Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Defend a free-flowing Internet and support the Broadband Internet Fairness Act
Dear Friends,
We now have a chance to wrestle control of the Internet's future away from Time Warner Cable, Comcast, AT&T and other telco giants.
Rep. Eric Massa has just introduced a bill in Congress, called the Broadband Internet Fairness Act, that will restrict telcos' ability to charge outrageous rates for using the Internet. This bill would be the first step toward guaranteeing an open, fast and accessible Internet for all Americans.
Please visit the URL below to tell your member of Congress to support this important piece of legislation:
Thanks!Some Churches Support Gay Rights
Take my friend's pastor, a Lutheran minister who on Mother's Day said in his sermon,
I have a very hard time finding any reason to be afraid of what is happening in Massachusetts and Iowa and elsewhere. The institution of marriage is strong; it cannot be damaged by extending it to others who want to get married. On the contrary, marriage is strengthened by doing so.
Christianity is not out to get gays and lesbians, despite the popular perception. Not all churches are barring our way to equal rights. Indeed, some are opening the door.
Jennifer Vanasco is editor in chief of 365gay.comYou may read the full article inOutword and the Huffington Post
Tell Obama and Holder: Stop defending DOMA.
Subject: Tell Obama and Holder: Stop defending DOMA.
Dear Friends,They compared same-sex marriage to a marriage between an uncle and a niece. Or between two children. No, we're not talking about Rick Santorum. We're talking about the Obama administration's Justice Department. The brief the DOJ presented defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in federal court was not just wrong. It was offensive. The New York Times called it "disturbing" in its lead editorial.
Back in the days of the 2008 campaign, Senator Obama promised he would work to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. But now that a gay couple in California is challenging DOMA in federal court, President Obama has chosen to take action to defend a law that prevents legally married same-sex couples from receiving any federal benefits, or from having their marriages recognized in other states.
I just signed a petition to tell President Obama and Attorney General Holder to withdraw this offensive brief and apologize for its contents. (The website also has a great video of Rachel Maddow and Howard Dean discussing the importance of this issue!) Please have a look and take action.
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/doma_brief/?r_by=-1068490-Ddu1sWx&rc=confemail
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Product Placing The Gays
For years advertisers have given sly, subtle nods to homo consumers, a phenomenon coined by the Commercial Closet as "gay vague." Ramping up the visibility ever so slightly, a few brands have begun placing logos known mostly only to gays in their ads. Below left, an Orbitz ad features a man wearing an HRC golf shirt. Below right, an ad from Taco Del Mar features a surfer with a Gay & Lesbian Surfer Association sticker on his board.
(Taco Del Mar clip via Slog)
Thanks JMG for this
Tell Obama and Holder: Stop defending DOMA.
They compared same-sex marriage to a marriage between an uncle and a niece. Or between two children. No, we're not talking about Rick Santorum. We're talking about the Obama administration's Justice Department. The brief the DOJ presented defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in federal court was not just wrong. It was offensive. The New York Times called it "disturbing" in its lead editorial.
Back in the days of the 2008 campaign, Senator Obama promised he would work to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. But now that a gay couple in California is challenging DOMA in federal court, President Obama has chosen to take action to defend a law that prevents legally married same-sex couples from receiving any federal benefits, or from having their marriages recognized in other states.
I just signed a petition to tell President Obama and Attorney General Holder to withdraw this offensive brief and apologize for its contents. (The website also has a great video of Rachel Maddow and Howard Dean discussing the importance of this issue!) Please have a look and take action.
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/doma_brief/?r_by=-1068490-Ddu1sWx&rc=confemail
NY Times Slaps Obama
From the GIST:
In an editorial headlined "A Bad Call on Gay Rights," The New York Times calls the DOMA brief "disturbing," and slaps Obama for using the excuse of political expediency for denying gay and lesbian Americans their rights:
The Obama administration, which came to office promising to protect gay rights but so far has not done much, actually struck a blow for the other side last week. It submitted a disturbing brief in support of the Defense of Marriage Act, which is the law that protects the right of states to not recognize same-sex marriages and denies same-sex married couples federal benefits. The administration needs a new direction on gay rights.
Monday, June 15, 2009
An organized response to Obama's failure on GLBT rights
An organized response to Obama's failure on GLBT rights
by: Smartypants
Mon Jun 15, 2009 at 18:24:17 PM EDT
Pam's post on HRC's letter to President Obama asks a critical question: "What happens next if the President thumbs his nose at this letter?"
The question really got me thinking. What options are left to us when our purported friends and allies ignore an appeal to common decency?
Because it's pretty obvious our elected 'friends' are screwing us. Again.
And why not? They've gotten away with it before and never paid a price. Too many of these so-called friends and allies in elected office know that if they show up at a pride rally and occasionally vote for some mildly progressive measure on our behalf, as grateful GLBT constituents we will continue to be a reliable source of money and volunteers. And we won't make a fuss because we're afraid our very real enemies will take advantage of any division.
Read the full article at PHB.
Free Hugs Campaign
Free Hugs Campaign - Official Page (music by Sick Puppies.net )
youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4
Top Obama Gay John Berry: It's Going To Be A Long Time On LGBT Rights
Courtesy of JMG:
John Berry, the director of the Office of Personnel Management and the president's highest ranking openly gay appointee spoke to the Advocate's Kerry Eleveld after his speech at DC Pride yesterday (which I heard). Berry, who said he was speaking with the authorization of the White House, outlined a four-point list of LGBT rights that the Obama administration hopes to achieve, but stressed that the general timetable for these goals is "under the administration's watch", meaning including a potential second Obama term.
Berry went on to say that the gay community should not "waste energy and angst" attacking the president over last week's DOJ-DOMA flap, and instead should be working on getting the necessary votes to overturn DOMA in the House and Senate.We have four broad legislative goals that we want to accomplish and legislation is one of these things where you’ve got to move when the opportunity strikes, so I’m going to list them in an order but it’s not necessarily going to go one, two, three, four. Obviously, I think the first opportunity is hate crimes and we’re hopeful that we can get that passed this week. We’re going to try, but if not, we’re going to keep at it until we get it passed. The second one ENDA, we want to secure that passage of ENDA, and third is we want to repeal legislatively “don’t ask don’t tell,” and fourth, we want to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.
Now, I’m not going to pledge -- and nor is the president -- that this is going to be done by some certain date. The pledge and the promise is that, this will be done before the sun sets on this administration – our goal is to have this entire agenda accomplished and enacted into law so that it is secure.
The Advocate: Does that include a second term? A lot of people have talked about DOMA being pushed back until a second term.
Berry: I say this in a broad sense -- our goal is to get this done on this administration’s watch.
Solmonese Writes To Obama
Human Rights Campaign head Joe Solmonese has written a lengthy letter to the president decrying last week's DOJ brief opposing the repeal of DOMA.see: JMG post
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Quote of the day...
Para onde pode ir o apaixonado senão à terra de seu bem-amado? E qual apaixonado poderá ficar tranqüilo longe do desejo de seu coração? Para quem ama verdadeiramente, a união é a vida e a separação é a morte. O seu peito está vazio de paciência e o seu coração está privado de paz. Incontáveis vidas ele renunciará a fim de se apressar para onde se encontra o seu bem-amado.
4. O SON OF JUSTICE!
Whither can a lover go but to the land of his beloved? And what seeker findeth rest away from his heart's desire? To the true lover reunion is life, and separation is death. His breast is void of patience and his heart hath no peace. A myriad lives he would forsake to hasten to the abode of his beloved.
From
We read this at our wedding. It means a lot to me as it almost addresses our bi-national marriage.
Parada Gay movimenta avenida Paulista com 3,5 milhões de pessoas
Parada Gay movimenta avenida Paulista com 3,5 milhões de pessoas
Cerca de 3,5 milhões de pessoas devem tomar conta da avenida Paulista durante este domingo (14) na 13ª edição da Parada Gay da cidade de São Paulo. A festa, que é considerada a maior do mundo, começou às 12h20 e deve terminar por volta das 19h30. A expectativa, de acordo com a Associação da Parada do Orgulho LGBT de São Paulo, é que o evento reúna público recorde mais uma vez.
For those of you who cannot read, understand or falar the world’s most beautiful language UOL says:
Around 3.5 million people are expected on Avenida Paulista for this Sunday (14) in the 13th edition of the Gay Parade in
Courtesy of UOL.
CA Attorney General Brief: Prop 8 Violates 14th Amendment
CA Attorney General Brief: Prop 8 Violates 14th Amendment
Jim Burroway
June 13th, 2009
What a contrast between the California Attorney General and the U.S. Department of Justice. On the same day in which the Obama administration filed a brief before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act,“ California Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a very different brief in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the Prop 8 challenge brought by Ted Olson and David Boies.
Courtesy of Box Turtle
Quote of the Day
Cada um de nós é vários, é muitos, é uma prolixidade de si mesmos. Por isso aquele que despreza o ambiente não é o mesmo que dele se alegra ou padece. Na vasta colônia do nosso ser há gente de muitas espécies, pensando e sentindo diferentemente.
Each one of us is several, is many, is a profusion of selves. So that the self who disdains his surroundings is not the same as the self who suffers or takes joy in them. In the vast colony of our being there are many species of people who think and feel different ways.
Fernando Pessoa, Livro Do Desassossego. In Night Train to