Yesterday's Washington Post might have woken up some within the Beltway to whst has been happening in Maine this year, but will it be enough to garner some attention or even a passing mention from the White House?
I really don't know.
Like HuffPo's Evan Wolfson I would like to hear something similar in the president's address tonight:
President Obama has the perfect context in which to make that case: a clear and unequivocal call on the people of Maine to vote no in November on the anti-gay ballot measure aimed at undoing the freedom to marry enacted earlier this year.Here is what I'd like to hear the President say to the nation, including the good people of Maine:
"Running for the White House, I told the country, and promised those who shared my vision, that, 'As your President, I will use the bully pulpit to urge states to treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws.'Today I want to be clear that we have a lot to do here in Washington, in the states, and in the private sector - and a good place to start is repudiating the kind of anti-gay attacks we've seen from state to state, from California to Maine.
Earlier this year, following public hearings and careful examination of expert evidence and constitutional guarantees, Maine's state legislators passed a law ending the denial of civil marriage licenses to same-sex couples while assuring that clergy could continue to make their own choices about religious marriage. Maine's governor signed this important bill into law, but it now faces challenge in the form of a ballot-measure this November. I urge Mainers to stand up for equality and fairness. We should all treat others as we would wish to be treated - that's the Maine way, and the American way.
Like other Americans, I have wrestled with the question of how we end de end discrimination against our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, and provide equal treatment for all families. With time, conversation, and reflection, I have learned a lot more about gay people and their families and lives. I have visited with gay friends, heard their stories, and met with their parents and loved ones. I've watched them raise great kids, struggle to make ends meet, pay taxes, and care for one another in sickness and in health. I've seen gay couples contributing to our communities and building strong families. I've met gay young people who, like others, have the dream of falling in love and finding a partner with whom they can build a life together. These gay people share everyone's hopes and dreams, including the dream of a legal commitment to match the personal commitment they live out day to day with their partner.
The conversation about the freedom to marry and changing attitudes continues throughout the country, with many people of good will thinking it through. We all know that marriage matters, and that love and commitment enrich our lives here on earth. Government has no business putting obstacles in the path of people seeking to care for their loved ones, gay or non-gay. And it is wrong to take away rights from any group of people. We don't do that in America.
Ballot-measures such as Question 1 in Maine do not help families or strengthen communities; rather they undermine basic values and hurt families while helping no one. I oppose Question 1 in Maine and urge Maine's voters to reject this discriminatory effort to strip away rights and dignity from gay and lesbian couples.
Mainers should vote no, and should embrace full equality, including the freedom to marry. And as Maine goes, so goes the nation.
The reality of what President Obama will say about Maine? Frankly, I think it will be a far shorter message, if one even occurs at all.
But it does look promising that he intends to say something and not just about Maine.
A reliable source who wishes to remain anonymous gave me a tip about the content of Obama's speech at the HRC dinner tomorrow night.Obama will announce a push to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell in 2010.
Obama intends to say something about the Maine marriage equality battle.
The newly appointed openly gay ambassador-designate to New Zealand, David Huebner, will be in attendance.
No word of any mention of the Matthew Shepherd Act or ENDA.
The Advocate's Kerry Eleveld has this report:
President Barack Obama's big speech on Saturday awaits and what it will bring is anybody's guess.A spokesperson for the White House said on Friday evening that the president "looks forward to speaking directly to the LGBT community about the steps his administration has taken thus far and the progress he hopes to achieve in the coming weeks and months."
When I asked Gibbs if the president would highlight anything beyond the recently nominated openly gay ambassador and the nearly sealed hate-crimes legislation, Gibbs said he didn't want to "zoom past" the hate-crimes achievement.
"Hate-crimes protections are long overdue, in the president's opinion," Gibbs said. "He believes that their passage represents an important step, and looks forward to, when that legislation gets to his desk, signing it and making that the law of the land. I think that's certainly part of what he'll discuss on Saturday night."
Based on that response, I think it's s it's safe to say that hate crimes will clearly be a major emphasis of the speech.
So I'm not going to hold my breath, waiting on the President to show more support than that already displayed the past 6 months (think: NONE) by Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins or Rep. Mike Michaud in regards to Maine...
One more time, with feeling, from Rep. Chellie Pingree- THIS is how it's done, people!
An increasing majority of Americans favors allowing same-sex couples to obtain most of the same rights as married straight couples, but only 39 percent support legalization of same-sex marriage, according to a poll released Friday.Out of all the issues we face today regarding legislation and moving our issues forward, I have to agree that pushing hard for marriage at the federal level is the most likely to cause blowback. The President is not going to go there. And as I have mentioned in earlier posts, in order to change minds out there to correct this misperception about "marriage" and "civil unions," you need to have more people out of the closet and allies willing to sit down and have discussions.The Pew Research Center said support for civil unions has risen to 57 percent, up from 54 percent a year ago and 45 percent when the question was first asked by Pew in 2003.
...Supporters of same-sex marriage were divided over the best way to pursue legalization, according to the survey. Forty-five percent of them favored pushing hard to legalize it as soon as possible, while 42 percent said pushing too hard for swift legalization might trigger a backlash against gays and lesbians.
What helps accelerate that is repeal of DADT and the fully inclusive ENDA legislation that is sitting out there. Average LGBTs will come out in those Red states if they aren't in fear of losing their jobs and they can be activated to effect change with their friends, neighbors and colleagues more effectively than images on a TV of Beltway activists or people in deep Blue states that don't resonate culturally with people in the Bible Belt.
That's why the myopic views expressed in that HRC e-blast are so disconcerting. I don't know what it will take for our "official" advocates inside the Beltway to see that the "don't pressure" mentality to understand it's not whining -- there are actual human beings losing their jobs, homes, children because of the lack of action. By saying it's OK to defer the very legislation that will free people from their closets until 2017, it's effectively delaying significant methods to move marriage equality discussions forward and for those polls to bump up.
Most people know that in essence, civil unions would be the same as marriage in principle if federalized, but in reality CUs are not "marriage" solely because of religious and cultural opposition that is irrational and ignores church-state separation, why would messaging by the largest representative of Gay Inc. support complacency and silence and settling for hate crimes. While it is milestone legislation, it does nothing to pull people out of the closet, it's backend acknowledgment that it's not OK to bash and kill LGBTs for who they are. Admirable, but not where we need to be, and that's why there are so many are going to DC to march.
Has that message not sunken in? It's impossible to project unity in the community any more with the stark juxtaposition of that e-blast, the dinner with the President in attendance and the grassroots marching this weekend. It's such a disconnect that I really wonder what average Americans will think since CNN and C-SPAN will cover the HRC dinner live tonight, and the march will receive much more coverage as well, since stories have been done that reflect the lack of agreement in the LGBT community about priorities, something I discussed in that CNN segment the other day. The horse is out of the barn; it's simply not possible to pretend Gay Inc. has full control of the movement's "optics" (hate that term) or "message" -- that's 20th century thinking. The question is, who cleans up that mess?
***
And, if we add the NEM to the mix, is the broader Gay, Inc. concerned that Americans will see few LGBTs of color in a sea of white protesting slow action by the first black POTUS, with mostly white male talking heads discussing the March on TV? That will only reconfirm the perceptions out there. Unfortunately my being on the radio tonight is something, but no help on the visibility front. But there are people to feature that can represent us well -- it would be good to see Irene Monroe up there on screen for example -- a woman of color, someone representing the faith community as well for Americans to see, or a trans person -- we have to change the game.
OK, so what do you all have to say about this?
crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
Much has been said and twisted the initial event that placed Liberty Counsel's Matt Barber in the anti-gay limelight.The religious right are always quick to declare that the column which got Barber fired from AllState was one he wrote on "his own time."
Of course they never tell you that he used AllState equipment to write the piece nor the fact that he identified himself as an employee of AllState, thereby involving the company in his personal pursuits.
But what exactly was the column about?
Our other anti-r anti-gay friend, Peter LaBarbera, took the initiative to post "the column" on his webpage in anticipation of Barber giving an address to his Americans for Truth group later this month.
The piece, ‘Intolerance’ Will Not Be Tolerated, is the usual "homosexuality is evil and lgbts are plotting to push their lifestyle down everyone's throat" nonsense that I've come to expect from those pushing the religious right line.
And in that same spirit, it has some choice interesting statements:
There are those who hold to the theory that people who engage in homosexual behavior are “born that way” — that they’re merely acting upon intrinsic characteristics of their own, unique genetic make-up. They desperately cling to, and repeatedly cite various “studies” which seem to support the “born that way” theory. They entirely disregard the fact that to date, there has been no credible, empirical evidence to support the theory, nor has the “respectable” scientific community embraced even one study. In fact, the vast majority of studies have been debunked outright, and the associated “scientists” have been exposed as homosexual activists attempting to further an extremist agenda.
In his ridiculously vague style, Barber doesn't even give us one example of the so-called debunking.
Then there is this statement, the piece de resistance:
As a result of the concerted effort by liberals to mask the devastating effects of the gay lifestyle, many people are shocked to learn that the average life expectancy of a homosexual male is only about 45 years old - 30 years younger than that of a heterosexual male.
You recognize that citation? It's from Paul Cameron's "gay life span" study. You know, the same study discredited by so many others including former Reagan official William Bennett.
And we all know Paul Cameron, don't we? The man who said the following:
“If you isolate sexuality as something solely for one’s own personal amusement, and all you want is the most satisfying orgasm you can get—and that is what homosexuality seems to be—then homosexuality seems too powerful to resist. The evidence is that men do a better job on men, and women on women if all you are looking for is an orgasm . . . Marital sex tends toward the boring end. Generally, it doesn’t deliver the kind of sheer sexual pleasure that homosexual sex does.” - Rolling Stone, March, 18, 1999
He is also the man who has been censured and dismissed from organizations such as the American Psychological Assocation, the American Sociological Association, the Canadian Psychological Association, etc., etc.
Apparently these scientific bodies don't abide by horrendous research techniques or methodology.
Too bad Barber don't have their scruples. He even had the nerve to channel another Cameron distortion:
The men frequently suffer from other sodomy related injuries, and are far more likely to be murdered (likely by another homosexualosexual) than their heterosexual counterparts; this, due to the typically raucous and oft anonymous nature of the gay lifestyle.
And the irony of it all? This portion of his piece:
But it’s predictable — any time anyone dare expose the aforementioned truths about the homosexual lifestyle, or criticize the homosexual lobby for its radical anti-marriage, anti-family agenda, there’s an enormous backlash. It’s an age-old tactic geared toward silencing one’s critics. It consists primarily of the ad hominem attack — Homophobe! Hate-Monger! Bigot! Gay Basher! Neanderthal!
So according to Barber, it's perfectly alright to cite the discredited studies of a researcher who couldn't be believed even if his blood was replaced with truth serum, but to call truth about these studies is wrong.
How dare those lgbts cry foul and defend themselves against lies! Why that's worse than African-Americans protesting when white racists accused them of wanting to integrate so that black men could have access to white women.
Why that's worse than the Jewish people getting angry at Anti-Semitic slurs.
Matt, a personal note from me to you (I know that from time to time, you google your name to see who mentioned you online), when you cite discredited studies designed to denigrate lgbts, it does make you a homophobe.
If you disagree, I would love to hear your opinion on the matter.
COMMUNITY VIGIL FOR COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM
VIGILIA COMUNITARIA PARA UNA REFORMA COMPRESIVA DE LAS LEYES DE INMIGRACIÃ"N
Friday, October 23, 2009
viernes 23 octubre de 2009
7:30 to 8:30 pm. St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church
1704 NE 43rd Ave., Portland
This bilingual community service will include songs, prayers, stories, and Scripture reflections, followed by a candlelight procession to the Hollywood MAX station. Este servicio comunitario bilingüe incluirá cantos, oraciones, comentarios y reflexiones BÃblicas. Después iremos en procesion para la Estación de MAX para una vigilia con velas. For more information please contact:Deacon Marla McGarry-Lawrence
St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church
1704 NE 43rd Ave.
Portland, OR 97213-1402
503-284-7141 ext. 314 CAUSA (Oregon's Immigrant Rights Coalition), the largest Latin@ civil and human rights and advocacy organization in the Pacific Northwest
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