Maine campaign heats up
With the prospect of a November referendum on same-sex marriage in Maine all but certain, pro-equality advocates are gearing up for a bruising battle to preserve the state’s marriage equality bill, signed by Gov. John Baldacci in May. Since January, Maine Freedom to Marry has been ramping up a vast field campaign to identify pro-equality voters. Without a presidential or gubernatorial race to bring voters out, Maine Freedom to Marry campaign manager Jesse Connolly said grassroots fieldwork is essential to finding voters who support marriage equality and to turning them out at the polls on Election Day.
“This campaign is really about having one-on-one conversations with Maine voters. … We’re raising money, we’re building a campaign, but we’re really excited about this great work the field effort has been doing,” said Connolly.
Yet campaign finance reports suggest that pro-equality advocates may face an uphill battle. Thus far, anti-gay activists have outpaced pro-equality advocates in fundraising. Much of that money has come from the national religious right organizations that backed the successful campaign to pass California’s Proposition 8 last year. See Maine campaign heats up
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A political fight over the rights of same-sex…
A political fight over the rights of same-sex couples is drawing nearer in Washington State.
Backers of Referendum 71, who want to overturn a new state same-sex partnership law, have made an appointment to file signatures with state elections officials Saturday afternoon.
Saturday is the deadline to collect 120,577 valid voter signatures and qualify for the Nov. 3 state ballot.
Protect Marriage Washington is the primary backer of R-71. Gary Randall of the allied Faith and Freedom Network said by e-mail: “We are gathering and counting signatures. I think we are making good progress.”
Protect Marriage has raised just more than $20,000 for a campaign that so far has been waged mostly through churches. Randall said the group is not anti-gay but pro-marriage. The group wants voters to reject Senate Bill 5688, the “everything but marriage” legislation that passed this year and adds about 250 rights of marriage for registered same-sex partners in Washington.
Defenders of the new state law, who call themselves Washington Families Standing Together, say they are ready to defend the third round of rights lawmakers added since creating the partners registry in 2007.
See Washington State braces for battle over same-sex rights
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SF City Attorney ready to lend a hand in federal gay marriage case
Dennis Herrera, San Francisco’s City Attorney petitioned a U.S. District Court Judge Thursday to allow San Francisco to intervene as a party plaintiff in a constitutional challenge to Proposition 8, the voter-approved amendment that bans gay marriage in California. The federal lawsuit was filed in May on behalf of two California couples. San Francisco lead the legal battle that resulted in the May 2008 ruling in favor of gay marriage that was later overruled by Prop 8. “We are long overdue to put anti-gay discrimination on trial based on the facts,” said Herrera in a statement. “The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office has the experience and expertise to aggressively assist in doing precisely that.”See City Attorney ready to lend a hand in federal gay marriage case The San Francisco Examiner
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Gay men’s beauty pageant: Contestant, judge accused of beating another judge with trophy
Not many beauty pageants end with a judge and contestant attacking another judge — with a trophy.
Two men were ordered held on bond Wednesday after they were charged with beating a judge at a gay men’s beauty pageant earlier this month on Chicago’s West Side.
Leroy Tinch, 28, of the 2200 block of Emerson Street in Evanston and Anthony Johnson, 23, of the 8200 block of Keating Avenue in Skokie were both charged with aggravated battery with great bodily harm, a class one felony, said Andrew Conklin, a spokesman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
The men were ordered held on $75,000 bond by Circuit Court Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil.See Gay men’s beauty pageant: Contestant, judge accused of beating …
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100 Nations Meet in Copenhagen to Celebrate and Fight for Homosexual Rights
COPENHAGEN, — This week, thousands of people from across the globe will arrive in the Danish capital Copenhagen to take part in the most important international event for homosexual, bi-sexual and transgender men and women - World Outgames 2009. On the agenda is one of the largest and most important conferences on homosexual rights the world has ever seen.
Nearly 100 nations will be represented, and up to 200,000 participants, tourists and Copenhageners are expected to take part in World Outgames 2009 from July 25 - August 2. Apart from focusing on human rights for nine days, a large number of theme festivals and an extensive cultural and sports program will make Copenhagen the place to be.
“By hosting World Outgames, Denmark will send a signal to the rest of the world that it should maintain focus on the right to love whomsoever one wishes, irrespective of gender and sexuality. From Northern Europe to South America, in Eastern Europe and the Far East, there are human rights battles to be fought - particularly for homosexuals. We hope that World Outgames and the thousands of people from around 100 different countries will be able to spread the message to the world,” says Uffe Elbaek, director of World Outgames 2009.
The heart of World Outgames is a major international human rights conference being held in close cooperation with Amnesty International and IBM focusing on the necessity that all people, irrespective of gender and sexuality should have equal rights.
“It is important for Copenhagen that issues concerning homosexual rights and tolerance can be discussed without prejudice. World Outgames enables us to pay tribute to the diversity and openness that is such an innate part of the city. We are greatly looking forward to welcoming participants and spectators,” says Lars Bernhard Jorgensen, CEO of Wonderful Copenhagen.
A great variety of cultural activities will take place in Copenhagen during the event. Cities such as Melbourne, Tel Aviv, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and Antwerp will contribute with music, entertainment, dance and much more. Sporting events throughout the city will include some 30 disciplines - such as ice hockey, beach volleyball and triathlon in Copenhagen’s harbor area. Apart from the cultural program and the sport events, the city will be awash with a large number of free activities.
Also, a gay cruise with 2,600 passengers will be docking at Copenhagen during World Outgames, and a mass blessing has been arranged at Copenhagen Cathedral offering gay couples special recognition by the Church to commemorate the 20th anniversary of legally recognized same-sex civil unions in Denmark.
Facts and additional information about homosexual rights in Denmark:
http://www.visitcopenhagen.com/factsheetWOG
Read more about World Outgames: http://www.copenhagen2009.org/
Official program: http://www.copenhagen2009.org/program
Download photos: http://www.copenhagen2009.org/photo
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A consensus: among consultants Wait until 2012 To Repeal Prop 8
he advice is piling up on one side for folks who want to see same sex marriage legalized in California: Wait until 2012 to ask voters to overturn Proposition 8.
We’ve told you about the three LGBT coalitions of color who suggested waiting, and the nation’s oldest LGBT Democratic club saying the same. Now some of California’s top political consultants are joining the chorus.
Now, now. We know that some gay marriage fans blame consultants for the ruinous anti-Prop 8 campaign. But Equality California marriage director Marc Solomon — who helped lead the successful drive for marriage in Massachusetts — asked seven to share their thoughts on the 2010 v. 2012 question. Plus, they asked what the LGBT community and their allies should do to prepare to go back to the ballot. Three were openly LGBT (including two who are married) and one is a Republican.
The consensus: Wait until 2012.
Sue Burnside, co-chair of the National Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund Campaign Board, is “convinced that we should refrain from rushing in 2010, and instead to build on grassroots passion and strategically prepare for a ‘Yes on Marriage Equality’ referendum in 2012.” Ditto for Mark Armour and Rick Claussen suggests “a multi-year campaign that culminates in an election when the time is right.”
“If you do UNSUCCESSFULLY undertake this issue at the ballot in 2010, this will further erode public support on the issue and make it harder for future efforts to succeed,” Claussen said.
Even though Democratic consultant Richie Ross — who has won a bazillion races in California going back a few decades — doesn’t offer a definitive suggestion, he presents a raw numbers breakdown that suggests that by 2012 there will be more young voters on the rolls (likely to vote for gay marriage) and more older voters (likely to oppose) dying off.
Dave Fleischer, who has worked on many gay-related ballot measures over the years, worries about money. Each side on the Prop 8 battle raised at least $40 million. “The most conventional path to victory employed by a wide variety of campaign strategists — bury your opposition by dramatically outspending them, effectively drowning out their message — isn’t an option when the opposition is as well-funded as ours is in California.” He worries that the 66 weeks until Nov 2010 “is a very brief time to raise $40-50 million.”
Plus, he worries if “our strategy, in a lower turnout year, (can) insure that those who voted withus in 2008 return to the polls in greater numbers than those who voted against us? We can certainly try. But we have to acknowledge that this would be very difficult. Key blocs of our supporters, such as younger voters, often turn out to vote in reduced numbers in off-years.”
Former Los Angeles Times pollster Jill Darling said “Did the 2008 campaign move voters? Are the post-elections efforts having any effect? Nothing measurable, as of May.”
See The consensus: Wait until 2012.
San Francisco Chronicle
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