Michigan candidate seeks to rollback transgender rights

A Michigan secretary of state candidate has transgender rights on his agenda – the rollback of transgender rights, that is.

Paul Scott, currently a Republican state representative, said in his announcement of candidacy for the position that he plans to reverse a policy that allows transgender individuals to change their gender …

A first gay justice?

Gerstein:

President Barack Obama is looking to advance diversity with his pick to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter — and early speculation has focused on whether he’ll pick a woman, or perhaps the first Hispanic justice.

But gay rights groups — disappointed that Obama didn’t pick an openly gay man or woman for his Cabinet — are pushing him to put the first openly gay justice on the Supreme Court.

Within hours of word of Souter’s departure, the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund was hailing the candidacy of a First Amendment scholar and former dean of Stanford Law School, Kathleen Sullivan. “Out lesbian a contender for Supreme Court,” one of the group’s web sites declared.

Another Stanford law professor on the “frequently mentioned” lists, Pam Karlan, has been open about being a lesbian, colleagues and former students say. In response to an e-mail from POLITICO, Karlan expressed no reticence about discussing her sexual orientation, though she downplayed talk about being a possible nominee.

“It’s no secret at all that I’m counted among the LGBT crowd,” she wrote, using a common acronym for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community. As for the possibility she’d be nominated, Karlan said, “Given the landscape, I’m flattered, but not fooled, by having my name tossed around.”

Unrelatedly, a rave for Karlan as “(1) brilliant, (2) broadly knowledgeable — Cass Sunstein aside, I can’t think of anyone who knows so much about so many different legal fields — and (3) a spectacularly gifted writer” from a right-leaning Harvard Law professor, William Stuntz.

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Politico -

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TA Gay Pride parade to swing to the sound of the ‘Wedding March’

The 11th annual Tel Aviv Gay Pride parade this summer will feature an event organizers believe to be the first ever for such an event anywhere in the world and certainly in Israel – two weddings, one of a gay couple and one of a lesbian pair.

A campaign will be launched on the Web site gogay.co.il seeking couples interested in being wed as part of the event to submit their candidacy.

A committee at the city’s gay community center will determine which two couples will participate in the historic event.

“The idea began with the thought that in the framework of the [city's] centennial celebrations, we wanted to do something substantive and deep to advance the community’s agenda,” said Yaniv Weizman, the adviser to Tel Aviv-Jaffa Mayor Ron Huldai on gay affairs and a Rov Ha’ir city council member.

“The idea is to wed both a gay and lesbian couple on one of the stages during the parade,” he said, adding that the right to marry stands at the top of the gay community’s agenda, particularly as Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party has raised awareness of civil union rights. See TA Gay Pride parade to swing to the sound of the ‘Wedding March’

Ha’aretz

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Obama’s Choice of Pastor Creates Furor

With his choice of the Rev. Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration, President-elect Barack Obama has found himself enmeshed in a new controversy involving a pastor, facing criticism this time from liberal and gay rights groups outraged at the idea of including the evangelical pastor at a Democratic celebration.

Mr. Obama’s forceful defense of Mr. Warren, the author of “The Purpose Driven Life,” has signaled an intent to continue his campaign’s effort to woo even theologically conservative Christians. As his advisers field scores of calls from Democrats angry because Mr. Warren is an outspoken opponent of abortion and same-sex marriage, Mr. Obama has insisted that a range of viewpoints be expressed at the inauguration festivities next month in Washington.

“That’s part of the magic of this country, is that we are diverse and noisy and opinionated,” Mr. Obama said, speaking to reporters here this week. He added, “That’s hopefully going to be a spirit that carries over into my administration.”

The growing alliance of Mr. Obama and Mr. Warren — each of the two publicly refers to the other as “friend” — suggests that Mr. Obama hopes to capitalize on the signs of potential generational and political divisions within the evangelical Christian flock. For his part, Mr. Warren is increasingly being spoken of as a kind of minister to the nation, a status previously occupied by the Rev. Billy Graham.

V. Gene Robinson, the Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, whose consecration caused a painful divide in his church because he is openly gay, said that when he heard about the selection of Mr. Warren, “it was like a slap in the face.”

Bishop Robinson had been an early public endorser of Mr. Obama’s candidacy, and said he had helped serve as a liaison between the campaign and the gay community. He said he had called officials who work for Mr. Obama to share his dismay, and been told that Mr. Obama was trying to reach out to conservatives and give everybody a seat at the table.

“I’m all for Rick Warren being at the table,” Bishop Robinson said, “but we’re not talking about a discussion, we’re talking about putting someone up front and center at what will be the most watched inauguration in history, and asking his blessing on the nation. And the God that he’s praying to is not the God that I know.”

It is not Mr. Obama’s first brush with trouble at the intersection of religion and politics. In his presidential campaign, he struggled with how to handle his longtime Chicago pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., whose sermons on race and patriotism stirred outrage. After initially defending him, Mr. Obama ultimately broke ties with Mr. Wright and the church.

See Obama’s Choice of Pastor Creates Furor
New York Times, United States

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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/obamas-choice…

Equality California Denounces Selection of Rick Warren to Give Invocation at Presidential Inauguration

Executive Director Calls President-elect’s choice “appalling”, Asks Members to Take Action
SAN FRANCISCO – In response to the invitation of Rev. Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, EQCA Executive Director released the following statement:
“It is appalling that President-elect Barack Obama would invite California Pastor Rev. Rick Warren, an ardent supporter of Prop 8 and someone who is opposed to the equality of LGBT Americans, to give the invocation at his inauguration. It is a slap in the face to the millions of LGBT Americans who supported his historic candidacy. Would President-Elect Obama invite someone to give the invocation who supported eliminating the civil rights of a minority other than the LGBT community? Of course he wouldn’t!
“President-elect Obama should immediately rescind this invitation. It would be impossible for any self-respecting LGBT person to be expected to participate in the inauguration where a vocal opponent of our equality is given such a prominent role.”
EQCA is asking its members to sign the following petition to President-elect Barack Obama at www.eqca.org/takeaction:
Dear President-Elect Obama:
We the undersigned demand that you revoke the invitation of California Pastor Rev. Rick Warren due to his opposition to equality for LGBT Americans and his active support of Proposition 8 which eliminated the right of same-sex couples to civil marriage in California and put discrimination into the California Constitution.
EQCA works to achieve equality and secure legal protections for LGBT people. To improve the lives of LGBT Californians, EQCA sponsors legislation and coordinates efforts to ensure its passage, lobbies legislators and other policy makers, builds coalitions, develops community strength and empowers individuals and other organizations to engage in the political process. www.eqca.org

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Homophobe to head the RNC?

Former Ohio Secretary of State and U.N. ambassador Ken Blackwell is in the running to chair the RNC, according to the Washington Times. Blackwell is also a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, the anti-gay fundie organization.

From the story: “In a letter to RNC members announcing his candidacy, Mr. Blackwell notes that he ‘vocally opposed tax increases offered’ by his state’s Republican governor and ‘helped to successfully lead the fight to amend the Ohio Constitution to ban government recognition of same-sex marriages.’”

Basically, Blackwell is responsible for Ohio’s gay marriage amendment. Both senators from Ohio opposed the too-broad measure, fearing it would eventually affect civil unions, domestic partner benefits and legal contracts between gays. Blackwell lobbied hard for the measure, and it passed in 2004.

Blackwell writes a column for Townhall.com. Here is just one example of his anti-gay ways.

See Homophobe to head the RNC?
Washington Blade, DC