Category: LGBTQ
NY Gov. Paterson Continues to Move Left to Shore Up Flagging Poll Numbers
Now he has announced that he will introduce a same-sex marriage bill to the New York legislature.
Much like the income tax hike on the wealthy, we now know that Paterson will do the right thing, if you are holding a political gun to his head, like being down by double digits in the primary and the general elections for New York governor in 2010.
Vermont Lege Overrides Governor Dumhead’s Gay Marriage Veto
So it’s now the law of the land in Vermont. Great news!!!!!
Hopefully, Vermonters will deal with Governor Jim Douglas at reelection time.
Gay Marriage News
The Iowa Supreme Court rules gay marriage legal, and the Vermont house passed a same-sex marriage bill, though the governor is still talking about vetoing it, because it’s a distraction during the economic crisis.
Of course, the only way that it is a distraction is if he vetoes it, but he has to win a Republican primary with lots of bigots voting.
The idea that Vermont, which is highly dependent on tourism, would eschew this, which would give a boost to that industry, is, of course, nuts, but the Governor Jim Douglas is a ‘Phant, after all.
The down side to this is that we are going to be spending a lot more on wedding gifts.
But seriously, it stuns me how quickly the forces of reason and hope are beating back the voices of fear and bigotry.
Compared to the black civil rights movement, this is light speed.
Vermont Senate Passes Marriage Equality
By a 26-4 margin (!), so it goes to the state house, where it is almost certain to pass, the governor, Republican Jim Douglas, says that he does not support the bill, though it is not certain whether he will veto it from the story.
Never Underestimate the Power of Really Bored Frat Boys
Α Δ Φ vs. Westboro Baptist Church
Α Δ Φ: 1
Westboro Baptist Church: 0
Do Not Reward the Incompetent
While I’ve heard complaints about the people who campaigned against Proposition 8 in California, I’ve not followed it closely, but the following is unbelievable. Anyone who had anything to do with the “No on 8” campaign should never be hired as a political consultant ever again:
At the forum, Kors said turning the campaign over to the consultants was “a huge mistake.”
Smith also acknowledged that the campaign should have used then-presidential candidate Barack Obama’s stated opposition to Prop 8. Instead, little use was made of Obama’s opposition in a letter last June to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, and right before Election Day the Yes on 8 campaign sent out a mailer featuring Obama’s image and quotes that he is opposed to same-sex marriage.
“That was a close call,” Smith said. “Maybe we should have.”
Maybe you should have? Maybe you should have?
This is so phenomenally stupid it beggars the imagination.
Smith said that people outside the Bay Area wouldn’t know what the Alice Club was, but club Co-Chair Susan Christian spoke up and said that in fact, Obama’s letter to the club been widely reported, including in the New York Times.
Win or lose at the California Supreme Court, and the indications are that it will be a lose, this will be on the ballot as an initiative petition in 2010, and job 1 is to ensure that the folks who ran “No on 8” don’t get into positions of authority on this.
Sooner or Later, He Just Might Have to Stand for Something.
On the reliably wankeriffic Washington Post editorial page, Richard Cohen is generally one of the more reliably wankeriffic. He’s not up to the truly delusional level of Krauthammer, but he consistently shows a lack of ability to think and even to understand what he just said. I have noted this in the past.
That being said, Richard Cohen gets one right today, because, unlike most of the time, he actually knows the people who are effected by a political event.
In this case, it is his sister, who is a lesbian and in a 19 year committed relationship, and a supporter of Barack Obama who traveled to volunteered for the campaign, has canceled her inauguration party because of his invitation to for bigot preacher Rick Warren to give the invocation.
It’s amazing how much more sane and thoughtful the pundits are when it’s them and theirs that are effected by an action…Kind of funny huh?
Cohen rightly castigates Obama on this, though, with typical aplomb, he buries his lede:
The conventional thing to say is that Obama has a preacher problem — first the volcanic Jeremiah Wright and now the transparently anti-gay Warren. But the real problem has nothing to do with ministers and everything to do with Obama’s inability or unwillingness to be a moral leader. Sooner or later, he just might have to stand for something.
Of course his point on Wright was that Barack Obama needed to leave his church because a publication edited by Wright’s daughter gave an award to Farrakhan, because black politicians are in lock step with everything done by their church….Something he would never suggest of a white politician.
That being said, this is a case of a stopped clock being right twice a day: Sooner or later Barack Obama has to stand for something.
Obama Throws Gays Under the Bus…..Again
Over a year ago, I called out Barack Obama for throwing gays under the bus with his gospel concert in South Carolina, when he let an anti-gay bigot (who’s also … you know gay … but all better now really … no … really … he’s all better now…) take the stage … scratch that take over the stage…
Well, I’m not stunned and amazed: He handled the McClurkin contraversy in the way most calculated to be hurtful, and now he
is having bigot Christo-Fascist* Rick Warren to give inaugural invocation.
The PFAW president describes himself as ‘Profoundly Disappointed’ by this development, and Atrios gives Obama the coveted Wanker of the Day award.
The good folks at Right Wing Watch have the scoop on just what this man has done and said, which includes:
- Coming out vociferiously in support of Prop 8 stripping the right to marry from gays in California.
- This also includes him lying like a dog, and saying that this would allow pastors to be arrested for sermons
- Declaring that marriage, abortion rights (anti), and stem cell research were “non-negotiable” issues for Christian voters.
- Has said that the difference himself and James Dobson is a just tone.
- He has compared abortion to the Holocaust.
- Declared that those who do not believe in God should not be allowed to hold public office.
I’m a bit disappointed, but I am far from surprised, I expected some sort of backhand to “te gay” as a demonstration of “bipartisanship.”
My gay friend who thinks that Obama sh%$s ice cream though….I don’t know how he’ll rationalize this.
If you are expecting a move on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in the military before the 2010 elections, you are sorely mistaken.
*I could also use the term “Talibaptist”….Your thoughts on which works better?
Obama Staffing Update
Nancy Sutley as head of the the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
She is also Obama’s first “out” appointment, being a member of Hillary Clinton’s LBGT committee.
California Probing Mormons for Illegal “in Kind” Campaign Contributions
It appears that they neglected to report extensive “in-kind” donations on the Prop 8 campaign:
….. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints failed to report money invested to organize phone banks, send out direct mailers, provide transportation to California, mobilize a speakers bureau, send out satellite simulcasts and develop Web sites as well as numerous commercials and video broadcasts.
It’s not the contributions, it’s the failure to report that is in question here.
Alms for the F*ck&ng Clueless
Specifically, one Jay Nordlinger of the National Review Online, who just posted an article titled, “GOP life on the down low, &c. “
My guess is that this guy is not up on cultural slang…..Like shooting fish in a bloody barrel.
H/T Matthew Yglesias for the catch.
Florida Ban on Gay Adoptions Thrown Out
This is just plain common sense, and the case involves a gay man who took in two abused kids as foster children, but the Florida Department of Children & Families wants to continue to pay this guy to be a foster parent, so they are appealing.
This is the second ruling on this in the past 3 months.
It turns out that Florida in a fit of Anita Bryant induced insanity, passed a law prohibiting gay adoption in 1977.
Thought for The Day: Marriage Equity
Bigots Look For Separate Church
In this case, it’s the right wing nuts of the Episcopal Church,
When I last heard about this, they had allied themselves to a Nigerian nutcase Bishop who wanted imprison and/or execute gays, in the hope of forming an affiliation with the Nigerian communion.
Now they want to form a parallel church, all because there has been a gay Bishop consecrated hundreds of miles away from them, and they feel the need to hate.
There are differing counts of how many congregations are willing to leave, but all indications are that the number is relatively small, and it will likely will remain small, unless the mainstream Episcopals feel compelled to make nice.
From a pragmatic perspective, making nice would allow the people who are arguing for bigotry to keep buildings and other assets accrued, and there are a lot of people who won’t go along with the bigots if it means losing their church and school buildings.
From a moral perspective, people who use their God as an excuse to hate should not be humored.
Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment on Prop 8
Wow.
Heh
A Critique of the No on Prop 8 Effort
Quoting John Aravosis:
I’d like someone to explain to me why the leaders of our side of the campaign shouldn’t be metaphorically beaten to within an inch of their lives. We should have hired political professionals, even – eeks! – straight ones, to do this. But we relied on the usual gay names and faces because, cumbaya my lord, a PC group hug is far more important than actually winning. I’m disgusted. And I want to see some heads rolling.
I would note that this problem is not unique to the Gay community…In fact it appears to be endemic to the Democratic party. (Brazile, Shrum, Penn, etc.)
He Could Have Been a Republican
Well, late Austrian bigot and racist Jörg Haider has has now been outed as gay.
You can be hardline on immigration without being a bigot, but Mr. Haider never made the effort.
I guess he can share a room in hell with J. Edgar Hoover.
It would be nice if we lived in a world that did not need closets.