Via JMG: Matt Foreman: Celebrating Our Gains

Former NGLTF executive director Matt Foreman takes to the Huffington Post today for a thoughtful essay on why we continue to see hard-fought gains in the LGBT movement. An excerpt:

While opponents of LGBT rights have at least eight national advocacy organizations with budgets of more than $10 million, the LGBT movement has just one. In fact, the annual budget of just one of the biggest opponents of LGBT rights, Focus on the Family/CitizenLink, is greater than the budgets of the 39 largest LGBT advocacy, legal and research organizations, combined. So what explains the continued traction that the LGBT movement has enjoyed in the face of such adversity? There are a lot of related factors. For example, more LGBT people are coming out and more non-LGBT people are getting to know them and are themselves becoming advocates for equal rights. There is also the influence of popular culture and celebrities, the high profile of LGBT issues in the media, and the vibrant presence of LGBT bloggers in social media. But the legal and policy advances of the last decade did not spring miraculously from the results of a public opinion poll or a single heartfelt, pro-gay acceptance speech at the Oscars. Instead, they happened because LGBT organizations made them happen.

Read the full article.

Labels: activism, Haas Fund, LGBT rights, Matt Foreman

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Countdown - Michelle Bachmann's Anti-Gay Husband Exposed

Via JMG: Cher Rips Marcus Bachmann

(Via - Towleroad)

Labels: "ex-gay", 2012 elections, Cher, closet cases, GOP, Michele Bachmann, Twitter

reposted from Joe

Via AmericaBlogGay: Michele Bachmann's husband/strategist: Gays are "barbarians" who need education, discipline

Listen for yourself to the latest attack the LGBT community from the Bachmann family. This one comes from her husband, Dr. Marcus Bachmann, who like his wife, seems particularly obsessed with the LGBT community:

As first reported by the Think Progress blog, Marcus Bachmann, who in March was described by former Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Ron Carey as part of Michele's "brain trust," was a guest on the Christian-based "Point of View" radio talk show on May 12, 2010, where he came out strongly against the LGBT community.

"We have to understand: Barbarians need to be educated. They need to be disciplined. Just because someone feels it or thinks it doesn’t mean that we are supposed to go down that road. That’s what is called the sinful nature. We have a responsibility as parents and as authority figures not to encourage such thoughts and feelings from moving into the action steps," Marcus Bachmann said.

Dr. Bachmann sure sounds like an advocate for ex-gay therapy,which he has promoted that in the past, via Think Progress: Along with offering faith-based counseling at his clinic, Bachmann also gives presentations at various conferences. In November 2005, he and Rep. Bachmann both ran sessions at a “Minnesota Pastors’ Summit” in Eden Prairie, Minnesota: hers focused on the gay marriage amendment she was trying to push through the state legislature, and his was titled “The Truth About the Homosexual Agenda.”

One of the people present for Dr. Bachmann’s talk almost had to leave the room because “there was so much bile.” Curt Prins, a marketing executive who identifies as gay, reported that Bachmann believed homosexuality was a “choice” rather than due to genetics:

The climax of the presentation was when, according to Prins, Bachmann brought up “three ex-gays, like part of a PowerPoint presentation.” The trio, two white men and a black woman, all testified that they had renounced their homosexuality. “One of them said, ‘If I was born gay, then I’ll have to be born again,’” Prins recalls. “The crowd went crazy.”

Now, listen:



Got that? We "gay barbarians," need to be disciplined?!!? Okay.

Via AmericaBlogGay: It's inevitable

Leading Nevada Conservative: "gay marriage is coming. Nationwide. It's inevitable"

Via The Strip Podcast, an interesting development on marriage from a hard-core conservative -- just as the GOPers are planning their presidential debate:

As the New York State Legislature works into the night on a track to become the largest state to grant marriage equality to same-sex couples, the effort to make this happen in Nevada may have hit a turning point today as well.

Chuck Muth, the outspoken conservative activist whose wrath is feared by most Republican elected officials in Nevada, wrote this in his daily email blast that goes to GOPers and journalists:

Many, if not most of you won't like this but gay marriage is coming. Nationwide. It's inevitable. It's only a matter of time. It can and will be delayed, but not stopped. And eventually, it will be as acceptable as black/white marriages. The problem isn't letting gays into marriage, but having already let the government into marriage.

As an economy based almost solely on tourism and entertainment, Nevada -- and especially Las Vegas -- should accept reality, embrace the inevitable, repeal the state's ban on gay marriage, and scarf up on the tourism bonanza that would result rather than suck hind teat behind the likes of Hawaii and New York.

I suspect that Muth has uttered similar views before, but it's especially notable because this missive will be read more closely than most as it also announces that the GOP presidential debate he was helping organize has been postponed from July. And I know that Muth has never been all that interested in the Sharron Angle-Richard Ziser wing of the Nevada Republican universe because he doesn't think the guvmint belongs in personal lives any more than in anything else they're in.

It is inevitable.

Would be great to see top Democrats in Nevada, like Majority Leader Harry Reid, announce support for marriage, too.

Today's "Dude Could you please for once show Gay Folks as Normal in the Press Please!:

A touch of homophobia from the Economist

Was that photo really necessary? Choosing the most outrageous photo to symbolize their "gay" coverage is something the American press (other than Fox News) stopped doing a good decade ago. And in this case, the story is about marriage, not men who feel the need to walk half-naked in public.  It's hard to believe a magazine like the Economist (which I once wrote for as a stringer) would have the poor taste to publish that photo with this story.

As an aside, I think guy in the photo is a moron for dressing like that in public. It seriously doesn't help the cause of marriage, not to mention, who needs to see you in your thong anyway? But there's no excuse for the Economist choosing a sensational photo of a half-naked faux gay married couple to basically diminish the seriousness of its own story, and worse, our desire to be treated equally by the state.

UPDATE: A twitterer noted that the Economist has long supported gay marriage, and even did a cover story on it. And that's great. I'm not trying to say that they're a bunch of homophobes, but the choice of this photo for this story was homophobic. It's a problem we had to deal with all the time in the states during the 1990s, and before. It needs to never happen again.

Via boxturtlebulletin: LGBT EQUALITY in USA

Make the jump here to read the full article

Enviado por Luiz Fernando Veríssimo

Gays Enviado por Luiz Fernando Veríssimo -30.6.2011 -  9h02m O mais notável nessa campanha por casamentos homossexuais não é o avanço dos movimentos gays e o ocaso de barreiras e preconceitos antigos, mas o prestígio do casamento. Com tantos casais heterossexuais dispensando o ritual matrimonial para viverem juntos, a insistência dos gays em se casarem como seus pais deveria aquecer o coração dos mais radicais dos bispos. Eu sei que em muitos casos a oficialização do conúbio, se esta é a palavra, tem mais a ver com questões legais do que com romance, mas o que a maioria quer é o ritual. Quer as juras públicas de amor eterno e todo o simbolismo da cerimônia tradicional, mesmo sem véus e grinaldas. Era de se esperar que quem escolheu um relacionamento sexual, digamos, anticonvencional, muitas vezes tendo que enfrentar a incompreensão ou a ira dos conservadores, quisesse distância do que é, afinal, o mais "careta" dos ritos sociais. Mas não. Querem o tradicional. Este fenômeno deve ter a ver com outro de difícil compreensão. Ouvi dizer que as formaturas nas universidades brasileiras voltaram a ser paramentadas, com becas e tudo, não por insistência de pais tradicionalistas, mas dos próprios formandos, que, em vez da informalidade que se esperava deles num mundo cada vez mais prático e sem tempo para velhos costumes ou costumes de velhos, exigiram todas as formalidades. No fim as pessoas querem significado. Querem que o valor do que fazem seja enaltecido pela cerimônia, qualquer cerimônia. Mesmo careta. Seja como for, aposto que daqui a alguns anos, quando se puder fazer a estatística, menos gays dos que estão se casando agora terão se separado do que casais heteros. Se a instituição do casamento sobreviver aos tempos e aos modos, será em boa parte graças a eles e a elas. "O saber não basta, temos de ampliá-lo. A vontade não basta, temos de ATUAR!!!"

A Message of Hope from the United States Senate

Joad Cressbeckler Homosexuality A Necessity On Cold Mountaintops

Obama LGBT Pride Month

Via JMG: Feds Drop Deportation Case For Gay Man

In what the New York Times says may be a precedent-setting decision, the federal government has dropped its deportation case against a gay Venezuelan legally married to an American man.

The announcement comes as immigration officials put into effect new, more flexible guidelines governing the deferral and cancellation of deportations, particularly for immigrants with no serious criminal records. Immigration lawyers and gay rights advocates said the decision represented a significant shift in policy and could open the door to the cancellation of deportations for other immigrants in same-sex marriages. “This action shows that the government has not only the power but the inclination to do the right thing when it comes to protecting certain vulnerable populations from deportation,” said the couple’s lawyer, Lavi Soloway. The case has been closely watched across the country by lawyers and advocates who viewed it as a test of the federal government’s position on the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law that bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.

Labels: feds, immgration, Immigration Equality, LGBT rights

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Washington Post: Evolve Already

From the editorial board of the Washington Post:

With a presidential campaign that promises to be closer and more contentious than the one that got him elected four years ago, Mr. Obama and his team might be reluctant to embrace a controversial social issue when the economy and jobs are of paramount importance to voters. At some point, though, doing the right thing must trump politics. If Mr. Obama does come out in favor of gay marriage, his base would surely rally around him.

And all supporters of gay rights should be girding themselves for battle with those who would use the president’s position to deny him a second term. The first question at the news conference was about Republican recalcitrance on tax increases. “Hopefully leaders at a certain point rise to the occasion and do the right thing for the American people,” Mr. Obama said. Later, he would say, “If you know you have to do something, you just do it.” The same words apply to him on marriage equality. So just do it already.

Labels: 2012 elections, Barack Obama, LGBT rights, marriage equality, WaPo

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Dan Savage

"The mistake that straight people made was imposing the monogamous expectation on men. Men were never expected to be monogamous. Men had concubines, mistresses and access to prostitutes, until everybody decided marriage had to be egalitar­ian and fairsey. [Rather than granting women] the same latitude and license and pressure-release valve that men had always enjoyed, we extended to men the confines women had always endured. And it’s been a disaster for marriage." - Dan Savage, quoted in an extensive NYT Magazine article on fidelity.

Labels: Dan Savage, marriage equality, monogamy, New York state

reposted from Joe

Via JMG; Rahm Emanuel Backs Gay Marriage

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has endorsed same-sex marriage, saying that he hopes Illinois soon follows the example of New York. Emanuel is Barack Obama's former White House chief of staff.

"I would hope that the state would move in that direction," Emanuel said in the interview that aired Wednesday. "Tremendous progress has been made across the country on a value statement and I think that's very important." Emanuel declined to comment on Obama's stance on the issue, but noted that the president has signed into law legislation that recognizes hate crimes based on sexual orientation and a repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prevented gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military.

Labels: Chicago, Illinois, marriage equality, Rahm Emanuel

reposted from Joe

JustaBahai: Flexibility in Bahai Law in relation to homosexuality

"In my whole life I've never come across such hateful posts against gays made by Bahais"

Flexibility in Bahai Law in relation to homosexuality

May 19, 2010 
 
The following is a response to a thread on the Bahai Planet forum called “AIDS Faith conference” where the intitial poster was curious to know if there had been any Bahai statements on AIDS and the loss of life due to this. The discussion quickly turned to the rights and wrongs of homosexuality. I stepped later on in the discussion and the following is one of my posts.

make the jump here to read the full posting on justabahai

Via AmericaBlogGay: Dan Savage wears "evolve already" pin to White House LGBT Stonewall reception with President

UPDATE: Politico's Julie Mason was providing the pool coverage of the reception, and she got a chance to talk to Dan Savage (and noted our pin):

Dan Savage, a columnist, author and gay activist was there with his husband (they married in Canada), Terry Miller. Dan was wearing a black and white plaid shirt with a small button that said, "evolve already." Terry wore a white shirt with a hot pink bow tie.

"I believe the president should evolve," Savage said. "He says he's evolving, I believe him." He added, "I want to hurry him along."

Dan Savage was invited to the LGBT Stonewall reception at the White House today with the President, and true to form, was sporting a pin saying "evolve already."  Joe and I just had the pins made last night, based on our "evolve already" campaign, calling on the President to evolve on the gay marriage issue back to where he was in 1996, namely in favor of it.

Dan and his boyfriend in America, husband in Canada, Terry

 

You can find more "evolve already" gear at the AMERICAblog shop hosted by Don't Panic.

Via JMG: Anniversary

It was June 27th, 1969.

That was the day that the queers of New York City finally said "Enough!" For some historical perspective, I'm posting the story that the New York Daily News ran about the Stonewall Riots. Note how the reports drips with condescension and ridicule. We've come a long, long way in 42 years and we've still got some distance to cover, but today we should all offer up a shout, a snap, and a moment of thanks to the people who started us down this road.

HOMO NEST RAIDED - QUEEN BEES ARE STINGING MAD

-by Jerry Lisker, New York Daily News, July 6th 1969

She sat there with her legs crossed, the lashes of her mascara-coated eyes beating like the wings of a hummingbird. She was angry. She was so upset she hadn't bothered to shave. A day old stubble was beginning to push through the pancake makeup. She was a he. A queen of Christopher Street.

Last weekend the queens had turned commandos and stood bra strap to bra strap against an invasion of the helmeted Tactical Patrol Force. The elite police squad had shut down one of their private gay clubs, the Stonewall Inn at 57 Christopher St., in the heart of a three-block homosexual community in Greenwich Village. Queen Power reared its bleached blonde head in revolt. New York City experienced its first homosexual riot. "We may have lost the battle, sweets, but the war is far from over," lisped an unofficial lady-in-waiting from the court of the Queens.

"We've had all we can take from the Gestapo," the spokesman, or spokeswoman, continued. "We're putting our foot down once and for all." The foot wore a spiked heel. According to reports, the Stonewall Inn, a two-story structure with a sand painted brick and opaque glass facade, was a mecca for the homosexual element in the village who wanted nothing but a private little place where they could congregate, drink, dance and do whatever little girls do when they get together.

The thick glass shut out the outside world of the street. Inside, the Stonewall bathed in wild, bright psychedelic lights, while the patrons writhed to the sounds of a juke box on a square dance floor surrounded by booths and tables. The bar did a good business and the waiters, or waitresses, were always kept busy, as they snaked their way around the dancing customers to the booths and tables. For nearly two years, peace and tranquility reigned supreme for the Alice in Wonderland clientele.
The Raid Last Friday
Last Friday the privacy of the Stonewall was invaded by police from the First Division. It was a raid. They had a warrant. After two years, police said they had been informed that liquor was being served on the premises. Since the Stonewall was without a license, the place was being closed. It was the law.

All hell broke loose when the police entered the Stonewall. The girls instinctively reached for each other. Others stood frozen, locked in an embrace of fear.

Only a handful of police were on hand for the initial landing in the homosexual beachhead. They ushered the patrons out onto Christopher Street, just off Sheridan Square. A crowd had formed in front of the Stonewall and the customers were greeted with cheers of encouragement from the gallery.

The whole proceeding took on the aura of a homosexual Academy Awards Night. The Queens pranced out to the street blowing kisses and waving to the crowd. A beauty of a specimen named Stella wailed uncontrollably while being led to the sidewalk in front of the Stonewall by a cop. She later confessed that she didn't protest the manhandling by the officer, it was just that her hair was in curlers and she was afraid her new beau might be in the crowd and spot her. She didn't want him to see her this way, she wept.

Queen Power

The crowd began to get out of hand, eye witnesses said. Then, without warning, Queen Power exploded with all the fury of a gay atomic bomb. Queens, princesses and ladies-in-waiting began hurling anything they could get their polished, manicured fingernails on. Bobby pins, compacts, curlers, lipstick tubes and other femme fatale missiles were flying in the direction of the cops. The war was on. The lilies of the valley had become carnivorous jungle plants.

Urged on by cries of "C'mon girls, lets go get'em," the defenders of Stonewall launched an attack. The cops called for assistance. To the rescue came the Tactical Patrol Force.

Flushed with the excitement of battle, a fellow called Gloria pranced around like Wonder Woman, while several Florence Nightingales administered first aid to the fallen warriors. There were some assorted scratches and bruises, but nothing serious was suffered by the honeys turned Madwoman of Chaillot.

Official reports listed four injured policemen with 13 arrests. The War of the Roses lasted about 2 hours from about midnight to 2 a.m. There was a return bout Wednesday night.

Two veterans recently recalled the battle and issued a warning to the cops. "If they close up all the gay joints in this area, there is going to be all out war."

Bruce and Nan

Both said they were refugees from Indiana and had come to New York where they could live together happily ever after. They were in their early 20's. They preferred to be called by their married names, Bruce and Nan.

"I don't like your paper," Nan lisped matter-of-factly. "It's anti-fag and pro-cop."

"I'll bet you didn't see what they did to the Stonewall. Did the pigs tell you that they smashed everything in sight? Did you ask them why they stole money out of the cash register and then smashed it with a sledge hammer? Did you ask them why it took them two years to discover that the Stonewall didn't have a liquor license."

Bruce nodded in agreement and reached over for Nan's trembling hands.

"Calm down, doll," he said. "Your face is getting all flushed."

Nan wiped her face with a tissue.

"This would have to happen right before the wedding. The reception was going to be held at the Stonewall, too," Nan said, tossing her ashen-tinted hair over her shoulder.

"What wedding?," the bystander asked.

Nan frowned with a how-could-anybody-be-so-stupid look. "Eric and Jack's wedding, of course. They're finally tying the knot. I thought they'd never get together."

Meet Shirley

"We'll have to find another place, that's all there is to it," Bruce sighed. "But every time we start a place, the cops break it up sooner or later."

"They let us operate just as long as the payoff is regular," Nan said bitterly. "I believe they closed up the Stonewall because there was some trouble with the payoff to the cops. I think that's the real reason. It's a shame. It was such a lovely place. We never bothered anybody. Why couldn't they leave us alone?"

Shirley Evans, a neighbor with two children, agrees that the Stonewall was not a rowdy place and the persons who frequented the club were never troublesome. She lives at 45 Christopher St.

"Up until the night of the police raid there was never any trouble there," she said. "The homosexuals minded their own business and never bothered a soul. There were never any fights or hollering, or anything like that. They just wanted to be left alone. I don't know what they did inside, but that's their business. I was never in there myself. It was just awful when the police came. It was like a swarm of hornets attacking a bunch of butterflies."

A reporter visited the now closed Stonewall and it indeed looked like a cyclone had struck the premises.

Police said there were over 200 people in the Stonewall when they entered with a warrant. The crowd outside was estimated at 500 to 1,000. According to police, the Stonewall had been under observation for some time. Being a private club, plain clothesmen were refused entrance to the inside when they periodically tried to check the place. "They had the tightest security in the Village," a First Division officer said, "We could never get near the place without a warrant."
Police Talk
The men of the First Division were unable to find any humor in the situation, despite the comical overtones of the raid.

"They were throwing more than lace hankies," one inspector said. "I was almost decapitated by a slab of thick glass. It was thrown like a discus and just missed my throat by inches. The beer can didn't miss, though, "it hit me right above the temple."

Police also believe the club was operated by Mafia connected owners. The police did confiscate the Stonewall's cash register as proceeds from an illegal operation. The receipts were counted and are on file at the division headquarters. The warrant was served and the establishment closed on the grounds it was an illegal membership club with no license, and no license to serve liquor.

The police are sure of one thing. They haven't heard the last from the Girls of Christopher Street.

They sure fucking haven't. Now get your ass up and get down to the parade.

Labels: LGBT History, LGBT rights, New York state, NYC, NYPD, Stonewall Rebellion

reposted from Joe

Via AmericaBlogGay: Michele Bachmann’s problem with gays

Michele Bachmann’s problem with gays

Given last night's momentous victory in New York, I'd like to re-visit Matt Taibbi's piece on Michele Bachmann, just to highlight one element — her obsession with gay issues (our first visit was here). Here's from near the middle (my emphasis):

Bachmann's anti-gay crusade in Minnesota was born of similar stuff. Right from the start, she made sure that everyone knew the awesome importance of the task she was taking on, trying to outlaw an already outlawed practice. "This is probably the biggest issue that will impact our state and our nation in, at least, the last 30 years," she said. She called gay marriage an "earthquake issue," insisting that failure to pass her proposal would mean that "sex curriculum would essentially be taught by the gay community" and that "little K-12 children will be forced to learn that homosexuality is normal, natural, and perhaps they should try it." Much as Sarah Palin's actual speeches sometimes melt indistinguishably into Tina Fey's SNL parodies, Bachmann's anti-gay rhetoric at times features a campy, over-the-top quality that makes it hard to tell her apart from a tranny cabaret act. She described the gay lifestyle as "bondage" and "personal enslavement," even claiming that suicide among gay teens is due not to discrimination but to "the fact of what they're doing."

Bachmann's obsession with gay culture led her to bizarre behavioral extremes. In April 2005, after the State Senate refused to even vote on her constitutional amendment, she hid in the bushes outside the State Capitol during a gay-rights rally. A photo shows Bachmann, only the top of her Stepford head visible, crouched alone in an extreme catcher's squat behind the Capitol shrubbery. She later insisted she wasn't hiding at all, but resting because her heels hurt.

Or something. (Here's one shot, from the Minnesota Post. Another here. The google gets you a few more.) Later he retells her story of being "'held against her will' [in a restroom] by what may or may not have been a pair of angry lesbians."

Now from near the beginning of Taibbi's piece:

Bachmann was born Michele Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, to a pair of lifelong Democrats, but grew up in tiny Anoka, Minnesota. By her teen years, her parents had divorced; her mother remarried and brought step-siblings into the home, creating a Brady Bunchian group of nine kids. One of Bachmann's step-siblings, Helen LaFave, would later come out as a lesbian, a fact that Michele, who became famous opposing gay marriage, never mentions on the campaign trail. For the most part, though, Bachmann's upbringing seems like pure Americana, a typical Midwestern girl who was "in a couple of beauty pageants" and "not overtly political," according to her stepbrother Michael LaFave.

Something to keep in mind as her sad star rises. Bachmann's story is nuanced, as the full Taibbi article shows; but a telling detail nonetheless.

GP