_A_Right_and_Wrong_Way_to_Honor_Fallen_Gay_Soldiers/

 

Documentary Production

(Advanced)
3-4 Years Experience, (Currently in use)
Skillometer_3

CO- PRODUCER  GAY U.S.A. THE MOVIE - www.gayusathemovie.com In production.

 

PSA Announcement - Wrote and Produced - The first ever Gay PSA announcement on Television.

 

Numbed by the Numbers - AIDS benefit Video - Associate Producer (1989)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1ZrxBGNDQc 

References

Martha McDevitt-Pugh

(Superior)
Owner McDevitt Communications

Martha McDevitt-Pugh

Owner and General Manager, McDevitt Communications Amsterdam, Netherlands.
was with another company when working with you

“Working with Melanie has been an incredibly rewarding experience. She is a force of nature, approaching problems creatively, inventing solutions that surprise and delight clients and partners alike. She is tenacious, persistent in working towards her goals, and stretches herself to take on challenges that most would find daunting. She is one of the first people I call if I want out-of-the-box thinking to accomplish unimaginable results.” May 8, 2009

PRESS

Melanie Nathan

SF Weekly:

"Melanie Nathan is a  firebrand with a shock of dark brown curls and an accent from her native South Africa but citizenship in the United States. Her Israeli wife was able to get a religious visa and eventually permanent residency, but that hasn't stopped Nathan from advocating for other couples not as fortunate. From her office in Marin, she pens gadfly blog posts at Lez Get Real, chronicling the latest developments in gay binational couple politics and calling out lawmakers who flip-flop on the issue. (Rep. Luis Gutierrez [D-Ill.], she's talking to you. )The blog gets 150,000 hits a month, some dropping in from the White House and senators' offices, and she gets e-mails from some 40 couples a month. "I know every couple that's in this situation", 

she says. "Her advocacy for one such pair may have helped to get the issue on Washington's radar"

http://www.sfweekly.com/2010-06-09/news/worlds-apart/3/ 

100 Women we Love Most 2012

Go Magazine 100 Women

Go Magazine's 100 Women we Love  

Melanie Nathan
Her peers call her “a force of nature.” Melanie Nathan, a South Africa-born attorney, used her law school experience to assist African workers who were victims of apartheid in the 1980s. After immigrating to the U.S., she founded Private Courts, Inc., a mediation and human rights advocacy firm in Marin County, California. She is also a prolific blogger and journalist who uses her writing “as a platform for my advocacy work…to get results such as helping LGBT asylum seekers.” It’s taken her to some controversial places: regular communication with the author of Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill, an investigation of “corrective rape” of lesbians in South Africa, which led to a Parliamentary Task team. In addition to her blog, O-Blog-Dee-O-Blog-Da, she contributes to The Advocate, LGBTQ Nation and others. Nathan is co-producer of GAY U.S.A. the Movie, a documentary debunking the myths that impact gay rights. “No American, least of all our own community, should sit back and allow prejudice and discrimination to continue. This is the final frontier of the civil rights movement in America,” Nathan argues. “Each and every one of us has a duty to tell our stories, and not one ear should be spared.”

ADVOCACY USA

SHIRLEY TAN

Lead Advocate and Strategist on Case

Press:
San Francisco, California “This is a good day for this family, but their fight is not over,” said Chris Waddling, Director for Marriage Equality USA. Shirley Tan, California mother of two who was to be deported April 3rd has been given a stay of deportation until April 22nd pending the possibility of further action. Thanks to the heroic efforts of her counsel, Melanie Nathan, lawyer Phyllis Beech, Rep. Jackie Speier [CA-12], and Senator Dianne Feinstein..."   This ultimately led to a Private Bill for Ms. Tan.

 

 

Shirley Tan testifies for UAFA

June 03, 2009

HEARINGS

USA ADVOCACY

Jashley and Jorienne Tan Mercado at Heaings for UAFA

Melanie and Congressman Jerrold Nadler. Advocacy for The Uniting American Families Act. (UAFA)

Bi-national Same-Sex Couples in the USA are discriminated against under the Immigration Law; often separated or exiled due to the Defense of marriage Act which precludes the American partner from sponsoring the foreign partner for a Visa or immigration into the USA.

http://lezgetreal.com/?s=binational+uafa

Senator Leahy & Melanie

Senator Patrick Leahy (VT)  &Melanie Nathan, after Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings for UAFA

AFRICA

Caster S.

Coverage and Advocacy Caster Semenya http://lezgetreal.com/?s=Caster+semenya

uganda Publishes Antu Gay Hate

Extensive Coverage of Anti-Gay Hate in Uganda and exposing Evangelical Missionaries

http://lezgetreal.com/?s=uganda

Advocacy for Europe/ Russia

Alex Russia

Coverage & Tracking of  Kidnap of Nikolai Alekseev.

http://lezgetreal.com/?s=Russia

AFRICA

Exposing Hate

Research and Investigation of Human Rights issues in Africa; South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe. 

 

Research and Articles on David Bahati the author of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda.

South Africa Parliament

Speaking to Reporters outside South African parliament before meeting with Minister of Justice, together with Ndumie Funda of Luleki Sizwe

Bi-National Visa Advocacy

SFPride with Tan family

Special Visa Process & Moratorium: Same-Sex Partner Sponsorship

Author of BINAT VISA  and the Petition- Asking Congress to formulate a special interim Visa Program for Same-sex Spouses, Domestic Partners, Civil Union Partners, for entry into the USA, and for the ability to remain and work in the USA – possibly subject to renewal and/or- with a path to immigration.

This can be done in a similar manner to the R1 Visa Process. It should however be less complicated and could be set for termination when UAFA or similar legislation is passed, or until DOMA is repealed, that will grant the rights LGBT Americans are now denied.

Lesbian and Gays can marry, enter into Domestic Partnerships and Civil Unions, in some States and many places in the World, yet we cannot stay together in the USA because we are unable to sponsor our spouses/partners for a green card.

While we wait for immigration equality under the US Immigration and Naturalization Act -to sponsor our foreign-born partners, we endure unconscionable and inhumane situations on a day to day, hour by hour basis. Our partners are persecuted at our airports by the profiling of ICE officials and arbitrarily turned away, despite having visas; our relationships are denied through our inability to live together in the US, or we live in fear, hiding or exile. We lose jobs, we lose homes, we lose our time with extended family, we give up our pensions. We are detained and deported.

 

http://lezgetreal.com/2010/03/bi-national-same-sex-couples-continue-to-wait-the-case-for-a-special-visa/

Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town Pride Keynote Speech

Keynote Speaker at Cape Town Pride. 2011. Sponsored by British Airways, Cape Royale Hotels, Lexus.

Bi-National Spouses

Immigration Rights & Equality

Binational Couple Seek Help


“The most horrendous form of Inequality- is the one that prevents the very relationship upon which one’s sexuality relies, disqualifying two people from pursuing their happiness.”..melanie

Carla:  “I am at a loss for words; this has been a very emotional year. I applaud the NYCLU New York Civil Liberties Union who took up our cause when others refused.  Also thanks again to Congressman Nadler, our hero; if Britta would have still been in detention she could not have survived this. A special thanks goes to Melanie Nathan who continues to work tirelessly on our behalf.”  http://lezgetreal.com/2010/05/launched-citizen-non-citizen-a-stunning-account-of-immigration-inequality/

Ambushing the Tea Party

Op-ed: Lesbian Filmmaker Debates Rick Santorum  By Melanie Nathan, op-ed contributor, The Advocate

Kristina Lapinski and Rick Santorum Kristina Lapinski, a documentary filmmaker, found herself seated in the front row next to State Republican Speaker William O'Brien, at One Liberty Lane Hampton, New Hampshire, for Thursday night's Granite State Patriots Liberty PAC candidates forum.


Lapinski, working on GAY U.S.A., The Movie,   held a legitimate ticket, and had her camera secretly poised , while in the company of some 50 heavy hitting Tea Party Republicans, who had no idea who she was or why she was there. . Lapinski and I have been working together;  as she films, I write about news and events for GAY U.S.A., The Blog. This was among the most daring moments. The young, liberal Democrat, dressed in a tailed, wide shoulder, black, double-breasted jacket and white shirt, sporting a star spangled tie, looked  “voguishly” Barnum Circus and quite out of place.

"I felt like I was in the lion’s den," said Lapinski.  read more....

 

Seige - Lesbian Couple Escape

oday a lesbian couple from Africa will arrive in a foreign country with a couple of hundred dollars and two pieces of luggage to their name. That is enough money to survive for a few nights.  They ran for their lives. Literally!

Until they are safe and their escape complete, I cannot reveal the names of the couple, and so will refer to them as Sabdi and Maggie. Their government considers them criminals, just because they love each other. I cannot name their country of origin or reveal their destination, at this time. But will in due course,....http://oblogdeeoblogda.me/2012/09/25/lesbian-couple-under-siege-flee-african-country/