Tag: marriage equality

I’ve been watching the Prop 8 trial…except not really, since SCOTUS disallowed us folks who couldn’t be in the courtroom to watch what may be the most important court case ever for GLBT people.  So I watched the transcripts instead, as they were posted by the people at the Courage Campaign Institute and FiredogLake.  

One of the assertions made time and again by the defense was that Proposition 8 was not based in animus.

What?  No strong dislike of GLBT people?  No enmity?  Are we seriously expected to believe that there was no hostile attitude?

I’d like to think that one could discount those assertions as being false on there face.  But this was a court of law.  I am no lawyer, but as a writer and a mathematician, I know words and logic.

Having followed the trial closely, I have to ask the following.

When you deliberately choose not to learn about people who you wish to discriminate against, what is that if not animus?

Mr. Tam admits he, at the very least, helped author the fourteen words central to Proposition 8.

Brian Leubitz wrote a piece at Prop 8 Trial Tracker, entitled William Tam: He’s like that Cute Ignorant Uncle that everybody cringes at.

No.  I disagree.  There is nothing cute about Hak-Shing “William” Tam.

I expected at any moment for him to just stand up and say “just kidding! Got you big-time, you don’t think I actually believe that garbage, do you? Ha-ha!”

Methinks that let’s Mr. Tam off the hook too easily.

I’ve been “watching”  the trial in the 9th Circuit.  You know, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, though Perry is only one of the plaintiffs and Ahnold is not, apparently, one of the defendants.  More precisely, it might be labeled Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals v. Homophobes.

A keen observer might notice that I omitted Transgender there.  Such an observer might ask why.  The reason is that transgender people have been made invisible in this trial and the reporting thereof.

It was not unexpected.

Opening

The other day there was a Kossack who told me that Worker’s Rights were what it (presumably the Democratic Party) all should be about:

My point is that we have taken our focus off the core purpose of the Democratic party by elevating fringe interests above the major problems.

Fringe interests?  Aren’t the people on the fringe also workers?  Although numbers about the “least of us” are often difficult to uncover, one source lists the unemployment rate for transgender people at 35% and claims that 60% of us earn less that $16K per year.  Another source “more generously” claims rather that 40% of us earn less than $20K.

Both are appalling, if you ask me.

Anyway, the truth is that I would much rather be working on issues more central to the human condition, but someone has to stand firm for the people on the fringe.

If not me, who?  If not now, when?

There is a simple way to satisfy those of us who are on the fringe.  Give us equal rights.  Then we can work wholeheartedly on those “more important issues.”

Sioux City businessman and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats got a surprising endorsement on Monday from Keith Ratliff, pastor of the Maple Street Missionary Baptist Church in Des Moines and president of the Iowa-Nebraska chapter of the NAACP.

Vander Plaats was the front-runner in the Republican field until former Governor Terry Branstad entered the race. Ratliff said Vander Plaats’ position on same-sex marriage rights was “an important factor” in his endorsement.

All of us have had this experience, we give to a candidate or political campaign, and then we wonder what exactly our money was spent on? It is hard to know, especially when you give to a Senatorial or Presidential campaign, was my $250 dollars spent on talking to voters or was it spent on a Starbucks run for some mid-level staffers? Today you have a chance to not only know what you would get for your money in the general but in the very specific.  

So, the Dog very rarely posts on the same issue in the same week, but this is a kind of breaking and important news, so please forgive the old hound as he breaks his own rules. As you may know, the great State of Maine has passed marriage equality for its gay citizens. This is a very, very big deal as it is the first State to do so without litigation as the basis of the action by the legislature. Mainers, being the good small d democrats they are also have what is known as a citizens veto provision. If you live in Maine and can get the signatures, you can get a vote to override action by the legislature. This is what is happening now in Maine. The Anti’s (the theocratic forces who don’t think all citizens should have equal rights to marry) have gotten the signatures and are trying to override the legislature.

“Originally posted at Squarestate.net”

Update: You People Rock! We have already raised the 10,000 required to get the matching 10,000 from our anonymous donor. He is so impressed that he has agreed to match everything up to 20,000 raised by midnight EST Friday. We are already at 16,098 right now, so we only have to raise 3,902 in the next 11 hours!

So, if you have not donated, here is you very last chance to make you money count twice as much towards full civil rights for all citizens!

Yes, health care reform is a big issue, and yes every one of us needs to put some time in on it, but it is not the only issue. Since this is an off year for elections it is easy to get completely focused on policy but there is a fight we should all be aware of and should all put some effort into. What is this fight? It is the fight to take marriage equality away from the citizens of Maine. That’s right readers, the same forces of religious intolerance who managed to get Prop 8 passed in California and they are setting their sights on Maine.

“Originally posted at Squarestate.net“

It was supposed to be Gay Pride Week here on campus.  Everything has conspired to screw that up, not the least of which were apathy and poor organizational ability by the volunteer coordinators of the event, including yours truly.

But I did write a speech and I don’t want to waste it.  You’ll find it on the other side, embellished with whatever doo-dads I can think of, find, or create.

It’s that time of year again.  Next week is Gay Pride Week on campus here at Bloomfield College.  Sometimes it is a little earlier, but usually it is a little later.  But the second week of April includes Easter Break, so it was now or never.

I’d love it if it were a time of joy.  But I often find it to be rather depressing.  I’ve been one of the co-coordinators of the Gay/NonGay Alliance since I got a full-time job here in 2001.  I wish I could say it has been rewarding.

The truth is that it has all been an uphill journey.  No matter which direction one looks, it is uphill.