In honor of Wednesday's Inauguration, today is the Day of Service! (Don't know what this is? Look below.) We're doing our part by highlighting three of the many LGBTQ+ organizations doing important work for the community. We're highlighting Immigration Equality, Lambda Legal, and True Colors United. Learn more about these organizations below the image, go to their websites to explore more. From January 18th - 20th, we're asking our members to make a donation large or small to help this important work continue. The links to donate are below.

Donate
Donate to Immigration Equality
Donate to Lambda Legal
Donate to True Colors United 

What is the Day of Service?
The Biden Inaugural Committee has a week long Inauguration Celebration to bring us together. Today, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Committee has a Day of Service. Socially Distanced or virtual events are taking part around the world for Americans to give back. Interested in getting involved more in your home state or in generally? Find more events by clicking here. 

Scroll down and click on the dates below to RSVP and get connection details and reminders.

Did you know every eligible American living abroad can vote in U.S. elections? 

Was the last place you or your parent lived in the US the state of Georgia?

If you are 18 on or before January 5th you are allowed to vote in the runoff election. 

Do you have questions about how to vote? Click the chat bubble at the bottom of this screen and we can help you find the answers. 

But we get it. Sometimes you just want to speak to live person. 

Join us Tuesday & Thursday (noon-4pm January 5th & 7th. All time are listed as U.S. Eastern time. Our volunteers and standing by LIVE on Zoom to help answers questions you have about voting from abroad and curing your ballot.

How is it done on Zoom? You'll come into the main room and be paired 1:1 with a volunteer into a breakout room to ensure privacy and that you can get all your questions answered. It couldn't be easier. 

More information: The easiest way to request your ballot is at VoteFromAbroad.org. It takes just a few minutes to complete and send in your form to the US state where you last lived. The website will guide you step by step. In most cases it’s pretty simple. But if you’re new to voting abroad, or if you haven’t done it in a while, you may have additional questions. That’s why we’ll be here every Sunday until election day to help.

If you can’t make the 'office hours', you can always email us at [email protected] or send in your question through our online help bubble, and a volunteer will get back to you.

Here is a handy website to convert the time zone to yours wherever you are in the world.

Zoom Connection Details:

Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/91090344003
Meeting number: 910 9034 4003
PassWord: Vote2020

Tuesday & Thursday: Noon-4pm (U.S. Eastern)
January 5th and 7th

EDITORS' CORNER

By Betsy Ettorre & Sarah Fancy

Welcome to the second issue of the Democrats Abroad LGBTQ+ Newsletter. Before we get going with the content of this month’s edition, we need to be clear about the focus: DA members as well as members of the DA LGBTQ+ Caucus share in the public outrage over the killing of George Floyd and countless other African Americans at the hands of police. We condemn the institutional racism embedded in American society and the, at times, corrupt, biased criminal justice system in our society. We know that the history of police and policing in the United States can be traced back to slave patrols (Vitale, 2017).  After the Civil War and during Reconstruction up to the middle of the 20th century, the creation of state-sanctioned racial segregation used policing as a means of guaranteeing the safety of (white) property while enforcing a racist society founded on anti-blackness (Du Bois, 1935).  Racism and racialization (i.e., the concerted effort to propagate racist ideas and actions in society) continue to show how we treat and value African American life in the United States. 

Our history of policing and anti-blackness is deeply intertwined with ongoing racial capitalism, increasing militarization, and white nationalism, which have formed the conditions that we are experiencing and fighting against today (Graduate Students Workers of Brown University, 2020). Over the centuries, police brutality has played a key role in oppressing African Americans and people of color. But at this moment in history, the current civil unrest can also be deeply connected to the racial disparities exposed by the coronavirus crisis. 

Spotlight of Inspiration: Joan Jett Blakk

Although the Democratic presidential primary is now largely uncontested with Joe Biden as the presumptive nominee, more former presidential hopefuls have joined an ever-growing pantheon of peers. These candidates may not have been successful in their quest to win the presidency, but their campaigns nonetheless influenced the political discourse and reflected the important issues of their time.

One such candidate was the drag queen Joan Jett Blakk, who ran for president in 1992. Joan Jett Blakk is the alter ego of artist and activist Terence Smith. Blakk was the first drag queen to run for president and created a “camp-pain” only a drag queen could conjure.

Terence transforming into Blakk inside a restroom at the 1992 DNC.

For the fifth year in a row, Democrats Abroad Greece will be supporting the LGBTQ community at Athens Pride 2019, which will take place on June 8, 2019, in Athens' Syntagma Square. Support for LGBTQ rights is a cornerstone of the Democratic Party platform.

DAGR will sponsor an information and GOTV (Voter Information for US citizens abroad) booth with DA LGBTQ Caucus as co-sponsor, from 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. on that day. DAGR members will also march behind the DAGR banner in the Pride parade in the evening.

DAGR members are encouraged to volunteer to staff the booth in 2-3 hour shifts throughout the day (11-2; 2-5; 5-8), and to join us in the parade. About 20 DAGR me

mbers joined us for last year's parade. We'd like to double that number this year.

Interested in volunteering?: contact Steve Medeiros, DAGR Chair and DA LGBTQ Caucus member -

Via email at: [email protected] or via SMS at 694-811-9121

Candidate for Congress, Lauren Baer, was once a Democrat living abroad. Now she's fighting to flip Florida's 18th Congressional District. Here's why she wants to make sure you vote this year, no matter where you are:

While global protests and vigils have become common place under Trump, for Democrats Abroad, the longstanding tradition of celebrating and marching with PRIDE remains as positive as ever.