Via 365 Gay; Obama says gay couples deserve same rights as all

(New York) President Barack Obama praised New York state lawmakers who were debating landmark legislation Thursday to legalize gay marriage, saying that’s what democracy’s all about. But the president stopped short of embracing same-sex marriage himself.

“I believe that gay couples deserve the same legal rights as every other couple in this country,” the president said at a fundraiser in Manhattan, his first geared specifically to the gay community. Coincidentally, the long-planned event occurred just as lawmakers in Albany were debating legislation that would make New York the sixth state to legalize gay marriage. 

That served to spotlight the president’s own views on same-sex marriage, a sore point with gay supporters who’ve otherwise warmed to him. The president has said his views are “evolving,” but for now he supports civil unions, not same-sex marriage.

“Traditionally marriage has been decided by the states and right now I understand there’s a little debate going on here in New York,” the president said to laughter. He said New York’s lawmakers are “doing exactly what democracies are supposed to do.”

Debate on the measure continued into the night at the statehouse, and the outcome was uncertain.
As Obama spoke a handful of people shouted out “marriage!” And Obama said, “I heard you guys.”

Report on Loving Case 1967

Via JMG: Decisions Are Best Left To The States

Video and transcript via Igor Volsky at Think Progress:

Part of the reason that DOMA doesn’t make sense is that traditionally marriage has been decided by the states and right now, I understand there is a little debate going on here in New York about whether to join five other states and DC in allowing civil marriage for gay couples. And I want to say that under the leadership of Governor Cuomo, with the support of Democrats and Republicans, New York is doing exactly what democracies are supposed to to do. There is a debate, there is a deliberation about what it means here in New York to treat people fairly in the eyes of the law and that is — look, that’s the power of our democratic system.

Labels: Barack Obama, marriage equality, New York state, NYC

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Quote Of The Day - Anita Bryant

"I was before her time, but Sally Kern is here for such a time as this. I am grateful for her life and her friendship. Reading The Stoning of Sally Kern was at times like déjà vu, reminding me of my stand in Dade County in 1977. I can highly recommend this book to anyone who loves God, their family, and their country. It is a must-read for any believing woman or man who wants to make a difference in these perilous times. Those soldiers who have counted the cost of character assassination or endured other losses yet are willing to take a stand in truth and love for the glory of God, our children, and future generations will especially enjoy this inspiring book." - Anita Bryant, from a blurb on the cover of fellow homophobe Sally Kern's autobiography.

Labels: Anita Bryant, bigotry, books, homophobes, Quote Of The Day, religion, Sally Kern

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Today In Albany , NY

I'm fairly sure I first posted this cartoon here a couple of years ago, but it's being passed around on Twitter today and feels just as true as when it was first published.

Labels: Albany, bigotry, religion

reposted from Joe

It Gets Better: Target Team Members

JMG Asshat Of The Day - Sam Trombley

"I'm surprised the health department has not come out against this because we are going to have an HIV epidemic if this passes. They (health department) are always complaining about tobacco and smoking, I'm surprised they didn't say anything about this. You don't see two male dogs sleeping in the same dog house together. It blows my mind to think of it." - Clinton County GOP legislator Sam Trombley, who has a big future in New York state Republican politics.

Labels: asshattery, douchnozzles, New York state

reposted from Joe

The EvolveAlready Video

Via JMG: FLASHBACK: Crazy Eyes Spies On Gay

Buzzfeed reminds us of the incident in which then state legislator Michele Bachmann squatted down in some bushes to spy on an LGBT rights rally in Minneapolis. Bachmann later claimed she wasn't hiding, she was "resting her heels."

Labels: bigotry, crazy people, Michele Bachmann, Minneapolis

reposted from Joe

Via AmericaBlogGay: AC360: Is Obama’s opposition to marriage "real or just political posturing"

Great segment on AC360 last night, via Andy Towle. Anderson plays a clip of Obama's interview with Rick Warren back in August of 2008. In the wake of Prop. 8 and so many advancements, the answer that he opposes marriage because "God is in the mix" seems archaic.

 

Let's be clear here: Supporting marriage would be a very good political move for the President. Public opinion is on our side and gets better every day. Conversely, he looks more and more out of touch on this issue every day.

Last year, the geniuses in the White House, led by then-Deputy Chief of Staff/now-Campaign Manager Jim Messina, concocted a plan to repeal DADT in 2011. When the Pentagon officials said it would complete its report on December 1, 2010 and wanted no legislation til the report was done, they weren't thinking lame duck. They were thinking 2011. But, a lot of us, including some great allies on Capitol Hill, pushed ahead. Now, repeal of DADT is touted as one of the Obama administration's great victories. I checked through some of the speeches Barack and Michelle Obama are giving at DNC fundraisers. Here are some recent excerpts:

The President on June 20, 2011:

We've made tremendous progress on a whole host of social issues, from ending "don't ask, don't tell" so that every American can serve their country regardless of who they love, to making sure that we've got equal pay for equal work, to making sure that we've got national service so that our young people can use their talents to help rebuild America.

Michelle Obama in San Francisco on June 14, 2011:

We’re working to live up to our founding values of freedom and equality. And today, because this President ended Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, our troops will never again have to lie about who they are to serve the country they love.

It's a great applause line for them. And, we helped Obama and his team achieve that great victory -- against their wishes. Same can be said of marriage.

Every time I see another article where Messina claims the campaign is going after the youth vote, I wonder how'll they'll do that if Obama is opposed to marriage. For example, in Virginia (one of the 2012 battleground states and not a liberal bastion in any way), 73% of 18-29 year old voters support marriage. Not saying all young voters make their choice for President on marriage equality, but it could influence whether some of them actually vote. The current position of the President is dated and looks way out-of-touch -- and it doesn't inspire the base.

When Kerry Eleveld and I hosted Mike Signorile's show on May 3, 2011, one of our guests was Nate Silver who had just written a post titled, "Gay Marriage Opponents Now in Minority." He told us that Obama was already behind the trend of public opinion, "It's too late for [Obama] to get ahead of the trend." But, it's not too late for him to get on the right side of history.

Evolve already, Mr. President. It's the right thing to do on so many levels, including politically.

Now, if only the donors attending the big LGBT fundraiser in NYC tomorrow would convey the same message.....

Via AmericaBlogGay;

Why is everyone forgetting NGLTF's role in GLAAD-gate?

1. GLAAD writes to FCC over Net Neutrality on January 4, 2010, notes how important the Internet is to gay advocacy. (It's the second letter via the link.)

2. NGLTF writes to FCC over Net Neutrality on January 5, 2010, notes how important the Internet is to gay advocacy.

3. NGLTF "corrects" previous Net Neutrality letter to FCC on January 14, 2010.

4. GLAAD "corrects" previous Net Neutrality letter to FCC on January 15, 2010.

That's not a coincidence.

Via JMG: CANADA: Major Party Opposes Charity Status For "Ex-Gay" Groups

Canada's New Democratic Party has adopted a resolution opposing federal charity status for so-called "ex-gay" advocacy groups. Ex-Gay Watch provides a quote from a party delegate:

"Delegates, an investigation published in September 2010 by [the] LGBT news blog Slap Upside The Head revealed that Exodus Global Alliance, an ex-gay organisation, enjoys registered charity status with the Canada Revenue Agency. Ex-gay organisations claim that gay, lesbian, and bisexual people can be made straight. They take advantage of LGB people, often in vulnerable family situations or at grips with depression and self-hatred, and browbeat them—saying that LGB people never live happy lives, that we are unhealthy and unwhole, and that we never experience love and that the only hope lies in their therapies. [...] We see that they are selling snake oil with benefits given to them by the Canada Revenue Agency at present."

You can follow the campaign to revoke these groups' non-profit status on the blog Slap Upside The Head. We need to bring this movement here.

Labels: "ex-gay", Canada, liars, still totally gay

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Pride 2011

Make sure you pick up a copy of Pride 2011 when you head out for your local events this weekend. I was the guest editor this year and I wrote the cover story interview with Dan Savage. Brag!

Labels: Dan Savage, JMG, Pride Magazine

reposted from Joe

Via Moveon.org: Remember When?

Most of the things that spread fast on Facebook are pretty silly—videos of cats and the like. But recently, we noticed a new contender: a feisty political point that's spreading like wildfire.

We think there's a real opportunity for it to go viral and introduce millions of people to this cheeky, spot-on reframing of the economic crisis we're in. Can you help make that happen? Click here to share this message on Facebook today:

Share This on Facebook

If you didn't click on the link above, or on the image itself, you can click here to share this great message on Facebook: http://www.moveon.org/r?r=209557&id=28268-538505-UU%3DAdYx&t=4

And if you'd prefer to share this message via email instead, just forward this email to all your friends and family.

Thanks for all you do.

–Peter, Laura, Michael, Amy, and the rest of the team

P.S. Check out what MoveOn's Justin Ruben called "An Inconvenient Truth for our economy—on steroids," tomorrow night at 8:15 p.m. ET. It's equal parts tent revival, dance party, and gripping story about what's happened to our economy and how we can rebuild the American Dream, led by inspirational leader Van Jones and powered by MoveOn.org. Click here to RSVP and catch it online in HD: http://front.rebuildthedream.com/rsvp/?rc=adrsvp

Via 365Gay News: Study finds half of college-educated gays in the closet at work

Almost half of college-educated gay Americans hide their sexual orientation at work despite company policies to extend protection and benefits to gay employees, according to a new study by The Center for Work-Life Policy.


The study said that 48 percent of gay workers are closeted – and about a third of those closeted workers are nevertheless out in their personal lives, causing them to a lead a “double-life.”  The result is that they “are more likely to report job-related stress and isolation than their peers and more likely to say they want to leave their current jobs,” said Yahoo News.




Most Fortune 500 companies prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and extend benefits to workers’ same-sex partners, but the study found that people aren’t always aware of these policies or what they mean.

It is also possible, the authors suggest, that some closeted employees may be responding to their environment.  Some straight co-workers (37 percent of women and 52 percent of men) say that they would prefer gay people to keep their personal lives private.

Only 21 states prohibit employers from discriminating against LGBT workers.

make the jump here to read the full article

Via AmericaBlogGay: Did Obama nudge history, or did history nudge him?

From Greg Sargent:

The White House response is to plead for maneuvering room by arguing that Obama has played an important role in nudging history in the right direction on the issue. Whether this will be enough remains to be seen. It’s hard to imagine gays deserting him in significant numbers, though enthusiasm and fundraising could suffer. But it seems clear that the White House has settled on its approach to this problem.

I don't think the President has nudged history at all. Like most Democrats, he's far behind both history and the American public on our issues (Joe calls this "political homophobia"). The public was consistently at 70% to 80% in the polls with regards to repealing DADT, they have the same views on ENDA, and recent polls are finally showing a majority in favor of marriage equality.

Why is it then that we had to beat the bejeesus out of the President to get him to finally move on DADT, and to get him to simply stop defending DOMA (something he did far too late, giving the Republicans the chance to now defend it instead)?  He didn't bend the arc of history, we did.  The President, and the party, are far behind the arc of history when it comes to our civil rights.  And rather than attempting to bend it in the right direction, they seem to be doing all they can to run from it as fast as they can, while offering us a tantalizing platter of b-rate advances that should have all been done on the first day of the new administration.

Yes, the President has done some good things.  (Though much of it is standard stuff that doesn't really count as fierce advocacy (such as appointing a gay ambassador after Clinton and Bush already both did the same), or issuing a Pride proclamation and holding a cocktail party that routinely black lists any gay Democratic leader who has stood up to the President.)  But the good the President's done on our top three issues - DADT and DOMA repeal, and the passage of ENDA - has so far been marginal at best.

Once DADT is fully repealed - and sadly the administration is dragging its feet on that now too, while many of us fear a delay will only embolden the GOP to try to some legislative funny business in the fall - that will be a true feather in the President's cap.  But let's not forget that Barack Obama had the opportunity to do so much more, on gay rights, on health care reform, on the stimulus, on eliminating tax cuts, on the budget, on immigration, on civil liberties, and he didn't.  And the only reason he did as much as he did on gay rights, even though it wasn't enough, is because a great many of us in the Netroots took the arc of history and threw it in his face.

Via AmericaBlogGay: Amazing words on DADT repeal from top enlisted Marine

The article is short, rather than try to excerpt it, just go over. It's great.

Via AmericaBlogGay: Kerry Eleveld: What Will Obama Tell The Gays Under The Shadow Of Lady Liberty?

The pressure is building for Obama to Evolve Already.

Read all of Kerry's post. As usual, I can't really add much to Kerry's words:

Look, everyone knows this is a political calculation. President Obama was for marriage equality as a state senator in 1996 before he was against it as an aspiring presidential candidate in 2004 (the evolution of his positions are traced here). But as he heads into the 2012 election cycle, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for him to have it both ways on same-sex marriage – to carry the magic mantle of hope and change, to appeal to the better angels of our nature, while literally falling behind the trend lines on supporting something as fundamentally American as the expression of our liberty.

Here’s just a few notes on the shift in dynamics since the ‘08 election: Obama doesn’t have the cover of two competing Democratic candidates who also hold the same position of not supporting marriage equality; when he took office, only one state had legalized marriage and now five have plus the District of Columbia; a federal judge has ruled the crux of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional and Obama himself has concurred; another federal judge ruled a California ballot measure stripping marital rights from gays unconstitutional; five major consecutive polls, including Gallup, have now found that a majority of Americans support the right of same-sex couples to marry; “don’t ask, don’t tell” has been repealed (but not lifted yet) and although GOP lawmakers are still waging the battles of yesteryear in Congress, the rest of America barely batted an eye.

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, all this adds up to one thing: Drama. But more importantly, it’s about people’s lives, who they are to the core of their being, the fact that their heart pounds just as truly as everyone else’s. It’s about a longing for leadership that adds up to something more than a cold political calculation for the next election cycle.

But if calculate we must, let’s face it, the next election – like every election – will be about the economy, not marriage equality. So why not come full circle and stake your claim on the right side of history, Mr. President?

Do UOL Notícias: Corregedora do TJ cassa decisão de juiz que anulou união homoafetiva em Goiás

• Mesmo com decisão do STF, casal gay teve união estável cancelada em Goiás
  

A corregedora do Tribunal de Justiça de Goiás (TJ-GO), desembargadora Beatriz Figueiredo Franco, cassou decisão do juiz goiano que anulou a união estável de um casal homossexual e proibiu os cartórios do Estado de emitir outros contratos de união estável. O caso será levado para a Corte Especial do tribunal, que irá decidir se instaura um processo disciplinar contra o juiz.

O juiz Jerônymo Pedro Villas Boas, da 1ª Vara da Fazenda Pública Municipal e de Registros Públicos de Goiânia, anulou, na última sexta-feira (17), a união estável de um casal mesmo depois de o Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) equiparar os direitos dos gays aos dos casais heterossexuais. Com isso, os homossexuais passaram a poder firmar contratos de união estável em cartórios de todo país.

Na decisão, o juiz de Goiás contestou o Supremo, e disse que a Corte não tem competência para alterar normas da Constituição Federal. O artigo 226 traz em seu texto que, “para efeito da proteção do Estado, é reconhecida a união estável entre o homem e a mulher como entidade familiar, devendo a lei facilitar sua conversão”. Esta seria a norma que o juiz entendeu inviolável. Villas Boas afirmou a Folha.com que a decisão do STF "ultrapassou os limites" e é "ilegítima e inconstitucional".

No domingo, o presidente em exercício da OAB nacional, Miguel Cançado, divulgou nota afirmando ser “um retrocesso moralista” a decisão do juiz. Segundo Cançado, ao decidir sobre a união estável, o STF exerceu o papel de guardião e intérprete da Constituição. “As relações homoafetivas compõem uma realidade social que merecem a proteção legal”, afirmou.

Na segunda-feira, o ministro do STF Luiz Fux afirmou que a decisão poderia ser considerada "um atentado" passível de revisão.

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