And apparently they don't like us very much. Maine's gay marriage law, passed by the state legislature and signed by the Governor John Baldacci earlier this year, was repealed when voters took to the polls to vote yesterday. It pains me that the majority is continued to allow to vote on minority rights issues. And it pains me even more that I had to update our Big Queer Map.

Yesterday the Human Rights Campaign issued a 67-page report titled "'They Want Us Exterminated': Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq" that claims that Iraqi militias are "carrying out a spreading campaign of torture and murder against men suspected of homosexual conduct, or of not being 'manly' enough, and Iraq authorities have done nothing to stop the killing." A spokesperson for the militia warned of a "third sex" and the "feminization" of Iraqi men. The terrorism takes the form of kidnappings off the street and even from homes of suspected homosexuals. The victims are tortured until they reveal the names of other Iraqi gay men and are then murdered. Gay sex is not a crime under Iraqi law, but it appears that "Islamic law" is what many militia leaders consider the governing law of the country. Killing homosexuals is considered an "honor killing," much like a father murdering a "socially disgraced" daughter, which means that the penalties under Iraqi law for such crimes is reportedly mitigated under a provision enacted during Saddam Hussein's reign.

President Obama will sign a memorandum today to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. This according to The New York Times, which is also reporting that Obama will stop short of pledging full health insurance coverage. The reason? Broad coverage "could require legislation." Under mounting pressure from gay rights leaders and the community at large, this is a small gesture of goodwill, but according to Richard Socarides, a former Clinton administration adviser, "more important now is what he says tomorrow about the future for gay people during his presidency." Several states have legalized same-sex marriage in recent months, but the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" debate seems bogged down by the reluctance of both the U.S. Military and the president to take action. And a Department of Justice legal brief defending Clinton's shameful Defense of Marriage Act was a slap in the face to voters who elected Obama under the assumption that he would keep his promise to repeal both DOMA and Don't Ask, Don't Tell. It's clear to me that Obama is playing a careful game of politics, and we certainly shouldn't begrudge his attempt to maintain his mainstream popularity, but the gay community deserves more than crumbs. Justice delayed is justice denied.

Yesterday, New Hampshire became the sixth state in the union to allow same-sex marriage. The new legislation, passed by the state House and Senate and signed by the governor, will take effect on January 1st, 2010. In celebration of each new victory and as a reminder of how far we still have to go, Big Queer has decided to start tallying the states that legalize gay marriage with our Big Queer Map.

States that allow gay marriage: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire.

Yesterday, Barack Obama issued a proclamation acknowledging Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month, something the previous president once refused to do. In Obama's statement, he once again committed to "achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans," acknowledged that the gay community "mobilized the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic," acknowledged himself for being "the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration" and for supporting the decriminalization of homosexuality around the world, and repeated his promises to expand hate crime legislation, ensuring adoption rights, ending the U.S. Military's inane "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, and supporting civil unions (but not equal marriage). To date, the Obama administration has failed to follow through with any of those commitments, nor has the president succeeded at undoing George W. Bush's 11th hour ban on all international visitors to the United States who are HIV positive, but we can hope that his proclamation is one small step toward fulfilling his campaign promises to our community. We can all help make this happen by speaking out, writing letters, and otherwise being vocal about what we expect from our government and its leaders.

Read President Obama's entire proclamation here.

If you're on Facebook or Twitter, you were no doubt inundated with pithy responses following yesterday's announcement that California's Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8. Some of my favorites: "California can suck it," "Shame on them!," "Fuck California," "SO over California," ":(," and my personal favorite, "Ha ha, California. Iowa is more liberal than you. Epic fail." It's that last one that seemed to make the most sense to me. Yes, this was another setback in the fight for marriage equality in the country's most populace state, and the court's logic that last November's referendum doesn't fundamentally alter equal rights under the state Constitution but simply amends it is flawed. The judgment creates a legal class of citizens (to say nothing of creating a special class of gay citizens who are allowed to remain married), denies equal protection, and plainly contradicts the language of the Constitution. But my friend's admittedly unemotional observation points to the fact that even if the people and legal system of California are still struggling with this no-brainer issue, Prop 8 and the subsequent fallout have created a wave of progress for gays and marriage equality in the U.S. The Northeast is where our founding fathers conceived and composed the nation's Constitution and Bill of Rights, and it's now where real progress is being made on this front, with older and wiser states Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine having all recognized gay marriage, and New York and New Hampshire close behind. It won't be California, that bastion of so-called liberalism, that's going to pave the way.

A nine-year-old in Denver, Colorado has become an unlikely posterchild (literally) for marriage equality. Ethan McNamee of Montclair Elementary School organized a rally in support of same-sex marriage at his school reportedly after hearing slurs on the playground. There's an unmarried gay couple in his neighborhood as well, which led to McNamee's desire to speak out on the issue. Controversy over whether the third-grader is being used by his parents or teachers as a mouthpiece for a mature debate is inevitable, but it's evident from news report footage that McNamee is confident in what he believes and is wise beyond his mere nine years. We see a lot more activism in his future!

On the same day that yet another New England state, New Hampshire, inched closer to allowing same-sex marriage, a representative from another state, North Carolina, reminded us of the ugly bigotry that still pervades our great country. Rep. Virgina Foxx took to the floor of the House of Representatives during a debate on the expansion of hate crimes legislation and said the following: "The hate crimes bill that's called the Matthew Shepard bill is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed, but we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay. This--the bill was named for him, hate crimes bill was named for him, but it's really a hoax that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills." Not only were her statements patently untrue, and not only was her use of the term "we" a glaring reminder of how and why the Republican brand has become synonymous with intolerance and ill-conceived rhetoric, but Foxx performed her obscene, cruel and pathetically out-of-touch diatribe in front Shepard's mother, Judy Shepard. The perpetrators of the "very unfortunate incident" of Shepard's brutal murder admitted that they killed the gay 21-year-old in 1998 because he was homosexual, and for that they were sentenced to life in prison without parole. As Salon's Joan Walsh said on Hardball with Chris Matthews last night: It's Rep. Foxx that's the hoax.

Sometimes it's impossible to satirize something that is as inherently ridiculous as the National Organization for Marriage's anti-gay marriage ad, which warns of the dangers of gay marriage supporters who wish to take things "further," and promotes a "rainbow coalition" that wishes to protect the sacred institution of marriage...

...but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't try! And Stephen Colbert certainly did. Check out his scathing parody of the ad:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Colbert Coalition's Anti-Gay Marriage Ad
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

With New York governor David Paterson announcing a bill to legalize gay marriage in his state this week, and former John McCain strategist Steve Schmidt planning to deliver a pro-gay marriage address to Log Cabin Republicans, the storm isn't just coming. It's here.

The recent moves by Iowa's Supreme Court and Vermont's legislature to allow same-sex unions sparked an acquaintance of mine to post the following Facebook status: "[I have] no feelings on the spate of gay marriage developments. It is an issue of luxury salient only for an exercise in rhetorical flourish." For him, marriage is some distant frontier, less prescient than the health care crisis, the economy, and the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit discrimination of employees based on sexual orientation. But while he prefers not to celebrate what is, for him, simply an abstraction (the issues of hospital visitation, inheritance, and the various other rights enjoyed by legally married couples seemed lost on him), the recent moves by Iowa and Vermont, the first state to pass legislation legalizing same-sex unions, symbolize two steps forward in the fight for civil rights following the crushing blow of the passage of Proposition 8 in California last fall. The recent developments have renewed the debate in the Golden State. Gay marriage supporters are hoping the Iowa Supreme Court's ruling will set a prescedent that might lead to the California courts overruling the ballot initiative that passed with 52 percent with overwhelming support of the Mormon Church last November. The California Supreme Court's decision to legalize gay marriage last May led to the passage of Prop 8 and was also cited by the Iowa court in their recent decision. States may be sovereign, but the recent developments prove that what happens in one state can, and does, affect the entire nation. And of course, the oppression of one group is the oppression of all.