New star-studded video protests Prop 8
(New York City) Since Proposition 8 passed in California, much of Hollywood has been up in arms. Now, they are singing and dancing, too, in a new Web video called “Prop 8: The Musical.”
The video was posted Wednesday on FunnyOrDie.com, the video site co-founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. …
Tags: aids barack obama britney spears celebrity gossip chris, gayGays, Asians seek visibility in Obama Cabinet
(Washington) Barack Obama, soon to be the first black U.S. president, is on the road to making good his pledge to have a Cabinet and White House staff that are among most diverse ever, although some supporters are asking him to go even further. He added to the minority representation …
Tags: aids barack obama britney spears celebrity gossip chris, gayAnother Bush mulls move on Washington
(Tallahassee, Florida) Still popular in Florida, former Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday that he’s interested in the seat Sen. Mel Martinez is giving up, and the field of possible candidates could quickly narrow to make way for the president’s younger brother.
Bush, 55, won praise from Democrats and Republicans alike for …
Tags: aids barack obama britney spears celebrity gossip chris, gayPoll: Calif. gay marriage ban driven by religion
Voters’ economic status and religious convictions played a greater role than race and age in determining whether they supported the Nov. 4 ballot measure outlawing same-sex marriage in California, a new poll shows.
The ban drew its strongest support from both evangelical Christians and voters who didn’t attend college, according to results released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California.
Age and race, meanwhile, were not as strong factors as assumed. According to the poll, 56 percent of voters over age 55 and 57 percent of nonwhite voters cast a yes ballot for the gay marriage ban.
See Poll: Calif. gay marriage ban driven by religion
The Associated Press
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/poll-calif-ga…
Racial Divisions Cast Shadow On Gay Rights Movement
Votes for — and against — California’s Proposition 8, the so-called anti-gay marriage initiative, were close enough that neither side could declare victory on election night. But by Wednesday morning, it was evident the measure had passed. The gay community was stunned.
That morning, at a press conference called to announce a legal challenge to the passage of Proposition 8, lesbian activist Robin Tyler, with her wife at her side, offered, “This is not a culture war — a lot of times the press refers to [gays] getting married as a culture war. This is a civil rights movement.”
Jasmyne Cannick, a former congressional and Sacramento legislature press secretary who now works as a political consultant, says that’s exactly why more black Californians didn’t vote against Proposition 8. White activists’ insistence on linking the two movements — marriage equality and racial equality — was automatically rejected by many black voters. That equation, says Cannick, “is dead on arrival when it gets to the black community.”
Cannick, who is black and lesbian, grew up in Los Angeles. She says that just as black churches don’t often address the homophobic strain that runs through the black community, gays and lesbians don’t easily speak about the racism that is silently present in their community.
See Racial Divisions Cast Shadow On Gay Rights Movement
NPR -
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/racial-divisi…
Moscow mayor: Ban on gay parades to continue
Moscow’s mayor, who has banned gay rights parades in the past, vowed Thursday to continue his ban on what he called sexual minority “propaganda”, according to Russian news agencies.
Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who has called homosexuality “satanic,” said City Hall has banned, “and will continue to ban, the propaganda of the views of sexual minorities.” Those views, he is quoted as saying, “could become one of the factors for the spread of HIV.”
City Hall has rejected repeated requests by public organizations to draw attention to gay rights with parades. Attempts by activists to defy the ban have ended violently in some cases and petered out in others.
See Moscow mayor: Ban on gay parades to continue
Boston Herald, United States
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/moscow-mayor-…
The Pope’s Christmas Gift: A Tough Line on Church Doctrine or or marching back to the Middle Ages
Those nicknames from the past — God’s Rottweiler, the Panzercardinal — don’t seem to stick anymore. After acquiring a reputation as an aggressive, doctrine-enforcing Cardinal, Pope Benedict XVI has surprised many with his gentle manner and his writings on Christian love. But with the Christmas season upon us, there is growing proof that the 82-year-old Pope is also quite willing to play the part of Scrooge to defend his often rigid view of Church doctrine.
Benedict’s envoy to the United Nations, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, has announced that the Vatican will oppose a proposed U.N. declaration calling for an end to discrimination against homosexuals. At first blush, no one should be surprised to find the Catholic Church hierarchy butting heads with gay rights activists. But this particular French-sponsored proposal, which has the backing of all 27 European Union countries, calls for an end to the practice of criminalizing and punishing people for their sexual orientation. Most dramatically, in some countries, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, homosexuality can be punished by death.
Papal spokesman Father Federico Lombardi was forced to clarify that the Vatican continues to condemn the use of the death penalty for any crime, including those associated with homosexuality. Instead, Migliore said the Vatican’s opposition to the U.N. proposal was driven by concern that countries that prohibit gay marriage would somehow be targeted. Said Migliore: “Countries that don’t recognize the union between people of the same sex as marriage will be punished and pressured.”
The U.N. declaration does not in fact mention gay marriage, and most of the nations that support it themselves don’t allow people of the same sex to wed. Archbishop Migliore confirmed on Tuesday that the Vatican had also refused to sign a U.N. document last May in support of the rights of the disabled because it did not include condemnation of abortion, and the rights the fetus with birth defects. Vatican officials nevertheless voiced support for the central principles of the disabled rights document, which Migliore helped craft before the final decision to withhold the Holy See’s signature.
The Italian gay rights association Arcigay says the Vatican’s opposition to the anti-discriminatory measure is “unprecedented,” and the citing of gay marriage is an “excuse” to distract people from the real intent of criminalizing gays. One Rome-based priest was disappointed that the Vatican decided to publicize its opposition to what appears a rather innocuous declaration. “When you’re always trying to look for new ways to make your point, you lose credibility,” says the priest. “Better sometimes to keep quiet.”
Benedict has said repeatedly that the Church is forced to speak out against the tide of secularization, especially in Catholicism’s home turf in Europe. His kindly manner notwithstanding, Benedict does not seem to hesitate doing or saying what he deems necessary to keep Catholicism from straying too far from its doctrinal tradition.
And that includes revisiting the Catholic liturgy if necessary. His top Vatican deputies are now studying a change to the mass that would affect the moment when members of the congregation are asked to greet each other with a “sign of peace.” Worshippers then exchange handshakes, or sometimes a hug or kiss. In 2007, writing about the exchanging of the peace, Benedict called for “greater restraint in this gesture which can become exaggerated and cause a certain distraction in the assembly before the reception of Communion.” It may now be moved earlier in the service. Cardinal Francis Arinze, head of the Vatican’s liturgical office, said last month that the affectionate gesture is often misunderstood. “It is thought to be a chance to shake hands with friends. Instead it is a way to tell those nearby that the peace of Christ, really present on the altar, is also with all.”
See The Pope’s Christmas Gift: A Tough Line on Church Doctrine
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Prop. 8 poll: Evangelicals, Republicans were biggest backers of gay marriage ban
A new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California shows that the ballot measure banning gay marriage in California received its strongest support from Republicans and evangelical Christians.
The poll was taken after the Nov. 4 elections and found that despite the heated debate over Prop. 8, opinions in California about gay marriage have not changed very much.
“When voters are asked the separate question of whether they favor or oppose same-sex marriage, they are divided, with 47 percent in favor, 48 percent opposed, and 5 percent unsure,” according to the PPIC poll results statement. “[It’s] a result consistent with responses in the October PPIC preelection survey.”
The PPIC survey, which received funding from the James Irvine Foundation, polled 2,003 California voters, who were contacted by phone November 5–16, 2008. The poll has a margin of error of 2%, perhaps more for subgroups surveyed.
Among the findings: See Prop. 8 poll: Evangelicals, Republicans were biggest backers of gay marriage ban
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Arkansas adoption ban hits gay couples
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Anne Shelley and Dr. Robin Ross are unwinding after a jampacked day of ferrying 4-year-old daughter Eva Mae from preschool to ice-skating lessons to speech therapy.
“It’s pretty much your mundane American family,” said Shelley, 46, over a dinner of barbecue at their home near the Ozarks
But not everyone sees their domestic situation as a hefty slice of apple pie. Arkansas residents recently voted to ban people who are “cohabitating outside of a valid marriage,” as Shelley and Ross do, from being foster parents or adopting children as these women did.
The measure was written to prohibit straight and gay people who are living together from adopting or becoming foster parents, but its real objective, child welfare experts say, is to bar same-sex couples like Shelley and Ross, 52, from raising children—even if it means youngsters who desperately need families will wait longer. See Arkansas adoption ban hits gay couples
Chicago Tribune, United States
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/arkansas-adop…
Why the same-sex marriage ban passed
In a historic election year in California, many were surprised when voters in this deeply blue state voted narrowly to ban gay marriage. A search for reasons has focused on the role of religious groups, and age, race and ethnic voting patterns in the passage of Proposition 8, but has missed the obvious: Although public opinion has shifted since 2000, when an overwhelming majority approved the first gay marriage ban, public support for letting same-sex couples marry still falls short of a majority.
Since Proposition 22 was on the ballot in 2000, Public Policy Institute of California Statewide Surveys have periodically asked, “Do you favor or oppose allowing gay and lesbian couples to be legally married?” In our pre-election surveys in 2000, 38 percent of California voters favored same-sex marriage. This result closely mirrored the actual result: 39 percent voted against a ban.
Public support for same-sex marriage rose to 46 percent in 2005 and has remained at about that level. In surveys before and after this election, 47 percent of California voters favored gay marriage - almost identical to the 48 percent who voted no on Prop. 8.
There was no shift in voter attitudes even after the state Supreme Court ruled that the ban enacted by Prop. 22 was unconstitutional, and despite millions of advertising dollars spent by both sides of the Prop. 8 campaign. However, there was a decisive shift in views in the final weeks before the election. Our pre-election surveys showed that a significant percentage of voters opposed to same-sex marriage were nevertheless planning to vote against Proposition 8.
Whether this contradictory intent indicated ambivalence about supporting a constitutional ban or confusion about the meaning of a no vote, enough of these voters were persuaded to switch sides to provide a narrow victory for the measure. In our October survey, of the 52 percent who said they would vote no on Proposition 8, 19 percent said they were opposed to same-sex marriage. But in our post-election survey, among the 48 percent who said they voted no, only 8 percent were opposed to same-sex marriage.
Why did a majority of California voters decide to throw their support to Prop. 8? By far the most commonly cited reason given in our post-election survey is the belief that a marriage between only a man and a woman should be recognized (63 percent), followed by religious objections to same-sex marriage (16 percent). The narrow victory of Prop. 8 was made possible by overwhelming support from Republicans, conservatives and evangelical Christians, combined with solid majorities of older, married, lower-income and less-educated voters.
While much has been made of the importance of race and ethnicity in passage of this initiative, the socioeconomic divide was the more powerful factor: Prop. 8 won among both white and nonwhite voters without a college degree and among lower-income households, while it lost among both white and non-white voters with college degrees and among upper-income households.
See Why the same-sex marriage ban passed
San Francisco Chronicle, USA
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