The AP reports:
In search of the votes to solidify the legalization of gay marriage, advocates rallied Monday night hoping to sway delegates who have not yet committed their support.Gov. Martin O’Malley, who spoke to the crowd of hundreds, said he still needs to collect the votes of “a couple” of lawmakers in order to move the bill through the House of Delegates.
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.
Washington Gov. Christine Gegoire has signed the marriage equality bill. While a referendum on the bill is expected there are reasons to hope voters will uphold the right to marriage equality. Voters rejected a referendum to repealed civil unions. The effort to repeal civil unions in the state created a network to defend the law. With each passing day public support for marriage equality grows. And more and more states grant marriage equality the fears that demogogues stir are shown to be false.
Updated: Here us the video.
If you have been keeping a list of states taking up the issue of marriage equality this year you can add Illinois now that State Reps Greg Harris, Deb Mell, and Kelly Cassidy filed a marriage equality bill in Illinois General Assembly. Chicago GoPride reports:
HB 5710, the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act, provides that all laws of Illinois applicable to marriage apply equally to marriages of same-sex and different-sex couples.
The bill comes on the heels of Tuesday's ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, holding that California's denial of marriage in favor of domestic partnerships for same sex couples violated the U.S. Constitution.
Moments ago the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Prop 8 is unconstitutional. This is a huge win for freedom to marry supporters in California and continues the growing momentum for the freedom to marry nationwide.We congratulate our colleagues at the American Foundation for Equal Rights, who filed this lawsuit. With this case and others possibly making their way to the U.S. Supreme Court, we must create the climate that empowers judges and politicians to do the right thing, maximizing our chances of winning.
Will you join Freedom to Marry in doubling down on the work?
http://freedomtomarry.org/Prop8Decision
The clock is ticking, and each day we must work to grow the majority for marriage, win more states, and end federal discrimination -- the Roadmap to Victory. With your help, Freedom to Marry will make as strong a case in the court of public opinion as our legal advocates are making in the courts of law.
Join us in making the case by making a contribution today of $250, $100, $50 or $25. Your investment in our campaign is clearly making a difference -- to families, to our communities and to our country.
Donate now to help Freedom to Marry end marriage discrimination nationwide once and for all....
Thanks for all you do,
Evan Wolfson
Founder and President, Freedom to Marry
Click on the AFER link above for their latest updates (as I am writing this, they have not yet posted a news release).
This is a great day. The battle in court continues, of course, as this ruling will likely be stayed pending appeal. Congrats to AFER and all involved. As Evan points out, we have much work ahead of us. But as Frank Kameny said, the tide of history is with us.
Update: Greg Sargent has an interesting discussion at WaPo of the implications for President Obama and his evolution on marriage equality.
Karen Handel, the right-wing former gubernatorial candidate behind the disastrous decision by Susan G. Komen for the Cure to end funding for Planned Parenthood, has announced her resignation from the organization. She'll speak to reporters this afternoon in Atlanta, and it looks like she'll go down fighting.
This does not settle the matter — more heads need to roll, as our colleague Craig Howell says, and more answers are needed regarding Komen's grantmaking process — but it is a good first step and gives hope that Komen will get back on track and avoid going under as a result of Handel's contribution to the recent epidemic of right-wing overreach. Women's health is more important than political gamesmanship. Unfortunately, women's health generally, and the right of women to control their own reproductive status in particular, has been made political by those whose religion inspires them not to reform themselves but to try to control others. It is part of the battle for America. This week, the pro-freedom side is winning.
(Hat tip: Joe Jervis)
I would say Evan Wolfson of Freedome to Marry had much better arguments that Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage. I just wish he had mentioned that the civil rights of African-Americans WERE put the the vote on several occasions. And the public took their rights away.
The Souther Poverty Law Center has filed a lawsuit agains the Department of Veteran's Affairs challenging the Defense of Marriage Act.
<via JoeMyGod)
The state of Washington Senate has passed a billing providing for marriage equality by a vote of 28 - 21. Since this was the primary hurdle for passing the bill it seems likely that Washington will become the 7th state to provide gay families equal footing. Governor Christine Gregoire issued the following statement after the vote:
Tonight the Washington State Senate stood up for what is right and told all families in our state that they are equal and that the state cannot be in the business of discrimination. I believe that this decision should be made by our state Legislature, and I’m proud our elected leaders recognized that responsibility.
Tonight we saw the best of Washington and our leaders. They were respectful and they were kind. I thank Sen. Ed Murray for his leadership.
This vote was courageous and was only possible with bipartisan support. That support shows Washington’s commitment to equality. Fair-minded and responsible leaders crafted a bill that protects religious freedoms while ensuring equal rights. I commend our state Senators who acknowledged tonight that separate but equal is not equal.
Tonight our families are better for this vote. Our kids have a brighter future for this bill. And our state is better for this bill. I encourage the House to approve this bill and get it to my desk for my signature. I look forward to the day when all Washington citizens have equal opportunity to marry the person they love.
According to the Associated Press:
Democratic Sen. Ed Murray, the bill's sponsor, said he knew same-sex marriage "is as contentious as any issue that this body has considered in its history."
Lawmakers who vote against gay marriage "are not, nor should they be accused of bigotry," he said.
"Those of us who support this legislation are not, and we should not be accused of, undermining family life or religious freedom," said Murray, a gay lawmaker from Seattle who has spearheaded past gay rights and domestic partnership laws in the state. "Marriage is how society says you are a family."
At least they are not as bigoted as some people. There are some people that cite the Bible and say that gay people should be killed. Even more regret the reppeal of sodomy laws and would like to see gay people jailed. Opposition to marriage equality is bigotry, it's just not the worst kind of bigotry.
Chris Geidner of Metro Weekly reports from the Creating Change conference in Baltimore:
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today told those LGBT advocates gathered for the Creating Change conference taking place in Baltimore, Md., "HUD has been a leader in the fight ... for equality." As part of that, he announced that the federal housing program anti-discrimination regulation announced in January 2011 has been finalized and will be published in the Federal Register on this coming week and go into effect 30 days later."Today, I am proud to announce a new equal access to housing rule that says clearly and unequivocally that LGBT indivduals and couples have the right to live where they choose," he told the audience, which rose to its feet with applause.
Donovan detailed that the rule, saying that it includes a new equal access provision that prohibits discrimination in HUD-backed housing programs. It also, he said, guarantees that LGBT individuals are eligible for HUD's public housing programs and states that discrimination is prohibited on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in all Fair Housing Administration-backed loans -- which Donovan said constituted 40 percent of all loans for Americans who bought a home last year.
Waiting for the right to show their true colors by screaming bloody murder. Also waiting for the all-or-nothing gay left to dismiss this as "crumbs."
The National Organization for Marriage has announced Washington Survey Shows Strong Opposition to Same Sex Marriage; Voters Want the Right to Decide Marriage Issue. They don't provide a link to the actual poll results, but you can find them here (via SLOG). Here is the wording of thier question.
As you probably know, since 2010 Washington has had a civil union law which gives gay couples all the legal rights of married couples. Now some people want to pass a new law, which changes the definition of marriage, so that it is no longer between a man and a woman, but between any two people. Do you feel it is necessary or not necessary to pass now a new law which changes the definition of marriage in this way?
36% NECESSARY
57% NOT NECESSARY
7% DON’T KNOW/NO RESPONSE
Many polls show that a majority of voters support marriage equality. So NOM pollers need go to great lengths to get favorable results. The main value of polling is to show trends, and recently they have been toward marriage equality. What isn't surprising is that QEV Analytics is the polling firm. They are quite expert a delivering result that satisfy their client. There are othere things odd with these results, such as 60% of the interviewees having a college degree or higher.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker responds to NJ Gov. Chris Christie's proposal to put marriage equality on the ballot. Thank you, Mayor Booker.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on the incredible historical ignorance of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who thinks that gay people's marriage rights should be decided by referendum, just as black people's civil rights should have been back in the 1960s.
Keep talking, troglodytes.
Newark, New Jersey mayor Cory Booker has announced his opposition to putting marriage equality to a popluar vote.
"I shudder to think what would have happened if the civil rights gains, heroically established by courageous lawmakers in the 1960s, were instead conveniently left up to popular votes in our 50 states," Booker said in a statement.
Voters have regularly held back various civil rights movement. A New Jersey legislator noted that the last successful referendum in the state was in 1915 when voters repealed a bill allowing women the vote. And laws forbidding discrimination in housing were revoked by voters in both California and Maryland as well as in many smaller municipalities. The DC councilmembers disallowed referenda on groups covered by the Human Rights Act were well aware of this.
American democracy doesn't allow that government take away rights even if the majority favors it. The Bill of Rights was added onto the Constitution to limit the reach of democracy. Even if an overwhelming majority of citizens want Christianity declared our official religion itthey cannot. Even if a majority of DC voters want guns outlawed they cannot do that either. And in instances this has failed, such as when the Supreme Court upheld a law allowing for the imprisonment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, it is held as a stain on our national honor.
Update: Gov. Chris Christie has brought up the civil rights connectiion himself. He has said:
"The fact of the matter is, I think people would have been happy to have a referendum on civil rights rather than fighting and dying in the streets in the South."
This has sparked outrage.
(via JoeMyGod)
The State of Maryland has issued this video with the following description:
Governor O'Malley joined by advocates from a broad coalition of supporters discusses the Civil Marriage Protection Act of 2012. Marylanders of all walks of life want their children to live in a loving, stable, committed home -- protected under the law. The marriage equality bill balances equal protection of the law for every individual with free exercise of religion without government interference.
Metro Weekly reports here. the Blade reports here.
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.
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.
Here is the description accompanying this YouTube video from New Jersey Democrats:
In this video, New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester, Cumberland and Salem, Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, and Senator Raymond J. Lesniak, the prime sponsors of S-1, legislation to guarantee marriage equality for all couples, respond to Governor Chris Christie's suggestion that marriage equality should be decided at the ballot box, not by the Legislature.
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.
Sign our petition against PFZs here.
In related news, Maryland Delegate Heather Mizeur, with her wife in the gallery, tells opponents of the bill, "You can't stop us."
Over in the other Washington, anti-gay pastor Ken Hutcherson rants rather incoherently against marriage equality. Basically, he expects the civil government to act as an extension of his church. Other than introducing him to the First Amendment, I want to tell him: Dear Ken, please get over it. There's a spot waiting for you over at Silver Daddies.
As you may know, the D.C. Council's Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan. 24) on Yvette Alexander's Bill 19-567 to allow the police chief to make so-called Prostitution Free Zones permanent. As I will testify on behalf of GLAA, those zones violate the U.S. Constitution and in any case do not solve problems associated with street prostitution, because such police tactics merely chase the activity to other streetcorners. And giving criminal records to people who are engaged in commercial sex in order to survive only makes it harder for them to escape the streets.
Our discussion of this issue in GLAA's "Agenda: 2012" is here. We will post our testimony for the Jan. 24 hearing on GLAA's website on that morning.
Our friends Darby Hickey and Sonya Mendoza have placed a petition on change.org and tumblr.com about PFZs. Please use one of these links to add your voice to ours.
Thanks,
Rick Rosendall
Vice President for Political Affairs
Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance
Agence France-Presse reports:
British author Salman Rushdie on Sunday accused Indian police of making up an underworld plot to assassinate him that forced him to pull out of a literary festival this weekend.Rushdie withdrew from the event in Jaipur, the state capital of Rajasthan, after being warned by Indian officials that paid gunmen were heading to the city to kill him for his writing that is alleged to insult Muslims.
But Rushdie said that he now believed the supposed plot — apparently undertaken by Mumbai criminal gangs — had been invented to keep him away from the festival and to avoid controversy.
“I’ve investigated, & believe that I was indeed lied to. I am outraged and very angry,” Rushdie said on Twitter after newspaper reports that Rajasthan police had concocted the death threat.
Rushdie’s 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses”, which remains banned in India, is seen by many Muslims worldwide as a blasphemous work that insults their religion....
Writers Hari Kunzru and Amitava Kumar read out passages of “The Satanic Verses” from the stage in protest on Friday, angering some local Muslim groups who had welcomed Rushdie’s withdrawal from the programme.
The festival in Jaipur is a high-profile event, with the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Richard Dawkins in attendance. Bravo to those who protested the threats against Rushdie, and to the authors who read from his work there.
As disturbing as those who respond to disagreeable literature by threatening to kill the author are those who sympathize with them or say things like, "You don't have the right to offend other people's religion." Yes we damn well do. And I am not just talking about the United States, whose First Amendment protects freedom of speech and of the press in addition to the free exercise of religion. One of Europe's most renowned writers is Günter Grass, whose most famous novel, The Tin Drum has some astonishing blasphemous passages (which I, who was raised a Catholic, loved). In that case, the blasphemy related to Christianity. In 1989, during the furor over The Satanic Verses (which I have read and enjoyed, btw), I heard Islamic scholars insist that the West would never tolerate anti-Christian blasphemy. That claim was demonstrably, laughably false. Grass, incidentally, was one of the authors who guaranteed publication of the German translation of Rushdie's book.
As it happens, Rushdie is one of my favorite authors. I have had countless hours of enjoyment reading his imaginative, perceptive, vivid and witty work. My favorites among his books include The Moor's Last Sigh, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Shalimar the Clown, and The Enchantress of Florence — all of which, incidentally, were written after Ayatollah Khoumeini issued the fatwa against him. Possibly his greatest work is Midnight's Children, which won Britain's Booker Prize and the Booker of Bookers. I do think that having read his work makes me more qualified to speak about it than people who condemn him without having bothered to read him. But those who oppose him, whether they are informed or not, are free to avoid reading him. They are also free to write books or articles or blogs criticizing him. They are not free, or should not be free, to suppress his work or to call for his death.
Incidentally, while it is not pertinent to the issue of defending his freedom as an author, Mr. Rushdie is a longtime pro-gay liberal. Besides the Ayatollah, one of the other real-life characters whom he lampooned in The Satanic Verses was Margaret Thatcher, whom he dubbed Maggie Torture. In contrast to the Ayatollah's reaction to the book, Mrs. Thatcher's government placed Rushdie, a British subject, under her government's protection. That nicely illustrates the difference between a free country and a theocracy.
Don't say you weren't warned.
- In the area of enforcement, OHR completely eliminated its case backlog in 2010 and continued to maintain a significantly reduced case backlog in 2011
- In FY11, OHR recorded a total of 339 new discrimination complaints
- In 2010, OHR expanded its enforcement function by using the authority granted to the agency Director under the Human Rights Act, known as the Director’s Inquiry, and allocated specific resources to investigate allegations or possible patterns of discrimination in the District. A total of 94 Director’s Inquiries were investigated in 2009-20111.
- In FY11, OHR hosted community forums to address issues facing Limited English and Non-English Proficient community members in accessing government services
- In FY10, OHR conducted training for 788 DC government employees designated with EEO responsibilities from over 65 agencies
- More than 7,800 users from District government and the private sector utilized OHR’s E-learning modules for EEO, Diversity and Language Access
The full report is here.
Here are the latest stories from LGBT Asylum News:
Note: Do not trust any Ugandan official. The "Kill the Gays" bill is being pushed by associates of President Yoweri Museveni's wife. Eternal vigilance is especially required in that country.
GLAA's ratings in the 2010 Ward 5 Council race can be found here. (Scroll down.)
I am proud to note that D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray is a signatory to this statement. (Of course, he also helped enact marriage equality in the nation's capital.) Thanks and congrats to our friends at Freedom to Marry.
Here's an inspiring video from NoMoreDownLow.TV. There's something distracting, though, about reporter Kendell Hogan. I can't quite put my finger on it.
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.
Key Findings on Gender Non-Conforming Students
- Nearly 1 in 10 of elementary students in 3rd to 6th grade (8%) indicate that they do not always conform to traditional gender norms/roles - either they are boys who others sometimes think, act or look like a girl, or they are girls who others sometimes think, act or look like a boy.
- Gender nonconforming students are less likely than other students to feel very safe at school (42% vs 61%), and are more likely than others to indicate they sometimes do not want to go to school because they feel unsafe or afraid there (35% vs 15%). Gender nonconforming students are also more likely than others to be called names, made fun of or bullied at least sometimes at school (56% vs 33%).
- Less than half of teachers believe that a gender nonconforming student would feel comfortable at their school (male student who acts or looks traditionally feminine: 44%, female student who acts or looks traditionally masculine: 49%)
- Only a third (34%) of teachers report having personally engaged in efforts to create a safe and supportive classroom environment for gender nonconforming students.
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.
Right Wing Watch reports: "Bryan Fischer says God will heal AIDS patients if they just stop having sex with men." This reminds me of the story of the man with a well who refused a drink to a man dying of thirst, admonishing him with the observation that water was dangerous and the man could drown.
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).
The YouTube source page for this video is introduced thus:
Sherrilyn Ifill, a law professor and a civil rights lawyer speaks to the MLK Day event at the Capitol and shares how the Reverend felt about some issues that we still find ourselves dealing with, like housing discrimination and predatory banking practices, the culture of war and how money and resources spent on war is money and resources not spent helping those in need, but the biggest response of the day was when she brought up the discriminatory voter disenfranchisement law that Walker pushed through.
Brava.
(Hat tip: Ladd Everitt)
LGBTQ Nation reports:
ATLANTA — Bernice King took the stage today at Atlanta’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. rally and included gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people among the various groups she said need to come together to fulfill her father’s legacy.In a passionate, sermon-like speech about building unity, King said she didn’t care if people were Hindu, Buddhist, Islamist, were from the North side or the South side, were black or white, were “heterosexual or homosexual, or gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender” — that all people were needed to create unity.
LGBT people who attended the rally said they were shocked that King – who has a long anti-gay past — actually acknowledged the community in a public speech, but said they were also glad because it shows people can evolve.
Here's to the possibility of redemption.
(Hat tip: Steven Publicover)
Update: Pam Spaulding comments:
We have to allow for people to grow and learn, and it took courage for King to make her statement. With her declaration, we will now see if Bernice King follows the lead of her late mother, Coretta Scott King, and her late sister, Yolanda, in their advocacy of full equality for members of the LGBT community.
Amen.
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