Barack Obama and Joe Biden have unveiled their plan to strengthen civil rights, including support for the LGBT community. According to the Office of the President-elect, Obama plans to expand hate crimes statutes, and though there's no specific details about what the new administration will do on that front moving forward, Obama's record as an Illinois State senator is clear: He helped expand hate-crime legislation in the state. He also supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and believes that there should be a federal legal remedy to discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace.
While both Obama and Vice President-elect Biden do not support redefining "marriage," they do support full civil unions with all of the federal rights afforded to straight married couples. Separate but equal, some might say, but a step in the right direction. Obama opposed Proposition 8 in California, wants to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, is against a Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, and wants to expand adoption rights.
In an effort to avoid the mistakes made by President Bill Clinton in the early '90s, Obama aims to repeal the U.S Military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy by working with military leaders on the issue. The next president also plans to promote AIDS prevention by implementing more than just an abstinence-first agenda, using common-sense approaches to contraception and even supporting more taboo issues like contraception education in the prison system and lifting the federal ban on needle exchange.
Now here's where I start preaching. It's nice to have a progressive voice in the Oval Office, but it our responsibility to hold Obama and Biden accountable and make sure they live up to their promises, particularly on these issues. For more information, check out the official Office of the President-elect transition website.
Keith Olbermann is known for his outspoken, often angry rants on everything from the Iraq War to Sarah Palin's alleged shopping sprees, but earlier this week he struck a more saddened tone when he spoke about the passage of Proposition 8 in California last week. His "Special Comment" on the issue is currently the most viewed video on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann website:
The election of Barack Obama, who included the phrase "gay and straight" in his acceptance speech on Tuesday night, is a cause for celebration in the LGBT community, as the next president likely won't be writing us out of the Constitution anytime soon. But this week was also marked by several ballot initiatives that impinge the progress gays and lesbians have seen in regard to marriage and family. Despite a state Supreme Court ruling that granted same-sex couples the right to marry and opposition by Obama and Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger, California voters passed Proposition 8, which amends the state constitution by defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. A staggering $74 million was spent on the proposition, including millions raised by the Mormon Church. Prop 8 wasn't the only dark cloud hanging over Obama's victory: Amendments banning same-sex marriage were also passed in neighboring state Arizona as well as Florida. The Sunshine State already prohibits gays from adopting children and now Arkansas can be added to that list. The state passed an initiative prohibiting unmarried couples from adopting or fostering children, a victory for religious fundamentalists and homophobes but a loss for gay couples that want to start a family. The biggest losers however, are the children currently living in the state's dismal foster care system. If you live in California, Arkansas, Arizona or Florida, you can take action by contacting your local representative.
We have to question the taste level of anyone who picks a place called Beefalo Bob's (and whose mascot is a cow dressed up in a cowboy hat) to cater his or her wedding reception, but it turns out that the Baltimore, Maryland company might be even more judgmental than we are!
Laura and Leah, friends of Big Queer who were set up on a blind date by Leah's sister after Laura answered a furniture ad in the local paper three years ago, hired Beefalo Bob's to cater their reception in September. The company allegedly told the couple that they were fine with serving a same-sex "commitment ceremony" but refused to cater the event if Laura and Leah pursued a legal marriage in California. Their reason? According to Laura, Beefalo Bob's doesn't want to participate in any "politically-charged" or "unlawful" practices. Funny, we thought the role of a caterer was to bring the food, serve it and keep their mouths shut, and the last thing Laura and Leah want to do is politicize such an important personal moment in their lives. The pair withdrew their contract and got their deposit back.
" I think it's wrong for the government to discriminate against people because of that person's sexual orientation. I think that gay men and women ought to have the same rights as heteroseuxal men and women... to join together in marriage"
"I don't understand why it is considered by some people to be a threat to heterosexual marriage to allow it by gays and lesbians? Shouldn't we be promoting the kind of faithfulness and loyalty to one's partner regardless of sexual orientation?"
View the video above for more of the former Vice-President's comments on same-sex marriage rights.
If only the candidates for US president also believed in freedom and equality for ALL Americans . Oh wait, Dennis Kucinich does.
It's a sad day for freedom in the Free State. The Maryland Court of Appeals (the state's highest court) handed down a decision that upholds the current state law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman thereby rejecting a lawsuit by 19 queers who were fighting for the right to marry their same-sex partners. As this is the highest court in the state, the Court of Appeals decision is final and can not be appealed since it deals with the Maryland constitution.
The sadness is poignant and resonates with this writer who was born and raised in Maryland and whose great-grandparents settled in the state in pursuit of freedom from the institutionalized persecution they were subjected to in "the old country".
While Alanis Morissette may define irony as rain on your wedding day, I would propose that irony is actually being denied the freedom to marry in a state that's nickname is The Free State.
I had the good fortune this past week of attending the first U.S. Social Forum as an Artist Delegate. Based on the World Social Forum, the gathering is essentially the progressive movement's response to the World Economic Forum and a show of power that the future of the world is not going to be shaped only by the moneyed few determining world economic policies, but by society and its people determining the needs of society and its people.
On top of serving on some artsy-fartsy cultural panels, I of course put on my Big Mouth pants and headed over to observe some queer stuff including a workshop called "Sex, Queer Relationships, and Radical Politics." There was good stuff and bad. I want to focus on the good, so give me just a second to pump out the bile before getting down to business. In fact, to skip the bile, just don't read the following paragraph in brackets.
[So despite the awesome title of this panel and it's seemingly inherent promise of hard political discussion, this event turned into a really annoying, "I'm OK, you're OK" lovefest/group therapy session. "I'm polyamorous, but I get really jealous, what do I do?" and "How do I reconcile my lesbian identity when I'm dating two men named Joe?" You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. It was all I could do not to stand up and scream, "This isn't Oprah, mofos! THIS ISN'T OPRAH!!!"]
The election is over and seven more states have passed anti-marriage amendments. Some folks at the University of Kentucky's College of Education are seeking gay/lebian/bisexual or "same-sex identified individuals" for a brief study on marriage rights.
I hope that the $25 the study coordinators are offering isn't the real incentive for you but I felt obligated to inculude it in the posting since they are offering it. Get involved participate in the study
“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.”
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.
"I think if they want to get married, God bless them," Barkley said. "Gay marriage is probably 1 percent of the population, so it's not like it's going to be an epidemic. Hey, trust me, I'm never going to kiss you and say, 'Chris, you're sexy.'"
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