Gay partnership measure approved by voters
(Olympia, Wash.) Washington voters have approved the state’s new “everything but marriage” law, expanding rights for domestic partners and marking the first time any state’s voters have approved a gay equality measure at the ballot box.
With about 72 percent of the expected vote counted Thursday in unofficial returns, Referendum 71 …
Tags: Ballot Box, Domestic Partners, Gay Equality, Gay Partnership, marriage, Marriage Law, Olympia, Olympia Washington, Referendum, Unofficial Returns, Vote, Washington State, Washington VotersDanny Westneat Debate about gay equality appears to be ending
Whatever you may think of Joe Fuiten — the Bothell megachurch pastor and family-values political activist — you gotta give him points for bluntness.
Fuiten put out a revealing memo this week on gay marriage and domestic partnerships. To my eyes, it is the strongest sign yet that sweeping cultural change isn’t just someday coming to our state.
It’s already here.
Last month the state Legislature passed a bill that extends all the state-given benefits of being married to same-sex couples who register as domestic partners.
It’s dubbed the “everything but marriage” law. Its point is: Homosexual marriage may still be illegal here, but in the meantime gay and lesbian couples should have the same legal protections as everyone else.
Fuiten and other conservative Christian leaders opposed the bill, arguing it’s a precursor to gay marriage (which it is). Lately they’ve been debating whether to try to repeal it at the ballot box.
On Monday, Fuiten, pastor at Cedar Park Church, published the frank views of 34 right-leaning political or religious activists on the topic at his blog, franklyfuiten.com.
It’s wide-ranging, so you should read it for yourself. My take-away was that our long debate about gay equality seems to be ending. Gays and lesbians have won. Nobody understands this better than the other side.
“I have seen nothing approaching religious and/or other opposition that amounts to a hill of beans,” wrote Tom Henry, a GOP political consultant.
“Voters are immune or desensitized to the word ‘gay marriage’ right now. Besides, they think we hate them,” wrote Josephine Wentzel, a Vancouver-area Christian conservative.
“With every passing day, we lose more young people to the postmodern philosophy (no absolutes) and older people (with the Judeo-Christian value) to death. Time is not on our side,” wrote Heidi Lestelle, a Kitsap County Christian activist.
I called Fuiten. Though he and I disagree on many political issues — gay marriage in particular — we still stay in touch and debate. I asked him: Is the war over gay rights ending?
See Danny Westneat Debate about gay equality appears to be ending
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Deb Price: More Republicans embrace gay equality
Rumblings of change are beginning to be heard from deep inside the Republican Party.
The gay Log Cabin Republicans’ recent national convention offered a tantalizing peek at a possible not-so-distant future when the Republican Party has finally — and firmly — turned the corner and embraced equality for gay Americans.
Marquee speakers were Steve Schmidt, former senior campaign strategist for 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain, and former New Jersey Gov. Christie Todd Whitman, a founder of the moderate Republican Leadership Council.
Representing the youth vote that will determine the GOP’s fate was Meghan McCain, 24-year-old daughter of Sen. McCain and a contributor at TheDailyBeast.com.
Each supports marriage for same-sex couples.
That puts them firmly in the minority of today’s Republicans, but definitely not of future Republicans if the party is to grow, appeal to young voters, and be competitive beyond the south.
“We were crushed by the Obama campaign with voters under 30,” Schmidt pointed out.
What distinguishes the youth vote, he continued, is “a greater acceptance of people who find happiness in relationships with members of the same sex.” One day, a majority of Americans will follow, and, he added, “sooner or later the Republican Party will catch up.”
Whitman, tackling the problem of broadening the party without scaring away social conservatives, said, “It’s not about saying to the Christian conservatives, ‘There is no place for you.’ It’s about saying, ‘Would you please stop saying there’s no place for us?’”
Afterward, Whitman told me, “It’s not going to threaten my marriage to have a gay couple marry.” She wants the issue out of the party platform.
Meghan McCain was blunter: “Republicans’ using Twitter and Facebook isn’t going to miraculously make people think we’re cool again. Breaking free from obsolete positions and providing real solutions that don’t divide our nation further will.”
It’d be easy to dismiss the trio of speakers as preaching to choir, but encouraging rumblings are coming from elsewhere as well:
Gay Republicans point with pride to the fact that eight Republicans in the Vermont Legislature helped override the governor’s veto of gay marriage.
Meanwhile, gay Iowans are set to begin marrying on Monday, thanks to a ruling written by a Republican appointee. A University of Iowa Hawkeye Poll conducted just before the April 3 unanimous Iowa Supreme Court ruling for gay marriage found that 58 percent of Iowans aged 18 to 29 favor gay marriage, 17 percent prefer civil unions, and only 16 percent oppose both.
That means fewer than one out of five favors the official Republican position.
Contrast that with Iowans 65 or older: 18 percent favor gay marriage, 31 percent civil unions and 42 percent neither.
If you were running a company that hopes to still be around in 20 years, which customers would you appeal to?
That question is being asked in elite Republican circles. In a survey of its Republican political insiders, National Journal magazine found in its most recent issue that only 50 percent think their party should oppose gay marriage, while 8 percent think the party should embrace it and 37 percent say it should steer clear of the issue.
Speaking freely behind the cloak of anonymity, one Republican insider said, “Perception of complete hostility to all gay rights is killing the GOP among voters under 29. Evolve or perish, Republicans.”
A growing number of Republican thinkers are concluding that their party’s future hinges on finding a way to comfortably embrace gay rights.
Reach Deb Price at dprice@detnews.com or (202) 662-8736
See More Republicans embrace gay equality
The Detroit News
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/deb-price-mor…
Analysis: Obama’s comprehensive support for gay equality
What can lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans Americans expect from the new President of the United States?
Barack Obama, who will take the oath of office tomorrow afternoon at noon (5pm GMT), is the most gay-friendly politician to lead America.
During his campaign for the White House, the former Senator from Illinois spoke about his personal friendship with gay people.
“Michelle and I have been blessed with many openly gay and lesbian friends and colleagues whom we have been close to for many years,” he revealed in a series of written answers to a gay newspaper.
“While that fact has made the issue facing the LGBT community more personal, the fundamental reasons I have for supporting equality are greater than any individual.
See Analysis: Obama’s comprehensive support for gay equality PinkNews.co.uk
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Arizona Bar Assoc. mulls gay equality pledge
(Tucson, Arizona) A conservative legal group is calling on lawyers to oppose a proposed revision to the Arizona Bar Association oath of office that pledges equal representation to LGBT clients.
The Alliance Defense Fund calls the proposal “unconstitutional.”
The proposed revision to the oath states: “I will not permit considerations of gender, …
Tags: Alliance Defense Fund, Arizona Bar Association, Bar Gay, Gay Arizona, Gay Equality, Gay Tucson, Lawyers, Legal Group, Lgbt, Oath Of Office, Pledge, Proposal, Tucson ArizonaArizona Bar Assoc. mulls gay equality pledge
(Tucson, Arizona) A conservative legal group is calling on lawyers to oppose a proposed revision to the Arizona Bar Association oath of office that pledges equal representation to LGBT clients.
The Alliance Defense Fund calls the proposal “unconstitutional.”
The proposed revision to the oath states: “I will not permit considerations of gender, …
Tags: Alliance Defense Fund, Arizona Bar Association, Bar Gay, Gay Arizona, Gay Equality, Gay Tucson, Lawyers, Legal Group, Lgbt, Oath Of Office, Pledge, Proposal, Tucson Arizona
