Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Via JMG: The Obamas Speak Out Against Bullying

In advance of an anti-bullying conference to be held at the White House tomorrow, the president and First Lady have posted the below message to the federal government's official Stop Bullying page on Facebook.

Via Equality America:

A study published by the APA says, “Homophobia is one type of latent homosexuality where persons either are unaware of or deny their homosexual urges.”

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Via JMG: Quote Of The Day - Henry Rollins


"Of course same sex marriage is constitutional! The right to be yourself, to pursue life, liberty, and property, is protected several ways over several amendments. John Boehner should know this. If only he read the Constitution as often as some of us do, he wouldn’t have bothered to lower himself to this time-wasting, pathetic attempt to invigorate his base of supporters.

"Damn, congressman, we’re trying to get up the road here. Either lay out a plan for job creation for all of us to see or get out of the way. You are the Speaker of the House. Scratching around in the ancient dirt of repellent prejudice instead of tackling the real issues is amateur hour. You have a plan? Now’s the time." - Henry Rollins, writing for Vanity Fair.


reposted from Joe

Via the Onion: Gay hordes attack after defense of DOMA ends

A great piece from The Onion about a week ago:
WASHINGTON—Reports continue to pour in from around the nation today of helpless Americans being forcibly taken from their marital unions after President Obama dropped the Defense of Marriage Act earlier this week, leaving the institution completely vulnerable to roving bands of homosexuals. "It was just awful—they smashed through our living room window, one of them said 'I've had my eye on you, Roger,' and then they dragged my husband off kicking and screaming," said Cleveland-area homemaker Rita Ellington, one of the latest victims whose defenseless marriage was overrun by the hordes of battle-ready gays that had been clambering at the gates of matrimony since the DOMA went into effect in 1996. "Oh dear God, why did they remove the protection provided by this vital piece of legislation? My children! What will I tell my children?" A video communique was sent to the media late yesterday from what appears to be the as-yet unidentified leader of the gay marauders, who, adorned in terrifying warpaint, announced "Richard Dickson of Ames, Iowa. We're coming for you next. Put on something nice."
We'd go after Maggie Gallagher's "husband," but no one has ever seen him.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Via JMG: Michael Stipe: I'm 80% Gay


"On a sliding scale of sexuality I’d place myself around 80-20, but I definitely prefer men to women. I had sex with, and enjoyed sex with, women until I met someone that I fell in love with, and who is now my boyfriend. I wasn’t troubled or confused, but I just felt there wasn’t a place for me. I hate and refuse to apply the term bisexual to myself. It doesn’t seem appropriate. It feels like just another label." - REM lead singer Michael Stipe, speaking to the Observer.


reposted from Joe

Via JMG: NEW YORK: Donald Trump's Anti-Gay Comments Spawn Calls For Boycott


Days after Donald Trump announced that gay people deserve no civil rights at all, some activists are calling for a boycott of his businesses.
In New York, home to one of the largest gay and lesbian communities in the U.S., Trump's comments may end up biting him in the ass-ets. "He's an extreme bigot," says Allen Roskoff, who was the first openly gay appointed official in New York City and has served under Gov. Mario Cuomo and Mayor David Dinkins, among others." Roskoff adds: "Not only should gays be furious, we should be boycotting the products of the advertisers on his TV show" - "Celebrity Apprentice," which premiered Sunday night on NBC-TV "and certainly boycotting his casinos and hotels and apartment buildings." Noting that Trump recently switched his stance on abortion from pro-choice to pro-life, Roskoff says: "His game plan is to appeal to the extreme right." But he continues: "How he does business in New York, how he's tolerated is beyond me. I think things are going to change for him."
The above-linked article notes that Trump's daughter Ivanka has attended marriage equality fundraisers.


reposted from Joe

Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Jonathan Lovitz

"Just had an intense day at jury duty. During voir dire we were asked who would not be impartial. I raised my hand and said, 'Since I can't get married or adopt a child in the state of New York, I can't possibly be an impartial judge of a citizen when I am considered a second class one in the eyes of this justice system.' You wouldn't believe how people in the room reacted." - NYC-based actor Jonathan Lovitz, who was then excused by the judge.

New York state does allow both single and coupled gays to adopt, but Lovitz' jury duty tactic is an interesting one.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Via JMG: HRC Denounces Boehner's DOMA Plan


The Human Rights Campaign has issued a denouncement of House Speaker John Boehner's vow to force the defense of DOMA. Via press release:
“The decision to mount an all-out defense of DOMA is particularly hypocritical given the Speaker’s contention that the President was distracted from focusing on the economy by DOMA,” said Solmonese. In order to defend the constitutionality of Section 3 of DOMA in court, Congress would likely have to make arguments that could include:

· That gays and lesbians have not faced a history of discrimination
· That one’s sexual orientation is in fact relevant to a person’s ability to contribute to society
· That, contrary to the opinion of experts, sexual orientation is something that can be changed
· That, despite widespread laws such as marriage amendments disadvantaging gays and lesbians, they are politically powerful.
· That the federal government is justified in violating the federalist tradition of leaving marriage and family law to the states

“A far right fringe may be calling for a defense of DOMA, but doing so is sure to turn off independent voters,” said Solmonese. “John Boehner should realize that the world has changed since 1996 and fair-minded Americans won’t like what House Republican leaders have to say when trying to justify federal discrimination against some of a state’s lawful marriages.”
Joe Solmonese adds: "House Republican leadership has now shown they’re more interested in scoring cheap political points on the backs of same-sex couples than tackling real problems."


reposted from Joe

Defense of Marriage Act: That's Gay

Via JMG: America's Bedrock



reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Alzheimer's Patient Wants To Marry While He Still Recognizes His Partner

Californians Ed Watson and Derence Kernik have been together for 40 years, but Ed has been been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and the couple is desperately hoping to marry while he can still recognize Derence. In a totally fucking related development, today the American Family Association denounced attempts to have the stay on Prop 8 lifted, using the headline, "Patience Is Not A Homosexual Virtue."




reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Trump: Gays Deserve No Rights At All


We already knew Donald Trump opposes same-sex marriage, but now we learn just how far his animus towards gay people extends.
After indicating to the Des Moines Register that he will compete in next year's Iowa caucus should he decide to seek office, Trump was questioned on his stance concerning same sex marriages. "They should not be able to marry," the Celebrity Apprentice star asserted. Trump also admitted that he hasn't developed a "fully formed" opinion on extending medical and civil benefits to gay couples, but he added: "As of this moment, I would say no and no." The TV personality has suggested that he will announce his final decision on whether to launch a presidential bid in the coming months.
GOProud will be so pleased.


reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Concerned Women Are Concernstipated About 80s Pop Stars Getting Married


Or so it would seem from their bizarre image accompanying this message:
So, just like any other despot, Obama decided unilaterally to make the decision for all of us ignorant Americans who support DOMA, and we should be grateful. Shame on him. And shame on us if we just stand by silently and take it. We should not! We must speak out. Truthfully, we have been too silent for far too long. President Obama and Mr. Holder have been actively working against DOMA and, therefore, against all Americans ever since they took office. Even on the cases where they decided to “defend” DOMA, they were actually undermining its reasoning by abandoning the most effective arguments.

DOJ’s mission statement says it is “...to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.” But President Obama and the attorney general have made a mockery of impartiality. They have chosen to side with an extreme, liberal minority and chose to suppress the rights of the majority of Americans. Simply put, if you support DOMA, this president and his administration view you as the enemy who does not deserve the same protections other Americans enjoy. We are on our own.

reposted from Joe

Via HRC:

Human Rights Campaign


Dear Daniel,
Don't let Republican leaders in Congress waste time and resources protecting the hateful Defense of Marriage Act.
Make an urgent gift to fund our all-out effort to fight DOMA.
Join
In the wake of President Obama's courageous decision to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), radical lawmakers have sunk to a new low.
Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor have spent this past week working to placate anti-LGBT members of Congress and their right wing base by indicating they will defend DOMA – no matter what it takes.
So much for their pledges to focus on jobs and the economy. These so-called fiscal conservatives are wasting Congress's time and resources to defend discrimination.
We've never taken these attacks sitting down – and we can't start now. Time and again, our opponents lash out when we make progress. And time and again we band together to stop them. We've got to do it again this week, with a rapid-response effort in Congress and beyond. Can you help now?
In the past several weeks, HRC has helped drive major victories: civil unions in Hawaii and Illinois; unprecedented progress on marriage equality in Maryland, Rhode Island, and New York; and President Obama's decision on DOMA. All of those phone calls, rallies, letters to Congress, meetings with lawmakers – they're working.
But these victories have pushed our opponents to redouble their efforts to undermine equality.
So we're at a crossroads. We can catapult off of these recent victories and others in Illinois and Hawaii, grab this momentum with both hands and lay a foundation now for a future of full marriage equality – or we can let the extreme right wing dictate America's political agenda.
Right-wing radicals know the tide is turning against them. It's just making them more desperate. Only your generous grassroots support will help us stand strong. We must seize this moment. Are you with us, Daniel?
Thank you for helping us win – and for keeping this movement strong.
Best,
Joe Solmonese
Joe Solmonese
President
Join

Via JMG: Thrice-Married Serial Adulterer Arranged $200K To Protect Sanctity Of Marriage


According to the Los Angeles Times, Newt Gingrich served as middleman for an anonymous donor who gave $200,000 in "seed money" to fund the successful campaign to oust three Iowa state Supreme Court justices.
This year, several potential presidential candidates are vying for attention among religious conservatives. But only Gingrich was instrumental in the most heralded event of recent Christian political activism: The effort last fall to remove the Iowa judges. "It wouldn't have happened without Newt," said David Lane, executive director of Iowa for Freedom, the organization that led the campaign. "Newt provided strategic advice and arranged the initial seed money, about $200,000, which is what got everything started." The money came from an anonymous donor whose contribution was arranged by Gingrich, Lane said. Robert L. Vander Plaats, chief spokesman for the judicial campaign, said the former speaker provided key strategic advice. He said Gingrich had won over pastors in the state with his "open and transparent" approach.
Newt Gingrich would like to remind everybody that that marriage is between one man and one woman whom you abandon riddled with cancer on her hospital bed while you fuck the shit out of your mistress whom you later marry and cheat on with a third woman while screaming with Godly moral outrage about the infidelities of the president.


reposted from Joe

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Via JMG: New Book: Germans Invented Gay Rights



According to a coming book by historian Robert Beachy, the genesis of the modern gay rights movement came in 19th century Germany.
Modern conceptions of homosexuality began, ironically, with an anti-sodomy law. When the German empire was unified in 1871, the Imperial Criminal Code included a law prohibiting sexual penetration of one man by another. Questions about what types of activity should fall under the law spurred a sustained public inquiry into the nature of same-sex eroticism and sexuality in general. [snip] This new view of same-sex love was pioneered by German doctors who published early case studies of homosexuals in the 1850s. German psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing released the first edition of his hugely influential Psychopathia Sexualis in 1886, which included multiple case studies of homosexuals that supported this new position. Through his work, Krafft-Ebing became a vocal opponent of the German anti-sodomy law, stating that homosexuality "should not be viewed as a psychic depravity or even sickness."
Beachy claims the world's first gay rights group, the Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee (Scientific-Humanitarian Committee) came into being at that time to gather petition signatures to repeal the anti-sodomy law. His book, The German Invention Of Homosexuality, is due out next year.


reposted from Joe

Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Jim Burroway


"This [Westboro] ruling is important for many reasons. First and foremost, it preserves the primacy of free speech in America, which benefits us all. But from a parochial pro-LGBT narrative, it’s equally important to note that it proves the lie to the multiple instances when anti-gay activists falsely claimed that advances in LGBT equality and protections — whether they come in the form of marriage equality or hate crimes protections — will result in the infringement of religious and speech rights. They never have and, if this ruling is any indication, it reaffirms the fact that they never will. So the next time someone claims that marriage equality will result in pastors being prosecuted for hate speech, make a note of it: Snyder v Phelps." - Jim Burroway, writing for Box Turtle Bulletin.



reposted from Joe

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Via JMG: Gillibrand Launches RepealDOMA.com


Just launched by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). Via Huffington Post:
We must repeal this discriminatory law. There is no reason same-sex couples should be denied the same rights that my husband and I and so many other straight Americans enjoy. For me it comes down to the very simple principles that every American should be able to marry the person they love, and that discrimination against LGBT Americans is unconstitutional and wrong. The law as it currently stands denies federal benefits to thousands of legally married couples -- more than 1,100 federal rights and privileges enjoyed by straight couples, including hospital visitation, inheritance and some health care benefits. It discourages states from recognizing these legal marriages and it denies millions more Americans the right to marry the person they love. This is wrong.
Gillibrand has also pledged to cosponsor Feinstein's coming repeal bill.
reposted from Joe

SASSY GAY FRIEND: Great Expectations