[laughter] i just want to say thank you to the leaders of mmtc, the elected officials in the room, and all of you who are doing work around this issue, and i was at the conference last year, and i enjoyed it so much that i wanted to come back. this year, i decided to stand up and be a voice for my community. [applause] thank you. i'm holding a map in my hand of north carolina, and i can't release it yet, but i'll talk about it, and i know you can't see the number that's on the map, but you can see the dark shaded colors, and those dark shaded coal roars are areas where broadband is not, and it's the same area where minorities are, and that's the area that i serve. i have citizens coming to me

every day, calling me, asking how do we get in service and fill this need? how does our community receive the service? not just the citizens, but from the community leaders on down throughout the fabric of the communities. as i was listening today, i wrote down notes, and i want to go through them quickly, but i want the story bout because we need help, and i don't know how to get it, but i'm hoping today some of you all would take my information, give me your information, partner with me, i'll partner with you, but i want to help this community. we talked about the lifeline linked up program, and believe the commissioner spoke of the adoption rate or the lack of the adoption rate, and i would tell you part of the problem is the marketing effort. i work with citizens alike, and they do not know that this service is available to them.

if it is available to them, some of them have existing bills because they couldn't afford it in the first place that they can't go back and get the service now because they had an existing bill with the provider. also, we run a -- we're developing a program called light up stands for linking the internet to economically unserved populations providing computes, providing printers, providing internet services for the first year to eliminate some of those disperties that is brought out in these studies of why people don't adopt the technology, and we're providing them with training, and we're going to monitor this, piloting this program, and we received the funding for it through the btop program so we'll report findings back to the fcc and ntia, the outcomes of the study, and it's a yearlong program, and we're just in the beginning stages of it, but we're working

with the dss in these communities to identify participants as well as service providers to partner for the service, and one of the requirements was that the services had to be bundled. this disturbed me because they could provide -- they could get the broadband service without telephone and cable and the other service that they provide, but because the way the service providers created the program, if they are on lifeline or linkup, they can be a part of the project and get the broadband, and they have to not only be eligible, but they have to buy the telephone service to get the broadband service, and that was not part of the initial

plan. that's on the adoption side. i want to talk about the access side. i think there needs to be more awareness and accountability. i continue to see state and federal funding go into communities that already have existing services, and it's just to improve their quality of services when there's communities like this that have no service at all. there's one example i'd like to share with you, and i'll try not tube too much longer, but they only have dial up, and the gentleman talked about broadband, that he thinks we're over the hump while broadband is wildly deployed. i disagree with that. broadband is not wildly deployed, and if it is, it's at the most basic level which often don't meet the needs of service delivery, and if it is, it's not

affordable especially if you're transmitting large volumes of data. i have a citizen that came to me, working in a community, and all they have in terms of wired lines or fixed broadband is dial up. that's not broadband. they bought an air card from verizon at $60. when she started doing her homework over the interpret, he bill went up to $300 some, so the answer from verizon was to buy another air card, and now her bill is $120 more. that's unacceptable to me, so i asked for the help, the elected officials help, and i feel i'm a long runner in the fight, and i talked to the elected officials, and i represent all people. i love all people, hispanic, la

tee know, indian, i have all kinds of friends. i love diversity, but i'm here today to represent my people, the blacks that i see, the african-americans that i see that do not have services, and i'm really frustrated with us being a by product of service rather than being out in the fore front and receiving service, and as i said, i talked to leakedded officials, -- elected official, and i don't are -- not to insult intelligence, but educated enough in my community to feel confident enough to talk about the issue, so i would like to ask you, we're getting ready to have -- my organization's going to have a broadband policy summit this year and i want to invite people to speak, and if you give me your card, i'll be sure you can speak. thank you for your time.

[applause] >> ma'am, i appreciate your comments, that's why i allowed you to use my privilege to talk as long as you wanted, and maybe next year, you can be back and have you on stage and have some of the corporate elected and others kind of respond and be, you know, react to that, but in the meantime, it starts today, and perhaps you can get with some of the interns and fellows to figure out ways to start addressing those issues because you're but one voice, but i believe there's probably others like that in other states, and that's what the ladies are here for. in our dialogues they kept saying the voiceless and they knew they were under served or unserved communities. thank you for providing that example. we salute you. one final question because we are running out of time, and then any comments now, or do you want to wait on questions? >> i just wanted to feel that ms. daniels model is a good model for her. when she talked about the community, i thought about what

ms. daniel did. as a non-elected official, certainly, she had the advantage of being a business person, but i believe that that's a template that can be used, and as you shared with her, julia, the resources for doing what you need are right near in this room. >> uh-huh. >> i also have a comment. i'll say to you, the same boat, i think a lot of us are in the same situation. you know, we have to be sure that our people are trained and our people know what's going on. i believe that we need more information in our communities, and i really applaud you. you have a lot of passion for that issue, and me, as a state representative, as president of the national hispanic caucus of the state, i represent the latinos, but i have in my community african-american, white, asian, i have a lot of diversity like you, and i represent all of them, and i

have the same problem in our communities. i think that people are complaining, and we have to be sure that we can tackle this problem because it is -- this is a two-way street. it's not one way. we have the access there, and we have our problems here. how we can work together so we can bring access and the services to our community, and that's very important. >> thank you. did you want to add? >> sure. the reason why we did what we did in philadelphia because i think people just couldn't believe that in philadelphia there was an underreceived community, and we said, yes, there is an under served community. the model we created is something we. -- something we wanted 20 make as a template of what could be done. it's seeing where the dots are and connected them, but what i think could be an opportunity for operators or like smaller entities dealing with this issue

on the ground in different ways than the national models is we can offer consultation on how do you take this model to scale it to different places that needs these services because the bundling issue is an issue just like you said about lifeline having the development and the broadband, that's an issue. hiring from those communities, hiring service providers, hiring helps. that's the way of trust. it breeds adoption, so there's different things that we've done that can be scalable, but we can have that conversation. that's an easy conversation to have, and we would love to help wherever we can. >> you raised another issue too, and that's in the rule area. >> uh-huh. >> even having so we can't say the technology is deployed just yet, and there's minorities in the areas not touched, and if they use dial up, the technologies, the education where you need the video functionality will not occur.

now, that may not be a market based solution but a government intervention solution, and so we have to speak to those issues as well. thank you very much. final question. >> hi, jessica gone -- gonzalez. it's good to see a panel of colored women. thank you for being in the beltway. i worked in communities where there were assumptions that those kids with broadband at home, but, in fact, over 90% of the classroom did not, and at the same time, textbooks are coming out with a third of the homework assignments are go home, look this up online, teachers are not able to assign the home work to our students, and our kids are falling behind in the districts that are poorer. there is, as you know, a federal program, the e-rate program, that brings broadband into school, and it's been pretty successful at getting broadband

into our schools. i think it has over a 95% success rate, but at 3 p.m., most of the computer labs shut down. >> right. >> so if we have home work to do, we can't do it. we can't do it at home. we might have to go far to the lay briar, so my organization has been pushing for after school supervision to be part of the e-rate program so the students can stick around and finish homework. this -- the fcc has not gone there yet. i'm wondering, a, if you all could support this; and b, if the fcc doesn't move forward on this, what can we expect from our local legislated officials in terms of squeezing money out of very tight budgets already to get funding for after school

supervision of broadband so our kids can do their home work. >> sure. >> i'd like to address that because i think we need a collaboration between local and schools. we agent like we're two different worlds away, and we are not. we have the same constituencies, and by example, we have computer labs in the schools. we also have computer labs in the city parks. our boys and girls clubs, non-profit, i know we're not alone in that, so i think that working together with the local government, and it will take leadership and i would be happy for helo and national league of cities to promote that leadership between local governments and school districts. to provide that service to communities. i think you would start finding with local government, if you can't -- it's going to be very

hard for you to get through the school boards, but local government is easy to touch. you might see counsel members in the market, but you can walk into city haul and talk to them, and if you can't, then use a couple of your teachers to do it. go before city counsel. your voice can be heard in your communities. every city counsel meeting has communications. you know, you can go up there, and a lot are televised saying we need help with this. you are serving the same kids. our schools are shutting down. you have parks wha. can we do to come together and put them on the spot and make them do something, and, also, i don't think there's enough information about programs like comcast that provides services at lower rates and computer at these chirp's --

children's homes. i'd be happy to exchange cards with you. >> other than the e-rate program that's connecting libraries in the schools, we also have the internet essential program. the thing is we talk about, yeah, a lot of people say, well, we don't qualify, but go ahead and apply and find out if you qualify because i believe that if the kid is receiving launches and qualify you, you can tap into that. the first step is to apply. there's a lot ever programs out there, and we don't qualify. how do you know if you don't go ahead and apply? eng that that's the -- i think that that's the first step. >> the internet essential.

[applause] >> that is another tool that has been expanded for youth, and to the greater point, one of the things to put an earmark on because the women groups are active in the dockets, is there a way to bring the innovative thought to have expansion? >> i'll have a letter and circulate it. >> i'll say they modeled legislation, policy resolutions, so this is probably a good way to connect and get them engaged in more understood physicallal issues. -- more fundamental issues. thank you for the questions. if you could stand, president of ncleo. she's been taking notes. [applause] you probably all heard daisy, my

partner in crime. [laughter] who has been president of every organization that i know of who is very active, and i think you now chair the broadband task force for nbc as well? thank you for your participation, and i think david is about to give me the hook. a wonderful session from women in technology and we salute you and look forward to our ceos. >> weren't they terrific? [applause] we had one heck of a morning. we're going to hear kim who is general counsel of the national ncaa p. the directer of the technology partnership working on an ipad

now the user an an expert. your head will explode with information by the time we conclude at 4:30. we'll see you upstairs in a few minutes. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

>> more than that 25* 00 less beeon, gay, bisexual, and transgender allies are in baltimore for the annual meeting. this is 40 minutes. >> oh, thank you for being here. it's already been an awesome conference, and we're just getting started. last night was incredible of the

that was incredible. [applause] ben is a true friend to the task force, and we will be a true friend to him and to naacp. reminding us the power of images and the power of art in social change, thank you, joan. [applause] i'd like to give a special welcome to my friends and family, part of the benefit of creating change in baltimore is right near dc. i'd like to welcome my friends and family and incoming my straight friends here today to support me and the task force. [applause] so, as i was preparing for creating change this year, my daughter and i became obsessed by singing along to the brilliant musical "wicked." [cheers and applause]

specifically, the song defying gravity, and that gave me inspiration, not my singing, but the song. [laughter] i am no president obama when it comes to singing. [laughter] yes, i know it's a gay move on my part, a broadway musical for inspiration for my remarks therefore by queer remarks as a gay man, gay, and proud of it. yes, we have a conference session for that. [laughter] we have a session for newt gingrich and his open marriage. [laughter] for those of you who are playing clinton's bingo, there's a mark for that, but i digress. all right. [laughter] as the song defying gravity starts, the people of oz shout that the wicked witch is evil, is wicked, to be feared and

driven away. in her questioning the status quo, what those in oz hold to be true in standing up for others, she gives voice to challenging limitations to not playing the game to doing something extraordinary, and she flies. the feeling of defying gravity is one i suspect is in some way familiar to some of us here in this room. to work against the forces that drag us down as human beings, that pull us down and limit us as a movement, that portray us as something we are not. yes, lgbt people have been called a repulsion, harm to society, we have been called wicked.

the fact we made it this far surviving childhood taunts, kneeing legislate of churches and school -- neglect of churches and schools, laws and policies of a country that treated us as criminals, this is already a testament to our ability to defy gravity. individually -- [applause] individually and hr often together, we work to achieve what many couldn't ever een vision. we have done what some thought impossible, but we know is inevitable. here we are together again at creating change sharing strategies on overcoming challenges that face us learning from each other how to defy gravity. i know that many of you sacrificed a lot to be here.

you had to save up, take a bus, or squeeze a bunch of people in a van to get here. it says everything that during one of our nation's most challenging economic times, we have our biggest creating change ever. [cheers and applause] ever. [cheers and applause] thank you. [applause] thank you for whatever you had to do to be here with us creating change would not be the same without you. in fact, it would not be possible without you. [applause] some days, it feels like we are not making progress, but we have come a long way since the stone wall rebellion in 1969. in fact, the pace of our progress and pursuit of justice has accelerated in the last few years because of your work, and

not, by the way, just because the last of my high school crushes, christie mcnickel, finally came out -- [laughter] i mean, just waiting for veld and on scoobie-doo to come out, and then my list is complete. [laughter] we will achieve together because we in this room, and those who can't be with us, but share a vision will work for a transformed society in which no one feels they must hide who they are or who they love, not for 20 years, but not for even one day. [applause] in this past year alone, in this past year alone, and i couldn't even get everything done -- down that we did as a movement,

but with our work we passed transgender nondiscrimination laws in connecticut, massachusetts, hawaii, and nevada. [cheers and applause] right on. we passed birth ser certificates eliminating surge call standards for transgender people in california and vermont. [cheers and applause] we defeated the antitransbill in maps that would have allowed discrimination against transgender people in sex segregated spaces. [applause] bullying prevention policies that specifically protect lgbt youth are now in unexpected places like dallas, texas, jackson, mississippi, oklahoma city, and the entire state of arkansas. [cheers and applause]

we timely, finally brought an end to don't ask, don't tell. [cheers and applause] you know, remarkably despite the gays serving in the military, when she gave her partner a much publicized and hot kiss. just saying. it didn't sink her ship, and it didn't sink the marriages of her fellow crewmen, and her ship docked in virginia. just saying. [laughter] the arm services still stands. this year, our task force organizers helped raise money and taught activists how to build a bigger team for a nondiscrimination law to be on the ballot this spring in

anchorage, alaska. [cheers and applause] we trained activists and mobilized voters to send off a threat to traverse city, michigan giving lgbt inclusive nondiscrimination law. we won. [applause] here in maryland, a statewide gender identity, antidiscrimination bill was introduced, and this monday, governor martin formally introduced the marriage protection act extending marriage to same-sex couples. congratulations, maryland. [cheers and applause] [applause] and just, yeah, just 24 hours ago after two years of public education, field organizing, signature gathering, and just plain old knocking on doors of your neighbors on more than

100,000 doors, equality gave advocates and defenders and why marriage matters maine coalition delivered over 105,000 signatures to the state house yesterday announcing that they will make maine the very first state to go to the ballot box with a pro-active measure to pursue marriage equality. [cheers and applause] they actually drove back to portland, hoped on the planes coming here to creating change. welcome. [applause] we at the task force are honored to have helped in many of these efforts and to have worked with our colleagues in the statewide equality organizations. speaking of relationships, hawaii, illinois, rhode island, and delaware now have civil

unions in place. [applause] it is now legal to get married in the state of new york. [cheers and applause] congratulations to the activists and all of these states and all of these activists in the room who worked so hard to make these and other gains. we also made progress in many states where our task force staff engaminged in the broad range of issues affecting lgtb people and their families. in mississippi, we join our women's health and reproductive justice allies to defeat the anti-choice person hood measure. [applause] in california, we partnered with the aclu of southern california to gather signatures for a future campaign to abolish the

state's penalty disproportionally affecting people of color. in maine, we helped beat back one of the many recent attacks on the very right to vote in this country. if we had lost that vote, we would not see marriage measures or anything else progress there. well done, maine. ..

[applause] these are bills that are not lt bet specific but are heard and are becoming -- excuse me, with our hard work these bills are becoming lgbt inclusive and have the potential to affect the economic security and quality-of-life for hundreds of false sense of lgbt people and their families. i know about 300 of you participated in our first ever creating change lobby day yesterday and i think you for sharing your lives. amazing. not sure of the senate will ever be the same. fabulous. i saw some amazing here styles. [laughter] but i also heard stories that members of congress need to hear and i appreciate those of you who went and shared them.

[applause] but we are not stopping with just lgbt inclusion in bills. we are after concrete changes that make our lives better. the task force's new beginning initiative, the coalition of 26 organizations, has been working diligently to improve the lives of lgbt people and our families intangible, meaningful way is by changing federal policies. and together, as a community, we have pushed and with the obama administration, we have improved lives. [applause] when the executive branch is the dallas federal government issues guidelines to assist lgbt refugees and asylum seekers and the department of justice states for the first time, quote, we consider lgbt families to be

families, we made life better. [applause] when the department of veterans affairs issued a national directive to all of its facilities regarding the appropriate and respectful care of transgender veterans, we made life better. [applause] when lgbt families could no longer be turned away from public housing or home loan, we made life better to the [applause] and when we -- when we get to say who our families are so we can be by each other side when we are sick or hurt in a hospital, we made life better. [applause] just this past year because of your advocacy and the obama administration's factions, that

became the case and over 90% of the hospitals in this country, like rolling hills hospital in tennessee and washington had sent his possible down the road in tacoma park. in both of these hospitals when they turned we partners of the door and then they were reminded of the federal rules, they had to apologize to the families and train their staffs read this rule has teeth and hospitals are being held accountable. [applause] when we hear these words from a white house cabinet member: gay-rights or human rights and human rights are gay rights. to lgbt men and women worldwide wherever you live and whatever your circumstances, please know you are not alone. we most definitely made life and better. thank you, secretary of state,

hillary clinton. [applause] thank you, psychiatry clinton. plus, they're has been chief added by president obama with a presidential memorandum, so their must delete to might be money on the table for some of these countries. the truth is -- the truth is we can appreciate both the progress that we've made and feel frustrated by the incomplete and sometimes slow pace of change. there is still much work ahead. the old adage that when the people lead, the leaders will follow. creating change family, we are going to be called upon to lead a lot in this coming year. we will have to play both offense and defense this year with marriage in play here in

maryland and in washington, new jersey, maine, minnesota and north carolina. we will be called to lead. [applause] in states across the country we must press forward on securing protections for people who experienced discrimination because of their gender identity. including michigan, new york and right here in maryland. we will be called to lead. [applause] in some states like oregon, hard but strategic and disciplined decisions have been made to not push for marriage until the time is right to use our movement's resources well and win. they have expressed leadership in doing so. [applause] he many of you will be called to

lead in your communities on the immigration reform, making schools safe, fighting anti-affirmative action measures, and on economic justice and transgendered whites. -- rights. what's important to remember is that leading doesn't always mean -- have to mean winning. i know we won't win in all these places. but what i do know is that we are strong and determined, and that with perseverance like ours, we cannot be denied for a long. we cannot stop until the abuses of transgendered immigrant detainee's stop. we cannot stop -- we cannot stop until our brothers and sisters who can now serve openly in the military can share their benefits with their spouses and until transgendered people can choose to serve. [applause]

we cannot be fully free if after 30 years of age we know more about prevention, we know more about treatment than ever before. but infection rates for gay and bisexual men, especially men of color, are actually rising while funding and services are decreasing. [applause] progress for some is not progress for all. and we will not stop until we are all -- until we are all fully free. [applause] there are some challenges in our pursuit of freedom that are just beginning for us, challenges other movements before us have seen.

one challenge is that we have already won. you didn't get the memo? we've already won. 90% of voters already believe we have federal employment protection. this includes lgbt people who in that surprised when they are fired from their jobs and they have no recourse. over the last 20 years, we have been so successful at a movement at winning protection employment at the cities and countries across the country but now 50% of people live in a jurisdiction with sexual orientation protection, and 44% live in a jurisdiction with gender identity protection and many more live and work in a place where they have protection to a labor contract for their corporate employment policies. but what about lgbt people who live in states without employment protection or work for companies that don't include us in their policies?

90% of the voters think there's already federal employment protection, which makes it a bit of a challenge to mobilize them to fight for one. and why would they when we already have all? except we don't. we don't have the law yet to read in order to defy gravity to not stall out, we must make it clear to the decision makers, our friends and families that many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people go to work everyday terrified, terrified that someone will find out who they are or who they love. and we need a federal law to protect them. [applause] our second challenge, well, i

marriage. marriage puts us between the rock of limited hard line and celebrated success. the hard place of positive yet almost singular media attention specifically now that we have overturned don't ask "don't ask, don't tell," many now believe that our movement calls all of us and our movement across the country, that our movement is about one thing and one thing only, marriage. so let's talk about marriage. the richness of our family and how we create them, whether we choose to get married or not, when our families are ignored or denied the very institution of marriage is weakened, not strengthened. when our lives are denied the

institution of marriage is weakened. and we won't stop fighting until the choice to get married is still all of the land for everyone who wants it. [applause] but, that isn't all we are fighting for. the lgbt movement is not a movement for marriage only. [applause] we are a movement for the full dignity of our lives, for a transformed society. the challenges when the the lgbt movement is framed by the media or is seen by others as a single issue marriage only movement it limits what we can achieve.

having the spotlight on wins and losses and steps towards marriage creates a lot of excitement and energy and directs much needed funding towards our movement for work on marriage. marriage has motivated our allies and captured the attention of people who were never paying attention before. we saw this in 2008. but someday when we have there and recognition of our marriages, and we will, we will likely see that the engagement in our movement drops off severely. where we have achieved marriage already, they're has been a significant drop in donations, attention and engagement for a movement organizations. some have even had to lay off staff while struggling to get attention for the other very pressing issues facing our community.

we have learned that with a win we usually have to turn right around and defend the wim. we also know that people are not included in that remain vulnerable to discrimination. we have seen this dynamic before in other movements. consider the women's movement in roe v wade. almost 40 years after the supreme court decision declaring a woman's reproductive decisions are hurston make, women and men so much fight every day to stop the erosion of reproductive health services for women. the lesson here is we must continue to build support for our games with their poor decisions or legislative victories. the decision did something else, too. it added to the women's movement being seen as a single issue movement, abortion. the last 40 years it is a challenge to get equal pay for

equal work, to create appropriate and affordable child care in this country, to get full equality for women. think about it. if we can all choose to get married anywhere if we wanted to without limitation, if a marriage and state is recognized as a marriage in all states, with our aspirations be fulfilled? >> no -- >> all right. [laughter] [applause] >> what society be transformed so that all of us, every single one of us live in dignity and with full respect from cradle to grave? of course not. at the task force, we say we are more. the task force we say we want more than marriage. there is no cingular solution to

the many ways that we experienced discrimination, violence and bigotry. at the task force, we insist that immigration and housing and health care and fair wages and social security and any systemic racism and sexism are lgbt issues. [applause] now please, don't hear me wrong. i will fight like hell for marriage equally, and i am proud to be married to martyrs'. -- with margaret. [applause] and, within the existing structure of health benefits are provided in this country, if we don't overturn the so called a

defense of marriage act and secure marriage across the country, we've will hit a brick wall in the changes we seek for people and their families and immigration policy and social security benefits and the very economic underpinnings that give us security. we must be overturned doma. [applause] so, in this political moment, while our movement is experiencing intensely focused attention on us because of marriage, we must take a vantage of this moment by pushing to make visible the full scope of the social change we seek. we in the lgbt movement must defy the gravitational pull frames hours as a single issue

movement. [applause] but i know we can overcome these challenges with work i have seen us do before. we yes been at this a long time in the task force, and we know from experience the win remains a win only if we sustain and build on it and stifel the engage. in 2012 we will require a lot of political engagement. the sheer number of the pieces of steve legislation and about what measures that will affect the lives of lgbt people and their family this year is staggering. and with all of our collective work, we can make progress. our work on these measures is important. but there is one issue that we all must pay attention to this year. our opposition: those who do not

believe in our full humanity and equal the or on the attack. mobilizing the right wing base to come out and vote on marriage isn't actually their trump card anymore. it's much deeper than that. it's the very ability to cast a vote. [applause] they could delay our progress for years by focusing on something that our movement could issue. believe me, it is our issue when we and our allies find ourselves without access to the polls. [applause] 2012 promises to be a harder plainfield more than 2011 because the entire political playing field is under threat.

there's a systematic effort in states across the country to take away the vote from people of color, from students, the working poor and unemployed, people who have lost their homes, young voters, people with disabilities and elderly. a plan to cut out the base, the progress of voters from the process. the massive voter suppression is also having a devastating effect on the ability of transgendered people to vote. we are talking about executive orders and 14 states and 20 new laws that will make it harder for 5 million people to vote in 2012. for those of you that were here last night shared some heartbreaking and if you're reading stories about just that. it's one of the last desperate

ploy is by those who can no longer compete with the power of their ideas. voter suppression loss, some taken right out of the jim crow playbook are part of a series of strategies to take away the voting rights of millions and keep the nation's decision making power in the hands of the few. having lost ground on lgbt and racial justice and equal the over the last four years and not having enough respect for our democracy to accept, the right is now doing all it can to complicate the rules to register, get a ballot and literally. you name it, they will do it as long as it is disenfranchised in certain types of people. and so, we are called to feed and protect access to voting. this is in our self-interest and the interest of standing with our allies.

we are people of color, we are students, we are transgender and we want to vote. [applause] let's look at where the voter suppression walls are being played out, where they are being put up to vote. first many have been implemented or are on the ballot. don't get me started. over two dozen bills or ballot measures will be in play in the next two years including in michigan, new jersey, maine, minnesota, north carolina. sound familiar? michigan, new jersey, maine, minnesota, north carolina.

if we do not protect the right to vote, we will not win on immigration, we will not win on the nondiscrimination, we will not win on affirmative action, and we will not win on marriage. we must register voters, the likes not registered. we must get the voters to the polls. the right is trying to keep from the polls. this coming election we stand for ourselves by also standing for and with others. we stand for ourselves by occupying the voting booth. [applause] that's right. we've come to this again to vote is an act of resistance. but it's also an active in assistance.

we insist that all potential voters have a voice. [applause] as people who know more in our fair share about mistreatment and equality and fairness, this is our fight. so in this room of the best grassroots activists that i know, i say occupied the vote. a vote, to the others to the polls if you can't vote yet. but speak out against voter suppression. if you get to the ballot box and you are turned away for any reason, i want you to cast a provisional balad to document your story, post it on facebook and contact the civil rights division of the u.s. department of justice. let people know that this is happening. [applause]

to give you a little help in this instance, we've partnered with rock the vote and said a voter registration right here in the exit poll and you can text vote 2012 to 69866 to pledge a vote and get more information about voter registration. [applause] i see we have some voters here. next year will turn 40-years-old. [applause] a few gray hairs to show for it but also a lot of fun to show for it, too. since 1973, the tax has been building power, taking action and creating change. we have been defying gravity. when you become an organization that turns 40 it makes you

think. just as when we opened our doors, we must be fearless and driven by innovation, and the power to envision what some think is impossible. 40 years ago what we thought was impossible is now a day-to-day reality. i can't wait to see what 40 years from now looks like. that is what this has always been about. this is what creating change has always been about, learning, innovation, developing strategy to win. the next big ideas, bringing people together to push the boundaries of what is possible and move us forward. what does defying gravity look like? to find gravity means creating space or breaking new ground for others. looks like a gay man volunteering in the pro-choice

campaign. it looks like an immigrant who is hiv-positive telling his story of the tension mistreatment, despite risking the deportation because people held the immigration custody deserve dignity, respect and access to medication. [applause] to find gravity looks like a girl scouts in my home state of colorado standing up for joining their group. [applause] i know what your favorite cookies are, but i'm joining. by some cookies. [laughter] [applause] the fine gravity looks like a high school student holding her head high as she walks through the hallways with pride and

confidence in her fabulous self no matter what others think or say. [applause] the fine gravity means doing something despite your, criticism or negative consequences is digging deep to tap into our own strength to resist that to bring us down. the idea of innovation and the passion in this room. [applause] this is our time to defy gravity and create change. i can't wait to see what comes out of this weekend. thank you.