K8 on the Census

The census is coming. Make sure you fill out yours - and you do it honestly so we can queer the census! We're not all gay white men living in five cities!

From JMG: ABC Nightline Covers Uganda's "Kill Gays" Bill And Pastor Martin Ssempa

Last night Nightline delivered an excellent report on the situation in Uganda, interviewing the genocidal Pastor Martin Ssempa and his American evangelical accomplice Scott Lively. Watch this.

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From JMG: Prop 8 Attorneys Ted Olson & David Boies Speak At The New York Times

Last night Perry Vs. Schwarzenegger lead attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies spoke before about 150 journalists at the New York Times headquarters in Manhattan in an event called "Unlikely Allies." In attendance among the print journalists were uber-blogger Andy Towle, activists Corey Johnson and Brendan Fay, former Clinton advisor David Mixner, and former GLAAD director Neil Giuliano.

Olson and Boies spoke eloquently and optimistically about the potential outcome for the case and fielded sharp questions from the audience about the possible ramifications should they lose, the campaign to put cameras in the courtroom, and the pitiful defense put on by Protect Marriage. The event was moderated by NYT Supreme Court reporter Adam Liptak, who opened with an impassioned statement of his paper's support for LGBT rights. Paul Schindler at Gay City News:

It is no exaggeration to conclude that Boies and Olson are confident about their chances before Judge Walker, from whom they expect a ruling no later than June. The next step, they predicted, would be “expedited review” by the Ninth Circuit, perhaps in an “en banc” hearing that includes all of its appellate judges.

Victory at the appellate level –– which would legalize marriage for same-sex couples either in California or possibly in all nine states in the Ninth Circuit –– would speed Supreme Court review, since that victory would certainly be stayed, the attorneys said, until the high court ruled.

Boies and Olson were cagiest on how broad they think a potential district court victory might be. The court could find –– in somewhat analogous fashion to a 1996 Supreme Court case in which an anti-gay Colorado amendment was thrown out –– that voters in California had acted to deny gay and lesbian couples the equal protection of the law, in this case guaranteed by the state rather than the federal Constitution.

Or, Walker could rule that Boies and Olson succeeded in doing what they say they will fight to the end to demonstrate –– that the fundamental right to marry and the equal protection of the laws of the United States are violated when same-sex couples are denied access to civil marriage.

That, of course, would be the ultimate game-changer. Olson, perhaps the nation’s preeminent Supreme Court litigator, and Boies are clearly banking on their ability to win that argument on the merits at the high court, whatever the conventional wisdom about the current justices’ biases.

When asked afterward whether his confidence at the district court level is about winning the general argument or more narrowly restoring the right to marry in California, Boies said he was uncertain, acknowledging that Walker might well reach a decision fashioned to survive review by the Ninth Circuit and the Supreme Court. Even at this first stage, then, politics are not absent from the judicial equation.

Read Paul Schindler's complete article. Below is my short slideshow from the evening, followed by Towleroad's Corey Johnson's pre-event interview with Olson and Boies. I came away even more impressed with the pair, if that's possible. And it struck me that if someone had told me ten years ago that one day I'd be gushingly shaking the hand of the lead attorney in Bush Vs. Gore, I'd have told him that he was full of the crazy. Ted Olson left us with his prediction that Prop 8 would be before the Supreme Court by October 2011. It's almost unimaginable that in just 18 months, this decades-long battle could be over.

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Peace, Love, Ice Cream and Gay Marriage

Newlyweds to celebrate at Ben & Jerry's

By ANDREA BERRY

Now that gay marriage is legal in the District, one pair of newlyweds is celebrating in a manner that gives new meaning to the term "wedded bliss."

Ice cream cake!

Keith Spangler and Andreas Vellios will have their wedding reception Wednesday at Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop in Georgetown.

They'll be joined by the ice cream chain's co-founder, Jerry Greenfield, along with D.C. Councilmember David Catania (I-At Large), who sponsored D.C.'s gay marriage bill.

make the jump here to read the rest of the story

Husbands and Husbands... adorable!

From JMG: PhoboQuotable - Slaggie Gilamonster

"In the spring of 2009, a few states moved to gay marriage and public opinion seemed to shift abruptly in gay marriage's favor. But by May of that year, support for gay marriage just as abruptly tumbled. Why?

"I believe I was the first person, in the National Review cover story The Carrie Effect, to publicly credit the impact of Carrie Prejean. Pre-Carrie, even most conservative media outlets avoided gay marriage. Carrie gave Fox News and major radio talk show hosts a vehicle for talking about the issue that they understood and liked. The general public was exposed to the truth that the majority continue to oppose gay marriage and that gay marriage advocates are not about tolerance but about imposing their views and punishing dissent, I argued. [snip]

"How can one beautiful young woman make such an outsized difference? It's because gay marriage advocates are no longer persuading people they are right on marriage; they are suppressing the expression of opposing opinions by raising the cost of speaking up in favor of marriage, while at the same time attempting to make Americans believe that gay marriage won't have any consequences. Carrie's ordeal made the first process visible and the second idea hard to swallow." - Maggie Gallagher, citing a pollster's claim that public support for marriage equality nosedived during the Miss Ladyfingers USA controversy.

Gallagher notes parenthetically that the same pollster says public support for marriage equality has since returned to pre-Ladyfingers level, which, of course, shoots down the premise for her entire column. But logic has never been Maggie's strong suit. Nor is the truth, for she makes no mention of her furious backpedaling from Prejean during the sex tape scandal, during which all mention of Miss Ladyfingers magically vanished from NOM's website.

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From JMG: Save California Nutters: Roy Ashburn Should Resign Because He's Gay (Even Though There's No Such Thing)

And predictably, the wingnuts begin to eat their own. Randy Thomasson, execudouche director of Save California:

Now he’s completely “out.” Monday morning on the radio, Republican State Senator Roy Ashburn of Bakersfield said “I’m gay.” But Roy Ashburn is mistaken. No one is “gay” because the so-called “gay gene” does not exist. What’s more, there are thousands of Americans who formerly engaged in homosexual behavior who have gotten help and have left their unnatural lifestyle behind. Should Ashburn resign? Yes, he should. His lying, cheating ways have boiled over and the public’s trust has been shattered.

Ashburn should resign because he's something which doesn't exist. OK, then. Thomasson goes on to cite Ashburn's DUI arrest and claims that he was cheating on his wife. Who he divorced several years ago. OK, then. Thomasson: "Even if you’re told he has voted pro-family in the past, he is untrustworthy now."

Wow, such a dilemma when you have two such juicy asshats to choose between!reposted from JMG

From JMG

Trans Panic! At The Disco

Good As You points out the latest bit of transphobery from the Tradition Values Coalition.

President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats are quietly rushing through legislation (H.R. 3017 & S. 1584) that would actually bring cross-dressing teachers into your child’s classroom. Under the so-called, Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), your children will be trapped in classes taught by drag queens and transgender activists. Students will be indoctrinated that “alternative lifestyles” are no different than traditional lifestyles. Young children will be forced to learn about bizarre sexual fetishes – and you will have no say in the matter. It is already happening in some states and concerned parents can’t do a thing about it – until now. This radical bill goes too far. That’s why the Traditional Values Coalition is standing in strong opposition to ENDA. Sign our petition against ENDA today and send Obama, Reid, Pelosi, and their liberal allies a clear message: cross-dressing teachers do not belong in our classrooms!

The haters understand very well that transphobia is one their safest bets when trying to quash any LGBT rights bill.

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Play it Loud!

From JMG: Utah's Final Solution: Patriot Group Announces Bill To Force All Homosexuals Out Of The State, Arrest Fugitives

Hoax or real? Calling it "Utah's Fair Solution", a group called Patriots For A Moral Utah is holding a press conference today to announce legislation that would force all homosexuals to leave the state. The bill would create a transportation system for shipping all gays out of the state and would criminalize any Utah citizen who "harbors a remaining homosexual." Here's the press release they sent out yesterday:

Patriots For A Moral Utah are pleased to announce a press conference tomorrow, at which time we will announce a new bill which outlining a solution to the problem of homosexuality in Utah. In the past 5 years it has become increasingly difficult and troublesome for the stead-fast and moral citizens of Utah to live their lives and their faith in peace, while the homosexuals continually force their choices and behaviors on us. This new legislation, titled the "Utah Fair Solution," will offer a peaceful but effective end to the tribulation in our blessed state. Despite promises from the homosexual activists to be out in force at the press conference, our President Nora Young has scheduled the announcement for 1pm in the Capitol Rotunda (March 8th). Please Join us.

Sincerely;
Paul Jackson
Public Relations
Patriots For A Moral Utah
pauljackson2000@gmail.com

Let's see. Forced relocation. Transport system. Penalties for harboring. Yup. Sounds like an authentic Final Solution to me. Also sounds like hoax, but you never know. You may laugh at these idiots, but this yet another example of the recent avalanche of Christianist calls to criminalize, imprison, and exterminate homosexuals in the United States. These demands are now made openly, boldly, without shame. And they are often coming from the top rungs of the most powerful and well-known Christian organizations in the nation.

Below are two excerpts from a multi-page PDF outlining the Final Solution legislation, as provided by JMG reader Michael in Salt Lake City. Read them carefully. If it's a hoax, it's pretty thorough!

reposted from JMG