See upcoming advocacy events at Center Calendar: Advocacy

Promote the Vote is the Center's nonpartisan grassroots outreach project dedicated to creating a visible and vocal voting constituency for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and its allies. Promote the Vote is the largest LGBT voter education, registration and mobilization project on the U.S. East Coast.

The 2008 Election Year is a huge election for New York and the country. A wide variety of offices will be up for our vote, from the President to federal, state and local legislators. We must ensure that LGBT people and our allies get registered and go to the polls so our voices will be heard loud and clear on Election Day.

State-wide and national elected officials have the ability to pass laws and ordinances that affect our everyday lives. While they may not get the same attention as presidential candidates, these are the folks who can determine whether it is legal to discriminate against New Yorkers based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression, the availability of affordable housing in New York, the treatment of queer folks at homeless shelters and hospitals, the amount of resources that will be put into our educational system and the quality of education young people receive, equal benefits within the city, allocation of money for LGBT health issues, and the list goes on and on.

We must work together with other progressive communities to ensure not only that our local government represents our values and needs, but that it acts as an incubator for social change that can demonstrate a respect for human rights and the success of progressive policies to the rest of the nation.

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