Via JMG: Focus on the Family thinks the bigots have lost the marriage battle

Fascinating. From Salon:

Jim Daly, the president of the massive religious-right organization Focus on the Family, concedes that his group has basically lost the argument on gay marriage in an interview with a Christian magazine.

We're winning the younger generation on abortion, at least in theory. What about same-sex marriage? We're losing on that one, especially among the 20- and 30-somethings: 65 to 70 percent of them favor same-sex marriage. I don't know if that's going to change with a little more age—demographers would say probably not. We've probably lost that. I don't want to be extremist here, but I think we need to start calculating where we are in the culture.

Well! Focus on the Family will still do everything in its power to force women to carry pregnancies to term against their wishes, but they have largely given up on forbidding loving couples from making legal commitments to one another for no reason other than an icky feeling supported by the bit of the book of Leviticus that also calls for people who insult their parents to be stoned to death. Progress!

Via JMG: Poll: Majority Of Christians Oppose DOMA

From a new poll conducted by the Human Rights Campaign:

The poll shows that Christians of all ages support LGBT equality. In fact, 68 percent of Christians favor protecting LGBT people from discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations compared. This number is in line with the 70 percent of overall respondents who favor such protections. 74 percent of Christians (compared to 76 percent overall) favor a law to prohibit bullying and harassment against minority groups in schools, including LGBT students or the children of LGBT parents. 70 percent of Christians believe that when religious leaders condemn LGBT people it does more harm than good. A majority of Christians - 52 percent - also oppose the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, according to a previous HRC poll by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research poll. Finally, an astounding 86 percent of Christians believe their faith leads them to the conclusion that the law should treat all people equally, including LGBT people.

Lots more graphs at the above link.

Labels: DOMA, HRC, polls, religion

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Via JMG; HomoQuotable - Evan Wolfson

"Focus on the Family finally got something right—the American people are rejecting their anti-gay toxic rhetoric and punitive politics, and are siding with loving and committed couples seeking the freedom to marry. With six national polls now confirming that a majority of Americans support the freedom to marry, it’s time for Focus on the Family and other anti-gay industry activists to move on and, ideally, redirect their resources toward tackling the real problems gay and non-gay Americans could be confronting together in these tough economic times." - Freedom To Marry head Evan Wolfson, responding to Focus president Jim Daly, who says the Christian right has lost the marriage battle.

Labels: Evan Wolfson, Focus On The Family, Freedom To Marry, HomoQuotable, marriage equality

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Primetime from ABC News: Gay Parents Bashed

Via JMG: White House Issues Statement Denouncing Minnesota's Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment

Via the Washington Blade:

“The President has long opposed divisive and discriminatory efforts to deny rights and benefits to same sex couples or to take such rights away. While he believes this is an issue best addressed by the states, he also believes that committed gay couples should have the same rights and responsibilities afforded to any married couple in this country."

"Best addressed by the states." Hmm.

Labels: marriage equality, Minnesota, White House

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War On Gays Not Why We Fight Wars Says GOP Iraq Vet

JMG Quote Of The Day - Jim Daly

"We're losing on [gay marriage], especially among the 20- and 30-somethings: 65 to 70 percent of them favor same-sex marriage. I don't know if that's going to change with a little more age, demographers would say probably not. We've probably lost that. I don't want to be extremist here, but I think we need to start calculating where we are in the culture." - Focus Of The Family president Jim Daly, speaking to World Magazine.

Labels: Focus On The Family, hate groups, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Quote Of The Day, religion

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Via JMG: A E I O U to you!

Your Vowels Are Totally Gay

According to a new study due out from Ohio State University, most people can correctly guess a man's sexual orientation by listening to recordings of the way he pronounces his vowels.

They asked seven gay and seven heterosexual males to record single-syllable words (including "mass," "food" and "sell") and then played the recordings for listeners. The study participants were then asked to identify the sexual orientation of the speakers when hearing only the first letter sound of those words, the first two letter sounds, or the entire words. The listeners were unable to determine the sexual orientation after hearing the sound of the first letter in the spoken word, for example, just the "m" sound in the word "mass." But, "when presented with the first two letter sounds [for example "ma"], listeners were 75 percent accurate," [researcher Erik] Tracy said. "We believe that listeners are using the acoustic information contained in vowels to make this sexual orientation decision," he explained.

I'd like to know how the gay voices were chosen for the study.

Labels: education, language

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Rachel Maddow - It's Ok To Be Takei!

MSNBC - Majority Of Americans Support Marriage Equality

Via AmericaBlog: Alcoa opposes TN hate law, calls on governor to veto bill

Finally some courage. Alcoa is the only company so far to say explicitly that they oppose the Tennessee legislation that would repeal Nashville's civil rights ordinance, and that they want the Governor to veto the bill.

Alcoa:

“Alcoa provides equal employment opportunity without discrimination and supports state and local legislation protecting the rights of all community members. We do not agree with the chamber on this issue and would ask that the governor veto the bill."

Beautiful statement. Simple, clear, to the point. No semantic games, no trying to have it both ways.

In contrast, AT&T, Nissan and FedEx issued statements that might look like they're opposing the legislation (that's how HRC has apparently interpreted their statements), but when you actually read the statements a few times you realize they're a very well-crafted effort at saying nothing at all (it helps to have a law degree). None of the statements from AT&T, Nissan or FedEx state unequivocally that they oppose the legislation. None of the statements call on the Governor to veto the legislation.

Alcoa is the only board member of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce that didn't play games with their statement. Until AT&T, Nissan, FedEx, Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, KPMG, Whirlpool, Embraer, and United HealthCare all issue statements calling on the governor to veto the bill, they get zero credit for trying to rectify the damage they've done.

Please sign our open letter calling on all of these companies to tell the governor to veto the bill.

Via JMG: That's Gay: Real Housewives

Via JMG: National Gallup Poll Shows First-Ever Majority Support For Gay Marriage

Gallup reports: "For the first time in Gallup's tracking of the issue, a majority of Americans (53%) believe same-sex marriage should be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages. The increase since last year came exclusively among political independents and Democrats. Republicans' views did not change."

Labels: Gallup, marriage equality, polls

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Via JMG: LOS ANGELES: Gay Cop Wins $1M Suit

Los Angeles cop Sgt. Ronald Crump has won a $1M judgment in a lawsuit filed against the LAPD because of retaliation he suffered after complaining about anti-gay mistreatment by a superior.

Sgt. Ronald Crump sued the city last year, alleging that his direct supervisor at the Los Angeles Police Department Media Relations Section -- Lt. John Romero -- made derogatory remarks about his homosexuality. Romero, who has since been promoted to captain, allegedly described him as "the new Ruby minus the heels," in reference to the woman he replaced in the unit. On another occasion, Romero allegedly told him, "I was a religion major at Liberty University. Jerry Falwell would roll over in his grave if he knew I had hired you."

Labels: gay cops, LAPD, lawsuits, Los Angeles

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Via JMG: Binational Couples Tell Their Stories

Learn more here.

Out4Immigration - Binational Couples for Immigration Equality in the US from Devote Campaign on Vimeo.

(Tipped by JMG reader Chris)

Labels: DOMA, immigration, Immigration Equality

posted by Joe

Via JMg: TENNESSEE: Major Corporations Back Statewide Ban On LGBT Rights

AmericaBlog Gay reports on the backers of yesterday's ban on LGBT rights in Tennessee.

The Tennessee Chamber of Commerce - chaired by Nissan, and whose other board members include such companies as FedEx, AT&T, Comcast, DuPont, Pfizer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caterpillar, KPMG, Whirlpool, Embraer, Alcoa, and United HealthCare - actively lobbied for a religious right bill in the Tennessee legislature that would rescind Nashville's civil rights protections for its gay and trans citizens, and which bans every city in Tennessee from passing any civil rights laws, for anyone, ever again. The bill passed yesterday. It's on its way to the state's Republican governor for his signature, unless he vetoes it. And these companies led the way in making it happen.

Sign this open letter to the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce demanding that they rescind their support for this hateful bill.

Labels: AmericaBlog, business, LGBT rights, Tennessee

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Via JMG: Gillibrand: Obama May Endorse Marriage Equality Before 2012 Election

In an interview with Andrew Harmon at the Advocate, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand speculates that President Obama might complete his "evolution" on same-sex marriage before the 2012 election.

Harmon: Do you think it’s possible that he could come out in support of marriage equality before the 2012 election?

Gillibrand: Definitely. He put the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” in his State of the Union address. So there’s no reason why he can’t lean into marriage equality in a public speech or through some action he could do through the White House. I’d be thrilled if he decided to do that. He did take the step of not [defending] DOMA through his Department of Justice, which is a fantastic step because it was one that he was unwilling to do in “don’t ask, don’t tell.” So it shows a shift in his willingness to use the power of the White House — the power of the administration — to change public perception and to change policy. So I think we could get a very strong public statement out of him.

Read the full interview.

Labels: 2012 elections, Advocate, Barack Obama, Kirsten Gillibrand, marriage equality

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BrowseMoviesUpload Sign Out George Takei vs. Tennessee's "Don't Say Gay" Bill

Via JMG: MINNESOTA: Libertarian Party Rebukes GOP Over Proposed Marriage Ban

The Libertarian Party of Minnesota has "rebuked" the GOP for the campaign to put a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage to a statewide vote.

The proposed Gay Marriage Ban would expand government control and restrict the freedom of consenting adults to live their own lives as they choose. Libertarians believe that marriage is a private matter between individuals. We believe that marriage is a fundamental human right, and that all personal relationships, including marriage, should be at the sole discretion and agreement of the individuals involved, as well as any family, friends, or religious institutions they may choose to involve. Government has no business restricting or interfering with marriage. This ban would create a caste system by dividing society into two classes: those who are permitted to marry, and those who are not. We also oppose any attempt to place a marriage ban before voters, as the trappings of democracy do not legitimize infringements upon personal liberty; a 51% majority does not have the right to force its will upon the other 49%. We instead support a free society, where 1% can still be free to live their own lives as they choose, even if 99% might disapprove. Furthermore, we call upon legislators to expand liberty by repealing the existing statutory gay marriage ban.

Labels: GOP, Libertarian Party, marriage equality, Minnesota

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