Melanie Nathan – August 29, 2010-  Gay-supportive officeholders topped the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C. (GLAA) candidate ratings for the September 14 primaries. Ward 1 Democratic Councilmember Jim Graham and At-Large Democratic Councilmember Phil Mendelson earned perfect scores of +10. Council Chairman Vincent Gray, running for Mayor, earned +8.5, well ahead of the man he is challenging in the Democratic primary, Mayor Adrian Fenty, who earned +4. Ward 6 Democratic Councilmember Tommy Wells earned +8.5. Ward 3 Democratic Councilmember Mary Cheh, unchallenged in the Democratic primary, earned a +7.5. Ward 5 Democratic Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. earned +6, well ahead of his challengers.

Openly Gay Candidates Marc Morgan in Ward 1 and Tim Day in Ward 5 have protested the rankings from the non-partisan Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, which rates candidates based on their records and questionnaire responses.

“Morgan sent out a statement today accusing GLAA of engaging in a ‘high school popularity contest,’” reported the Washington Post on Thursday.

The GLAA indicated that being Gay was not a factor  that would earn overriding points.

The following are explanations of the individual ratings.

Mayor

Democrat and Council Chairman Vincent Gray earned +8.5. His strong score reflects his agreement with GLAA on all issues and his efforts in leading the Council in support of equal marriage rights, setting a tone and leading hesitant councilmembers by his example. Gray directed the solid legal work by the Counsel to the Council in support of marriage rights before the Board of Elections and Ethics (BOEE) and in court. He worked with Councilmember Jim Graham and other colleagues in 2007 to achieve a compromise on legislation to help adult businesses relocate after being displaced by the ballpark.

Democrat and incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty earned +4. Fenty disagrees with GLAA on a number of issues, and his record is mixed. While his administration led the exceptional legal fight to keep and defend our marriage rights; they also spent nearly two years obstructing the Domestic Partnership Judicial Determination of Parentage Act, which is now a model law protecting the rights and responsibilities of LGBT parents. We were struck by the numerous promises made four years ago that were promptly broken. GLAA was excluded from the selection process for the Chief of Police and the Director of the Office of Human Rights. Fenty has given short shrift to GLAA’s concerns about Police Chief Cathy Lanier’s disregard for civil liberties as demonstrated in her Neighborhood Safety Zone Initiative, which was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2009. The HIV/AIDS Administration made remarkable gains in the past year; but the administration tried to remove protections for transgender people, and has failed to enforce the non-discrimination laws that were passed. For nearly every positive step, we found a negative. Overall, Mr. Fenty has earned a positive rating.

We note that Mr. Gray and Mr. Fenty share some credit for designating the 1600 block of 17th Street NW as Frank Kameny Way. This honor is neither minor nor merely symbolic. It is a tribute to our community’s greatest hero.

Democrat Leo Alexander earned -3. Alexander is running an explicitly anti-gay and anti-marriage-equality campaign. He has been endorsed by the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and received a total of $2,950 in campaign donations from their overlapping anti-equality organizations. He also received $200 from Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum. He did not return a questionnaire.

Council Chairman

Democratic At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown earned +5.5 in his race for Chairman. Brown agrees with GLAA on nearly every issue, but offered limited substance in his questionnaire. He co-introduced the marriage equality bill and supported the marriage recognition bill before that; has marched with our community in response to hate crimes; and has a strong voting record in support of LGBT issues.

Democrat Vincent Orange earned +4.5. Orange is the most improved candidate in this election. For 8 years, Orange was the weakest member of the Council on GLAA’s issues. He railed against us on the nude dancing night clubs. He ignored GLAA’s concerns on domestic partner regulations and on the creation of the Office of GLBT Affairs. Four years ago he declared the other mayoral candidates morally unfit for office due to their support of marriage equality. He has also never before answered GLAA’s questionnaire. He has apologized several times for those statements and has atoned. He led the effort for the Democratic State Committee to take a position for marriage equality, and he has spent considerable time at the D.C. Center learning about their issues and concerns. He stated agreement with GLAA on nearly every issue, and showed a reasonable understanding of the issues.

Democrat Dorothy Douglas, who currently serves on the Board of Education, earned +2. She agrees with GLAA on many issues but lacks a record and showed a poor grasp of substance in her questionnaire responses.

Council At-Large

Democratic At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson earned a perfect +10 reflecting his extensive efforts in advancing the rights of LGBT people. Phil set the bar for the most extensive and detailed questionnaire demonstrating his in-depth knowledge of the issues and support of LGBT people in all areas. Phil is our greatest champion on the Council. He not only steered the marriage equality law through the council and greatly improved it. He wrote the marriage recognition bill, the domestic partnership parentage bill, a variety of domestic partnership laws, and personally testified before the Board of Elections and Ethics opposing four different ballot measures that would have banned marriages by same-sex couples. He carefully removed every obstacle in the law that would hinder our ability to defend marriage equality in court. More than anyone, Phil is responsible for the passage of the marriage law, and our ability to preserve it. Mendelson is a rare thing in this town in that he’s not all about himself. He set aside his personal ambitions to work on a quiet strategy that created dramatic advances in the rights of same-sex couples without seeking publicity or the credit that he richly deserved and earned.

Statehood-Green candidate David Schwartzman earned +6. Schwartzman is a thoughtful candidate who agrees with GLAA on every issue. He has a record of activism on the medical marijuana initiative and or human rights issues.

Democratic candidate Clark Ray earned +5.5. As Director of Parks and Recreation, he required departmental staff to take sensitivity training. He testified before the council hearing chaired by Phil Mendelson in favor of the marriage equality law. Ray’s embrace of Rev. Willie Wilson troubles us, given Wilson’s long and unrepentant record of vile homophobic and racist sermons and his action in blocking LGBT representation at the Millions More March. Ray agrees with GLAA on most issues, but his questionnaire does not demonstrate a solid understanding of the duties and function of the Council. His support for mandatory HIV testing in D.C. jails runs counter to the consensus of experts who have found mandatory approaches counterproductive, and ignores the highly effective voluntary testing program in the D.C. Department of Corrections which is touted as a national model by law enforcement, legal, and medical professionals.

Statehood-Green candidate Darryl Moch earned +5. Moch had a strong questionnaire agreeing with GLAA and demonstrating an understanding of the issues, but has no LGBT-related record that we are aware of.

Ward 1 Council

Democratic Councilmember Jim Graham earned a perfect +10. Graham has been a strong fighter for our rights and our community’s health for decades. GLAA has found him to be pragmatic and constructive. Graham excelled in helping gay businesses displaced by the baseball stadium — especially those offering nude dancing — to relocate. The legislation took considerable skill in negotiation and building support across the Council. The legislation is not the sort of thing that most politicians seek out, but we are especially grateful for the difficult work that Graham handled so deftly. Graham also led the effort to expand and advance the rights of transgender people in the District. In adding gender identity and expression to both the Human Rights Act and the Bias Crimes Act, Jim modernized and advanced D.C.’s civil rights laws, which remain models for the country. Graham was an early and outspoken supporter of marriage equality and worked with us to ensure a resounding victory.

Democrat Bryan Weaver earned +5.5. Weaver agreed with GLAA on most issues and showed a reasonable understanding of the issues. He has been supportive of LGBT rights in his campaign, but does not have an extensive record. We appreciate the letters endorsing marriage equality to the Council and the Board of Elections and Ethics representing his ANC.

Republican Marc Morgan earned +3. He agrees with GLAA on the issues but offered no substance in his questionnaire. We found only a minimal record.

Ward 3 Council

Democratic Councilmember Mary Cheh earned +7.5. She has been a strong advocate for LGBT rights, civil liberties, and marriage equality. She strongly opposed the appointment of Attorney General Peter Nickles, after he stated that he would not represent the people of the District, but instead only the Mayor. She spoke against Councilmember Yvette Alexander’s unsuccessful amendment to allow broad discrimination against LGBT people, and she pushed PEPCO to adopt domestic partner benefits.

Ward 5 Council

Democratic Councilmember Harry “Tommy” Thomas, Jr. earned +6. While he agrees with us on most issues, he opposed us on the club relocation bill, which let loose some very ugly anti-gay emotions from his constituents. However, he went out of his way to take a risk in supporting marriage equality. More than any other councilmember, Thomas risked his political future to do what he thought was right.

Democrat Tracey D. Turner earned +2. His questionnaire was often non-responsive and failed to demonstrate a clear understanding of the issues. He has no known record on LGBT issues.

Republican Tim Day earned +1.5. His questionnaire failed to show either a strong support of the issues or an understanding of them. He has no known record on LGBT issues.

Democrat Hunter Delano earned -2. He has been endorsed by NOM. He accepted $450 from them, and he attended the NOM bus tour rally at the Capitol. He did not return a questionnaire.

Ward 6 Council

Democratic councilmember Tommy Well earned +8.5. Wells is a consistent leader on our issues. He agrees with us on the issues and has a clear understanding of their complexities. He was very helpful on marriage equality, and a leader opposing vouchers, which largely fund religious schools outside of the protections of the Human Rights Act.

Democrat Kelvin Robinson earned -1. He was endorsed by NOM when he first ran for the At-Large Council seat. He said at the time that he thought there should be a vote on our right to marry. He refused to say how he would vote. After switching to the Ward 6 race he has not been endorsed again by NOM. He still opposes marriage equality, having recently repeated his call to place same-sex marriage rights on the ballot. He did not return a questionnaire.

GLAA rates candidates on a scale of -10 to +10, based on their answers to our questionnaire and their record on behalf of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. The questionnaire addresses a variety of issues on marriage and family, public health, public safety, human rights, youth, and protection for LGBT consumers and businesses. GLAA’s policy brief, questionnaire, and complete candidate responses are available online at www.glaa.org.

All candidates were provided with a copy of “Agenda: 2010,” GLAA’s policy brief on LGBT issues in Washington, D.C.

Ratings should not be interpreted as endorsements. GLAA does not endorse candidates in partisan elections.

GLAA has rated candidates for office in every D.C. primary and general election since 1971. Independent mayoral and council candidates will be rated prior to the general election.

The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C., founded in 1971, is a local, all-volunteer, non-partisan, non-profit political organization devoted to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights in Washington, DC. We are the nation’s oldest continuously active GLBT civil rights organization.

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In a sense, the entire thing is very realistically problematic for the Republican Party. Despite the fact that many generic ballot polls are showing Republicans sweeping the House and maybe the Senate in November, they probably will not because, in a very real way, there are three Parties functioning in this election and not two. The Tea Party Republicans seem to be not as likely to come out and vote for a Mainstream Republican candidate, and vice versa. In other words, many Mainstream Republicans will balk at voting for Sharron Angle, Rand Paul and Joe Miller while many Tea Party Republicans may balk at coming out to vote for Carly Fiorino and Mark Kirk.

Much of the furor that is going on over the Tea Party is fueled by billionaires David and Charles Koch. Their father founded the John Birch Society, which has been seen as nothing but a conspiracy laden group for the last fifty years. Their ideology borders on being pure anarchist, but they rarely ever say that. Much of what gets espoused is not about keeping the community of the United States intact, but rather making sure that the government fails and that the rich become very rich and everyone else is poor. But, I digress.

The Beck rally is actually something of a wonderful and ironic example of what the Tea Party is in reality. Rather than being a huge rally, it is just a loud voice in the see of babble. The Tea Party is the loudest voice in the room, but that does not mean it is nearly the majority, or even a fraction of a majority.

Right now, Tea Party candidates have only managed to win big in certain areas, and mostly in the South and South West. Meanwhile, in many places up North and along the West Coast, the Tea Party candidates are not winning, and sometimes not even showing up.

In Kentucky, the Republicans are actually at risk of losing a seat as Rand Paul pushes this neo-anarchist belief that the government should get out of everything, including mine safety because ‘who would work at an unsafe mine?’ Well, the people who have two choices- an unsafe mine or starvation. In Nevada, Sharron Angle is at risk of losing big because of crazy ideas like privatizing Social Security. What she never says is that this would end up obliterating Social Security and the safety net that many people require in older age, and for many on disability. People who would be starving to death without it. In Alaska, Joe Miller is busy pushing the idea of ending unemployment insurance.

People have been pushing this idea that the Republicans are going to win and win big in November, but the reality is not so simple. The generic ballots might be saying that they will, but the generic ballot polls are probably misleading.

There is an old caveat to polling about Congress. Everyone hates Congress, but they love their Congressional Delegation. Asking about the generic ballot is wonderful, but when you get into the actual races, it is a lot less certain. Somewhere between the Tea Party, the Social Conservatives and the Mainline Republicans all being at each others’ throats, I would not lay odds on anything at this point. A lot of how the Midterm Elections play out depends not upon the polls, but upon the Republican Party being able to unify, and that seems elusive at best.

Mehlman did, at least, say that he is sorry, but it is going to take a lot of work for him to dig his way out of the hole he is in. He told The Atlantic “I can’t change the fact that I wasn’t in this place personally when I was in politics, and I genuinely regret that. It was very hard, personally. What I do regret, and think a lot about, is that one of the things I talked a lot about in politics was how I tried to expand the party into neighborhoods where the message wasn’t always heard. I didn’t do this in the gay community at all.”

Of course, maybe not helping Republicans no matter what their stance on homosexuality is would help assuage some of the problems that he is facing in the LGBT Community who, quite frankly, are doing their best to undo the damage that he has caused. Instead, he has donated over two thousand dollars to Missouri Republican Roy Blunt, who voted in favor of the Federal Marriage Amendment- the preemptive attempt to enshrine bigotry into the US Constitution.

He has also donated more than two thousand to Senator John McCain, who recently flipped on the issue of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Now, McCain wants to ensure that lesbian and gay soldiers remain in hiding within the military. He donated a thousand to Ben Quayle, the son of former Vice-President Dan Quayle. The Congressional candidate in Arizona has not only attacked President Obama for being the “worst President in history” (funny, we thought that was George W.), and who has begun touting his opposition to marriage equality.

He has also donated to not quite out Illinois Senatorial candidate Mark Kirk, who recently voted against the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and to Utah Republican Senator Robert Bennett, who did his absolute best to stop marriage equality in Washington DC. The list apparently goes on and on.

Perhaps Mehlman only just realized he needed to stop hiding.

Many lesbians, gays and transpeople would be more than willing to vote for the Republican Party if it were not for the fact that men such as Bennett, Quayle, McCain, Blunt and on are trying to pull their rights away. For many, it is more important to be lesbian, gay or transgender first and Democrat or Republican second. For men like Mehlman and the people at GOProud, it is more important to be Republican first and lesbian, gay or transgender second. In the end, what it means is that many of them are more than willing to be complicit in the oppression of their own people. While they may be acting as a bridge to help the Republican Party become less anti-LGBT, they need to remember what it means to be lesbian, gay and transgender.

Source

To make matters worse, he use the same crass and racist term a seventh time in defending himself against the meager criticism that did show up with regards to his graphic.

Carver stated in the caption to the ‘map’ of the DC metro (bottom of post as per request)

“What I haven’t seen yet is an attempt to provide them with a map of D.C. that explains the city in a language they understand. Being of southern descent and inclined to hospitality, I decided to make one tonight. I was inspired after coming home this evening and finding that my boyfriend had received a letter from the Heritage Foundation, a hysterical right-wing organization. He took this multiple page screed, corrected it in ink (both grammar and ideology), and sent it back to them in the mail. While I don’t see the benefit in his actions, I was inspired by his riteous anger.

“Welcome, you highly fed and lowly taught failures of the American education system. Despite your attempt to recreate the nazi party, I hope your trip to our fine city is a pleasant one.”

Of course, Carver decided to blast those who objected to his material by stating “I knew the message would be lost on those who lack the ability to think critically, whether a right-wing or left-wing ideologue. Ultimately, the tea partiers and the politically correct alike suffer from the same disease. They put emotion before thinking.”

Actually, even those of us who can think realize that what Carver was trying to do amounted to a stupid attempt to be sarcastic and all he did was edge over into being offensive. Well, perhaps tumbled over into being offensive. Fell of the cliff into the sea of offensiveness?

Carver went on to say “For the dull, let me explain: This is sarcasm. It’s intent is to show the smallness of thinking employed by those who choose to scapegoat others based on their fear of the world. Those who see enemies behind every corner and minimize the worth of others based on categories such as race, sexual orientation, religion, or political ideology.”

Perhaps one should point out that this is not sarcasm. Sarcasm requires more whit than Carver shows in what is, honestly, a simplistic attempt to be crude. Perhaps he should take some time out to read some of the best satirists in the English language such as Jonathan Swift, Terry Pratchett, and Oscar Wilde. Repeated use of racist and homophobic epithets does not make one’s work sarcastic. True sarcasm requires the ability to put together words which will be both cutting and witty. It requires subtlety, which is lacking in those who rely upon racist epithets in order to attempt humor.

Carver went on in his rather inane and rather unfortunate rant of a defense by stating “Someone recently asked me ‘If a black person who had their face bashed in while being called a n***** saw that, would it be OK?’. Typical of the type of person I’ve just described, but let me answer:

It is not ok to bash a black person in the face. It is not OK to call them or anyone else hateful names. One should also defer from using hateful words casually in common speech, as they are loaded. If said black person saw my image and was upset, I would tell them that I think it an outrage they were bashed in the face and that justice should be served.”

On the one hand, he makes a very persuasive point, it is not alright to bash a person- any person- in the face, nor is it alright to call them hateful names. It is, however, with this statement that Carver, unfortunately, shows just how far he is willing to tumble into the sea of offensiveness and even show some of his own racism: “This is all, of course, assuming that said oppressed black person wasn’t rational, and didn’t immediately love this image because of its riteous anger and corrective intention.”

While I have disagreed with the use of the terms ‘White Privilege’, ‘Straight Privilege’, and ‘Male Privilege’, I have always acknowledged the fact that there are inequities within the society with regards to oppressing groups and oppressed groups. When Keith Olbermann went after Dr. Laura Schlessinger recently for her on air rant, he did not go after her for her repeated use of a specific racist epithet. Rather, he went after her for the racism implicit in the rest of what she said.

Given that the rest of the public comments on this image are hardly what one would say are attacking Carver as a racist, one has to wonder where the defensiveness is coming from. Indeed, had Carver simply pointed out that, yes, he was using these words to make people uncomfortable and it was a deliberate choice, instead of going on a rant which showed an obvious bent towards racism, he may have come out of this whole debacle rather more intact.

“I realize that the humor and sadness of this comment is overshadowed by it’s irony. Debating rational thought with those who don’t have the capacity to understand what I’m saying. It’s in these times I feel most certain that we are all doomed. Jesus, take the wheel,” Carver concluded.

In truth, those of us who do have the capacity to understand are still offended because it is painfully obvious that Mr. Carver does not want to acknowledge his own racial issues as is shown by his rant in defense of his image.

C.D. Kirven, the co-founder of Get Equal Now, put out this statement

“No lie lives forever! It is a lie that my community does not suffer from the infection of racial discrimination. This truth is carried by people of color and is a part of our everyday existence as a member of the LGBT community. It is never and I repeat never appropriate to use the “N” word. I’m extremely hurt by the Tea Party map but unfortunately not surprised because of the overt racism that continues to go unaddressed. I request the blogger release a public apology and that other LGBT community leaders denounce this blogger’s use of the “N” word which is not uncommon. I’ve been ignored and mistreat by many in my community because I took a stand against racial injustice. But ignoring it only allows the hateful bigotary to infect the minds and poison the actions of future LGBT leaders. I don’t care how you feel about me but the use of this word by a gay White blogger is painful and no comments by readers calling him out on his racial ignorance is shocking. I’m hoping this incident is an eye opener for those who think we are a post racial community. I’m publicly requesting action from others to break the silence and to stop the silent approval of this type of language. I plead with those in the LGBT community who have experienced discrimination to understand my outrage. How can we join together and fight for LGBT rights if behind my back you call me the “N” word because you think I’m beneath you? The fact that this blogger chose to use that word to disrespect Glenn Beck is crazy but ultimately he only manages to insult thousands of Black people who are also apart of the LGBT community. I will be contacted and people will attempt to change the subject by pointing out how others are treated in the same manner but I will not be distracted from this insult because the use of this slur has been used for years by White Americans against Black Americans. We as a nation are still trying to heal from racial wounds around Sherry Sherrod and Dr. Laura. I urge the blogger to apologize for using it and others to focus on our community wide racial problem. This problem will not be resolved unless we talk about it and take active steps to end it. How can you ask for homophobia to end when you do nothing to stop the racism in the LGBT community? I ask all people of color in the LGBT community to join me in requesting GLAAD, HRC, Gay & Lesbian Taskforce, NBJC, Courage Campiagn, Equality orgainations by state, EAA, Get Equal and others to not only denounce this bloggers use of the “N” word but to begin to take action to address racism in the LGBT community. I tried to stop Shrley Q’s welfare queen black face performance on Juneteenth but recieved minimal support from LGBT leaders. We will not end homophobia in the hetrosexual community until racism in the LGBT community is acknowledged as a nationwide problem.”

(Author’s note, I have redacted the offensive term from the quote from Carver’s rant.)

Source Image can be seen on Carver’s site.

Update:

Upon request, the picture in question is this:

Murkowski is probably considering her run carefully, and waiting until the official results are in to make any kind of official announcement.  Murkowski’s run could complicate matters for Joe Miller, Sarah Palin’s favorite.  Where as Crist may end up splitting both the Republican and Democratic votes, it is likely that Murkowski will only end up splitting the Republican vote and end up propelling Scott McAdams, the Democrat in the race, into the Senate.  Three way races are often hard to predict, as well.  A lot depends upon local conditions and local candidates.

Miller’s election does, however, show part of the true agenda of the Tea Party, or at least the core of it.  Rather than being a group which is only worried about economic issues and taxation, they are also strongly in favor of a repressive social agenda including making abortion under any circumstances illegal and banning same-sex marriage, and likely the rebanning of ‘homosexual acts’.  This has been seen before, though.  The Tea Party fueled social agenda has shown its ugly head in Texas, Virginia, and Arizona especially.  In Texas, the TX GOP adopted a platform which called for the recriminalization of homosexuality.  In Arizona, they have pursued an immigration law which not only violates the Constitution, but targets a specific group of people- Hispanics.  And in Virginia, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has pursued his own attacks on abortion by trying to make all abortion clinics into mini-hospitals, which is impossible to do monitarily, and trying to ban all rights for the LGBT Community.

A third party or independent run for office may be in Murkowski’s cards.  In truth, Alaska stands to lose a lot if Miller is elected.  Right now, Murkowski is very influential and able to get a lot of money back to her home state, which gets almost six dollars back for every one dollar it sends to Washington.

No matter what happens, the next two months will be interesting.

The media is buzzing about the new film “The Kids Are All Right”, which premiered earlier this month.  Its release was exciting for me because for the first time I saw characters who closely reflected my family’s makeup, though the rest of the story, not really.  I too have two mothers and a sperm donor who I contacted when I turned eighteen.  The outcome was different and far less drama surrounded my family when I was finally able to contact and meet my donor, though there were still plenty of surreal moments.  The reaction to the film has been extremely varied, from people thrilled to see representation of a lesbian-headed household, to those who see the events depicted in the film as reinforcement of the notion that children need to know and live with their biological mother and father.

Growing up in Massachusetts through the marriage equality debate in 2004 and all subsequent movements, I have long been combating false beliefs that LGBTQ people should not get married or raise children.  I have lesbian mothers and I have a sperm donor.  This in no way has made me less of a person, daughter, woman, or friend.  To me, what makes a good parent is dedication to raising and loving a child.  The number, gender, or sexuality of the parents does not determine the ability to help a child grow into a compassionate and kind person.  To tell the truth, I feel lucky to have grown up with the knowledge that my mother put a great deal of time, money, and thought into having me.  I have never doubted that I am loved because I know how much my mother wanted to have a child and did everything she could to have me.

While I understand that some people believe that the married, heterosexual, biological family is the only valid familial model, I refuse to let this stereotype go unchallenged.  I have two mothers, only one of whom is biological, and no father.  Rather than somehow leaving a negative affect, my family has helped me become a more open, loving, passionate, and socially aware individual.  Growing up I was surrounded by many wonderful adult role models, some of whom were male.  Of course I thought about my sperm donor, who he was, why he donated, what it would be like to meet him.  The reason for me was never about searching for a parent I had lost or a piece of me that was missing, it was about meeting and thanking the person who enabled Cathy and Nancy, my mothers, to become parents.

I had never met another person with a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or even queer parent until I was thirteen.  That summer my family went to Provincetown, Massachusetts for Family Week where I participated in workshops provided by COLAGE.  COLAGE is the only national youth-driven network of children, youth, and adults with LGBTQ parents.  I would not be writing this if I had never come to know COLAGE and the others with LGBTQ parents I met through COLAGE.  That summer I found my center and my political voice.  Through the years COLAGE has helped me become a better advocate for myself and my family.  This summer I am an intern at COLAGE and I am assisting in the distribution of the Donor Insemination (DI) Guide.  The DI Guide is part testimonials and part advice focusing on the questions and concerns of donor-conceived children and their families.  I have been able to watch the DI Guide go from an idea to a tool for families.

It has been almost three years since I began the process of contacting my sperm donor.  Four months after I turned eighteen I had the name and address of my donor and within the year I learned I had two half-sisters who shared the same donor.  I think the most incredible part of meeting my donor and half-siblings was putting an end to the mystery.  After years of playing around with different scenarios in my head, or coming up with the reasons that Harvey Fierstein was my donor, I lost mystique but gained very real new friends and family.  Now family gatherings include my two sisters, two of their siblings, our collective six lesbian mothers, and our donor and his wife.  Certainly we are still getting to know each other, but there is an undeniably authentic connection between all of us.

Along with identical chins, my half-sisters and I have followed very similar paths.  One sister, who is four months older than me, was a sophomore at Smith College as I began my first year at Mount Holyoke College.  The schools are both women’s liberal arts colleges and twenty minutes apart. Together we met our other donor sister in March 2009.  It turned out that this new sister is from a town ten minutes from my own, that we have mutual acquaintances, and I had heard about her a year before I met her.  At a drama festival at her high school I met a guy who had taken the girl in town with lesbian mothers to her senior prom the previous year.  In my favorite “small world” story, my sister and I took the same guy to our senior proms.  I do not look like anyone in my family, but I do look a lot like her.  The photos, both of us wearing blue dresses, are just incredible.  Thankfully, we did not both date “our” prom date.

Meeting my donor and my new extended family did not alter my relationship with my parents.  They were completely supportive of my desire to contact my donor and they were with me when I met him.  I did not begin this adventure to seek a father and, though my donor is a wonderful person and a part of my life now, he is not my father.  I have two parents and that is enough for me, but I am thrilled to have him as part of my growing family.  For some people, family is a rigid concept.  For me, family is not limited by genetics or living in the same home.  My family is filled with moms, grandparents, half-siblings, friends, cousins, and a sperm donor.  It may seem unfamiliar to some, but this is my family and together we are more than all right.

-Emily McGranachan

Emily McGranachan ’12  – Love Makes a Family

Hometown: Georgetown, Massachusetts

Emily McGranachan found her voice at the age of 13 while attending the COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere) Family Week in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Its “life-changing lessons” gave her “a sense of empowerment.”

As a resident of Massachusetts, McGranachan often heard people debate what rights her family should have. Now a guest speaker with the Freedom to Marry Tour, she has shared her story and “introduced people to a child of a same-sex household” on several radio stations nationwide.

McGranachan has also worked to encourage tolerance and activism on a local level, serving as president of her high school Civil Rights Team and as a volunteer at a family homeless shelter through Horizons for Homeless Children. “These children inspire me,” she said. “In return I do my best to teach them kindness and compassion by being a positive role model.”

COLAGE is an organization, created in 1989 by the children of several lesbians and gay men who felt a need for support. Though its membership is not necessarily LGBT-identified, COLAGE’s focus on the issues of LGBT parents’ families makes it a de facto part of the LGBT community. There are 52 COLAGE chapters in the United States of America, 2 chapters in Canada, and one European chapter.  COLAGE is run and operated by children (of all ages) who have a lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) parent or parents. Older Colagers mentor younger members. They prepare them for any challenges that a child may have, having same sex parents. Members are open with each other and any topic can and is discussed. COLAGE teams each summer with Family Pride and holds its annual Family Week in Provincetown on Cape Cod. There, hundreds of gay families come to enjoy the summer and the kids attend COLAGE meetings and workshops.

COLAGE is based out of San Francisco, California and has small number of paid staff. Its executive director is Beth Teper who has a lesbian mom and today is an advocate for children who have same sex parents.

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Yeah, I said it. I would say it to her face, to her father’s face, to her partner’s face. Mary Cheney, daughter of ex VP Dick Cheney and partner to Heather Poe and mother to children being raised by two dogs…I mean women. Raw Story is reporting that Mary donated $500 to a republican candidate who wants to ensure that same sex marriage never happens.

Cheney gave $500 on April 1 to Kelly Ayotte, a Republican 2010 Senate candidate from New Hampshire, according to the election records database Newsmeat. Ayotte is seeking to fill the seat of retiring GOP Sen. Judd Gregg.

Ayotte told the Concord Monitor last August that she is “against same-sex marriage and believes marriage is between a man and a woman,” the paper reported.

The New Hampshire news station WMUR 9 also notes Ayotte opposes same-sex marriage. “Support traditional marriage,” reads her stance on the issue, as defined by “one man, one woman.” Three of the other four Republican hopefuls have expressed similar views. [Source]

I’ve said it before and I will say it again. Mary is a millionaire, she doesn’t need the benefits that marriage equality affords. She can take care of her partner, ensure her partner has health care, ensure her partner will be taken care of should anything happen to her, ensure that her child and property will go to Heather if anything happens to her, etc. So she doesn’t care about lesbians who are struggling, lesbians who have lost their jobs during the economic downturn who can’t put their partner on their health insurance or make sure that they will gain ownership of their property should the worst occur. She is selfish, she is homophobic, she is a snake.

Mary: You are a horrible excuse for a human being.

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08/16/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

By now you have all heard the tale of the homophobic offensive guard for the Philedelphia Eagles, Todd Herremans, who tweeted some anti-gay statements regarding the popular HBO show, True Blood. Specifically, he said: “Not a fan of how they get u hooked with the 1st 2 seasons then bring on a barrage of homosexuality.” Those damn vampires and their gayness! It’s so much worse than the whole “living on blood” thing. Am I right or am I right? … Or am I right?

Anyway, so the online queer community called Herremans out on his BS and he apologized. But Jason Zinoman, a writer over at www.Slate.com wrote an article today entitled, “True Blood’s “Barrage of Homosexuality” with the subtitle, “Was the Philadelphia Eagles’ Todd Herremans on to something?” Say what, dude? No way was Herreman onto something. Zinoman goes on to lavish us with his insights, which include that True Blood is trying to insight a gay panic riot in their straight male viewership. Because straight men are scared of the gays! Beware of the gays bro. Gays are cool as long as they don’t hit on me, right, dude? Zinoman writes:

The writers clearly enjoy making their audience feel uncomfortable. The excess of gore and the violent sex are designed to shock. They haven’t recently introduced homosexuality, as Herremans would have it, although you could make the case that there has been something of a barrage lately. And this season, the show’s fluid sexuality has a pointed dramatic purpose that invites and even encourages this kind of gay panic.

Maybe the show wants to make people uncomfortable, but it also wants to turn them on. There is a lot of sex in True Blood, hot sex, gay sex, lesbian sex, non-consensual sex, rough sex, etc. People like sex. People like sex and violence. I’m pretty sure HBO isn’t trying to gross out the bros, bro. Zinoman has a theory about how True Blood creates this homosexual panic. First, they get their straight male audience to get cool with a male character. There are tits involved, the straight male is like, dude maybe this vamp is coolio. Then BAM that cool vampire becomes a GAY vampire. But it’s too late because the dude bro has made a connection with the character and seeing this character have ‘the man sex’ freaks him out.

Last week, what bothered Herremans was surely the sex between Talbot and Eric. Straight male audiences surely identified with the confident alpha dog Eric, perpetually surrounded by adoring topless strippers. It was a shock to hear him explain that, when he said it’s been a long time since he’s “done this,” he was referring to vampires, not men.

DON”T YOU SEE HOW HBO IS MANIPULATING YOU, DUDE BROS! Zinoman writes:

True Blood performs a similar trick by getting straight male audiences invested in scenes of gay sexuality. Herremans’s tweet shows that it worked.

Wow. Sooo, True Blood showing the gay sex to freak out dude bro’s everywhere, instead of creating and telling a unique, compelling story that gets millions of viewers to tune in every week. Who knew?

Am I being too hard on dude bro Zinoman’s entry? Maybe. Recently, Slate has become kind of a weird place with feminist bloggers (and my personal favs) such as Hanna Rosin defending a Cornell scientist who used vibrators on young female children as well as a Cornell report that said partial female circumcision was okay, defending the doctor who gave out “anti-lesbian” pills to women pregnant with female children and attacking Jezebel.com. I used to love Slate, but what the hell is in their water coolers lately?

You can read the original Slate article here: http://www.slate.com/id/2264098/ 

Ps. You can also read, “How Black People Use Twitter,” Maybe their headline writer quit?

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Replacing Biden, though, is something that has been mentioned on LGR before, as has a possible move of Secretary Clinton to either the Vice-Presidency or the Secretariat of Defense. In truth, the real reason behind Gewirtz’ idea seems to be summed up in his last sentence “Plus, there’d be Bill [Clinton]. Every election’s tons more fun with Bill involved.” There is a certain longing for the ‘good ol’ days’ of President Bill Clinton which has not been matched by President Barack Obama.

Now, unlike his former rival John McCain, Hilary Clinton has done absolutely no campaigning against Obama, and remained silent on domestic issues. The reality is that Obama has been very timid in voicing his rationale and in pushing for true reform because he seems afraid of upsetting people. Obama is too much of a compromiser and not enough of a leader. His kind of President is great for times when partisanship is low, bi-partisanship is high, and the nation is not in any form of crisis- let alone two wars, a deep economic recession, and an unprecedented man-made ecological disaster.

If anyone should go, it is not Biden, though he is not exactly a strong member of the ‘team’, but rather Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. While President Obama may feel the need to put loyalty over ability, Gibbs has done far too much to harm the Obama Administration and very little to help it. While this may sound cynical, President George W. Bush did make a good decision in having an attractive blonde woman as his press secretary. While Dana Perrino may not have been the best in terms of being truthful, or being honest, at least she did a decent job of putting an attractive face on the last Administration. She could also stay on message, which is something that Gibbs seems incapable of doing as he has repeatedly shown, including his recent attack on the “Professional Left”.

Replacing Biden would be a good idea. He is not exactly the most photogenic person in the world, and certainly not good at staying on message. Obama needs people who can get his message out. Right now, Obama has shown a surprising lack of ability to engage in discourse and debate in any real manner, and he appears to be the only one among the public faces of his Administration who has any real ability to debate without going off message or being unable to connect to the audience.

Replacing Biden would be a good idea, whether or not he should be replaced with Clinton. Gibbs should also be replaced, preferably with someone who is more adept at his job than he is.

He, of course, also goes on to talk about ‘cultural sanity and viability’ as if he were Pat Buchanan explaining how Rome, Weimar, NAZI Germany, and so many other oppressive regimes over the last two thousand years persecuted and executed lesbians and gays. Apparently, thousands of years of dead people cannot be wrong according to Bishop Olmsted. Of course, it should be noted that two thousand years of Popes were wrong in blaming the Jews for the execution of Christ, as were thousands of years of dead Catholics and Protestants.

Olmsted states “This plan is so deeply embedded in our human nature that every culture in history has recognized it and enshrined and protected it in law and custom. Marriage being exclusively between a man and a woman was not an idea created by these cultures but, rather, a truth received by them as something handed down from a higher authority.” Of course, the idea that races had to be kept separate and pure has its roots in Christianity, but let us not discuss that. Instead, let us discuss how this ethnocentrism just is not going to fly. Not all cultures, and not even all successful cultures, limit marriage to one man and one woman. Indeed, Islam allows for one man to have up to four wives, and several cultures in the past and present allow for same-sex unions.

“We need to again recall the key distinction, when considering homosexuality, between the homosexual inclination on the one hand and homosexual acts on the other. Whoever engages in homosexual acts commits serious sin, as both the Old Testament and New Testament teach (Cf. Genesis 19:1-29, Romans 1:18-32, I Timothy 1:10) and as Christian Tradition has consistently affirmed (Cf. Catechism, #2357). However, persons with homosexual inclinations but who do not engage in homosexual acts are not guilty of sin at all,” Olmsted asserts, but he does not seem to grasp that any lesbian or gay who has to hide from their sexuality and live in a marriage with someone of the opposite sex is committing a slew of other sins including one of the ten big ones- that of bearing false witness. He is asking lesbians and gays to lie, emotionally hurt others, disrespect their spouses, damage their children, damage their marital bonds, and probably a ton of others. In other words, Olmsted is saying to lesbians and gays that you have a choice- either be celibate, miserable, and self-destructive (which may also be a sin) or sin your heart out be lying and destroying the lives of one or more other people in order to avoid a singular sin of homosexuality.

“Love and truth go hand-in-hand. Everyone who experiences true love knows this — we want those we love to know the truth. As Catholics, we want to love people authentically and not in a mediocre way that would ignore dangers in a person’s life out of a shallow concern for political correctness. We need never worry that speaking the truth clearly and charitably is a violation of love,” he went on to say. Of course, what happens if someone has felt true love in the form of a person of the same sex? Apparently that is not true love to this man who has known no love other than to bow his knee to his God and to gain temporal power. Many of us know the truth, and know that there is no harm in homosexuality except from people like Bishop Olmsted who try to impose and destroy the identities and lives of lesbians and gays the world over because he believes that his religion is the only religion.

Bishop Olmsted can keep his prayers. I am not a Christian, and what he is doing is trying to impose his religious beliefs upon me and mine. He wants me to be miserable and lonely and die early because he cannot grasp that he hates others in the guise of “love”. In the end, men like Olmsted want to impose a theocratic belief system upon this nation and ignore that not all Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and Pagans believe like he does.

When Prop 8 supporters got up on the stand, the only thing that they had to support their ideology was their religion.  The courts do not rely upon religion to determine law, and that is why Prop 8 was overturned.

Source

They want to forget, but it is in the music, and the Irish should remember what it means for the bards to sing about the atrocities. Stone wears down, but songs live on. “I speak for Érin,” Amergain once said. It is said that once, the husband of Macha boasted to Rhi Connor Mac Nessa, the son of the mortal woman Nessa and the Goddess Nessa, that Macha could out run the Rhi’s fastest horse. She was pregnant and begged her husband not to force her to run, but he had boasted and would lose face. So, she ran, and beat Rhi Connor’s horse. Upon completion of the race, she gave birth to her daughter and son. Before departing for the Otherworld, Macha cursed the men of Ulster that they would feel the pains of birth for seven days and seven nights should their nation ever be threatened.

The Galway City Council wants to forget the atrocities of the past. They want to remove the statue dedicated to the victims of the Sisters of Mercy Magdalene laundry that once stood at the corner of Forster Street and Bothár. They, themselves, commissioned the statue known as the Mick Wilkins statue, and now they want it removed. They want the simple statue of a woman dressed in drab institutional garb and holding a bed-sheet aloft behind her to go away because it reminds people of the women who were literally worked to death in those laundries.

These women were often sent to the laundries for their “sins”. Some were sent there just to get them away from the public because they embarrassed their father or their parish priest who had gotten them with child. At the base of the statue are the words of Patricia Burke Brogan, and they say:

Make visible the Tree

its branches ragged

with washed out lines

of a bleached shroud

Professor James M. Smith wrote

“It would stand a mere stone’s throw from the entrance to the local church. Was it really necessary for Mass-goers to be reminded of days gone by?

It would stand in the shadow of the new Discover Ireland/Aras Failte building. Tourists visiting the glass-adorned information centre would be confronted with the statue’s reflection, mirrored back at them as they looked to uncover the real Ireland of thatched cottages and traditional pub scenes on display in the same windows.

Diagonally across from the tourist office stands the building that replaced the Magdalene laundry. The nuns sold the site in the early 1990s. The buildings were demolished. And today the local Anglo-Irish Bank branch stands in its stead. Not much has changed really. Gross exploitation and immoral business practices predate the Celtic Tiger boom. . .

“These seventy-two women were the ‘Consecrated Magdalenes,’ women who, after a probationary period, undertook a religious vow to remain in the institution for life. They chose to forego liberty and material possessions and accepted a life of prayer and servitude. Their earthly reward was the promise of burial on convent grounds.

Galway’s ordinary “penitent” women, it should be noted, were buried in what amounts to a mass grave at Bohermore cemetery in the city.

When the laundry buildings were demolished the ‘consecrated’ graves were in the way of the new development. And so the bodies were exhumed and re-interred at their present location.

Galway’s City Council this week decided that the Magdalene memorial statue is also in the way of a proposed new ‘bus lane.’ Now it is the statue that impedes progress.

There is talk of relocating the statue, although the treatment meted out to the Padraic O’Conaire statue, formerly at Eyre Square, does not augur well in this regard. City councilors might well decide on an out of the way side street, off the beaten track, away from the glare of mass-goers, tourists, and the city’s financial gurus.”

At the old post office in Dublin stands a statue of Cu Chulainn. It was because of him that the curse of Macha was lifted. The Ulsterman was the son of Lugh, and was immune to the curse. The statue stands there because on that spot the Easter Rebellion occurred. It is easy to memorialize the atrocities committed against one’s own people, but it is easy to forget those that were committed by one’s own people. They seek to forget what they did to those women.

St. Brigid, whose holy day has always been more important to the Irish than St. Patrick’s, would be ashamed of how this city of Galway seeks to treat the women it was complicit in killing.

Source
((The story of Macha is recited from memory. I am a student of Women’s History specializing in Celtic Women’s history and myth. I come from a long line of bardic, druidic ans shamanistic women.- Bridgette P. LaVictoire ní Loynaz))

Ok, so, most games are designed with the interests of young, white males in mind. That means women in skimpy armor and with large breasts, male protagonists, and a lot of other bits about that.

I remember the battle royale that happened on the Blizzard forums over the calls for more female-friendly fair in game. The suggestions included the ability to cover up a bit more of our characters, especially since much of the armor for The Burning Crusade expansion amounted to metal bikinis on women, as well as a few more female racial leaders (something that Blizz ignored again with Cataclysm despite calls to make the new Goblin leader female to go with Sylvanas Windrunner). Another suggestion was skimpier armor for male characters as well.

The thing is, not all of those who were arguing for the skimpier armor on male toons were women, and not all of those who were arguing to keep the skimpy armor on female toons were men. Many male, or at least assumed to be males, expressed a certain love for the idea of having men running around in armor reminiscent of Conan the Barbarian, and some women were appalled at the idea of taking away the metal bikinis because of pixilated sexiness. Not all of these were due to, well, let us face it, wanting to attract toons of the opposite sex.

The thing is, many lesbians and gays play video games, but the assumption has always been that the audience is not lesbian or gay. While companies have tried abysmally to break into the women’s gaming market (note- most women would not buy a pink playstation or Desperate Housewives the Video Game), they have also been abysmal at tailoring games towards the LGBT market which, today, has some pretty impressive buying power. World of Warcraft guilds hold pride parades, and there are several LGBT focused guilds in the game.

Unfortunately, what brought this little piece on is a bit of disappointing news. For the most part, Blizzard has never written in a romantic element to a character’s storyline. Unfortunately, there is going to be some romantic elements in Cataclysm, most specifically in the Goblin start zone. If ‘you’ are playing a female Goblin, then you appear to have a boyfriend at the start of the game, and if ‘you’ are playing a male Goblin, then you appear to have a girlfriend at the start of the game. The quest text seems to indicate a certain amount of romance between the NPC’s and the player’s character. It is disappointing, but not unexpected. Outside of The Sims, it can be very hard to find games which are not rampantly heteronormative.

It would be nice if Blizzard could have made it so that the player could chose which of the two NPC’s (Candy Cane or Chip Endale) the player could take the quest from. After all, the Valentine’s world event is certainly not limited by the gender of the NPC’s, and often involves kissing female or male guards irregardless of the gender of one’s character. Well, Cata is in Beta right now, and it would be nice if Blizzard did a bit of change with regards to this before the expansion goes live sometime later this year.

Of course, it would be nice if they sent me a Beta invite, but I doubt that will happen. After five years in game. . .you’d think they’d invite me lol.

I will still be buying Cataclysm when it hits the shelves.

I would like to thank WoW gamer and podcaster Total Biscuit for bringing this up. While he did not send it to me, he did mention it in game and it got me thinking. Blizzard has something of a problem with heteronormative thinking, and it would be nice if they moved away from that a little more. They aren’t as bad as others, but still. . .

Addendum: Irregardless is irregular English and is not considered a misspelling or a double negative. Please refrain from commenting upon it.

Yesterday, Representative Anthony Weiner of New York got before the House and gave the republicans a good tongue lashing. He called them cowardly. He attacked them saying “stand up and say, ‘Oh, if only we had a different process we’d vote yes.’ You vote yes if you believe yes! You vote in favor of something if you believe it’s the right thing! If you believe it’s the wrong thing, you vote no!”

He also exclaimed “It is a shame! A shame.”

Anthony Weiner, a long time friend and former roommate of the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart, though they have had their differences, recently married Huma Abedin, a long time aid of Hilary Clinton’s. Ms Abedin was born in Michigan, but grew up in Saudi Arabia. She is Muslim, and Weiner is Jewish.

The Republicans have long tried to use the 9/11 tragedy for political reasons, including pushing for the war in Iraq. It is shameful that they have abandoned those who put their lives and their health at risk in those first few days trying to save those who might have survived the collapse of those two buildings. It is as shameful as Pope John Paul II refusing to take the helmet of Father Michael Judge who died performing last rights for the fallen on that day. The Republicans should be ashamed, and if Peter King and the rest of these people believed in the sacrificed of the women and men who died that day, or the sacrifices of those who went to Afghanistan in order to try and bring some modicum of justice to the families of the fallen, they would have voted yes without regard to who wrote or introduced this bill.

The Republicans have chosen to obstruct what ever they can in order to gain political power. It is time that they remembered that this is not about power, but service. Peter King should lose his seat this year. He won’t, but he should. As should every single Republican out there who has not had the moral courage to actually debate or discuss laws, but instead, have thrown temper tantrums because a Black man won the presidency rather than their crotchety old Arizonan who chose to nominate as his Vice-President a woman who elicited from me the line “can’t you see this is the last act of a desperate man?”

Representative Weiner, thank you for doing the right thing, and thank you for your impassioned speech last night.

This morning on FOX News, Weiner and fellow New York Representative Peter King got into a shouting match with regards to this issue. Here is Weiner’s rant from last night.

“It’s been a year since India decriminalised homosexuality. Well, at least for now. Because pending in the supreme court is a petition, challenging last year’s decriminalisation, that was lodged and supported by various religious groups across the country – for some reason, homosexuality has the power to unite Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and even yoga teachers.”

According to Ravichandran, the BBC pointed to the fact that some clubs in New Delhi are hosting gay nights twice a week; however, as he points out, none of the patrons actually wanted to be filmed. He also goes on to point that while “police interference has, in terms of anecdotal evidence, come down, reports of hate crimes have increased.” He points out that “a respected professor at an Islamic university was secretly filmed having gay sex; within a week he was suspended, and then found dead at his apartment. His partner, reportedly hounded by the police, attempted self-immolation.”

Societal change is coming slower in many nations than the legal changes with regards to homosexuality. The decriminalization of homosexuality in the United States was proceeded by years of growing positive portrayals of homosexuality, and the same goes for the United Kingdom. By the time Lawrence v. Texas was handed down, films such as Jeffery and shows like Ellen had already tackled the issue of homosexuality. The same cannot be said in India where the media still censors the word ‘gay’, though it should be pointed out that, until fairly recently, many companies struggled with obscenity filters which would censor the word “lesbian.”

What Ravichandran wrote is worth a good read, and it can be found here.

Hate symbols rarely ever remain isolated to just one group, especially in this day and age of almost blind, rampant hatred. Larry Adams of the Cross Bearer Ministry in Indianapolis, Indiana displayed that one quite well. Adams, who was one of the paltry few to show up to support the National Organization for Marriage, held up two signs at the recent Monday rally. One of them had a pair of nooses drawn upon it with a passage from Leviticus declaring that death was the only appropriate punishment for lesbians and gays.

Among the symbols of the LGBT movement are a pair of triangles. Both triangles have their points facing downward. One of them is pink and the other black. The pink triangle is the symbol for male homosexuality, and the black triangle is the symbol for an ‘anti-social woman.’ Both triangles derive from Nazi designations during World War II. Gay men were either imprisoned or sent to the concentration camps. More than a thousand are known to have died, and many were experimented upon in order to try and find a “cure” for homosexuality. Many more were sent to prison where there are no firm records of the numbers who died, and while many of those convicted under Nazi rule were released from prison after the fall of the Nazi regime, gay men were forced to fulfill the sentences handed down by the Nazi courts even after the Allies took Germany.

The number of lesbians who went to the camps is impossible to actually know. Many lesbians were labeled as ‘anti-social’ because they would not conform to the Nazi standards of womanhood, but since that could apply to just about any woman and not just lesbians, it is impossible to know the exact number. Many sent to the camps were also sent for other reasons. The majority of lesbians were sent to be “reeducated” and largely suppose to become complacent women fit to breed the Nazi vision of the Master Race.

Should it be surprising that the same rhetoric that is being used now to oppress lesbians and gays is the same one perpetuated by the Nazis in Germany? Not really. It is often drowned out in the horrifying slaughter of innocent lives that many of the elites in Nazi Germany were Christians, and devoutly so. They believed whole heartedly in some of the worst parts of Christianity, including the erroneous belief that Jesus Christ was executed by the Jews, and that homosexuality was downright evil.

It is not surprising that hate-mongers in the US would start using the noose as a symbol to oppress lesbians and gays at this point. It is a symbol of hatred already, and just broadening its definition a little is helpful to those who seek to strike fear into those they seek to oppress, especially since more obscure symbols are not going to work.

In the end, Larry Adams is no Christian. He is a theocrat. He believes in imposing his non-Christian Christianity upon others, and in demanding that all people follow his beliefs. He cites a passage which is suppose to have no application to Christianity any more, but that is not surprising. After all, a person who will use a symbol of hate would never be willing to live up to the reality of the religion he purports to believe in, or the word of its God.

Photos via Bilerico

Interview with Adams:

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Rick Rosendall over at GLAA had this to say about Choi and Get Equal:

“I happened to be standing right next to Robin McGehee on March 18 in D.C. when she (on behalf of GetEQUAL) threatened to disrupt HRC’s Kathy Griffin/DADT repeal rally unless they let Dan Choi speak. Since boorishness, attacks on our friends, and hijacking other groups’ events are not my idea of effective activism, and since it would be insanely harmful to our cause to help Reid’s nutbag opponent get elected, and since the lovely Mr. Choi has shown more drama than judgment, I’d say the attempted zap worked out surprisingly well — at least for the candidate I want to see elected. GetEQUAL may find the prospect of a Senator Sharron Angle and a Majority Leader Mitch McConnell somehow liberating, but I do not.”

Rick Rosendall includes some interesting comments from Steve Friess about the attempt by Choi to embarrass Reid.

So how did an effort to embarrass Reid turn into something of an emotional triumph for him? . . .Choi’s protest at Netroots on Saturday? Not so much. It was nuanced and complex, it was so easily misinterpreted that even the person Choi wanted to embarrass didn’t get it. And in the end, the media got this warm moment of Reid and Choi embracing, and the idea of boiling into a soundbite everything I’ve written here was absolutely impossible. Mission failed.

And from an article written by Friess himself:

“But McCarter got choked up and didn’t make a point of the fact that the letters she was handing him included not just the discharge papers but also those from Reid to Choi that contained broken promises. And Reid also misunderstood the point of his receiving the ring — he became emotional about it because he thought it was a gift, a symbolic gesture to embolden Reid to get the DADT job done. It was actually supposed to be the equivalent of a divorcee giving her wedding ring back to her husband, see. . .But in a way, Saturday was a useful lesson in the art of protest. These didn’t work. At first I blamed the media, but when I realized I was about the only one in the MSM who got it right, it dawned on me that it wasn’t my colleagues’ faults. Had I not been forewarned by sources of what was about to take place and why, I probably would have interpreted it very similarly.”

Rosendall includes some more comments from Michael Petrelis:

Was GE even thinking that reid’s people might have planned for a zap or action of some sort during his NN (Netroots Nation) speech? um, after GE [GetEQUAL] zapped the traffic on the strip and cited reid’s name, just maybe his staff was prepared and GE wasn’t, again? . . Mission failed are the words i have associated with kip and robin, when they were in one struggle, one fight and meed in the middle, and didn’t keep promises made about CA organizing, and the same words i associate with them and dan choi and the other GE members who put on the DC march in october and failed to deliver a national network in 435 congressional districts, and the same words i associate with their inability to stage a single public meeting of their own to explain whatever their agenda is, get a decent and interactive web site operating, present a plan to the community. lurching from zap to zap and spending jonathan lewis’ money generating small news quick to fade, ain’t a plan.

GE has sucked all the activist oxygen out of the movement and they have little support, or community engagement, or measureable successes to tout.

What happend in vegas by the gays for NN will stay in vegas and have little impact on moving the gay agenda forward. harry reid ain’t gonna do a damn thing for us because he was gifted a ring from a drama queen.”

I have, upon numerous occasions, called what Choi did a beau geste. It is a grand, but ultimately hollow gesture which does not have any solid meaning or strong message to pass along. It is entirely symbolic and worthless. Unfortunately, Choi has a habit of doing these kinds of gestures which, ultimately, are self defeating. Whether or not Senate Majority Leader Reid actually promised to get Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repealed is immaterial. This particular gesture makes it so that it appears that Reid has made that pledge. Getting it through Congress is pretty much a done deal anyway. The real problem will be getting the seal of approval from Admiral Mike Mullen, Secretary Gates and President Obama.

There are thousands of soldiers who have, very quietly and off the record, expressed their contempt and hatred for Dan Choi. Not for his coming out, but for his grandstanding while in uniform. They have expressed their disgust at him for wearing his uniform to protests. Many veterans feel that being seen getting arrested in uniform was disgraceful and a dishonor to his uniform.

Dan Choi is, apparently, going to be on the Daily Show on Monday night, but the hype out of his camp has made it sound as if he was going to be Jon Stewart’s guest and not a man being brought in to be interviewed by one of the correspondents. Choi is, undoubtably, going to be mocked and made fun of by the correspondent.

There are more voices wondering just how effective Choi and Get Equal are going to be or are being. Many are starting to question the effectiveness of their tactics coupled with a lack of strategy and their assaults on allies to the cause.

In fact, Ireland’s alcohol consumption- which is not the same as alcoholism- lags behind several other nations, and is only just a little bit further ahead than the United States. Ireland’s alcohol consumption is 13.7% and the US’s is 8.6%; however, this does not mean that there are more alcoholics in Ireland than in the US because consumption is different from alcoholism.

According to Donohue:

“Think of it this way. We know there is a correlation between being Irish and being an alcoholic, but that doesn’t mean all Irishmen are, or will become, alcoholics. But it does mean they have a special problem in this area. Does this now make me anti-Irish?”

In actuality, it makes him a believer in stereotypes since the image of the drunken Irish sot dates back to the era when many Irish were coming into the United States and people were busy trying to degrade and denigrate the Irish. It is as stereotypical as the lazy Mexican, the money grubbing Jew, the stupid African-American, and the snooty Frenchman. It is a stereotype just like the pedophile gay man even though the current statistics are not backing up Donohue’s beliefs.

Donohue goes on to claim “Alfred Kinsey was the first to identify the correlation between homosexuality and the sexual abuse of minors. In 1948, he found that 37 percent of all male homosexuals admitted to having sex with children under 17 years of age.” Yes, and you could probably have found quite a higher number of straight men who had sexual relationships with children under the age of 17 back then too. The age of consent in much of the United States prior to 1920 was ten, and after 1920, was sixteen. In some states, it was still possible to get married to a girl as young as twelve with the consent of her parents as late as this decade.

Donohue’s analogies are rather off given that information. In fact, they are based on stereotypes.

Donohue, who is the had of the Catholic League, also seems to not grasp that many of the priests who abuse young boys do so because of availability and not because of sexual preference. These priests are not that dissimilar to the population of a prison where sexual outlet is with what is physically available, and in the case of the majority of priests, that is men.

Another problem with Donohue’s ‘evidence’ is that the majority of the children available to priests is post-pubescent boys, and not pre-pubescent.

Donohue is trying to do everything he can in order to try and put the blame on gay men for what is going on in the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, the problem for him is that a large number of girls are molested every year, and that number has been growing every year since the early 1980’s when girls were allowed closer contact with priests. Many of those girls are only just now coming forward to tell of their abuse. Many girls are reluctant to come forward, and there are reports of many of the girls who were molested by the priests who just shut up or who were silenced. Catholicism is especially harsh when it comes to girls and women, and the idea of a woman especially in many traditional Catholic areas coming forward to tell of being abused by a priests has been hard to break.

Donohue’s evidence may show that there is a tendency for abusive priests to target boys, but the problem for him is that evidence is easily explained by the culture within the Catholic Church.

About the only thing that Donohue does say that is correct is that the majority of the cases in the Catholic Church are not, technically, pedophilia. Rather they are pederasty or ebophilia. That is, the targeting of children after puberty, but that is about the only thing that he says which is not based on stereotypes or baseless “research.”

At one time, Mr. President, the presidency of this nation was just what you are today. The President was there to sign bills, to enforce laws, and to defend them no matter what. That day and age has long since passed. We are now in a century when the President shapes legislation and controls the party that he is the nominal head of. Without your guidance, the party is busy working on doing what ever it wants, and that means that vital legislation has now been lost because of your dithering and weakness, Mr. President.

The Climate Change bill is gone. It was done in by the reluctance of certain Democrats and a whole lot of money from lobbyists from the oil, coal, and gas industries even when it was painfully obvious that, as far as these people were concerned, money was more important than lives and money was more important than protecting the environment. A large swath of the East Coast could soon become uninhabitable because of the natural gas extraction that is going on, but why should that matter so long as you and those who fund you can reap money off the suffering of others.

Economically, we’re in the pits because rather than standing firm against the idiocy of the Tea Party, you caved in and kowtowed to them and to the Wall Street demands regarding protecting their money sources. Right now, the bulk of our money is tied up in the wealthiest individuals in this nation and they are not able to buy enough to either return the tax revenue lost to the tax cuts for them, nor are they spending enough to keep the economy going. Money has to flow, and if that means that the government has to ‘redistribute’ it, then so be it. The government is one of the largest money engines in the nation. It is suppose to ‘redistribute’ money from the top to the bottom in order to keep the money flowing because the rich can never buy enough goods to generate that kind of monetary flow.

On LGBT rights, maybe if you were out there in full force advocating for our rights, Mr. President, we would not be hearing excuses from Speaker Pelosi. We would not hear from her on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act “It was next on my agenda, but then ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ was pushed.” This did not have to be an either/or situation. Both bills could have been easily done, especially if we had you pushing for them both, and if we had not had the fear mongers up there screaming about bathrooms. DADT could have been repealed quickly and without any heavy lifting. the Employment Non-Discrimination Act was an easy win, until it became absolutely obvious just how weak you are Mr. President. Because of your weakness we are hearing this from Pelosi as well “Making sure the bill is fully inclusive will take time.” About the only problem with ENDA is that it needs a bit of tweaking on the gender inclusion language, but that is all. She went on to say “We want to make sure we win this vote by more than a slim majority.” Given the support that this bill has, it should not require a slim majority to pass. It should pass handily. Both bills have broad support across this nation, but rather than standing up for the majority, you have kowtowed to a minority of bigots who are more interested in making sure that lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transpeople are kept second class citizens.

Shirley Sharrod is correct, Mr. President, you do not know what it is like to be an ordinary person struggling to survive and put food on the table. At one point, Franklin D. Roosevelt was the same way. That was, until he went to Georgia and found out what it was like to be dirt poor in the Rural South. Take a drive through Brunswick, Georgia sometime, Mr. President. Take a look at how the poverty, lack of healthcare, lack of equality, and the lack of help eats away at people.

I remember those drives, Mr. President. I remember seeing people who looked like they had been hollowed out. They walked like zombies. It is time, Mr. President, to put this nation back to helping the poor and the helpless.

It is time to do that before this nation is no more.

(This editorial was written in response to comments made by President Obama via tape at Netroots Nation.)

Why has Choi been unwilling to admit that he was discharged until tonight? Why has he not been willing to admit it until tonight? His discharge would have been the ultimate propaganda coup for him and his group, but then, it creates a bigger problem for Choi. It has been twenty-four days since Choi was officially discharged, and certainly been more than willing to wear his uniform in public. Indeed, he may have been in violation of the law by doing so since it is a violation for anyone who is not within the military to wear an official military uniform.

Daniel Choi has disgraced his uniform by continuing to wear it despite being discharged, and he has used it in such a manner which is, ultimately, a prop for him in the political theater that he has engaged in with Get Equal. He has been more than willing to wear his uniform while handcuffed to the White House fence, angering many servicemembers and even turning them against the cause of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Choi’s constant use of his uniform as a costume for his appearances in public have, ultimately, turned many within the military against him, and likely even made it harder for many leaders within the LGBT movement to approach the military chiefs in a manner which could have and even were making them at least less hostile towards repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

The tactics used by Dan Choi, who claims to have no affiliation with Get Equal, and the group he has been arrested the most with, namely Get Equal, have been problematic at best. While it may seem like targeting Senator Harry Reid may feel nice, stopping traffic in one of the most heavily trafficked areas in his state is not the best way to get people on our side. Instead of targeting the swing votes on legislation like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, Choi and Get Equal have done their best to attack those who are ardent supporters of the LGBT movement. Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid cannot move on legislation that they do not have the votes for, and by targeting them instead of targeting those who do not support pro-LGBT legislation, all Choi and Get Equal do is waste valuable time and energy.

While it is regrettable that Dan Choi was discharged, he has chosen to act in a manner that is beyond disrespectful of the women and men who serve in the military. These are the women and men he is suppose to be trying to help, and instead, he had done so much to make repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell that much harder, and made it that much harder for them while in the service.

He has also hidden his discharge from the eyes of the public. This is a man who has been strongly and adamantly in favor of repealing DADT, and yet, when he is discharged, he is silent until tonight on The Rachel Maddow Show. He refuses to admit to having been informed at the time, and has said that he was informed by the media at a later time. The question is, why did he have to hide this until tonight?

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• Dan Choi Discharged From Military On 29 June (lezgetreal.com)

“I should begin with an apology. I am sincerely sorry for the votes I cast and the actions I took that harmed lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. Just as important to me, I am sorry for not stepping forward and speaking up as an elected official on behalf of equal treatment for all people.”

Ashburn goes on to explain that he was terrified that anything he did to support the LGBT Community would be used to reveal that he is gay. “At a time when our country is deeply divided over the proper size and scope of government, when people are hurting in a bad economy and when we face real threats from terrorists determined to end our way of life, shouldn’t we be united on at least one principal–that equality for all Americans is fundamental to who we are as a nation of freedom-loving people?”

Unfortunately for Ashburn, the Republican Party has not been the true party of equality since before the Civil Rights movement. The principles that the Republican Party has often espoused are not the ones that it advances. Unfortunately the Republican principles that hold that “each individual is speical and unique; each individual should have the maximum freedom and opportunity under our Constitution; that government has no business in the private lives of our citizens” are not pursued by the Republican Party which has long needed the Religious Right to get any kind of power. In selling out to the Religious Right, the GOP has created a major problem for themselves and the Tea Party groups which now espouse ideas bordering on racism only make matters worse for the Republican Party going into the next election.

The rest of what Ashburn has to say is worth reading. He raises some very strong points. Not long ago, LGR’s Dr. Paula Brooks stated “As you know, I am a small business owner. I hate taxes, government regulations drive me nuts, and I own a Glock. I could be a Republican if they would just let go of the haters in their party, but they need the money, and fell they need their vote. So I can’t support them. How could I? They want to deny me my rights.”

C.D. Kirven, the co-founder of Get Equal Now, stated with regards to Ashburn’s editorial:

I’ve read Rep. Ashburn’s powerful statements and support his efforts to reach out to the Republican party to change their prejudicial view of LGBT diverse families. Not too long ago, this same bigotry was placed on divorced parents and the community moved to rally support for blended families which once was the minority but now is the majority. A recent poll shows that 69% of Democrats support gay marriage while 29% of Republicans is anti-gay marriage. We do not need to make enemies out of our allies. We need to hold Republicans accountable by demanding they put their personal lives aside and start upholding their civic duties. Get Equal Now stands with the Republican Liberty Caucas and the Human Rights Campaign against the TX GOP anti-gay platform aligning our resources against injustice. We have a rare opportunity to create real political change but that will require some of us to rethink our political ideals and personal priviledges in order to push back on those who are standing in the way of our liberty. It’s not President Obama or the Democrats, it’s the Republican party and the National Organization of Marriage standing in the way of our equality.

Most LGBT leaders with the power to act on my request will ignore my plea because I’m a lower middle class Black Lesbian and to Gay Inc. I’m a nobody! But please remember our true history and acknowledge some thought many community leaders were nobody until their public pleas became an undeniable grassroots movement. We need to hold Republicans accountable for their political responsibility to represent all and not just align themselves with who have the same personal ideology. A unified LGBT rights movement is how we free ourselves from this unjust strangle hold that has suffocated our civil rights pursuit but to push back on Republicans will require some to stop living in our glass closets and throwing stones at LGBT allies who’ve made measurable progress in less than two years they’ve had the power of both houses of our government. When we sat on our morals while President Bush ignored our community for 8 years. If you join Rep. Ashburn and Get Equal Now, in pushing back against the religously unrightous then we will see the change we all need to live our lives free of discrimination that is openly embraced by those who claim to be Christians. Please ignore party affliations, economic status, race, sex, gender expression and join our stand to change the 29% to the 69% of our Democratic allies. Please do not turn a deaf ear to your own equality because we are such a small segment of society it will take all of us to win this 41 year struggle.”

Roy Ashburn

“I am not employed by GetEqual or any LGBT organization. The Choi family has never financially supported my activities.” Which may or may not be true, but the letter dated 8 July also went on to state “I am paid by the army and the Veterans Affairs (50% service disability).”

As someone who has been discharged under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, it is unlikely that this is true. People discharged under DADT do not receive any compensation from the military what so ever. This leaves former Lt. Choi in something of a bind. Who picked up his lawyer fees for the whole thing surrounding his arrest in DC? Who paid for his little trip to get arrested in Las Vegas?

This creates something of a problem for Choi who has been ardently stating that he is not in the employ of the various LGBT groups, but at the same time, he also no longer has any income what so ever.

Choi was asked to do an interview with LezGetReal, but has since feigned ignorance of it even though the email proof of that is still there. According to an email dated 3 July and sent to LGR in response to a request for an interview, Choi stated “I’m open to it. I also realize you have an important role in this and we are not expected to be best buds. In fact the public dissent is a fact of life and a responsibility.”

The big question is, why did Choi keep his discharge secret, and even go to the point of bending the truth or even outright lying when it came to his current source of income? He is no longer paid by the military in any form, and could not be under DADT.

For an ardent and vocal advocate of DADT repeal, it seems baffling that Choi would not be proclaiming that he is now a martyr for the cause he has sought so hard to advance and to make sure that he was not unfairly discharged from the military. Indeed, it seems as if Choi has been less than willing to show himself being crucified for the cause even as late as 9 July. Three weeks later, he has not miraculously been reinstated, and he has not proclaimed his martyrdom.

So, Mr. Choi, why hide the fact that you were discharged from the services? Why hide it? And who, exactly, is paying for your jaunts to Vegas?

Dan Choi’s agent (yes, he has an agent) does not mention the nearly month old discharge in any of his press materials either.

Update:  Choi apparently tweeted “No, I have not seen any discharge papers. When/if they come, I’ll show and tell. #DADT”  He has, apparently, been told by phone and mail that he has been discharged.  It usually does not take three weeks for the mail to arrive, but then again, when you’re on the road to go get arrested, it is a bit hard to keep up with your mail.  The possibility exists that he was not discharged under DADT, but for other reasons.

Part of the problem with regards to the slowdown and even halt of LGBT related legislation comes from a certain disconnect between the political class and the voting public. Many Blue Dog Dems and Moderate Republicans are unaware of just how much the nation has changed with regards to these issues. It is not necessarily that most of the American public care about these issues, but it is about how much they do not care about these issues. Except for the hardcore Republican base, the majority of Americans feel that it is time to offer employment and housing discrimination protections for lesbians, gays and even transpeople. Despite the claims about how people will be uncomfortable sharing a bathroom with a transperson, the reality is that most people would not bat an eye lash over it.

The only real hot button issue that the majority of Americans feel anything about is marriage rights. Most Americans oppose the use of the term ‘marriage’ in relation to LGBT couples; however, even that is changing slowly.

The problem with Get Equal is that it is about tactics and not strategy. Rather than fighting to help our allies, they attack them. Rather than fighting our enemies, they inadvertently support them.

In the end, Get Equal has more problems than it wants to admit too all the while pulling down lots of money and keeping its interal organization secret. Welcome to Gay Inc., Get Equal.

Colson’s personal triple whammy no good, very bad week came because a Boston Federal judge ruled that sections of the Defense of Marriage Act are unconstitutional, and because of the rave reviews and decent numbers on the movie The Kids Are Alright. There is a third part to his lament, but it is a bit further down.

According to Colson:

“In Boston, Federal Judge Joseph Tauro had ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, ‘plainly encroaches’ on the right of the state like Massachusetts to define marriage and ensure its benefits.

In a separate ruling, Tauro ruled that DOMA violates the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection. Gay couples have brought the suits because, even though married in Massachusetts, they couldn’t get federal benefits, like Social Security, for their ‘spouses.’

DOMA was passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton in 1996. It prevents one state from redefining marriage for the other 49. It defines marriage for purposes of federal law as the union of one man and one woman. Under DOMA, a state may define marriage however it wants, but the impact of that definition is limited to that state’s law.”

Of course, DOMA violates the Constitution, but Colson does not let that bother him. To many people like Colson, though they tend not to admit it, as far as they are concerned, the Constitution applies only to white, Anglo-Saxon affluent Christian men like the Founding Fathers and God ordained.

Of course, things just keep getting worse and worse. According to Colson

“My own personal ‘black Friday’ was made complete by something else I read in that same edition of the Times: a review of the movie The Kids Are All Right, which celebrates the story of lesbian couple having a child through the aid of a sperm donor.

Come on! This comes right on the heels of a study definitively showing that sperm donor babies are more likely to suffer serious life-long emotional wounds than children raised by their biological parents.”

He is, of course, referring to the “study” that is being used to push his ideological viewpoint. The one that is badly researched, not peer reviewed, and inaccurate as all get out. Of course, he would rather lie about the accuracy of that particular “study” than look at the one that showed that the donor conceived children of lesbian couples are healthier, better adjusted and better off than their straight counterparts. This is, of course, a normal tactic. In order to prove that a child needs a mother and father, men like Coleson dig up studies comparing dual parent to single parent households instead of discussing the studies that show little or no difference between the children of lesbian, gay or straight parents. “Look over there! It’s an unwed mother!”

But, of course, for Colson, it gets worse. You see, not only has Judge Joe Tauro struck down portions of the Defense of Marriage Act, but Colson and Tauro are good friends. In fact, Colson helped get Tauro his seat on the Boston court. He urged Richard Milhouse Nixon to appoint Judge Tauro to the bench. Thus, we can all make Colson’s life that much more miserable by thanking him for getting a true champion of the Constitution and supporter of equality on the Federal bench.

He laments “It’s as if the gay-rights movement took a page right out of the playbook of my hero, William Wilberforce, the British parliamentarian and Christian who led the decades-long movement to abolish the slave trade. He fought the slave trade and worked to change cultural prejudice. He sparked a revival in the Church. And he won.” I am, alas, rather rusty on my post-1700 British History; however, I cannot state that the analogy is correct here. What is going on is far more akin to the Suffragettes and Women’s Rights leaders of America and Britain over the last hundred years. Unlike the abolitionist, there are precious few leaders among the LGBT movement, but we are educating the world just by existing.

“Sadly, Christians today seem to have a limited attention span and are confused about how or whether to shape culture. Our occasional political victories are nullified, however, where they matter—in the hearts and minds of Americans. The fate of DOMA is a bitter lesson.”

Yes, because it sad when a bigot is told that he is no longer allowed to be a bigot and that his bigotry means hurting someone else. His lack of empathy towards the pain and suffering of others is obvious. After all, if he can live in a world that tolerates Lindsey Lohan, Mel Gibson, Las Vegas, Jerry Falwell, and so many others, perhaps he too can learn to tolerate lesbians and gays. Probably not.

“Let’s be clear. This is every bit the victory gay-rights advocates say it is, which makes families and kids the big losers.” Because, of course, children need a mother and a father according to studies that show that children need two parents (of any configuration), and that the donor conceived children of lesbian parents grow up just fine.

“So Christians, we had better wake up. Don’t take the advice of those who are telling us we shouldn’t try to change the world. Let’s get busy, work harder, and take the long view—to restore, pray God, sanity to our culture.” “You’d better wise up Janet Wies. . .” er, sorry. What he means to say is “So Christians who are just like me and you had all better be just like me and believe just as I believe, we must wake up and return out nation to the time when women wore high heels and pearls around the house, children behaved and did not get into much trouble, and men worked from 9am to 5pm every weekday. We must return to the halcyon days of “Leave It To Beaver,” and “My Three Sons,” and “Father Knows Best,” and “Mr. Ed.”

In other words, let us go back to a fantasy the never existed.

Quotes and References, in order:

REM- “It’s The End Of The World”
The reference to the Apocralypse is from Terry Pratchett’s The Light Fantastic, and refers to an apocryphal apocalypse- say that three times fast!
Ghostbusters (1982)
Futurama: Bender’s Game
Futurama “Proposition Infinity”
The Rocky Horror Picture Show

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• No Word Yet From DOJ On DOMA Appeal (lezgetreal.com)

I speak for the LGBT Community. I do not mean that I am some kind of lesbian messiah, but that my voice reflects upon the LGBT Community. Everything that I say can and will be held against each and every one of my sisters and brothers in the LGBT Community. It is the same for every voice within the LGBT Community. We may not like that, but so long as my voice is being heard by someone, it can and likely will be used against us as a whole. It does not matter that my voice is my own opinion or slant on the news stories. What I say will be used to damn every last lesbian, gay, and transperson in the world. While we act as individuals, we are all held collectively responsible.

This is how the Tea Party is racist. Certainly many of the individuals within the Tea Party are not racist, homophobic, transphobic or bigoted. The problem is that enough of them are and enough of them are visibly so that all members of the Tea Party are racists. What is worse, this is even more true because many within the Tea Party are unwilling to condemn the racists that are within the overall movement. By claiming that the Tea Party is not racist and laying down the idea that the throwback in this whole thing is the NAACP, what many people do is simply perpetuate this belief that these statements, images and actions are not racism.

Racism, homophobia, misogyny are all rife within the Tea Party movement in the same way that they are not uncommon even within the LGBT movement. Tea Party placards showing President Barack Obama done up as a voodoo god are racist, and incidentally, the exact way that he is depicted equates him with a specific voodoo god. You will have to forgive me for not knowing which one as my training is predominantly in Pre-Christian European cultures. Tea Party slogans do not have to use racially charged words in order to be racist because the actions can be racist just as easily. The verbal assault on Members of Congress for being black or gay was not an isolated incident, and there are reports of many a white supremacist group rifling through the Tea Party groups to try and find recruits.

Whether the Tea Party- or the LGBT Community- likes it or not, we are all our brother’s keeper. What one of us does reflects on all of us, and that is especially true in this day and age. If we do not condemn a racist placard, a racist speech, misogyny or homophobia and transphobia, then we tacitly give the worst within our movements permission.

For the LGBT Community, the problems are not as rife, but they are there. For the Tea Party, it is far worse. Far too many of the people in the leadership are willing to not only not condemn blatant racism, but claim that it is not racism at all. It does not matter how many Tea Party people call for gang raping Nancy Pelosi or Michelle Obama. It does not matter if Rush Limbaugh talks about George Steinbrenner in a racist and race baiting manner. If these people are not condemned, then they are given permission to be racists, homophobes and misogynists.

For us in the LGBT Community, this is something that we are, slowly, becoming aware of. In the Tea Party, however, they are oblivious and angry that they are being called racists, homophobes and misogynists.

Published under the Bush Administration, the comic book is about one “Major Rivers” who is explaining the DADT laws to people who have a problem grasping the idea of “don’t ask.” They certainly do not understand the part about Don’t Pursue despite the fact that Major Rivers is confronted with a third hand rumor about two possibly gay soldiers who are having sex with each other. So, what does this guy do, he picks up the phone and calls everyone to see if they have heard about this rumor. Which they have now since, apparently, they had not before that point. Pretty soon, the whole rumor is about an orgy of “hot naked gay sex” happening in the barracks- no, not really, well, not in the comic book at least. In real life that would probably be happening.

The soldier who is the subject of the rumors is called in to the CO’s office, and has no clue what is going on. Eventually he is discharged without anyone ever examining whether or not he has actually done anything he’s accused of.

But wait! There’s more! Oy.

Another one of Major Rivers’ tales involves a soldier who goes to a chaplain and comes out. The chaplain then tells the soldier to talk to a lawyer who will keep the conversation confidential, but she turns around and tells everyone (ooo homophobic AND misogynistic at the same time!). The soldier gets booted from the services via the rumor mill.

And to answer yet another question, Major Rivers uses another cautionary parable where in a commanding officer over hears some soldiers giving another soldier a hard time about whether or not he would like to have dates with guys. Rather than finding out through the rumor mill about this Sergeant Gates being gay, he sends the offending soldiers who were teasing him to a sensitivity course, and Gates is so happy, he stays and fixes the helicopters on the cover which appear to be about to crash into each other and spread scrap metal and human body parts across the ground. Sometimes, you really should not draw pictures that invoke that kind of potential image.

It is, of course, a wonderful piece of propaganda written by an administration which, in the opening days of if its first term under then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. This was put together at roughly the same time that the Department of Justice was busy firing lesbian and gay Farsi speakers because they were, well, a “security risk”- as in lesbian and gay.

Of course, this probably cost a lot of money to write, draw, print and distribute. I just wonder if it cost $4.4 million the way this rather badly put together survey of the troops regarding getting rid of DADT did. Dignity, respect, bad comics and bad surveys!

Images via Huffington Post

Pentagon Comics: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Army’s 32-Page DADT Comic Book Teaches Soldiers How to Deny Being a Homogay

The problem for CNN is that it does not have a niche. People do not tend to enjoy centrist media analysis in the evening, but would rather have either a Conservative- via FOX, or a Liberal- via MSNBC- view of the news of the day. CNN is kind of left high and dry there despite the popularity of their news coverage. The attempts by CNN to make their news broadcasts hipper and more ‘in touch with the people’ has done little to endear them even in this market.

The reality is that CNN, the brainchild of Ted Turner, may be doomed to oblivion at the rate it is going because of the changes that have occurred in the market since it was first launched.

With the departure of Campbell Brown, John King and Larry King, it may be time for CNN to do something bold and unexpected. Maybe taking that time and switch, instead, to a mixture of international news and minority viewpoints on the news of the day. Certainly the networks which are predominantly white, straight men could benefit from having more African-American hosts, most women and more input from the LGBT Community. There are, in the five pm to eleven pm line up, only two lesbians, no open gays, and no African-Americans. Turning the focus to the groups out there that are often effected by the laws that are or are not passed and their viewpoints might garner more attention than just another white guy in a suit.

Or, CNN could just keep putting out new white, straight, male faces and drop further and further behind.

According to TMP:

This is not the first time Vitter has put conservative women’s groups in a tough spot. As with the prostitute controversy, these organizations can’t defend or condone Vitter or his actions. But they are supportive of his politics and don’t want to damage his re-election prospects or help elect a Democrat — even if that Democrat has a personal life more in keeping with the values the women’s organizations espouse.

Many Conservative women’s groups and many plain out Conservative social groups have a rosy view of the past, and are more enamored of the pre-feminist era of American politics without ever really understanding what that reality was like. To them, the past is like this particular song from Little Shop of Horrors.

I grew up on the stories of the real Levittown that Audrey mentions in the song. My grandparents owned a home there. This is the same Levittown that Bill O’Reilly and Billy Joel grew up in. It is the same Levittown where women often ended up on valium or drinking alcohol severely. In this suburban “paradise” women who got jobs were considered to be failed mothers and it was scandalous.

“Someplace That’s Green” is about a fantasy world that many people worked to crate in the wake of the horrors of World War II, and it was a sheltered world where people could escape the problems of the world. Unfortunately, those problems persisted and came to a head in the years after John Kennedy was assassinated.

By keeping silent, these women’s groups say that it is alright for men to visit prostitutes and beat their girlfriends and wives. Many of the issues facing women must be addressed across the political parties and despite the political stances of the person. It is possible to say to Senator Vitter that what he did was wrong, but we will back you- for now. Unfortunately, these women would rather tacitly agree that prostitution and domestic violence are acceptable.

Lyrics: Somewhere That’s Green

I know Seymour’s the greatest,
But I’m dating a semi-sadist.
So I got a black eye,
and my arm’s in a cast.

Still that Semour’s a cutie.
Well, if not, he’s got inner beauty.
And I dream of a place,
Where we can be together, at last.

A matchbox of our own.
A fence of real chainlink.
A grill out on the patio.
Disposal in the sink.
A washer and a dryer,
And an ironing-machine.
In a tract house that we share,
Somewhere that’s green.

He rakes and trims the grass.
He loves to mow and weed.
I cook like Betty Crocker,
And I look like Donna Reed.
There’s plastic on the furniture
To keep it neat and clean.
In the Pine-Sol scented air,
Somewhere that’s green.

Between our frozen dinner,
and our bed-time nine-fifteen.
We snuggle watching Lucy,
On a big, enormous, twelve-inch screen.

Oh, his December bride,
He’s father, he knows best.
The kids play Howdy-Doody,
As the Sun sets in the West.
A picture out of Better Homes
And Gardens magzine.
Far from Skid Row,
I dream we’ll go…
Somewhere that’s Green.

Josh Gerstein of Politico has done some really strong analysis with regards to the problems that Obama is facing with regards to the repeal of DADT. Gerstein argues that the biggest mistake that the Obama Administration has made centers on the fact that the Department of Justice has done a lot of arguing to protect laws that they have already stated are wrong and should be removed. He cites Richard Socarides, one of Bill Clinton’s advisors on LGBT issues. According to Socarides, “This has got to be a nightmare for the White House political office, especially as Organizing for America ramps up efforts to rebuild a coalition for the midterms which includes gays. I want the Democrats to keep both houses of Congress more than most. It’s very important that we do that if gay rights are important to you. So I can’t understand why the president’s senior advisers permit the Justice Department to defend this case. … It’s incomprehensible.”

The case he is discussing is the one brought by the Log Cabin Republicans arguing that DADT is unconstitutional. According to the White House, they must defend all laws that are sued even if they do not agree with them. There are several lawyers within the LGBT movement who scoff at this rationale. They cite several examples whereby the DoJ has refused to defend laws which they believed were unconstitutional. Here in lies the problem. In a way, both the White House and the lawyers are correct. While the Constitution does not expressly state that they have to defend laws that they do not agree with, the spirit of the Constitution is that they should defend the government at all costs. Obama and those around him are showing that they are most strict constructionalists than many on the Right. Unfortunately for Obama, the practice has been that the administration does not defend laws that they disagree with.

The case in question was brought by the Log Cabin Republicans back in 2004.

In many ways, Gerstein does spot on analysis with regards to this case. The Obama Administration’s insistence on defending both DADT and the Defense of Marriage Act have hurt his standing within the LGBT Community, but it is not so much the defense itself, but the vigor with which his Justice Department has pursued these cases. Last year, a lawyer for the DoJ filed a horrifically homophobic brief with regards to DOMA. The DoJ lawyers have tried desperately to get the case regarding DADT thrown out of court.

All together, the Obama Administration is facing a really difficult problem with regards to the LGBT Community. His analysis is a good read, and highly recommended.

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Melanie Nathan 7-9-10

Drafted by Karen Doering, an attorney who has been involved in some of the most important legal LGBT victories and controversies, the American Equality  Bill takes the approach that piecemeal bills for various areas of discrimination be supported through recognition of our civil rights, first and foremost and may serve to yield an omnibus bill that will in essence get rid of all discriminatory legislation.  This is the first  Publication of the Draft is forthcoming.

It also recognizes that creating separate bills in separate areas breaks the interests of those against discrimination into small, separate pieces that dilutes the strong force of the coalition necessary to pass any bill on the federal level.

This is a critical approach to win Equality. Equality cannot come to fruition without the Benchmark – something specific that carries forth a universal message.  Now that we have the wording and the Goal- we need the BILL.

Who ever says this is “Pie in the Sky or Bold” (Bilerco) – is marginalizing our entitlement and our rights.  To my way of thinking anyone who suggest we keep the backdoor approach as our only approach does not have our absolute interests at heart.  Selfless advocacy means going for the only benchmark that will bring full equality, and if we are going to have a movement then we need to have the movement regardless of how many votes we may or may not get in Congress.  They need to know that we are not fighting for legislation; we are fighting for our lives and to live our lives, happily,  like other Americans, and that means equally.    I for one, have a right to enter through the front door -  and that is why I have touted this plan for all this time.

Special Credit also goes to Todd Fernandez for pushing for this and for being one of the few who listened with open mind and heart.

http://lezgetreal.com/2010/07/the-launch-of-hope-finally-grassroots-find-feet-the-american-equality-bill/

THE AMERICAN EQUALITY BILL
(Draft July 4, 2010)

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED CHANGES TO EXISTING LEGISLATION
TO END LEGAL DISCRIMINATION IN AMERICA ON THE BASIS OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY

A. EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION.

SECTION 1. Amends Title VII the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as prohibited bases for discrimination in employment.

SECTION 2. Amends the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, the Government Employee Rights Act of 1991, the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995, and 3 U.S.C. 411 (a)(1), to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as prohibited bases for discrimination in employment.

SECTION 3. Amends the Government Employee Rights Act of 1991, 42 U.S.C. §2000e-16a et seq., to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as prohibited bases for discrimination in employment.

SECTION 4. Amends the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to clarify the definitions of “parent” and “son or daughter.”

B. HOUSING DISCRIMINATION.

SECTION 5. Amends the Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Fair Housing Act) to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as prohibited bases for discrimination in the sale or rental of housing, real estate related transactions, and the provision of brokerage services.

C. DISCRIMINATION IN PLACES OF PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION.

SECTION 6. Amends Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as prohibited bases for discrimination or segregation in places of public accommodation.

D. DISCRIMINATION IN THE USE OF PUBLIC FACILITIES.

SECTION 7. Amends §2000b of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as prohibited bases for denial of equal use of public facilities.

E. DISCRIMINATION IN ACCESS TO CREDIT.

SECTION 8. Amends the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as prohibited basis for discrimination in any aspect of a credit transaction.

F. DISCRIMINATION IN FEDERALLY FUNDED PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES.

SECTION 9. Amends Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as prohibited bases for discrimination in federally funded programs or activities and adding an exemption for religious organizations.

G. DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES.

SECTION 10. Amends the Americans with Disabilities Act to repeal discriminatory provisions.

THE AMERICAN EQUALITY BILL
(Scope and content only. This is not in filing format.)

SHORT TITLE.
Upon passage, this bill may be cited as the `The American Equality Act of 2010’.

PURPOSE.
The purpose of this Act is to realize the American ideal of equal protection under the law by amending existing civil rights legislation to include protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

FINDINGS OF LEGISLATIVE FACT.
(This will be an elaborate section that details the discrimination against LGBT people. Content TBD.)

A. EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION.

SECTION. 1. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §2000e, is amended to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as prohibited bases for discrimination in employment, as follows:

a. The following definitions shall be added at the end of §2000e:

(o) The term “sexual orientation” means homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality.

(p) The term “gender identity” means the gender-related identity, appearance, or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual’s designated sex at birth.

b. Sections 2000e-2(a)-(d), §2000e-2(h), §2000e-2(j), §2000e-2(l), §2000e-2(m), §2000e-3(b), 2000e(g)(2)(A), §2000e-16(a), and §2000e-16(c), are amended every time the phrase “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin” appears to include after the word “sex” the following words:- “sexual orientation, gender identity,”

c. Dress and Grooming Standards. Nothing shall prohibit an employer from requiring an employee, during the employee’s hours at work, to adhere to reasonable dress or grooming standards not prohibited by other provisions of Federal, State, or local law, provided that the employer permits any employee who has undergone gender transition prior to the time of employment, and any employee who has notified the employer that the employee has undergone or is undergoing gender transition after the time of employment, to adhere to the same dress or grooming standards for the gender to which the employee has transitioned or is transitioning.

d. Certain Shared Facilities. Nothing shall be construed to establish an unlawful employment practice based on actual or perceived gender identity due to the denial of access to shared shower or dressing facilities in which being seen fully unclothed is unavoidable, provided that the employer provides reasonable access to adequate facilities that are not inconsistent with the employee’s gender identity as established with the employer at the time of employment or upon notification to the employer that the employee has undergone or is undergoing gender transition, whichever is later.

SECTION 2. The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, as amended, 5 U.S.C. §2302; Government Employee Rights Act of 1991, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-16a et seq.; Congressional Accountability Act of 1995, 2 U.S.C. 1301 et seq.; and Section 411(a) (1) of Title 3 of the United States Code are amended to specify that “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” are prohibited bases for discrimination, as follows:

a. The terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” are defined as in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §2000e.

b. 5 U.S.C. 2302(b)(1)(A) and 5 U.S.C. 2302(d)(1); 42 U.S.C. 2000e-16a and 42 U.S.C. 2000e-16b; 2 U.S.C. 1311(a)(1); and 3 U.S.C. 411(a)(1) are amended every time the phrase “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin” appear to add after the word “sex” the following words: “sexual orientation, gender identity”

c. 42 U.S.C. 2000e-16a(b) is amended every time the phrase “race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability” appear to add after the word “sex” the following words: “sexual orientation, gender identity”

d. Certain Shared Facilities. Nothing shall be construed to establish an unlawful employment practice based on actual or perceived gender identity due to the denial of access to shared shower or dressing facilities in which being seen fully unclothed is unavoidable, provided that the employer provides reasonable access to adequate facilities that are not inconsistent with the employee’s gender identity as established with the employer at the time of employment or upon notification to the employer that the employee has undergone or is undergoing gender transition, whichever is later.

SECTION 3. The Government Employee Rights Act of 1991, 42 U.S.C. §2000e-16a et seq., is amended to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as prohibited bases for discrimination, as follows:

a. The terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” are defined as in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §2000e.

b. Section 2000e-16a(b) is here by amended every time the phrase “race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability” occurs by inserting after the word “sex” the following words:- “sexual orientation, gender identity,”

c. Certain Shared Facilities. Nothing shall be construed to establish an unlawful employment practice based on actual or perceived gender identity due to the denial of access to shared shower or dressing facilities in which being seen fully unclothed is unavoidable, provided that the employer provides reasonable access to adequate facilities that are not inconsistent with the employee’s gender identity as established with the employer at the time of employment or upon notification to the employer that the employee has undergone or is undergoing gender transition, whichever is later.

SECTION 4. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, as amended, 29 U.S.C. §2611, is amended to clarify the following definitions:

(7) Parent. The term “parent” means the biological parent of an employee or an individual who stood in loco parentis to an employee when the employee was a son or daughter. For purposes of this statute, the term “in loco parentis” includes but is not limited to an individual who is a defacto or psychological parent of the child.

(12) Son or daughter. The term “son or daughter” means a biological, adopted, or foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward, or a child of a person standing in loco parentis, a child registered as a “dependent” or similar classification under the employer’s domestic partnership policy, or a child designated by an employee and his or her domestic partner as a “dependent” or similar classification pursuant to a municipal, state or federal domestic partnership registry, who is—

(A) under 18 years of age; or

(B) 18 years of age or older and incapable of self-care because of a mental or physical disability.

(13) Spouse – The term “spouse” means a husband or wife, as the case may be. For purposes of this statute, the term “spouse” includes a person designated a domestic partner under the employer’s domestic partnership policy, an employee’s civil union partner, a spouse from a domestic or foreign marriage, and a domestic partner registered pursuant to a municipal, state or federal law.

B. HOUSING DISCRIMINATION.

SECTION. 5. The Fair Housing Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §3601 et seq., is amended to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as prohibited bases for discrimination in the sale or rental of housing, real-estate related transactions, and the provision of brokerage services.

a. The terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” are defined as in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §2000e.

b. Sections 3604(a)-(b) are amended every time the phrase “race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin” appears by inserting after the word “sex” the following words: “sexual orientation, or gender identity,”

c. Sections 3604(c)-(e), 3605(a), and 3606 are amended every time the phrase “race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin” appears by inserting after the word “sex” the following words: “sexual orientation, or gender identity,”

d. Section 3605(c) is amended every time the phrase “race, color, religion, national origin, sex, handicap, or familial status” appears by inserting after the word “sex” the following words:- “sexual orientation, or gender identity,”

C. DISCRIMINATION IN PLACES OF PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION.

SECTION 6. Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §2000a et seq., is amended to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as prohibited bases for discrimination or segregation in places of public accommodation.

a. The terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” are defined as in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §2000e.

b. Sections 2000a(a) and 2000a-1 are amended every time the phrase “race, color, religion or national origin” appears by inserting after the word “religion” the following words: “sexual orientation, or gender identity,”

c. Certain Shared Facilities. Nothing shall be construed to establish an unlawful practice based on actual or perceived gender identity due to the denial of access to shared shower or dressing facilities in which being seen fully unclothed is unavoidable, provided that the proprietor provides reasonable access to adequate facilities that are not inconsistent with the individual’s gender identity as established with the proprietor at the time the relationship first began or upon notification to the proprietor that the individual has undergone or is undergoing gender transition, whichever is later.

D. DISCRIMINATION IN THE USE OF PUBLIC FACILITIES.

SECTION 7. 42 U.S.C. §2000b, is amended to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as prohibited bases for denial of equal use of public facilities as follows:

a. The terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” are defined as in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §2000e.

b. Section 2000b(a) is amended every time the phrase “race, color, religion or national origin” occurs by inserting after the word “religion” the following words:- “sexual orientation, gender identity,”

c. Certain Shared Facilities. Nothing shall be construed to establish an unlawful practice based on actual or perceived gender identity due to the denial of access to shared shower or dressing facilities in which being seen fully unclothed is unavoidable, provided that the proprietor provides reasonable access to adequate facilities that are not inconsistent with the individual’s gender identity as established with the proprietor at the time of the relationship first began or upon notification to the proprietor that the individual has undergone or is undergoing gender transition, whichever is later.

E. DISCRIMINATION IN ACCESS TO CREDIT.

SECTION 8. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, 15 U.S.C. §1691 et seq., is amended to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as prohibited bases for discrimination in any aspect of a credit transaction as follows:

a. The terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” are defined as in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §2000e.

b. Section 1691(a)(1) is amended every time the phrase “race, color, religion, national origin, sex or marital status, or age” occurs by inserting after the word “marital status” the following words:- “sexual orientation, gender identity”.

F. DISCRIMINATION IN FEDERALLY FUNDED PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES.

SECTION 9. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §2000d, is amended to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as prohibited bases for exclusion from participation in, denial of the benefits of, or being subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance, as follows:

a. The terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” are defined as in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §2000e.
b. Section 2000d is amended every time the phrase “race, color, or national origin” occurs by inserting after the word “color” the following words:- “sexual orientation, or gender identity,”

c. The provisions of this section regarding sexual orientation and gender identity shall not apply to any educational institution, as that term is defined in 20 U.S.C. 1681(c), which is controlled by a religious organization if the application of this subsection would not be consistent with the religious tenets of such organization as determined in its sole discretion.

G. DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES.

SECTION 10. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §§12101 et seq., and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §706, are amended to repeal discriminatory provisions, as follows:

a. 42 U.S.C. §12208 is repealed.

b. 42 U.S.C. §12211(b)(1) is amended to delete the words “transvestism” and “transsexualism” and the phrase “gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairments,” from the definition of “Certain conditions” excluded from coverage under the Act.

c. 29 U.S.C. §705(8)(F)(i) is amended to delete the words “transvestism” and “transsexualism” and the phrase “gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairments,” from the list excluding from protection an ‘individual with a disability’ for purposes of Section 501, 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

END.

How did this happen read

• The Launch of Hope – Finally Grassroots Find Feet – THE American Equality Bill (lezgetreal.com)
• The Launch of Hope – Finally Grassroots Find Feet – THE American Equality Bill (lezgetreal.com)

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
Join Lezgetreal on FaceBook

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• The Launch of Hope – Finally Grassroots Find Feet – THE American Equality Bill (lezgetreal.com)

The likely motive for the threats and assault stem from Ms Azad’s relationship with a Hindu man. Honor killings are rare outside of Muslim dominated countries. These usually happen when the family of a Muslim woman feels that she has somehow betrayed her family and her faith through not adhering absolutely to the less than woman friendly portions of their society. This is not to be confused with Islam as a whole as many off these tenants predate Islam and are rooted in the culture that has become melded with the faith.

Asra Q. Nomani writing at the Daily Beast wrote about this from her own perspective as a forty-five year old American Muslim.

“The attack on Azad underscores just how important it is that we honor the right of every woman to choose her own partner—and accept her fundamental right to love a man outside her faith. Ironically, Azad’s name means ‘freedom,’ and, to me, she—like all women—has a divinely ordained freedom to choose whom she loves without fear of violence, persecution, or assault. And, as Muslims, it is critical for us to respect Hindus as people of faith, expressed differently but no less sincerely.

Our choice is simple: Life, love, and tolerance over puritanical religious dogma that can turn violent.”

She goes on to point out that the preponderance of male-dominated Muslim scholarship instills this belief that not only do children learn their religion from their fathers, a belief shared by Catholicism, but that Muslim women cannot marry non-Muslim men for that reason even though it is alright for Muslim men to marry women from any faith.

These attacks are not about faith, but are about the need to control women. It does not matter if it is female genital mutilation which robs a woman of her clitoris and often her labia in order to control her sexuality, but the now defunct practice of foot binding in Chinese culture. There are a few honor killings every year in Western societies from men trying to control their daughter’s behavior, and if they cannot control them, eliminate them.

Ms Nomani went on to say “This is what I say to women, burdened with this double standard: Rather than seeking permission from others, we have to internally reject the idea that we must live with shame. We must seek forgiveness for the mistakes we’ve made in deed or in action, and stride forward, strong and free, in the pursuit of goodness.”

While she is discussing Islam, there is a certain reality to this throughout all patriarchally based religions. These double standards are found quite often in the more orthodox religious beliefs, and especially in Fundamentalist Christianity. Within many Western societies, the tendency is to believe that girls should be pure until marriage, but it is alright for boys to engage in sexual behavior long before marriage. While this has eroded somewhat in the last half century, it is still fairly true. The recent incident of slut shaming regarding Miley Cyrus by Perez Hilton is only one obvious and well known case, but it occurs constantly where girls and women are seen as being impure for having sex prior to marriage. Men and boys, however, are hardly ever punished for sleeping around.

It is easy to look upon these incidents as being just another example of how those “darned foreigners” are different from “us”, but the reality is that they are far more like “us” than we dare admit. It is not about differences in culture and society, but differences in degrees of patriarchal abuse.

Photo via Huffington Post

This is why Entergy has been having problems with their campaign to woo Vermonters on the subject of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant. The nuclear plant is set to shut down in 2012, but Entergy would like to keep it open and running for another twenty years despite several recent problems with the plant. There have been several radioactive leaks at the plant in recent years, including some from underground pipes that were not suppose to exist. Entergy’s executives swore that they did not exist.

Vermonters are rather spilt on the issue. Most Vermonters, including many in the Assembly, would like it shut down. Some, like Governor Jim Douglas, would like it to stay open. The big problem is that, should Vermont Yankee close its doors, the economic impact would be pretty bad.

One of the problems is that this has been an all or nothing debate. Many people are either for keeping the existing, decaying, and aging building open or shutting it down entirely. There is a third option that no one is exploring. Rather than shutting down Vermont Yankee, build a new plant adjacent to the current site and slowly decommission the old site while the new one is running. Vermont has a number of old mines which can be used to store the old nuclear materials including an abandoned asbestos mine.

It may be time for the people and politicians of Vermont along with Entergy’s executives to begin negotiations regarding the possibility of setting up a new plant instead of either shutting it down and losing jobs or risking a major meltdown in the future.

June 30-3010 by  Melanie Nathan

Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, No. 08-1371 (U.S. Jun. 28, 2010)

On June 28, 2010, a fresh new decision was  handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, has affirmed a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upholding a California state law school’s decision to deny a student religious organization official recognition because the organization’s bylaws did not comply with the school’s non-discrimination policy, which among other things prohibits student organizations from denying membership to students based on religion sexual orientation.

Hastings College of Law, which is part of the University of California, has a general policy barring student groups that receive official recognition and university funding from discriminating. The Christian Legal Society is a student club that requires its members to sign a Statement of Faith that, among other things, rejects homosexuality as inconsistent with Christian values. CLS is ineligible for official recognition and university funding at Hastings because of its membership requirement, although it is otherwise free to meet on campus. This case challenges the constitutionality of the law school’s non-discrimination policy as applied to CLS.

In an amicus brief joined by the National Education Association, the ACLU highlights the long history of discrimination on university campuses, and argues that Hastings has a compelling interest in ensuring that any officially recognized and university funded student activity is open to all students enrolled at the school.

How will this influence Judge Walker’s Ninth Circuit appeal in the Prop 8 decision about to be handed down- and did the Judge pend his decision waiting for the Supermes’ outcome of the appeal in  this case.

One would have to read all the facts, arguments and dissents to come up with a clearer picture of the favorable decision impact.

If anyone wants to weigh in who has more insight into the possible effect, please feel free to comment or submit an article to Lez Get Real for consideration.

In the Christian Legal Society case, the Supreme Court definitively held that sexual orientation is not merely behavioral, but rather, that gay and lesbian individuals are an identifiable class.

This confirms that a majority of the Court now adheres to Justice O’Connor’s view in Lawrence, where she concluded that “the conduct targeted by the Texas anti-sodomy law is conduct that is closely correlated with being homosexual” and that, “under such circumstances, the law is targeted at more than conduct” and “is instead directed toward gay persons as a class,” id. at 583 (O’Connor, J., concurring in judgment)

The Court’s holding arose in response to Christian Legal Society’s argument that it was not discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, but rather because gay and lesbian individuals refused to acknowledge that their conduct was morally wrong. The Court rejected that argument, holding that there is no distinction between gay and lesbian individuals and their conduct.

If  this is accepted by Judge Walker, now at this time, is likely that Proposition 8  will be unlikely to  survive.  Should Proposition 8 be struck down in reliance in part of Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, the Christian  group and right wing backers will have shot themselves in the proverbial toe and helped establish a path for their own defeat.

Lets see,   PLEASE weigh in!
Melanie Nathan
Find me on FB or at e-mail at nathan@privatecourts.com

Sharon Angle believes absolutely in the Great Watchmaker in the Sky. She believes in this cold hearted, rational, logical, and detached God who does not care if a bird falls from the sky or a woman dies in childbirth because, after all, her death is part of his Plan- or at least the ineffable plan that His followers believe He has. She is a believer in the worst of all of the patriarchal abuses and excesses of the Christian Faith while not being willing to be bound by them by not staying home and being a housewife. She seeks to tear down all the advances of the feminist movement while making absolutely sure that she benefits from every single one of those advances. She believes in tearing down the ladder for female advancement after she has reached the top.

In their book Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman both wrote about the Apocalypse. The book follows the angel Aziraphael and the demon Crowley as they try to prevent the end of the world. Aziraphael often talked about the ineffable plan of God, but he made the point that, because it is ineffable and unknown to any but Himself, no one knew what was suppose to happen. What they thought they were not suppose to do might turn out to be what they were suppose to do. It turned out that Aziraphel and Crowley were suppose to rebel, and that God’s plan to bring humanity to the brink of the Apocalypse and the world was suppose to end was absolutely set. He had laid down every single piece that was going to happen, even the things that supposedly went against His plan.

Often times in my transition from being physically male to being physically female, I have been told that God does not make mistakes. I have always retaliated with this- I am not the one saying that God made a mistake.

What Sharon Angle is doing is putting words into God’s mouth. She is choosing to play God through her supposed belief in God and his Plan. She said in response to a question about rape and incest “You know, I’m a Christian, and I believe that God has a plan and a purpose for each one of our lives and that he can intercede in all kinds of situations and we need to have a little faith in many things.”

She does not know what God’s plan is, and it is always possible that God’s plan is for this raped woman to have an abortion. She, in her blind faith, is presuming to know what God’s plan is. Rape is often used to break people- mostly women. It is used to break women’s minds in order to try and enforce a belief in male superiority. The majority of all rapes happen because men seek power over women. What she does not see is that she is trying to place herself in God’s place, and in so doing committing the worst levels of sins.

Sharon Angle was named by Keith Olbermann as his Worst Person in the World today for her heartlessness.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

They quoted MassResistance’s rundown of all the supposed ways in which Elena Kagan is supporting equality in the United States and cite as their main reasoning events that did not happen while she was at Harvard.  Here is their rationale:

“Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is committed to the radical campaign pushing acceptance of homosexuality and transgenderism as ‘civil rights.’ Her unprecedented activism supporting that view as Dean of Harvard Law School (2003-2009) calls into question her ability to judge fairly and impartially on same-sex ‘marriage’ and other homosexuality- or transgender-related issues that may come before the nation’s highest court. … Working hand in hand with students to expel military recruiters in protest over the Armed Forces’ ban on homosexuals (a ‘moral injustice of the first order,’ she wrote) is only the most obvious example of Kagan’s passionate dedication to this controversial and immoral agenda.”

Solicitor General Kagan is more than likely to be confirmed to the Supreme Court where she will be the third woman to sit on the current court.  It should be noted that the odds on are that the Court will rule in favor of LGBT Rights even without her since it is highly unlikely that President Barack Obama will nominate anyone approaching the Christian Theocratic Conservative that groups like the ADF would want in the Court.  In fact, they did not even get that with President George W. Bush since it is hard to determine whether or not Chief Justice John Roberts is a theocrat.

It should not be surprising that the ADF, the Christian Right, and Senator Jeff Sessions are trying to use this anti-LGBT and anti-Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell talking point despite the fact that the majority of all Americans now believe that DADT is wrong.  These people have begun to fall further and further out of the mainstream all the time attacking a person who is, at best, Center Left in her political positions.  Their hysterical belief that the end of civilization will occur should lesbians, gays and transpeople have any equality with the rest of the nation only shows that they are afraid of the world changing and that their power and their beliefs will be irrelevant.

The Republicans seem rather pathetically trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill.  They have lamented that Elena Kagan has very little in the way of public record on her judicial philosophy and in order to try and make any kind of traction, they made the decision to attack and try and destroy one of the most venerable Justices to have sat upon the bench in the last six decades, Thurgood Marshal.  As a lawyer, Marshal lead the arguments for six separate cases that came to the United States Supreme Court under the singular heading Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas et al.  The Brown case became the first and most well known case argued before the Warren Court, and it had the singular effect of altering society as it stood then.  Marshal would become the first African-American to sit on the Court, and he is revered even today.  Liberal or not, the man is deserving of honor and respect.  Marshal worked tirelessly for the less fortunate and headed up the legal arm of the NAACP.  He worked hard to bring justice to people.

Justice William Rehnquist is a man who many in the LGBT community hate.  He was one of three to decent in the case Lawrence v. Texas, but that does not mean that the man does not deserve honor and respect even in death.  There were many things which one can dislike about Rehnquist.  He forced Jewish employees of the Judiciary to sing Christmas Carols, and he was far from nice towards the LGBT Community, but he was still, no matter what, an honorable human being.  He would have had both Justice Scalia’s and Judge Martin Feldman’s heads for their conflict of interest rulings.

It should not be surprising, then, that the men who are willing to lambast Elena Kagan for her admiration for an admirable man and try to destroy his legacy would rely upon a man like Tony Perkins to try and support their untenable ideologically driven attempt to derail her nomination to the Supreme Court.  Perkins is an anti-LGBT bigot and homophobe who disgraces the Marines and the nation with his adamant bigotry.

The movement has seen its share of problems in the last four and a half decades. The collapse of the liberal and feminist movements in the 1980’s and 1990’s saw the near complete derailment of the LGBT Movement, and a generation of lesbians were lost to breast cancer and gay men to AIDS. It has not been until this past few years that the LGBT Movement has begun to really come back together and rebuild. It is easy to forget and even deride many of those early LGBT Rights activists. Some, such as author and theologian Mary Daly were far from being inclusive as her writings are often heavily anti-transgender.

Those early placards are now in the possession of the Smithsonian Museum. They were donated by the The Kameny Papers Project in part funded by former Congressman Michael Huffington, the former husband of Arianna Huffington. Mr. Huffington is openly bisexual, and he has been an active member of the Log Cabin Republicans.

The Kameny Papers Project is named for Frank Kameny. The World War II veteran was fired from his job with the Federal government in 1957. He had seen combat in Germany and as a Harvard trained astronomer wanted to work in the nascent space program.

Charles Francis and Bob Witeck over at Huffington Post have more on this particular subject. For me, there is a strong disconnect with the history of our movement. Too many of our own have died and there has become a wall of silence that has grown up over the years. Museums, especially museums the size of the Smithsonian take a long time to get materials displayed.

There is a lack of focused teaching when it comes to the history of our movement. So much has been lost over the years that it is often hard for the younger activists to feel much of any strong connection to the older generations of activists, and for many of the older activists to wonder where the younger generation is. While I understand Francis and Witeck’s point in what they wrote, I sometimes feel as if it is not up to the museums to display our history and teach us what we need to know as a movement and a people, but to teach each other. Until I read this article, I had never heard of Kameny, nor had I heard of Daly before this semester when I was introduced to her works by my Goddard advisor Lise Weil. My connection to the past of the very movement that I am part of has been weakened by lack of knowing what my history is.

Kameny, Daly, Adrienne Rich, and many even more distant figures like St. Brigid who had a female lover her whole life, these are my ancestors. They may not make up my DNA, but they make up who I am because they are part of the identity that I have. I may not agree with Daly on everything, or understand Rich all the time, but they are part of my movement, and my people’s history.

As for the Smithsonian, the British Museum has in its possession artifacts that it has had sitting in the vault for decades and maybe even centuries. It sometimes takes a very long time to get anything out on display.

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Within that column, the often hard to understand Sowell wrote:

““[D]uring the worldwide Great Depression, the German Reichstag passed a law ‘for the relief of the German people.’ That law gave Hitler dictatorial powers that were used for things going far beyond the relief of the German people — indeed, powers that ultimately brought a rain of destruction down on the German people and on others. If the agreement with BP was an isolated event, perhaps we might hope that it would not be a precedent. But there is nothing isolated about it.”

“When Adolf Hitler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics.”

“In our times, American democracy is being dismantled piece by piece, before our very eyes by the current administration in Washington, and few people seem to be concerned about it.”

Perhaps Mr. Sowell would like to take a look at the Tea Party Movement and then answer the question of who is trying to activate whom, and what is worse, the American democracy was dismantled far more under President George W. Bush and his puppet Chief Justice John Roberts than Obama has in the hysterical rants of Glenn Beck.

“Just where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that a president has the authority to extract vast sums of money from a private enterprise and distribute it as he sees fit to whomever he deems worthy of compensation? Nowhere.”

“And yet that is precisely what is happening with a $20 billion fund to be provided by BP to compensate people harmed by their oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.”

So, it is alright for BP to ruin lives and the economy without being held accountable? Of course, this hysterics with regards to Obama are more on par with the antics of Glenn Beck than those of a serious columnist. Of course, this has not stopped many people from trying to use Sowell’s rather absurd column to advance their own agendas. Sowell, incidentally, once wrote that Jews dominated banking because they were naturally just better at managing money and totally ignored the fact that, for almost two thousand years, the only jobs anyone belonging to the Jewish faith was, basically, allowed was banking because the Catholic Church forbade Catholics from engaging in the exchange of money and the use of interest, so one has to wonder just how well informed Sowell is about his history.

Of course, Texas Representative Louie Gohmert decided that it was perfectly alright to get up in front of the House and quote from Sowell’s column. He took up precious time that could have been used to debate actual legislation to, basically, apologize to the perpetrators of one of the worst oil spills in world history.

Get Equal Now’s co-founder C. D. Kirven stated regarding Gohmert “This kind of derogatory statements made by the TX GOP is exactly why GET EQUAL NOW has planned a protest against the TX GOP 2010 platform. By standing with us at our protest, you are tell the TX GOP that you want a more inclusive Texas. Texans want to help BP oil spill victims and we welcome diverse families in our communities.” Get Equal Now is pushing for a protest against the Texas GOP this July over their irresponsible attempts at racially and homophobically based divisiveness. GEN is pushing for an end to the divisive political platform adopted by the Texas GOP and for Representative Gohmert to apologize to the President for his unprofessional behavior in comparing him to Adolf Hitler over making sure that BP pay for the damage that their irresponsibility caused.

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Your Holiness, there are hundreds and thousands of rape victims who have been first violated by the very men they have been trained by your Church to obey and then by the Church itself as those priests were not punished but moved and their pleas for help ignored by the very men who are more loyal to the head of this corrupt patriarchal religion than they are to the women, men, girls and boys that are brought up to believe in Father Church and God the Father.

The violation of a couple of tombs hardly matches the violation of even one girl or boy by a priest who is sworn to protect them. It is not as if the police ripped open these tombs and desecrated the bodies of these two prelates. They shoved a camera into their tombs the way we do with so many archaeological sights, including many that belong to the Church. Of course, who can forget the desecration carried out under Vatican orders to remove- against the will of the very saint whose tomb you ordered desecrated- the male lover of a man who lived and died centuries ago and left a will explicitly stating that these two men were to spend eternity in the same crypt. You desecrated the written will of a saint in order to ensure that your Church can maintain its patriarchal supremacy over the very notion that homosexuality was once condoned and even accepted within your Church. So, do not talk to us about desecration and violation.

Your lawyers are busy arguing that, as a sovereign nation, the agents of the Vatican are not subject to local police interrogation, and neither are you. Meanwhile, you make lovely speeches to hold off the masses of people who will turn away from Catholicism as they look upon the scandals of the Church and wonder just who to trust in this corrupted edifice of patriarchal power.

I am not a Biblical scholar, that honor on this site goes to Dr. Paula Brooks. I am just a survivor of molestation. The man who molested me was not some priest, but a school guidance councilor. He was eventually arrested. He served a long time in jail, Your Holiness, as should every single priest, archbishop, bishop, cardinal and Pope who has helped to protect those men who prey upon children. Even in the course of my reporting on this, I have had times when even what was done to me haunts me. I report on this because I do not want other girls and boys to suffer the lifetime of pain that I suffer.

The effects of that single act of molestation linger. I have been sentenced to a lifetime of memories of the horrors of that incident. Every child who is molested undergoes that.

Your Holiness, you wrote to Brussels Archbishop Andre Joseph Leonard these words:

“I want to express, dear brother in the Episcopate, as well as to all the Bishops of Belgium, my closeness and solidarity in this moment of sadness, in which, with certain surprising and deplorable methods, searches were carried out.”

“I hope that justice will follow its course while guaranteeing the rights of individuals and institutions, respecting the rights of victims, (and) acknowledging those who undertake to collaborate with it.”

Yes, because you would rather that the police come, hat in hand, and beg for scraps from your priests and permission to look only where they are allowed. It does not work that way. These ‘deplorable’ methods are far, far from the ‘deplorable’ way in which girls, boys, young women and men have been treated by the priests that you seem Hell bent on protecting. If you truly worried about the rights of the victims, perhaps you would have handed over every single bit of evidence that you had long before it became a matter of a police raid.

No, Your Holiness, you and your Church are not about respecting the rights of the victims, only the rights of the criminals who perpetrate heinous crimes upon the bodies, souls and minds of little girls and boys.

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The President’s leadership numbers are also down, and while the article at MSNBC lays a lot of the blame on the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, that is not the only reason behind it.

Going beyond the groups of people who will, no matter what, hate and disapprove of everything that President Obama does even if he does something that they, themselves, would do, there are a lot of people who are disappointed with Obama. The feeling going into the election was that the nation was electing a new FDR, and now people are starting to think that they ended up with the next Jimmy Carter. While President Carter was a decent President, he was not a spectacular leader. Obama won largely on force of personality and not upon any real sense of leadership. It was one of my biggest concerns with him going into the election. After the convention, I had a sense that we were being given a choice between two people who were far from leaders.

A wide range of issues such as a lack of job creation and the continued disaster in the Gulf have weighed down the President’s ratings. A lot of it would be helped if Obama were more willing to get up there and explain that there is very little that he can do, by laws written and put into place by Republicans, to stop the oil from flowing. He should be up there lambasting the Republican Party for wanting to constantly and consistently stall legislation which would help the nation pull out of recession and for their moronic insistence of balanced budgets at a time when that is the worst possible thing for the government to do.

Add in the dissatisfaction that Obama is facing from the Left for not being more forceful in getting climate change legislation passed and other progressive agenda pieces pushed through are dragging his ratings down as well.

Within the LGBT Community, the feeling that the President has abandoned us to our fate on issues like the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act along with the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act simply makes us lesbians, gays and transpeople all the less likely to support him.

President Obama, in his firing of General Stanley McChrystal, showed more backbone than he has to date. It is time for him to start showing more backbone and more emotion, something that even Larry Wilmore of the Daily Show made mention of last night. The thing is, Obama needs to be stronger in tone, in action, and in showing that he is in charge of this nation. Right now, he feels far too kumbaya for most Americans.

I have never used the term ‘icky’ or ‘ick factor’ to refer to lesbian sex. I have used it in reference to certain sexual practices, and certainly to heterosexual penile-vaginal intercourse which I find highly icky and disturbing. I find them so disturbing, in fact, that I would rather be celibate than engage in any of them. The fact that I was born in a male body does not negate that fact that I find the whole penis gets inserted into the vagina line pushed by Christians as being highly disturbing and, indeed, incredibly icky. My incredible dislike, distaste for, and abhorrence of heterosexual sex means that I have reached my mid-thirties a virgin. While I wish that it was not so, I must say that I would rather be celibate than to, as I tend to see it, corrupt a woman through heterosexual sex.

Truth is, Mr. Huckabee, we in the LGBT Community only refer to the ‘ick factor’ when talking about the reactions of people like you to homosexual sex. I know many a straight couple who do not have a problem with oral sex who would describe anal sex as ‘icky’. I know many a straight couple who have no issue with anal sex but find oral sex ‘icky’. There are even lesbians who refuse to have penetrative sex. The only people who ever seem to refer to homosexual sex as ‘icky’ are straight men and women who are trying to force their religious beliefs about the moral correctness of straight, penetrative, reproductive sex on the world.

“As you all know, up until last fall, there was not a single line in the nearly 225-year history of the U.S. Code that referred explicitly to gender identity. Today, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act – which the President signed into law last October – does just that, finally protecting our nation’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered individuals from the most brutal forms of bias-motivated violence.”

Indeed, the Matthew Shepard Act was a wonderful and long overdue addition to our criminal law codes, and it is being put to the test in Savannah, GA right now with a case involving two Marines who allegedly beat and nearly killed a gay man late at night. Hopefully, given that there are indications that these two men beat up at least three gay men, there will be charges handed down sometime in the near future.

“In another important development, in April of this year, the Justice Department concluded that the Violence Against Women Act covers, and more importantly protects, same sex partners.”

This is wonderful news; however, what would be even more wonderful would be if the DoJ’s lawyers were not busy doing things like pushing for the cases regarding the Defense of Marriage Act to be dismissed, or filing briefs which are, at best, borderline homophobic. Some of the briefs have been downright toxic in their nature. Allowing lesbians, gays, and transpeople to marry legally would certainly make it far easier for people to report domestic violence. Not that we are complaining, but the fact that the DoJ has done its best to keep DOMA in place just makes this news a little less bright.

“And, just several weeks ago, as part of the department’s, and the Administration’s, commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion, I announced a new Diversity Management Plan and the appointment of Channing Phillips as Deputy Associate Attorney General for Diversity. With this initiative, and with Channing’s leadership, we’re working to ensure that the Department can effectively recruit, hire, retain, and develop a workforce that reflects our nation’s rich diversity, a Department that welcomes and encourages the contributions of its LGBT employees.”

This is wonderful news. When the next Republican Attorney General comes into office, he will have even more people to harass and fire for being “security risks.” While diversity is wonderful, it should be remembered that Attorney General John Ashcroft did a wonderful job of gutting several key agencies of necessary human resources because they were lesbian or gay. This included quite a number of Farsi translators who would have been quite useful in preventing the 9/11 attacks, had they been there to translate the incoming messages. It also includes and FBI agent who was harassed out of her job for being transsexual. Without laws and regulations in place to prevent this kind of problem from happening again, it just means more people to fire in the future.

“I’m grateful for the assistance and guidance that so many of you have given. Our progress would not have been possible without your contributions. And while we have meaningful achievements to celebrate today, we must remember how much more work we have to do to transform today’s opportunities into tomorrow’s successes. Too many of the challenges that confronted the LGBT community 16 years ago – when DOJ Pride was founded – confront us still today. Too many of the same obstacles that existed then remain for us to overcome. Too many talented men and women cannot, in the words of this year’s motto, “serve openly, with pride.”

With your help and engagement, we’re working to ensure that the Justice Department lives up to its responsibility to provide a work environment where every employee is respected and given an equal opportunity to thrive. That’s the goal we share and the achievement we’ll keep working toward – together.”

Indeed, in the eighteen years since President William Jefferson Clinton took office, and sixteen years since DoJ Pride was founded, the challenges have not been addressed. Indeed, many of them were made worse by the actions of your boss who signed instead of vetoed DOMA, a law which is unconstitutional. The continued insistence of supporting an unconstitutional law is horrific. The DoJ needs to explain why it is busy defending this law, but it is unlikely that you will since doing so might upset all those wonderful people who are not going to vote for you this year, next year, or in ten years over any support for marriage equality or equal rights for lesbians, gays, and transpeople.

Of course, if that were true, BP would not have cut corners in order to try and save money and time getting the Deep Water Horizon rig in place and the oil flowing. They would never have disregarded the fact that the methane in that oil deposit was problematic and there was a higher risk of a blow out than normal. They might have actually cared enough to make sure that their workers were safe, and that their rig was not going to go up in a maelstrom of fire.

If BP had actually cared one iota about what the effects of their drilling were, then there would not be methane and oil bubbling through the cracks in the sea floor around the well pipe that seems to have been compromised below the floor of the Gulf. If BP had actually cared, they would have worked on new technologies to prevent such a catastrophe from occurring, or at least being able to stop it with something more recent. The current oil spill clean up technology dates back to when computers were as large as most semi-tractor trailers and the very idea of the personal home computer was but a gleam in the eye of the people developing them. The idea of the flip top cell phone was the stuff of science fiction.

Trying to tap into the anger over BP’s Tony Hayward’s yacht trip, GOP Chairman Michael Steele went on record decrying the fact that President Obama took a little time off to golf. In fact, the GOP has been doing what it can to attack Obama for, apparently, not being in the Gulf every day of the week and trying to somehow use his Biblical powers as the supposed savior that only the Conservatives seem to see him as in order to deride him to separate the oil from the water.

Steele stated:

“As oil continues to spill in the Gulf and unemployment hovers at ten percent, the President can no longer take his eye off the “Oil”.

“While it is fitting and appropriate to look at the yachting activities of the BP CEO, with incredulity, it is equally incredible that President Obama finds himself on yet another golf course as oil continues to spew into the Gulf. Until this problem is fixed, no more golf outings, no more baseball games, no more Beatle concerts, Mr. President. The stakes are too high for President Obama’s lackadaisical approach to both his responsibilities and the challenges we face.”

Yes, because, by law, President Obama must be at his desk every hour of every day while being the President. Never mind that his predecessor, George W. Bush, set a record for the most number of days that a President had been away from the White House and on vacation. Never mind that one of the most iconic photo ops for President Bush was him on the golf course in the lead up to the war in Iraq.

President Obama has not been lackadaisical in his response so much as thoughtful. He has shown a decided lack of leadership when it came to making sure that things got done, but by law, he is limited to what he can do with regards to this situation. He cannot, as Michelle Bachmann so vociferously declared, commandeer boats to skim off oil. He cannot, as Steele thinks he can, do much more than he is since the law states that the people responsible for cleaning up this disaster is the very same company that his own party has been busy trying to protect from having to be responsible to those who have seen their oyster beds and shrimp grounds likely permanently destroyed and befouled with oil.

Never mind that Steele and the Republicans were hardly willing to decry the near absenteeism of President Bush during his eight years as President, according to their logic, President Obama has got to be able to magic away the oil. He has a magic wand he got from Harry Potter stuck somewhere in his belt that he can just wave and the oil will be gone. For one day out of the week, President Obama is taking a little breather. He is spending time with his family. He is doing what he can. The only problem is, by law, he cannot do much. By laws laid down by Republicans who believe that the Government need not interfere with private businesses when they destroy the livelihoods of people, they seek to destroy Obama’s Presidency.

Those who have decried the expansion of government and have tried their best to destroy environmentalism with every dirty trick available are now concerned about the effects that this spill will have on the Gulf, and on the little people that mega-corps have never cared about and are not going to begin to unless it obliterates their bottom line. Those who have decried the expansion of government now obsess about why the government is powerless to do anything after spending thirty years hamstringing the regulatory agencies overseeing these businesses so that this kind of disaster does not occur. Those who abhor government expansion now wring their hands about this disaster despite writing and passing laws which gave businesses the right to do these things without oversight to make sure that it did not happen.

Those in the Right who worry about the size of the government and the power of the government now wail about it not being able to do anything when their precious mega-corps are unable to do a single thing to fix the problem that they created. They are the ones who created this mess, and now they want Mother Government to fix it despite having made sure that she has been so dismembered that she cannot act to protect the people of this nation from economic and ecological disaster.

This is hypocritical, but not surprising. Truth be told, many media corporations love fake homosexuality, and especially fake lesbianism because it does such a good job of titillating the audiences into buying more schlock. Over a decade ago, when Jill Sobule recorded the song “I Kissed A Girl” resulted in a huge outcry, but when Katie Perry recorded a song by the same name, it was a huge hit. Never mind that Perry appears to be about as lesbian as a rock. Christina Agulera even tried to jump in on the lesbian bandwagon by hinting at a bit of bisexuality while not actually saying she’s bisexual and certainly in need of a man’s penis almost exclusively. Alright, Ms Agulera, you are straight stop trying to drum up business with fake lesbianism and fake bisexuality.

What is also not surprising is that fake homosexuality such as what Ms Cyrus engaged in is far more accepted than the more genuine homosexuality expressed by Mr Lambert. There is a certain message behind these actions as well. It is alright to pretend to be gay, but not to really be gay. It is a socially acceptable message which pushes the same insidious message as many of these gay conversion people. It is just not as obvious as what those people are pushing.

Somewhere within all of this miasma of conflicting patronizing heteronormative messaging is part of the problem when it comes to our LGBT Youth. It should not be surprising that this kind of double standard is picked up at some level by our young lesbians, gays and transpeople. With a lack of positive, visible, and accessible lesbian, gay and transsexual role models, it is frighteningly difficult for our LGBT youth to find a way to develop their identity with solidity and without shame.

Keshet and Jewish Mosaic to Merge:  New organization will advance movement for
GLBT inclusive Jewish community

(Boston, MA; Denver, CO) In a move that will create America’s largest organization working for a more open, accessible, and inclusive Jewish community for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) Jews and their family, friends, and allies, Keshet and Jewish Mosaic: The National Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity have agreed to merge.

Keshet, headquartered in Boston, is a leader in education, training, and grassroots organizing for GLBT inclusion in the Jewish community. Keshet is also well known for its groundbreaking documentary film, Hineini: Coming Out in a Jewish High School, called a “terrific teaching tool” by Variety Magazine. Jewish Mosaic: The National Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, a managed project of Jewish Funds for Justice, is a leader in Jewish institutional change, community-based research, and resources on GLBT Jews. The Denver- and San Francisco-based Jewish Mosaic recently released Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible (NYU Press, 2009), an innovative examination of Biblical texts described as a “must for the Jewish bookshelf” in the Jerusalem Post.

Both organizations have repeatedly been recognized as among the “most creative and effective Jewish organizations” in North America by Slingshot: A Resource for Jewish Innovation. The two organizations have worked closely together and are currently partnering with Nehirim, another GLBT Jewish nonprofit, on a major national convening of Jewish GLBT leaders (www.jewishinclusion.com).

Over the past year, Keshet and Jewish Mosaic had been in discussions about how they could be more effective and have the greatest impact in the Jewish community. “Our organizations share a vision of a Jewish community that lives up to its highest values, and with our complementary skills and methodologies, together we can get there,” noted Idit Klein, Executive Director of Keshet. “By joining forces, we become a stronger voice for inclusive communities than we could ever be working alone,” said Gregg Drinkwater, Executive Director of Jewish Mosaic.

The combined organization will retain the name Keshet pending a comprehensive strategic review to enhance the impact of its integrated research, education, organizing, and advocacy efforts. Klein will be the Executive Director; Drinkwater will become Deputy Director and oversee the new Research and Publications Department. The headquarters of the organization will be in Boston, with an additional office in Denver and a staff presence in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The combined organization also will retain Keshet’s corporate identity and 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The Chair of the Board of Directors will be current Keshet board chair Stuart S. Kurlander. Dr. David Shneer, who co-founded Jewish Mosaic with Dr. Caryn Aviv in 2003, will be Vice Chair of the Board. Over the next few months, the organizations will further integrate their lay leadership and elect additional Board members. “Bringing these two important and strong organizations together will significantly advance the movement for GLBT inclusion in the Jewish community,” said Kurlander.

The new Keshet will put Jewish values and learning in service of the transformation of the entire Jewish community. “To paraphrase Martin Luther King, Jr., the destiny and freedom of all Jews is bound up in the destiny and freedom of GLBT Jews; the dignity of one is the dignity of all,” said Jewish Mosaic Advisory Board Chair Shawn Landres, who will also be joining the Keshet Board.

“We are proud to support the merger of Keshet and Jewish Mosaic,” said Lisa Eisen, National Director of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. “By joining forces, these two leading Jewish LGBT organizations will create a more effective and efficient structure, enabling them to continue expanding their reach and impact. We see in the new Keshet a force capable of sparking a unified Jewish LGBT movement and fostering a more welcoming, diverse and inclusive Jewish community.”

KESHET — www.keshetonline.org

JEWISH MOSAIC: The National Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity — www.jewishmosaic.org

CHARLES AND LYNN SCHUSTERMAN FAMILY FOUNDATION — www.schusterman.org

Support for the merger has been provided through grants from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation and The Natan Fund. Dr. Michela M. Perrone of MMP Associates provided strategic consulting.

Still, the GOP is more than willing to show how they are beholden to a foreign owned, foreign run company.  Texas Representative Joe Barton has done just that:

I’m ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday.  I think it is a tragedy in the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown — in this case a $20 billion shakedown — with the attorney general of the United States, who is legitimately conducting a criminal investigation and has every right to do so to protect the American people, participating in what amounts to a $20 billion slush fund that’s unprecedented in our nation’s history, which has no legal standing, which I think sets a terrible precedent for our nation’s future.

I’m only speaking for myself. I’m not speaking for anyone else, but I apologize.  I do not want to live in a county where anytime a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong, [it is] subject to some sort of political pressure that, again, in my words, amounts to a shakedown.

Given that BP has shown a total disregard for the lives of the people cleaning up the oil that they have spewing into the Gulf, it seems hard to believe that we should trust BP with compensating those who need compensation.  However, Barton is not the only one to make this absurd attack on Obama for ensuring that those along the coast will be compensated for their losses.

Of course, Barton use to believe that drilling in the Gulf was safe:

Offshore drilling and production platforms are so technologically advanced that one platform on the surface of the water can handle production from several different wells several miles apart, house a myriad of technologically advanced computer systems, employ scores of personnel, generate electricity, enable people to face and conquer the adversities of living in the middle of the ocean, and do so 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; all without so much as losing a gum wrapper over the side of the platform. It is truly amazing (emphasis mine).

Republicans are busy lying about how the $20 billion escrow is going to be used by the Democrats to further some form of political policies despite the fact that it is being handled by a man that the Republicans trusted nine years ago.

Mississippi Governor Hailey Barbour decried the money being set aside to compensate people in his own state by saying “If they take a huge amount of money and put it in an escrow account so they can’t use it to drill oil wells and produce revenue, are they going to be able to pay us?”  Republican Representative Michelle Bachmann accused Obama of using BP as a permanent ATM machine and that Obama was going to try to take over private industry.  Republican Representative Tom Price stated “These actions are emblematic of a politicization of our economy that has been borne out of this Administration’s drive for greater power and control.”  Never mind that Barbour’s state is being hard hit by the spill, and that Michelle Bachmann recently demanded that Obama take over ships in order to clean up the Gulf, an action which would have been unconstitutional and in total opposition of her current statements.

The disaster in the Gulf is the price of thirty years worth of gutting regulations and the agencies that enforced them.  The small government push has left the government beholden to companies which are not going to care about anything other than limiting liability and maximizing profits.  People have been told that small government is good for them because it brings prosperity without ever asking what the cost of that prosperity is.  Instead of thinking through the eventual consequences such as the Triangle Shirt Factory Fire, or the reason for regulations about meat and food, the end result is a belief that businesses are in it for us, the consumer, rather than being in it for themselves and not caring if they sell us, the consumer, a sausage full of rat meat in it.

Despite claims that BP cares about the “small people”, the reality is that they could give a rat’s arse about anything other than making sure that they are not held accountable.  That means that people like Barton will try to get the United States government to pay for this disaster and then cry about the deficit and the national debt. Eleven people died on the Deep Water Horizon, and yet, the GOP is more than willing to apologize for making BP do the right thing.

Mr. President, BP is and has been saying ‘trust us’, and yet they show again and again why government should be there to stand between the malfeasance of big businesses and the ordinary people. They have shown again and again why small government that trusts the corporations never works. Still, you are unwilling to make that point clear to people. You are unwilling to take on the likes of Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and the others on the Right who demand small government without being willing to take the consequences of that form of government. It is time to make it clear to these people that small government is what lead to this problem. Small government that has allowed big businesses to hoard the money that they make to the point that it collapses the economy, which is what has, basically, happened.

After last night’s speech, I listened to numerous people say how they had just heard you, Mr. President, ensure that you would have one term. They said that you had shown the kind of leadership that Jimmy Carter had in his Presidency. There comes a point where the rhetoric has to sound like you are prepared to kick some serious ass instead of just kiss it. We cannot all get along, and you do not have to go in for melodramatic speech making in order to sound angry. I can sound angry, Mr. President, without getting melodramatic. I can sound forceful and even word my articles strongly. I can get across my passion regarding a particular subject without resorting to vulgarities and cliches. Right now, sir, you sound like you were born on Vulcan, not Earth.

Mr. President, I understand your desires to return to a more traditional Presidency, and possibly go back to the way our government was in 1890, but that era has come and gone. If you cannot lead, sir, then surround yourself with those who can as Ronald Reagan did. That may even mean having to get rid of Rahm Emmanuel and others who you trust but who are ineffective.

Sir, yesterday you gave a speech which was light on details and soft on what needed to be done. Today, you had those details. It has been almost two months since this disaster occurred. One day would not have made a difference between your statement today and the speech yesterday in terms of how the delay looks. It would have made the difference in your ability to actually get in front of the nation and say what needed to be said.

For what ever reason, GetEQUAL has chosen to show Admiral Mullen more respect than they have President Obama.  According to McGehee, the reason why she did not heckle Mullen is that “Admiral Mullen is one of the highest military officials who’s spoken in favor of repeal, so we want to act respectfully.”  His position is identical to that of President Obama.

Recently, GetEQUAL has been feeling the heat from the LGBT Community.  Certainly LGR has not been quiet in our criticism of their methods and tactics.  A recent hunger strike by GetEQUAL’s ally Lt. Dan Choi resulted in a less than spectacular amount of support and ended after one week.

GetEQUAL may want to begin to think through their positions a lot better, and their responses with regards to their actions.  Stating that they are unwilling to heckle Admiral Mullen, who is only in his job at the grace and favor of President Obama while being willing to heckle President Obama sounds either hypocritical or racist.  The simplest statement that would have worked in this situation would have been to explain how the heckling had done little to change the direction of the debate and that they had chosen to abandon that tactic.

In the game of politics, it is not so much what ones motives are, but what they appear to be which is important.  Unlike LGR, which has advocated a constant pressure with regards to repeal of DADT through rallies, lobbying and descriptions of the various problems that the law creates, GetEQUAL has pursued a less than effective campaign of civil disobedience.  While those tactics seem and feel very satisfying, they are not always effective.  Adding to the problems of civil disobedience is that, without large numbers, it makes the movement look very weak.  While I wish that those tactics could be effective, they are not going to be right now.

Currently, the push back against DADT in the military is being pushed by the likes of General James T. Conway, Commandant of the Marines.  General Conway has yet to issue a condemnation of the recent assault of a gay man in Savannah, GA by two Marines.  The question of whether or not the General’s opposition to the repeal of DADT fueling a certain amount of increased homophobia in the Marines has yet to be answered as well.  The heckling of Admiral Mullen would have only further served to inflame those anti-repeal sentiments.

Let me be clear though, the issue of life and traditional marriage are not bargaining chips nor are they political issues. They are moral issues. I didn’t get involved in politics just to lower taxes and cut spending though I believe in both and have done it as a Governor. But I want to stay true to the basic premises of our civilization.

For those of us who have labored long and hard in the fight to educate the Democrats, voters, the media and even some Republicans on the importance of strong families, traditional marriage and life to our society, this is absolutely heartbreaking. And that one of our Republican “leaders” would suggest this truce, even more so. Governor Daniels is a personal friend and a terrific Governor, and I’m very disappointed that he would think that pro-life and pro-family activists would just lie down.

Are you ready to stop fighting for traditional marriage? I cannot. I will not.

Can you let the tragedy of abortion go unchecked while we get our financial house in order? I cannot. I will not.

A strong leader doesn’t need to focus myopically on one or two issues – but a strong leader is willing to fight for and defend their principles while rising to meet new challenges and solve all of the existing systemic problems confronting us.

For me these issues are critical. Indeed they are founding principles of my personal conservatism and part of the ideological foundation of the Republican Party. If you agree, I am asking you to help me send a signal.

Governor Huckabee, if you do not want to get married to a man, don’t.  If you do not want to have an abortion, don’t.  The premise of this nation is that we are all equal under the law, and what you are doing is trying to force a two thousand year old belief system on those of us who do not believe in your particular brand of Christianity or in Christianity at all.  These issues that you talk about- marriage and abortion- are not universally accepted to be limited the way that you believe them to be.  With regards to marriage, Christianity was once open to marriage between two people of the same-sex.  It was not until the Greek and Roman view of women as inferior and men as superior were codified into the Bible and the Catholics rose to power in Rome that marriage became between one man and one woman.  It was not until Christianity in various forms was forced on a variety of non-Western cultures that the idea of marriage being between one man and one woman was spread across the globe, and not even all cultures accept that as being the standard.  Islam believes that one man may marry as many as four women at a time.  There is nothing traditional about your version of marriage.  In Western culture, namely in Celtic culture which spread across Europe before the Romans conquered much of the continent, marriage was between two or more people who consented and agreed to the legal basis for marriage.  Marriage could be between two women, two men, a woman and two men, a man and two women, and a variety of other combinations.  The Senchus Mor, said to have been written by the Goddess Brigid, had no limit to the number of people who could be in a marriage so long as they consented and so long as the marriage laws were observed.  There were no gender restrictions on who could be married either.

As for abortion, not even Christianity believed in the idea that the soul entered the body at birth.  According to the Bible, life does not begin until blood flows.  This was always interpreted to be either when movement was first felt by the mother or until birth.  This was called the quickening.  It was not until the middle of the last century that men imposed the notion that life began at conception.

The thing is, Mr. Huckabee, this is not about abortion or marriage, but about imposing your beliefs on other people and trying to return to some perceived golden era of American culture in which women were subjugated by men, expected to live at home and do nothing but tend to their husband’s every needs, and if she did not willingly have sex with him or she did not cook his meal properly, it was alright for him to rape her or beat her into oblivion because, after all, men are suppose to be superior to women according to your view of your religion.

Abortion was not a founding issue for the Republican Party, nor was marriage equality, Mr. Huckabee.  The Republican Party was founded to combat the scourge of slavery in the nation.  It may be your personal view of what conservativism is suppose to be, but it is not the founding reason for the Republican Party.

Mr. Huckabee, the tragedy of abortion, as you put it, is nothing compared to the tragedies experienced by thousands of children starving in the streets every day.  It does not compare to the horrors experienced by whole families who are out on the streets dying because they have been thrown out of their houses.  Protecting “traditional marriage” is hardly a concern for a person who is facing either having to divorce their spouse or file for bankruptcy.

Rather than portraying this about morality, Mr. Huckabee, why not admit why you want this nation to become a Baptist theocracy.  Your decision to ignore the suffering of people out there who are being pushed into bankruptcy, foreclosure, and starvation is immoral and against everything that your religion supposedly stands for.

Today, together with Amos Lim of Out4Immigration and at the behest of Assembly member Kevin de Leon and under sponsorship of EQCA,  I had the great honor of testifying to the California State Senate Judiciary Committee  for AJR 15, a Resolution in support of Uniting American Families Act, which made it out with 3 votes in favor and at least one opposition vote. The second Republican member was not present but may have shown up later to cast his vote; regardless a 3:2 victory sends the resolution to an almost certain passage in the California Senate.  State Resolutions in California do not require the signature of a Governor.

This was my 2.5 minute testimony:

Madam Chair and Honorable Members of this Committee, Assembly member De Leon, thank you for this opportunity to tell my story, personifying that of tens of thousands of other binational same-sex permanent partners, many of whom are from California, either living in undocumented fear, exiled to a foreign country or in detention awaiting deportation.

Nine years ago I fell in love with Dorit Israel who came to the USA as a student.  We married in July 2008, during California’s window of opportunity. We have a daughter born of this relationship and I have 13 year old  daughter from a previous relationship, in a shared custody arrangement.

Because lesbian and gay partners are excluded by Federal law, I was unable to sponsor Dorit for a green card. We faced untold hardship; and on 4 occasions during our process, I was faced with a choice that no American or Mother should ever have to bear; – leaving my home, my country, my mortgage and my business to go to a foreign country where I do not speak the language or have any viable prospects of survival, paled in comparison to having to choose between my two beloved daughters.  If I were to leave my country, I would have been forced to choose between my spouse and our child, ahead of my first born. If I chose to stay with my 13 year old,   I would be separated from my spouse and my little one.  Worse yet, these young American Citizen Sisters would also be torn apart.

I was not able to make the choice – there WAS no plan B.

To explain what we went through would take too much time, save to say that with the help of Senator Feinstein, we were lucky and finally able to rely on an R1 Visa, after hurdles such as the sunset of the very process upon which we relied.

Had we been a different gender couple our $72,000 five year nightmare would have been over in mere months costing no more than $1500.00.

While our case ended with a remedy, many do not. It is for them that I am here. Through my advocacy for other couples I am privy to many cases of hardship, the brain drain of California doctors, lawyers, Professors, PhD’s and entrepreneurs; the waste of resources and the unconscionable injustice.

The State of California recognizes gay and lesbian couples through equality legislation, yet this great anomaly exists, where but for the passage of The Uniting American Families Act, the equality laws in California are useless to bi-national couples.

I believe that passage of AJR 15, will send an imperative message to Washington D.C. – California cares about its families and that this situation is simple intolerable.

Before the vote, Senator Mark Leno made  a very moving and supportive statement about the hardship and the lack of immigration equality for binational same-sex couples.  He ended his remarks by saying that after what he heard, he could not fathom anyone single person VOTING NO to the passage of the Resolution which supports laws keeping California families together.

The Republican  Tom Harmon (California’s 35th District) when asked his vote  bellowed a resolute “NO.”

Of course I expected no thing different, but surely he may have had an excuse a reason?  So when he walked out of the Chamber, I ran after him. I told him I was curious about why he had voted no.  He looked at me and snapped loudly “I don’t have time for that now.”  I then asked him if I could make an appointment to see him so he could explain at a later date or time. Again he snapped, viciously, “I will NOT do that.”

So there you have it California, Republicans truly do not care about Californian  families and their children.

Based on this, I deduce that if  Harmon and the other lockstep Republicans purport at anytime on the future to be concerned about California Families, then such solicitude is tantamount to saying “I hate Gays.”

That said, Republican Meg Whitman now in the race for Governor and Carly Fiorina, in the race for incumbent Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer’s Senate seat, have all openly subscribed to this ant-gay equality stance.  To my way of thinking, mere campaign statement by these candidates are tantamount to the offensive and upsetting Bullhorn “NO” VOTE we heard today.

Note: Senator Boxer is a Co-Sponsor of UAFA, The Uniting American Families Act.

Thank you to Assembly member Kevin De Leon,  Senator Mark Leno for co sponsoring the UAFA Resolution in California as well as our host EQCA with Mario Guerrero at the helm.

The Hypocrisy of  “NO”

6/1/2010 – California Senate urges the federal government to quit ignoring the immigration problem.

Harman’s Floor Speech for Immigration Resolution, SCR 108 from CA Senate Republican Caucus on Vimeo.

Senator Harman’s Senate Concurrent Resolution 108 (SCR 108), a bi-partisan measure urging the federal government to act immediately on federal immigration law cleared the Senate today. In a landmark display of unity, Senator Gil Cedillo, a leading immigrant rights activist in the Senate, spoke in strong support of the legislation, agreeing with Senator Harman on the importance of immediate federal action. The measure passed 31 to 1.

“We don’t agree on much here in the legislature, but I am glad we can agree that the federal government should, at a minimum, enforce existing immigration law,” said Harman. “With California facing a $20 billion dollar budget deficit, the legislature would be remiss to not demand action on a federal problem that costs California taxpayers upwards of $10 billion a year.”

Money Is above People..Money Money Money!!!

After today’s vote, Clearly Tom Harmon does not support UAFA ’s inclusion in Federal Immigration Reform  Law

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
@oblogdeeoblogda
Http://visualcv.com/melnathan

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“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion;” What if Congress makes Laws  reflecting the influence of testimony of one particular religion, to the exclusion of all others? Is this tantamount to ” establishing a religion” in an implied or tacit form?

A group of independent unfunded activists, supporting the ideal of a Universal LGBT Civil Rights Movement, with one simple Goal, to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1968, to include sexual orientation and gender identity, has drawn a new line in the sand.

The Gay and Lesbian (LGBTQI) minority is under attack –we are not sitting back any longer. We are going to fight back and with a vengeance.  We are going to defend our civil rights and demand equality by silencing those who seek our destruction.

Those who are attacked have a right to defend themselves. Our weapon for now shall be our pens and our legs and our mouths and our signs and our money and our signatures and our VOTE.

Mission 1:-

Amendment I to the Constitution of the US states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Previously, we’ve argued that the church has no right to be involved in government – using the “separation of church and state” concept.  However, more succinctly, the First Amendment protects all Americans from the US Government “establishing” a religion.

This new line rests its case on the predication that certain religious groups and Congress are teetering on breaching this strict boundary – the one that asserts no establishment of religion by government while respecting religious freedoms.

The NEW LINE is that UNDER THE CONSTITUTION, religious groups SHOULD NOT be permitted to advocate against basic human rights and dignity (s), in any Congressional setting. Religious groups should not have the opportunity to insert their interpretation of morals into legislative process, because if such were permitted it would be tantamount to ‘establishing’ a religion which the First Amendment guarantees cannot occur.

That does not mean that religious groups are not allowed to participate in the public and social debate.   Asserting this boundary cannot extend to teachings from the pulpit, because that right in the same Aedment1, is equally guaranteed, along with the right of free speech and freedom of assembly.

This in no way derogates from public debate. Nor does it derogate from the pulpit; but the pulpit does not belong in a congressional hearing and nor in the halls of Congress.

It’s a matter of mutual civic responsibility that the religious groups desist from interference and a matter of oath of office that Congress cease invitations to select religious groups to testify in committee, especially where such testimony consists of presentations of religious dogma.

If someone wielded a sword in the face of the Catholic Bishop and said “stop your prayer, you cannot preach, you cannot believe” – we would defend their right to religious freedom as vigorously as I am begging for reciprocity and respect.  We ask the Catholic Bishops to resist brandishing their pulpits in the face of Congress -undermining our constitutional rights and protections.

We submit that any invitation to any religious group to testify before Congress in any committee or format, has the impetus of Congress ‘establishing’ a religion, especially if such testimony asserts a religious doctrine that can be interpreted to discriminate against a minority population, and/or that infringes on the human rights and dignity of any one or group of persons in our Country, thereby in effect causing harm.

If the Catholic Bishops have NO locus standi in Congress – then let us ask how we explain this:

On October 8 of 2009, the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security held a hearing on Comprehensive Immigration Reform:  and testimony was delivered  by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, D.C. entitled “Comprehensive immigration reform: Faith-Based Perspectives October 8, 2009.” After outlining in great detail the hardship and suggestions for Immigration reform, the Cardinal proceeded to testify with this overt exclusion in direct opposition to S. 424, the Uniting American Families Act.

“Mr. Chairman, we are opposed to the inclusion of S. 424, the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), in comprehensive immigration reform legislation.  The legislation would permit same-sex partners to enjoy the same immigration benefits as married couples in our immigration system.  While our tradition and teaching values all persons as children of God, we believe that the enactment of UAFA would erode the institution of marriage and family by according marriage-like immigration benefits to same sex relationships, a position that is contrary to the very nature of marriage, which pre-dates the Church and the state.  We also believe its inclusion into comprehensive immigration reform would add another controversial issue to an already polarized and divisive debate.”

The testimony was fraught with biblical references and Catholic religious Dogma.

This week we launched a petition in our quest to stop the harmful lobbying by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and National Association of Evangelicals. The petition is in the form of a letter to the USCCB and NAE, a cease and desist request from lobbying against our community.

http://www.change.org/petitions/view/halt_the_harm_-_stop_advocacy_by_usccb_and_nae_causing_harm_to_lgbt_community

The message is clear – leave our civil rights alone.  So the more who sign the petition the more letters the groups will receive, they will hear our voices.

Already over 200 letters have been sent, but we need 5,000 to complete mission 1.

We have targeted the USCCB (US Conference of  Catholic Bishops)  and NAE(National Association of Evangelicals,   because they are launching a newspaper AD blitz this week; they assert their support for Immigration Reform – however as we have noted above – the support is tainted by their direct threat that they will  not support reform, if the Gay Community is included in the legislation.

How despicable; these men of clothe are prepared to hurt their own devotees, 12 million undocumented immigrants who may qualify for amnesty, for the sake of their anti-gay DOGMA;  interfering in a civil rights matter, while defiling the boundaries established by our Constitution.

To add insult to injury, they are flagrantly horse whipping our minority community, based on canon that now seems to condone the carnage of our most purest beings, 100 deaf children and counting…

While their own stable is in shocking disarray; molesters running rampant hurting children en masse (no pun,) how dare they think they have any moral authority at all? Unfettered felons abound their conclaves and they speak of abomination as if it applies to our G-d-given love.

If necessary this will become our battle cry and we will smear the faces in their mess.

So we ask you to sign this Mission 1 Petition.

Soon we will speak more about the audacity of our Congressional legislators, who single out and invite certain religious groups into our Congressional committees, to the exclusion of all others.  Does this permissive practice of accepting testimony from religious groups, denote “establishing” a religion, in defiance of the First Amendment?

There is abundant proof thus far, in the immigration equality debate, that our representatives have allowed the Catholic and Evangelical churches to impact Gay and Lesbian exclusion from recently introduced Bills in Congress. (Rep. Gutierrez’s Immigration reform Bill in the House.)

Our redress must be explored.  We cannot stand back and watch this any longer.

If Congress wants to expedite reform and reduce this merging conflict in the immigration debate– if indeed the Bishops are powerful enough to influence our rights in this insidious fashion, then we call on Congress NOW to do something different.

To introduce an omnibus by merging the Dream Act, and UAFA or attaching these Bills to less controversial legislation– and to immediately seek passage of  legislation that has at its core equality and fairness , rather than on a reform basis.  That will divide the issues engendered by the conflict into manageable components – and will keep the non-equality issues of Amnesty and Biometrics to their own fate, and yes Border control may well form the basis for cooperation from the right in the latter instance.

While all this is going on, the overriding WAR will be waged on those who continue attempts to influence Congress to establish a religion for the USA.  The more hate that amalgamates in this scurrilous back door endeavor, the more our enemies will fall into our hands – as they will exacerbate the necessity for our Amendment to the Civil Rights Act.

Every single person who cares about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgenders, gender identity rights  and equality should sign on to this Petition.

All you need to do is sign the Petition and keep in touch with us on Facebook, via Melanie Nathan – will deliver more missions as we go along.

All Actions taken in Mission – in the name of the merging “LGBTGI Civil Rights Movement”

Start a Petition »

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