GLAA Forum

Winning a marriage initiative -- it'll happen soon

Gov. Christine Gregoire's signature on Washington state's marriage equality law today marked another victory in the growing movement for the protection of all our families. It also, inevitably, will set off a drive by our opponents for a ballot measure to overturn the law. Voting trends over the past dozen years or so, however, have shown a shrinking margin of victory for the anti-gay forces. Sooner or later the pro-equality forces are going to win one. This may be it. A well-run campaign (translation: NOT TIMID) and a strong voter-turnout effort will be crucial. Let's do it.

Thanks to Gov. Gregoire and the bill's supporters in the state legislature, and congrats to our fellow marriage equality activists in the other Washington.

NOM pledges to overturn marriage equality in Washington #wa4m

Since it looks like marriage equality is a done deal in Washington, the National Organization for Marriage has vowed to  overturn the measure by voter referendum.  This would be Washington State unlike Washington, DC where they also pledged to do this.  Voters have a long history of revoking civil rights measures including in New Jersey where they tossed out voting rights for women in 1915 and in California and Maryland where they overturned laws barring racial discrimination in housing.

There are a few ways that this fight will be different than other statewide elections on marriage equality.  First Washington State recently had a voter referendum that attempted to cancel civil unions which failed.  So the coalitions to defend the law will be in place.  Support from major employers in the state has also been secured, including Microsoft, Amazon, and Starbucks.  The fact that civil unions are in place Washington State will be a major factor.  Vermont is the other state which converted from the lesser civil unions to full marriage equality, something which was done without controversy.  The fact that gay families are somewhat protected now will make it much harder for NOMis demagoging of the issue.

Dissing the President

(Photo by AP/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

In my column this week I call out the right's relentless campaign of disrespect toward America's first African American president:

"Get your goddamn finger out of the President's face."

That was my first thought upon seeing the photo of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer with President Obama at the Phoenix airport on Jan. 25. My second thought was that she was treating him like an errant servant: "Don't you sass me, boy!"

Despite the President's cool response as shown in the photo, Brewer later said that she "felt a little bit threatened" by Obama. Really? What did she think he would do? Joy-Ann Reid at The Grio wrote, "Not surprisingly, for African-Americans, [Brewer's faux pas is] an unpleasant reminder of a stereotype that has dogged particularly black men for ages: that no matter how accomplished, or calm…they are, black men are 'intimidating.'" ...

The incident on the tarmac is but the latest in a series of public displays of disrespect for our nation's first African-American president. As Lauren Victoria Burke of Politic 365 catalogs in "The 10 Worst Moments of Disrespect Towards President Obama," previous examples include Birtherism, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) crying "You lie!" during Obama's address to Congress in September 2009, Tea Party signs, and Newt Gingrich in 2010 accusing Obama of having a "Kenyan, anti-colonial" worldview. On Jan. 13, Atlanta Jewish Times publisher Andrew Adler even suggested that Israeli Mossad agents resolve differences over Iran by assassinating Obama.

Read the whole thing here.

Santorum's Gifts from God

Ladies, don't worry you purdy little heads about nuthin.

The hell I won't!

Okay, I admit it — I thought of this scene from the 1963 movie McLintock! because I was disgusted by the disrespect that has been shown toward the President, and I was thinking that he oughta forget about Jackie Robinson and belt someone in the mouth. Not gonna happen, but watching this made me feel so much better.

Ron Paul was deeply involved in production of newsletters, associates say

Surprise, surprise. The congressman is just lying.

Gingrich needs to update his mailing list

Loose Lips reports that Newt Gingrich sent ANC 3F07 Commissioner and past GLAA president Bob Summersgill a fundraising message beginning "Dear Conservative":

For the record, Summersgill, who was one of the leading proponents of the District's marriage equality law and is active in the city's Democratic establishment, says he's unmoved by Gingrich's plea and doesn't plan to vote for him. "Gingrich said gay people shouldn't support him," emails Summersgill, likely referring to this exchange. "He said we should vote for Obama."

Yes. I am aware that exit polls from prior elections suggest that roughly one-fourth of self-identified gay voters will vote for Newt anyway (in the unlikely event that he gets the Republican nomination). At the same time, all-or-nothing gay leftists will stay home or vote for a third-party candidate because the most productive president on gay issues in history did not magically give them everything they wanted. You can make your best arguments, but in the end you cannot control other people's choices. That is all right. Be responsible for yourself. Stand up and be counted.

Booker: "We should not be putting civil rights issues to a popular vote"

Newark Mayor Cory Booker responds to NJ Gov. Chris Christie's proposal to put marriage equality on the ballot. Thank you, Mayor Booker.

Stray thought from the Republican presidential debate

Newt and Mitt should work together to ensure that when Fidel leaves the planet he doesn't go to the lunar colony. He'd only stir up trouble.

Also: Ron Paul says when he started in medicine there was no Medicare or Medicaid, & things worked fine. Once again he channels Scarlett O'Hara. Someone send him a copy of The Wind Done Gone to provide an alternate perspective of those halcyon days of yore.

Newt channels Dave Chappelle

Could Newt Gingrich have gotten his plan for a new space race from this old bit by Dave Chappelle?)

(Hat tip: Daily Kos)

What did Newt say?

I'm sorry, did Newt Gingrich say he wants to fund NASA or Massa?

An act of disrespect that will backfire

You are probably aware of this story about yesterday's exchange on the tarmac between Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and President Obama, who dared to point out the inaccuracy of her description (in her book, Scorpions for Breakfast) of a meeting in the Oval Office.

This year's election is an excellent opportunity for all of us to say to the likes of Jan Brewer, in the unmistakable language of an electoral landslide, "Lady, get your goddamn finger out of my brother's face." Yes, he has the Secret Service, but in this matter millions of us need to have his back.

Arizona's disgraceful anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, which Brewer so enthusiastically pushed, and which the President challenged in court, has harmed the state's economy, and rightfully so. The bigotry and injured sense of entitlement of Brewer and her nativist and racist allies, embodied in their cry, "We want our country back," targets blacks, Latinos, Muslims, and gays — not to mention women. So let's keep our eyes on the prize and not take this election for granted just because of the GOP's current circular firing squad. Then at noon next Jan. 20, Obama can hand Chief Justice Roberts a printed copy of the presidential oath of office to help him out.

Ron Paul's blind spot on race

Chauncey DeVega has a smart take on Rep. Ron Paul and race. Here's a small sampling:

Ron Paul's desire to frame the Civil War as a tragedy for the South at the hands of a villainous North, a federal force that only wanted to take away the liberties of white people, is an ideal-typical example of libertarianism's failings on matters of race and justice. Ron Paul does not seem to identify slavery--the owning of black people by white people in perpetuity--as a de facto state of war and tyranny. If libertarians were to find a historic freedom struggle to claim as their own, one would think that abolition, accomplished by any means necessary, would be at the top of their list.

Tahrir Square, Jan. 25, 2012

Alex Nicholson writes:

A great set of video cuts from our day today. This is not stock footage... Jonathan [Smith] actually shot this footage while I dragged him around trying not to draw too much attention to the [only] two blue-eyed white guys around.

Rep. Giffords makes her farewell to Congress

Speaker Boehner for once has a good reason to cry. Get better quick, Gabby.

Capitol moment

President Obama, on his way to the podium of the House Chamber to deliver the 2012 State of the Union address, hugs Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). Giffords steps down this week to continue her recovery from the brain injury she suffered when a crazed gunman shot her on January 8, 2011.

(Photo courtesy Progress Florida via Beth Corbin)

Prostitution Tuesday

Loose Lips reports that today, on the same day that the D.C. Council Judiciary Committee was holding a hearing on Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander's Prostitution Free Zone Amendment bill (the witnesses were three to one against it, btw), her challenger Kevin B. Chavous copped a plea in his own case:

Forces beyond LL's comprehension have conspired to make today prostitution Tuesday in D.C. politics.

First off, Ward 7 council candidate Kevin B. Chavous has cut a deal with prosecutors on the charge that he allegedly tried to pay an undercover cop $20 for a blow job a few weeks ago, court records show.

The solicitation charge will go away after four months if Chavous performs 32 hours of community service, doesn't break any District laws, and stays away from the block on K Street NE where his alleged encounter occurred. The Post reports that Chavous' attorney said prosecutors approached Chavous with the deferred prosecution deal.

The deal comes after a very tight-lipped Team Chavous indicated they would fight the charge. "I am innocent of the charges against me and look forward to clearing my name!" Chavous tweeted after his arrest, in what LL is pretty sure has been his only comment about the whole affair.

Meanwhile, at the hearing, Ms. Alexander took great offense at the suggestion that any sex workers live in her ward. Only respectable people live in Ward 7, she declared indignantly. Yvette's grandstanding was equalled only by her obtuseness. Witness after witness did our best to reach halfway — expressing sympathy for her constituents' frustration with the effects the street-based sex trade is having on their neighborhoods, and suggesting that we all get together to craft solutions that actually work without violating the Constitution — but she just stood her irrational ground, not even making coherent (as distinct from merely disagreeable) arguments.

Update: WAMU reports on Tuesday's PFZ hearing. I am quoted in the story.

Gov. Christie: Let the people vote (on your rights)

I guess NJ Gov. Chris Christie just couldn't nominate an openly gay man to the state supreme court without balancing it out with something anti-gay. Now he's calling for a referendum on whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, and says he'll veto a marriage equality bill if it reaches his desk.

Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution guarantees a republican (representative) form of government. It says nothing about the right to hold a plebiscite whenever people don't like what their elected legislators do. Marriage is a fundamental human right. Rights are not proper subjects for referenda. Shame on you, Governor.

Rep. Giffords hugs Daniel Hernandez, the former intern who saved her life

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (@GabbyGiffords) tweeted a link to this photo of her hugging Daniel Hernandez, the openly gay former intern who saved her life after the shooting in Tucson a year ago. Hernandez recently won election to a Tucson-area school board.

Stop the Glitter-bombing

If I really have to assure you of my lack of sympathy for Rick Santorum at this point, then you're an ignoramus so go ahead and believe what you like. But really, that is not the point here. Glitter-bombing homophobic politicians or ministers, or hitting them with cream pies or what have you, is NOT helpful to our cause. It is a self-indulgence. It makes us look like children or thugs. Even if you are not (and would never dream of) mixing something harmful or corrosive in with the glitter or cream, what you are doing is still an assault. It has no place in our political discourse.

Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann and Maggie Gallagher are extreme. They are hateful — even when, as with Maggie, she is overtly polite in her delivery of her poisonous words. Of course we have to fight back. But we must not do so physically. When protesters resort to throwing things at those who defame and demonize us, we play into their hands. They love to pose as victims; why on earth would we want to help them get away with it?

Stop the goddamn glittering. It is juvenile and harmful to our cause. I am well aware that there is approximately zero chance that the fools in question will heed my words, which they're unlikely to read anyway. But we need to be clear that people who engage in such boorish tactics are not our allies, any more than the person who threw a Communion wafer on the floor in New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral a couple of decades ago during an ACT UP protest. They are not our allies when they do such things, and they do not speak for us.

Neither should we let our opponents get away with portraying our movement as a bunch of thugs based upon a handful of kids acting up. The reality is grotesquely asymmetric, with our opponents not merely tossing glitter at us but relentlessly seeking to exclude us from the protections of the Constitution and leave our families with no legal recourse. We are far more sinned against than sinning, as King Lear would say. But the "queers" who persist in this idiotic behavior deserve our loud rebuke.

Rep. Giffords steps down from Congress

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords release this video today. Here's a transcript:

Arizona is my home, always will be. A lot has happened over the past year. We cannot change that. But I know on the issues we fought for we can change things for the better. Jobs, border security, veterans. We can do so much more by working together. I don't remember much from that horrible day, but I will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice. Thank you for your prayers and for giving me time to recover. I have more work to do on my recovery so to do what is best for Arizona I will step down this week. I'm getting better. Every day, my spirit is high. I will return and we will work together for Arizona and this great country. Thank you very much.

Gabby's courage and determination in the year since the assassination attempt have been an inspiration to the nation. Alas, the pace of recovery from a brain injury, even in the best of circumstances, does not conform to a biennial election schedule. Today's announcement was one that we knew would likely come but nonetheless dreaded to hear. This is not the way elections are supposed to be decided. I am sure countless others are sharing my emotion right now. Here's wishing Gabby and her family all the best. But this is a sad day for America.

"I am the American dream"

Straightforward and to the point.

Gingrich Wins!

I regret to report that this delightful front page is photoshopped. The real front page of today's WaPo is here.

Newt family values

Those horrible, nasty, treasonous elites

As I type this, Newt Gingrich is in the midst of his South Carolina victory speech, and just scornfully mentioned "the elites" which means anyone who sees through him.

Talk about class warfare. What makes these bogymen elite? Financial success? Hasn't he raked in enough cash to qualify? Or is it success in academia? He has a PhD, though it wasn't from a posh school. But of course his war against the elites has nothing to do with reality; it's purely about inflaming a mob. That, unfortunately, is an authentic American tradition. God preserve us.

Newt just repeated his challenge to Obama to participate in seven three-hour debates, and repeated his jibe about letter the President use his teleprompter. Of course, he only moments ago praised Ronald Reagan, who would have been all at sea without his cue cards. But a foolish consistency is not a hobgoblin in the mind of Newt.

Now he's given a litany of high holies beginning with American Exceptionalism, which to him means an entitlement to stomp around the world lecturing everyone else while trampling on our own professed values. Another reference to "elites."

What a disgusting human being. But remember, this is only South Carolina. (That's the treasonous part — you know, they fired on Fort Sumter.)

Newt's heartfelt outrage

I just want to say how moved I am by Newt Gingrich's heartfelt denunciations of campaign smears and the sorts of unscrupulous tactics that tear down our country and make it impossible to govern. Specifically, I am moved to puke in the toilet. Does he think we don't have a long video record of his exploits?

Activists skeptical about Hunter’s marriage views

The Blade has the latest on the Ward 5 special election, which has been set for May 15.

GLAA's ratings in the 2010 Ward 5 Council race can be found here. (Scroll down.)

Obama Called "Skinny, ghetto crackhead" on Fox

(Hat tip: Ta-Nehisi Coates)

Easy Street, to be exact

Think Progress reports: "Mitt Romney: I Have ‘Lived In The Real Streets Of America’"

Obama spins gold with a few bars of Al Green

President Obama was at New York's famed Apollo Theater yesterday, and paid tribute to Rev. Al Green, who was in the house, by singing a bit of his "Let's Stay Together." The President does have a pleasant singing voice, judging by that brief sample. Definitely several steps up from the Singing Senators.

Update: The President sure is getting a lot of mileage out of a few seconds of soul singing. Here is a performance of the song on "Late Night" from 1989 featuring Al Green with a crew assembled by Paul Shaffer including Toni Childs, Carlos Santana, Tito Puente, David Sanborn, and Melissa Etheridge.

Sully, making the case for Obama

Andrew Sullivan faces off against Bay Buchanan to defend his Newsweek cover story on President Obama's long game and how he is underestimated by his critics on both the left and the right. Sullivan is an old hand at debating. I would love to see a much longer set-to in which more issues can be argued; but the Obama team could learn something from him about defending the President's record.

Newt's racial air raid sirens

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

Go to 3:40 in this clip from "Hardball" for evidence that Newt Gingrich's racial air raid sirens (we are long past dog whistles) have had their intended effect. And notice Newt's reaction.

My new racial code consultant, Chauncy DeVega of We Are Respectable Negroes, offers these insights:

A Google search limited to the last seven days yields the following results:

282,000 returns for "Juan Williams" and "put in place."

23,400 returns for "Juan Williams" and "uppity."

It would seem that someone is getting the message about those negro rapscallions.

The video of a Gingrich supporter applauding his reinforcement of the colorline, and the "natural order of things" through a "moment of instruction" for Juan Williams, is priceless. How can you deny the obvious that all this "lazy negro mop carrier uppity negro talk" is precisely about race, when one of your own white racist supporters signals just such a thing, and you, the candidate, smile in acknowledgement of what is a not so inside joke?

Somebody please pinch me. Is this crap really happening? I keep reminding myself that Republican primary debate and rally audiences are not representative of the wider population. But then I remember the 2010 election. This is scary. Ironically enough, part of the problem is the media, but not in the way Newt suggests. The problem is that the media plays into Newt's opportunistic hands, so that he reaps rewards for appealing to the worst in people. Whether he will pull an upset in South Carolina remains to be seen. But watching him in action is about as far as you can get from America's Grant Park moment on election night in 2008.

"This is, I believe, the most dangerous president of our lifetime."

That reality-challenged statement is by Newt Gingrich. This election is not primarily about ideological differences, but about a relentless, aggressive, thoroughgoing contempt for the truth on the part of the Republican Party. They won't stop their lying and ridiculously hyperbolic vilification even when the President embraces Republican policies. They are doing everything they can to harm the country for partisan gain. People talk about the President's failure to change the nature of American politics — but he cannot do that unilaterally.

Meanwhile, Newt scored more audience cheers today by slamming CNN's John King for opening the latest GOP debate with a question about the charges by Newt's ex-wife Marianne. Why, why, why did King not ask Newt the difference between questions about his marital infidelity and Bill Clinton's, which Newt pursued so aggressively? Tim Russert, where are you when we need you?

"What did liberals do that was so offensive to the Republican Party?"

(Hat tip: Mauro Montoya)

Headline of the day

Jezebel publishes a story with the priceless headline: Newt Gingrich Loved America So Much that he Needed an Open Marriage.

(Hat tip: Beth Corbin)

Christie hedges on NJ marriage equality bill

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is noncommittal on whether he would sign or veto a marriage equality bill were it to reach his desk — and for him, this represents an advance.

Newt's 2nd wife says he wanted an open marriage

WaPo reports. The former Speaker's utter cynicism and brazen hypocrisy are once again raised in high relief.

Truth Wins Out comments.

Minister at Midnight

My column this week addresses anti-gay minister Rev. Anthony Evans, one of the people we defeated in enacting marriage equality in D.C. two years ago. He claims to head a vast network of black churches, and frequently emails me about his plans. I wrote him on January 15. Here's a portion:

You and your cohorts tried to provoke an African American backlash by sowing discord in the name of religion. You sought to render black gay couples and their families and affirming clergy invisible. You failed at every turn, including at the voting booth. The new generation is leaving you far behind.

I have recently been advising several students at a public charter high school, all of them African American, who chose marriage equality as their thesis topic. All took the pro-gay side before I arrived; not all are gay. Most of their peers agree with them. Your name hasn't come up, but your arguments have. Their teacher insists, quite properly, that they examine both sides. They have studied the federal court case Perry v. Brown (formerly Perry v. Schwarzenegger), and have looked at its parallels to Loving v. Virginia, in which the U.S. Supreme Court overturned state laws against interracial marriage in 1967.

These students' views contrast with your image of a monolithic Black Church. They see no difference between Loving and Perry. They can quote your favorite biblical passages, but they can also quote the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment and the Due Process Clause and Equal Protection Clause of the 14th. I lent them my expertise, but they brought their own gifts of intellectual curiosity and comfort with a diverse society.

I am perplexed by your plan to excommunicate black church members who disagree with you. It reminds me of the parody website LandoverBaptist.org. People don't require permission to pray. Your stunts have no more chance of turning back the tide of history than speaking in tongues has of being mistaken for anything but gibberish. Kindly spare gay people your professions of love for our souls and try to raise your understanding at least to the level of those 17-year-olds.

Read the whole thing here. The title, incidentally, alludes to a quote from Dr. King that I use near the end of the piece.

Did Newt provoke a suicide by threatening to out a gay affair?

Marc Caputo blogs at Miami Herald:

[F]ormer Rep. Bill Paxon, was a top leader in the coup to oust Gingrich in 1997. It failed. Some blame Republican leader Dick Armey, now the leader of tea-party organizer FreedomWorks, for selling out his fellow plotters when he learned that Paxon would be speaker and not him.

Paxon mysteriously soon left his post in Congress. It was never clear why.

"There is a concerted effort to take Bill Paxon out before he becomes a bigger threat to Gingrich than he is," Hill reporter Sandy Hume reported at the time, according to this Arianna Huffington. "Paxon and Armey haven't been on speaking terms since the coup."

Soon after, Hume, son of the Fox commentator, committed suicide.

About the same time, rumors surfaced that Hume and Paxon had been involved in a a gay affair. Some (namely MSNBC's Joe Scarborough) blamed Armey for leaking the information to stop Paxon. Some blamed Gingrich, since he benefitted most. Some blamed them both for the rumor.

A commenter at Gawker says:

Having worked on Capitol Hill when Newt was speaker, I can testify that however cold, vile, spiteful and unpleasant you think he is, you are underestimating it.

Who knows? A journalist friend said that Caputo must have something in order to run that item. I guess time will tell.

Update: It appears from this 2009 story that the claim of a gay affair was a lie spread by Dick Armey. Former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough, one of the participants in the 1997 coup attempt against Gingrich who now hosts "Morning Joe" on MSNBC, wrote in a 2004 book that he (Scarborough) was the source for Sandy Hume's story on the putsch that Armey foiled. All of this Hill plotting was going on in the midst of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. No wonder Bill Clinton won that fight. But the reasons for Paxon's abrupt retirement from politics and Hume's suicide remain a mystery. The story and the rumors are not new. Perhaps the Romney campaign is trying to revive them to knock off Gingrich. No one would shed a tear for Newt even if he is innocent in the matter. What a lovely town this is. Stay tuned.

Money Flows to G.O.P. Backers of Gay Marriage

NYT reports:

ALBANY — Gay rights advocates from Wall Street to Hollywood poured donations into the coffers of four little-known Republican state senators after the lawmakers provided the decisive votes for same-sex marriage in New York last June, according to new campaign finance filings released on Tuesday.

The support for the four senators, whose votes broke ranks with their party, is seen by gay rights leaders as symbolically important for their movement nationally, because in many states same-sex marriage could become law only with support from Republicans, as well as conservative Democrats. Maryland, New Jersey and Washington State are expected to consider same-sex marriage legislation this year.

The four New York Republicans had been threatened with political retribution by the state’s Conservative Party, and now face possible challenges from both the left and the right, but same-sex marriage supporters had promised to help them politically if they supported the issue.

“It was essential to send a clear signal around the country that we will support those who support equality, irrespective of party,” said Brian Ellner, a senior strategist for the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group. “We were able to win marriage in New York with a bipartisan coalition of fair-minded elected officials. We need to replicate that if we are to keep winning.”

Exactly.

Full disclosure: On June 27, a few days after the marriage bill was signed by Gov. Cuomo, I used links provided by Log Cabin Republicans to donate $50 each (I'm no moneybags) to the four Republican state senators whose support made the difference between victory and defeat for marriage equality in New York: Roy J. McDonald, Stephen M. Saland, Mark Grisanti, and James S. Alesi. That is a roll of honor. I am a Democrat, and I would love to see my party retake control of the New York State Senate, but not at the expense of these four brave men. I also give praise to New York Senate Majority Leader Dean G. Skelos (R), who allowed the bill to come up for a vote. Mitch McConnell, needless to say, would not have acted similarly were he in such a position. (BTW, it ought to be obvious, but I am expressing my personal opinion here. That is what makes this blog different from GLAA's main website. Here we air our personal views. GLAA itself is nonpartisan in its advocacy, and there is extensive evidence to prove it.)

Update: Charlie Watson, in the comments, calls the situation a win-win. If these Republican state senators are defeated in their primaries, it will be by candidates to their right. That will make their seats more winnable in the general election by Democrats, who are likelier to by pro-equality (not a high bar, since these senators are being targeted by NOM and others precisely because they voted for marriage equality).