Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Via EQCA:
January 4, 2011 |
 |
| Dear Daniel, The Ninth Circuit Court has just released its opinion on the Proposition 8 case. The Court has asked the California Supreme Court to consider whether Protect Marriage -- the campaign that put Prop. 8 on the ballot -- has standing to appeal. The Court also ruled that Imperial County, which had tried to intervene in the case, does not have standing to appeal. Equality California’s amicus briefs helped shape the Court’s opinion. We were the only party to file an amicus brief on Imperial County’s attempt to intervene, contending exactly what the Court found -- that the County does not have standing. The Ninth Circuit Court is also sending the California Supreme Court our second amicus brief that contends that Protect Marriage also does not have standing to appeal. Our amicus brief is the only amicus brief from our side they are sending the California Supreme Court, out of the 25 total amicus briefs filed in the case. Thanks to our counsel, David C. Codell, for writing these influential amicus briefs. We owe our thanks to the American Foundation for Equal Rights and the brilliant legal team, including Ted Olson, David Boies and San Francisco Deputy City Attorney Terese Stewart, for once again making the case. We are incredibly lucky to have them on our side. Now we wait, again. The California Supreme Court will schedule its hearing shortly. As always, Equality California will continue to track the case’s progress and put our legal experts and our team to work to shape the outcome. In solidarity,  Geoff Kors Executive Director Equality California  |
Monday, January 3, 2011
Via JMG: Quote Of The Day II - Father Cutie
"There are so many homosexuals, both active and celibate, at all levels of clergy and Church hierarchy that the church would never be able to function if they were really to exclude all of them from ministry." - Father Alberto Cutie (his real name), in his new book which slams the Catholic Church as misogynistic and hypocritical. Cutie left the priesthood in 2009 after a Miami tabloid photographed him making out with the woman who eventually became his wife. Prior to being outed as a heterosexual, Cutie had been something a pop star in Latin media, earning him the nickname, "Father Oprah."
Via JMG: Debate Watch: 100% Of RNC Chair Candidates Denounce Same-Sex Marriage
RNC Chairman Michael Steele is fighting for his job at today's debate, where every single candidate responded to NOM's question on marriage equality by invoking Jeebus, traditional values, and the sanctity of one man-one woman.
reposted from Joe
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Via JMG: CALIFORNIA: Pastor Who Backed Prop 8 Held On Multiple Child Molestation Charges
Pastor Tom Daniels of Rio Linda, California is being held on $6M bail after being charged with multiple felony counts of sexual assault on a child. Lavender Newswire reports that Daniels twice made donations to Protect Marriage, the backers of Proposition 8.
reposted from Joe
reposted from Joe
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Friday, December 31, 2010
Via JustaBahai: new blog posting on same sex marriage
http://justabahai.wordpress.co
Via JMG: Los Angeles Times: President Obama, Enough Agonizing Over Gay Marriage
From an editorial in today's Los Angeles Times:
We can't peer into President Obama's soul, but his statement last week that he is "struggling" with whether to endorse same-sex marriage is open to an unedifying interpretation. Given the president's support of gay rights in other contexts, his opposition to marriage equality raises the question of whether the struggle Obama referred to is between politics and principle. If so, we hope principle will prevail. [snip] When he ran for the presidency in 2008, it was the conventional wisdom that supporting gay marriage would be politically fatal. With shifts in public attitudes, that probably will not be the case in 2012. According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 42% of adults now favor same-sex marriage, compared to 37% in 2009. The trend seems clear. We'd prefer to think that such considerations wouldn't be uppermost in Obama's mind. What should determine his position is logic and the fact that same-sex couples across America, not just those in his circle, yearn for recognition of their relationships. Enough agonizing, Mr. President. Support marriage equality.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Via JMG: The $50,000 Cock Shot
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre has been fined $50,000 by the NFL for sending his cock shot to a female employee of the New York Jets, for whom Favre played at the time. Favre had faced a suspension by the league, a slight punishment considering he is expected to retire after this weekend. The fine is less than 1% of Favre's 2010 salary, but on a per-inch basis (NSFW), the fine, at least, is a whopper.Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Steve Weinstein
"[T]he majority of gay men and lesbians want nothing more than to raise families behind picket fences. There are other signs of increasing conformity in the gay world. Leather is seen by most younger men as more silly than hot. While they may exercise, younger men mostly don’t strive for Adonis physiques. It goes on. (Lesbians are way ahead of the curve on this. They’ve been mating and nesting for years.)"Is this bad? Probably not. We’ve been fighting for acceptance. Now that we’re getting it, it’s up to us to do what we want with it. If younger gay men and lesbians want the same things as their straight counterparts, so be it. Have we lost something? Probably. Just as blacks lose their jive and soul when they become middle-class suburbanites, and Jews lose their Yiddishkeite, so we shed the camp, the bitchy humor, the diva worship, and the other facets that defined “gay” for so long. Most people, however, would consider it a fair tradeoff." - Steve Weinstein, writing for Edge On The Net in response to yesterday's JMG post about Jonah Goldberg's column on the "homosexual bourgeoisie."
National Organization for Marriage LATE Again With Federal Tax Returns
WASHINGTON, DC – The four year old National Organization for Marriage (NOM), and the National Organization for Marriage Foundation (NOMF) has once again failed to file its required Federal Income Tax Returns. Their IRS 2009 returns for both of these non-profits, their 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 were due on May 15, 2010. If they received an extension, then they were due October 15, 2010. Now they are 2 ½ months LATE!
I recently visited their new National Office in Washington, DC twice during regular office hours to view the returns. No one was there. They must make them available to anyone during regular business hours. We also have checked online repeatedly for their 2009 returns, and again, nothing. What is NOM trying to hide? Why do they not file their tax returns every year?
How do you say, “Front Group?” I went again to the NOM National Office
at 2029 K Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006 to see their
2009 Tax Returns. Notice the UPS delivery slip on the doorknob.
Neighbors said they never see anyone there, yet they are leading
the fight against gay marriage in 14 states.
Déjà Vu
I went through the identical exercise in 2009 when I attempted to view NOM’s 2007 and 2008 990’s, but they never filed those either. We visited their then National Office in Princeton, NJ many times and no one was ever there either.
One set of 990’s was 5 months late. The other set was 17 months late, when finally, the night before NOM President Brian Brown was to testify in front of the Maine Ethics Commission last year, all of their delinquent tax returns magically appeared on the NOM web site.
It was too late to stave off a State of Maine investigation of NOM, because in spite of threatening to sue the State of Maine (which NOM eventually did), the Maine Ethics Commission voted to investigate the National Organization for Marriage for election “Money Laundering.”
NOM President Brian Brown getting questioned by reporters right after
Maine Ethics Commission voted to investigate his organization for alleged
money laundering.
NOM is not above the law. They need to file their Income Tax Returns like everyone else and every other organization. We are entitled to see just how much money they raised and spent in 2009. Whom are they trying to protect?
NOM has sued 14 states to invalidate those state’s campaign finance laws. 12 of those lawsuits were in 2010 alone. NOM hopes to invalidate those state’s election laws, so when they spend their millions in those 14 states, it would not have to be reported.
NOM goes into these states and attacks anyone and everyone viciously that dares to support marriage equality in this country, and they do it without obeying election laws. They even subpoenaed me last year as soon as I filed the complaint against them in Maine. They are relentless.
Congressional Investigation of NOM -- Now a “Hate Group”
We have tried repeatedly to get the Congress to investigate the National Organization for Marriage. There are numerous active complaints filed against NOM with the IRS. We need to get to the bottom of this highly questionable organization, now officially designated a “Hate Group,” by the prestigious Southern Poverty Law Center. CLICK HERE
Where’s Doug Manchester? He’s Not on Bust the Blacklist!
Manchester’s close friend, fellow San Diegan Terry Caster, who gave $693,000 to qualify and pass Proposition 8, is on NOM’s list. Guess the last thing Doug Manchester wants is any more publicity. He got a lousy return on his $125,000 contribution to take away marriage equality in California – at least $30 million in lost business to the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel alone!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Via JMG: NORTH CAROLINA: Openly Gay Man Elected To Head Council Of Churches
An openly gay man has been elected to head North Carolina's Council of Churches. Stan Kimer, 55, is a retired businessman and a lay leader of the Metropolitan Community Church. Only one other of the country's 33 similar church councils has elected an openly gay leader. Only one other of the country's 33 similar church councils has elected an openly gay leader. In California, a lesbian was elected president in the late 1990s. That makes Kimer's presidency of the N.C. Council - a coalition of 17 Christian denominations and eight individual churches that work on social issues - historic in the South. It also signals an acceptance among member denominations - Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians and Roman Catholics - that even if they have theological differences about homosexuality, they are OK with a gay man at the helm. Or at least, they don't see it as an issue worth fighting. "A lot of our member denominations have internal battles about this," said the Rev. George Reed, the council's executive director. "But the governing board felt the fact that he is a gay man was not a disqualifying factor."A sample reader comment on the above-linked Charlotte Observer story: "Having him over the board of church's is like building a mosck on ground zero. Its obsurd!!!! If he is a true Christian and in fact reads the word of god then he should know how the lord feels about homosexuals. Sir you are an abomination and when you burn your smoke and ashes will ascend up to his nostrils like insence. Read it for yourself!!!"
Monday, December 27, 2010
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