New anti-gay ad in Maine is exact copy of California Prop. 8 ad.

Wow. Frank Schubert, the consultant who did the Yes on Prop. 8 campaign, isn't even trying in Maine. He's just recycling his Prop. 8 ads for the campaign in Maine. I know high paid consultants often do this, but at least they give the impression of trying something new.

Here's the newest ad from the haters in Maine:



And, here's the ad from last fall in California:



They didn't even change the words except to substitute "Question 1" for "Proposition 8."

And, via Jeremy Hooper, we learn that the teacher in the Maine ad, Charla Bansley isn't a public school teacher. No, she teaches at a private Christian School called the Calvary Chapel Christian School, but her school is identified in the ad. And, she's an anti-gay activist and the leader of the Maine Chapter of Concerned Women of America (CWA), which is a hard-core homophobic organization. She's also a teabagger. (warning: That link is to CWA.org) She's really obsessed with all things gay.

Schubert thinks he has a winning formula. But, that only works if our side doesn't respond and the people of Maine fall for his lies. That's not going to happen. Also, not to be overlooked, a lot of Mainers get their news from the Boston media market and have had five years to get used to marriage in Massachusetts. Same-sex marriage is not an alien and scary concept to people in the state. Also, a lot of Mainers closely followed the horrific Catholic Church abuse scandal in Boston, which is why the Catholic Bishop of Maine doesn't have that much influence.

So, if this pisses you off, donate to the No on 1/Protect Maine Equality here. We need the resources to defeat Frank Schubert's lies. Read More...

Your daily dose of crazy Mormon bigot

I understand that being an activist bigot isn't in your DNA either. Read More...

Census releases data on gay couples, reportedly for first time ever

If it really is the first time, then this is great news. It doesn't, however, make up for the President's reticence to follow through on his major promises to our community - e.g., repealing DOMA and DADT, passing ENDA, ending the HIV travel ban. I got an email from a reader who thought this makes up for all of that. It does not. It's good, and it's a good step in the right direction. But it's a half-step. And we're beyond piecemeal advances that don't really better the daily lives of gay Americans. Our time has come, we helped put Democrats in charge of the entire government. And we expected promises made to be promises kept. If not now, when? Read More...

Sailor who committed anti-gay abuse just got promoted. Sailor he abused was kicked out under DADT.

In the Bush administration this would have been expected. Under the Obama administration, gay sailor should have his job back and the straight sailor should have been investigated a long time ago, not promoted. From the Palm Center:

Representative Joe Sestak has written a letter to the Secretary of the Navy requesting an inquiry into the promotion of a Chief Petty Officer who oversaw and participated in a two-year train of abuses against a gay sailor and other members of his unit. The letter, which is being reported today by the Associated Press, asks the Navy to provide “any information relevant to the assault and battery of Petty Officer Third Class Joseph Rocha and the promotion of Chief Petty Officer Michael Toussaint to the rank of Senior Chief.” Prior to his Congressional Service, Rep. Sestak served as an admiral in the U.S. Navy.

Petty Officer Rocha was brutalized for more than two years at his base in Bahrain after unit mates suspected he is gay. According to official military documents, Navy officials were fully aware of the role of Senior Chief Toussaint in perpetrating the violence. But they decided to promote him anyway. The abuse included hog-tying Rocha to a chair and pushing him, while bound, into a dog kennel full of feces, as well as humiliating him by repeatedly forcing him to simulate oral sex with another man while on video. Rocha was also pummeled repeatedly while forcibly bent over a desk. Toussaint was implicated in other incidents as well, including handcuffing a sailor to a bed and forcing her to simulate lesbian sex with another woman, also while on video. One of the women later committed suicide.

Sestak has been very active on gay issues, and has a petition up urging Speaker Pelosi to bring the Respect for Marriage Act, repealing DOMA, up for a vote. Read More...

Larry Kramer on Obama and gay rights

LARRY KRAMER'S REMARKS AT DALLAS GAY PRIDE CELEBRATION, SUNDAY, SEPT. 20, 2009

We must never forget that everything we have won can very quickly be taken away from us. We have seen this time and again. Presidents come and go ignoring us. This president is no different. Once again he is not doing it for us and once again we are letting him get away with it. This President is another loser for us and I predict he will remain this way.

We must remember that we do not have the freedom to marry, to inherit, to adopt, to share our health insurance, to learn about our history in our schools. To learn that our two greatest presidents, Washington and Lincoln were gay. We do not have the freedom to live as straight people have the freedom to live. We do not have the freedom to have our bars not raided by police and officers beating us up with such fury that we land in hospitals.

We have not learned to fight back with the same fury with which they fight us. You do not get more with honey than with vinegar. There are over one thousand benefits from our government that straight couples get that we are denied. This is not freedom. This is not equality. America's Bill of Rights says we are meant to be equal.

You must know, we must never forget, that every single treatment for hiv/aids is out there because of gay aids activists, led by ACT UP chapters across the country and Project Inform in San Francisco. They did not come from the government. They came because gay people fought like tigers and screaming banshees to get the system that hates us deliver them to us. If you want to read how we did it get my book The Tragedy of Today's Gays. This achievement, the obtaining of these drugs, I believe to be the single greatest achievement gay people have accomplished in all of history and we must be remembered for it.

The lesson should be clear. The lesson should be obvious. It should show us what we are capable of achieving when we put our minds and hearts and brains and bodies together and work together all together as brothers and sisters and one big family. There is not one person here today who is not capable of being such an activist.

We get what we fight for. And we are not fighting. Every single one of us is not fighting. They fight better than we do. There is a concerted and never ending vein of hate in this country and in this world dedicated to keeping us in our place. It is evil to force people to be what we are not -- free. We are not free.

I love being gay

I love gay people.

How can I say this without offending everyone else, I think we're better than other people.

I think we are smarter.

I think we are more talented.

I think we are more aware.

I think we make better friends.

I think we make better lovers.

I think we're more tuned in to what's happening, tuned into the moment, tuned into our emotions, and other people's emotions.

Yes, I think that gay people are better than other people.

I think the only thing we are not so good at is fighting back.

I hear talk of the new generation of gays and the old generation of gays, and how different we are. That is not true. We are all one generation. We are all related. We are all each other's brothers and sisters. We are all one family, the gay family.

And I passionately and desperately want all my brothers and sisters to stay alive and well and on this earth, with total equality with every straight person.

Being gay is the most important thing in my life.

I love being gay. I hope you do, too.

Read More...

Maine's Leading anti-gay activist quit today

Mike Heath, the leader of the Maine Christian Civic League, announced his resignation today. Interesting timing. Right in the middle of the biggest anti-gay campaign in Maine history:

The long-time leader of the Christian Civic League of Maine has resigned. Mike Heath, 48, announced today that he's stepping down after 15 years at the helm of the conservative organization.

The League's board accepted Heath's resignation yesterday at a meeting in Augusta, but no reason was given for the move.

Pam, who has tracked Heath's career for years, has more.

And, Jeremy Hooper, who has also kept a close watch on Heath, weighs in with this:

Makes us wonder if there's more there to this. Was Mike pressured to get out of the way in order to help the "official" anti-equality campaign? Was he fed up with the way he was treated by the organized "Yes on 1" folks (which was pretty sh*tty, considering how much he's been a part of the marriage "fight" for over almost two decades)? Or was he really just ready to leave the makings-gays-feel-like-rats race behind?

There's always more to it when no reason is given, especially during such a high-profile time for the anti-gay forces. And, it seems like there's always a lot of drama with the haters. Read More...

Atlanta police reeling from harassment complaints

More on the raid:

Garrett McLendon’s dad was a cop, but the Cobb County man admits he’s looking at police in a little different light these days. Being force to lie facedown amid broken glass on a barroom floor for an hour while being taunted, insulted and threatened tends to have that effect on a guy.

McLendon was among the 62 patrons at Midtown’s Atlanta Eagle gay bar on Sept. 10, the night of a now-notorious commando-style raid by a dozen members of the police department’s Red Dog squad — which usually combats gang activity — and nine undercover members of the APD’s intelligence and organized crime unit.

“Nothing was ever explained to us by the officers,” McLendon recalls. “When I asked if I could move away from the broken glass, I was told, ‘Shut the fuck up or you’ll be handcuffed.’ The police were laughing and joking while we were lying there and at different times, I heard them say, ‘You people make me sick’ and ‘I hate fags.’ One of them said, ‘This is fun; we should do this every week.’”

Read More...

Obama may be in SF golfing on day of gay march in DC

Via Petrelis. Read More...