Sunday, November 8, 2009

Combined Gay News Headlines (T5T-1)

Yeah, NPH, you throw down. You get dirty. You make it hurt. …oh, this is a public blog post? Excuse us. CONTINUED » Permalink | Post a comment | Add to del.icio.us Tagged: Advertising, motorola, Neil Patrick Harris
As members of the House debate whether the Employment Non-Discrimination Act is something this country needs to keep queers safe in the workplace, should they also, by the end of all of this, issue strict directions on what employers need to do about the signs they hang on bathroom doors? CONTINUED » Permalink | Post a comment [...]
Oprah, supposedly, is furious Rosie O'Donnell is making jokes about her being gay! With Gayle King! The Big O has already dealt with those gay rumors, and tried to shoot them down, and then here comes that lesbian lady who had all the things Oprah still does: a television talk show, a magazine, a loyal [...]
The perennial complaint about Fresno is that there’s nothing to do. Yet in my experience that’s only true if you don’t know about the Fresno Beehive, The Fresnan or Fresno Famous and of course Queer Fresno.  Between the lot of us I think we have every night here in the valley covered three times over. [...]

File this recent email under "you have GOT to be kidding me"...

 

 



This evening, at 11:15 p.m., the House of Representatives voted to pass their health insurance reform bill. Despite countless attempts over nearly a century, no chamber of Congress has ever before passed comprehensive health reform. This is history.

But you and millions of your fellow Organizing for America supporters didn't just witness history tonight -- you helped make it. Each "yes" vote was a brave stand, backed up by countless hours of knocking on doors, outreach in town halls and town squares, millions of signatures, and hundreds of thousands of calls. You stood up. You spoke up. And you were heard.

So this is a night to celebrate -- but not to rest. Those who voted for reform deserve our thanks, and the next phase of this fight has already begun.

The final Senate bill hasn't even been released yet, but the insurance companies are already pressing hard for a filibuster to bury it. OFA has built a massive neighborhood-by-neighborhood operation to bring people's voices to Congress, and tonight we saw the results. But the coming days will put our efforts to the ultimate test. Winning will require each of us to give everything we can, starting right now.

Please donate $5 or whatever you can afford so we can finish this fight.

Tonight's vote brought every American closer to the secure, affordable care we need. But it was also a watershed moment in how change is made.

Even after last year's election, many insider lobbyists and partisan operatives really thought that the old formula of scare tactics, D.C. back-scratching and special-interest money would still be enough to block any idea they didn't like. Now, they're desperate. Because, tonigh tonight, you made it crystal clear: the old rules are changing -- and the people will not be ignored.

In the final phases of last year's election, I often reminded folks, "Don't think for a minute that power concedes without a fight," and it's especially true today. But that's okay -- we're not afraid of a fight. And as you continue to prove, when all of us work together, we have what it takes to win.

Please donate to OFA's campaign to win this fight and ensure that real health reform reaches my desk by the end of this year:

https://donate.barackobama.com/History

Let's keep making history,

President Barack Obama

Question 1 Snapshot

Awful lot of green, isn't it?

Here's a link to the actual breakdown photo- but let me explain quickly:

Red- solid 'no'
Pink- majority 'no'
black- tie
white- no data (yeah, we have alot of places with no folks whatsoever)
Lt Green- majority 'yes'
Green- solid yes

So, pretty much everything north and east of the I-95 corridor went to the Schubert-Flint/NOM/Catholic Diocese side.


Opinions may differ on particular strategies. But the unofficial results show that, as with many other cultural issues, whether Mainers voted for or against same-sex marriage largely depended on where they call home.

Rural Maine voted heavily to overturn Maine's law allowing gay and lesbian couples to wed.

In the most extreme example, 73 percent of the nearly 27,000 Aroostook County voters who cast ballots voted "yes" on Question 1. Roughly two-thirds of voters in Piscataquis, Somerset and Washington counties also favored repeal.

The opposite was true in many of Maine's more populated areas.

In Cumberland County, 60 percent of voters opposed the repeal and in Portland, Maine's largest city, that figure swelled to 73.5 percent. Roughly 54 percent of voters in Bangor and Scarborough cast votes against the repeal of the same-sex marriage law.

Gay marriage also had strong support in college towns, picking up 73 percent of voters in Orono and 63 percent in Brunswick.

One notable exception to the rural-urban divide was in the heavily Roman Catholic and Franco-American neighborhoods of Lewiston and Auburn, where 59 percent and 54 percent of voters, respectively, favored the repeal.

&nbs fefp;

We are 11 days away from the November Election. The Portland, Maine office is humming with volunteer activity. Every day, volunteers drop off food provisions for all the other volunteers. The first day we had homemade chili, yesterday egg salad sandwiches, and this morning someone brought in some carrots from their own yard. Mainers are chipping in any way they can. My time has been spentn yard. Mainers are chipping in any way they can. My time has been spent in the office working in the communications department while Travis Prinslow and Meleanie Altaras have been adopted into the Data and Campus Outreach departments. We work 9 to 9, when we're lucky and have been working on a variety of projects. From confirming volunteers, to getting people to vote early and in person volunteer recruitment. The amount of work that goes into a campaign is astounding. You walk into any office and you hear typing, people on the phone, stapling, paper shuffling and people being directed. It's a small preview of what Oregon will be dealing with soon enough. However, Oregon's fight will be much larger-- Maine's population is a third the size of Oregon's. I'm grateful that Basic Rights Oregon is starting early and getting all our ducks in a row before we enter our own fight. Maine's latest YouTube celebrity goes by the name of Phillip Spooner. Mr. Spooner is 85 years old, a WWII vet, and a lifelong republicanâ€"he is also in favor of marriage equality. Click here to watch his testimony in April during the Marriage hearings. His video has officially gone viral, with close to 500,000 views. Mainers are excited to have someone like Mr. Spooner speaking up for equality, so much so that he has unofficially become the face of the campaign. Click here to watch a segment of Mr. Spooner being interviewed about his views on Marriage Equality. The opposition is using children to scare voters into voting against equality. They are running ads claiming that "gay sex education" will be taught in schools. Fortunately, the Maine campaign has been very diligent about countering their ads and has caused a stir by featuring a French catholic woman who supports her son's right to get married. Yolande Dumont is also a Maine celebrity and has inspired Catholics and other religious denominations to come out and support the No on 1 campaign. Of course the Catholic DIoces is bankrolling the opposition's campaign along with National Organization marriage and Shubert Flint of prop 8 fame. When Yolande first came on the airwaves the Catholic Diocese was up in arms and started to spend resources countering Yolande's message. This is exciting because the opposition is now on the defensive. Not only do they have to counter multiple legislators, and educators on the whole "Teaching gay in Schools" issue, now they have to make sure that other fair minded Catholics reject Yolande's message. If the No on 1 Campaign wins on Election Day it will be a model on how to defeat the oppositions' vitriol and lies. Although, Maine is literally the farthest place from Oregon in the country, their efforts will have a huge impact on our work. They need all the help they can get. If you have not donated to the NO on 1 campaign you can do so by clicking here. If you cannot afford a donation but have some extra time on your hands you can phone bank from Oregon with their Call for Equality Program sign up here. I'm going to get back to work now but feel free to shoot me an email if you have any questions about getting involved in the Maine campaign. In solidarity, Alejandro Juarez Communications Coordinator Basic Rights Oregon (503) 222-6151 x 105 alejandro@basicrights.org
“You Have Always Been Welcome Here” here Presented by PFLAG Pendleton in cooperation with Communities of Welcoming Congregations & The Drama Queens    -   “You Have Always Been Welcome Here” portrays the lives of four transgender people as they explore their relationships to family, gender, Christianity and spirituality.   Rev. Tara Wilkins, executive director of Community of Welcoming [...]

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