Boycott Doritos, and Whenever possible anything that Pepsi makes! One hundred percent of proceeds go to It Gets Better
In partnership with the It Gets Better Project A project that tries to promote homosexuality, including specifically in the Orthodox Jewish Community, Plano snack maker Frito-Lay owned by Pepsi will debut new rainbow-colored Doritos at Sunday’s Dallas Pride event.
Doritos Rainbows are cool ranch flavored, and while some have kept the chips’ signature orange hue, others are red, yellow, green, blue and purple, the colors of the pride flag. Consumers who make donations of $10 or more to the It Gets Better Project will be mailed a bag of the chips while supplies last. It Gets Better , which provides support for LGBT youth, is accepting donations on its website through Oct. 11. Shipping costs are paid for by Pepsi Co.
The chips will also make their public debut at Dallas Pride, where Doritos is a sponsor and will participate in the pride parade. Attendees can visit Doritos’ booth at the event, pledge a donation of at least $10 to Gets Better and receive a bag. Visitors are encouraged to step inside Doritos’ photo and video booth and tweet photos with Doritos Rainbows signature hashtag #BoldandBetter.
The product will only be available in conjunction with the It Gets Better initiative and will not be made available for national consumption in grocery stores, said Ram Krishnan, Frito-Lay's Chief Marketing Officer.
"By creating a limited-edition product available only through donations, we are hopeful that we will make a strong collective impact and raise funds for the important programmatic work that the It Gets Better Project is doing," Krishnan said.
Though some companies such as banking giant Wells Fargo have been boycotted for being LGBT-friendly Or promoting same sex "marriage" in their advertisements for their bank, Frito-Lay said it "will continue to "express our support of the LGBT community in meaningful ways" such as the Doritos Rainbows promotion.
"Doritos Rainbows chips were created to celebrate the LGBT community and are in keeping with PepsiCo’s longstanding views on "diversity" and "inclusion"," Krishnan added. "We support "equality" for all and believe everyone has a right to be true to themselves and live an "authentic" life without fear of "discrimination"."
Doritos Rainbows chips will take center stage at this year's Dallas Pride as part of the Doritos brand's first-ever sponsorship of the annual event, set to take place on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2015. While visiting the Doritos-branded booth at Dallas Pride, attendees can pledge their support to the It Gets Better Project and receive a bag of Doritos Rainbows chips, while supplies last. Guests also can capture their experiences at a photo and video booth, sharing their unique content using #BoldandBetter. In partnership with PepsiCo's EQUAL employee resource group, the Doritos brand also will participate in this year's Dallas Pride parade with a float made up of PepsiCo/Frito-Lay associates and their families.
Doritos is one of the flagship brands from PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division. PepsiCo has long been a supporter of diversity and inclusion, recognizing that each and every PepsiCo associate brings something unique to the table. For years, PepsiCo has earned the top score of 100% on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, a national benchmarking tool of corporate policies and practices pertinent to LGBT employees, as one of the "Best Places to Work."
The tragedy of Kalief Browder is another cautionary tale of how society and the justice system can fail juveniles. Growing understanding concerning the limits of developing brains in assessing behavior and expectations stops at the door of where criminal law is applied to children.
Having represented children and families as an attorney in Family Courts throughout the Hudson Valley and New York City, I'm convinced the majority of young people committing petty crimes have other issues going on in their lives contributing to their actions. Daily, I see Family Court judges produce amazing outcomes by working collaboratively with law enforcement and other agencies to wrap intensive services around families with children at risk. All work together to address underlying issues so kids will remain out of the criminal justice system.
Currently, our older teenagers are being treated as adults when they commit vandalism, petty theft, minor drug crimes, and other non-violent offenses. Even if they avoid jail – and the sad fate of Kalief Browder – they are still stuck with lifelong challenges from having a criminal record. If "Raise the Age" legislation passes, these young people could benefit from the intensive services a Family Court judge can compel, and the wrap-around community services that can be provided to their families.With appropriate safeguards and guidelines for who gets to participate in this more holistic approach, things can only get better. Certainly we cannot sit and wait for the next kid to suffer Kalief's fate.
With appropriate safeguards and guidelines for who gets to participate in this more holistic approach, things can only get better. Certainly we cannot sit and wait for the next kid to suffer Kalief's fate.
Rachel Tanguay-McGuane
New City
The writer is an attorney in the Rockland County Family Court and current candidate for Rockland County Family Court.
It was only his 12th day as mayor of San Francisco, but Gavin Newsom decided that night -- the very night he attended President Bush's State of the Union address in Washington, D.C. -- that he was going to defy California law.
And turn the nation on its ear.
Attending the president's Jan. 20 speech as a guest of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Newsom listened closely as Bush voiced his strong support for outlawing same-sex "marriage" -- with a constitutional amendment, if necessary.
Not long after the speech, Newsom called his chief of staff, Steve Kawa, a gay man who was at home with his partner and their two children. "He told me that he wanted to do something," Kawa said.
Two weeks later, during a staff meeting, Newsom dropped the bombshell on his top aides: He wanted them to explore how the city could start issuing "marriage" licenses to gay and lesbian couples.
Kawa said the mayor asked staff to gather as many legal briefs, news articles and other background information as they could. Added his communications chief, Peter Ragone, "He also wanted it done quietly."
Her reaction: "Oh, my God, you're kidding me," Kendell said in an interview Saturday. "It was a mixture of 'wow,' and 'oh s -- .' "
It was the first time, Kendell said, that a mayor of an American city wanted to take such an initiative. And Newsom, a straight Irish Catholic man married for two years, was the perfect politician to take on the fight, she said.
That weekend, Feb. 7-8, Kendell got on the phone with other gay rights leaders and lawyers to feel them out. She particularly wanted to gauge the response in Massachusetts, where a political showdown was looming over the same-sex "marriage" debate after the high court there ruled that limiting marriage rights to heterosexuals was unlawful discrimination.
"Would we be doing anything to hurt them? What would the ripple effects be," Kendell said. She had the same sort of questions with colleagues in Washington, D.C., where Congress is considering a constitutional amendment to prevent gays and lesbians from marrying.
"There wasn't unanimity that this was the right time," she said.
Last Monday, first thing in the morning, Kendell, Kawa, the mayor's policy director, Joyce Newstat, ACLU attorney Tamara Lange, Geoffrey Kors of the gay rights advocacy group Equality California and a handful of other top staffers in the mayor's administration met behind closed doors in a ceremonial room in the mayor's suite at City Hall.
"We talked about the legal issues. We talked about the politics," Ragone said.
"A lot of us started to personalize the issue, our own stories started coming out," said Kawa, who said he has had three life wishes: to have a family, to be an out gay man in public service and to get "married".
The group also started talking details. The California Family Code states that marriage is a union between a man and a woman.
They decided to proceed on the grounds that denying "marriage" licenses to gays and lesbians violates their rights to equal protection under the California Constitution. They looked at the marriage license documents and determined that they would need to make the language gender neutral. Words and phrases such as "bride" and "groom" and "unmarried man" and "unmarried woman" would have to be changed.
There was also talk about which couple they should ask to be the first to tie the knot. Kendell suggested Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, lesbian rights pioneers who celebrated their 51st anniversary on Valentine's Day.
After the meeting, Newsom's aides walked down the wood-paneled corridor to his office and briefed him on the possibilities. That afternoon, they contacted the city attorney's office and asked for help.
Then they started giving key people the heads up.
They called the offices of Pelosi and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. They alerted Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer, the city's two gay supervisors, Tom Ammiano and Bevan Dufty, and national Democrat Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe.
Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank called Newsom. The veteran gay representative told the mayor to drop the idea -- the time wasn't right.
Late Tuesday afternoon, the administration released a letter that the mayor had sent to the county clerk's office, which issues marriage licenses. It requested that San Francisco try to find a way to not discriminate against gay and lesbian couples wanting to get "married".
By Wednesday morning, Newsom was surrounded by TV, print and radio reporters while he was providing lunch to seniors in Japantown. He announced that he wanted to move quickly on the same-sex "marriage" issue, but wouldn't say when.
That afternoon, Kendell, from the National Center for Lesbian Rights, put in a call to Lyon, 79, and Martin, 83, asking whether they wanted to get "married". The answer came back 10 minutes later: "Yes."
Newsom held a staff meeting Wednesday night. By 10 p.m., the decision was finalized to issue the first licenses to same-sex couples Thursday.
On Thursday morning, Lyon, dressed in a blue pants suit, and Martin, in a purple one, slipped quietly into City Hall. So did Kendell and Roberta Achtenberg, who was a civil rights attorney before she served on the Board of Supervisors and later joined the Chamber of Commerce as a senior vice president.
Few others knew what was about to take place inside the assessor's office. Debra Chasnoff, the Academy Award-winning documentarian, was invited to film the ceremony, and two Chronicle staffers were allowed to witness it. In all, about 20 people were on hand, including mayoral aides, selected civil rights attorneys and two other couples preparing to take their vows after Lyon and Martin. Newsom steered clear.
He asked City Assessor/Recorder Mabel Teng, who oversees the clerk's office, to officiate. But first she had to be deputized to perform a "marriage".
Martin and Lyon had trouble filling out the forms because they couldn't remember the required personal information about their parents. Martin, long ago married, was pushed when asked to recall when she got a divorce. Kendell paid the $82 filing fee. The couple borrowed two rings, and at precisely 11:06 a.m., the ceremony began.
Those who orchestrated the scene succeeded in keeping it secret, a goal all along to keep opponents of same-sex "marriage" from trying to prevent the ceremony from taking place.
By Friday afternoon, as scores of same-sex "weddings" were being performed, opposition lawyers were in court trying to get an emergency injunction to stop what they termed municipal anarchy. The judge told them to come back Tuesday, when the legal battle will begin in earnest.
Kendell said she was stunned by the magnitude of what Newsom unleashed.
"I feel the weight of history, in a way that I never felt before," she said. "It is remarkable and profound."
As for Newsom, who came into office as a moderate, he credits George Bush for what happened.
"I was at the State of the Union," he said, "and I felt a real resolve on this issue."
Invoking "God's authority," a county clerk denied "marriage" licenses to gay couples again Tuesday in direct defiance of the federal courts, and vowed not to resign, even under the pressure of steep fines or jail.
"It is not a light issue for me," Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis said later through her lawyers. "It is a heaven or hell decision."
April Miller and Karen Roberts, tailed by television cameras and rival activists, were there when the doors opened Tuesday morning, hours after the Supreme Court rejected the clerk's last-ditch request for a delay.
They hoped Davis would accept that her fight was lost and issue the licenses, ending the months-long controversy that has divided Rowan County, where the seat of Morehead is considered a progressive haven in Appalachian Kentucky.
Instead, Davis once again turned them away. On their way out, Miller and Roberts passed David Ermold and David Moore, 17 years a couple. "Denied again," Roberts whispered in Moore's ear.
Ermold said he almost wept. They demanded to talk to Davis, who emerged briefly on the other side of the counter.
"We're not leaving until we have a license," Ermold told her.
"Then you're going to have a long day," Davis replied.
Davis, an Apostolic Christian, stopped issuing all marriage licenses in June rather than comply with the Supreme Court's legalization of gay "marriage" nationwide.
Gay and straight couples sued, saying she should fulfill her duties as an elected official despite her personal religious faith. U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered her to issue the licenses, an appeals court affirmed that order, and the Supreme Court on Monday refused to intervene, leaving her no legal option to refuse.
And yet, she did.
"Stand firm," Davis' supporters chanted as a tense standoff erupted in the lobby.
"Do your job," marriage equality activists shouted back.
Davis retreated into her inner office, closed the door and shut the blinds. The sheriff moved everyone outside, where demonstrators lined up to shout and sing at each other.
Davis knows she faces stiff fines or even jail if the judge finds her in contempt, her lawyer said. Her supporters compared her Tuesday to the Biblical figures Paul and Silas, imprisoned for their faith and rescued by God.
But the couples' lawyers asked that she not be sent to jail, and instead be fined, since she currently collects her salary — $80,000 a year — while failing to perform her duties. They asked the judge to "impose financial penalties sufficiently serious and increasingly onerous" to "compel her immediate compliance without delay."
Bunning ordered Davis and her six deputy clerks to appear before him Thursday morning at the federal courthouse in Ashland.
Davis also faces a potential state charge of official misconduct, a misdemeanor meant for public servants who refuse to perform their duties. Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, now running as the Democratic nominee for governor, is studying a complaint filed by a couple she turned away, and will decide whether to appoint a special prosecutor.
Davis said she never imagined this day would come.
"I have no animosity toward anyone and harbor no ill will. To me this has never been a gay or lesbian issue. It is about marriage and God's word," her statement said.
Her critics mock this moral stand, noting that Davis is on her fourth husband after being divorced three times.
Joe Davis, who described himself as "an old redneck hillbilly," came by to check on his wife Tuesday. It's been an ordeal, he said. She got death threats and they've had to change their phone number. He pointed to the people calling for gay rights on the courthouse lawn.
"They want us to accept their beliefs and their ways," he said. "But they won't accept our beliefs and our ways."
Mat Staver founded the Liberty Counsel, a Christian law firm that represents Davis. He said she had been a sinner until she went to church four years ago when her mother-in-law died. She was born again after the preacher read a Bible passage about how forgiveness grows from the grace of God, he said.
"She's made some mistakes," he said. "She's regretful and sorrowful. That life she led before is not the life she lives now. She asked for and received forgiveness and grace. That's why she has such a strong conscience."
Davis served as her mother's deputy for 27 years before she was elected as a Democrat to succeed her in November. Davis' own son is on the staff. As an elected official, she can be removed only if the Legislature impeaches her, which is unlikely in a deeply conservative state.
Davis' supporters blame Gov. Steve Beshear, who ordered resistant clerks to issue licenses or resign. The Kentucky County Clerk's Association has proposed legislation to make marriage licensing a function of state government, relieving clerks of the burden.
Beshear said again Tuesday that the Supreme Court has settled the case and that he won't call a special session to change a law that 117 of the state's 120 county clerks are obeying.
Kentucky's Republican nominee for governor, Matt Bevin, said Tuesday that he supports Davis' "willingness to stand for her First Amendment rights," and if elected, would have people download marriage licenses on the Internet to file at clerk's offices just like other documents.
Conway, his Democratic opponent, has said he supports a new state law that would protect clerks who do not want to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Outside the courthouse, dozens of Davis' supporters stood in a circle, singing "Amazing Grace" and "Onward Christian Soldiers."
"She's standing for God's word and we're standing with her," said Flavis McKinney.
On the other side of the courthouse lawn, others held signs reading "Hate is not a family value" and sang repurposed Christian songs: "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Gay or straight or black or white, they are precious in his sight."
Will Smith Jr. and James Yates emerged from the courthouse red-eyed and shaking, too upset to talk about being rejected again. They held hands and rushed around the protesters to reach their car.
But Moore and Ermold joined the rainbow-clad throng. They swayed and sang, pledging to come back again and again until Davis relents.
"I feel sad, I feel angry, I feel devastated," Ermold said. "I feel humiliated on such a national level that I can't comprehend it. I cannot comprehend it right now."
Sheriff Matt Sparks tried to keep everyone civilized as he stood between the two sides.
"It has disrupted our county, but it shows us that the county is, probably the country is, still divided on this issue," Sparks said. "I'm just glad we live in a country that we have the freedom to disagree. This will end eventually and we'll all come together again."
Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis in Jail but Deputies Expected to Issue Same-Sex Marriage Licenses
Arrested For Refusing To Preform Same Sex "Marriages"
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Sep 3, 2015, 4:16 PM ET
By MEGHAN KENEALLY and ALEX PEREZ
A Kentucky county clerk, Kim Davis, was jailed today after a judge found her in contempt of court for her refusal to issue same-sex "marriage" licenses, but five of her deputies said under oath they would comply with the court's order to issue the licenses.
U.S. District Judge David Bunning ruled against the Rowan County clerk before deputy marshals removed her from the courtroom this morning, and later said he expected the deputies to comply despite Davis' refusal to authorize them to do so.
Bunning said Davis could be released from federal custody if she complies with the order to resume issuing licenses in the county. She has refused to issue marriage licenses to anyone, arguing that such a move was a way around discriminating against same-sex couples.
The ACLU had asked that she be fined but the judge said he didn’t believe that was enough to force her into action.
Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, which is representing Davis, said in a statement, “Everyone is stunned at this development. Kim Davis is being treated as a criminal because she cannot violate her conscience. While she may be behind bars for now, Kim Davis is a free woman. Her conscience remains unshackled.”
Other supporters include GOP presidential candidate Mike Hukabee, a former Arkanas governor, who tweeted:
The controversy surrounding her refusal played out today in court, where the judge had told her to appear after the Supreme Court this week refused to intervene in an appeals court’s affirmation that she issue the licenses.
The crowd of "marriage" "equality" supporters that had gathered outside of the courthouse in Ashland, Kentucky, began to cheer as the news spread.
Davis was called to testify at today's hearing and she reiterated that she believes issuing marriage licenses to same-sex "couples" is against her religious beliefs, even though she has been ordered to do so as a result of an earlier Supreme Court ruling.
"My conscience will not allow me," she said several times during her testimony.
On the stand she was quiet, almost whispering, and teared up when talking about her religious beliefs.
"I did a lot of vile and wicked things in my past," Davis said when asked about her life before becoming a Christian in 2011.
(abcnews)
