Exclusive video: Olson and Boies Q&A on Prop 8

Last Wednesday, the New York Times hosted an intimate question and answer session with the lawyers currently working to overturn Proposition 8 in California, Ted Olson and David Boies. (Our earlier recap of the discussion).

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Even if you’ve read stories about the evening, Boies and Olson speak with such passion and persuasion that the video is worth watching. Being in the same room with them was like being in the presence of history.

The Times was kind enough to send us over the video – we’ve encoded it below. Pix on the post are courtesy of Sara Krulwich from The New York Times.

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From JMG: Texas Rewrites History

Christianist extremists have successfully rewritten American history. Here's just a few of the textbook changes approved by the Texas State Board of Education.

-The Board removed Thomas Jefferson from the Texas curriculum's world history standards on Enlightenment thinking, “replacing him with religious right icon John Calvin.”

-"Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation's Founding Fathers, but not highlight the philosophical rationale for the separation of church and state." “I reject the notion by the left of a constitutional separation of church and state,” said David Bradley, a conservative from Beaumont who works in real estate. “I have $1,000 for the charity of your choice if you can find it in the Constitution.”

-The Board refused to require that “students learn that the Constitution prevents the U.S. government from promoting one religion over all others.”

-McCarthyism will be taught as an example of how communism was rooted out of the federal government.

-Students will learn about the "patriot movement" of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract With America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association.

-"Board members also rejected requiring history teachers and textbooks to provide coverage on the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy and new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, while the late President Ronald Reagan was elevated to more prominent coverage."

The TSBOE is by far the most influential in the nation, which is why religious extremists have stacked the board with its members. Textbooks manufactured in Texas are sold to school systems nationwide.

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From JMG: TickleGate: SNL Rips Eric Massa

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The War at Home

Republicans retreat from their harshest “don’t ask, don’t tell” rhetoric, Democrats cower, and bigots are given airtime, all while a pointless yearlong study is launched. Haven’t we been here before? Click the pic to make the jump to the Advocate article:

Via CNN

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From PHB: The official Vatican line: the Pope is being set up

We're really heading into weird territory now. In what is supposed to be a defense of Pope Benedict from accusations of covering up pedophile priest cases, the Vatican spokesbots are handling this with complete ineptitude.

The Vatican spokesman, speaking to Vatican Radio and Associated Press Television News, defended Benedict.

"It's rather clear that in the last days, there have been those who have tried, with a certain aggressive persistence, in Regensburg and Munich, to look for elements to personally involve the Holy Father in the matter of abuses," the Rev. Federico Lombardi told Vatican Radio.

"For any objective observer, it's clear that these efforts have failed," Lombardi said, reiterating his statement a day earlier noting the Munich diocese has insisted that Benedict wasn't involved in the decision while archbishop there to transfer the suspected child abuser.

Lombardi told The AP that "there hasn't been in the least bit any policy of silence."

"The pope is a person whose stand on clarity, on transparency and whose decision to face these problems is above discussion," Lombardi said, citing the comments by Scicluna, who works in the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, which was long headed by Benedict before his election as pontiff.

"To accuse the current pope of hiding (cases) is false and defamatory," Scicluna said. As Vatican cardinal in charge of the policy on sex abuse, the future pope "showed wisdom and firmness in handling these cases," Scicluna said.

Wow. Do they think we've all forgotten how Cardinal Law was shipped out of Boston as he was about to face charges for abuse cover up, all the secret settlements? Amazing.

Jump here to read the full article on PHB

From JMG: Police Find 11 Other Victims On Video Of SF's Anti-Gay BB Gun Attackers

The San Francisco police have found eleven other victims on the video made by the three men arrested for shooting a gay man with a BB gun.

The men have been charged in San Francisco with a hate crime and assault for allegedly firing a BB rifle Feb. 26 at the face of a man they believed was gay. The man, who was walking on 16th Street near Guerrero Street, was not badly hurt and later identified the three suspects. The three were freed on $50,000 bail soon after their arrest. But on Friday, Mohammad Habibzada, Shafiq Hashemi and Sayed Bassam, all 24, appeared in court and were immediately rearrested. They were all being held late Friday on $450,000 bail. They were returned to custody after prosecutors viewed a video that police found in the three men's car when they were arrested. Brian Buckelew, spokesman for District Attorney Kamala Harris, said the video showed the 16th Street attack and BB rifle shootings aimed at 11 other men. Police say the video depicts the suspects laughing as they fire. Investigators say they have been unable to find any of the additional alleged victims. Still, Buckelew said prosecutors may file additional charges against each of the three defendants.

The three men are cousins. Police believe they drove around the Castro and other gay neighborhoods looking for men that appeared to be gay.reposted by JMG

PORTUGAL: Lei de Igualdade no Casamento enviada ao Presidente para ...

PORTUGAL: Lei de Igualdade no Casamento enviada ao Presidente para ...
Portugal Gay

A lei que consagra a igualdade no casamento civil para gays e lésbicas foi enviada para promulgação no dia 5 de Março. Em teoria Aníbal Cavaco Silva terá 8 ...

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From JMG: Johnny Weir: Too Gay For Stars On Ice

Olympian Johnny Weir has not been asked to join the Star On Ice tour because organizers don't find him "family friendly."

GLAAD has learned from a source that wishes to remain anonymous that sponsors of the Stars on Ice Tour, which include Smuckers and IMG Entertainment, have refused to allow 3-time US National Champion and 2-time Olympian Johnny Weir to participate because they claim that he is “not family friendly.” To say that Weir is “not family friendly” would be a clear jab at his perceived sexual orientation. Weir is extremely involved with his family. He is putting his younger brother through college, and supports the family financially because his father’s disability prohibits him from working. Weir’s dedication to his family can be clearly documented in the Sundance series, Be Good Johnny Weir, which follows him and his family and friends through his life and career as a championship skater.

GLAAD's petition to Stars On Ice sponsors Smuckers and IMG is here.

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From JMG: Friendly Voices - Desmond Tutu

"Uganda's parliament is debating legislation that would make homosexuality punishable by life imprisonment, and more discriminatory legislation has been debated in Rwanda and Burundi. These are terrible backward steps for human rights in Africa. Our lesbian and gay brothers and sisters across Africa are living in fear.

"And they are living in hiding -- away from care, away from the protection the state should offer to every citizen and away from health care in the AIDS era, when all of us, especially Africans, need access to essential HIV services. That this pandering to intolerance is being done by politicians looking for scapegoats for their failures is not surprising. But it is a great wrong. An even larger offense is that it is being done in the name of God. Show me where Christ said "Love thy fellow man, except for the gay ones." Gay people, too, are made in my God's image. I would never worship a homophobic God." - Desmond Tutu, in an editorial published in today's Washington Post.

And what has Pope Palpatine said about Uganda? NOTHING.reposted by JMG

From Savage

There's Just No End to the Hate

Posted by Dan Savage on Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 3:46 PM

ThinkProgress:

Glaad reports that sponsors have “refused to allow” American figure skater Johnny Weir to join the Stars on Ice Tour because they deemed him “not family friendly.” While Weir — a three-time national champion — has never “officially announced his sexual orientation, he has garnered a significant amount of LGBT fans” and is also known for his flashy costumes. Weir won an online poll that asked fans who they wanted to see in the tour, but Stars on Ice seems to have barred him because of his “perceived sexual orientation."

Says GLAAD:

To say that Weir is “not family friendly” would be a clear jab at his perceived sexual orientation. Weir is extremely involved with his family. He is putting his younger brother through college, and supports the family financially because his father’s disability prohibits him from working. Weir’s dedication to his family can be clearly documented in the Sundance series, Be Good Johnny Weir, which follows him and his family and friends through his life and career as a championship skater.

You know what would be family friendly? A bunch of pissed of queers and Weir fans buying tickets to Stars on Ice and tossing bags of rock salt and dog shit onto the ice from their seats before the show.

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Quote of the Day

"During an interview with the cast of The Hurt Locker on Monday, I turned to actor Anthony Mackie and made a joke about "man hugging" in reference to a hug he and fellow actor Jeremy Renner had shared a few weeks earlier on our air. It was meant to be lighthearted, but some were offended by what they believed to be a homophobic comment. That was never my intent, but that doesn't matter. Words are extremely powerful and should never be chosen lightly, even in a lighthearted moment. I apologize to any and all that I offended. My support of the gay and lesbian community is longstanding and well documented. It has not and will never waver."

-- The Today Show's Meredith Veira apologizing for her unintentionally homophobic comment in a post-Oscar interview.

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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