Via AmericaBlogGay:

Secret documents reveal NOM strategic goal "to drive wedge between gays and blacks"

It's not like we didn't think this was happening, but, wow, it's really ugly to see it in writing. As John notes on the main AMERICAblog home page, the religious right wanted to fan a race war, and they admitted it in writing.  Ben Smith at Buzzfeed calls the documents "explosive".

Earlier tonight, Alvin McEwen tipped me off about some court documents that revealed NOM's strategy. It's ugly. From Alvin:

The National Organization for Marriage's unsuccessful fight to skirt Maine's financial disclosure laws just backfired majorly on the group by revealing a distasteful part of its game plan to stop marriage equality.

According to a court document that was uploaded online, NOM specifically worked to drive a wedge between the black and gay community on the subject of marriage equality

Here's the key passage about gays and blacks (and there's also a strategy for Latinos):

The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks - two key democratic constituencies. We aim to find, equip, energize and connect African American spokespeople for marriage; to develop a media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a civil right; and to provoke the gay marriage base into responding by denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots. No politician wants to take up and push an issue that splits the base of the party. Fanning the hostility raised in the wake of Prop 8 is key...

They mean hostility between African-Americans and white gays.

The full document is below. (John links to a second confidential NOM document that is similar to this one, but also includes the "fanning the hostility" phrase. There seem to be at least three different documents.)

Jeremy Hooper and HRC's NOM Exposed are on top of this, too.

And, as for NOM and Latinos, read the post from Dr. Gary Segura, who runs Latino Decisions polling firm -- and was an expert witness in the Prop. 8 case and several DOMA cases. He noted:

For starters, Latinos are far more liberal on marriage equality than stereotypes might suggest.

This has the potential to be a very big story. Ben Smith at BuzzFeed has already picked up the story.

Nom Depo Exhibit 28

Via JMG: Turkish Army Demands Proof Of Gayness

The Turkish Army grants a waiver of the mandatory service requirement if you are gay. But you have to prove it to them.

Ahmet, a young man in his 20s, told officials he was gay at the first opportunity after he was called up, as he and other conscripts underwent a health check. "They asked me if I liked football, whether I wore woman's clothes or used woman's perfume," he says. "I had a few days' beard and I am a masculine guy - they told me I didn't look like a normal gay man." He was then asked to provide a picture of himself dressed as a woman "I refused this request," he says. "But I made them another offer, which they accepted." Instead he gave them a photograph of himself kissing another man. Ahmet hopes this will give him what he needs - a "pink certificate", which will declare him homosexual and therefore exempt from military service.

Photo requirement: "The face must be visible, and the photos must show you as the passive partner." The above-linked BBC News report notes that civilian Turkish employers are allowed to ask the army about such waivers.

Labels: LGBT rights, military, Turkey

Reposted from Joe

"Join the Party!"

Via JMG: Herman Cain, WTF? (Part Two)

I hesitate to post this, but its so crazy, I think it needs to be shared...

Labels: crackpots, crazy people, GOP, WTF

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: U.S. Customs To Recognize Gay Families

Homeland Security today announced a proposed rule change that will allow gay families to go through U.S. Customs together. Zack Ford notes at Think Progress: "Before, married same-sex couples had to go through customs separately because the policy referred to married couples, and thus fell under the purview of the Defense of Marriage Act." Yet another advance from the Obama administration.

Labels: gay families, Homeland Security, Obama administration

Reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 26, 2012

Facing Challenges and Obstacles

When challenges or obstacles arise for us, we don’t have to get so intimidated; we can say, 'Yes, it’s an obstacle, but it is not intrinsically bad; it’s not going to destroy me.' To create a relationship with the obstacle, learn about it, and finally overcome it is going to be a helpful thing to do. It gives us a chance to cultivate wisdom and skillful means. It gives us confidence. We cannot eliminate all of the challenges or obstacles in life—our own or anyone else’s. We can only learn to rise to the occasion and face them.

- Dzigar Kongtrul, “Old Relationships, New Possibilities”
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 25, 2012

An Innocent Mind

What can be described is the known, and the freedom from the known can come into being only when there is a dying every day to the known, to the hurts, the flatteries, to all the images you have made, to all your experiences— dying every day so that the brain cells themselves become fresh, young, innocent.

- Jiddu Krishnamurti, “A Still Mind”
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Music For Deep Meditation. "Spirit of the Sound"

936Hz Pineal Gland Activator

Beautiful Arabic Chant of Naw Ruz Tablet

JMG Photo Of The Day - Afghanistan Pride Flag

Just posted to the Wipeout Homophobia page of Facebook with the caption: "hubbie in afghanistan raising a gay pride flag." I'm still in meetings at the journalists conference in Houston, so I'm hoping my flying monkeys can track down the back story behind this photo. (Tipped by JMG reader David)

Labels: Afghanistan, DADT, military, photo of the day

reposted from Joe

Via George Takei / Facebook:

Via George Takei / Facebook:

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma March 24, 2012

The View From Above

Things simply happen—we do our rituals, we travel about, we bear children, live among them, and die. We can’t change these facts, but if we cultivate awareness that everyone, everywhere has similar experiences of life and death, it can take the urgency out of our responses, opening a space for equanimity to arise.

- Manjusura, “The View From Above”
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via AmericaBlogGay:

Obama advisers reportedly debating gay marriage

Adviser 1: So the gays are pushing hard on this gay marriage thing.

Advier 2: EEEK! [runs from room].

Adviser 3: Who are they gonna vote for, Romney?

Adviser 4: Uh, yeah.

I'm not voting for Romney. But a sizable minority of gays will. Remember that while only 23% of gays voted for Bush in 2004, 27% voted for McCain because he seemed vaguely more pro-gay. Fast forward to 2012. Romney is FAR more pro-gay than John McCain - well, to be precise, Romney WAS far more pro-gay than John McCain, back when he was pro-choice, pro- the health care mandate, etc. And it won't be a stretch for some gay voters, and some independents straight and gay, to say "oh Romney, he's just pretending to be a conservative, we know he's really liberal in his heart." After all, isn't that the message that everyone says about Romney, left and right?

So I think it benefits the President to come out for marriage equality for a variety of reasons.

From Greg Sargent at the Washington Post:

Obama’s top political advisers have held serious discussions with leading Democrats about the upsides and downsides of coming out for gay marriage before the fall election, a Democratic strategist who has discussed these matters directly with Obama's campaign inner circle tells me.

This does not mean that it will happen, and there are plenty of reasons to assume it won’t. Indeed, it would be political malpractice if Obama’s top advisers didn’t discuss every permutation and possibility, no matter how far fetched. However, the fact that it has been discussed seriously at high levels means it’s not out of the question.

Those advisers are convinced that Obama will make this call based on his gut, and ultimately without regard to the fine-grained political analysis of the situation, the source says.

If this were just about the President's gut, then he'd already be announcing his support. After all, he was for gay marriage all the way back in 1996. The only plausible reason for his change is because he decided to run for national office. So this isn't about his gut. It's about whether his gut overrules his political calculus. And, as Joe and I have argued many a time, even the political calculus argues in favor of the President coming out again for marriage equality.

After all, the Republicans already say that the President is in favor of gay marriage. That's what they're going to tell black voters, southern voters, blue collar voters and all the rest. Why not own it and make it a positive?

Basketball & Math - Gay short film. High School boy falls in love with 'straight' best friend.

Via JMG: NOM's Starbucks Boycott: Day One

On the first full official day of NOM's boycott, yesterday Starbucks' stock price plummeted soared by $1.41. SNORK!

Labels: FAIL, hate groups, NOM, Starbucks

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Freedom To Marry Launches New Drive

Via press release:

Today Freedom to Marry announced the Win More States Fund to raise at least $3 million dollars, every penny of which will be spent directly on the work of winning in five 2012 marriage battleground states: Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Washington. “Winning marriage at the ballot in even one state will take away the last desperate talking-point our opponents use to disparage the gains we are making across the country,” said Evan Wolfson, founder and President of Freedom to Marry, the campaign to win marriage nationwide. “In each of our battleground states, Freedom to Marry is taking a lead role alongside local families and leaders, adding talent and resources on the frontlines to do the critical work necessary to win.”

With five states on the 2012 ballot, it's almost a rerun of 2004. This time, however, three of the state battles can end in legalization.

Labels: 2012 elections, Freedom To Marry, LGBT rights

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Finland Considers Gay Marriage

The government of Finland has begun debating a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage.

Considered one of the most conservative Nordic nations, there is already a relationship register in the country for same-sex couples, which has been in place since 2002. The new amendment would end the separation between heterosexual marriages and same-sex partnerships and allow all couples to share a surname and adopt children. The amendment would have no bearing on religious groups, and would only redefine civil marriages. The Finnish Parliament have now sent the initiative to the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, where its passage is uncertain. The draft amendment was signed by 76 of the 200 members of Parliament, with more lawmakers including Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen expected to vote for it, Reuters reports.

Norway and Sweden have already legalized gay marriage.

Labels: Finland, LGBT rights, marriage equality

Reposted  from Joe