WASHINGTON, DC — Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine today issued the following statement marking June as PRIDE Month:
“Today, on behalf of Democrats across our nation, the Democratic National Committee pays recognition to PRIDE month — a time to join together in celebrating the contributions that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans and their families make to our society. We also take this time to reaffirm our commitment to being a Party of inclusion and one that stands firm in promoting equality for every American.
“As Democrats and Americans, we believe we all are created equal and we have fought against discrimination based on race, sex, ethnicity, national origin, language, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, and attempts to divide us instead of unite us.
“The cause of ending discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans has taken a giant leap forward. With a Democrat in the White House who is committed to equality and justice, we have reached significant milestones. The Obama Administration is the first to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in its first 100 days and it has partnered with the international community at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world.
“The Administration is concentrating on a number of measures to ensure equality for all — such as supporting civil unions, Federal rights for LGBT couples, stronger hate crimes laws, ridding our military of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ in a way that both ensures national security and strengthens our Armed forces, banning discrimination in the work place, fighting HIV/AIDS and ensuring adoption rights.
“We as a Party and as a people have come a long way, and we should be proud of what we have accomplished thus far in promoting equal rights for all Americans. But we still have much more to do. As we move ahead with a Democratic Congress and President committed to equality for all Americans, we look forward to a nation where discrimination of any kind is a thing of the past.
Updated: 05/29/2009 09:09:52 PM MDT
There is no denying that the decision of the California Supreme Court to uphold Proposition 8 is a setback for gay families and anyone who supports marriage equality. But the reversal is temporary.
One day in the not-too-distant future — years maybe, but not decades — Prop. 8 will be seen as the swan song of the old order. California’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage garnered 52 percent of the vote in November, but it was the last gasp of an atavistic and deeply negative conception of homosexuality whose grip on the American psyche will soon be broken for good (and good riddance).
Gay marriage is coming to America.
The speed at which gay marriage went from a wedge issue that Republicans used during the 2004 election to roust religiously conservative voters to the polls, to its wide acceptance today, is nothing short of a political tsunami. Five states have now legalized same-sex marriage either by statute or court order: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and Maine. The last three did so in the few months since California’s Prop. 8 case was argued. With the momentum building throughout the Northeast, measures legalizing gay marriage are considered viable in New York, New Jersey and New Hampshire.
The polls are reflecting this rapid shift in the cultural landscape.
See Blumner: Gay marriage will come Salt Lake Tribune
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
‘…denying marriage to loving and committed same-sex couples is morally wrong…’
(Los Angeles, May 15, 2009) — On the first anniversary of the California Supreme Court’s historic ruling in In re Marriages, Lambda Legal Marriage Project Director Jennifer C. Pizer issued the following statement:
“One year ago today many thousands of lesbian and gay Californians became full citizens for the first time when the state supreme court ruled that we all are equal under law and everyone – gay and straight alike – must have the same right to marry the person they love. For some of us who’d worked on the case for years, the court’s clarion clear decision gave real meaning to the California Constitution’s promise of equality. And then, as more than 18,000 same-sex couples jubilantly exercised that right all over the state, family and friends shared their joy, cried during their vows, and were changed for the better.
The court’s historic decision also paved the way for the high courts of Connecticut and Iowa, which in turn gave great boosts to the legislatures in Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia. Awareness now is dawning for great numbers of Americans that denying marriage to loving and committed same-sex couples is morally wrong and inflicts real harms—government should not be in the business of discrimination. Public opinion is shifting fast toward fairness. But no minority should have to depend on the generosity of the majority to enjoy basic rights. Proposition 8′s theft of our right to marry has advanced a broadly pernicious recasting of “equal protection” that, if upheld, puts every California minority at risk. It was a sad, knee-jerk response to the sight of couples in love celebrating their happiness.
Paper is the traditional first anniversary gift and there are two obvious examples — our constitution, torn asunder by Prop 8′s antigay exception, and the high court’s imminent decision that we hope will mend that tear. Today’s anniversary reminds us that we win in court and in life when we publicly celebrate our truth, love and joy in equal measures.”
Jennifer C. Pizer is Director of Lambda Legal’s Marriage Project and co-counsel in the cases that established same-sex couples’ right to marry in California and the pending challenge to Proposition 8.
“Outrage,” the biting new political documentary by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick that opens today in Los Angeles, candidly explores the murky intersection between private lives and public conduct.Dick’s thesis is that Washington’s closeted homosexual lawmakers, most of them members of the GOP, staunchly — often stridently — oppose equal rights measures for gays because they’re anxious to conceal their own sexual orientation. He also shares a sentiment voiced by openly gay Democratic Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts who told the filmmakers that his Republican colleagues have “a right to privacy, but there’s no right to hypocrisy.”So in that spirit, the film does what no mainstream cinematic treatment of this issue has done before: It names names.
All the law and policymakers identified have previously been “outed” in print or online, but most either deny being gay or simply decline to comment on privacy grounds. Among those named in “Outrage” are veteran California Rep. David Dreier, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, ex-Louisiana Congressman Jim McCrery, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch and ex-Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, whose notorious 2007 arrest on suspicion of lewd conduct in a Minneapolis airport men’s room effectively ended his political career.
See ‘Outrage’ comes at pivotal moment in gay rights fight
Los Angeles Times -* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
New Hampshire’s Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that would legalize same-sex marriage after an amendment was added that prohibits polygamy and marriage of family members, among other measures.
Governor John Lynch has not indicated whether he will veto the bill, which passed in a 13-11 vote and would would make New Hampshire the nation’s fifth state where gay marriage is legal. But the Democrat has expressed opposition to the measure.
See New Hampshire Senate passes gay-marriage bill
Reuters
NEW YORK, April 17, 2009 – The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has sent a letter to the Iraqi Minister of Human Rights, Wijdan Salim, requesting that she takes specific measures to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Iraqis and prevent hate crimes against those perceived to be gay.
IGLHRC’s letter, written to coincide with Ms. Salim’s visit to Washington D.C., responds to a recent wave of violent crimes against Iraqi citizens perceived to be gay.
Just hours before IGLHRC sent its letter, an Iraqi group identified as “Fazilat” (Virtue) posted flyers threatening homosexuals with death on walls in the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad.
The flyers, distributed on April 17, list the names of some of the would-be targets and states that “we will soon punish all you perverts.” Residents of Sadr City say the people who were outed in these fliers have gone into hiding.
Previous acts of anti-LGBT violence in Iraq include the April 2, 2009 murder of two men in the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad.
An unidentified local official described these men as “sexual perverts (Monharef Jensiyan) who were killed by members of their tribe to restore their family honour.”
Prior to death, the men’s relatives had disowned them and they were also thrown out of their tribes. So far no one has claimed their bodies and the government has not launched an investigation into the case.
These murders took place one week after Iraqi authorities unearthed the bodies of 4 men killed by gunshots in Sadr City on March 25.
The words “pervert” and “son of a bitch” (jaravah: a derogatory term to describe homosexuals) were written on the chests of the victims. As part of this new wave of violence, a coffee house in Sadr City that was frequented by gay men has also been burnt down.
Apart from these cases, IGLHRC has also received reports of the arrest, torture, and murder of several members of the group Iraqi-LGBT amid a nationwide government crackdown on gay-friendly businesses across Iraq.
Several other reports indicate dozens of extra-judicial murders of LGBT people across Iraq during the past few months.
In response to these violent murders, on April 8, 2009, IGLHRC and Human Rights Watch submitted an urgent appeal to the Special Procedures of the United Nations to ask for an investigation.
IGLHRC is also working closely with the D.C.-based Council on Global Equality to bring the plight of gay and lesbian Iraqis to the attention of U.S. government officials, who will be meeting with the Iraqi minister next week.
SEE ALSO
Shadowy Group Threatens to Kill Gays in Iraq. A shadowy group has posted signs around the Iraqi capital’s main Shiite working-class district of Sadr City naming alleged homosexuals on a list and threatening to kill them. (France 24 News, April 17, 2009)
Member of Iraqi Gay Group Pleads for Help “Before It’s Too Late”. Is there anyone to help me before it’s too late? That is the question asked by a member of Iraqi-LGBT in Baghdad, who says he is to be executed, in a letter released at the weekend by Iraqi-LGBT in London. (UK Gay News, April 6, 2009)
Iraqi Gays Sentenced to Death for Their Sexuality Face Execution. More than 100 prisoners in Iraq are facing execution – and some of them are believed to have been convicted of the ‘crime’ of being gay, the UK-based Iraqi-LGBT group revealed this afternoon. According to Ali Hili of Iraqi-LGBT, the Iraqi authorities plan to start executing them in batches of 20 from this week. (UK Gay News, March 30, 2009)
The cultural war over gay marriage has suddenly re-emerged nationally, setting the stage for volatile political developments in California when the Prop. 8 decision comes down between now and June.
Last Friday’s decision by the Iowa Supreme Court that found unconstitutional a state ban on same-sex marriage was followed within days by enactment of a pro-gay marriage law in Vermont and passage of another in the District of Columbia. All this could push the issue directly before Congress, as similar measures move ahead in New York and other states.
The flurry of activity triggered an all-hands-alert among religious foes of gay marriage, led by an outfit called the National Organization for Marriage, which rushed to air in California and other key states a dubious TV spot that uses paid actors to mouth lines of supposedly real people whose purported lives are about to be allegedly disrupted by “The Gathering Storm.” (And for a good spoof of the ad, try this.)
Foes of Prop. 8 meanwhile are sniffing defeat in court and planning mass demonstrations if the California Supremes uphold the initiative ban on gay marriage passed last November. The court has until June 3 to issue its ruling.
All of which complicates the lives of the candidates for governor. After months of mouthing platitudes about the green economy, as all-recession-all-the-time stories blanketed the news cycle, wannabes now face the unpleasant prospect of getting whipsawed between two highly motivated enemy camps: ardent progressive and gay activists demanding civil rights for all versus impassioned conservative evangelicals and other churched groups, fiercely intent on protecting their most sacred values from doom.
Read how the issue affects the governor’s race at www.calbuzz.com
(Des Moines, Iowa) Legislation that would make marriage gender neutral in Iowa appeared dead Friday after it was stripped from the list of measures to be take up by lawmakers this session.
While it remains possible the bill could reemerge near the end of the session, most political observers believe it …
Read more….
(Washington) The passage in November of anti-gay measures in four states and the release of the films “Milk” and “Prayers for Bobby” have resulted in a increase in interest in Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
The national organization said that it has received at least 75 inquiries about …
Read more….
(Washington) The passage in November of anti-gay measures in four states and the release of the films “Milk” and “Prayers for Bobby” have resulted in a increase in interest in Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
The national organization said that it has received at least 75 inquiries about …
Read more….
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