Was This Junior High Student Killed for Being Gay? CBS News
VENTURA, Calif. (CBS/AP) “Tell Larry goodbye because you’re not going to see him again.” That is what 15-year-old Brandon McInerney said a day before he allegedly shot and killed fellow student Larry King, according to police.
Everybody knew who Larry King was at E.O. Green Junior High in Oxnard, Calif. King, fifteen, was open about his sexual orientation and known for his splashy personality and wearing high heels to classes.
On Feb. 12, 2008, King was in the school’s computer lab with 24 other students. Authorities say McInerney, an eighth-grade classmate, walked into the room with a gun and shot King in the head. McInerney ran from the building and police officers detained him a few blocks away. See Was This Junior High Student Killed for Being Gay? CBS News
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On same-sex marriage/civil unions, the air is leaking out of the tire
ast month Texas Lyceum, a non-partisan, business-oriented group, released one of its periodic polls on current issues, and the results for the most part were what one would expect in a conservative state. By margins of about 2-to-1, Texas opposed any further bailouts for automakers or banks. An even bigger margin – including a majority of whites, blacks and Hispanics – supported the concept of a voter ID requirement.
But on one issue, the poll did raise some eyebrows. According to the survey, a majority of Texans would permit some form of same-sex union to be recognized: 25 percent favor same-sex marriage and 32 percent would allow civil unions, while 36 percent oppose either arrangement. Although Democrats and independents were more liberal on this issue than Republicans, a thin Republican majority – 14 percent for same-sex marriage, 37 percent for civil unions – now favor one arrangement or the other.
That indicates that Texans are more conservative than the rest of the country on this issue, but not dramatically so. A CBS News/New York Times poll conducted at about the same time showed that 33 percent of Americans favor same-sex marriage, 30 percent would permit civil unions and 32 percent oppose any legal recognition of same-sex or lesbian couples.
This national poll also showed opinions on the issue are shifting back and forth: In a CBS News/New York Times poll conducted in April, support for same-sex marriage was at 42 percent. That decrease in support could be a result of the rising visibility of the issue: In June, New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch signed a bill which made his state the sixth in the country to allow same-sex marriage.
The fact that attitudes in Texas aren’t greatly out of line with the rest of the country doesn’t portend any big changes in the law in this region of the country, any time soon. If same-sex marriage/civil unions had been polled last month in Tennessee or Alabama, opposition to either one would probably have been significantly higher. But it may be an indication that as a political issue which can easily get traction, the air is slowly leaking out of the tire.
Most of the states, and all the Southern states, have passed some form of Defense of Marriage Act, and all the Southern states except North Carolina have passed constitutional bans on same-sex marriage. This makes it less, not more likely that conservative candidates in these states will get much mileage out of the issue than they have in recent years. It’s much more likely that opposition to same-sex unions will galvanize votes in states like New Jersey or Pennsylvania, where changes in current laws are a greater possibility.
None of this is to say conservative candidates won’t be able to raise money and garner endorsements on the issue well into the next decade. But it’s noteworthy that the strongest opposition to gay marriage in nearly every poll comes from African-Americans, who aren’t likely to swing behind candidates who are conservative on other issues.
See On same-sex marriage/civil unions, the air is leaking out of the tire
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Angry Gay Democrats Pull Support For DNC
The Obama administration’s decision to file a controversial brief on behalf of the Defense Of Marriage Act appears to have been the last straw for many gay and lesbians who were once enthusiastic supporters of the administration as well as the Democratic party.
Politico reports that the National Stonewall Democrats is the latest group to pull out of a June 25 Democratic National Committee fundraiser because of the Obama administration’s defense of DOMA and lack of action on gay issues.
The group said is “incredibly disappointed” in the party for a variety of reasons, including a perceived lack of support.
“The DNC has traditionally provided materials for the many Pride parades and festivals around the country to help educate the LGBT community about why the Democratic Party is the Party for full LGBT equality,” National Stonewall wrote in an e-mail, according to Politico. “This year, we were informed that we would not be receiving any materials or support for producing materials for the various nationwide Pride activities. These decisions were very disappointing.” See Angry Gay Democrats Pull Support For DNC
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NY Gay Marriage Bill Faces New Challenges
With what some are describing as a “circus” in Albany, many gay marriage supporters fear that proposed legislation recognizing same sex marriage in New York will not come up for a vote in a state Senate in flux.
And now, one group is also trying harder to keep that from happening. The National Organization for Marriage announced Tuesday that they have set up a Political Action Committee for New York to fight the measure.
With the announcement, Executive Director Brian Brown also said that the first $500,000 raised will be used to back a primary challenger to GOP Senators who vote for gay marriage.
“The first half million dollars will be used in GOP primaries,” Brown said. “But we are also looking to aid Democratic candidates who want to buck the establishment on the marriage issue, and to help in general election contests.”
Brown said politicians were ignoring “the wishes of their own constituents.” See NY Gay Marriage Bill Faces New Challenges
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Obama Faces Gay Groups’ Growing Anger
The anger from gay rights advocates toward President Obama is starting to boil over.
On Monday, Joe Solmonese, the president of the establishment gay rights group The Human Rights Campaign, sent an angry letter to the president objecting to the decision by the Obama Justice Department to file a brief defending the Defense of Marriage Act.
“I realized that although I and other LGBT leaders have introduced ourselves to you as policy makers, we clearly have not been heard, and seen, as what we also are: human beings whose lives, loves, and families are equal to yours,” Solmonese wrote. “I know this because this brief would not have seen the light of day if someone in your administration who truly recognized our humanity and equality had weighed in with you.”
The Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, mandates (1) that the federal government not recognize same-sex marriages and (2) that states not be forced to recognize same-sex marriages from other states.
Mr. Obama vowed to repeal DOMA as a presidential candidate but he has not taken any action to do so since becoming president. The Justice Department brief calls the legislation a “valid exercise of Congress’ power” and says it is “reasonable and rational for Congress to maintain its longstanding policy of fostering this traditional and universally-recognized form of marriage.”
“The government does not state why denying us basic protections promotes anyone else’s marriage, nor why, while our heterosexual neighbors’ marriages should be promoted, our own must be discouraged,” Solmonese writes in his letter.
He goes onto single out a portion of the brief referencing a case involving “marriage of uncle to niece” to support the Justice position.
“I cannot overstate the pain that we feel as human beings and as families when we read an argument, presented in federal court, implying that our own marriages have no more constitutional standing than incestuous ones,” he writes. See Obama Faces Gay Groups’ Growing Anger
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Sarvis: Time is now to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
Saying that lifting the military gay ban is a matter of urgent national security, Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, is calling on President Barack Obama to form a panel to study the effect of ending the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and present its findings within 90 to 120 days. Any further delay in overturning current law “is a slap in the face to the estimated 65,000 gays and lesbians currently serving their country,” Sarvis writes. CBS News * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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The anti-equality coalition crumbling (Kos) — NY Times/CBS News Poll
NY Times/CBS News Poll. 4/22-26. Adults. MoE 3% (3/12-16 results)
Which comes closest to your view? Gay couples should be allowed to legally marry. OR, Gay couples should be allowed to form civil unions but not legally marry. OR, There should be no legal recognition of a gay couple’s relationship.
Legal Marraige 42 (33)
Civil Unions 25 (27)
No Legal Recognition 28 (35)
These results are nothing short of stunning. Support for gay marriage is up 11 points in a single month, and up from 22 percent in March 2004. Those advocating second-class status for gay couples are headed toward “fringe minority” status. The biggest gain over this past month came among Republicans, who went from 6 to 18 percent support for gay marriage — still a significant minority in their caucus, but evidence that the efforts of Steve Schmidt and Meghan McCain are having an effect. If the GOP is to remain an ongoing concern in the future, it will have to evolve toward a more tolerant position on gay marriage.
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Political Memo Same-Sex Marriage Holds Peril for GOP
WASHINGTON — It was only five years ago that opposition to same-sex marriage was so strong that Republicans explicitly turned to the issue as a way to energize conservative voters. Yet today, as the party contemplates the task of rebuilding itself, some Republicans say the marriage issue may be turning into more of a hindrance than a help.
The fact that a run of states have legalized same-sex marriage in recent months — either by court decision or by legislative action — with little backlash is only one indication of how public attitudes about this subject appear to be changing.
More significant is evidence in polls of a widening divide on the issue by age, suggesting to many Republicans that the potency of the marriage question is on the decline. It simply does not appear to have the resonance with younger voters that it does with older ones.
Consider this: In the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, released Monday, 31 percent of respondents over the age of 40 said they supported same-sex marriage. By contrast, 57 percent under age 40 said they supported it, a 26-point difference. Among the older respondents, 35 percent said they opposed any legal recognition of same-sex couples, be it marriage or civil unions. Among the younger crowd, just 19 percent held that view.
Steve Schmidt, who was the senior strategist to Senator John McCain of Arizona during his presidential campaign, said in a speech and an interview that Republicans were in danger of losing these younger voters unless the party came to appreciate how issues like same-sex marriage resonated, or did not resonate, with them.
“Republicans should re-examine the extent to which we are being defined by positions on issues that I don’t believe are among our core values, and that put us at odds with what I expect will become, over time, if not a consensus view, then the view of a substantial majority of voters,” Mr. Schmidt said in a speech. See Political Memo Same-Sex Marriage Holds Peril for GOP
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Poll: Gay marriage support jumps 10 percent in month
(New York City) A new national public opinion poll has found support for same-sex marriage has jumped nearly 10 percent in the past month.
The CBS News/New York Times poll found that 42 percent of Americans believe same-sex couples should have the right to marry. Last month a CBS/Times poll found …
Tags: Cbs, Cbs News, gay marriage, marriage, Marriage Support, National Public Opinion Poll, New York City, New York Times, New York Times Poll, News New York, Public Opinion Poll, Same Sex Couples, same sex marriageCaroline Bucks Barack, Hillary On Gay Nups
(The Politico) Caroline Kennedy’s spokesman provided seven answers to eight questions Ben and I submitted on a wide array of political and policy questions.
Many of the answers were relatively vague and politician-y, but she did make some news: She supports gay marriage — bucking her mentor Barack Obama and possible predecessor Hillary Clinton.
“Caroline supports full equality and marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples,” wrote spokesman Stefan Friedman.
She also dissed Clinton’s Oct. 2002 vote authorizing the Iraq invasion: “Caroline opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning. She supports President-Elect Obama’s plan to work with our military leaders to begin a responsible withdrawal.” See Caroline Bucks Barack, Hillary On Gay Nups
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