Oh my god - why are you reading this blog?

GO TO YOUR POLLING PLACE AND VOTE, YOU HOMO!

And if you already have, feel free to comment here and tell us about it.

Vote, vote, vote. Because Charlotte said so (unless you are a donut).

Click here.

I hear it all the time, "I never vote, because my vote doesn't really make a difference."

If you believe that in general, then fine: I won't try to fight you in general. I'll just fight you in regard to the 2006 mid-term elections.

The big problem with mid-term elections (the "term" referred to is the President's) is that when there's no President to vote for, even less people come to the polls. Who does come? The parties' bases. Most of the time, the parties are fine with that, because the Republicans and Democrats would be perfectly happy if things didn't change. Who wants a nasty swing voter or swing voting block to come in and ruin their congressional careers? No one.

This year, though, people do want a change, but if all of those centrist Americans don't come out, there'll be no change. 30% of Americas voters refer to themselves as conservatives, 20% refer to themselves as liberals, and 50% refer to themselves as moderates/independents. So, if you're one of the many disgruntled moderates/independents and you've been wanting a change, this is the election for you.

November 7 is next Tuesday. Mark your calendars! Look, even Josh Lucas wants you to vote, and you don't want to let Josh Lucas down, do you?

“The court is holding a legal gun to the head of the State Legislature, and saying, ‘Listen, there are two bullets, you get to pick the bullet: either gay marriage or civil unions,’ ” said Matt Daniels, president of Alliance for Marriage, an organization based in the Washington area that supports a federal Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. “And that is not democracy. That is court-imposed policy-making that takes this out of the hands of the people.”

- New Jersey Court Backs Full Rights for Gay Couples, New York Times, October 25, 2006

Silly, silly, Matt Daniels. Why do these people continually forget that protection of the few is as much a part of democracy as rule by the many? He sees our government working and believes that it's broken. It's like seeing Iraq and believing that a war between factions or regions of the same country is not civil war.

"Why Toronto?" you're probably asking. I mean, those articles are about as American as American politics can get. It's true that Canada isn't even mentioned in any of them, but do you know what they do mention?

God.

The Gay Marriage Ban failed to gain the 2/3 majority vote it required to pass on the floor of the U.S. Senate today (that's 66 Senators out of 100).

How did your Senators vote? Check out the roll call after the jump.

If your Senators voted Yea to the ban, I recommend that you write to them and let them know that you will not tolerate an elected official that would write bigotry and discrimination into the United States Constitution. I would especially do this if I was living in a Dirty Thirty state (which I'm not, but perhaps you are).

What's that? You've never written to your Senator and don't know how to do it? Trust me when I tell you that it is oh, so easy in the digital age. Just go to this page on the U.S. Senate website, select your state from the drop down menu, and click on the appropriate links to send your Senators a message. Hell, it's so easy, you might as well write a note of thanks if your Senator voted Nay (which I've just done).

2008 Presidential Campaign need a jump start? Throw some fags at it!

Senate seat in jeopardy? Throw some fags at it!

Poll numbers down? Throw some fags at it!

If you play politics under the sign of the elephant these days - whether a social liberal or social conservative - there seems to be only one solution toward ensuring your political future and that is turning your back on your gay, lesbian, and transgendered constituents and just throwing us and our rights back on the fire.

Republicans ranging from Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (who both "support" gay unions) to President George W. Bush and outgoing Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist have encouraged continuing discrimination against gay people in the increasingly desperate lead up to the 2006 midterm elections.

Pandas. Everyone one of them political, pandering pandas. As Big Mouth said previously, "Let's stop kidding ourselves that any Republican will support queer people with their actions in office instead of throwing us to their party when they need to shore up their base."

From Mitt Romney, I expect this whole sacrifice-the-queers behavior. And Bloomberg has always found economic prosperity and the almighty dollar (and its Republican allies) more imporant than social justice. Even John McCain, while appearing liberal in the press, has always voted conservatively in the Senate and even went all weird during the '04 election, so this Falwell business wasn't that surprising. But for all you hopeful folks out there who thought former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani really was the kind social heart inside the Republican money/spin machine (despite the way he censored artists and suppressed free speech during his time in office), get a load of this:

In a Southern Foray, Giuliani Helps a Friend but Skirts an Issue

He's a panda, they are pandas; wouldn't you like to be a panda, too?

It's a mid-term election year, and (so far) the tides seem to be in favor of the Democratic Party gaining some House seats with some challengers already leading Republican incumbents in the polls by double-digit numbers.

With all of the New York races that are going on this political season, however, it's a little hard for Big Mouth to take in the whole 2006 political landscape. So Big Queer readers, if you have any information or opinons from a queer POV about the races in your states, please comment on this post. This doesn't just mean information on marriage equality, immigration equality, transgender issues, or gay rights; please let us know where your states candidates stand on such queer issues as abortion, the seperation of church and state, and lobbyist reform. All of Big Queer's readers will thank you.