Oklahoma Independent Media Center

(OKLAHOMA CITY) This Friday and Saturday, March 7th and 8th, there will be a Sexual Identity and Spirituality Conference on the campus of the University of Central Oklahoma sponsored by GATE (Gay Alliance for Tolerance and Equality), a UCO student organization, and co-sponsored by several open and affirming churches, including Church of the Open Arms, Cathedral of Hope, and Mayflower Congregational.

You can get more details at www.PFLAGokc.org .

Clergy seeking voice in immigration talks
http://newsok.com/article/3203543/1202789181

By Michael McNutt
Capitol Bureau

Religious leaders should be included in the mix with politicians and business officials in discussions involving the state's immigration law, a Lutheran bishop said Monday to members of the Oklahoma Conference of Churches.

"The jury's still out” on the state's immigration law, House Bill 1804, that took effect Nov. 1, said the Rev. Floyd Schoenhals, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod.

"The voices of fear are dominant,” said Schoenhals, who lives in Tulsa. "It has caused a lot of fear among those immigrants who are among us and many of them have left because it's raised the issue of fear.”

Several business groups have filed a lawsuit against Oklahoma's immigration enforcement law. The suit claims the Oklahoma law undermines federal immigration law and imposes unreasonable burdens on state businesses.

National radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author Jim Hightower will visit Tulsa at a Bill of Rights Celebration hosted by the ACLU of Oklahoma on Saturday, November 10, 2007. The event will be held in the Manchester-Geneva Room of the Doubletree Hotel, 616 W. Seventh Street in downtown Tulsa. Festivities will begin with a reception at 6:30 p.m. A banquet will follow at 7:00 p.m.

Hightower broadcasts daily radio commentaries that are carried in more than 100 commercial and public stations, on the web, on Armed Forces Radio, Radio for Peace International, One World Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio. Each month, he publishes a populist political newsletter, “The Hightower Lowdown,” which now has more than 125,000 subscribers and is the fastest growing political publication in America. The hard-hitting Lowdown has received both the Alternative Press Award and the Independent Press Association Award for best national newsletter.

Oklahoma GI Rights Hotline

GI Rights Hotline - action to inform deploying troops of their rights

Tomorrow, the troops of the Oklahoma National Guard that are being deployed to Iraq will be sent off with a lot of flags, patriotic music, and tears of family and loved ones.

The event will take place in Norman at the Lloyd Noble Center from 2-3pm.

Volunteers and supporters of the Oklahoma GI Rights Hotline plan to be outside the event as attendees arrive, to respectfully offer our help for those who do not want to go.

Former Congressman, Bob Barr, and National Libertarian Director to Speak at the north Oklahoma City Holiday Inn (NW 63rd and Robinson, just west of I-235).

Join Oklahomans for Ballot Access Reform to hear former Congressman Bob Barr and National Libertarian Chairman, William Redpath, in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, Oct. 23rd. This OBAR fundraiser will help put the ballot access initiative petition to a vote of the people.

The fundraising dinner will take place at the north Oklahoma City Holiday Inn (NW 63rd & Robinson, west of I-235). The minimum required donation of $30 includes dinner. Seats with Bob Barr or William Redpath are $200, while available.

Tuesday, Oct. 23rd schedule of events
• 6:00 PM - Meet and Greet
• 7:00 PM - Dinner, Bob Barr and Bill Redpath speak
• 8:30 PM - Meet with event attendees (including Unity08 and Green Party officials)

Show your support for the fight against AIDS

The 2007 AIDS Walk Tulsa 15th annual AIDS Walk is 9am, October 6th, 2007 at Veteran's Park.

The Tulsa AIDS Walk is a project of the Community Service Council and donations are tax deductible. All funds raised at the Walk will go to support direct HIV/AIDS services in Tulsa and will receive matching funds from a National AIDS Fund challenge grant.

For information related to AIDS Walk or to donate please contact:

Tulsa Community AIDS Partnership
Attn: Janice Nicklas
16 East 16th Street
Suite 202
Tulsa, OK 74119
(918) 585-5551, Ext. 226

www.aidswalktulsa.org

Counselors will offer free, confidential legal information to service members, veterans, potential recruits and their families

Nationwide network assists those who seek to get out of the military

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma GI Rights Hotline will officially begin operations on Monday, September 24, undertaking its mission of providing free, confidential, and accurate information on US military regulations and practices to servicemembers, veterans, potential recruits, and their families.

The Hotline can be reached at (405) 231-1138. Live counselors will answer on Mondays from 10 AM to 5 PM. On other days messages will be returned within 24 hours. More live hours will be added gradually in the future.

Matthew Jones, chair of Oklahomans for Ballot Access Reform, speaking at the group's press conference announcing their petition campaign, Sept. 14, 2007.

OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahomans for Ballot Access Reform (OBAR) filed today to circulate an initiative petition to put a question on the 2008 ballot. The initiative seeks to reform Oklahoma's ballot access laws, considered the most restrictive in the country.

"It is time to hear what Oklahoma voters think about our state's biased electoral system," said OBAR Chairman Matthew R. Jones. "With half of our state legislative races unopposed last November, we believe Oklahomans will support more voter choice."

OBAR will collect approximately 90,000 signatures over the next 90 days, and plans to integrate petitioning with an awareness campaign, including T-shirts for petition circulators and information cards for signatories.

Matthew Jones, chair of Oklahomans for Ballot Access Reform, speaking at the group's press conference announcing their petition campaign, Sept. 14, 2007.

State Capitol - South Plaza

On Thursday, September 20, all across the nation, there will be rallies for racial justice responding to events in Jena, Louisiana, that are gaining national attention. The Oklahoma City rally will take place from 11 am to 1 pm, on the south plaza of the Oklahoma State Capitol according to organizers. This is the time that one of the “Jena 6” (six African-American youths charged with criminal violence) will be sentenced to prison. Oklahoma City's rally is sponsored by the Oklahoma City branch of the NAACP. Attendees of the rally are invited to wear black.