Dolly Parton says gay rights are a 'human' issue

Dolly Parton supports gay rights

10 Comments on Dolly Parton says gay rights are a 'human' issue

Dolly Parton has said she believes gay rights are "human rights", rather than being a political issue.

The singer told The Times: "I'm not a poster child for gay rights by any means.

"But I have so many gay and lesbian friends and they’re just so pure and so true. That's not politics to me. That's human rights."

jump here to read the "full" article

Former Ex-Gay Leaders Apologize

Odd how the USA is the same Color as Africa...

From Belirico: Subject: Long Hair, Rifle Sights, & Gay Corporations

The Prop 8 trial continued this week and we kept up our daily coverage and live multi-source Twitter feed. That wasn't the only major story this week though. Check out some of the great posts we ran this week:

Sunday

A Problem and a Proposal

Filed by: D Gregory Smith

http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/the_problem_with_bisexuals.php

Hair, gender, and power

Filed by: Alex Blaze

http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/hair_gender_and_power.php

Monday

Donor-Turned-Boyfriend after Break-Up

Filed by: Michele O'Mara

http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/donor-turned-boyfriend_after_break-up.php

Educating Congress

Filed by: Dr. Jillian T. Weiss

http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/educating_congress.php

Tuesday

Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition... Literally Filed by: Waymon Hudson http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/praise_the_lord_and_pass_the_ammunition_literally.php

Caster Semenya: Sports Authorities in Gender Gridlock Filed by: Patricia Nell Warren http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/caster_semenya_gender_gridlock.php

Wednesday

IN Marriage Amendment Moves Forward

Filed by: Bil Browning

http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/in_senate_committee_passes_marriage_amendment.php

Massachusetts Is Not Invincible

Filed by: Sara Whitman

http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/massachusetts_is_not_invincible.php

Thursday

Iowa Catholic Church Fires Woman Over Transgender Counseling Filed by: Betty Greene Salwak http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/iowa_catholic_church_fires_woman_over_transgender.php

More Queer/Trans Maine Activists Speaking Out Against Equality Filed by: R. Conrad http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/more_queertrans_maine_activist_speaking_out_agains.php

Friday

Now That Corporations Are People, Can They Marry Each Other? What If They're Gay?

Filed by: David Badash

http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/soylent_green_isnt_people_corporations_are.php

Rep Paul Scott Blows Smoke on Transgender Michigan Filed by: Keri Renault http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;www.bilerico.com/2010/01/rep_paul_scott_blows_smoke_on_transgender_michigan.php

Don't forget:

Subscribe to the Bilerico Project Report to get all of the previous day's posts sent to you every night at midnight Eastern time.

http://www.facebook.com/l/1bb22;feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=BilericoProject&loc=en_US

Balls Beer for Health Care Reform, the Full Version

A Message from PFAW

Subject: Stop the Hostile Takeover of the Constitution

Yesterday, by a single vote, the conservative majority in the Supreme Court staged a hostile takeover of American democracy on behalf of corporations.

Alternatives like public financing can help a little, but no matter how many tax payer dollars the government uses to try to offset corporate influence it will never be enough to compete with the bottomless coffers of corporations. For this reason and many more, we must amend the Constitution.

As you may know, People For the American Way has spent many years fighting against destructive amendments to the Constitution proposed by the Right Wing around issues like flag burning, school prayer and banning gay marriage, (you remember those) so our decision to support an amendment to the Constitution in this instance was not taken lightly. As you also know, People For the American Way has spent almost 30 years fighting hard for freedom of speech. But yesterday's decision is a perversion of the First Amendment and a departure from over 100 years of established legal precedent. The very foundation of our democracy could depend on our ability to overturn it.

Here's what you can do to help:

1. Help build the petition calling on congressional leaders to pass a Constitutional amendment: http://www.facebook.com/l/d13cd;bit.ly/6OC9aa

2. Become a "fan" of our effort on Facebook and tell your friends about it: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amending-the-Constitution-so-Corporations-Cant-Buy-Elections/257229177966

3. Donate to the campaign to overturn this radical decision: http://www.facebook.com/l/d13cd;bit.ly/4MFecY

Thank you for standing with us. Together we can stop corporations' hostile takeover of our democracy.

Sincerely,

Michael B. Keegan, President

Thom Hartmann's "Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights" (Paperback) The Seminal Book on How Corporations C

Click to sign and Share

Quote of the Day: Stuart Gaffney

"We are putting discrimination against gays and lesbians on trial. We are showing what the human costs of that discrimination are," said David Boies, one of the lawyers representing the pro-gay-marriage side. "Every citizen has the right to decide for themselves what is moral, but no group of citizens has the right to ...discriminate against a minority."

From France: SIDA (HIV)- AIDES Graffiti.mp4

From the dailykos: Kudos To Cindy McCain

by BarbinMD

Share this on Twitter - Kudos To Cindy McCain

Thu Jan 21, 2010 at 11:18:03 AM PST

Credit where credit is due:

Cindy McCain, the wife of 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain, has posed for an ad endorsing pro-gay marriage forces in California.

Her husband responded by having his staff issue a statement.

Senator McCain respects the views of members of his family. The Senator chaired the effort to successfully pass Arizona Proposition 102, the Marriage Protection Amendment, and his opposition to gay marriage remains the same. Senator McCain believes the sanctity of marriage is only defined as between one man and one woman.

The first Mrs. McCain was unavailable for comment.

carefully lifted from DailyKos

From JMG: Prop 8 Trial "Explosion": Mormon Church Tried To Cover Up Its Involvement

Calling it an "explosive afternoon" the Courage Campaign's Prop 8 live blog reported late today that according to documents revealed to the court, the Mormon Church labored hard behind the scenes to cover-up their involvement in the campaign. That's not surprise to any of us, but it's the first time physical evidence has been produced to substantiate this.

For example, one letter indicated that the LDS church had identified a volunteer for the campaign in every single zip code. This was a church document that was in the hands of a Prop 8 campaign official, and thus was discoverable. Andy Pugno, the general council for ProtectMarriage.com tried his darnedest to get Judge Walker to exclude it, but failed. From Rick’s liveblog:
Pugno: Objects because document will be revealing. Judge: Not to make light of this, but the reason people want to produce documents is that they are revealing. Boutrous: It’s from an outsider to the core group. We are attempting to show the level of coordination with groups that Protect Marriage says were not even affiliated with the campaign.
This is perhaps the most explosive bit of all, from a document between the LDS Church and the campaign:

With respect to Prop. 8 campaign, key talking points will come from campaign, but cautious, strategic, not to take the lead so as to provide plausible deniability or respectable distance so as not to show that church is directly involved.

Get that? The LDS Church intentionally worked to hide behind the scenes to disguise their involvement in the public realm. The LDS Church is well aware that the general public does not have the most favorable opinion of them. Attention on their involvement could have hurt their cause, namely passing Prop 8.

Freshly lifted from JMG

FROM JMG: SF Gay Men's Chorus To Make Concert Tour Of Proposition 8 Strongholds

The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus will conduct a tour of concerts through the heartland of Proposition 8 country in central California as part of an outreach program. Via press release:

The three-part tour will kick off at the end of January with concerts in Redding and Chico, continue in May with concerts in Fresno and Bakersfield, and end in July with a concert in Tracy. For chorus member Bud Dillon, the tour means coming home. Born and raised in Redding, Bud has a special understanding of the importance of the concerts. "So many people only hear about gay men within the context of heated controversy. The Freedom Tour will help to change that in an incredibly entertaining way. Nobody leaves our concerts without a huge smile on their face!" “It's simple." Witherington added. “We believe to accept us, you have to know us. So we tell our story through our music. Our message is one of coming together and recognizing those things we have in common.”

The chorus will perform a new original number called We Are Coming Out, which was written by JMG reader Sean Chapin.

deftly lifted from JMG

From JMG: Uganda MP David Bahati Disinvited From National Prayer Breakfast

Box Turtle Bulletin reports that Uganda MP David "Kill Gays" Behati has been disinvited from next month's National Prayer Breakfast, where President Obama is scheduled to speak. Via Advocate:

Ambassador Richard Swett, a spokesman for the breakfast, confirmed that Bahati was no longer allowed to come to the event, scheduled for February 4. He added, "The National Prayer Breakfast is an organization that builds bridges of understanding between all peoples, religions and beliefs and has never advocated the sentiments expressed in Mr. Bahati’s legislation.” Early reports from the Monitor newspaper in Uganda said that Bahati had planned to go to the even, and make a speech. The organization that puts on the National Prayer Breakfast is the Fellowship Foundation, also known as the Family, an evangelical Christian group linked to the development of the "kill the gays" bill.

Lifted from JMG