Thursday, June 18, 2009
Fred Karger sent a message to the members of Californians Against Hate
Read the whole story on: The Huffington Post
Fred Karger
Posted: June 17, 2009 02:28 PM
How to Win Back Same-Sex Marriage In California - Voter Registration
I spent three decades as a public affairs and political consultant. I spent a couple of hours at Los Angeles Gay Pride last Sunday.
Being heavily involved right now in our LGBT civil rights movement, it is important to observe what is going on out there. Several hundred thousand people attended the Sunday morning parade and the annual weekend festival. June is Gay Pride month, and there are literally dozens of cities in California that hold Pride weekends throughout June and all summer long.
Last year's Pride was particularity interesting, because much to our surprise, gay marriage had been made legal just weeks earlier, and it was going to take affect days later. What an exciting and historic time that was. What a difference a year makes.
I remember last year that there was no one registering voters the entire weekend of LA Pride. Odd I thought, since one year ago we knew in advance that Proposition 8 was very likely going to be on the November 4th ballot.
Voter registration is an essential element in all major political campaigns. Practically every campaign and every political party has conducted voter registration drives almost going back as far as George Washington. It's basic, nothing really new or innovative. The idea is, to register new voters who will vote with you in order to help your side get more votes than your opponents. Like I said, pretty basic.
This year I went into the Pride Festival to do a little test. I wanted to see what all was going on with voter registration.
I had assumed that our wonderful LGBT organizations (and they are incredible organizations) would have hundreds of people out registering LGBT voters and all our friends at LA Pride this year. I figured that they would be taking advantage of this mostly younger crowd, and get everyone at Gay Pride registered to vote. After all we very likely will be back on the ballot to repeal Prop 8 in less than 17 months.
As I went to my first LGBT political booth, I asked gently if there was a way to register to vote? A young bewildered volunteer said, "not really sure." I visited the over 20 more LGBT political booths, out of over several hundred at the festival. Sadly, I could not find one voter registration card! Not even one!!!
During my wanderings, I finally met a very nice girl who had heard that the Stonewall Democrats booth had some voter registration forms. She marched me right over there, and I was thinking bingo, but alas, after some searching around they first said "we ran out," then said, "sorry, we don't have any." Then the cute volunteer added, "good idea though."
200,000 to 300,000 LGBT individuals and so many of our friends were in one place, who all agree that marriage equality should return to California. You do the math. Talk about a missed opportunity!!!
I'm pretty certain that at least half of the mostly younger crowd at Pride is not registered to vote yet. Once they do register, they will be voting for let's say 70 more years on many more LGBT issues and for candidates who support us. That's a lot of Novembers and Junes. In California, all new voters have the option of checking a box to have an absentee ballot mailed to their home forever. Vote at home = very high turnout.
It's simple. Elections are won by who gets the most votes. We narrowly lost last year. Let's put on the biggest, most successful most fun voter registration program in California history. Let's give it a catchy name like "Milk the Vote" or "Register for Equality." Then brand it, use our massive volunteer force that has been and continues to be organized, and let's go get 600,000 new LGBT voters and our friends registered now. This new army should be everywhere the next 17 months where there is a gay event, rally, march, college campus and any place that there are more than 25 gay people assembled.
It's a lot of work, but if all our organizations and volunteers get behind "Milk the Vote," or whatever the name is, we can make up the 599,602 votes that we lost by and win next year's election to repeal Prop 8. Let's make sure that California once again leads the way on equality.
I appeal to all our very effective LGBT organizations to work together and make voter registration the number one activity between now and next October 18th (last day to register for the November 2, 2010 election).
Hell, people can even register on line: http://www.facebook.com/l/;http://www.sos.ca.gov/nvrc/fedform/ and then just print out the form and mail it in.
We lost by only 4% of the vote last year -- 599,602 votes out of the over 13.4 million cast on Prop 8. What a change from just 8 years earlier when we lost by 23%!
Please, make this the last Pride in California, or anywhere in the country for that matter, where we are not registering voters.
It is the smartest thing that we can be doing now and for our future.
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Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Dump DOMA
Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont now allow same-sex couples to marry and to enjoy the rights and responsibilities of civil marriage in those states. And thousands of same-sex marriages performed in California before the passage of Prop 8 ended equal marriage there are still valid according to a recent court ruling.
But in none of these places can someone in a same-sex marriage who has paid into the social security program collect survivors' benefits if his or her spouse were to pass away, nor receive the hundreds of other important federal benefits that heterosexual married couples are entitled to receive. This is because of the prohibitions contained in the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
DOMA is a looming roadblock to full legal equality for same-sex couples ... a roadblock that candidate AND President-elect Barack Obama pledged to remove.
A few months ago, you signed our petition to tell both the president and congressional leaders that the time has come to DUMP DOMA. In light of recent events, we need to renew our push to make this petition the biggest, best lobbying tool we can.
Please forward this e-mail to others or send them to www.DumpDOMA.com and ask them to join you in signing.
Tonight, President Obama announced that he is moving administratively to provide some benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees. This is a very small step in the right direction, but it's really just a token, and tokens are no longer enough. What stands in the way of real progress for all same-sex couples is DOMA, which denies the most important benefits -- healthcare, retirement, health insurance and more -- to anyone but "spouses" under DOMA's definition of marriage (ie. married heterosexual couples).
And sadly, the administration has not lived up to the president's earlier calls to repeal DOMA.
On Friday, the Justice Department filed a legal brief in which it went far above and beyond simply defending DOMA as a federal policy against a court challenge. The brief cited laws regarding incest ... it called DOMA a policy of government "neutrality" (which it is clearly anything but) ... and it justified the government's continued discrimination on the basis that it's cheaper than expanding fundamental rights and protections.
There is no defense for the Defense of Marriage Act. Help spread the word that less unequal is still unequal -- help get others to sign the petition at www.DumpDOMA.com.
-- Your Allies at People For the American WayProposition 8 may violate US Constitution
Schwarzenegger says Proposition 8 may violate US Constitution ... ... in a written response to a federal challenge of the anti-gay marriage ballot measure ...
Defend a free-flowing Internet and support the Broadband Internet Fairness Act
Dear Friends,
We now have a chance to wrestle control of the Internet's future away from Time Warner Cable, Comcast, AT&T and other telco giants.
Rep. Eric Massa has just introduced a bill in Congress, called the Broadband Internet Fairness Act, that will restrict telcos' ability to charge outrageous rates for using the Internet. This bill would be the first step toward guaranteeing an open, fast and accessible Internet for all Americans.
Please visit the URL below to tell your member of Congress to support this important piece of legislation:
Thanks!Some Churches Support Gay Rights
Take my friend's pastor, a Lutheran minister who on Mother's Day said in his sermon,
I have a very hard time finding any reason to be afraid of what is happening in Massachusetts and Iowa and elsewhere. The institution of marriage is strong; it cannot be damaged by extending it to others who want to get married. On the contrary, marriage is strengthened by doing so.
Christianity is not out to get gays and lesbians, despite the popular perception. Not all churches are barring our way to equal rights. Indeed, some are opening the door.
Jennifer Vanasco is editor in chief of 365gay.comYou may read the full article inOutword and the Huffington Post
Tell Obama and Holder: Stop defending DOMA.
Subject: Tell Obama and Holder: Stop defending DOMA.
Dear Friends,They compared same-sex marriage to a marriage between an uncle and a niece. Or between two children. No, we're not talking about Rick Santorum. We're talking about the Obama administration's Justice Department. The brief the DOJ presented defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in federal court was not just wrong. It was offensive. The New York Times called it "disturbing" in its lead editorial.
Back in the days of the 2008 campaign, Senator Obama promised he would work to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. But now that a gay couple in California is challenging DOMA in federal court, President Obama has chosen to take action to defend a law that prevents legally married same-sex couples from receiving any federal benefits, or from having their marriages recognized in other states.
I just signed a petition to tell President Obama and Attorney General Holder to withdraw this offensive brief and apologize for its contents. (The website also has a great video of Rachel Maddow and Howard Dean discussing the importance of this issue!) Please have a look and take action.
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/doma_brief/?r_by=-1068490-Ddu1sWx&rc=confemail
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Product Placing The Gays
For years advertisers have given sly, subtle nods to homo consumers, a phenomenon coined by the Commercial Closet as "gay vague." Ramping up the visibility ever so slightly, a few brands have begun placing logos known mostly only to gays in their ads. Below left, an Orbitz ad features a man wearing an HRC golf shirt. Below right, an ad from Taco Del Mar features a surfer with a Gay & Lesbian Surfer Association sticker on his board.
(Taco Del Mar clip via Slog)
Thanks JMG for this
Tell Obama and Holder: Stop defending DOMA.
Friends,
They compared same-sex marriage to a marriage between an uncle and a niece. Or between two children. No, we're not talking about Rick Santorum. We're talking about the Obama administration's Justice Department. The brief the DOJ presented defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in federal court was not just wrong. It was offensive. The New York Times called it "disturbing" in its lead editorial.
Back in the days of the 2008 campaign, Senator Obama promised he would work to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. But now that a gay couple in California is challenging DOMA in federal court, President Obama has chosen to take action to defend a law that prevents legally married same-sex couples from receiving any federal benefits, or from having their marriages recognized in other states.
I just signed a petition to tell President Obama and Attorney General Holder to withdraw this offensive brief and apologize for its contents. (The website also has a great video of Rachel Maddow and Howard Dean discussing the importance of this issue!) Please have a look and take action.
They compared same-sex marriage to a marriage between an uncle and a niece. Or between two children. No, we're not talking about Rick Santorum. We're talking about the Obama administration's Justice Department. The brief the DOJ presented defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in federal court was not just wrong. It was offensive. The New York Times called it "disturbing" in its lead editorial.
Back in the days of the 2008 campaign, Senator Obama promised he would work to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. But now that a gay couple in California is challenging DOMA in federal court, President Obama has chosen to take action to defend a law that prevents legally married same-sex couples from receiving any federal benefits, or from having their marriages recognized in other states.
I just signed a petition to tell President Obama and Attorney General Holder to withdraw this offensive brief and apologize for its contents. (The website also has a great video of Rachel Maddow and Howard Dean discussing the importance of this issue!) Please have a look and take action.
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/doma_brief/?r_by=-1068490-Ddu1sWx&rc=confemail
NY Times Slaps Obama
From the GIST:
In an editorial headlined "A Bad Call on Gay Rights," The New York Times calls the DOMA brief "disturbing," and slaps Obama for using the excuse of political expediency for denying gay and lesbian Americans their rights:
The Obama administration, which came to office promising to protect gay rights but so far has not done much, actually struck a blow for the other side last week. It submitted a disturbing brief in support of the Defense of Marriage Act, which is the law that protects the right of states to not recognize same-sex marriages and denies same-sex married couples federal benefits. The administration needs a new direction on gay rights.
Monday, June 15, 2009
An organized response to Obama's failure on GLBT rights
An organized response to Obama's failure on GLBT rights
by: Smartypants
Mon Jun 15, 2009 at 18:24:17 PM EDT
Pam's post on HRC's letter to President Obama asks a critical question: "What happens next if the President thumbs his nose at this letter?"
The question really got me thinking. What options are left to us when our purported friends and allies ignore an appeal to common decency?
Because it's pretty obvious our elected 'friends' are screwing us. Again.
And why not? They've gotten away with it before and never paid a price. Too many of these so-called friends and allies in elected office know that if they show up at a pride rally and occasionally vote for some mildly progressive measure on our behalf, as grateful GLBT constituents we will continue to be a reliable source of money and volunteers. And we won't make a fuss because we're afraid our very real enemies will take advantage of any division.
Read the full article at PHB.
Free Hugs Campaign
Free Hugs Campaign - Official Page (music by Sick Puppies.net )
youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4
Top Obama Gay John Berry: It's Going To Be A Long Time On LGBT Rights
Courtesy of JMG:
John Berry, the director of the Office of Personnel Management and the president's highest ranking openly gay appointee spoke to the Advocate's Kerry Eleveld after his speech at DC Pride yesterday (which I heard). Berry, who said he was speaking with the authorization of the White House, outlined a four-point list of LGBT rights that the Obama administration hopes to achieve, but stressed that the general timetable for these goals is "under the administration's watch", meaning including a potential second Obama term.
Berry went on to say that the gay community should not "waste energy and angst" attacking the president over last week's DOJ-DOMA flap, and instead should be working on getting the necessary votes to overturn DOMA in the House and Senate.We have four broad legislative goals that we want to accomplish and legislation is one of these things where you’ve got to move when the opportunity strikes, so I’m going to list them in an order but it’s not necessarily going to go one, two, three, four. Obviously, I think the first opportunity is hate crimes and we’re hopeful that we can get that passed this week. We’re going to try, but if not, we’re going to keep at it until we get it passed. The second one ENDA, we want to secure that passage of ENDA, and third is we want to repeal legislatively “don’t ask don’t tell,” and fourth, we want to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.
Now, I’m not going to pledge -- and nor is the president -- that this is going to be done by some certain date. The pledge and the promise is that, this will be done before the sun sets on this administration – our goal is to have this entire agenda accomplished and enacted into law so that it is secure.
The Advocate: Does that include a second term? A lot of people have talked about DOMA being pushed back until a second term.
Berry: I say this in a broad sense -- our goal is to get this done on this administration’s watch.
Solmonese Writes To Obama
Human Rights Campaign head Joe Solmonese has written a lengthy letter to the president decrying last week's DOJ brief opposing the repeal of DOMA.see: JMG post
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