Melanie Nathan Posts – San Francisco,   2/09/ 2010 -   Baldwin, Frank, Polis, Nadler, Honda, Quigley Seek to End Discrimination for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Binational Families.

 Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Congressmen Barney Frank (D- MA), Jared Polis (D-CO), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Mike Honda (D-CA), and Mike Quigley (D-IL), joined by more than 50 Members of the LGBT Equality Caucus, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have sent a letter to President Obama and House and Senate leaders expressing their strong support for a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would end discrimination against LGBT binational families. 
 
“There is simply no place for discrimination in America,” said Congresswoman Baldwin.  “LGBT families are being torn apart by inequitable immigration laws that deny same sex married couples and domestic partners the same rights and obligations as their married heterosexual neighbors.  As we tackle comprehensive immigration reform, it’s imperative that we end discriminatory laws that hurt couples, their children and extended families, and their communities and employers,” Baldwin said.
 
“We are a nation of immigrants and, as a result, our diversity is our greatest strength,” said Congressman Polis.  “Unfortunately, our out-dated immigration system contains laws that discriminate against LGBT families and hinder our economy, our diversity, and our status as a beacon of hope and liberty to people across the world.  To be truly comprehensive and achieve real, long-lasting reform, we must provide all domestic partners and married couples the same rights and obligations in any immigration legislation,” Polis said.
 
“Comprehensive immigration reform will only be truly comprehensive if it includes LGBT families,” said Congressman Nadler.  “We must take the government out of the businesses of singling out LGBT families for discriminatory treatment and live up to our democratic ideal of equality under the law.  I join my colleagues in calling on Congress and the White House to include the Uniting American Families Act, which I have introduced in every Congress since 2000, in any immigration reform legislation and end discrimination against binational LGBT families,” Nadler said.
 
“As Vice Chair of the Equality Caucus, I am excited to support the Caucus’s call for comprehensive immigration reform,” said Congressman Honda.  “Last June, I included same-sex permanent partners in my Reuniting Families Act, H.R. 2709, because the reunification of all families must be the cornerstone of our immigration policy.  That the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Black Caucus, and Progressive Caucus, stand beside the Asian Caucus, which I chair, in this call for reform reminds me of the diversity of communities affected by our broken immigration system.  The time to help our economy, reunite our families, all our families, and to live up to our values as a nation of immigrants is now,” Honda said.
 
“It saddens me to think that the struggle for immigration reform, a movement based on the fundamental principles of equality and the decent treatment of every human being, could push on without including LGBT families,” said Congressman Quigley.  “If we are to truly consider a proposal deemed ‘comprehensive,’ we must include everyone. The beauty of America is that somewhere in each of our lineages, someone made the choice to come here, to a country built on fairness and justice.  We must continue to honor that tradition not just for some, but for all,” Quigley said.
 
Under current law, LGBT Americans are unable to sponsor their spouses or partners for legal residency in the U.S. and, as a result, tens of thousands of binational families are either living separately, facing imminent separation, or have left the U.S. entirely in order to remain together.  This policy often separates children from a parent, causes businesses to lose valuable employees, and forces state, local and the federal government to lose hardworking taxpayers.
 
A California mother of two who has been with her American citizen partner for 23 years, Shirley Tan, was detained by immigration and faces future deportation.  Ms. Tan, who is also the primary caregiver for her partner’s elderly mother, faces the very real possibility of being torn away from her family unless immigration reform includes LGBT couples, too. 
 
In Wisconsin, a valued language teacher, Lucie Ferrari, was forced to leave the country causing her American partner (they are legally married in Canada) to give up her job as a neighborhood organizer and leave as well, so they could be together. 
 
In Minnesota, an American citizen is currently considering closing her small business – which generates more than one million dollars annually – so that she can leave the country in order to be with her Malaysian partner.
 
In Vermont, a physician who worked with wounded troops at a local Veterans Administration medical facility recently quit his job, and moved to a part-time position elsewhere, so he will be able to travel frequently to South America to be with his partner.
 
Each of these stories is heart-wrenching and damaging to many, many lives and, unfortunately, all too common.  Every day, loving, hard-working families are torn apart because of discriminatory immigration laws. 
 
The Members call on President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security, Chuck Schumer, and Chair of the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law, Zoe Lofgren, to include the Uniting American Families Act (H.R. 1024/S. 424) in any comprehensive immigration reform legislation.   

My Commentary – I cannot understand why this does not simply make the case for UAFA as a Stand alone.  How can such a powerful caucus not have the gumshen to get this through congress, on the basis of INEQUALITY and not on the basis of IMMIGRATION REFORM.
 I do not understand why we are entering the complexity (or should I say why we have been cornered into it) of comprehensive immigration reform.   Of course we should be included in CIR – but that ought to have been organic.

In the meantime these very congressional reps should have fought like crazy for us binationals and the egregious inequality we have suffered.   So now that they are finally making the argument in such a forceful fashion, having been pushed by the fact that Schumer is planning to exclude us, I say get UAFA passed NOW.  Please Mr. President make that a priority.  If you add us to CIR there will be an enormous amount of fall out, not that I am sugegsting you don’t if that is the onl;y option.  

You, this powerful Caucus ought to first attempt UAFA as a stand-alone in earnest.  Before CIR is even announced.  It can then be tacked on.  But please let us stop waiting for CIR-…..   The argument for us is simple -E Q  U A L I T Y first - immigration second. 

  
A copy of the letter follows.  Copy with all signatures is attached.
 
February 2, 2010
 
The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
 
The Honorable Harry Reid
Majority Leader, U.S. Senate
522 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, D.C. 20510
 
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives
H-232, U.S. Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515
 
The Honorable Charles E. Schumer
Chairman, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security
313 Hart Senate Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
 
The Honorable Zoe Lofgren
Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law
102 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
 
 
Dear President Obama, Majority Leader Reid, Speaker Pelosi, Chairman Schumer, and Chairwoman Lofgren:
 
As members of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, we are writing to express our strong support for a comprehensive immigration reform bill which would end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) binational families.  We urge Congress to include the Uniting American Families Act (H.R. 1024/S. 424) in any comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
 
Currently, U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents may sponsor their spouses (and other immediate family members) for immigration purposes.  But, same-sex partners committed to spending their lives together are not recognized as “families” under U.S. immigration law and thus do not have this same right.  As a result, tens of thousands of binational families are either already living separately, face imminent separation, or have left the U.S. entirely in order to remain together.  This is unacceptable, and we believe comprehensive immigration reform legislation must include a strong family reunification component inclusive of LGBT families.
 
According to 2000 census data compiled by the Williams Institute, an estimated 36,000 LGBT binational families are impacted by the inability to sponsor their partners for residency, and nearly half of those (47 percent) are raising children.  Our existing, discriminatory immigration laws hurt not only those individuals, but their extended families, communities, and employers, as well.  Not only would an inclusive family reunification provision strengthen American families, it would bolster the competitiveness of businesses in the U.S. by allowing corporations to attract, employ, and retain the very best talent from across the globe.  Indeed, the U.S. lags behind 19 countries that already recognize same-sex couples for immigration purposes, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, and Germany. 
 
In truth, no immigration reform bill can be called “comprehensive” unless it includes all Americans, including those who are LGBT.  This is recognized in the Reuniting Families Act (H.R. 2709), which includes LGBT families in addressing the broader immigration problem of family unification.
 
We urge you to include LGBT binational families in comprehensive immigration reform legislation.  No one should be forced to choose between the person they love and the country they call home.  It is time that our immigration laws kept families together instead of tearing them apart.                                                               
 
 
Sincerely,
 
Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Congressmen Barney Frank (D- MA), Jared Polis (D-CO), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Mike Honda (D-CA), and Mike Quigley (D-IL), et. al.

Melanie Nathan,
www.privatecourts.com /
 nathan@privatecourts.com

02/09/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
John Carroll University in Ohio was the scene of a student protest last week. Prior to the start of a basketball game, gay and lesbian students along with their allies staged a sit in to protest the university’s lack of LGBT bias protections in their official policies. While the draft community standards being worked up by the University includes protections for the LGBT Community within the university, the employment policies of the university do not. University officials stated that the employment policies are based specifically on state and federal laws which do not include sexual orientation or gender identity and expression protections. The reliance upon the state and federal laws to explain why those protections are not in the employment policies of the university is in conflict with a statement from John Carroll University. According to their statement: “Rather than rely on the limitations provided under current federal and state law, the university strives to achieve a much higher standard based upon its Jesuit and Catholic mission and teachings,”

John Carroll University is a Catholic College with a Jesuit core identity. According to the draft community standards “’they [gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender people and those questioning their sexual identity] must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Ed., 2358)” The university was founded in 1886.

The protesters were eventually escorted from the court without incident and none of them were arrested. Video of the incident follows:

02/09/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

Yesterday Rhodes News and a small contingent of follows attacked Rachel Maddow online. It seems that the Tea Bag party members object to Maddow using the term “Teabaggers” to describe them. It seems that they object to this term as it implies an explicit sexual act. I won’t get into the details, but go watch the episode of Sex and the City to see how this term launched into the American venacular. Maddow was not the first person to coin this term or to apply it to the rising conservative tea bag party. She is also not the only media figure who refers to them as Teabaggers.

However, yesterday on Twitter they attempted a pathetic attack on Maddow.

The offended Teabaggers wrote:

WeThePeople1st: RT @victoria_29: RT @RhodesNews: If @RachelMaddow insists on calling us “Tea Baggers,” is she thus gving us implicit permission 2 call her “dyke”? #p2 #tcot 1 day ago from TweetDeck

victoria_29: RT @RhodesNews: If @RachelMaddow insists on calling us “Tea Baggers,” is she thus gving us implicit permission 2 call her “dyke”? #p2 #tcot

CoachDB18: MadCow! Nuf' said! @RhodesNews @RachelMaddow calling us “Tea Baggers,” …thus giving us permission to call her “dyke”? #p2 #tcot #lcot

nana49: RT @RhodesNews: If @RachelMaddow insists on calling us “Tea Baggers,” is she thus giving us implicit permission to call her “dyke”? #p2 #tcot #lcot

WeThePeople1st: RT @RhodesNews: If @RachelMaddow insists on calling us “Tea Baggers,” is she thus giving us implicit permission to call her “dyke”? #p2 #tcot #lcot

RhodesNews: If @RachelMaddow insists on calling us “Tea Baggers,” is she thus giving us implicit permission to call her “dyke”? #p2 #tcot #lcot

With this attack the Teabaggers are firmly cementing their reputation as nasty, right wing nuts. It goes without saying that no, there is no implicit right that can be found in any situation that would make it ok to call someone a dyke.  Dyke is a pejorative term that people have used to attack the LBQ community both verbally and physically. Women have been called dykes by people who have stabbed them, raped them, killed them. There is no comparison between calling someone a Teabagger and calling someone a dyke.

As the Republican party decides whether or not to embrace the Teabaggers, one can only hope they take the overwhelming hatred and bitterness of this radical faction into consideration.

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02/09/2010 by JR Russell

Just fine, actually.

I was reading about all the teabaggers and their leader, Sarah Palin, and how they all think it’s not the right time for Don’t Ask Don’t Tell to be repealed.

Not the right time. It sounds so innocuous.

Sure — they’ll get around to it later. Definitely.

But no, for these people, it will never be the right time. The forward march of equality scares the Shine, beJesus, Shine out of them.

The fallacy that they need time to sort stuff out is making the rounds. At the hearing “at least a year” was the cry. If they say it often enough, we might just buy it.

Curious, I asked some Canadian Forces members what they thought of how gays and lesbians were in the military. I had questions about them serving in countries, like, say, Uganda (I can’t go a day without mentioning it!) where homosexuality is illegal. Maybe, I thought, that was part of what needed sorting out. Turns out the answer is pretty damn sensible.

Didn’t see that coming, did you?

You see, while you’re away working with the military, you are not permitted to have sex anyway. So it doesn’t matter if your sexual preference runs to men, women or goldfish, you are not allowed to have sex. So, actually, your sexual orientation is about as irrelevant as it ever could be.

Back at base, things are a bit different. They might have to allow same-sex couples to live in homes together on base. I’m not really sure how much “implementation” has to go into this.

Well, apparently — plenty. Whether it is needed or not.

When Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was introduced in 1993, a report was commissioned that concluded:

Military officials in all four countries said that the presence of homosexuals in the military is not an issue and has not created problems in the functioning of military units.

So 17 years later, they’re going to do another study of the 25 countries that have no issue with this whatsoever and spend a lot of time discussing how much of a non-issue this whole thing really is.

Now I’m not American, nor do I live in the United States. You may ask why I care? Because being closeted sucks ass, and people being asked to go to (often ridiculous) wars shouldn’t also have to suffer the indignity of the pronoun game.

But you have some hope. There’s that Senator Gillibrand. I don’t know a lot about her but her idea of cutting funding to DADT investigations is a cracking one. Gets the ball rolling, makes life a little bit better for the brave people you Americans make such a fuss over, unless they’re gay, and then it’s a different kind of fuss.

“As military and political leaders anticipate the end of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ the lessons from the twenty-five foreign forces that allow open gay service are instructive,” stated Dr. Aaron Belkin, Director of the Palm Center.

For those of you that like to skip ahead, I’ll let you in on how this finishes. Very little changes, except that gay and lesbian service members can be who they really are, stop playing the pronoun game, have long-term relationships and live on base. Other than that? You’ll probably have to discipline some homophobic dicks who can’t adjust at first, but their lack of opposable thumbs was probably an issue anyway.

02/09/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

Portia De Rossi has come a long day from her Ally McBeal days. BE (Before Ellen) De Rossi was tight lipped about her personal life and opened up just the narrowest crack to allow the public access to her struggle with eating disorders. Today, De Rossi is a beautiful, strong, articulate woman who will go head to head with anyone to defend marriage equality and preservation of positive self image.

De Rossi states in the interview that:

“Ever since Ellen and I got together, I feel like I’ve been given an opportunity to actually—God, this sounds corny…” She rolls her eyes at herself, fidgets, and then forges ahead. “Well, I feel like my life can actually kind of stand for something. And I don’t mean that in a self-aggrandizing way, like, ‘Look at me, I can make a difference.’ But I feel like, maybe I get why I’m here.”

The LGBT community couldn’t ask for a better spokesperson. De Rossi also says that it is up to the LGBT community to fight for marriage equality:

“I think it’s up to us to save marriage,” she says. “Up to gay people across the country, seeing as though we’re fighting for it so vehemently.” De Rossi has an impressive ability to marry the personal and political: “This whole thing has been a wave of excitement and hope, and then it gently falls back into despair. And then it picks us up again. Unfortunately, we’re the ones who have to suffer this—this humiliation, really. There’s kind of a dignity that’s been stripped from us. Gay people are the ones who have to suffer through it—but without it, it won’t change.”

De Rossi also reveals that she is working on a book that will be published in the fall. It will focus on her battle with anorexia.

Check out the rest of the interview here:

http://advocate.com/Arts_and_Entertainment/People/The_Great_de_Rossi/

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02/90/2010-by Natasia Langfelder

Sarah Silverman is known for her controversial comedy. She frequently includes the LGBT community in her many borderline offensive comedy routines. My personal favorite being when she “becomes” a lesbian on The Sarah Silverman Show and says “As a lesbian I resent your laughter and all laughter.” However, Silverman got very serious about marriage equality last friday on the view.

“I can not imagine wanting to get married right now at this time in America. If you’re for equal rights, why would you get married right now? It’s like joining a country club that doesn’t allow blacks or Jews. There’s no difference. Why would I wanna join that club? It’s gross.”

Silverman’s statement is beautiful in its simplicity. Comparing perpetuating institutional prejudice in the form of marriage to the kind perpetuated by those in exclusive country clubs is an argument that is easily understandable and doesn’t allow for very much wiggle room by those seeking to disprove marriage equality.

Silverman is a staunch supporter of LGBT rights and it’s easy to see why she has such a large LGBT fanbase. Watch the Sarah Silverman show on LOGO to support Silverman.

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Melanie Nathan,  2/08/10 .  On the 3^rd of February I posted the news that Senator Schumer will not be including our LGBT families in his immigration reform Bill.  Amongst the very many e-mails sent to me as a result, here is one example, sent to us by a very angry binational same-sex partner.  http://lezgetreal.com/?p=25829   I reported –  ” Have you ever wondered why a long silence actually starts to sound like a deafening noise? It is now that the silence from Senator Schumer is deafening, with the shocking revelation from a reliable source informing us at Lezgetreal that Senator Schumer will not be including UAFA or LGBT rights in his immigration reform bill to be introduced in the weeks ahead” 

  Perhaps this forthcoming exclusion is what sparked todays letter by 60 Congressional representatives to the President and Congress, urging inclusion of gay and lesbian families in immigration reform or via UAFA.  The effort led by Rep Tammy Baldwin sent a letter to the White House and Congress to urge support for UAFA and LGBT inclusion in comprehensive immigration reform. Soon thereafter our website, known for its assertive coverage of the binational plight was visited again by members of Congress and offices much higher than that.  Perhaps the White House is going to take action. 

 Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the lead House sponsor of the Uniting American Families Act, which would also end discrimination against LGBT binational families, asserts “We must take the government out of the business of singling out LGBT families for discriminatory treatment and live up to our democratic ideal of equality under the law,” Nadler said. “I join my colleagues in calling on Congress and the White House to include the Uniting American Families Act, which I have introduced in every Congress since 2000, in any immigration reform legislation, and end discrimination against binational LGBT families.” 

 What I find particularly disconcerting is that Immigration Equality, who holds itself out as the “pre-imminent” organization for immigration equality rights, has failed to come forward with the knowledge that Senator Schumer is not planning to include us, and continues to msilead us by their silence. 

  Does IE have a duty to play level with binationals?  I believe they do for as long as they find themselves in the number one  slot on the issue.    What has stopped them from keeping us fully informed?  

 This organization has led us down a treacherous and unwise path – into the corner we now find ourselves, and still they make decisions without our involvement as a community.  They have made a choice to side with those who do not want us and to try and convince the strongest of all faith based powers that it is a good idea to include gays and lesbians.   

 So now that the White House has been alerted to Act - 

 The question becomes: 

 1. Would you like to see quick and soon passage of UAFA as a standalone;  Or 

 2. Are you ready for the long and hateful haul of immigration reform; 

 The difference between the two lies in the philosophy: Whereas the first seems to rest on equality the second will rest on immigration. Which is the tougher argument.  Will the immigrant community be impressed by the fact that the house already has 60 on board for immigration reform?  Will that make them think we are worthy to their cause? 

  While much hated in the eyes of so many in this Country – gays and lesbians, et al, may now be coupled with  the other most disliked group – whom the conservatives choose to refer to as ‘illegal aliens,’ and progressives refer to as ‘undocumented workers/immigrants.’ 

 It is already apparent that even amongst those immigrants seeking respite from the woes of the system, resentment is building because some feel they have a much more worthy cause than ‘the gays’ – I have received emails to this effect – more worthy because we are maybe 100,000 and they are 12 million in number.   An example of some dialogue can be found at the comments at http://lezgetreal.com/?p=25829

 Schumer is known to have stated that he has chosen to abate the voracious displeasure of the Catholic community.  Can you imagine once we are included what is yet to come? 

 That said perhaps Schumer will be doing us a favor. 

 I too am calling on President Obama to PLEASE urge Congress to pass a stand-alone Bill right now – UAFA.  I for one will be glad to accept an amendment to the Current Nadler legislation – where the evidentiary proof of permanent partnership must include an affirming certificate from any Jurisdiction in the World. (eg. marriage certificate, DP or civil union certificate.)  That will dismantle the fraud argument because we will be on a level playing field with the straight spousal community. 

 Please help us avert a faith based immigration vs. LGBT equality battle – already emerging. 

A  READER’S LETTER (amongst hundreds);Sunday, February 07, 2010
TO;
President Obama
Senator Gillibrand
Senator Chuck Schumer
Congressman Peter king
State Department, Hilary Clinton
Congresswomen Nancy Pelosi
Congressman Steve Israel
CNN
Melanie Nathan at http://lezgetreal.com
New York Times
 

“To  Senator Chuck Schumer
Sir:  

I never thought that I would be calling you a liar and a cheat but I was wrong. When I watched you at the UAFA Senate hearing I was so happy that you where a senator from Long Island standing up to the right wing nuts, the church and all the bigots in this country. But after reading a story on Lezgetreal.com (http://lezgetreal.com/?p=25829 ) I was so wrong about you! I guess you are like all the rest that say something and turn around and do something else.  

After I talked to L. Fresco in your office I thought I could just sit back and just wait till you came out with the bill on Immigration reform but once again my government let me down. He had told me that you where not going to include the UAFA into your bill till the Latino senators and congressman were made happy and they got their way.  

 Because I was told they would block the bill and not support it. It looks like you couldn’t get there support so you turned your back on us. Because of you and senator Gillibrand and Congressman Peter King I now have to make plans on leaving my country for good to be with my husband, yes we are legally married in Canada and 20 other countries. I’ve sent your office my marriage Lic, faxed it to your DC office, and hand delivered it to your long island office.  

Not only that I had sent the forms from the US state department to sponsor my husband but didn’t get an answer from you, Gillibrand, Peter King and the white house. This was to proof that I am legally married to a non American and asking for help to sponsor him into this once great country. But since this is a gay issue and an immigrations issue no one will help.  

Just to let you know I am now going to contact ever single congressman, senator and newspaper in this country to let them know that you lied in a the senate hearing (6/2/2009) and because of your actions not including the uniting American families act into your immigration reform bill anther taxpaying US citizen has to leave his home land for good.  

I’m really mad and upset that I’m sitting here and my husband is half way around the world all because of the Republican Party and the church that has it in for gay rights and civil rights. I’m really mad and upset that the Democratic Party for not having a back bone and standing up to the right wing. I’m also mad and upset that I can be legally married in 20 countries and the country that claims civil rights has very little to gay people. I’m also mad and upset at Chuck Schumer for talking the talk but can’t walk the walk! I’m, also upset that the US state department is handing out visas like water to the people of Haiti and I can’t get one for my husband who has legal rights to one being married to an American. What a wonderful country this is, ya right!  

Thank you for your none help!
 I, am a  US Taxpayer who can’t get any help  

Action Alert -February 8th, 2010  

At 10:30am on February 11 — one week after our call-in to Senator Schumer’s office — the Long Island Immigrant Alliance will hold a rally outside of Schumer’s Melville office (145 Pine Lawn Road, Melville, NY 11747). The rally will show support for Senator Schumer’s comprehensive immigration reform bill, which would fix a broken immigration system, end the exploitation and demonization of immigrants, strengthen our economy by $1.5 trillion, and support our nation’s values. For more information about the rally, call 631-789-0720    Long Island Immigrant Alliance  …  

Melanie Nathan

LAST THOUGHT: None of this would be necessary as this would all be moot if DOMA were repealed and Sexual orientation was included in the Civil Rights Act.

By: Melanie Nathan  

nathan@privatecourts.com
www.privatecourts.com
Human Rights and Personal Advocacy.

 

 

 

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 Senator Schumer has not confirmed, nor announced, what specific proposals will be in his immigration reform bill. We do encourage everyone, however – as we always have – to make sure they reach out to their representatives and urge them to support inclusion of our families in any immigration reform bill.
 If you haven’t already done so, you can click here to send that message to your Members of Congress.
 It is critical that everyone call on their Members to support our inclusion. Now – in the days and weeks prior to the bill’s introduction – is the time to take action.
 Once lawmakers announce the specifics of their legislation, we’ll have more information here. Comment by Steve @ Immigration Equality — February 4, 2010 @ 2:43 pm 

STEVE do not tell me that you and all at IE have not had the news for a month that UAFA was being excluded by Schumer’s Bill. Time to come clean is NOW!

02/08/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
It is sometimes hard to remember that Kirsten Gillibrand is facing a Republican challenger to her Senate seat given all the speculation regarding whether or not Harold Ford Jr. would be entering the Democratic Primary. Bruce Blakeman feels that Senator Gillibrand is grandstanding by trying to put an end to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Blakeman stated “the Pentagon is examining the policy and will make a recommendation in the future. Attempting to short circuit the process to score cheap political points is irresponsible. … We are a nation at war and the last thing our troops fighting overseas need is for politicians back home to be placing their political ambitions before the mission.” Never mind that, by stating this, he is himself trying to score points with the New York voters by trying to get people to question Gillibrand’s push to end this policy which is damaging the ability of the United State’s military to effectively operate in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Currently, the majority of Americans support repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and forty-nine percent of the members within the military currently are in favor of repeal or do not feel strongly enough about the issue to answer one way or the other. Blakeman feels that it is irresponsible for Gillibrand to push to defund discharges under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell without stating which side of the issue he is on. Unfortunately for Mr. Blakeman, Gillibrand’s amendment would not likely take effect until towards the completion of the year long review, and the Democratic majority in the Senate is already pushing for this review to take less time. Even Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen admitted that the year would need to take place no matter when exactly the repeal occurs. In point of fact, the majority of what Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen were saying at the hearing was that it will take a year to review all the issues and come up with policies which will prevent any major problems for gay and lesbian service members to serve openly. Support for Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell within the military has been steadily dropping over the years. In 2003, support for the policy was at sixty-three percent, but it is now at fifty-one. Unfortunately, the information is not broken down enough demographically in order to be able to determine if those in favor of the law are predominantly among the older members of the armed forces.

Senator Gillibrand made the formal announcement that she was introducing the amendment to defund DADT enforcement into the Defense Budget for next fiscal year at the Human Rights Campaign’s New York Gala. Video of her announcement is available and follows.

Blakeman: Gillibrand’s ‘don’t ask’ stance hurts morale

Blakeman: Gillibrand’s ‘don’t ask’ stance hurts morale

2/8/10-by Paula Brooks
When asked yesterday on Fox News Sunday “Should the rule ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ for the military be repealed?” Sarah Palin said, “I don’t think so right now…. I’m surprised that the president spent time on that in his State of the Union speech when he only spent about 9% of his time in the State of the Union on national security issues. And I say that because there are other things to be worried about right now with the military. I think that kind of on the back burner is sufficient for now. To put so much time, and effort, and politics into it? Unnecessary.”

With one in 10 Americans still unable to find work, Obama in fact chose instead to focus the bulk of his speech on domestic issues — namely the economy, healthcare and jobs, and only spent nine minutes of his 90 minute State of the Union speech, on national security, promising Americans that he would fight terrorism and issuing warnings to Iran and North Korea that their leaders will face “growing consequences” if they continue to ignore international calls to rein in their nuclear ambitions. He also mentioned the fact that in the last year, hundreds of al Qaeda’s fighters and affiliates, including many senior leaders, have been captured or killed — far more than in 2008… but perhaps Sister Sarah missed that part.

In fact, all Obama said about Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell was two sentences, “this year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. It’s the right thing to do.”

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02/08/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Word has come down the wire that Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania has died. Murtha, who was 77, was strongly opposed to the Federal Marriage Amendment. What his views on broader LGBT rights is hard to gauge, but it is known that he was a pro-life Democrat. Murtha was the first Vietnam Veteran to be elected to Congress. He was first elected in 1973.

Murtha was a former Marine who first joined the service in 1952. In 1955, he was discharged and joined the Marine Reserves. in 1966, he volunteered for active duty in Vietnam and served there for a year. He would finally retire from the Marine Reserves in 1990 with the rank of Colonel. During his service in Vietnam, he received a Bronze Star with Valor, and a Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry as well as two Purple Hearts.

His time in Congress has always been a tad rocky. He was known for being more than willing to hand his vote to the Republican Party to get funding for his projects at home. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington listed him consistently as one of the most corrupt Congress members every year. In 1980, he was involved in a scandal which had the FBI investigating whether or not certain politicians were taking bribes from Saudi Arabia. He was latter cleared.

Murtha was nominated to be the House Majority Leader by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. He was not elected to that post. Instead, it went to Representative Steny Hoyer.

He was one of the strongest and most vocal opponents to the Iraq War. While his stance resonated with many from within the Democratic Party, he faced severe criticism from many Republicans. Representative Jean Schmidt even attacked Murtha on the House floor by questioning his courage. Murtha caused even more outrage with his comments regarding the Haditha incident in which he stated “It’s much worse than reported in Time magazine. There was no fire fight. There was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood. And that’s what the report is going to tell.” The charges against the soldiers were eventually dropped.

Murtha is survived by his wife, three children and three grandchildren. They were at his beside when he quietly passed away. He had been in the hospital for a short while before passing away. No exact cause of death has been released.

Update: Representative Murtha died from complications from gall bladder surgery.

Update 2/9:
Both Politico and the Pittsburg Post-Gazette have reported that Representative Murtha died from an infection caused by doctors inadvertently cutting his intestine while removing his gal bladder.

Reported by Melanie Nathan, San Francisco, 02/09/10 .   A determined Virginia State Delegate, David Englin (D-Alexandria) is again seeking a repeal of the State’s Constitutional amendment, by sponsoring House Joint Resolution 55.  (co-sponsored by Delegate L. Kaye Kory, D-Falls Church. )

As it stands, “Virginia will not recognize “a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that” intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage.” Nor will the state recognize “another union, partnership, or other legal status to which is assigned the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of marriage.”

The repeal resolution has been referred to the House Privileges and Elections Committee. The panel has not yet voted on the measure. It is similar to proposals Englin introduces in 2007 and  again in 2009. They did not get much attention at that time – however now the field for marriage reform seems wide open.

As one can imagine the Family Foundation of Virginia is opposing it.  VP, Chris Frend: “We’re only three years removed from nearly 60 percent of Virginians voting to support the amendment, and we’re two months removed from an election where three of the elected (statewide officials) were advocates for the amendment. I think the overwhelming majority of Virginians have no interest in revisiting this issue.”  

This advocate says – a lot can happen in three years Mr. Frend including the fact that you may well have reasonable and intelligent new voters – the ones who are likely to change our future in the big scheme of things, in any event. So get off your bully pulpit and smell fresh times!!  From LGR we thank Mr. Englin for his persistence to this equality matter so essential to the lives of so many Americans.

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02/08/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

The Samantha Ronson/Lindsay Lohan romance has been off for a few months now. There have been reports of Lohan dating men, even another DJ that Ronson is acquainted with. When Ronson was asked by paparazzi how she felt about that, she wished Lohan luck with her new romance. Over the past two weeks, there has been more reports of Lohan’s erratic behavior when it comes to Ronson. First, Ronson asked paparazzi if Lohan was sending them after her on purpose. Given Lohan’s relationship with the paparazzi, this seems possible. Also, witnesses at clubs say that Lohan has been grinding with other women in front of Ronson, to try and make her jealous. Lohan has thrown a drink in Ronson’s face and Ronson herself admitted that she got kicked out of a club because Lohan kept flicking cigarette butts at her.

Despite the witnessed violent behavior from Lohan towards Ronson, Lohan is claiming that Ronson is the one who has been throwing the punches, literally. A source has exclusively spoken to Radaronline.com saying:

One time I saw her [Lindsay] and she had a large welt on her head,” the source told RadarOnline.com. “She told me that Sam beat the (bleep) out of her.

“She also said that Sam even punched and choked her one time.”

Ronson has not responded to these allegations. However, they seem out of character for the lesbian DJ, who kept a low profile before her romance with Lohan. No past girlfriends of Ronson’s have come forward to verify this type of behavior on Ronson’s part. I would assume that they are false until proven, because that is the kind of rumor that can ruin someone’s life. Domestic abuse accusations aren’t something one should participate in out of anger towards an ex-girlfriend.

These accusations are very serious. Abuse by a partner is a huge issue and shouldn’t be taken lightly. The LBQ community doesn’t necessarily embrace an open dialogue about domestic violence or rape within our own community, but it happens. Let’s hope that in this case, where there is smoke there isn’t fire.

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02/08/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Questions over how much bonus money former Representative Harold Ford Jr. are starting to percolate in the potential showdown for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s seat. The Senator is asking exactly how much money Ford has gotten from Bank of America in the way of bonuses. Ford has stated that he has not received any money this year in the way of bonuses, but has been tight lipped about how much he has received in the past with regards to bonuses, especially last year as Bank of America was receiving money from the Federal government to keep it running.

Ford is currently on leave as a vice-chairman and senior policy consultant to Bank of America. To the questions of how much he was paid and just how much in bonuses he received, all Ford could say was “I can say that I fulfilled the contract, and I was paid the terms of the contract…. [T]here was a contract, that was a part of it, and I received what was laid out in the contract.”

Ford is unapologetic about working for Bank of America, but the reality is that being a member of the Wall Street Elite is not going to go over well with the electorate at a time when the nation is angry with the corporate policies that caused many of the economic woes that the nation is facing. Gillibrand, for her part, voted against the Troubled Asset Relief Program or TARP and has been a vocal advocate of greater financial regulation. These regulations are something that Ford would, as a former employee of the Banking Industry, be reluctant to sign on to.

Ford sees, according to an op-ed by Maureen Dowd, as being something like Scott Brown in Massachusetts. Of course, unlike Martha Coakley, Senator Gillibrand is not shying away from a primary fight and not being as lax in her push back against Ford. A Ford spokesperson stated “[Gillibrand] told New Yorkers that she has other priorities than creating the jobs that they need. No wonder voters across the state are encouraging Harold to run.” Yet that does not seem to be the case unless he is talking about her attempts to reign in the Wall Street crowd who are the biggest voice pushing for Ford to run. Currently, Ford has only about 20% of the New York electorate behind him.

Ford’s record on LGBT rights has also been a factor in this race. Unlike Kirsten Gillibrand, Ford has a record of opposing greater rights of LGBT Americans. While he says that he has changed his mind on issues such as marriage equality, he did vote for the Federal Marriage Amendment which would have banned marriages between two people of the same sex. Abortion rights advocates are also not happy with his potential candidacy as he has gone on the record as being pro-life.

Being a member of the Wall Street Elite may be enough to break Ford’s run for the Senate in much of New York. While Gillibrand has been critical of the excesses of the financial industry, it appears that Ford is more like a Republican than a Democrat and more than willing to hand the financial industry what they want in the belief that the big banks are more the only ones to create an economic recovery despite the ruins of the economy elsewhere in New York.

02/08/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

Rachel Maddow wants you to know that she is not getting married. Maddow is currently living with her long term partner, artist Susan Mikula. Maddow and Mikula met when Maddow was a grad student. Maddow shoveled Mikula’s driveway…among other things.

Maddow said in an interview today:

“This spring, we will have been together for 11 years, and our relationship is serious and happy, mature, monogamous. We like having the right…but we’re making our own decision about whether we should exercise it.”

I don’t want to delve into the validity of Maddow’s relationship. However, statements such as these generally occur right before the couple in question breaks up. This applies to gay or straight relationships. Ladies, feel free to get your hopes up.

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02/08/2010 by JR Russell

As reported this morning the Irish Independent, Irish bishops are neither confirming nor denying they are meeting with survivors of clerical abuse in Maynooth, County Kildare today before they go to Rome to discuss the clerical abuse and cover up reports with the Pope.

The article states that it is understood to be happening today and that various representatives of survivors will meet with the clerics and present a report of their own, discussing the issues raised in the Murphy report.

Cardinal Sean Brady had said that the bishops would consult with survivors’ groups before making the trip to Rome. While it seems they are now following through with it, Colm O’Gorman, founder of the One in Four charity for survivors of sexual abuse and Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland, tweeted an hour ago:

Bishops to victims. No idea who they are meeting with. Not Marie Collins, Andrew Madden, myself or One in Four. http://bit.ly/bSMwoR

Marie Collins, Colm O’Gorman and Andrew Madden are all prominent abuse survivors who have made their stories known and have called on the Pope to address the abuses that have plagued the church, and church-operated schools and institutions in Ireland and abroad.

Andrew Madden also runs the website CountMeOut.ie that gives people information on how to formally leave the Roman Catholic Church and has left the church himself.

Marie Collins was abused by a priest named in the Murphy Report. Her experiences directly contradict the insinuations made by the church that gay priests have been at fault in the abuse scandals, because she was abused by a man, who in her case, targeted a girl.

Colm O’Gorman is the author of Beyond Belief, a frank and honest account of his own experience of clerical abuse and how he decided to go public.

It does seem odd that the church would speak to survivors without consulting three people who have made their experiences so public and without consulting One in Four who provide support to so many of the church’s victims.

Presumably they went looking for the victims who are the most sympathetic to the church, rather than those who are critical.

UPDATE: Ireland Online now reporting the meeting has taken place.

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 Equality California is the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender-rights advocacy organization in California. In the past decade, EQCA has strategically moved California from a state with extremely limited legal protections for LGBT individuals to a state with some of the most comprehensive civil-rights protections in the nation. EQCA has passed over 60 pieces of legislation and continues to advance equality through legislative advocacy, public education and community involvement.

Each year EQCA honors the inspirational leaders and outstanding allied organizations whose selfless work helps create a better world for all people. The Equality Awards recognize the achievements of the organization, its sponsors, members, staff and volunteers, as well as the LGBT community.

This year EQCA  awards could not be more appropriate given the state of marriage equality in California.  California Supreme Court Justice Carlos R. Moreno, the court’s sole dissenting voice against last year’s Proposition 8 Campaign, will be honored with the prestigious EQUALITY & JUSTICE AWARD.  I am sure that hearing this most esteemed jurist is a treat one ought not miss.

When he was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California in 2001, Justice Carlos Moreno chose to relinquish his lifetime seat on the U.S. District Court where he had presided over a broad range of complex civil and criminal matters since his appointment in 1998 by President Bill Clinton. On the state’s highest court, he has the opportunity to “really address critical cutting-edge issues involving social policy,” and his service allows him to contribute to “decisions about what direction the law is going to take.”  Proposition 8 proves the point.  

In his dissent, Justice Moreno referred to California’s equal protection clause, which protects fundamental rights of minorities from the will of the majority, as the main principle of the constitution. “Proposition 8’s withdrawal of any of those rights from gays and lesbians cannot be accomplished through constitutional amendment,” he wrote.

Proposition 8, he argued, demonstrated an “unprecedented instance of a majority of voters altering the meaning of the equal protection cause.” Moreno also cited the Iowa Supreme Court’s April argument for allowing same-sex marriage and said today’s majority ruling “weakens the status of our state constitution.”

Sam & Julia Thoron will be honored with the PHYLLIS LYON & DEL MARTIN MARRIAGE EQUALITY AWARD, recognizing their  tremendous contributions to the fight for marriage equality and especially the battle to defeat Proposition 8.  “For those who have not had the chance to meet the Thorons in person, “says PFLAG Executive Director Jody M. Huckaby, “  and experience the passion that they have for securing the right to marry for everyone need not look much further “ as the awards will provide this special opportunity.  Together, they have provided years of leadership to PFLAG, with Sam a Past board president,  on both a local and national level, and it is rare to meet a PFLAG’er who has come in contact with them who cannot speak of how the Thorons touched their lives.

 If you are in the San Francisco area, you can still get tickets to the EQCA event to hear from the Thorons themselves, so check out EQCA website today.  

San Francisco  CITY HALL  1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco. Attire is formal and age minimum is 21 years.  Saturday Feb 13, 2010, 6.00 PM.   Tickets are still available. 
EQCA – Contact information
2370 Market St. 2nd Floor,  San Francisco, CA 94114 -
ph: 415.581.0005 

Melanie Nathan

Melanie Nathan,  nathan@privatecourts.com
who has provided testimony at the invitation of
EQCA for a CA State Resolution
in support of UAFA, will be covering the event for
Lezgetreal  and will provide a detailed report.

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02/07/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

Carrie Prejean, the ex-California beauty queen who was projected into fame when openly gay celebrity blogger Perez Hilton asked her to share her views on marriage equality. Prejean stated, in the garbled words of a vapid, silicon implanted, spray tanned barbie doll, that she does not believe in marriage equality. Prejean grabbed onto the fame that statement brought her and rode it as far as she could take it- to a book deal and a spot on Larry King. Prejean was set to be a rising icon for the republican party, when both topless photos and solo sex tapes of her surfaced. She was quickly abandoned by her new found allies in her moment of need.

Luckily for Prejean, she found a rich guy who will marry her. The erstwhile ex-girlfriend of Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps will be entering into the sacred institution of opposite marriage with St. Louis Rams star Kyle Boller. Boller and Prejean have been dating for about six months. Hopefully, once Prejean discovers the joys of marriage, she will change her stance on prohibiting the LGBT community to share in the institution.

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02/07/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

Jason Mraz, the well known pop-rock singer/songwriter, best known for his hits “The Remedy” and “I’m Yours” has come out as a straight ally. Jason Mraz posted on his facebook page:

Jason Mraz’s Notes

As a straight man I really have nothing to gain by standing up for equal rights for Gays, Lesbians, Bisexual, and/or my Transgender friends. Except for the fact that I have many friends who are still subjected to hurtful comments by a society that hasn’t yet embraced fully the nature of… nature.Supporting a limiting system of rules for specific people to follow is prejudice. It’s the Antithesis of Christ Consciousness and (like smoking) it’s Soooo last century.

Allowing love to freely flourish will only enhance the life experience – For All.

Imagine telling cyclists to stay off the road. “These roads are for cars only! Those who dare to pedal on the shoulder will most likely get hit! Drivers will not expect to see you. It will not be the drivers’ fault if you get hurt.”

Yet, by sharing the road, the same rules get to apply to all of us. And surprisingly, we all get somewhere.

No one has to sit at the back of the bus.

A Marriage is a powerful commitment by any two people who are committed to each other’s lives being great. The God that is present in ceremony is looking itself in the eye in the form of the two worthy participants. Their commitment is the divine expression “love loving itself.” Any interference from the outside world be like a bear coming out of the woods and mauling the two lovebirds in front of the entire wedding party, the family and invited guests. Interference is messy and downright rude.

Hosting closed minded thoughts or making lewd comments about the intimate affairs of someone else does not make life great. In fact, it clogs up the judicial system, diminishes entire communities, and turns the clock backwards to our ultimate realization that we are all One – living in harmony with the Earth, with the cosmos, and with great things unseen. Thinking that others are a ‘particular way’ rather than reinventing them as new everyday makes you separate and disconnected from the really easy, peaceful solution.

Life is too short. The age of interfering with someone’s natural rights (and natural born gifts) are over.

Love is too powerful to resist. I think the whole world would be better if we just got out of our own way. It would certainly be sexier.

I understand many people who stumble onto this blog are already dialed in and ready to transform the world. Much of my community is too. But there are some who still don’t care one way or the other about the ways of being in the world. Thereby, it’s up to us to share our positive outlook on our favorite issues.

To learn more about how you can be a part of the Epic Movement for Equal Rights. Visit The Human Rights Campaign at http://www.hrc.org/ and support the True Colors Fund.

This Year I Resolve to Join the Conversation on Equality. I will Stand Up and be outspoken about Same Sex Marriage and Let Freedom Sing.

Jason Mraz is using his celebrity power for a good cause. The LGBT movement could use the support of more celebrity men who are secure enough in their sexuality and their fame to voice their support.

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Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker

By Melanie Nathan, San Francisco, Febrruary 7, 2010- In today’s San Francisco Chronicle, the Matier and Ross column “outs” Judge Vaughn Walker, or so they think. But we all knew he is gay and it made no difference to us at all. Finally the chance without advance prejudice? Nope not even that, just a trust that Judges have integrity. However I imagine that the very insuations, albeit tacit and embedded in the Article, causes us as an unequal and oppressed minority to wonder if the same assumptions that the right will undoubtedly attribute to Walker, are true of the straight Judges when it come to LGBTQI issues, as well as in relation to other minority related issues.

Many gay politicians in San Francisco and lawyers who have had dealings with Walker say the 65-year-old jurist, appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, has never taken pains to disguise – or advertise – his orientation.

The biggest open secret in the landmark trial over same-sex marriage being heard in San Francisco is that the federal judge who will decide the case, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, is himself gay. (SF Chronicle)

But who cares? We do not care here in San Francisco, mostly because we accept that being gay in high office is normal, being gay and abiding one’s oath is normal, being gay and applying law correctly and fairly is normal. As long as his religious views do not influence judgment, we do not care that Alito is a man, that Bader Ginsburg is a woman and nor do we care that Clarence Thomas is African America. We understand that their judgments are unlikely to be impacted by these facts. We also do not “out” Ruth Bader Ginsberg as a “straight women.”
“There is nothing about Walker as a judge to indicate that his sexual orientation, other than being an interesting factor, will in any way bias his view,” said Kate Kendell, head of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which is supporting the lawsuit to overturn Prop. 8.

I say to the expected barrage of right wingers, if you expect that the Judge rescues himself for this absurd reason, then every straight male should exclude themselves from rape cases, by way of example, just in case he does not get how the woman feels and then applies his male straight sexuality to his judgment.

If same –sex sexual orientation was included as a ‘minority’ worth of inclusion in the Civil Rights Act, none of this BS would be happening. All it is doing is derogating from our Court’s productivity.

Perhaps Judge Vaughn Walker is more qualified on Gay issues than Scalia on abortion issues, in terms of objectivity.

For those in the San Francisco legal community, this isn’t really much of a surprise at all. Vaughn Walker is not closeted, he just doesn’t talk about being gay because it is irrelevant in the same way as other Judges who are straight do not reflect on their sexuality at all. Who I choose for my wife or bed fellow will not impact my job tomorrow. Our sexual relationships do not feel unusual to us. I am sure Walker’s does not feel unusual to him. In the same way as I look at straight relationships and wonder what the big attraction is, I am not going to allow it to impact my thoughts as to the integrity of those straight people.

State Sen.Mark Leno D-San Francisco, who has sponsored two bills to authorize same-sex marriage that were vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger,said that as far as he’s concerned, Walker’s background is a non issue. “It seems curious to me,” he said, that when the state Supreme Court heard a challenge to Prop. 8, the justices’ sexual orientation “was never discussed.”(SF Chronicle)

Judge Walker was randomly assigned this case, and has been reasonable throughout. But that said its now with thanks to the piece in the SF chronicle that the right wing will have flavor to add to their fervor.

Melanie Nathan

By Melanie Nathan, nathan@privatecourts.com
www.privatecourts.com

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02/07/2010 by JR Russell

Yet another close look at one of the more objectionable passages in Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009.

(quotations from the Bill are in italics)

5. Protection, assistance and payment of compensation to victims of homosexuality.

“Victim” in this instance is defined as : a person who is involved in homosexual activities against his or her will.

(1 ) A victim of homosexuality shall not be penalized for any crime commuted as a direct result
of his or her involvement in homosexuality.

So if you kill someone, you can simply claim that they tried to make you have homosexual sex? Better yet, if you’re going to kill someone, pick someone you know is gay.

Gay Panic is the name used for a legal defense argument that an assault or murder was commited as a result of a homosexual overture by the victim of the assault. Just last year, this was used successfully in Illinois, where Joseph Biedermann was acquitted of the murder of his neighbour, Michael Hauser. Biedermann inflicted the 61 stab wounds, went home, showered and then went to the hospital. He claimed the deceased had attempted to sexually assault him.

The Gay Panic defense was disallowed in the 1998 Wyoming murder of Matthew Shepard, but only because the state of Wyoming doesn’t allow temporary insanity as a defense.

Not only does Uganda’s government intend to sentence gay people and their allies to death, they want to make it easier for civilians to murder homosexuals too. I suppose it cuts back on expenses.

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02/07/2010 by JR Russell

Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 has attracted all kinds of unwanted attention from the world.

President Obama briefly spoke out against it at the Family-sponsored National Prayer Breakfast, calling it “odious”.

Ugandan Pastor (and former break dancing champion!), Martin Ssempa, has responded to President Obama’s condemnation of the bill here.

Ssempa, who calls himself, “A passionate voice in the global fight against HIV/AIDS” responded to Obama’s comments in a statement, published by Kampala’s Family Policy and Human Rights Centre, available here.

He starts:

President Barack Obama makes two mistakes; first Ugandaʼs anti-homosexuality law only prescribes the capital punishment in cases where the victims are children or the handicapped.

So he’s saying that the death penalty will only apply for pedophiles, statutory rape, or having sex with a disabled person.

That sounds sensible. But it’s a lie.

The relevant section of the bill: (Anything quoted directly from the Bill will be in italics)

3. Aggravated homosexuality.
(1) A person commits the offense of aggravated homosexuality where the
(a) person against whom the offence is committed is below the age of 18 years;
(b) offender is a person living with HIV;
(c) offender is a parent or guardian of the person against whom the offence is committed;
(d) offender is a person in authority over the person against whom the offence is committed;
(e) victim of the offence is a person with disability;
(f) offender is a serial offender, or
(g) offender applies, administers or causes to be used by any man or woman any drug, matter or
thing with intent to stupefy overpower him or her so as to there by enable any person to have
unlawful carnal connection with any person of the same sex,
(2) A person who commits the offence of aggravated homosexuality shall be liable on conviction
to suffer death.
(3) Where a person is charged with the offence under this section, that person shall undergo a
medical examination to ascertain his or her HIV status.

Let’s go through this line by line.

3 (1) a. This appears to apply the death penalty to anyone who has homosexual sex with a person under 18, regardless of consent or the age of the “offender”. Thus the 18 year old lover of a 17 year old could be put to death. However, this does seem to be consistent with Uganda’s heterosexual age of consent law.

b. If the offender is HIV positive. This section puts no requirement on the law to prove that the “offender” had any knowledge of her of his status, and in fact provides in 3 (3) that an HIV test may be performed on anyone caught engaged in a an act of “aggravated homosexuality”. It also fails to specify whether the other partner must be HIV negative in order for a crime to have been commited. Barrier methods appear to be ignored in this case. It appears two HIV positive partners using barrier methods, neither of whom are aware of her or his HIV status could be put to death under this section.

c. and d. refer to having homosexual sex with your own children or people over whom you have authority or responsibility. This should clearly be offenses, regardless of the sexuality of the people involved. Death penalty offense? Debatable.

e. If the victim is a person with a disability. For the purposes of this bill, the word “victim” is defined as an unwilling participant (and therefore thankfully excludes convicting the sighted partner of a consenting blind person). Like c. and d., this exists to protect the vulnerable. Again, whether the death penalty should apply probably depends on your view of the death penalty.

f. This is the one they all wish we’d ignore. In this bill, a “serial offender” is defined as: a person who has previous convictions of the offence of homosexuality or related offences

Homosexuality is defined in the bill as well. “homosexuality” means same gender or same sex sexual acts. A person who is convicted of homosexuality (they use the plural so I’ll assume more than once) and re-offends can also be subject to the death penalty. A person who has had homosexual sex three times in her or his life could be put to death, if she or he were convicted for each instance.

Also — related offenses? What are those?

PART Ill — RELATED OFFENCES AND PENALTIES.
7. Aiding and abating homosexuality.
8. Conspiracy to engage in homosexuality.
9. Procuring homosexuality. by threats, etc.
10. Detention with intent to commit homosexuality.
11. Brothels.
12. Same sex marriage.
13. Promotion of homosexuality.
14. Failure to disclose the offence.

So the death penalty could well be applied to the allies of lesbians and gays, and those who would prefer their friends/family members/colleagues didn’t get put to death and therefore fail to report homosexual activity.

Secondly, homosexuals and lesbians are never targetted for who they are, rather what they do.
(from Martin Ssempa’s statement)

I hate to nitpick (no wait, I love to) but the very definition of “lesbian” in the bill is: a female who engages in sexual intimacy with another female. The very definition of lesbian in the bill is a woman defined by her sexual activity with another woman.

Another problem with this particular offense of Aggravated Homosexuality is that it confuses rape with consensual homosexual activity. Sections c., d. and g. (and to some extent a.) deal with sexual activity with someone who either denies consent, or is not lawfully able to consent, either through malicious intoxication, disability or age.

So, surprise, he’s lying, and it’s obvious from the text of the bill he endorses that the bill has nothing to do with HIV/AIDS prevention as he would have us all believe. One last quote from the bill will speak for itself. Spot the many mentions of HIV/AIDS prevention.

3.0. The objectives of the Bill
The objectives of the Bill are to:
(a) provide for marriage in Uganda as that contracted only between a man and a woman;
(b) prohibit and penalize homosexual behavior and related practices in Uganda as they constitute
a threat to the traditional family;
(e) prohibit ratification of any international treaties, conventions, protocols, agreements and
declarations which are contrary or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act;
(d) prohibit the licensing of organizations which promote homosexuality.

I welcome any and all comments and corrections.

Related articles:

• 10 Things to Oppose the Anti-Gay Legislation in Uganda (topix.net)
• House of Representatives Introduces Resolution Condemning Uganda’s “Kill The Gays” Bill (lezgetreal.com)
• UN’s human rights chief urges Uganda to scrap anti-gay legislation (guardian.co.uk)
• Rachel Maddow Rips Into Ugandan Anti-Gay Bill, American Backers [Behind The Bigotry] (jezebel.com)
• Uganda’s Kill-The-Straight-Friends-Of-Gays Bill (wakingupnow.com)

Melanie Nathan, Posting  an UPDATE on our BREAKING NEWS Article  – San Diego Police Investigate City Heights Deaths as a Murder-suicide (lezgetreal.com):

 San Diego Police Department conducted a welfare check at an apartment where officers found two bodies around in an apparent murder suicide.  

 GLTNN reports that the two bodies found were Eric Schulthise, a SeaWorld employee and Robert “Bob” Agnew, a former Naval Academy instructor. The respected and well-liked Schulthise was a regular in the Bear community, attending many fundraisers and events throughout the city. He was also a frequent go-go dancer at Bacchus House Bear Night. Schulthise and Agnew dated off and on from September through December 2009.

 According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, SDPD confirmed that a gun was found in the apartment. Homicide Detectives are investigating further.

 Fox also reported that neighbors have witnessed the two men arguing in front of the complex. Gun shots were heard and reported but it seems that the Police may not have shown up until a day later. 

 The deaths of both Schulthise and Agnew have stunned and deeply saddened many in the San Diego community. Since the news was reported, Schulthise’s Facebook page has been flooded with messages of condolence from people everywhere. Those close to both men were aware that the one-time couple had relationship troubles that eventually led to their break-up in mid-December.

SDPD has not yet released details on the murder-suicide investigation. GLTNN has learned from sources close to both men that a three-page suicide note was left, addressed to one of the men’s roommates.  We will report further developments as updates in this breaking news story on this same post on this site. Interested readers should subscribe to these comments and posts. 

 By Melanie Nathan nathan@privatecourts.com

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Mike Bickle, Preacher, Hater, Cult Leader, Scammer

 By Melanie Nathan, San Francisco, February 6, 2010 – The video below is from the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, MO. It shows a young man named Jacob sharing his story of being set free from addictions to cocaine and heroine, as well as same-sex attractions.

When my dear friend Evan Hurst of  TWO (Truth Wins Out) uncovered this perplexing tribute to “Hate Who G-d Made You” he suggested we post it on our site too and I am grateful to Ev for the exposure.  I encourage our readers to go to TWO site to read the comments. Hopefully you will comment here too. This people must be exposed for the harm. 

Evan Hurst of TWO: “ Behold the power of  Fundamentalist Christian  delusion: – Jacob, I don’t know who you are, but these people are predators. Your sexuality is part of you, and it has nothing to do with your drug addictions. And you don’t beat addiction to drugs by exchanging it for a dependency on profit-based faux-spiritual experiences proffered by people who use your life as a way to get rich.

I could not have said better myself. Once you read and comment here and on Ev’s site, please join the WAR and visit the criminal abuserers directly at:-http://voiceofrevolution.askdrbrown.org/2010/02/06/responding-to-the-critics-ihop-testimony-on-deliverance-from-same-sex-attraction/  We are not victims of these sick and depraved bigot who clothe themselves in hate and greed.

The gay website Ex-Gay Watch declared the following in their post on the video:

“As a former charismatic, the type of religious experience shown in this video is very familiar to me. In this kind of heady, charged atmosphere, it is very easy to suppress one’s “sin” issues and live on a “victorious” spiritual plane – that is until the trappings of revivalist, Pentecostal worship aren’t there or just don’t work any more, and the subject is brought down to earth with a bump.

In this video from IHOP (International House of Prayer, not to be confused with the restaurant chain International House of Pancakes), a young man claims to have been delivered from homosexual attractions he has experienced since childhood. The odd behaviour and spasmodic movements (as well as the wailing, sobbing, shouting and laughter from the congregation) have been especially common in Pentecostal and charismatic churches since the mid-1990s, and are usually attributed directly to the Holy Spirit.”

 As The Kingdom of God on February 6th, 2010  Marcus French  tries to defend the crazy guy with these remarks….

“ Does this sound like someone getting rich of this young man? The idea is laughable! And I have personal knowledge that Mr. Bickle lives the same kind of lifestyle today, even with the ministry growing exponentially since 2001 (I wonder if Wayne Besen, head of Truth Wins Out, draws this kind of salary?). This same example could be multiplied throughout the IHOP leadership team, and well into most of the charismatic movement today (again, with a few exceptions). Rather than IHOP using this young man, they’ve simply set up an environment where people like him can come and experience the power of the living God through the gospel of Jesus Christ 24 hours a day (they have facilities open to the public around the clock with people praying continuously for America and the world). I pray that this young man builds on this experience in prayer and devotion to Jesus, yielding a life that is full of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.”               

 WE UNCOVER  ……  the truth…………. is simply not so Mr. French your words mean nought  -   report on the indiscretions of Mike Bickle of IHOP.  See Part 1 here. Joanne Panettieri Editor, Kingdom Iconoclast …………. amongst many more such exposures…..   Mr. Bickle you are a Phony and we know it – stop abusing our kids NOW.  You are causing pain to those who would rather be left to live who they are. Further yet it is because of people like you and your inability to accept that G-d has chosen us to be who we are, that cause 100% of the suffering that youn gays and lesbians ought not to be going through.    

Bickle and IHOP – A CULT and look what they are doing to our kids….

 By Melanie Nathan, San Francisco, February 6, 2010
nathan@privatecourts.com
www.privatecourts.com
www.divorcemediators.us
www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com

02/06/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has offered up a proposal to put an end to dismissals under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, or at least she is reintroducing the idea. Under her plan, an amendment would be offered to put a halt to funding the dismissals of gay and lesbian service members. The amendment would be put into the Defense Department’s budget. The proposal is not new, but there is some hope for it. In the first ten years that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was in effect, the United States military spent approximately $36 million per year to dismiss gay and lesbian service members. A military based survey of the law’s effects estimated that the military had spent around $20 million per year. In a time of budgetary shortfalls, the fact that this money is being squandered on dismissing able bodied troops and training their replacements who are often far less experienced is a possible selling point. Aside from the bureaucratic costs of replacing each service member dismissed under DADT, there are the varying costs of training replacements and even in recruiting them, and in essence, for each gay or lesbian service member dismissed under DADT, the military has to recruit not only a replacement, but an additional person in order for the military to grow in a time of war.

Senator Gillibrand is hoping that this might be the time to cut off funding in order to get a moratorium in place until a full repeal is passed through the Congress. She had considered a proposal to do this before, but lacked sixty votes in the Senate to get it through. Offered as an amendment, it would require sixty votes to have it removed from the budget bill, and that is not an easy task to do. The Military Readiness Enhancement Act, the bill that would repeal DADT, may, likewise, be added to the budget bill in order to get it through Congress sooner rather than later. While many Senators may be willing to wait for the military to finish its survey of how to implement a DADT repeal, many inside and outside of Washington would like some form of moratorium on the discharges.

The most common reason given, at this point, for not wanting to go ahead with the repeal is that this would put a strain on the military while they are engaged in combat situations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfortunately for those critics, the greater rationale among many civilians and politicians is that the military needs every able bodied soldier available. With the National Guard no longer filling the role of freeing up able bodied soldiers to go to the front, but instead being on the front lines, the military is under a great deal of strain due to low recruitment, loss of life, and disabling injuries.

Senator Gillibrand has been the darling of the New York LGBT Community of late for her strong support of repealing DADT and her support for marriage equality. She is currently gearing up for a potential challenge to her seat. She was appointed to replace Secretary of State Hilary Clinton last year.

Gillibrand Jumps on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Retreat

02/06//10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Colonel Oliver North attacked the decision to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. He decided that the decision by Secretary Robert Gates to not pursue third party reports turning in gay and lesbian service members, such as Colonel Victor Fahrenbach, was selective enforcement of the law despite the fact that the third part of the law requires that the military not pursue service member’s sexuality unless it came to light by their own admission. Colonel North continuously called the decision to repeal DADT wrong and said that President Barack Obama was treating the military like lab rats. He also attacked the decision based upon the nonsensical notion that this would add to the burden of American troops already fighting two wars. Many service members have reported that the distrust that comes from lying about one’s sexuality often does more harm to morale and camaraderie than a person being open about their sexuality.

Colonel North also, in an opinion piece, also went after the repeatedly debunked notion that homosexuality is linked to pedophilia, and even questioned where the repeal of DADT would lead. He posited that it would lead to the lifting of age of consent laws. Never mind that there is plenty of evidence that children below the current age of consent are unable to understand what sex involves, and are not able to consent to an act which is often flat out rape. The smearing of homosexuals by linking them to pedophiles is often linked to the fact that people are more often likely to talk about a boy being molested but a girl being raped. In psychological and criminal parlance, however, a child is molested if they are groped or touched, but raped if there is any form of penetration. Children cannot consent to the acts that are done to them, and molestation and rape often leads to severe mental trauma. What Colonel North is, basically, doing is comparing a forced sexual act to a consensual act of love.

It should not be surprising that Colonel North, who was forced from the Marines in disgrace, is busy defending a law which undermines the military simply because its repeal is being pushed by President Barack Obama. North, who is currently a contributor to FOX News, was deeply involved in the Iran-Contra Affair, and was charged and convicted for his part within that scandal. His conviction was later revoked due to the fact that Congress had given him limited immunity for his testimony and the witnesses may have been affected by that.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has force many soldiers out of the military at a time when recruiting is down, and causalities are high. More than two hundred gay and lesbian service members were kicked from the military in 2009, and that is in addition to the couple hundred soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq and the numbers of soldiers who had to be discharged due to their wounds obtained in battle. By continuing to use the most vile of all the allegations regarding homosexuality to try and prevent the military from having enough soldiers to fight two wars, Colonel North showed his own bigotry. He also tried to cloak the idea within patriotic words by claiming that the American military is the best in the world. However, given that the majority of America’s NATO allies already have lifted their ban on gays and lesbians serving openly, one is left wondering which militaries are the best.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is, however, hoping to circumvent the need for an immediate repeal by cutting off all specific funding directed towards dismissing soldiers under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. A move that would save the government millions of dollars and keep qualified and needed soldiers in the ranks.

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2/6/10-by Paula Brooks
This past week, Lori Hahn (Hahn at Home) and Margo Moon (Starr Ann Chronicles) launched Our Big Gayborhood, an entertaining new site full of lively, powerful, snarky, reflective and just plain interesting articles spanning the entire spectrum of GLBT life.

Our Big Gayborhood is also home to the brand new podcast The Starr Ann Chronicles, narrated by women’s music legend Tret Fure. Listen for yourself, as Tret gives just the right voice to the cowgirl adventures of these two lucky, nature-lovin’ lesbians on horseback.

“We aren’t a news site – there are so many fine ones already. We aren’t an issues site either. Though, we discuss those things,” site co-creator Lori Hahn said. “This is a place to find humor, warmth, pathos, activism and to peer into the lives and opinions of our great team of writers who make up a pretty significant cross-section of GLBT life.”

“We’d love to see you in Our Big Gayborhood – where the queers write,” stated Margo Moon, co-editor. “And if you’d like to join our team, give us a shout at ourbiggay1(at)gmail.com!”

02/06/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Brendan Burke, the son of The Toronto Maple Leaf’s manager Brian Burke, was killed in a two car accident in Indiana. Brendan Burke was Brian Burke’s youngest son. The accident occurred early Friday afternoon. Brendan and his friend Mark A. Reedy were driving in Wayne Count when the Jeep Cherokee that Brendan was driving apparently slid on treacherous roads and slid into the path of an oncoming Ford truck. Brendan Burke later died in hospital from his injuries. The fatal accident was one of thirty-five reported in Indiana that Friday. The snowy conditions meant that the roads were dangerous, and black ice may have formed on the road.

Brendan Burke was openly gay. He told his father at Christmas in 2007, and the two were featured in a Toronto Star article in November 2007. When his son went public with the knowledge that he was gay, Brian Burke stated “Honestly, as a father, I can say I would rather it was some other kid blazing this trail. But only because of the negativism that may come of it. I support Brendan completely. But I guess I wish maybe he was second.” Brian Burke has been a big supporter of LGBT Rights, and attended the 2009 Toronto Pride Parade.

Brian Burke is a dual US-Canadian citizen, and he is the general manager for the US Men’s Hockey Team in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Richard Pebble, the president and chief executive of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, stated “On behalf of the entire Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment family, we extend our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Brian Burke. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Burke family during this extremely difficult time.”

As a Community, it is always hard to lose one of our own, especially one who is making a difference in raising awareness for LGBT rights. It is always more tragic when that life is ended so young. Brian Burke was twenty-one years old. Our condolences go out to Brian Burke, as well as Brendan’s five siblings.

Picture via Toronto Star (Burke Family/ESPN)

02/06/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

Nina Sky, the pop singing duo of twin sisters Natalie and Nicole Albino, had a hit song in 2004 with “Move Ya Body.” While none of their subsequent singles has been as successful, they are still around on the music scene. Natalie and Nicole are Puerto Ricans who grew up in Astoria, Queens. Rumors have been circulating on the internet for years that one of the duo is a lesbian.

Sources say that Nicole is the sister in question. Chueca is a Columbian run LBQ bar/nightclub in Queens. It is largely frequented by Latina lesbians and it’s rumored that Nicole was regularly seen at the bar when she was younger, and will still show up every once in awhile. Sources say that she is very low key and doesn’t throw around her fame or her repuation.    

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02/06/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

Natalie Portman was “terrified” when she had to kiss Mila Kunis (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, That 70’s Show, Family Guy) in her new movie ‘Black Swan’. Black Swan is a movie about two rival prima ballerinas in the high stakes world of ballet dancing. In the movie (spoiler alert, only if you are planning to see the movie, which I’m pretty sure you aren’t) Portman and Kunis have a sex scene together. In an interview Portman states:

“I was terrified. At the moment I lived in a state of inner terror.”

Inner terror? Kissing a beautiful accomplished actress is terrifying? Portman who has previously shot nude scenes and played a stripper in the movie “Closer” is also worried the lesbian sex sequence is overshadowing the plot of the film and worries it will make her be taken less seriously as an actress. She added: “Nudity is something absolutely natural and I’m not prudish – but in a film it can be distracting. But stripping isn’t? Portman goes on to say:

“Doing ‘Black Swan’ I couldn’t say no. The project is a huge opportunity for me to show a new me. I can’t always play the nice mothers. My other problem is that single pictures are being taken out of context and put on the internet.” Right, Portman is always playing the nice mother, or the nice stripper. Playing a nice lesbian is a huge leap for her. There is nothing wrong with strippers, but it’s sad that Portman regards playing a lesbian as her least family friendly role.

Portman studied psychology at Harvard has a reputation for being “I can guarantee you I’m not one of the most intelligent actresses of the world.” I completely agree with you Natalie and to prove it, I’m running some of Portman’s best quotes below:

“Star Wars hasn’t changed my life at all.”

Except for the millions of dollars you made and the wooden acting that eventually will become your legacy among the millions of Star Wars fans worldwide.

“When a guy tells me I’m cute, it’s not something desirable. Cute is more like what you want your pet to be.”

Cute is awesome. We can’t all be devastatingly gorgeous in a half-fed way.

And then there was the time she compared meat lovers to rapists: I say that Foer’s ethical charge against animal eating is brave because not only is it unpopular, it has also been characterized as unmanly, inconsiderate, and juvenile. But he reminds us that being a man, and a human, takes more thought than just “This is tasty, and that’s why I do it.” He posits that consideration, as promoted by Michael Pollan in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which has more to do with being polite to your tablemates than sticking to your own ideals, would be absurd if applied to any other belief (e.g., I don’t believe in rape, but if it’s what it takes to please my dinner hosts, then so be it).

Portman told Allure magazine in an interview, regarding being famous: “I’m not black, but I know what it feels like.” That quote speaks for itself. Natalie Portman: Not America’s Smartest Actress.

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2/6/10-by Paula Brooks
Two Iowa GOP State Representatives, Jason Schultz, and Matt Windschitl, this week, co-sponsored legislation which seeks to remove LGBT students from the 2007 Iowa Safe Schools Law that protects students from harassment and bullying in Iowa’s schools and the measure has been referred to the Iowa House Education Committee for consideration.

Iowa’s Safe Schools Law requires both public and private schools to establish policies prohibiting harassment and bullying against students by employees, school volunteers, or other students.

Sexual Orientation and Gender identity are currently covered under the Safe Schools Law, but the bill introduced by Schultz, and Windschitl would strike those protections.

Said Ryan Roemerman, Executive Director of Iowa Pride Network, “When our state is facing record budget deficits and unemployment, House Republicans feel their time is best spent picking on Iowa’s LGBT youth,” “There is no better example as to why we have this law, so youth in Iowa don’t grow up to be like these bigots.”

via Iowa Pride Network: House Republicans Seek to Bully Gay Students.

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02/06/2010 by JR Russell

I’ve written a piece over on Forth.ie that disusses the direction Uganda is taking with regards transparency, freedom of the press and the much discussed oil deals.

Forth.ie

The lack of transparency carries over as well into the lies that are being spread about the gay rights movement. Gay rights opponents have spread the word that rights groups are using foreign money to recruit Ugandan children, that homosexuality and paedophilia are linked and that homosexuality can be “cured”.

These lies have spawned what we now know as the Kill-the-gays bill or the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 which makes the already criminal act of homosexuality punishable by life in prison, or for repeat offenders, death.

Please head on over and comment too. Forth magazine has some great reads, and I was really chuffed to be able to contribute.

ON TUESDAY February 2, the Ugandan blogger known only as Gay Uganda, sent a Twitter message to reassure his followers that no harm had come to him. His silence had been caused by an all-too-common-in-Uganda power cut.

In Uganda, only five per cent of the population is connected to the national grid. Prohibitively expensive, electricity in resource-rich Uganda heavily relies on costly imported fuel, despite natural oil seepage, and the first oil well that was dug in 1938. World War II intervened and only in the 1990s did interest turn again to Uganda’s vast natural resources. This might have been the luckiest thing that ever happened to Uganda.

 -

Police said someone asked officers to do a welfare check on a co-worker about 3:40 p.m. because he had not shown up to work in a few days, which was unlike him. The caller also told police that the co-worker was going through a domestic breakup.

About 20 minutes later, officers found two bodies in a first-floor unit of the two-story condominium building on Wilson Avenue near Wightman Street. A gun was found in the apartment, police said.  Some neighbors heard gunshots two nights ago. A neighbor reported that his next-door neighbor, a man in his mid-30s, had confided in him that he was being stalked by someone he had been seeing.

The neighbor had heard a rapid succession of about six gunshots, which was then followed by a single shot.  He called 911, but that in the two hours or so he remained awake afterward he did not see or hear any police.  There is no available report indicating that officers in fact were dispatched to the scene, that remained undiscovered for the following two days.

We do not have any reports as to the identity of the deceased victims, nor confirmation that this was a murder suicide. Report picked up from  Leslie Berestein, a  UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER and  Kristina Davis, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER  published in  Signon, San Diego News.

Posred by Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com

2/5/10- by Paula Brooks
After numerous meetings at the Iowa State Capitol Thursday, Brad Clark, campaign director, for Iowa gay rights advocacy group One Iowa, has said he believes Republicans will attempt to pull a bill that seeks to constitutionally define marriage as a union between one man and one woman, out of committee and on to the Iowa House floor for a vote.

According to the Iowa Independent, Clark said Republicans in the Iowa House, seeking to overturn the Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling that legalizing same-sex marriage, are likely to attempt to bring about a vote on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage on Monday.

In an email alert, the group said, “While legislative leadership has stood firm in support of equality, extremists are attempting to overthrow House rules and push an anti-marriage amendment to the floor!”

The procedural move to pull a bill out of committee requires a 51-vote majority and seven Democrats would have to cross the aisle to vote with Republicans for the procedure to succeed.

Last year, Republicans made several attempts to bring a similar measure to the floor, but this marks the first formal attempt to overturn the Court’s ruling of the in this years legislative session.

Democratic leaders, however, managed to block the efforts to get the amendment on the floor for a vote last year and have repeatedly promised there would be no vote on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in Iowa during the states 2010 legislative session. Iowa State Rep. Michael Reasoner, a Democrat from Cranston, nevertheless, is the sponsor of the current legislation banning same-sex marriage that the Iowa Republicans are currently trying to move forward.

In order to become a constitutional amendment in Iowa, a bill must pass two General Assemblies and then be put on the ballot for the public. If Republicans are unable to pass the ban this year, the earliest it could go before the public for a vote would likely be 2014.

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Courtesy of @mrsquishington

Late this afternoon, mobile phone operator Vodafone UK’s official account @VodafoneUK tweeted

is fed up of dirty homo’s and is going after beaver

The tweet has been deleted and Vodafone’s twitter feed is now full up of apologies to those who were upset and offended by the tweet.

Vodafone are saying they suspect it was a case of someone tweeting from the wrong account and not a malicious act. They confirm they have not been hacked.

Whatever it is, the tweet is incredibly offensive, to both gay people and women. Moreover,  it proves they have in their employ a barely literate moron.

Vodafone say they are dealing with it internally, but how do you think this should be handled? Is it an innocent mistake?

02/05/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association went on Alan Colmes’ radio show to try and explain his views on how homosexuality should be criminal and tries desperately to get Alan Colmes to provide the answers to what Colmes asks him. Fischer tried desperately to equate homosexuality with intravenous drug use while continuously evading actually answering Colmes’ questions and not actually giving a reason why he believes that homosexuality is like drug abuse. He did, however, make it clear that he wanted to put gays and lesbians into reparative therapy in order to force them to be straight. Of course, this flies in the face of all established psychological information which finds that the vast majority of people who go through reparative therapy are still homosexual on the other side of the therapy, and that the therapy tends to do more damage to the person’s psyche. It also goes against a statement made on MSNBC by Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council regarding the fact that homosexuality is innate to the person. Of course, Sprigg also thinks that homosexuality is not the problem, just the behavior. It creates a contradiction in theories.

Fischer went on to list a bunch of controversies on the web which could be quickly fixed if homosexuality was relegated to being a crime again.

Think for a moment of the current social controversies that could potentially be avoided if homosexual conduct was still against the law.

Gays in the military: problem solved. We shouldn’t make a place for habitual felons in the armed forces. End of discussion, end of controversy. If someone objects, ask them which other felonies the military ought to overlook in screening recruits.

Gay marriage: problem solved. We should never legalize unions between any two people when the union is forged specifically to engage in felony behavior. Would we sanction, for instance, the formation of a corporation whose stated purpose was to import illegal drugs?

Gay indoctrination in the schools: problem solved. We don’t want to raise a generation of schoolchildren to believe that felony behavior is perfectly appropriate. That’s why we spend so much money warning students about the danger of drugs.

Hate crimes laws: problem solved. We wouldn’t throw a pastor in jail for saying that illegal behavior is not only illegal but also immoral. For instance, he’s free to say that murder is not only contrary to man’s law but also to God’s law. End of the threat to freedom of religion and speech.

Special rights for homosexuals in the workplace: problem solved. No employer should be forced to hire admitted felons to work for him. End of the threat to freedom of religion and freedom of association in the marketplace.

Of course, these controversies could be easily dealt with by passing laws which grant gays and lesbians the same rights as every other American. However, Fischer is not after that. What he wants is to impose Christian Theocratic Law upon society. What is worse, it is not even a universally accepted form of Christianity. Many Christians today accept that homosexuality is innate and genetic and support LGBT Americans and their rights. What is more, from what is heard on the clip, Fischer’s version of the Bible is not even one of the more accurate translations, but is, instead, based upon more recent “translations” which often involved putting the Bible into a form that supposedly reflected a more accurate understanding, but often used words which distorted the original meanings of ancient words. For instance, the Bible does not have the word “homosexual” in it. That word is modern in its origin.

The American Psychological Association has proven repeatedly that reparative or rehabilitative therapy is not only ineffective, but can be incredibly detrimental to the person. Often times, people who back such therapy cannot provide long term data regarding their success. This is largely because those few people who do change sexuality successfully were likely not homosexual to begin with. Many of those end up changing their sexuality through regular non-reparative therapy as many of those involve other psychological issues. Some are sexual abuse survivors.

In the interview, Fischer tried to back peddle repeatedly. At one time he stated that homosexuals were to be equated with murderers and slave owners. Instead of answering that charge, he tried hard make an analogy between homosexuality and drug abuse. When Colmes tried to hold his feet to the fire, Fischer tried to make Colmes answer his own question. It seemed as if Fischer was well aware of what he sounded like and did not want to come off like MP David Bahati of Uganda calling for the execution and imprisonment of gays and lesbians, and yet, he missed Alan Colmes’ point. In the end, it is one small step from calling for people to under go therapy that doesn’t work to imprisoning them and then executing them.

Fischer was one of the vocal people pushing to bar all Muslims from serving within the military. “As soon as Muslims give us a foolproof way to identify their jihadis from their moderates, we’ll go back to allowing them to serve.” One would have to wonder if the same can be done for Christians. Back when Major Nadal Hasan went on his rampage at Fort Hood, LGR ran a piece about the problems of ramping up the anti-Muslim rhetoric, and that it was often coming the same people attacking all Muslims were often the same people attacking the LGBT Community.

The video of the interview can be found here.

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by CanuckJacq

It’s true… I actually have a life that has nothing to do with Uganda, the UK Equality Bill, the Irish Blasphemy Law or indeed Iris Robinson.

As such, I’m going to cheat a little and submit an update post to cover the billion or so stories coming out of the busy country called Uganda.

Most recently: CNOOC have gone into partnership with Tullow Oil, who have had their offer approved by the Ugandan government, who previously favored Italy’s Eni for the deal.

Also the government have said they will make the details of the Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) available to government ministers, but a court in Kampala has rejected a bid by two Daily Monitor journalists to have the details made public. As these agreements have already been leaked and analysed, it will be interesting to see what government ministers make of them.

One of those two journalists has also been arrested on charges of Criminal Libel. He has been released on bail and it could be quite some time before he faces any kind of proceedings as the law of Criminal Libel is currently being reviewed by the Supreme Court. AFP reports that several journalists at the same paper face charges.

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill appears to have the support of a full 83% of Ugandans, according to a television poll. They do, however, support it on the basis of claims being made that outside money donated to gay Ugandan organisations is being spent recruiting children. There seems to be little belief, even among Ugandan liberals that this claim is simply false. In this blog post, the blogger, Julius Barigaba,  argues that while it is wrong of homosexuals to recruit, it is equally wrong for heterosexuals and religious people to recruit children.

US President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed the matter while attending The Family-sponsored National Prayer Breakfast. Over the last couple of weeks there was a flutter of drama over whether or not the sponsor of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, MP David Bahati, would attend. He did not. There were questions as to whether Obama should attend an event sponsored by the secretive religious group.

This week, Moses, a gay man from Uganda, spoke to a news conference about his experiences as a gay man in Uganda. He wore a paper bag over his head because the proposed legislation in Uganda would mean that as a Ugandan citizen, coming out anywhere in the world would be an extriditable offense (would the US really comply?) and then he could be charged, incarcerated and even executed in Uganda. This hateful legislation means freeom nowhere for Ugandans.

I’m not the first person to seriously wonder, without taking the importance out of the anti-gay bill — it is reprehensible and will hurt gay Ugandans regardless of its purpose — whether it is simply a convenient and populist smokescreen, to keep the public afraid and upset about homosexuals and far less likely to press their government on the shady details of their oil contracts, and other corruption concerns ahead of the 2011 elections.

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 Posted by Melanie Nathan, February 05, 2010:  Third Part of The Binational Series UAFA or 1,666 years of Binational Stories”

Here is a letter which was sent to President Obama, with the emotive reflections of a foreign born spouse.  Although each story has a unique fingerprint, this  isdifferent from the very many stories we hear, as this letter reflects the abhorent and unconscienable detention of the writer by the American authorities.

Dear President Obama,                       (January 3, 2010)

Preaching in the 60s, when the US was racked with racism and the horrors of the Vietnam War, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired the American people to pursue justice, the truth and simply to do the right thing, because “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”. 

So, where do the American people stand at this point in time of challenge and controversy, although almost 50 years later? Does America, the “land of the free and home of the brave” hold up to George Washington’s expectation of “Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair”? As I look through my wife’s passport, I find comfort in words of wisdom by the 34^th President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Whatever America hopes to bring to pass in the world must first come to pass in the heart of America.”

It was in 1963 when Dr. King delivered his speech “I Have a Dream” in Washington. Dr. Martin Luther King had a dream, a dream to end racial segregation and racial discrimination; in 2009 as a result this country elected its first African-American President Barack Hussein Obama. In 1967 the Supreme Court declared interracial marriage fully legal in all U.S. States. Since then many more subjects on human rights issues have been addressed and corrected by congress. Just a few months ago President Obama signed hate crimes bill into law as a step toward change to “help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray”, (CNN Politics article, Oct. 28, 2009). So, could one finally say that all men are not only created equal but surely treated equal as well? Can America stand up to the world and with integrity proclaim that “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” – an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence written on pages 10-11 of the American passport.

I look at my wife’s American passport with its beautiful design, I read those profound words, wise words by wise men and I wonder why those words don’t reflect our reality!                                                                                                                       

Is it because our life is out of the ordinary range of the usual set of circumstances?  Is it simply because our life differs from the typical portrayal of a married couple? We are committed to each other, we know each other for more than 11 years, we love each other, we live together, we built a life together, we are married and we actually would have a happy life if it wasn’t for the remaining failure of the U.S. Government to ensure the pursuit of happiness for all U.S. citizens; this nation still neglects the basic human rights of their homosexual fellow citizens treating them as “second-class”, just a minority…  

“All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.” – Thomas Jefferson  

 This nation must make significant changes to ensure equal rights for gays and lesbians. Although President Obama has urged Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, the States of New York and New Jersey recently refused the recognition of same-sex marriages. The subject matter becomes even more profound when dealing with immigration issues, as my wife and I do. I am a 47-year-old highly educated woman from Europe. For over 11 years I stayed in the US “out of status”, constantly living on the edge of being terrified of discovery and deportation. One could say fear was my constant companion. It was no fairy tale life or even in any way close to living the American dream, but as Albert Einstein simply puts it, “In the middle of difficulty lays opportunity”.

Most bi-national heterosexual couples living in the U.S. have no problem staying together; the American citizen can sponsor their foreign spouse in obtaining a green card including work authorization. The foreign-born spouse can easily pursue and further her/his professional career. Bi-national homosexual couples are denied those rights. I depended on my wife/life partner for support since I had no work authorization. Often I felt deprived of the right to contribute to society as well as my own household, simply put: a waste of time, a waste of talent, and a waste of life! In all those 11 years, my wife and I were “prisoners” of a political system that seems antiquated, out-dated and rather forces people into committing fraud. Many commit marriage fraud as a means to an end in exchange for a green card, but I never considered this to be an option, because for me marriage is too sacred to be dishonest about.

On March 18, 2009 our life took a tragic turn. As feared for so many years, I was finally picked-up at a Greyhound bus station as a result of a raid by border patrol and taken into custody by ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement). I was detained for 102 days in a facility for ‘illegal aliens.’  I don’t think that any one of us, meaning my American spouse, our American friends and family members knew detention centers for immigrants existed. I was treated as a criminal, although with no criminal record at all. I was even told by officers in this facility that we all were criminals and deserve to be treated as such.

During my time in detention, we exhausted our financial resources for lawyer fees, travel expenses from my home to my out of State place of detention, phone cards and commissary goods, etc. A detainee is allowed a budget of $40 on phone cards per week which equals 140 minutes in talk time with your loved ones, or in other words a 20 minutes phone conversation per day. There were eight phones for over 100 female detainees. Well, the phone conversation with your family is your lifeline, and the only way to communicate with the outside world other than writing a letter. After an intake process, the detainee is provided with one set of sheets, one towel, one sweatshirt, two t-shirts, two pants and one pair of shoes. Everything else must be purchased with commissary such as shampoo, soap, deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste etc., etc.

Visitation is only on Sundays for four hours; no detainee is allowed more than two visitors at a time unless the warden grants request.

Medical service is almost non-existent. Once I was very sick, I had high fever, sore throat, and sinus infection, earache and yeast infection all at once. Before being able to be seen by a nurse, I had to file a request. I was told it would take up to 48 hours to get a response. When I finally received medical care I had to choose between the two symptoms for which only one could be treated and given medication; for the second I had to file a new request and wait another 48 hours. On several occasions I have witnessed neglect of medical care of detainees in need of medication, not to mention dental care, which was completely non-existent. One detainee was advised to use common glue to repair a broken crown; waiting time to see a dentist was up to three months. Officers failed to provide underwear, sanitary napkins as well as toilet paper. Often I couldn’t comprehend still being in the United States of America, especially when witnessing detainees in handcuffs and shackles, reversed racism and the abuse of power.

Deprived of one’s dignity when for example announced over loud speakers to line up for the “feedings” as the officers called our breakfast, lunch and dinner, detention certainly took its toll on me. As I became severely depressed, my Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD), I suffered as a result from years of trauma in Europe worsened. With no psychological help in sight one can only try to survive holding on to faith. A typical night as a detainee consists of waking up to a flashlight shoved in our faces every two hours by an officer along with the clinking sound of their keys made sleep impossible. I could list a dozen or more such infractions I suffered while detained, but it has taken me seven months to gather the strength to write even these details. Suffice to say, detention of immigrants who have not committed a crime is completely dehumanizing; such standards simply display and validate the civil and human rights crisis in the U.S. The current immigration system “perpetuates inequalities contrary to a free and democratic society” (NYCLU).

On June 26, 2009 I was finally released with the assistance of my spouse’s congressman, and it is this extraordinary act of compassion and courage that makes me love this country even more, despite all odds and the pain of being detained. It is with this extraordinary act of compassion for his constituent that made our reunion possible, a living testimony for the principle of the Declaration of Independence (1776), the unalienable Right to the pursuit of Happiness. For some U.S. citizens their rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness means changing laws becomes a demand, to ensure homosexual bi-national couples receive the same fair treatment than their fellow heterosexual citizens, after all they are all your constituents. Comprehensive Immigration Reform must include UAFA – Uniting American Families Act!

“Despite the progress we’ve made, there are still laws to change and hearts to open,” President Obama said during his address at the dinner for the Human Rights Campaign in October of 2009. “This fight continues now, and I’m here with the simple message: I’m here with you in that fight.”

Are you, President Obama?

 “If there is no struggle there is no progress…. This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both.”       – Frederick Douglass

 Sincerely,

Although the writer was released from detention – her battle has only just began as she and her spouse struggle desperately to remain in the United States.  Her Spouse cannot leave the USA for many reasons of extreme hardship and this couple simply cannot be separated.  Financial issues persist for them as they try to pursue this case with attorneys. How can any American or politician read this case without shame?

Posted by Melanie Nathan,
www.privatecourts.com /
nathan@privatecourts.com
follow me on twitter @oblogdeeoblogda

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Ny Melanie Nathan, San Francisco,   Unless there is a dramatic change in how the Gay and Lesbian (plus BTQI) minority perceives itself,   its political representatives, its leadership  and its part in its own fate, its existence will continue to be political scrap subject to constant pawn and barter of its uncertain future,’ ad infinitum.’

As a community, are we our own worst enemies?   Have we fallen prey to the slightness that has befallen our existence? I believe so; we have bought into our invalidity.  While our politicians assume back doors to our equality expedient and our advocacy organizations tread their furtive tightrope, we exacerbate our self administered nullity.

If the color of my skin were GAY, would I be asking to sit on a bench with “color straight” or would I be asking for full inclusion in “WE THE PEOPLE;” – friends WE ARE THE PEOPLE. Now is the time to let go of the shades and stand up for the Pride. Until such time as we stand up and say who we are and that we want it all NOW – we have nothing. Nothing! Nothing!

With that thought I present this example and in this instance it is based entirely on my own opinion, with an element of source information gnawing at my senses. 

Just this week I broke the news that Senator Schumer plans to exclude UAFA and hence same-sex spouses from inclusion in his about to be introduced Comprehensive immigration Reform Bill. (CIR)  It is obvious, given the Senators support of UAFA that he in fact does believe that same-sex spouses ought to have equal rights under the immigration laws. So why is he doing this?

Well there are only two logical reasons and perhaps a combination of both:  1. If I did not believe that Senator Schumer had LGBT interest at heart (and actually I do believe that does have our interest at heart) then I would say he is simply pandering to the Catholic Church’s threat to pull all support for the CIR Bill if the Senator includes gays and lesbians, especially given his record low ratings at this time; or 2. The good Senator has a plan and that is to introduce the Bill in a manner that pleases the masses of faith based ,  Latina immigrant communities and conservatives in the Senate to a point where he gets a sixty plus support,  and then ‘voooop’  under the radar,  plugs us in  at the committee stage of the Bill. 

This is indeed the perfect example of what we are allowing to happen. We are marginalized and ‘may’ be slipped in somewhere.   What will we do about it?  All the while we have binationals suffering dire hardship. Some are in exile, some are in hiding, some are away from their beloved spouses and/or families and others are being detained.  The airports are turning gays and lesbians away – those with visitor and other visas are being profiled at the airport and sent home, notwithstanding the validity of their visas.   New equal rights legislation, such as SB 54, in California is finding its hiccups in the gigantic anomaly created by the conflict between State and Federal law.

Now we must take responsibility for our part in this debacle of an existence; where we cannot marry here, but we can marry there; where we are married, but it means nothing where we live; where we cannot mention the name of our spouse when suffering an enemy bullet; where we must exile from our country to be with our foreign born partners, and where an employer can fire us for merely existing.   

It is now time to rise from the comfort of beneath radar strategies– and bring this all down to one simple cohesive position.   We can only be saved by extreme visibility and demanding the maximum, an Omnibus Bill – that imparts America grants full equality to and the LGBT community realizes its position as a minority with equal protection to sexual orientation under the Civil Rights Laws of the USA. Otherwise we will be rattling around at the discretion of a bunch of old buzzards until my four year old daughter, is President of the United States.

Instead of hiding behind piecemeal ‘tidily -bits’ and pats on the back – “yeah one more sponsor for UAFA!” or “ Whoopee  DADT got a hearing”  or “Don’t worry about Schumer’s exclusion -UAFA will be included in Committee..” or  Rep. Barney Frank’s “We must get DADT and ENDA, before I agree to Jerold Nadler’s repeal of DOMA legislation.”  This is crazy – it is all crazy. 

So are we not tired already of being THE political pawn; THE one who has to suffer someone else’s perspective wrapped in expedience? Any way you look at it – it is an impossible battle in the Washington D.C. of today.  We ARE THE PEOPLE- with an obstructionist Congress – a Democratic President –who cares about us- has breakfast with a bunch or crazies and zealots inciting gay hate in the most vulnerable places of this Earth and all the while we are expected to remain in our seats with our safety belts harnessed.

This is the vortex now is the time for a dramatic change – the change must be a fight for nothing short of full equality.  We, THE PEOPLE, must rise now and demand that our color be noticed; and included.  We are a minority and are no longer willing to fly to nowhere on the wings of nothing under the radar of prejudice. 

No civil rights have ever been attained without a comprehensive core theme, without anger, without a revolution.  Do you think apartheid would have ended in South Africa or Segregation in the USA if the oppressed had asked for one bench at a time?  How long should we sit around waiting for the perfect D.C. or some bright spark in a group to make a mark!   A few making decisions for millions of us – based on a little bit first and then maybe more later – what did that ever accomplish?  “We have made in -roads?” – Yes we have and so let us seize those outlets now instead of spending another 10 years making more in-roads. 

Are you willing to settle for what is politically expedient in the estimation of members of Congress?  Why are we being led by Congress and not by our own community?  Who are our leaders, may I ask reader who do you perceive to be your leader?  This is not to slight any of the advocacy groups or their amazing work, and without them we would be nowhere at all,  but rather to draw attention to the fact that we have indeed dived way too deep into the one piece at a time modality, by leaving it up to the groups who each subscribe to particular separate issues.

To add insult to injury, our Congress issues a resolution condemning Uganda’s Kill Gay Bill– I challenge congress with a simple question– what gives you a mouth to other nations when you barely give credence to your own gay citizenry?  Today President Obama mentioned at the Prayer Breakfast that the way Gays are treated in Uganda is unacceptable, but Sir I ask humbly, “what do you expect?” We came out of the most hateful and unlawful regime in terms of government and unless we show up for LGBT community in an all encompassing way, we will never get out from under the cloud we share with Uganda.

To lead the world on matters pertaining to human rights and basic civil rights, you have no legitimate voice until you clean your own house…. That means full equality for your own homosexual, gay, lesbian, LGBTQI community – an Omnibus Bill – “wow why didn’t I think of that,” said the chicken to the hen, an amendment to the Civil Rights Act to include sexual orientation.  Just imagine – we would not need ENDA, UAFA, repeal of DADT and DOMA will float away by virtue of its vulnerability.

 Not only have we all failed miserably to affect full inclusion, but this Country has created a milieu where American bred hatred is inciting universal abhorrence, with a professed “license to kill,” homosexuals.

When the USA Congress and laws validate the rights of Gays in America with full equality, your resolutions and reprimands will carry weight in the World.   Until such time our Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, are actively participating in the discrimination and prejudice of our minority here in the USA thereby endorsing the relegation of Gays worldwide to ‘persona non grata.’  

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton asked Uganda to pull the Hate Kill Gay Bill.  Unfortunately the Secretary lacks credibility when Uganda can point the finger right back at the USA, asserting American influence. Scott Lively had the impertinence, fuelled by endorsements and support of Liberty Council, the Family et al, and empowered by an atmosphere here in the USA, conducive to their indiscretions, to incite and directly influence one of the worst legislative actions in modern history.

This brings me back to Now and us and our reason for being in this position. It is all a clear indication that nothing but all is acceptable.  This Congress  and this President must end the folly and the political ploys and the only way that is going to happen from our end of the responsibility is to change our thinking, take responsibility and all get involved as a movement that only stonewall knew.  We want an Omnibus Bill and we want it now.  Unless we try we will never know that we could not do it!  Much of my advocacy success has been because I have never been afraid to fail and if I am told “no” then I find another way until I can and yes I believe we can accomplish full equality, but only through an all round Bill that gives us absolute equality.

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By Melanie Nathan, Private Courts, Inc.  Conflict resolution, Strategy Consultant,  Human Rights and Personal  Advocacy
www.privatecourts.com; www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com; Follow me on Twitter @oblogdeeoblogda

2/4/10-by Paula Brooks

In its third ruling on the issue of Marriage Equality in the District of Columbia, the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics has again rejected efforts by anti-gay Maryland preacher Bishop Harry Jackson, to place a ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage in the District.

In today’s 18-page ruling, the board again said that such a measure would violate the city’s Human Rights Act (HRA) that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

“The Referendum seeks to frustrate this effort, and would, if successful, have the effect of authorizing discrimination in contravention of the HRA… “Accordingly, it does not present a proper subject for referendum, and may not be accepted by the Board,” said the ruling.

In December, Mayor Adrian Fenty signed the “Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009,” legislation that would allow same-sex marriages in the District, after a period of Congressional review.

Jackson has been trying to prevent implementation of that law from taking effect until voters decide on the issue.

Jackson has appealed the board’s previous rulings to the D.C. Superior Court, and in all probably will likely appeal this latest decision as well. However, in those previous cases the court agreed with the board’s decision.

This week Republicans in Senate also attempted to stymie the Districts Marriage law, and introduced legislation Tuesday that would stop same-sex marriages from becoming legal in the city without a referendum or vote by citizens of the District.

Last month, Republican Reps. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, and Jim Jordan of Ohio, introduced a resolution of disapproval in the House, objecting to the actions of the District of Columbia Council and have also sponsored similar legislation to the Senate bill that would block the law.

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February 4, 2010-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Harry Knox of the Human Rights Campaign announced today the formation of the American Prayer Hour in response to the National Prayer Breakfast which has been held annually by the group known colloquially as The Family, though their real name is the Fellowship Foundation. The LGBT Community has been pushing strongly for condemnation of, and even retraction of, the Ugandan bill which would criminalize homosexuality to such an extent that the penalty for being both gay and having HIV/AIDS would be death, and life imprisonment for just being homosexual. People who know of homosexuality in friends and relatives would be forced to turn in those people or face up to three years in jail.

In a statement issued on the web, Knox stated:

For too long, the American people have been in the dark about a right-wing Christian organization called the Fellowship Foundation, but more commonly known in Washington as The Family. The Family finances and gives technical support and training to political and faith leaders around the globe with a goal of spreading homophobia and heterosexism worldwide. We have seen the fetid fruits of the Family’s labors in recent weeks as its friends in the Ugandan Parliament have sponsored legislation that would make homosexuality a crime punishable by death in some instances and by life imprisonment in virtually all others.

How extensive the Family’s involvement in the creation of Member of Parliament David Bahati’s bill is unclear and unknown. Several members of the Family inside the United States have called for the bill to be scrapped, and supposedly the bill had been taken back to be heavily amended. The bill came at a time when Uganda’s government was sealing deals with European oil companies to extract the nation’s oil. The creation of this particular oil field has or will result in the displacement of roughly thirty thousand individuals.

Given the controversy surrounding the Family as well as other issues regarding this institution, President Barack Obama’s attendance at this National Prayer Breakfast resulted in calls for him not to attend. He did make a lengthy statement to the people gathered there about not exploiting gays and lesbians for political gain, and even briefly attacked the Ugandan bill.

Regarding the Ugandan bill, Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Anglican Bishop, stated “I spent time in Uganda to help set up HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs many years ago. Ugandans are a generous and hospitable people. But because of an unholy alliance between conservative religious groups in this country and anti-gay forces overseas Ugandans are turning on their own Ugandan sons and daughters who happen to be gay. This proposed law is a threat to LGBT people in Uganda and everywhere. Around 35% of Ugandans are Anglican and 45% are Catholic. Although many faith leaders have stood by silently, today we speak out on behalf of the marginalized. Faith leaders of all traditions should speak out for the most vulnerable in Uganda before it’s too late.”

February 4, 2010-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Talking to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell yesterday, Senator Orrin Hatch made it clear that he was open to repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. He stated that there were “outstanding patriotic gay people who serve in the military and who should be given credit for it” and that they should not be forced to lie about their service. While Senator Hatch is reluctant to state whether or not he is absolutely for repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell right away, he did indicate that he wanted to wait until the military’s review of the policy had been completed. Senator Hatch also rejected the assertion that many people opposing the repeal have made. In effect, Hatch stated that he does not believe that repealing DADT would ultimately result in gays and lesbians asking for greater privileges and rights than any other person serving in the military.

Senator Hatch serves on the Senate Finance Committee, as well as on the Intelligence Committee and the Judiciary Committee. The Utah Senator is Mormon, and in 1998, courted controversy when he stated that the Constitution was ambiguous regrading the issue of polygamy. He later retracted that statement.

The push to end DADT has been spearheaded of late by President Barack Obama with the full agreement of Admiral Mike Mullen and Secretary Robert Gates. Currently, the military is setting up to study the effects of repealing DADT, though the repeal may come before the study is ready. The MREA or Military Readiness Enhancement Act may be folded into the Defense Reauthorization Bill in the same manner that the Matthew Shepard Act was. By folding this bill into that bill, it would require the Republicans to come up with sixty votes to remove the amendment, a feat that would likely be impossible even if the Republicans make inroads into the Democratic majority in November.

Update:

Senator Hatch’s office released this statement today stating:

Sen. Orrin Hatch says the left-leaning media misconstrued his comments in a TV interview Wednesday that seemed to imply he would be open to repealing the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which requires gay service members to keep their sexual orientations secret.

“I certainly do not support repealing this policy,” he said in a statement trying to clarify his views and blasting activist groups for “misconstruing my position.”

His clarification contradicts his earlier statements on this issue.

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February 2, 2010- by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Representative Howard L. Berman (D-CA) has introduced a resolution condemning Uganda’s anti-homosexual bill. The bill dubbed “Kill the Gays” bill would execute people for being gay if they have HIV/AIDS or were convicted of aggravated homosexuality. The bill has drawn a great deal of condemnation from a variety of world governments and threatened to derail an oil deal which has only just been approved by Uganda’s government. It is likely that the bill was intended to scapegoat gays and lesbians in Uganda while the country set up the oil field and displaced some thirty thousand people.

The resolution is intended to, according to the wording on it, “[express] the sense of the House of Representatives that the ‘‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2009’’ under consideration by the Parliament of Uganda, that would impose long term imprisonment and the death penalty for certain acts, threatens the protection of fundamental human rights, and for other purposes.”

H. Res. 1064, or House Resolution 1064, has more than three dozen sponsors including Representatives Barney Frank, Tammy Baldwin, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Barbara Lee. The resolution brings up several points regarding this legislation including the fact that it would make it nearly impossible for Uganda to effectively combat HIV/AIDS by further marginalizing gay men, and that it would nullify a variety of treaties that Uganda has already entered into regarding the treatment of gays and lesbians. This bill would also violate the current jurisdictional notions of what is considered to be an extraditable offense. Currently, only crimes such as terrorism and treason are considered to fall into extra-territorial jurisdiction.

Further underlying just how much of a problem this particular legislation would be to curbing HIV/AIDS in Uganda, the resolution notes that “countries whose laws do not criminalize homosexuality are generally regarded as better able to curb the transmission of the virus, and the ability to more effectively address HIV was a pivotal factor in the recent decision of the High Court of New Delhi to repeal section 337 of the Indian penal code outlawing sodomy” HIV/AIDS is one of the leading killers in Africa, and is considered to be responsible for much of the economic problems that Uganda faces currently.

The resolution also points out that many American and non-American politicians have called on Uganda’s government to kill this bill.

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Photo by Melanie Nathan, SF Pride 2009, Mercado Tan Twins

by Melanie Nathan – San Francisco, 2.4.2010.  Recently, Out4Immigration urged their group to contact Congressman Maffei as part of their ongoing grassroots letter campaign – and the “proof of the pudding is in the eating”!  Out4Immigration contacted Congressman Maffei last summer and also followed up with phone calls. and coordinated actions since.  All credit to this extraordinary group of unfunded and dedicated volunteers.   I joined this campaign and have marvelled at the consistency and organization plowed into something so big and so effective much by so few.  If one looks at the campaign target timing  and compare  it to the resulting sponsorship, the result is clear.

This effort has clearly paid off and it is entirely the work of OUT4Immigration. Perhaps other organizations can take note of grassroot importance, prvide guidance and transparency so efforts such as this are fully supported. 

Congressman Maffei is considered a ‘vulnerable’ Democrat because he is a freshman and from a conservative district. He very easily could have stayed away from a ‘controversial’ bill like UAFA – but he showed courage and did the right thing.   Everyone who participated in Out4Immigration’s well coordinated campaign  should be proud. – YOU made the difference!!!

For a year worth of weeks, Out4Immigration has and continues to target  members of Congress who we think understand and support our issue, but haven’t signed on to co-sponsor the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) yet.  These targets are selected based upon their past voting records on LGBT and Immigrations issues, the various Committees they sit on in the House and Senate, the Congressional Caucuses they belong to, and the States/Districts that they represent.

From their webpage:  On Sunday night/Monday mornings, we post these ‘targets’ to our Yahoo Group, Facebook, Twitter, and Change.org page.

 

 We have made it real easy for you to send the letters. All you need to do is click through to Change.org’s action page, select the action that you want to take, complete your information and the letter(s) will be sent immediately.

 Have your representatives signed on yet? You can find out at:
[House co-sponsors] http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:HR01024:@@@P
[Senate co-sponsors] http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:SN00424:@@@P

 WANT TO DO MORE?

Many people have asked what they can do to ensure that the Uniting American Families Act passes or to make sure LGBT Families are included in Comprehensive Immigration Reform. We encourage you to go to our action page and take part in our letter writing campaign. Don’t just sign one… as every action is a different one.

If you want to do more, here are some other ways you could help us get more co-sponsors:

(1) Write your own letter and share your personal story about why this bill and issue is important for you and/or your family member;  (2) Create a booklet telling your story. Check out our toolkit for more info on this option. (3) Send the action page link to your families and friends and get them to send letters too… it is just a simple click of the button and it is easy.

The Uniting American Families Act Under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents may sponsor their spouses (and other immediate family members) for immigration purposes. But same-sex partners of U.S. citizens and permanent residents are not considered “spouses” and their partners cannot sponsor them for family-based immigration. Consequently, thousands of lesbian and gay bi-national couples are kept apart, torn apart, or forced to stay together illegally, with one partner in constant fear of deportation. The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) would help to remedy this injustice.

 It is crucial that as many people as possible take part in these weekly efforts – the volume of e-mails, phone calls, faxes and letters do have an impact.PLEASE take the time each week to sign the petition on change.org, send faxes, write letters and make the phone calls if you can. We really need to increase our numbers on these efforts.Get active locally! Start going to meetings and rallies and talking about UAFA.  Hook into the C=IIR Campaign that is launching this week and make a difference in your district and State. Download the C=IIR Campaign and familiarize yourself with it. If you’re on Facebook, please search for C=IIR or click on this link:  tinyurl.com/CIIRonFB. Keep up the great work everyone!!!!

What is the UAFA?  The UAFA would allow U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to sponsor their same-sex partners for immigration to the United States.

How does the UAFA work?

The UAFA would amend the INA by simply adding the term “permanent partner” in sections where “spouse” appears, thus ensuring that a non-citizen permanent partner may receive the same immigration benefits that a non-citizen spouse now receives.

Under the UAFA, a person may qualify as the permanent partner of a U.S. citizen
or legal permanent resident if, among other things, he or she is:

• At least 18 years of age;
• In an intimate relationship with the sponsoring adult U.S. citizen
  or legal permanent resident in which both parties intend a lifelong commitment;
• Financially interdependent with that person;
• Not married or in a permanent partnership with anyone other than that person;

and  Unable to contract with that person a marriage that is recognized under the INA.

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com
Follow me on Twitter @oblogdeeoblogda
www.privatecourts.com  ; www.divorcemediators.us

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02/04/2010- by Natasia Langfelder It was surprising to everyone when FOX announced that Ellen DeGeneres would be filling the vacant judging spot left by Paula Abdul. It was however, a genius move. America loves Ellen. She gave an interview to Entertainment Tonight about her upcoming appearances as a judge on American Idol. She says about the show:

“I had one idea of Simon when I came in, and it’s changed. He’s actually meaner than I thought. … It’s hard to listen to him tell people things and me not to go, ‘You poor thing!…I’m getting good at delivering bad news, myself, but I’m trying to do it in a tender way. … I hate hurting people’s feelings, so that, I think, is the hardest part…I think we have good people … I’m going to fight very, very hard to keep the people that I believe in, so that we have a wide variety … somebody for everybody, I hope.”

Ellen’s statement is in line with her personality, there is no way she is going to bring the bitter bite that Simon Cowell brings when it comes to judgingthe contestants. Ellen makes her debut as a judge on the February 9 episode of the show. Simon will exit the show at the end of this season. I’ve never watched American Idol, but I’ve been watching this season so I will know what to expect when Ellen is on the show. Will you be watching Ellen on American Idol?

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by CanuckJacq

Two journalists in Kampala were arrested yesterday for a small part of a column they wrote that compared Uganda under President Yoweri Museveni to the Philipines under Ferdinand Marco. Several other journalists from the Daily Monitor are also facing charges.

On the same day, the journalist, Angelo Izama, also wrote a piece claiming the government was gathering a paramilitary to assist the party during the next election.

Criminal libel is one law up for review with the Supreme Court. As such, any action against the journalists will be delayed until the review is completed.

Several other journalists at the same paper as Izama are also facing charges, including the editor of the Sunday Monitor magazine, who was arrested with him on Wednesday. The journalists who brought the case against the government to compel it to reveal the terms of the Production Sharing Agreements with oil companies also work at The Daily Monitor.

02/04/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Today, President Barack Obama spoke before the annual National Prayer Breakfast held by the The Family. He spoke regarding the different faiths that each person has and how each religion speaks to the need for people to heal the crises of people’s lives such as in Haiti. He talked also about how society has become numb to the day to day tragedies that are experienced each day, and talked about the divisions between the people inside the United States currently. He warned about nostalgia, and spoke to the feeling that there is a feeling that Washington is broken, and that the lack of civility is often to blame.

Obama even took a swipe at those who would question his faith and his citizenship in attempts to undermine his position.

Obama made a strong statement about disagreeing on marriage-equality. He acknowledged that many people may disagree regarding marriage equality, but he stated that it is unconscionable to specifically target gays and lesbians either here, or in Uganda. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton specifically had mentioned Uganda’s measures targeting gays and lesbians in Uganda, and spoke specifically regarding the need to expand human rights throughout the world. Her statements were underlined with verses from the Bible regarding the need to treat all people humanely. It has been common practice for many Conservatives to target gays and lesbians in order to gain political points and political support. While that has been waning of late due to shifting attitudes towards homosexuality in society, it remains something of a force inside the United States. In Michigan, one Secretary of State candidate targeted transpeople in order to try and score political support by attacking their right to have their correct gender put on their driver’s licenses.

The swipe taken at Uganda came in front of the very people who have been orchestrating the “Kill the Gays” bill in Uganda. The men who have been pushing this particular bill forward are part of The Family. It was even rumored that some of those men would be at this prayer breakfast today. In large part, Uganda has been using gays and lesbians as a means to distract the internal debate away from the displacement of families and the spoiling of one of Uganda’s natural wonders in order to get at oil that had been discovered there. This push for oil has created a backlash, but by giving the people of Uganda a common internal enemy and trying to link it to the external forces of colonialism, the governing parties of Uganda hope to avoid having an all out uprising over the damage that oil exploration and extraction could have on Uganda’s already disproportionally structured economy.

International pressure has resulted in an attempt to push back against those pushing the “Kill the Gays” bill. Even if the bill is ultimately abandoned, the purposes behind it will have already been achieved by diverting attention away from the oil contracts.

02/04/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

“Next thing you know, they’ll be freebasing spinach.”  Last night, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart took on the Senate’s hearings regarding Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.  Taking on Senator John McCain’s flip on the subject of hearing from the top military leaders regarding repeal of DADT, Colbert noted that we had only heard from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defense and the Commander in Chief by noting that “we haven’t heard a peep from the Commandant of the Coast Guard, the Chief of Naval Operations, Cap’n Crunch, Major Garrett, Sgt. Slaughter, Lt. Dan, ‘Private Practice,’ or Col. Sanders.”  He forgot that we had not heard anything from Admiral Akhbar or General Mills.  Colbert also went after Senator Chambliss by running old Popeye cartoons.  Though, it should be noted that a sailor without a tattoo seems somehow…astereotypical.  Meanwhile, Stewart and company went after the policy of letting old people serve in the Senate.

The repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is heavily backed by the American people.  Polls show roughly three in four Americans support repeal.

The Colbert Report:

The Daily Show:

by CanuckJacq

The Ugandan government has formally approved the deal for Tullow Oil to take over Heritage Oil’s share of 2 blocks in the Lake Albert region.

This decision ends the bid by Italian company, Eni, to buy out Heritage’s share of the project.

Uganda is working very hard to be seen as a country friendly to investors, and its court has ruled that the contracts between the oil companies and the country will remain confidential, despite calls from journalists and activists to release them, and doubts over the accuracy of the information coming out of the government.

The leaked copy of Heritage Oil’s PSA with Uganda shows an agreement weighted heavily in the favour of the private company, and the heft of the risk being left on Uganda’s shoulders.

Two journalists were arrested yesterday in Kampala on charges of libel for comparing Uganda under President Museveni to the Philippines under Marco.

Recently, Uganda has been in the news for a lack of transparency from government, the proposal of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill that would introduce the death penalty for homosexuals, and now arresting journalists.

There are fears that the poorly negotiated contracts that Heritage Oil had and are now owned by Tullow Oil are going to contribute to the possibility of Uganda suffering the “resource curse” the same way that Nigeria has.

Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest oil producers, and yet Nigerians are currently lining up for fuel overnight due to shortages, and the majority of the country is still very poor, as the benefits of the oil production industry have only reached the already wealthy and powerful.

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02/03/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
“In the almost 17 years since the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ legislation was passed, attitudes and circumstances have changed. I fully support the new approach presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee this week by Secretary of Defense Gates and Admiral Mullen.” Those words were said by one of the major architects of the policy known as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell- General Colin Powell, and were printed in the New York Times. Indeed, this is one of the men that Senator John McCain said he would defer to regarding the repeal of DADT. “I listen to people like General Colin Powell, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and literally every military leader that I know… The day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, Senator, we ought to change the policy, then I think we ought to consider seriously changing it because those leaders in the military are the ones we give the responsibility to,” McCain told Chris Matthews on Hardball in ‘06. Well, Senator McCain, General Powell is speaking, but it seems that you are not listening.

Senator McCain is facing a tough primary season in Arizona against a far Right candidate. In fact, Sarah Palin’s support for her old running mate actually drew the ire of the Tea Party groups who stated that she could not support McCain and be a true Tea Partier.

Instead of looking to Admiral Mullen and the current brass in the military, or to the man who helped write this legislation, Senator McCain is now trying to rely upon the voices of a variety of retired generals and admirals to state that this legislation must remain in place. Given that these honorable men are not in the military at a time when troop numbers are stretched thin and every able bodied soldier is needed, it is hard for them to really gauge what is going on within the military right now. There are many rank and file troops who know that their fellow soldiers are gay or lesbian, but do not turn them in because they feel that it is not worth it.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell puts greater strain on a military already stretched to the breaking point. Soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen are strained because of multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Each time a soldier is pulled out of the military because of DADT, that is a further hole in the fabric of unit cohesion. Losing a soldier to combat or to wounds is one thing. Losing a soldier to an unfair law that could be repealed is another.

By Melanie Nathan, san Francisco, February 3, 2010, –  The National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change, organized by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, started today, with events planned through Sunday at Sheraton Dallas Hotel.  

This conference is starting on his very day when I broke this story “Shocking Reality” - many of my readers called Senator Schumer’s office only to be shunned off with comments such as “Oh yes, Melanie Nathan’s article is just an opinion piece… and said that Senator Schumer is a sponsor of UAFA anyway…. “ 

Well, well as if we did not know that and if  so why not then include us? Is that a message that we should pursue UAFA as a stand alone only?   We will be looking for answers…     That said, my source was informed of this directly by the Senator himself. 

I am hoping that when the conference attendees get together and realize that the entire movement is screwed by lack of cohesive planning,  and piecemeal legislation, our brothers and sisters will, ‘carpe diem’ and all come to a simple conclusion – 2 words “OMNIBUS BILL.”   Amend the Civil Rights Act to include all Americans.   This rediculous state of affairs with a Senator sponsoring a bill and then possibly thwarting its progress through an alternate venue, is illustrative of my point…. piecemeal be damned – we want our CIVIL RIGHTS and now.  “The Color of my skin Senator, is GAY!!!”

The Creating Change conference at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel downtown will feature Army National Guard Lt. Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and Iraq war veteran who faced discharge after announcing on television that he is gay.  They seem to be focusing a lot of attention on DADT because Lt. Dan Choi will be speaking.  This is great and hopefully more Americans will be reached through further visibility. ( I am not sure how much more visible Dan can get in our community.)

Also on the agenda this week: gay marriage, which will probably be top of mind among conference attendees. In California, a trial is under way seeking to overturn that state’s voter-approved measure that bans same-sex marriage – a case that could make its way to the Supreme Court.   

Other sessions will feature workplace equality, HIV in older adults and creating safer environments for gay youth.  They will also explore aging issues among gays and lesbians and homophobia in nursing homes and extended-care facilities, according to the spokesperson Sue Hyde.  Great! But…. 

I researched interviews and comments with Task Force’ the organizers - noting some basic information in  articles in Dallas Press, including  The Dallas Morning News  and then also the Task force Press Release about the Conference  which I quote below:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 — National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey will present the annual State of the Movement address at the National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change, in which she will present a vision for the year ahead in the struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality. 

Just a week after President Obama delivered his State of the Union address, 2,000 LGBT activists will converge in Dallas, Texas, for the 22nd National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change, Feb. 3-7. Activists will strategize on how to advance LGBT equality and acquire the skills needed to build the political power of the LGBT community in 2010 and beyond. 

“This is a critical and exciting time in our struggle for LGBT equality,” says Carey. “Having 2,000 LGBT rights supporters come together to plan and strategize is an unparalleled opportunity to create change.”

 The State of the Movement address is an opportunity to take stock of the past year and lay out a plan to move forward in the year ahead. It is one of the most anticipated events of the Creating Change conference. Carey will address critical legislative issues specifically affecting the LGBT community, including passing an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Other broader areas of focus will include the need for access to quality/affordable health care and racial and economic justice-related issues. Carey’s State of the Movement address will take place on Friday, Feb. 5, at 1:45 p.m. (CST) in the Dallas Ballroom of the Sheraton Dallas Hotel in downtown Dallas, Texas.  

I was unable to find any publicity that specifically referred to the three most important things our community could possibly address right now, especially given the fact the Conference, according to its Executive Director (above),  will be an unaparalleled opportunity to strategize.    I am hoping these issues are in the State of the Movement Address – and if not that those at the Conference make the most of the opprtunity for transparent, reflective, remedial and productive co-ordination of efforts.  Its not a race to the finish line, my friends, its an opportunity for a hole in one!  

The Course…  

1. Piecemeal Legislation is working against us; our limited resources are too wide spread, affecting zero result;  

2. The need for a comprehensive and cohesive plan where we work to accomplish the repeal of DOMA – the inclusion of Sexual orientation in the Civil Rights Act;  

3. Immigration Reform for Gays and Lesbian spouses/ DP’s etc.  

My contribution to the Conference is breaking of the news about Senator Schumer’s Bill – that gay and lesbian immigration reform will be excluded from the Bill, just as it was by Guiterrez in the House Bill for comprehensive immigration reform.  My suspicion is that this fact may have been well known to some, yet not revealed.   The imprtance of this revelation is a call out to the entire LGBTQI community and America that this is unfathomable.  I dont give a continental brick about long term strategies, I want my inequality recognized for exactly what it is and NOW!!  So the 2,000 of you there in Dallas – pick up your courage and go for the BIG one!!

 Maybe my preceding , SHOCKING REALITY- article could help change Schumer’s stance – even though Senator Schumer’s staffers are informing callers that my article is merely an opinion piece.  I can tell you that it was the Senator himself who told my source that this was his plan.  

Wake up you guys at the conference – forget the bits and pieces and talk about CIVIL RIGHTS for us…..   Once same is accomplished everything else that smacks of LGBT discrimination will fall into place – because the law will then require, via one bill, that we be treated equally.  

How much louder can I yell..” THE   COLOR  OF   MY   SKIN   IS   GAY!”

Conference details : What: The National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change  When: Today through Sunday at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel Highlights: Speakers include Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund; and Rea Carey, executive director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Kai Wright, a writer and editor, will moderate a panel of youths.  Cost: Full conference rate $350; daily rate $75

 

 Posted by Melanie Nathan,  

 nathan@privatecourts.com
www.oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com  
 www.privatecourts.com 

 @oblogdeeoblogda – I Twitter too! 

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