NYC Hopefully on Verge of LGBT Equality and Yum! Brand Demands Bigot Bell art be removed Taco Bell Accused of Another Attack on LGBT Civil Rights

This press release was sent to me.......

LGBT Discrimination Turns into … Political Censorship !
Yum! Brands via Network Solutions Threatens to “Disable”BigotBell.com website
Taco Bell uses Copyright Law to ATTACK LGBT Civil Rights Group, but Taco Bell willfully refused to enforce non-discrimination policies to PROTECT LGBT employees
June 16, 2011 -- New York, NY – Yesterday, a member of the LGBTQ civil rights group Connecting Rainbows received a threatening e-mailfrom Network Solutions, issued at the urging of Yum! Brands, in connection with a parody logo of the Taco Bell logo.  (  See :  http://www.scribd.com/doc/57962066/2011-06-15-BigotBell-Yum-Brands-Taco-Bell-LGBT-Employment-Discrimination-Connecting-Rainbows  )
This latest letter included two attachments :  (i)  a letter dated 03 June 2011 from Yum! Brands addressed to the attention of the ABUSE TEAMof Network Solutions, in which Yum! Brands asked for relief under the Digital Mylènium Copyright Act  (  See :  http://www.scribd.com/doc/57962316/2011-06-03-Lisa-G-Howard-Yum-Brands-Taco-Bell-LGBT-Employment-Discrimination-Connecting-Rainbows  ) ; and (ii)  a copy of the Digital Mylènium Copyright Act ( See :  http://www.scribd.com/doc/57962409/Yum-Brands-Taco-Bell-LGBT-Employment-Discrimination-Digital-Millennium-Copyright-Act-Connecting-Rainbows  ).  
These latest threats of legal action made by Yum! Brands against members of Connecting Rainbows, a democratic collective of LGBT civil rights activists, follow an earlier cease and desist letter dated 24 May 2011 (  See :  http://www.scribd.com/doc/57715761/2011-05-24-Taco-Bell-Letter-to-Connecting-Rainbows  ), to which a member of Connecting Rainbows made a reply on 12 June 2011 ( See :  http://www.scribd.com/doc/57973493/2011-06-12-Connecting-Rainbows-Request-for-Extension-BIGOT-BELL-Civil-Rights-Campaign-to-End-LGBT-Employment-Discrimination  ).  See also attachments.
The legal dispute over copyright that is being escalated by Yum! Brands and their attorneys are in response to civil disobedience by members of Connecting Rainbows that originated over a case of alleged employment discrimination of an LGBT employee at a Taco Bell restaurant. After members of Connecting Rainbows made demands on Yum! Brands to make restitution for the discrimination, Yum! Brands retaliated against members of Connecting Rainbows -- by instituting all these legal actions in an effort to censor the content on Bigotbell.com.  The latest legal threat by Network Solutions threatens to disable BigotBell.com – the website where members of Connecting Rainbows are posting information about the group’s member’s civil rights campaign against Yum! Brands and Taco Bell.
 In May 2011, Connecting Rainbows launched a parody YouTube campaign against Taco Bell over an alleged case of employment discrimination of one of Taco Bell’s employees.

Video Link : Episode 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFiaRocbGDc

Video Link : Episode 1 :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4Bf1xhSdnM

More parody videos are to be posted soon, once the legislative session and the campaign for marriage equality in New York state are complete.
About the alleged case of LGBT employment discrimination at a Taco Bell restaurant : Jason Smith is an openly gay employee of a Taco Bell restaurant, and he is a member of Connecting Rainbows.  In April 2011, Mr. Smith was dismissed from his job, after another employee made a threat against Mr. Smith’s life and safety based on Mr. Smith’s sexual orientation.  A Taco Bell manager witnessed the threat.  After Mr. Smith was dismissed, Taco Bell conditioned Mr. Smith’s return to his job only after Mr. Smith deleted each of his Facebook profile and the entire website of Connecting Rainbows, the former which Mr. Smith refused, and the latter over which Mr. Smith has no control.  To read more about the incident, please read Mr. Smith’s description of the events : 
http://connectingrainbows.ning.com/forum/topics/hate-crime-needs-to-stop-taco
Connecting Rainbows members have launched an online petition :Members of Connecting Rainbows have also launched a petition on Change.org, to publicise Mr. Smith’s plight :
http://www.change.org/petitions/world-wide-petition-yum-brands-restaurants-re-jason-ray-smith-read-his-story-and-sign-petition
About Connecting Rainbows’ demands to Taco Bell and Yum! Brands : 

• Yum! Brands restaurants apologize to Mr. Smith and the LGBT community
• Rehire Mr. Smith and provide a hostile-free work environment, or compensate Jason for his loss of income and other damages
• Provide diversity and cultural competency training to every employee -- worldwide!

About Connecting Rainbows’ demands for legislative remedies :

• Connecting Rainbows demands that Congress amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include ‘’sexual orientation’’ and ‘’gender identity’’ to the major forms of discrimination that are outlawed.
• Connecting Rainbows also demands that federal legislators pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (''ENDA'').  ENDA is routinely introduced in Congress, but never passed.  It is time for Congress to prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. 

About Connecting Rainbows : Connecting Rainbows is a group is a democratic collective of LGBTQ activists and allies, with no hierarchy. The group’s mission is to create a mass movement, demanding full civil rights for LGBT Americans, and its members organise civil rights walks and other actions.  Connecting Rainbows uses the power of a social media platform, where people create online profiles, meet others, plan events, join groups, blog, and participate in online forums.  
Visit :  http://connectingrainbows.ning.com/   or   http://www.bigotbell.com/  (before both of these are “disabled” by Yum! Brands)

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