Originally Posted 8 May 2012

By now, we all know that North Carolina has passed an anti-marriage equality amendment that will, in the end, hurt all families in the state. Protect All NC Families issued this statement:

“No One Wins Tonight in North Carolina,” says Campaign Manager, Jeremy Kennedy

Raleigh, N.C. — Tonight the discriminatory and overreaching Amendment One passed on the North Carolina primary ballot, enshrining discrimination into the state’s constitution. The amendment, which also bans civil unions and could strip rights, benefits and protections from children, families, battered women and seniors, made it to the ballot after Republicans took control of both houses of the legislature in 2010. Polling shows that support for LGBT equality is at an all-time high in North Carolina and across the country.

“While we are disappointed in tonight’s result, we know this concerted North Carolina effort to defeat Amendment One and protect all of the state’s families galvanized North Carolina and mobilized North Carolinians in historic ways,” said Coalition to Protect All NC Families Campaign Manager Jeremy Kennedy. “From unheard of homegrown fundraising online to unprecedented grassroots activism on the ground, Protect All NC Families was a campaign carried on the backs of countless North Carolinians who worked tirelessly to defeat a divisive constitutional rewrite that would hurt families they know and love. And our fight for fairness is not over.”

Amendment One is about more than marriage. It is overreaching and could have unintended consequences for families, children, women and seniors in North Carolina, including loss of healthcare benefits and domestic violence protections.

Because of Amendment One’s broad language, threatening protections for all unmarried North Carolina couples and their children, it was the Protect All NC Families campaign’s charge to educate North Carolinians about the amendment’s many intended and unintended consequences. In doing so, the campaign had over one million conversations—online and on the ground—with North Carolinians about potential harms to children’s health care, unmarried women’s domestic violence protections, and threats to hospital visitation, end-of-life directives and parental rights.

In North Carolina and across the country there is a shift in public opinion on LGBT equality. The numbers from the vote on Amendment One show there is a multigenerational and multicultural support for equality.

An unprecedented coalition came together to fight Amendment One. The partnerships developed in this campaign were deep and wide. The Coalition to Protect NC Families was proud to partner with the NAACP, over 400 faith leaders from across the state and the theological spectrum, progressive organizations including Equality North Carolina and the Human Rights Campaign, business leaders, students, and every day North Carolinians.

Kennedy added: “This fight was about more than marriage. Amendment One was overreaching and will have unintended consequences for families, children, women, and seniors in North Carolina. We will continue to work with our partners across the state to ensure fairness, equality, and common sense prevail.”

Girl Bar Dinah Shore Weekend Las Vegas producers Dr. Robin Gans, Sandy Sachs, Linda Fusco and Michelle Agnew at the rooftop 50th floor of the VooDoo Lounge at the Rio Hotel. Image credit: Lobeline Communications

It appears that all of the various Dinah Shore Weekends have now concluded. This year, Girl Bar Dinah Shore Weekend headed out to Las Vegas and apparently everyone had a wonderful time:

Girls from around the globe descended on Las Vegas as Girl Bar Dinah Shore Weekend in association with Truck Stop Girlz and Caesars Total Rewards filled the city with tens of thousands of Lesbians. The event, now in its 22nd year, has made Vegas its new home, taking advantage of non-stop entertainment, food, beverages and gaming 24/7 in the city that never sleeps. Throughout the weekend, overflow attendance across Strip properties have led producers Robin Gans, Sandy Sachs, Linda Fusco and Michelle Agnew to announce the Dinah Shore Weekend return for April 25-29, 2013. The ladies credit the ambitious outreach of Richard Brower, director of LGBT marketing for Caesars Entertainment who commented, “Girl Bar Dinah Shore Weekend has become a ‘must attend’ event for the lesbian community and has a
committed group of followers,” Adding, “As the only casino company with a 100% on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, in 2012 our commitment to the LGBT community is strong. We are delighted to serve as hosts for the event’s Las Vegas debut and look forward to a long-lasting relationship with the Girl Bar and the Truck Stop Girlz Dinah Shore event founders.”

They go on to explain:

For the first time ever, VAWA now explicitly recognizes LGBTQ survivors as “under-served populations,” prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in service provision and recognizes that all states can use VAWA funding to support LGBTQ-specific programs and services. The New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP) thanks the tireless champions of an LGBTQ-inclusive VAWA, co-sponsors Senators Leahy and Crapo, and all of the Senators who voted to pass this critical bill.

VAWA is a queer issue. LGBTQ people experience violence at the same rates as any other community: 25-35 percent of relationships. However, LGBTQ victims receive fewer supportive services—and are often actively discriminated against when seeking service. A 2011 survey of National Coalition of Domestic Violence Programs (NCAVP) coalition members and affiliates found that nearly 85 percent of survey participants responded that they had worked with an LGBTQ client/survivor of domestic and intimate partner violence, dating violence, sexual assault or stalking who reported that they were turned away or denied services (such as shelter, crisis intervention, police or legal response) because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. In a report recently released by NCAVP, we saw a 15 percent increase in reports of domestic violence in LGBTQ relationships across the country and a 50 percent increase in domestic violence-related murders from 2007 to 2009.

Over the past 17 years since its passage, VAWA has provided billions of dollars for social service agencies helping victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking. This funding provides crisis intervention, safety planning, counseling, shelter and advocacy for survivors of domestic violence. Very little of those services have been focused on LGBTQ people over the past 17 years. The passage of an LGBTQ-inclusive VAWA in the U.S. Senate is a critical step toward changing this reality.

We still have work to do – the bill must also pass the House of Representatives. But on this historic day, where the voices of LGBTQ survivors were heard loud and clear, I want to thank AVP’s staff, Board, volunteers and supporters and the tremendous work of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Program, a program of AVP, and our allies at the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, the LGBT Bar Association and so many more.

Together, we can end this violence.

We have learned via JoeMyGod that Brian Brown’s personal Twitter account was hacked:

And- OF COURSE- we have these lovely letters going out from NOM begging for money:

In the midst of a vicious barrage of media attacks parroting the propaganda of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), HRC’s publication of stolen NOM tax returns, illegal hacking of NOM’s online accounts, and new legal action taken by NOM to defend ourselves and the rights of marriage supporters throughout the country, I don’t want to forget the wonderful and important work taking place down in North Carolina.

Our theme this week has been “We Stand United!” And nowhere is that more true than in North Carolina where the African American church has provided stalwart leadership in speaking out for God’s truth about marriage.

But if we are truly united, we must all stand with them, not just in word, but in deed as well. In just 24 days, North Carolina voters will go to the polls, making North Carolina the 32nd state to vote on same-sex marriage.

And that is why I am asking you to please make your most generous gift today to help secure victory for marriage in North Carolina!

Donate now

Our opponents in North Carolina have raised millions of dollars and amassed mountains of cash—and they are openly suggesting that they could defeat the North Carolina marriage amendment.

If all of this stuff is illegal- where are the police investigations? Where are the FBI agents crawling all over the computers of NOM? How could Brian Brown not change his Twitter password after the main account was hacked? The answer is simple- none of this actually happened. They were not hacked. They did not have someone else leak their IRS information. They did all of this deliberately- and it’s a long standing manipulative trick that they have used for decades on the Right.

It’s time that NOM stopped these lies. Either that, or the police need to investigate.

Mitt Romney

Oh Mitt. . .and here we thought you were just so moderate. It has come to light that Mitt Romney’s PAC made some donations available to the National Organization for Marriage back when the group was pouring money into repealing the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans people in California. Romney certainly hasn’t made a move to let people know about this.

The Huffington Post reports that:

“The governor feels strongly that marriage is an institution between a man and a woman, and one of the most high-profile fights on this subject is happening in California,” Fehrnstrom said at the time.

But when Romney eventually made his donation, he did so quietly, and through an unusual channel. Records filed by Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC with the Federal Election Commission did not include details of that $10,000 donation. Nor did NOM’s public 990 form. In fact, record of the payment was only uncovered Friday when the pro-gay rights Human Rights Campaign was sent a private IRS filing from NOM via a whistleblower. The Human Rights Campaign shared the filing with The Huffington Post.

Romney has been trying hard not to take a hard line on same-sex marriage rights, but has done a lot of just broadly saying he opposes same-sex marriage. This information came to light just as people are realizing what kind of racist tactics NOM was willing to stoop to in order to fight to ensure inequality in the United States.

Louis J Marinelli has a wonderful blog post up about how race plays into NOM’s strategy. Here are a few of the things he says, but the rest is worth reading:

For example, in an e-mail dated July 29, 2010 NOM CEO Maggie Gallagher wrote me and Eve Tushnet an e-mail referring to Bishop Battle, who was a guest speaker on the summer bus tour with the following subject line: “I need a close-up photo of Bishop Battle for the newsletter tomorrow.”

Her e-mail message itself wrote:

Does anyone have one they can send Eve Tushnet???

He’s black, he’s on our side, he’s COGIC, I need a close-up please advice [sic]. Maggie

Later on in that same e-mail dialog between the three of us, we came to an agreement about which of the photos that I took would be a good choice for the newsletter to tout the black Bishop’s role with NOM and in opposition to same-sex marriage. Maggie wrote:

great! Eve, work with Louis if nec. to figure out how to display this in the newsletter tomorrow. We’ll make a big deal of Bishop Battle and COGIC. [sic]

Maggie

…..

But the image that really caught Mr. Giganti’s eye was Image 2930. His comments wrote:

This is a great contrast shot of our people all happy and smiling (majority black, only one non-black in the picture) versus the angry counter-protesters. (Josh, this would be a good post. Luke / Colton: We may not a spot right now but keep this one close for future use – maybe a dynamic picture that rotates between positive, happy shots of our people versus our angry foes?) [sic]

That accounts for two of the photos he selected. Three more of his recommended photos were those which included the black Reverend Fauntroy and had to do with dealt his positioning in the photos and graphical issues such as cropping. A fourth dealt with a photo of Bishop Harry Jackson, a black bishop who spoke at NOM’s dismal Annapolis rally and in D.C.

It has been almost a year since that post went live, and we are all left wondering why the HRC didn’t press their advantage back then. Why not spend a year going after NOM for their racist ploys?

The Huffington Post notes that Reverent Ralph A Martino is unwilling to work with NOM even though he is an opponent of marriage equality. He noted that their tactics fan hostility and that “If this is the type of weaponry a group uses in order to stir up warfare and foster division, then we’re not part of that. This angle creates unnecessary drama and it will backfire.”

The HuffPo notes that “The drama has already begun”, but for many of us out here on the front lines, we have been seeing this for some time. North Carolina politicians pushed to get as many minority churches and pastors as possible out and visible to try and sway minority voters. They did their best to push this as a racial issue as well as a religious one.

NOM says in one memo that has now come out that:

“The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks — two key Democratic constituencies,” states one of the memos. “Find, equip, energize and connect African American spokespeople for marriage, develop a media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a civil right; provoke the gay marriage base into responding by denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots,” continued the memo, part of a set of documents that emerged as a result of a Maine lawsuit and then were leaked by the Human Rights Campaign.

If you want to read up on this, please head on over to the HuffPo. . .what we want to know is just how we have managed to get this far with these schmuks at the helm of this movement. Come on people, pay attention and stop acting like you’re asleep at the wheel here.

Photographer Carolyn Sherer has said that she wants to raise encourage a greater awareness and inclusion of LGBT people, and the museum director has states that the exhibit fits the overall mission of the institute.

Via WAAYTV

The documents have come to light during investigations into the Maine battle over marriage rights. Among the NOM passages include this one:

The strategic goal…is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks—two key Democratic constituencies. Find, equip, energize and connect African American spokespeople for marriage; develop a media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a civil right; provoke the gay marriage base into responding by denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots…

The Latino vote in America is a key swing vote, and will be so even more so in the future, both because of demographic growth and inherent uncertainty: Will the process of assimilation to the dominant Anglo culture lead Hispanics to abandon traditional family values? We must interrupt this process of assimilation by making support for marriage a key badge of Latino identity – a symbol of resistance to inappropriate assimilation.

HRC President Joe Solmonese stated that “Nothing beats hearing from the horse’s mouth exactly how callous and extremist this group really is. Such brutal honesty is a game changer, and this time NOM can’t spin and twist its way out of creating an imagined rift between LGBT people and African Americans or Hispanics.”

Equality North Carolina also noted that

The documents detail NOM’s goals, including “2010 Priority: Roll Back Gay Marriage in New Hampshire, Iowa, and D.C.” and “keeping gay marriage controversial in Massachusetts, Vermont, and Connecticut.” Marriage equality has in fact not been rolled back in either of these states or D.C. In NOM Deposition Exhibit 12, the group notes that it plans to spend $100,000 on a “study of what schools are teaching in gay marriage/civil union regimes.”

Protect All NC Families’ Campaign Manager Jeremy Kennedy stated regarding these revelations that

“While this is just the kind of cynical strategy NOM’s industry of division is famous for, it’s still shocking to know that as we’ve been building a broad coalition that unites communities in North Carolina, the National Organization for Marriage has been secretly plotting to pit our state’s voters against one another. This strategy of creating an imagined rift between North Carolinians illustrates that the only way to pass one of these amendments is by dividing the very groups that it will hurt the most. Under the auspices of promoting “family values,” we know now that NOM is simply in the business of pushing these divisive measures by any means necessary. And North Carolina voters have the right to know.”

This strategy is slowly, ever so slowly, failing. It is based on the Southern Strategy of appealing to the most hateful group of people to oppose someone else’s rights. In the Southern Strategy, the Republicans reached out to white racists in order to get them to vote against their own interests. In the NOM strategy, they have tricked Blacks and Latinos into voting against their best interests- equality.

Here is Solmonese’s statement:

When I decided to begin the next chapter of my career, I could not have imagined a better successor as president of the Human Rights Campaign. Just a few minutes ago, HRC’s board of directors appointed Chad Griffin, a brilliant visionary and strategist, as the organization’s next president.

While you know him as the mastermind behind the federal lawsuit to overturn California’s Proposition 8, Chad’s spent his career taking on the toughest fights against entrenched, well-financed interests. He’s passionate about our equality and more importantly, has a proven track record of consistently delivering results. Already, the fight to overturn Prop. 8 has prevailed in two federal court rooms.

Chad Griffin has the leadership qualities critical to propel our movement for equality forward and I am so proud that he will succeed me this June leading HRC.

A native of Arkansas and a veteran of the Clinton White House, Chad was inspired by young people in taking on this new endeavor. He told the board this morning, “All over this country in big cities and small towns, there are families and young people who long to be accepted for who they are, and who want be treated with the same dignity and respect as everyone else. Today’s generation of young people, and each generation hereafter, must grow up with the full and equal protection of our laws, and finally be free to participate in the American dream. As HRC president, I’ll approach our work with a great sense of urgency because there are real life consequences to inaction.”

With your support, HRC has won historic victories over the past several years. In addition to passing marriage equality in New York, the District of Columbia, Washington and Maryland, repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law, and convincing the Obama administration to stop defending DOMA, HRC also spearheaded successful efforts to pass hate-crimes protections, secure equal hospital visitation rights for same-sex partners, and much more.

But following our recent string of advances, anti-LGBT leaders are trying to dismantle what we have built, brick by brick. That’s what makes Chad’s leadership – and HRC’s work in Congress and in communities across the country – and your voice – even more crucial.

I think of HRC as a family. Over my seven years as president of this great organization, you’ve been there to help us make tremendous progress for our community. I know that you’ll continue to be there as Chad fights to propel our movement forward. He is uniquely qualified to lead HRC into the future.

Embracing the “party with a purpose” philosophy, over the past 22 years for each Dinah Shore Weekend installment, Mariah Hanson, founder and promoter of Club Skirts presents The Dinah, has relentlessly travailed to support LGBT rights.

The Dinah activism has translated into community activism, famously partnering with a variety of activist associations and charity organizations such as GLAAD, NOH8, Love is Louder, Equality California, and The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center among others.

And this year will be no different. Joining forces with The Human Rights Campaign (HCR), Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend will host an exclusive fun networking cocktail reception Friday, March 30 at 7pm in the sidebar lounge of The Riviera Spa & Resort.

Following The Dinah’s legendary “Frisky Friday Pool Party”, the ladies will have a chance to meet, mingle, network and celebrate with their favorite celebrities from some of the most popular online LGBT webseries and get involved with the HRC team in attendance.

Lending their support to the special evening are: Fortune Feimster (“E! “Chelsea Lately”), Rose Garcia and Romi Klinger (Showtime “The Real L Word”), Kim Stolz (“America’s Next Top Model”), comedian Suzanne Westenhoefer, Dalila Ali Rajah and Gloria Bigelow (“Cherry Bomb”), Tucky Williams (“Girl/Girl Scene”), Haviland Stillwell, Sarah Croce, Ashley Reed (“Unicorn Plan-it”), Nicole Pacent (“Anyone But Me” & “I Hate Tommy Finch”), as well as other OML’s fan favorites, and many more surprise guests.

Continuing her activist efforts to raise awareness among the LGBT community about marriage and equality rights, Hanson, who sat on the Board of Equality California for numerous years, is putting the focus on HRC to rally more lesbians around their endeavor.
As the largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, the Human Rights Campaign represents a force of more than one million members and supporters nationwide — all committed to making HRC’s vision a reality. Founded in 1980, HRC advocates on behalf of LGBT Americans, mobilizes grassroots actions in diverse communities, invests strategically to elect fair-minded individuals to office and educates the public about LGBT issues. The organization has already rallied the support of many A-list Hollywood celebrities such as Kevin Bacon, Anne Hathaway, Rosie O’Donnell, Joan Rivers, Sarah Jessica Parker, Pink, Julianne Moore and Whoopi Goldberg, to name a few.

“The Dinah is not just a party. I like to think it’s also a subtle platform for the kind of activism that encourages people to act in ways that make a difference on issues that not only affect our community but the world,” says Hanson. “You have to stand up to stand out.”

The road to Club Skirts Dinah Shore Weekend is always paved with good intentions! As the biggest All-Girl Party in the world, The Dinah also prides itself in giving back to the LGBT community remaining faithful to its “party with a purpose” theme to remind everyone that while we have made a lot of strides, we’re still fighting for our rights!

Today OutServe announced the first OutServe Capital Summit, to be held May 14-15 in Washington, DC. The two-day event will be co-sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Courage Campaign, and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), and will focus on the theme “Our Families Matter.”

The Summit will gather actively-serving military of all sexual orientations with experts from resource and advocacy groups to discuss the legal rights of gay and lesbian military partners, as well as resources for their support. Spouses and partners of gay and lesbian service members are not currently provided all available resources to support their families during and after deployments, nor are they given access to base facilities or many educational, counseling, healthcare, and other privileges. For example, a gay or lesbian spouse cannot pick up a child from military day care, or purchase groceries for the family at the commissary.

“Our goal with this Summit is to bring together the military community to address the issues that affect LGBT military families and how to solve them,” said Josh Seefried, co-director of OutServe. “We need to educate decision-makers, as private citizens, how our families are affected – and send a clear message that our families matter.”

The Summit will also include visits to elected and/or appointed officials to educate them on the challenges facing gay and lesbian military families.

Registration is at http://outserve.org/capital-summit/

Evans is an old hand at EQMA. She served there as the organization’s director of policy and planning from 2007 to 2009. She will be leaving the Baltimore City Housing Department to take the job. She is also currently an adjunct faculty for the Gender and Women’s Studies department at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. She has worked previously for the Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.

EQMA also announced that they now have a full board of 21 individuals.

The OutServe press release stated that “Discussions centered around organizational issues as well as concerns of OutServe members, including ways to involve veterans and allies in the actively-serving military organization; how to support partners and families in the absence of military recognition; and ways to improve connections between local OutServe groups and their local commands and communities.”

Air Force Major Jeffrey Mueller said “What we did today will help the military be more inclusive, and will strengthen unit cohesion. When the military asks us for input on what might be done differently, as they do with similar organizations, we will have well-thought out recommendations to present.”

The OutServe Armed Forces Leadership Summit continues throughout the weekend. Still, Army Master Sergeant Kris Kobernaus summed up the work saying “The recommendations we brought forth today will make us stronger soldiers, which will make the military stronger,” he said.

OutServe has numerous sponsors including “the Human Rights Campaign, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, the Central Intelligence Agency, Amazon, Courage Campaign, American Veterans for Equal Rights, Out & Equal, Log Cabin Republicans, Stonewall Democrats, Tropicana Hotel, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Wells Fargo, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, PRIDE Institute, and Coverity. The conference takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada.”

More about the various panels can be read here.

In the speech, he spoke about how there is an evolution in attitude occurring with regards to LGBT rights. This is true. If one follows the trends in video games, it is easy to see that the LGBT gaming community will no longer stand for being left out of things like romances between characters.

President Obama touted his accomplishments, and they are many. While Obama has only been able to effectively repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and do a large number of things unilaterally, he did make it clear that he opposes the Defense of Marriage Act.

However, Obama did not mention whether or not he now supports same-sex marriage. This is a rather important oversight as it is likely to be one of those issues that could gain him enthusiasm without losing votes.

Also at the dinner was Retired Staff Sergeant Eric Alva. He was at the side of President Obama when he signed the repeal of DADT. Alva stated “This is something monumental. We needed to do this. People often as me, ‘Eric, how do you feel about the repeal of don’t ask, don’t tell?’ I’m excited. I’m ecstatic. I’m retired now, but this was something that needed to be done for the better good of America.” This was the first time that Alva has attended the HRC dinner in his uniform.

Stream videos at Ustream

Christian News Service’s headline on this proclaims “Obama to Keynote Event of Gay Group That Promotes LGBT Curriculum in Elementary Schools”. Of course, most Evangelicals, Catholics and Mormons believe that homosexuality is a choice and not what science is showing, an inherent trait that is immutable. Indeed, the HRC does state on their website that school curricula must be LGBT inclusive and notes that “students learn more effectively when they see themselves reflected in the curriculum”; “pressure to conform to gender roles can limit social and academic development”; “name-calling and bullying have a negative impact on academic outcomes.”

Their site, as quoted by CNS, stated “From children’s first years in school, when classes often take ‘the family’ as their curricular focus, right through high school, there are many moments when LGBT issues are appropriate and relevant to the curriculum. For example, lesbian and gay authors and historical figures can be included in English and history classes; and the LGBT movement, itself, can be germane to civics and social studies courses. Students stand to gain significant advantages in those schools that have LGBT inclusive curriculum.”

Most Right Wing Christians ignore the fact that gender roles are constructs that are not immutable. Gender roles differ from society to society and have changed in major ways over the centuries. For instance, it is considered to be perfectly alright in Arab societies for men to hold hands, but it is considered to be taboo in, say, the American culture. Celtic society was matriarchal and gave virtual equality to women while Roman society, which was contemporary to the Celts, had women be property of the men, and men were given the premiere position in society.

Still, President Obama’s appearance tonight is not likely to be without its problems. While he will tout the fact that he has an evolving position on same-sex marriage and that he was the architect of taking down Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, there are those who will be wondering exactly why he is not pushing for same-sex marriage given that those who oppose it will never vote for him anyway, and it could boost the enthusiasm of his base.

Fred Sainz, the vice president of communications at the HRC stated that he does expect Obama to eventually declare his support for same-sex marriage. It should be noted that Obama has made it clear that he does support the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which will not pass Congress until there is a Democratic majority in the House and a Democratic super-majority in the Senate. He has, though, pulled back all defense of DOMA in the courts, but that was undercut by House Speaker John Boehner who hired a pet lawyer at great expense to the taxpayers in order to defend a law that is obviously unconstitutional.

Sainz did say “He really has been an incredible champion for the issues that are important to us. It’s fair to say we’ve made more progress in the past two years than we have in the past 40 years combined.” Which is only very partially because of HRC.

The Huffington Post noted:

Joe Sudbay of AmericaBlog.com was among the bloggers Obama spoke with last year. He said that while most gay advocates won’t stop supporting the president if he doesn’t speak out in favor of gay marriage before the election, doing so could give Obama’s base much-needed energy.

“He might not lose votes, but he won’t gain enthusiasm,” Sudbay said.

It seems as if Obama’s Clintonite team have forgotten that there comes a time to stand and fight and take controversial stances by the horns and fight for the right of others. We live in a time when being timid is a recipe for being rolled under the bus by the GOP.

Company spokesman Phillip Keene is not sure when the policy change will go into effect, but did say that the change was made several weeks ago. So far, the new policy has not garnered a lot of media attention, but that could be because, while Walmart may be willing to avoid discrimination, the people who they support in politics do not have a problem being bigots towards the LGBT Community.

Sexual orientation is already protected under the company’s “Discrimination and Harassment Prevention Policy.”

According to Windy City:

Wal-Mart scored relatively poorly on the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Corporate Equality Index, which ranks major companies on their LGBT policies and practices. Wal-Mart received a 40 percent ranking out of 100, for a failure to amend its anti-discrimination policy to include gender protections last year.

Keene said that the addition of gender protections in the policy was precipitated by a standard review of the policy and not by complaints.

HRC President Joe Solmonese stated “What matters in the workplace is how you do your job, not your gender identity or sexual orientation. As the nation’s largest private employer, Wal-Mart shows that doing the right thing is also good for business. We urge them to continue to move forward by ensuring all of their LGBT employees receive equal benefits.”

While this move is nice, it would be even better if the company would be willing to do more to help the poor, actually pay a decent share of taxes, and pay more than minimum wage. It would also be nice if they treated their employees decently.

It was a close vote, but the North Carolina Senate has passed the anti-LGBT marriage ban amendment. This is not surprising. They passed it 30-16. They did move the vote to May 2012 so as not to appear to be making political hay out of the vote. Still, this means that this vote will occur on the date of the Republican primary in that state. If they held it during the general election, there is a probability that they would lose the vote, and if they held it then, as well, they could find themselves losing the state to President Barack Obama again.

Marc Solomon, the national director of Freedom to Marry, stated about this amendment that “This nasty attack amendment is a tremendous blow to loving, committed same-sex couples across North Carolina who want to make a lifetime commitment to the person they love and to protect their families. To try to preempt the conversations taking place across North Carolina about same-sex couples and why marriage matters by cementing discrimination into the constitution is unfair and wrong.”

With regards to the timing, Solomon stated “[P]olitically scheming to put such a cruel and discriminatory measure on a low-turnout Republican presidential primary ballot is a sham designed to circumvent the majority of North Carolina voters, who polls say, oppose this amendment and the injury it will inflict not just on families, but the state.”

The Human Rights Campaign also voiced concerns about the language of this amendment. They stated:

The bill, as passed, moves the ballot date for the amendment from November 2012 to May 2012. It also retains problematic language defining opposite-sex marriage as the state’s “only domestic legal union,” but adds, ”This section does not prohibit a private party from entering into contracts with another private party; nor does this section prohibit courts from adjudicating the rights of private parties pursuant to such contracts.” This unclear language may have the effect of prohibiting the state from providing civil unions or domestic partnerships to any couples. A poll conducted by Elon in 2011 shows 57 percent of North Carolinians support marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships in North Carolina. Only 35 percent oppose any legal recognition for gay and lesbian couples.

The National Organization for Marriage has opened its vast purse and has pledged some of that $2 million that they have said that they will spend some $75,000 to help defeat Assemblyman David I. Weprin, the Democratic candidate running to replace former Representative Anthony D. Weiner. In fact, it is not surprising that they would donate some money to help defeat a man who voted for marriage equality. It is just surprising that they could only afford that much. After all, they have spent far more in the past to just get an anti-marriage amendment on the Constitution of a state that was already doomed to have such an amendment in its Constitution.

According to the filing with the Federal Election Committee, they will spend some $26,000 on direct-mail advertising opposing Weprin, and another $19,000 to support Republican Bob Turner, who opposes same-sex marriage.

The other $30,000 on automated phone calls, additional mailings and some get-out-the-vote efforts ahead of the election scheduled for Tuesday. Brown stated “David Weprin made a terrible mistake when he voted for same-sex marriage, and I think his community is going to hold him accountable.”

So far, the campaign has been pretty low budget. Weprin has met with some pushback from Orthodox Jews in the district due to his support for same-sex marriage. Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a leader in the Orthodox community and a Democrat endorsed Turner last month and cited Weprin’s support for marriage equality as the reason why.

However, Weprin has the backing of the Human Rights Campaign, which gave him $5000, the maximum donation allowed. They have also been sending out messages to its supporters on Wednesday seeking volunteers to canvas the district and place phone calls to voters on Weprin’s behalf. Brian Ellner, a senior strategist for the HRC has described, in an email message, NOM as “a fringe group still reeling from its big loss in New York. The fact remains that the great majority of New Yorkers support marriage equality. We are working hard to make sure that David Weprin and all others who supported marriage equality prevail.”

NOM has pledge a lot of money to punish those who voted for marriage equality in New York.

Weprin is currently ahead of Turner by about 4 points, but it can be difficult to poll House races.

Source

17 August 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

Representative Bill Owens of New York has signed on as a co-sponsor of the Respect for Marriage Act. The bill is intended to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. So far, the bill has a total of 120 sponsors in the House and 28 sponsors in the Senate. Owens stated about joining into the bill as a sponsor “I indicated I would not become a co-sponsor until New York took action [and legalized same-sex marriage]. Once they did that, I felt I had an obligation to the citizens in the state to make sure they weren’t adversely impeded by federal law.”

Owens has walked a fine line on the issue of same-sex marriage. He has called the issue of marriage equality a civil rights issue and said “I think that people should have the freedom to make those kinds of decisions.” He has also said that, if he were a state legislator for New York, “To be honest with you, I still have some of those concerns. That’s why I said I would have likely voted for it.”

ThinkProgress did note:

Married gay and lesbian New Yorkers still don’t have access to the over 1,000 federal benefits and protections to which opposite-sex couples are entitled and remain strangers in the eyes of the federal government. For instance, because DOMA prohibits the federal government from recognizing gay couples, they’re required to include the costs of dependent health insurance and pay federal taxes on the cost of the coverage. Employers are also assessed FICA taxes on the benefit.

DOMA is a major problem when it comes to a lot of other issues as well, including marriage recognition across state lines. This and several other key provisions in DOMA have been ruled unconstitutional in court.

The Time Warner Center, New York City

They thought they were placing a series of PSAs – public service announcements like the “It Gets Better” campaign. Instead, Time Warner Cable was running ads advocating passage of New York’s same sex marriage law, and doing it for free.

PSAs are run as a public service and a requirement in FCC licensing. They usually get clustered in the middle of the night, which is how I got about 100 copies of the same anti-smoking ad while taping a movie one night. They support everything from child abuse awareness to save the rainforest. They do not, however, usually run at the same time that a piece of legislation is being voted upon that reflects the views of the PSA. During March and May, the Human Rights Campaign ran a series of ads called “New Yorkers for Marriage Equality” that featured Whoppi Goldberg, Cynthia Nixon, Sean Avery, Michael Strahan, Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. They spoke of their support for same sex marriage. Celebrity chef Mario Batali said in one ad, “Join us in ending this outdated policy, come to the table for marriage equality.”

According to Time Warner’s regional vice president for communications, the company thought they were public service announcements. Then, as the vote approached, they discovered that the HRC was listing the ads as lobbying costs. Initially, TWC wanted the HRC to pay for ads, but the two parties have reached an agreement that they will both file the necessary paperwork to call the fair market value of the ad time as a lobbying cost for TWC while HRC claims the cost of making the ads.

So, purely by accident, Time Warner Cable lobbied for the passage of New York State’s same sex marriage law. Even by accident, it was a marvelous thing for them to do. It was also a no-harm-no-foul situation. Only in large cities do people have choices about cable providers. In small cities and towns, there is only one provider. It’s cable or satellite. Since the ads only ran in New York, there is very little risk of a mass defection from Time Warner to Comcast or another cable company.

Related articles

• Time Warner gave free time to gay rights group (timesunion.com)
• Traditional marriage advocates want equal time (timesunion.com)

11 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

As of 10 July, the Presbyterian Church in the United States has removed all restrictions on the ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual individuals as ministers and lay leaders. The move was voted on and passed in May, and it has now gone into effect. The Human Rights Campaign stated “It is a historic day in the Church. Discrimination will no longer stand in the way of those who have received the calling to ministry.”

MSNBC reported on it here:

http://www.hrcbackstory.org/2011/07/presbyterian-church-usa-now-allows-lgbt-clergy-to-serve-the-church/

7 July 2011
by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

The Defense of Marriage Act is the law of the land, and the Federal government is barred from recognizing same-sex marriages and civil unions throughout the country. That the law has been ruled unconstitutional by several courts now is not hindering the likes of Virginia Foxx and Dan Burton, both of whom want to show their constituents that they are virulent homophobes bent on making people’s lives miserable. What is more, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is already on the chopping block, but that isn’t stopping some from trying to keep it going.

Foxx of North Carolina has offered up an amendment that would just restate DOMA with regards to the military. The move is a colossal waste of time, but that doesn’t bother Foxx at all. Representative Burton of Indiana introduced two more anti-gay amendments in order to try and prohibit federal funds being allowed for use in civil unions or same-sex marriage ceremonies, and to block the military from providing training with regards to the repeal of DADT to the personnel in combat zones.

Ty Cobb of the Human Rights Campaign stated “These three amendments demonstrate the wrong-headed priorities of anti-LGBT House members. Poll after poll recognizes that these are not the issues that struggling Americans prioritize. It is time for the House to wake up and recognize that we have bigger fish to fry than increasing discrimination against lesbians and gays in the military.”

What Cobb forgets is that these issues are of paramount importance for homophobes like Foxx and Burton. Both legislators have shown that they do not care about people, but rather remaining in office in order to pursue their Procrustean agenda to destroy America and the equality and freedom that it represents.

Source

The Forum on the Military Chaplaincy has released this piece responding to the latest ADF’s letter. It is written by 23-year Navy veteran Chaplain John Gundlach and comes to us via OutServe:

This week the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a group of conservative Christian attorneys, sent out a press release that could be regarded as a distress call. They stated that religious freedom in the military is at risk. At the same time, 21 conservative religious groups ADF represents sent letters to the three military Chiefs of Chaplains and to others, including the service secretaries and several rightwing members of Congress, urging the creation of special regulations to protect their right to religious free speech.

What are ADF and these groups afraid of? They fear that their chaplains and other military members who are anti-gay because of their religious beliefs will be discriminated against. Lifting up this perceived threat serves as a rallying cry for religious conservatives and the politicians who support them, but it’s really an S.O.S. It’s the Same Old Stuff they have been saying since “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” appeared to be headed for the regulatory scrap heap.

This S.O.S. may seem real enough to them, but what are the facts? Will religious conservatives in the military no longer be able to practice their religion? Will their chaplains have to refrain from preaching against homosexuality (their term, not mine)? Not at all. Chaplains have always had the right to preach according to the tenets of the religious bodies that endorse them—and they still will. Will anti-gay chaplains be forced to conduct same-sex weddings in military chapels? Of course not. They will continue to conduct rites and sacraments as allowed by their religious bodies. And the same principle applies to conducting religious education and pastoral counseling. The one thing that every chaplain is required to do, regardless of their religious perspectives, is care for everyone. If these chaplains can’t minister to gay and lesbian service members themselves, they are obligated to refer them to another chaplain who can.

So where is the threat to religious freedom? And where could their right to free speech be limited? It will no longer be acceptable to speak about fellow gay and lesbian service members in demeaning ways in the workplace and other public settings. The fact that this has ever been acceptable by anyone anywhere, but especially by chaplains, is regrettable. And chaplains from the religious groups who are now demanding protection from discrimination have been some of the worst offenders. They, and others who agree with them, may continue to think and believe what they want, but outside of those areas where their religious speech is protected, they may now have to keep their bigotry to themselves.

I agree that religious freedom is a precious right that we must hold inviolate. It is a right that all service members serve to defend, and which all should be able to enjoy. By all, I mean those who are religiously liberal as well as those who are conservative, and by those who are gay as well as straight. Are ADF and the religious groups they represent as willing to defend the same rights and protections for others they claim for themselves? Are they as willing to acknowledge the right of chaplains from gay-friendly denominations to perform gay weddings in military chapels? And are they as willing to speak up for those who suffer discrimination because they are gay? If not, their pleas for special protection from discrimination for themselves are self-serving and unworthy of consideration.

Their continued protests are an S.O.S. in another respect too. Public attitudes toward sexual orientation and equality have changed. A recent poll conducted on behalf of the Human Rights Campaign concluded that a majority of Christians favor protecting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people from discrimination. 86 percent of respondents stated that their faith leads them to conclude that the law should treat LGBT people equally. A majority of Christians further believe that condemnation of LGBT persons by religious leaders does more harm than good.

Clearly, ADF and their conservative clients have good reason to send out an S.O.S.—their cause is sinking. As a new generation of Americans join our Armed Forces, a generation that has grown up knowing that LGBT people are no threat to their persons, their marriages, or their religion, the protests of groups like ADF and their clients will seem archaic and totally out of touch. And many will wonder why these groups don’t have a more important religious message to share.

Captain John F. Gundlach is a retired Navy chaplain who now serves as Minister for Government and Professional Chaplaincies for the United Church of Christ. He is a member of The Forum on the Military Chaplaincy, a group of chaplains, military veterans, progressive ministers and lay leaders who advocate for a military chaplaincy committed to free and diverse religious expression, and to the sacred values of personal integrity, selfless compassion, respect for others, and excellence in leadership. The Forum has worked for several years, mostly behind the scenes, to fight the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy they consider harmful to the military and to religious freedom.

Related articles

• Military Chaplains Discuss DADT Repeal (hrcbackstory.org)
• Retired Navy Chaplain on Same-Sex Weddings in Military Chapels: “Chaplains Should Care for All” (lezgetreal.com)
• Antigay Group Threatens Lawsuit Over Military Weddings (advocate.com)
• Soldiers’ Rights: Chaplains worry re non-gays (deaconjohnspace.wordpress.com)
• Missouri Congressman Demands Navy Restrict Chaplains Religious Freedoms (lezgetreal.com)

Image via Wikipedia

05/23/2011 – by Cynthia S. Wright

Steve Nash has come out in support of New York’s marriage equality proposition. Nash, plays for the Phoenix Suns, whose CEO Rick Welts, just recently revealed that he was gay.

The clip is produced by the Human Rights Campaign and shows Nash discussing his love of New York and playing in the Garden, with shots thrown in of Nash handing his on the basketball court.

The commercial ends with Nash stating:

“A growing number of professional athletes are speaking out in support of gay and lesbian couples getting married, I’m proud to be one of them. Join me and the super majority of New Yorkers who support marriage equality.”

Nash, who has wanted to join the campaign for a long time, joins several other athletes that are open with their pro-LGBT allegiances. So far, there has been no apparent backlash – unlike NHL player, Sean Avery – who debuted his video for marriage equality earlier this month.

This comes on the heels of Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah hurling a homophobic slur at a fan during the Bulls vs. Heat game Sunday night. At least with Nash’s commercial – he is going on record to stand up against those (in the NBA or otherwise) that are bent on trying to keep LGBT equality out of the mainstream.

Surely, there will be more LGBT fans cheering for the Suns this upcoming season, being that Welts, Nash, Grant Hill and Jared Dudley are all involved in the fight for LGBT equality, one way or another.

Canada may be more liberal when it comes to certain issues but it appears not everything is as open, like we are made to believe especially in the land of sports. With NHL player Sean Avery’s pro-gay video endorsement, he became one of the few athletes willing to speak out for marriage equality. Even though Avery’s endorsement has been receiving mostly positive reviews, others involved in the NHL aren’t too keen on his views on marriage equality.

Monday evening, Uptown Sports Management, an Ontario-based sports player agency took to their Twitter account to give their rebuttal to Avery’s stance.

Reynolds on Uptown Management Twitter

It was quickly found out that the tweets were coming from Todd Reynolds, the vice president of the sports agency. In the tweets, Reynolds reveals that he is “very sad to read Sean Avery’s misguided support of same-gender ‘marriage’. Legal or not, it will always be wrong.”

Apparently, Reynolds didn’t feel it was misguided to use a professional Twitter account to spout out a personal opinion and not one the entire agency necessarily believed in.

Reynolds, who is still acting as the voice for the sports agency continues on, expressing that this is not about hate or bigotry (because he’s not – of course), since he’s believes everyone is equal.

So you believe that the LGBT community are “equals”, just not equals that can engage in marriage because “it will always be wrong.”

Nice to know you believe you aren’t a bigot because you are probably the only one that is buying in to what you are saying.  Especially since the definition of bigotry explicitly states that it is a “stubborn and complete intolerance of any creed, belief, or opinion that differs from one’s own.”

So, what would Reynolds like for others to call him? Okay, he’s honest but a lot of bigoted people are honest – so what is he trying to prove? The only thing Reynolds was capable of showing is that not only is he close-minded but he is unprofessional, using a business handle to showcase your personal rhetoric shows lack of tact and class. Not only that, his actions might have compromised some of his clients – even if he doesn’t think so. During an interview with Cybulski & Company on TSN Radio, Reynolds addressed his tweeting and any impact that it may have had on his clients.

“There’s certainly a voice for the other side on this particular issue. I was merely responding to be the other voice. I believe in standing up for what you believe in. I’m passionate about what I believe in. And I believe in morality and I believe in right and wrong. I know many people with different viewpoints for what is right and wrong.

“But I’m a little disappointed in some of the response. If you oppose a viewpoint, you’re immediately targeted by some people as a hater, a bigot, intolerant, homophobic and many other terms. That’s obviously not the case for people who know me. … I don’t hate anyone.”

Let’s keep it real, Reynolds. You may not hate the person directly but you do hate their choice in lifestyle and wanting to share in the same privilege that you are allowed to partake in.

“And I’m certainly not a bigot. But I believe in marriage between one man and one woman. It’s a social debate that’s raged on for quite some time. In Canada and the U.S. it’s a hot-button topic right now. I guess maybe it was how I was raised. I believe in voicing your opinion and not being part of the silent majority.”

Nothing wrong with voicing your opinion just prepare for others to voice their opinions, since you felt the need to share your own.

“I’ve already been asked, ‘What if some of your clients don’t agree with this decision?’ Well, that’s fine. We’re going to disagree on all kinds of issues in life. But we have to be able to talk about them.”

Or Tweet about them under a business name.

“… If Mike Fisher or any other client of ours agrees or disagrees, is of no consequence. Nor should they feel the need to comment on it. But I feel Sean Avery or any other player can comment on one side of the discussion … why can I not comment on it as well?”

He used a business name as the platform for his agenda and only when he was found out did he try to address it personally. Commenting personally is one thing, Avery commented on his stance but he didn’t use the New York Rangers Twitter account or anything that would have you think that the entire NHL team was behind him. He spoke out on his own – you know it was him; he didn’t hide, Reynolds can’t say the same.

Image via Wikipedia

05/09/2011 – by Cynthia S. Wright

President Obama’s reelection campaign has seen a recent resurgence in LGBT donors while other prominent wealth groups have decided to opt out due to feeling alienated during Obama’s first term. Several key donors including George Soros believe Obama’s tactics have been compromised and are looking to put their money elsewhere, while others aren’t used to not receiving the ample schmoozing that previous Democratic President Bill Clinton gave them.

With several Republican candidates coming out vehemently against gay marriage, hopefully the Obama camp will use that to their advantage.

During a recent article in Politico, the issues surrounding the Republican Party and the anti-gay movement were discussed further:

“Others said that Republican candidates’ shots at gay rights in their attempt to appeal to socially conservative Iowa voters had reminded gay donors of the stakes. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum this week said gays and lesbians shouldn’t have the ‘privilege’ of adopting children, while former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty suggested he would block the repeal of the ban on gays in the military, and Donald Trump compared same-sex marriage to faddish golf gear.

‘Our community has tasted change and it’s hard to conceive of going backward,’ said Fred Saenz, the vice president for communications for the Human Rights Campaign, the largest gay rights group. ‘It’s hard to conceive of that coming to a screeching halt or reversing – and so it’s a subject of great energy for members of my community and especially those with great resources.’

‘Any reservations that a significant number of donors might sit this out have been answered by Donald Trump and the fools in the Republican Party,’ said Mixner. ‘They have become so vehemently anti-gay.”

Even though the White House has come out stating that LGBT rights won’t be a major focal point in this coming election, what Obama’s term has accomplished when it came to stopping “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and DOMA. Even still, the President has yet to bring into fruition the full support that he supposedly had for same-sex marriage, something he talked about as a fledgling politician in Chicago.

While the LGBT community was still giving the Obama administration the side eye, questioning whether the office was really going to support their issues. At the same time, this past year, the Obama administration has taken steps such as; gay partner hospitals visits and hate crimes legislation, which the Bush administration ignored.

Being that a good chunk of the LGBT community, most notably professional gay men that are vested in politics, will be one of the key stakeholders when it comes to Democratic fundraising. With the Obama camp not promising any substantial movement concerning LGBT rights, we will have to wait and see how that will impact the LGBT community during the upcoming years.

Source

At the time, I questioned the fact that Lawrence Research was run by a man who was not a statistician, but rather a man with his degree in communications psychology, and a man who once served as a bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and who is an active Mormon. He is also the director of Project Marriage. Certainly he is not the kind of person who you would say is going to be impartial to his subject matter.

According to the Minnesota Independent:

MFC/NOM’s poll, conducted by Lawrence in January of 600 registered voters, found that 74 percent “believe the people, not the legislature, should decide the definition of marriage.” It also showed that 56 percent of voters thought that only the heterosexual marriages should be recognized in Minnesota. Forty-two percent disagreed with that.

MFC/NOM and Lawrence Research teamed up in 2010 in a poll showing that voters who wanted a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage picked Republican candidate Tom Emmer. That poll asked if marriage “should be redefined to be any two people regardless of gender.”

The numbers from independent and non-biased sources such as Hubert H. Humphrey Institute show that 49% of Minnesotans oppose same-sex marriage and 41% support it. Furthermore, 64% said they would support civil unions. This was done this past October. In 2009, a Star Tribune poll found that 33% of Minnesotans wanted a constitutional ban on marriage equality.

This is what happens when NOM realizes that the People no longer support them. They lie. They act with immorality, thumb their nose at their own religion and lie.

At this point, the Republicans believe NOM’s fraud at their own peril.

So, Maggie, if the people support you, why are you having to lie in order to win? I certainly don’t have to resort to lies in order to win. I would say that you should be ashamed of yourself, but you know, I think that you stopped being ashamed a long time ago.

Cuomo may be able to pull it off. He managed the impossible already by getting the state a budget when his predecessor David Patterson was unable to get so much as an agreement on how to spend three cents. Cuomo has also managed to do the impossible by bringing together groups within and without the LGBT Community into a coalition aimed to bring about this change. (Yes, I know that I am using a very archaic meaning of the word ‘without’, in this case meaning outside of just like within means inside of).

He has brought together the Human Rights Campaign, Freedom to Marry New York, Empire State Pride Agenda and Marriage Equality New York to form the initial coalition. He has since brought in Log Cabin Republicans of New York and the League of Women Voters of New York State.

A majority of New Yorkers support marriage equality with 58% in favor. This has caused some Senators to start thinking about switching their votes when this comes before the legislature. The fact that a majority of New Yorkers, and Rhode Islanders even, support marriage equality does not mean that the votes will be there as external pressures, usually from religious groups who rely upon stereotypes and bullying, pressure legislators into not voting for equality and justice for people.

The issues of marriage equality and those surrounding the LGBT Community effect not only those within the community, but those without. In fact, those without the Community may find that the degradation of one group makes it far easier to degrade another group no matter what the history of that group is with regards to civil rights. Simply put, one typically sees racist thinking advanced by those who are also homophobic, and giving these individuals a target that they are allowed to discriminate against in the LGBT Community allows them the freedom to start attacking the other minorities with the same impunity.

Many of the same people who are attacking unions, women, Blacks, and Hispanics are also attacking lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transpeople. Those who once openly attacked the LGBT Community are now going further and further with their attacks on the LGBT Community.

This is seen in the likes of Tea Party activists who will scream racist and homophobic epithets at members of Congress, and their backers who deny that such incidents ever occurred. It is seen in the politicians who in one breath will doubt President Obama’s qualifications to be President while also claiming that lesbians and gays make horrible parents.

Of course, there is Exhibit Number 1 on this- Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association. He has attacked the LGBT Community, African Americans, Native Americans and everyone he can get his hands on.

Still, there is hope.

New York City council speaker Christine Quinn, who is openly lesbian, believes that the state is on the verge of victory on marriage equality. She recently talked to a state senator who had voted ‘no’ last time, and she said of that meeting “When I met with this senator last week, at the end of the meeting, the senator said to me, ‘I will make sure that your father gets to see you dance at your wedding.’”

There is hope. But hope is not enough. It is time to work for that better tomorrow.

Byron Rushing’s new film, “Marriage Equality: Byron Rushing and the Fight for Fairness”, will is debuting Tuesday at Harlem Stage. The film is co-sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign, the first public initial screening will be followed by a panel featuring activists, political, and religious leaders.

Harlem Stage Poster

The film seems to be the first to discuss the connection between the fight that African-Americans had to fight for during the civil rights era with what the LGBT community is going through regarding marriage equality.

Rushing, who is a straight African-American politician from Massachusetts has had no issues with marriage equality being that he has made this issue a priority before it became a movement.

The Beautiful Struggle interviewed two of the panelists from the premier screening, along with Thomas Allan Harris, the film’s director.

Here are a few of the highlights:

Thomas Allan Harris: What we are not entitled to as citizens sets us back economically. People of color who are gay should see that this is critical. African American politicians are so steeped in the civil rights tradition and many of them may understand this need better than their constituents do. White conservatives petition African American religious leaders to say ‘don’t let gays co-opt your civil rights movement’, but our movements have long since been helping to provide more access to rights for people of all races…Gays and lesbians have to stop thinking of themselves as second class citizens. People can choose to get married or not, but it’s all about having the right to do so.

David Wilson: On a national level, you have (former Vice President) Dick Cheney’s daughter coming out, one of Al Sharpton’s relatives came out, members of the ‘Religious Right’s’ children have come out…why can’t we do the same? It helps when people see entertainers, sports figures and other people we look up to (coming out). It takes people standing up and being courageous. …My dad was born in 1914. The last two things he lived through: (President) Obama’s election and my fight for marriage. He was able to live long enough to come to my wedding. That means a lot that he was able to see that.

Cathy Marino-Thomas: What we need to do is make sure that people understand that (Marriage Equality New York) is not advocating for people to change their religious beliefs. We are supporting the legal separation between church and state. We aren’t asking for churches to marry gay couples. We are fighting for civil marriage. Most people believe in the Constitution; the more we let people off the hook in terms of religion, the better they understand what we are trying to accomplish…

If you have nothing to do tomorrow and live in the area, please go out and support our cinema about an important aspect within our community!

WHEN: Tuesday, April 26, 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: Harlem Stage at Aaron Davis Hall- 135th Street at Convent Avenue, New York, NY

COST: $10 at www.harlemstage.org or 212-281-9240 ext. 19 or 20

FOR INFO: 212-281-9240

According to MetroWeekly:

The paragraph in question states that “partners and employees who do not perform services pursuant to this Agreement will not engage in lobbying or advocacy for or against any legislation … that would alter or amend in any way the Defense of Marriage Act and is pending before either the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate or any committee of either body during the term of the Agreement.”

Moreover, the preceding paragraph, 4(f), contains a similar prohibition on the partners and employees who are participating in the litigation. Paragraph 4(g), thus, clearly is intended to apply to those who do not participate in the litigation.

This action is rather suspicious given the fact that the contract now, basically, infringes upon the rights of LGBT employees of the company from exercising their Constitutional Rights. If this were a case of simply trying to avoid paid consultation or lobbying on behalf of the legislation, that would be more effectively handled by King & Spalding through just not taking those clients. Instead, it appears that they are telling their employees not to even write letters to their Senators and Representatives on behalf of ROMA.

Jon Davidson, the legal director at Lambda Legal, believes that this provision may even be illegal in many states. In California, where K&S has two offices, the Labor Code has a section that states “[n]o employer shall make, adopt, or enforce any rule, regulation, or policy … [f]orbidding or preventing employees from engaging or participating in politics ….”

Human Rights Campaign vice president in charge of communications Fred Sainz stated “This particular provision adds insult to injury. Not only is K&S promoting discrimination, they also are muzzling their own employees from opposing discrimination and doing what’s right.”

This could create major problems for not only K&S but for a variety of different legal groups since several lawyers who work for K&S also are part of groups like Lambda Legal, and the president of the Stonewall Bar Association of Georgia, Brian M. Basinger, is an associate of K&S. Davidson stated “I think it’s terrible. People should be entitled in their non-workplace activities, if they’re not speaking on behalf of the firm, to engage in their own political activity.”

Jeffery Cleghorn, who was president of the Stonewall Bar Association of Georgia said about this “As a past president and a gay lawyer in Atlanta, though, I do think I can say that, for gay lawyers throughout Georgia, we are traumatized by the decision of this law firm and this business to take on a client that is in essence trying to do harm to us and our families and LGBT Americans across the country.”

It is not surprising, though, that such a provision exists within the contract. House Speaker John Boehner has been doing everything he can to bolster his side’s ability to fight this in the courts despite the fact that it will cost the American taxpayer several million dollars. Perhaps he is hoping to hamstring the LGBT advocates who will be working on behalf of their clients in the upcoming suits.

Equality Delaware president Lisa Goodman stated “There are a lot of happy people here. We made Delaware a fairer and better place for same-sex couples and all families today.”

According to the Advocate:

The Delaware Civil Unions and Equality Act of 2011, also known as Senate Bill 30, was sponsored by Sen. David Sokola and Rep. Melanie George. Equality Delaware, a statewide advocacy group formed last year, spearheaded the push for the measure.

“Today, we celebrate a victory for all Delaware families who will have the tools to protect themselves in good times and in bad,” said Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese in a statement. “We look forward to Governor Markell signing this bill into law and thank Senator Sokola and Representative George for their leadership on this bill, and Equality Delaware for their tireless dedication.”

Of course, there were some sour grapes out there. Life Site News wrote:

House Minority Leader Rep. Greg Lavelle (R-Sharpley) says he believes the bill is a prelude to a bill that would fully legalize same-sex “marriage.”

“If we’re assured that it’s not the intent to have [same-sex] marriage, then it’s ‘no harm, no foul’ to clarify that in the actual body of the bill,” Lavelle said, according to

the Denver Post. “If this bill passes, I would be shocked if we didn’t have a marriage bill introduced in the next two to five years.”

The Advocate also noted:

Another defeated amendment, offered by an attorney for the antigay Alliance Defense Fund, would have allowed businesses, clergy members, and churches to refuse to facilitate any unions and related events, such as receptions, that conflicted with their religious beliefs.

…

Doug Napier, an Alliance Defense Fund attorney, repeated that claim in his testimony on the floor.

“It is riddled with all sorts of unintended consequences,” he said, while vowing to challenge the law in court. “Don’t be deceived. This bill is a precursor to same-sex marriage.”

Of course, these days, the whole ‘it will lead to same-sex marriage’ scare tactic just does not have the bite that it use to. In fact, the nation is slowly moving towards that anyway with many Americans supporting marriage equality. Recent polling has shown that a bare majority of Americans support same-sex marriage rights.

An attempt to put the bill before the voters was voted down with Representative George stating that it was “an unlawful and unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority.” That, and it is an attempt to deny a minority equality through the use of bullying and majority authoritarian rule.

Related articles

• U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand are New Yorkers for Marriage Equality (hrcbackstory.org)

As you likely know by now, President Obama has recently ordered his attorney general to unilaterally declare the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional. This was a direct challenge to the courts as well as Congress, implying both are irrelevant in making and enforcing laws in this country.

We now see a pattern as to how Democrats are responding to election losses: they simply do an end-run around democracy. Can’t block a union bill in Wisconsin or Indiana? Flee the state. Can’t repeal DOMA? Simply walk away and declare victory by undermining the institution of marriage and the democratic process.

Never mind the fact that even Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader admits that the union busting is not about jobs or saving the government money, but destroying the Democratic Party. Never mind that it does not take a legal scholar to see that large sections of DOMA are unconstitutional. Of course, never mind the facts- period.

Still, they went on:

Yet America is a nation governed under the law, and we will not stand for a government which flees from it. Remember, DOMA was passed by large bipartisan majorities, and defines marriage as the union of a man and woman for FEDERAL purposes, while also preventing one state from foisting same-sex “marriage” on another.

Ah, yes, a large bipartisan majority- back in, what, 1995? Fifteen years later, the battle lines have shifted and the majority of Americans support same-sex marriage and civil unions. Given that DOMA blocks recognition of either, this is now against the will of the American people who do not side with the Republicans nor the FRC on this matter.

Oh yes, but the Republicans are adamant that they need to pander to the hate groups:

Congress is fighting back. The House Republican Leadership has decided that if the Obama Administration won’t stand up for our nation’s laws, then they will — and have taken steps to allow Congressional representation to defend DOMA in the courts.

To bolster that decision, Representative Vicki Hartzler (R-Mo.) has introduced House Con. Resolution 25, expressing the sense of Congress with respect to the Obama Administration’s abdication of defending the Defense of Marriage Act.

Already it has garnered a number of cosponsors but we need your support in letting Members of Congress know that they need to step up where the Obama Administration has failed to defend marriage from activist courts.

It is amazing how, if the courts side with the FRC and the like, they are not activists even if they, oh, violate the law to do so, but if they side with the LAW- well, they’re activists.

Still, it appears that Boehner’s lawyers may not actually be up to the task of defending DOMA, and may have to seek out very expensive external lawyers in order to defend the unconstitutional. To this end, the HRC has sent out a letter to one of these firms in order to try and head off them joining the defense. They wrote:

March 23, 2011
Dear Managing Partner,

Late last month, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that, together with the President, he had
concluded that the Department of Justice could no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA),
the discriminatory law that denies federal rights and benefits to lawfully-married same-sex couples,
against constitutional challenges. As federal law requires, Holder notified the leaders of the Senate and
the House of Representatives of that decision, giving them the opportunity to step in and defend the law.
Unfortunately, House Republicans have decided to do just that and have indicated that they are seeking
outside counsel to represent them. On behalf of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), I write today to
urge your firm, if it is even considering taking that case, not to do so.

Many of America’s top law firms are exemplary workplaces for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
(LGBT) people; in fact, the legal sector has the largest number of top-scoring companies in HRC’s
Corporate Equality Index. In addition to setting benchmark equal employment and benefits policies,
many firms take on invaluable pro bono work in support of LGBT equality – from helping individuals
with name change and asylum issues, to providing expertise in high-profile cases about the freedom to
marry. HRC and the LGBT community as a whole are enormously grateful for the leadership and
generosity of many leading law firms.

It is critical that your organization not undermine that laudable record by representing the House in its
defense of this discriminatory and unconstitutional law, which denies loving gay and lesbian couples the
fair and equal treatment that they deserve from their federal government. LGBT people are your
colleagues, clients, neighbors, friends and families. Arguing for the constitutionality of DOMA will
mean denying the history of widespread discrimination that they have faced and claiming that the denial
of equality under the law is somehow in our nation’s interests.

We acknowledge and honor your ethical obligations as attorneys. We of course believe that every client
deserves representation, even those with whom we vehemently disagree. But you are not required to take
on the House as a client in its defense of DOMA, and we urge you not to. The House General Counsel
can and will represent the House Republican leadership in court, at taxpayer expense, and will likely find
assistance from some willing outside source. There is no need for your firm to take on the defense of a
law that a majority of Americans oppose and history will view as a shameful and discriminatory act.

Thank you,
Joe Solmonese
President

It should be noted that a lawyer who takes up the defense of a client’s position is obligated to defend that position, but that does not mean that they support that position. Author John Mortimer’s character of Horace Rumpole told clients that he had to believe that they were innocent in order to defend them even if they were, in fact, guilty. If they admitted to him that they were guilty, then he would drop their case because he could not defend them. One of the lawyers who argued for the side of segregation in Brown v. Board of Education was a firm believer in desegregation.

Hopefully, however, the law firm in question will not take the case.

On Saturday, the Gay and Lesbian Against Defamation (GLAAD) held the first portion of their 22^nd GLAAD Media Awards in New York. Some of those honored were Ricky Martin for his recent coming out – both on his blog and on the Oprah show, Frank Rich, a former columnist for the New York Times, and Russell Simmons, media mogul who was awarded for his “excellence” in media.

It hasn’t been reported whether whoever nominated Simmons for this award bothered to read up on his colorful history. Currently, Simmons is best known in the LGBT media for aligning with the Human Rights Campaign (another organization that is also questionable) considering Marriage Equality. Yes, it is great that a person who is so deeply entrenched in the history of rap and hip-hop, like Russell Simmons is coming out to support marriage equality but is he really as helpful as GLAAD would like for us to believe?

Russell Simmons is known for being outspoken and opinionated much to his (and our) detriment. In 2001, in his book, “Life and Def: Sex, Drugs, Money, and God,” Simmons suggests that misogynistic lyrics can have a positive impact on young women:

“[A]fter years of hearing rappers talk negatively about women, about their babies’ mothers and sex,” he writes, “there’s been a real change in the patterns of teen pregnancy. Teen pregnancy in the black community is down, and I believe hip-hop…made girls smarter about premarital sex.”

Nice to know that black women being degraded constantly in hip-hop lowers teen pregnancy not in the increasing of sexual awareness in schools and free clinics.

A few years later, Simmons changed his tune when in 2007, when radio personality, Don Imus ran on a misogynistic charged epithet about the ladies Rutgers’ basketball team. Simmons soon issued a statement asking for the deletion of three key words from mainstream music. “We recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete the misogynistic words ‘bitch’ and ‘ho’ and the racially offensive word ‘nigger’”, he stated.

Okay, so now it is no longer cool to use those words. Although, just those three words, there was zero mention of any of the homophobic content that contaminates popular (predominately black) music.

As of late, the media mogul is at loggerheads with Bill Cosby, ever since Cosby decided to launch the “State of Emergency” campaign, which he wants to use in order to promote socially conscious rap without lyrics celebrating the degradation of women, sex or violence. One would think, Simmons would be on board but instead, took to his blog stating that he felt Cosby was being a little “too judgmental” of today’s rap stars.

So, really Simmons, which side are you on? Is it about the issue or are you going with what’s best for you at that particular time?

Although, it seems Simmons shtick right now is diversity, diversity, and more diversity but is he truly for the cause or more about keeping his name and image in the public eye trying his best to remain relevant. It seems Simmons supports whichever will grant him the most publicity.

Yet, this is whom GLAAD honored and wants to have represented as someone who will forever be invested in LGBT rights? Someone who obviously flips flops on issues quicker than they can get into an advanced yoga pose.

Related articles

• Ricky Martin, Russell Simmons, ‘True Blood,’ ’30 Rock’ among 2011 GLAAD media winners (miamiherald.typepad.com)
• GLAAD Media Awards Presented In NYC (towleroad.com)
• Ricky Martin, Russell Simmons, ’30 Rock’ among GLAAD Media Award Winners in New York (pinkbananaworld.com)

A new poll issued by ABC shows that attitudes towards marriage equality are shifting rapidly. The poll issued by ABC and the Washington Post shows that, after a decade of polling, a majority of Americans support same-sex marriage. The poll found that 53% of Americans thought that same-sex marriage should be legal and 44% said it should not. A year ago, it was almost reversed with 47% saying it should be legal and 50% saying it should be illegal. The trend upwards has been noted by all neutral polling companies.

As a wedge issue, marriage equality may no longer have any real prying power left. Republican strategist Mark McKinnon stated “The wedge has lost its edge”. Indeed, the Republicans have been scrambling to find a new wedge issue to use, this time trying to go after Muslims and a supposed threat of Sharia Law, but that has not gained much traction.

Recently, TalkingPointsMemo reported:

“What do I say to the idea that this is a wedge issue? I say ‘Hallelujah,’” Frank told reporters. “The fact that we’ve now evolved to the point where the Republicans are complaining about the fact that we introduced this bill because it causes them political problems is a great sign of progress. It used to be the other way around.”

House Speaker John Boehner recently announced that he was going to appoint a lawyer to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court- at taxpayer’s expense- while Democrats have introduced legislation to repeal that law.

With regards to the Respect for Marriage Act, Representative Tammy Baldwin, who is openly lesbian, stated:

“Those of us who have been fighting the battle to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act since it became law, have long known that we have fairness and justice on our side. Now, after years of educating and agitating, it is heartening to know that we have, also, the American public on our side.

The recently released HRC-sponsored poll shows that Americans oppose DOMA 50-34. And even more voters, 54 percent, oppose the House Republican move to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court.

Repealing DOMA is important symbolically and substantively. Now that we have repealed ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ the Defense of Marriage Act remains the only example of overt discrimination against gays and lesbians written into our federal statutes.

When the laws of our nation declare us, somehow, ‘less than,’ it sends a message that we are, somehow, ‘less than;’ and we are not.

But substantively, DOMA harms real Americans. It harms children and their loving parents. It harms elderly life-long partners. And it harms widows and widowers.

Fourteen years ago, an openly gay Wisconsin Republican asked the GAO to count all of the rights and responsibilities that the federal government confers based on marriage. Former Congresswoman Steve Gunderson learned that over a thousand rights and responsibilities were conferred based on marriage. Today, that number is even higher.

All I am trying to say is that repeal of DOMA matters; and it is the best of family values.”

The plan requires that stage two of the education be finished before repeal is implemented. According to the HRC: “the plan requires that military experts, such as judge advocates and military equal opportunity advisors, and military leaders, such as commanding officers and civilian supervisors, are fully trained and educated prior to final repeal.”

The first progress update on repeal is due to the Under Secretary of Defense by 1 March. “The progress updates will include, at minimum, information on units trained, status of updated regulations, and other preparation activities as required,” according to the HRC.

The HRC also reported:

The repeal implementation plan also requires the military to engage stakeholders, such as advocacy organizations, during the pre-repeal phase – the current phase of the plan. In addition, it acknowledges that congressional hearings on implementation may begin during the certification process. Finally, it recognizes that it the military may need to continue to tweak their policies regarding lesbian and gay service members following implementation, as well as revise education and training programs for sustained education and training efforts.

Alexander Nicholson, the executive director of Servicemembers United, said in a statement to the Advocate:

“In typical military fashion, the plan is quite thorough and some steps may seem unnecessary or redundant, but overall we believe this plan continues to show a good faith effort on the part of the Department of Defense to swiftly move forward with training, certification, and repeal.”

The Navy expects to be finished with its training by 30 June.

The battle over marriage equality is no longer just about the civil rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals, but also about the religious rights of those faiths which do not hold that marriage is between a woman and a man exclusively. This has come down to an attempt to impose a theocraticly exclusive view of marriage upon every house of worship with differs with the Catholic Church and other religious and marriage bigot houses of worship out there. It would not be any different than the Catholic Church forcing Jews to drink the Blood of Christ or Muslims crafting legislation forcing Christians to abstain from eating bacon. The Defense of Marriage Act, which they are filing to defend, has come down to a prohibition against the religious rights and rites of various faiths.

The Catholics feel that the ruling last year stating that DOMA is unconstitutional in some part is, according to Catholic Net:

The brief faulted the trial judge for characterizing DOMA as a product of bigotry.

It affirmed that the groups are “united in condemning hatred and mistreatment of homosexuals” and that “God calls us to love homosexual persons.”

But it also asserted that “we steadfastly defend our belief that traditional marriage is both divinely ordained and experientially best for families and society.”

And there it is. They believe that marriage is divinely ordained, and that means that it is a religious institution. That means that by denying lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transsexuals the right to get married under the law is based on nothing other than religious and a violation of peoples Freedom From Religion as well as the Freedom of Religion of various faiths.

Catholic Net continues to note:

“This considered judgment is informed by our moral reasoning, our religious convictions, and our long experience counseling and ministering to adults and children,” the groups affirmed.

They protested the district court’s ruling that Congress “could only have been motivated by bigotry against homosexuals — and, hence, by implication, that our own support for DOMA and traditional marriage is so motivated,” calling this “inaccurate and unfair.”

The problem is that their attempts to codify their religious beliefs is motivated on bigotry- both against LGBT Americans and any religious institution which differs from them when it comes to their beliefs of religious beliefs. What is more, their bigotry shows itself when they oppose civil unions on the basis that it will lead to marriage equality, and oppose domestic partnerships because they could lead to civil unions. That is why they are bigots.

Here is the slot:

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/01/18/3333073/2-gay-nonprofits-to-share-harvey.html#ixzz1BRERNZgh

Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com

Related articles

• Castro Protest: No MILK for HRC – Harvey’s Legacy ‘Not for Rent’ - (lezgetreal.com)
• Controversy at Castro Camera (advocate.com)

Equality Matters is coming into being as the LGBT Community begins the switch from the battle to serve in the military openly to the battle against marriage bigotry. This battle itself is not going to be easy given the possible repeal of marriage equality in New Hampshire next year in part because little was done to counter the influx of rhetoric pushed by the National Organization for Marriage and a variety of hate groups that flooded into the state in order to say the vote. Freedom to Marry New Hampshire pulled up stakes after the votes were cast. In Vermont, all but one supporter of marriage equality who ran for reelection were returned to the Assembly with the help of Vermont Freedom To Marry.

Equality Matters has been called by its founders as a “communications war room for gay equality”. On Sunday, Socarides said “Yesterday was a very important breakthrough, and President Obama’s comments, especially following the vote, were very significant, where he for the first time connected race and gender to sexual orientation under the banner of civil rights.”

Socarides also said in a recent column:

In order to win the “don’t ask” effort, we needed not only to convince our friends that now was the time to act, but we also had overcome the homophobia of the obstructionist Republican apparatus and conservative movement. Although eight Republicans joined the Senate vote to finally right this injustice, within an hour of the vote, Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association said, “we are now stuck with sexual deviants serving openly in the U.S. military…”

“It’s a tragic day for America,” Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council, told the Associated Press. “But I don’t think this will really affect the marriage issue very much. It’s been rejected by voters in 31 states.”

That’s exactly were Mr. Sprigg is wrong.

Our culture is changing rapidly. Most Americans believe that gays and lesbians are entitled to the same rights and responsibilities as their fellow citizens, including now over 50 percent who believe in marriage equality.

We see other signs of progress too. For example, Ricky Martin, one of the biggest pop music stars of all time and Ken Mehlman, a former Republican Party chair turned Wall Street banker, felt comfortable enough to publicly proclaim their sexuality. Now, the gay high school kid on Fox’s Glee has a great, show-stealing boyfriend. A New Jersey teenager’s suicide gave new poignancy to a PSA campaign in which Americans from all walks of life, famous and not, spoke openly and candidly in record numbers about what it means to be gay and how “it gets better” – thanks to activist and writer Dan Savage.

. . .

Now, even with an incoming Congress not fully in his corner, the president still has enormous power to fight ongoing discrimination through enforcement regulations and by instructing the Justice Department to fight for an expansion of rights rather than a contraction of them.

Going forward, we must continue to do battle against the cynical obstructionists of the right-wing apparatus and conservative movement who still try to exploit fear for their own partisan and anti-Obama political reasons. It’s clear the right-wing wants to continue to have this fight through the upcoming presidential election and — as candidate Bob Dole tried to do against Bill Clinton in 1996 with the issue of marriage — use it as a wedge against Democrats and progressives.

At the same time, we should insist that President Obama show moral leadership on marriage equality by not only endorsing it now, but by using his considerable powers of persuasion to help all Americans understand why equality matters.

Media Matter’s David Brock said via the New York Times:

Equality Matters, Mr. Brock said, should “expose right-wing bigotry and homophobia wherever we find it” and “stiffen the spines of progressives.” That, he said, did not change with the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” He said Equality Matters was planned long before anyone in Washington had an inkling that repeal might actually succeed.

““We believe the big battle is full equality, which is gay marriage,” he said.

The time has come for arguments to be made, and for the fight to be joined. It is not enough to win a battle only to abdicate the war, and that has happened far too often. Too many LGBT groups have abandoned the fight the moment the real tough work happens. At least Socarides and Eleveld both have shown the stomach for the kinds of battles that lay before the Community, unlike the Human Rights Campaign’s Joe Solomonese, who appears to have done little to counter the negative rhetoric from those supporting marriage bigotry in the fights that happened in Maine and California.

What is more, the LGBT Community must work hard to ensure the rights of all within it, be they lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersexed, or just queer. However we identify ourselves, it is important that we as a whole have rights that are respected, and hopefully Equality Matters will not forget the other aspects of our rainbow while moving forward on marriage equality.

Melanie Nathan- Dec 15, 2011 – San Francisco activists are organizing a sit in/ lie in on Saturday this week to protest the hostile take over of the Historic Harvey Milk Camera Store.  Who is the potential tenant – HRC – The Human Rights Campaign.

I will be protesting there with my kids – the new faces of LGBT community includes everyone and especially includes the emergence of LGBT procreation/adoption/family.   It is not the face of HRC – an nontransparent elitist lobby that has failed in its stance as “the main lobby org for LGBT equality in D.C.”

HRC wants to take over the Milk Store, thinking they can claim the old notion of grass root activism by merely tapping the name of Harvey Milk in a feigned association with HRC.  Additionally Harvey Milk would never have approved of this marriage – his name and HRC.

HRC is everything Milk would have deplored at a time like this.   Their presence in the Store will be a slap in the face to his Memory!

SO

Join us outside Harvey Milk’s former camera store at 575 Castro Street, on Saturday, December 18, from 12 noon-2pm.

We will declare that the sidewalks belong to everyone and to protest Human Rights Campaign’s plan to rent Harvey’s store and co-opt his legacy.

Sit/lie, which makes it illegal to sit or lie on sidewalks, will be selectively enforced against homeless queers in the Castro, homeless folks in the Haight and Day Laborers in the Mission. Harvey opposed the sit/lie law of the 1970s which was used to harass and arrest gay men in the Castro. It was  struck down in 1979.

HRC left transgender people out of ENDA (federal gay rights bill) and generally excludes grassroots LGBT activists from when decisions are made and lobby strategies employed, that impact us all.

We won’t let HRC put Harvey’s legacy up for sale, and we won’t let the police decide who can sit on a sidewalk.

Bring musical instruments; games; food to share; things to sell, give-away or barter; signs; face painting kits; fun activity to engage in; good conversation; jumping ropes, etc.

Sidewalks are for everyone
(The Petrelis Blog)

Caveat:  LezGetReal does not support or recommending any illegal action or risk of harm to LGBT protesters  and especially not to children.  There is a great ice cream store we can go to and observe the protest. Our presence in the area as a family is our way of protesting and hats off to those who are willing to take it to the level of civil disobedience.

Please Visit the related Article on  The-gay-Life – http://www.this-gay-life.com/2010/12/got-milk.html

Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com

No MILK for HRC ™ – Harvey’s Legacy ‘Not for Rent’ © All Rights Reserved – 2010 – LGR Media- LezGetReal.

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Related articles

• HRC’s Planned Rental of Milk Camera Shop Strikes a Nerve (towleroad.com)
• HRC Moves to Castro Camera (advocate.com)
• Controversy at Castro Camera (advocate.com)
• The Castro Gets a Drag Store; Also, ‘True’ Gay Rights Activists Up In Arms About HRC Taking Harvey Milk’s Former Store (sfist.com)
• HRC defends retail outlet in the former Castro Camera (pinkbananaworld.com)
• HRC defends retail outlet in the former Castro Camera (bilerico.com)

Joe Your  Time is UP!

Sometimes as Bloggers we are at ‘loggerheads; and sometimes we are at ‘bloggerheads;’  I commend my muses and colleagues;  you have all accomplished so much over the years. Today is unifying day where we can be at ‘bloggerheads!’  Now it is time for the Bloggers to come together as we often do, however in a bigger way.

Fellow Blogger, Michael Petrelis, has noticed that there the recent trend, heightened by the failed DADT repeal, where Bloggers  are calling out loud for the resignation of Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Commission HRC. Joe is known for his large salary and fancy suited front face who has access to the President. According to Trelis the following bloggers have called for Solmonese’s resignation :    “Such bloggers include Pam Spaulding of Pam’s House Blend, Melanie Nathan of LezGetReal, Joe Jervis of Joe My God, and Joe Sudbay of AmericaBlog.”

Michael petrelis -  says : “Many prominent LGBT bloggers are calling for Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese to resign.
I‘ve started a list of folks who’ve called for Joe Solmonese to resign at my blog: http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/2010/12/list-who-wants-hrcs-solmonese-to-resign.html.   Today  I found a blog post at a site I’ve never visited, and it claims you, or in John’s case his colleague Joe Sudbay, have endorsed the resignation call:   http://justifiableanger.blogspot.com/2010/12/hold-your-friendly-fire.html ”

@lezgetreal
@oblogdeeoblogda

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UPDATED Sunday 12/13/2010 at 4.45 PM PST:
Another Blogger Ethan August has written the following letter to Joe Solmonese this morning. It seems the shout is getting louder- I am reprinting with his permission and encourage readers to visit his site to comment there too.

Dear Joe,

The Human Rights Campaign has failed our LGBT soldiers, its contributors, and the American people.

DADT continues to remain in effect despite the tens of millions of dollars contributed to the HRC, public opinion in our favor, Democratic control of Congress and the White House for the last two years, support from Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, support from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, a federal court overturning the law as unconstitutional, and a Pentagon report encouraging its repeal.

If the HRC cannot accomplish its mission with all of the factors above working in our favor, the HRC and your leadership have been rendered ineffective and useless. You promised that “This year we are going to bring down DADT.” You have failed to fulfill your promise and should therefore resign your position as President of the Human Rights Campaign.

Yesterday, in your letter to contributors you essentially conceded that we had lost this battle in Congress and shifted the pressure to President Obama. You insisted President Obama issue a stop-loss order halting military discharges and cease defending DADT in federal court. In comparison to an act of Congress, these are relatively simple things for the President to accomplish. Ceasing to defend DADT in court would accomplish the same long-term solution as an act of Congress. This is clearly one of the largest strategic blunders in the history of the homosexual rights movement and you should take responsibility immediately. Despite his excuses to try otherwise, pressuring the President to cease defending DADT in court should not have been plan B. A stop-loss order should be issued and remain in effect until DADT is no longer in place via the courts or Congress.

As you know, another separate bill to repeal DADT was introduced today. Yet just last evening you conceded defeat and switched strategies. This leads me to believe that you and the HRC have no insight into what is really occurring in Washington and are simply observing this process just as we the contributors are also doing. Anyone can create an automated email system that prompts our community to email our elected leaders. At this point, that seems to be all the HRC has been able to accomplish.

What our community and the HRC’s contributors now need is leadership that can effect policy change in Washington. Until you resign, and new leadership has established that capability for the HRC, I will no longer be contributing to this organization. I’m encouraging my friends, family and readers to copy this email to you and take the same position.

Sincerely,

Ethan August
http://www.this-gay-life.com/2010/12/hrcs-joe-solmonese-should-resign.html

Related articles

• Watch: HRC President Joe Solmonese Says ‘Every Player’ Involved in the ‘DADT’ Repeal Process Let the Community Down (towleroad.com)
• HomoQuotable – Pam Spaulding (joemygod.blogspot.com)
• Joe Solmonese Is Smiling Because Keeping DADT Alive Keeps His Job Alive (queerty.com)
• HRC Blows It With Analysis Of Mormon Church’s Recent Change Regarding Homosexuality (lezgetreal.com)
• Joe Solmonese Joining GetEqual In Calling For Stop-Loss End For Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell? (lezgetreal.com)

Ineffectual

The time has come for Joe Solomonese to step down as the president of the Human Rights Campaign. The man has been ineffectual in the extreme, and has done little to actually advance the cause of LGBT rights. In the middle of the debate over repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, rather than being out there in force and getting the votes needed to ensure repeal, the HRC was offering defeatist sounding language saying ‘wait’. The time is not now to wait. Rather, the time is now to get on this and keep on this. Get out there and push Senator Joe “Republican” Manchin and get him to vote for repeal now.

It is time for the HRC to clean house. Are they really this unwilling to actually fight for this cause? Do they even care about anything more than a paycheck at the end of the day? Do they even care about marriage rights, the right to serve openly in the military, adoption rights, and workers’ rights? It often seems as if they do not. They often seem more concerned about their own salaries than they do about their own rights.

It is time for Solomonese to step down. In the last two years, we have watched him preside over the debacle in Maine, the bloodlettings in New Hampshire and Iowa, and the collapse of the LGBT rights push in Congress. Instead, we have had gala parties where Republican in Democrats clothing President Barack Obama has spoken and then accomplished nothing, and a lot of nice media appearances by Solomonese.

The time has come for us to have people in the leadership who will fight for our rights. It is time for someone like GetEQUAL’s Robin McGehee to be president of this organization and to turn this into a battle for our rights instead of a foot dragging party like it is right now. The time has come for the HRC to stop acting like it is afraid to fight and to get in there and actually fight.

If the HRC does not do some major shaking up, and soon, then it is time that the LGBT Community ignore them. They are nothing but a waste of money as they have not helped, and will not help. They did not file a lawsuit challenging DADT, instead, that was the Log Cabin Republicans. They have not filed lawsuits challenging DOMA, instead that has been others.

I would like to say that Joe Solomonese will do the right thing and step down as head of the HRC, but he has never done that in the past, even in the face of horrific and total disaster, so why expect him to do so now.

Dragging Her Heels?

Senator Harry Reid is apparently debating whether or not to move forward with the vote on the National Defense Authorization Act for 2011, and whether or not to do so without Susan Collins firmly on board. Senator Collins stated at one point “I want to ensure there is a fair process,” but it often feels as if she is more worried about pleasing here Republican leaders than ensuring fairness since what is fair is to let this bill move forward and pass. It is a matter of fairness for the lesbians and gays serving in the United States’ military who must spend every day hiding who they are.

Reid remarked that he was still considering the future votes at around 12:10 PM. Fred Sainz, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, offered a less than satisfactory statement saying “If senators move forward with a vote on NDAA before a deal has been solidified, the vote will fail and all key players will share the responsibility.” Of course, it is hard to know if the HRC has been up there pushing the Republicans on voting for the debate to begin. Senator George Voinavich is in favor of repealing DADT.

Greg Sargent at Plum Line stated:

An informed Senate aide emails, ominously: “It appears that the leadership is moving forward without the votes.”

Reid himself just said on the Senate floor that a decision on whether to hold the vote — apparently without Collins’s support — is imminent. It’s also possible that if today’s vote fails, future votes could be in the cards.

It is possible that Reid feels that Collins has not been negotiating in good faith, and has, instead, been stalling the process entirely. It is hard to tell without being on the floor of the Senate.

Reid’s comments:

Recently, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did stop counseling lesbians and gays from seeking reparative therapy, but they still maintain that acting upon same-sex attraction is a grave sin that should not be considered at all. HRC spokesman Scott Guequierre stated “This is a big deal, this is huge. This is a great step forward for the church and I recognize that. I just hope we can work with them to come even further.” It is a huge step, but the Mormons still do not see homosexuality as normal.

Scott Trotter, spokesman for the Mormon Church, stated “The HRC’s representations of the changes in the new handbook are simply absurd.”

Here is the Human Rights Campaign’s statement:

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest civil rights organization dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality, today recognized that the Mormon Church removed same-sex attraction as a sin in church policy. The new policy, released by church leaders last Saturday, for the first time does not call for professional counseling for those who experience same-sex attraction. The American Psychological Association and American Psychiatric Association have both concluded that same-sex attraction is normal and that “reparative” therapy — like the kind formerly advocated by the Mormon Church — is unhealthy and harmful.

While still claiming that “homosexual behavior violates the commandments of God,” the new policy differentiates between same-sex behavior, to which they continue to object, and attraction, which the church is able to rationalize. A summary of the policy changes can be found here.

“The new guidelines clearly show that advocacy efforts pay off with real change,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “We spoke out against the harms of so-called ‘reparative therapies’ on LGBT young people. Church leaders heard us and responded by dropping their recommendation that such discredited interventions be forced on LGBT and questioning youth.”

“We continue to disagree with the Mormon Church about fundamentally important issues like full respect for the marriages of same-sex couples, but we are encouraged that our advocacy has paid off with real movement that will help save young lives,” said Rev. Harry Knox, director of HRC’s Religion and Faith Program.

Last month Boyd K. Packer, the president of the Mormon Church’s Quorum of Twelve Apostles, called same-sex attraction “impure and unnatural,” and claimed that it can be corrected. Packer characterized same-sex marriage as immoral. Packer’s inaccurate and dangerous rhetoric came on the heels of the suicides of a number of teenagers who were victims of anti-gay bullying or harassment. Packer, who is 86 and one of the church’s most senior leaders, made his statements to a crowd of 20,000 — with millions more watching via satellite transmission — during the church’s 180th Semi-annual General Conference in Salt Lake City.

HRC immediately called on Packer to correct his dangerous statements. Over 150,000 members and supporters signed an open letter to Packer and HRC President Joe Solmonese delivered the signatures to Church headquarters along with representatives from Equality Utah, the Utah Pride Center, Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons, and the Utah Psychological Association.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

The HRC may bill itself as American’s largest LGBT civil rights organization, but it also has a reputation for being the least effective and most hated from within organization. Back when Boyd K. Packer made his statements, the HRC was offered one of the more tepid condemnations of his statements.

In layman’s parlance, this was one big cock up.  (That idiom was not meant to be ironic nor is it innuendo.  Sorry, I’m more British than American in my language use.)

Source

“The White House’s Common Purpose meeting is the primary way that progressive ideas and values supported by a majority of Americans are being upended and compromised,” said Cronk in an email to POLITICO. “We are calling on the progressive groups attending these meetings to shake free the yoke of White House staff who are refusing to push forward the progressive ideals that President Obama campaigned on.” (Source Politico)

GetEQUAL, increasingly impressive in their strategy and clear goal, sets the stage for activism at its very best.  When confrontations like this occur and progressives are told -HEY this is not a business as usual day, maybe, just maybe – they will awaken to the call. Do something Different and do it NOW! Politico reports that

According to LGBT rights group GetEQUAL, six of thirteen arrested protesters will picket tonight’s Common Purpose meeting — an ongoing, low-profile White House outreach effort to liberal activists held at the Capitol Hilton.

Get Equal has issued a statement – “David Smith, Vice President of Policy and Strategy for the Human Rights Campaign, Winnie Stachelberg, Sr. VP for External Affairs for CAP; Rea Carey, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, were greeted tonight by the protestors and asked to stand with the LGBT community and not attend the meeting. All three of them chose instead to cross the protest line and enter into the hotel. Smith refused saying, “I’m running late. Also, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina was greeted tonight by protestors who chanted to him “Obama, What’s Your Plan?” and “Keep Your Promise!”

It has been fifty-six days since the military was held hostage by John McCain, and sixteen years and three hundred thirty days since Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell went into place.

Melanie Nathan

nathan@privatecourts.com

@oblogdeeoblogda