Gay leaders blame TV ads, Obama for loss in Maine
(San Francisco) Stunned and angry, national gay rights leaders Wednesday blamed scare-mongering ads - and President Barack Obama’s lack of engagement - for a bitter election setback in Maine that could alter the dynamics for both sides in the gay-marriage debate.
Conservatives, in contrast, celebrated Maine voters’ rejection of a law …
Tags: barack obama, Conservatives, Gay Ads, Gay Leaders, Gay Marriage Debate, Gay Rights Leaders, Gay Tv, Maine San Francisco, Maine Voters, marriage, Rejection, Scare, Setback, Tv AdsBackers of Gay Marriage Rethink California Push
LOS ANGELES — Discouraged by stubborn poll numbers and pessimistic political consultants, major financial backers of same-sex marriage are cautioning gay rights groups to delay a campaign to overturn California’s ban on such unions until at least 2012.
Earlier this year, many supporters of same-sex marriage seemed eager to mount a 2010 campaign to overturn Proposition 8, which was passed by California voters in November and defined marriage as “between a man and a woman.”
But the timing of another campaign has since been questioned by several of the movement’s big donors, including David Bohnett, a millionaire philanthropist and technology entrepreneur who gave more than $1 million to the unsuccessful campaign to defeat Proposition 8.
“In conversations with a number of my fellow major No on 8 donors,” Mr. Bohnett said in an e-mail message, “I find that they share my sentiment: namely, that we will step up to the plate — with resources and talent — when the time is right.”
“The only thing worse than losing in 2008,” he added, “would be to lose again in 2010.”
The issue of when to go back to the polls was also the central topic at a contentious “leadership summit” held Saturday at a church in San Bernardino, east of Los Angeles, where about 200 gay rights advocates gathered to discuss their next step. It was the second large meeting of gay leaders since late May when the California Supreme Court ruled against a legal challenge to Proposition 8, which passed with 52 percent of the vote.
Shortly after the court’s decision, officials at Equality California, one of the largest gay rights groups in California, issued an online plea for donations for a possible 2010 campaign, citing a need to capitalize on anger over the decision and on the seeming momentum from the recent legalization of same-sex marriage in several other states.
But that thinking has apparently evolved.
Marc Solomon, marriage director for Equality California, said he spent June and early July asking the opinions of nearly two dozen California political consultants and pollsters and had been surprised by the almost unanimous opinion that a 2010 race was a bad idea.
“I expected having watched the protests and the real pain that the L.G.B.T. community had experienced that there would be some real measurable remorse in the electorate,” Mr. Solomon said, referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. “But if you look at the poll numbers since November, they really haven’t moved at all.”
A major factor in any California balloting, of course, is money; campaigns here are remarkably expensive, with a number of costly media markets. The Proposition 8 campaign, for example, cost more than $80 million, with opponents spending some $43 million.
Sarah Callahan, ch
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Rep. Bob Filner (D-Chula Vista) said today that…
Rep. Bob Filner (D-Chula Vista) said today that he has asked the Department of Defense and the Marine Corps to investigate whether the killing of a sailor, who was gay, at Camp Pendleton was a hate crime.
Filner, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said he wanted a complete investigation of circumstances surrounding the death of Seaman August Provost, 29, of Houston. Provost’s body was found about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday in a guard shack on the western edge of the sprawling base.
Gay leaders in San Diego had asked Filner to intervene. Nicole Murray-Ramirez, chairman of the San Diego Human Relations Commission, said Provost’s family believes the sailor had been harassed by other personnel on the base.
Filner said initial indications are that Provost was shot and his body burned. He said his committee also will investigate the case.
[Updated 7:20 p.m.: In a late afternoon news conference, Navy officials today promised a thorough investigation into the killing. They said, however, that there was no evidence it was a hate crime. A sailor who is considered to be a person of interest remains in the brig. Another sailor, who was initially considered a person of interest, has been released.]
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Schumer’s gay-marriage support comes at right time
(New York) Sen. Charles Schumer reached out to gay leaders earlier this month and convened a meeting at an upscale Manhattan restaurant to make an important announcement: He was supporting gay marriage after years of opposing it.
The response from the crowd was swift.
“The room applauded,” recalled Alan Van Capelle, the …
Tags: Alan Van Capelle, Charles Schumer, Crowd, Gay Leaders, Important Announcement, Manhattan Restaurant, marriage, Marriage Support, Right Time, Sen Charles Schumer, Supporting Gay MarriageGay man to be named to top White House post
The days leading up to the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama have brought a virtual cascade of LGBT-related political developments: nine new appointments were revealed to be in the works, a gesture was made, and an unexpected skeleton emerged from a completely overlooked archival closet.
Most significant by far, in terms of political importance, are the new appointments, albeit in various stages of being vetted, finalized, and announced.
Openly gay National Zoo Director John Berry is being named to head the Office of Personnel Management. It’s a tad short of the secretary of interior position gay leaders had hoped for but it’s the highest-ranking position ever for an openly gay appointee. The Office of Personnel Management, with more than 5,000 employees and an annual budget of about $1.5 billion, is the hiring agency of the federal government’s 3 million-strong civilian workforce.
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Proposition 8 Gives Rise to New Generation of Gay Leaders
After state voters passed Proposition 8 on November 4, gays, lesbians and their straight allies took to the streets in Los Angeles and West Hollywood, demanding the repeal of the ballot measure that bans same-sex marriage in California. The outrage over the vote also brought about several boycotts that forced “Yes on 8″ contributors like L.A. Film Festival director Richard Raddon out of a job.
But one of the more interesting and sometimes overlooked post–Prop. 8 developments has been a shakeup within the gay establishment and the rise of younger activists looking for a seat at the power table. Dave Valk, a 21-year-old senior at UCLA, and Joe Townley, a 30-year-old Internet entrepreneur, founded, with others, an activist group called Demonstrate Change. Vincent Jones, a 32-year-old staffer at Common Cause, expected to do more outreach in the African-American community, which mostly voted for Proposition 8.
In the meantime, the California State Supreme Court will hear arguments from gay-rights lawyers probably in March, asking the court to overturn Prop. 8 and legalize same-sex marriage in this state once again. To keep the “No on 8″ cause alive, Valk, Townley and people like them have been gearing up for protests in January and February, as well as a possible March on Washington in April. Other gay activists in Los Angeles — young and old, rookies and veterans — are also organizing a more grassroots-oriented gay-rights movement, with Rick Jacobs of the Courage Campaign providing support.
In our article published shortly before the election, polls showed voters who opposed same-sex marriage gaining ground on voters who backed same-sex marriage. The article, “Riding the Cultural Divide with Proposition 8,” explained the national consequences of either outcome, as well as the mounting turmoil and trouble unfolding inside the campaign to defeat the measure.
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