We'll be taking the blog down again for redesign. And we're going to Hawaii. We'll be back in a few weeks.

Stonewall Young Democrat elected president of Los Angeles Stonewall Democratic Club

Los Angeles Stonewall Young Democrats co-founder John Cleary has been elected president of the Los Angeles Stonewall Democratic Club, one of the oldest and most successful LGBT Democratic clubs in the country.

The Los Angeles Stonewall Democratic Club was founded after the Stonewall Riots by the venerable Morris Kight, an LGBT pioneer to whom the community owes much. Recent presidents have included Michael Andraychak, Pam Cooke, and Eric Bauman.

The Stonewall Young Democrats was founded in 2004 by Cleary and Andrew Lachman. A description of SYD is on their Wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_Young_Democrats .

The web site for the Los Angeles Stonewall Democratic Club is at http://stonewall-dems.org .

The web site for the Los Angeles Stonewall Young Democrats is at http://www.stonewallyoungdems.org .

The deep thinking of Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle

This is provided by the folks at Flush Naugle, the umbrella group of Fort Lauderdale citizens opposed to the blatant bigotry and erratic behavior of Mayor Jim Naugle. They do accept contributions on their web site via PayPal.

Naugles

"Atheists and Criminal Lobbying Union" regarding the meaning of the acronym ACLU.

New Times, October 26, 2000


"I don't use the word 'gay.' I use the word 'homosexual.' Most of them aren't gay. They're unhappy."

Sun-Sentinel, July 4, 2007


"I'm supposed to subsidize some schlock sitting on the sofa and drinking a beer, who won't work more than 40 hours a week?"

Sun-Sentinel, May 20, 2006


Regarding a proposal to reduce greenhouse gases, calling it "hate-America stuff" concocted by "a bunch of scientists meeting in Paris who've had too much wine.”

Sun-Sentinel May 9, 2007


"We're trying to provide a family environment where people can take their children who need to use the bathroom without having to worry about a couple of men in there engaged in a sex act."

Sun-Sentinel, July 4, 2007


Stating public restrooms are pickup places for "homosexuals. ... They're engaging in sex, anonymous sex, illegal sex."

Sun-Sentinel, July 4, 2007


"Yes" responding to the question "o homosexuality is a criminal act?"

New Times, October 26, 2000


"The Scum-Sentinel is an advertising tabloid newsblog. They hire reporters and they make them churn out stories without making them get into anything in depth. They do that to feign a resemblance to a real newspaper so that they can sell advertising. And the Sentinel tries to lecture me about affordable housing? I tell people that the day I take advice from a company that has vagrants selling their products in the middle of the street, we're all in trouble."

New Times, April 21, 2006


"That's illegal too [heterosexual sex in public restrooms], but nobody ever complains about that."

Sun-Sentinel, July 4, 2007


"I think a strong rope and a stiff tree would be better than wasting all that electricity."

New Times (Broward Palm Beach Edition), October 26, 2000

Opposition builds to bigoted Fort Lauderdale mayor

Opposition to Fort Lauderdale mayor Jim Naugle continues to build following bizarre remarks he made that buying a $250,000 single-occupancy toilet for the beach would cut down on gay sex in public bathrooms. Naugle also voted against moving a collection of LGBT literature into the city's library.

According to this morning's Miami Herald, hundreds of citizens have contributed about $10,000 to fund a full-blown protest rally against the mayor's bigotry tonight at city hall. Non-LGBT supporters will participate, and the Task Force's Matt Foreman will attend as well.

Seattle Times calls for legalization of gay marriage

Washington state's domestic partnership law took effect Sunday, but gay marriage supporters like out state Senator Ed Murray say it doesn't go far enough.

The Seattle Times agrees in an editorial in today's edition:

First comes partnership, then comes marriage

Gay marriage took another step down the aisle toward the altar of legality when the state's new domestic-partnership law went into effect this week.

The march toward marriage equality in Washington has been a three-decade struggle, which finally gained a foothold when the Legislature passed the domestic-partnership law last year. The state should now go further, and extend marriage to gays and lesbians. The state is already in the business of marriage. It has no good reason to exclude a large swath of residents because of sexual orientation. The domestic-partnership law, which went into effect Sunday, had people swarming to Olympia to register Monday. The law provides gay and lesbian couples some of the rights granted to married couples, such as the right to visit a partner in the hospital. The law also covers heterosexual couples when one partner is at least 62 years old.

The domestic-partnership law fortifies the argument for gay marriage. Supporters need to return to Olympia and push for what they should be civilly entitled to.

"This isn't an end," state Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, who was the force behind the law, told The Seattle Times. He said he and other gay lawmakers will continue to push bills with additional rights for lesbian and gay couples.

Good for them. Murray will need sustained help from non-gay legislators because the path to marriage equality took a hit last year when the Washington Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act, which bans same-sex marriage. The muddied ruling puts the question squarely back in the state Capitol.

Recognizing the rights of domestic partners is not gay marriage, but it is a step in the procession leading to the inevitable: the legalization of gay marriage.

Massachusetts marriage foes concede defeat, will target legislators

Massachusetts supporters of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage admitted they do not have the support to pass such a ban in the democratically-elected legislature, so they are going to target those pesky equality-lovin' legislators.

None of them is divorced, we're sure.

See today's Boston Globe.

Democratic debate's gay questions

On gay marriage, Kucinich shone, Edwards and Dodd stumbled all over their own contradictions, and Obama incredibly argued for states rights, which was historically used to justify racist laws -- including laws against interracial marriage.

Transcript

COOPER: Our next question is on a topic that got a lot of response from YouTube viewers. Let's watch.

QUESTION: Hi. My name is Mary.

QUESTION: And my name is Jen.

QUESTION: And we're from Brooklyn, New York.

If you were elected president of the United States, would you allow us to be married to each other?

COOPER: Congressman Kucinich?

KUCINICH: Mary and Jen, the answer to your question is yes. And let me tell you why.

(APPLAUSE)

Because if our Constitution really means what it says, that all are created equal, if it really means what it says, that there should be equality of opportunity before the law, then our brothers and sisters who happen to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered should have the same rights accorded to them as anyone else, and that includes the ability to have a civil marriage ceremony.

Yes, I support you. And welcome to a better and a new America under a President Kucinich administration.

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: Senator Dodd, you supported the Defense of Marriage Act. What's your position?

DODD: I've made the case, Anderson, that -- my wife and I have two young daughters, age 5 and 2.

I'd simply ask the audience to ask themselves the question that Jackie and I have asked: How would I want my two daughters treated if they grew up and had a different sexual orientation than their parents?

Good jobs, equal opportunity, to be able to retire, to visit each other, to be with each other, as other people do.

So I feel very strongly, if you ask yourself the question, "How would you like your children treated if they had a different sexual orientation than their parents?," the answer is yes. They ought to have that ability in civil unions.

I don't go so far as to call for marriage. I believe marriage is between a man and a woman.

But my state of Connecticut, the state of New Hampshire, have endorsed civil unions. I strongly support that. But I don't go so far as marriage.

COOPER: Governor Richardson?

RICHARDSON: Well, I would say to the two young women, I would level with you -- I would do what is achievable.

What I think is achievable is full civil unions with full marriage rights. I would also press for you a hate crimes act in the Congress. I would eliminate "don't ask/don't tell" in the military.

(APPLAUSE)

If we're going to have in our military men and women that die for this country, we shouldn't give them a lecture on their sexual orientation.

I would push for domestic partnership laws, nondiscrimination in insurance and housing.

I would also send a very strong message that, in my administration, I will not tolerate any discrimination on the basis of race, gender, or sexual orientation.

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: This next question is for Senator Edwards.

QUESTION: I'm Reverend Reggie Longcrier. I'm the pastor of Exodus Mission and Outreach Church in Hickory, North Carolina.

Senator Edwards said his opposition to gay marriage is influenced by his Southern Baptist background. Most Americans agree it was wrong and unconstitutional to use religion to justify slavery, segregation, and denying women the right to vote.

So why is it still acceptable to use religion to deny gay American their full and equal rights?

(APPLAUSE)

EDWARDS: I think Reverend Longcrier asks a very important question, which is whether fundamentally -- whether it's right for any of our faith beliefs to be imposed on the American people when we're president of the United States. I do not believe that's right.

I feel enormous personal conflict about this issue. I want to end discrimination. I want to do some of the things that I just heard Bill Richardson talking about -- standing up for equal rights, substantive rights, civil unions, the thing that Chris Dodd just talked about. But I think that's something everybody on this stage will commit themselves to as president of the United States.

But I personally have been on a journey on this issue. I feel enormous conflict about it. As I think a lot of people know, Elizabeth spoke -- my wife Elizabeth spoke out a few weeks ago, and she actually supports gay marriage. I do not. But this is a very, very difficult issue for me. And I recognize and have enormous respect for people who have a different view of it.

COOPER: I should also point out that the reverend is actually in the audience tonight. Where is he? Right over here.

Reverend, do you feel he answered your question?

(APPLAUSE)

QUESTION: This question was just a catalyst that promoted some other things that wrapped around that particular question, especially when it comes to fair housing practices. Also...

COOPER: Do you think he answered the question, though?

QUESTION: Not like I would like to have heard it...

(LAUGHTER)

COOPER: What did you not hear?

QUESTION: I didn't quite get -- some people were moving around, and I didn't quite get all of his answer. I just heard...

COOPER: All right, there's 30 seconds more. Why is it OK to quite religious beliefs when talking about why you don't support something? That's essentially what's his question.

EDWARDS: It's not. I mean, I've been asked a personal question which is, I think, what Reverend Longcrier is raising, and that personal question is, do I believe and do I personally support gay marriage?

The honest answer to that is I don't. But I think it is absolutely wrong, as president of the United States, for me to have used that faith basis as a basis for denying anybody their rights, and I will not do that when I'm president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: Senator Obama, the laws banning interracial marriage in the United States were ruled unconstitutional in 1967. What is the difference between a ban on interracial marriage and a ban on gay marriage?

OBAMA: Well, I think that it is important to pick up on something that was said earlier by both Dennis and by Bill, and that is that we've got to make sure that everybody is equal under the law. And the civil unions that I proposed would be equivalent in terms of making sure that all the rights that are conferred by the state are equal for same-sex couples as well as for heterosexual couples.

Now, with respect to marriage, it's my belief that it's up to the individual denominations to make a decision as to whether they want to recognize marriage or not. But in terms of, you know, the rights of people to transfer property, to have hospital visitation, all those critical civil rights that are conferred by our government, those should be equal.

Biden campaigns among Iowa City's gay community

Biden campaigns among Iowa City's gay community

Red, white, and blue banners shared the stage with a few more colorful flags as Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., hosted a conversation with the Iowa City gay community on the outdoor patio of Givanni's on Monday night....

David Klemm, an Iowa City resident for 24 years and a gay-rights supporter, wore a "Biden for President" button next to his rainbow ribbon.

"The gay-rights community is an educated and intellectual community, and they, too, have to think about health care, and Iraq, and other issues," he said.

Klemm said he respects that the senator assumed "not one iota of difference of how people are treated in this country."

Toward the end of his speech, Biden addressed gay-rights issues specifically, calling the current administration "homophobic." He praised the community for its efforts in protecting civil rights.

"You've done an incredible service to humanity," he said.

He emphasized to the crowd that gay-rights supporters are the majority, calling the opposition a "dying dinosaur breed."

Follow the headline link for the rest of the story.

Michael Moore may tackle gay rights

He took on General Motors, the NRA, George W. Bush, and the health care system. Michael Moore is now thinking about tackling the anti-gay industry.

Michael Moore may tackle gay rights

Controversial filmmaker Michael Moore has revealed that he might take on homophobia and the anti-gay movement in his next documentary.

"I think it’s a very ripe subject for someone like me to make a movie about," he admitted, in an interview with The Advocate. "Simply because we are not there yet and it remains one of the last open wounds on our soul that we are not willing to fix yet."

Moore, whose latest film Sicko attacks the U.S. health care system, expressed anger at fundamentalist Christians in the U.S. who condemn same-sex marriage.

"There is nowhere in the four Gospels where Jesus uses the word ‘homosexual.’ The right wing has appropriated this guy … and they have used him to attack gays and lesbians, when he never said a single word against people who are homosexual. Anyone who professes to be a Christian and does that is certainly not following the teachings of Jesus Christ."

Follow the headline link for the rest of the story.

Gays included at South Carolina Democratic Convention

Forwarded by Barbra Casbar Siperstein:

Gays Included at South Carolina Democratic Convention

BY GREG HAMBRICK

Six months ago, gay and lesbian Democrats in South Carolina were licking their wounds after losing a battle against amending the state constitution to prohibit gay marriage, with some of those wounds caused by leaders in their own party who refused to oppose the measure, or worse still, openly supported it. Now, the state Democratic Party is doing some fence-mending, setting a goal of including at least three gay and lesbian delegates amongst those heading to the national convention, that ridiculously excited bunch of folks that symbolically selects the party's presidential candidate.

Follow the headline link for the rest of the story.

Note to self: Dodd voted to confirm Roberts

The Supreme Court ended its term last week with a decidedly more conservative bent. The replacement of Justices Rehnquist and O'Connor (a conservative and a swing) by Roberts and Alito (two conservatives) solidified the right wing's hold on the nation's jurisprudence.

A number of decisions were handed down with 5-4 majorities, with Roberts and Alito in the majority in most of them. Among the 5-4 decisions:

♦ the Seattle School District case wherein the Court rolled back racial integration efforts;
♦ a female worker who learns she had been paid less than men has only 180 days to sue for discrimination;
♦ the Bong Hits for Jesus case that substantially reduced the free speech rights of American students;
♦ a ruling that a federal ban on "partial birth" abortions does not put an undue burden on women seeking to end a pregnancy.

Among the four Democratic Senators who are now running for President, Dodd alone cast a vote for this agenda. He voted with all 55 Republicans to confirm Roberts as Chief Justice; Biden, Clinton, and Obama all voted no.

All four voted against Alito's confirmation.

Homophobe fails bar exam, blames gay marriage question, sues

Ironically, his only hope would be in an activist court.

Bar-exam flunker sues, blaming failure on gay question

"A Boston man has filed a federal lawsuit claiming he failed his state's bar exam because he refused to answer a question about gay marriage that he believes was being used as a "screening device."

Stephen Dunne, 30, was denied a licence to practice law after he narrowly flunked the Massachusetts test with a score of 268.866, just shy of the 270 passing grade.

The self-described Christian and Democrat is seeking $9.75 million in damages and will be representing himself in the case."

Follow the headline link for the rest of the story.