Former RNC chair Ken Mehlman comes out as gay

Holy cow. And good for him. More of my thoughts on this over at AMERICAblog Gay. Read More......

Send 'Why We Can't Wait' to the White House

Digby quotes this from Rick Perlstein's Facebook page:

White House announces frustration at gays for demanding full marriage equality. My idea: send the White House thousands of copies--tens of thousands of copies?--of "Why We Can't Wait" by Martin Luther King. I've just gone to Amazon and done so. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington D.C., 20500. I just went to Alibris.com and sent a $.99 copy. You should, too, and spread the word.

Action opportunity — It's cheap, easy, and you can do it now. The alibris link to the book is here. The address of the White House is bolded above. Just click it.

UPDATE: Amazon link here.

UPDATE 2: The lowest cost Amazon edition (at the moment) is $2.00 used, got by clicking the "Mass Market Paperback" link on the main Amazon page in the original Update above. (Thanks to BeccaM in the comments.)

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The day that Jed Bartlett took on Dr. Laura

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More on Dr. Laura's professional demise

The NYT reminds us of an important point. At her peak, Dr. Laura was only second to Limbaugh.

In her three decades on the radio, Dr. Schlessinger’s popular show — at its peak it was the second highest-rated radio show after The Rush Limbaugh Show — has come under fire from rights groups a number of times. In 2000, a coalition of gay activists launched a Web site, StopDrLaura.com, and organized protests and boycotts across the United States and Canada in response to her comments about homosexuality, which she referred to as a “biological error.” They were also angered by her outspoken stance against adoption by same-sex couples, and remarks in which she said that a “a huge portion of the male homosexual populace is predatory on young boys.”

Dr. Schlessinger apologized for many of her comments, but many of her advertisers left her radio show, and a television show she started in 2000 was ended a year later. On the Web site StopDrLaura.com Tuesday night, a headline at the top of the home page declared, “We Stopped Dr Laura.”

StopDrLaura.com was a campaign I started with a few friends. (You can skip the summary of the campaign, and go straight to the old StopDrLaura.com Web site here.) Read More......

Crazy Coulter dropped from crazy right-wing conference after accepting invite to speak at crazy right-wing gays' conference

It's all so... Read More......

White House apparently not very happy with Professional gay Democrats either

It's not entirely clear why the White House thinks all of these on-the-record whine fests are a good idea. Read More......

A pill to cure the gay?

Weird. From the LA Times:

Each year in the United States, perhaps a few dozen pregnant women learn they are carrying a fetus at risk for a rare disorder known as congenital adrenal hyperplasia. The condition causes an accumulation of male hormones and can, in females, lead to genitals so masculinized that it can be difficult at birth to determine the baby's gender.

A hormonal treatment to prevent ambiguous genitalia can now be offered to women who may be carrying such infants. It's not without health risks, but to its critics those are of small consequence compared with this notable side effect: The treatment might reduce the likelihood that a female with the condition will be homosexual. Further, it seems to increase the chances that she will have what are considered more feminine behavioral traits.

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More on MN Forward, Target & Best Buy

An alert reader sent us this link as follow-up to our own coverage of anti-gay Republican Tom Emmer and MN Forward, the infinite-money PAC set up to test corporate giving in the post-Citizens United world.

It's a terrific explanation of why corporate giving to troglodytes like Emmer is fundamentally (and dangerously) different than all the other ways corporations can insert money to clog the populist drain.

Carey Alexander at The Consumerist:

[Corporate] PACs were the vehicle corporations used to spend money on elections, which sounds an awful like what is happening now, but isn't. The difference is in the funding. Corporations weren't allowed to donate directly from their corporate treasury to PACs. Instead, the corporation's employees needed to donate money to the PAC as individuals. That meant a few thousand dollars from the CEO and the other board members, and anyone else who trusted the corporation to represent its interests. The PAC was limited by whatever money it could collect—that Target had millions in its corporate treasury meant nothing if they could only collect thousands from their employees. From those limited funds, the PAC could then donate to candidates and make independent expenditures.

The Supreme Court didn't like this system one bit and tossed it out in a case called Citizen's United. The reasoning . . . boils down to this: corporations, like people, have a right to speech, and because money is speech, limitations on corporate spending are unconstitutional. As a result, corporations are now free to promote their views by making unlimited independent contributions that flow directly from their corporate treasuries.

So now, [Target CEO Gregg] Steinhafel's ability to spend isn't limited by his ability to collect contributions from his individual employees. Instead, as the CEO of Target, he can use his corporation's treasury to spend as much corporate money as he wants to support whoever or whatever he wants. That's how Best Buy and Target were able to give $250,000 from their corporate treasuries to a group with a shadowy name that supports anti-gay bigots.

The article also contains an excellent discussion of what's wrong with corporations "expressing their views," and also why corp spending like this inevitably supports the most backward-looking fellows among us.

About boycotts — Keep in mind that if money is speech, your money is speech as well. So is your neighbor's. Buy at Target, get a talking-to is a rule you can apply anywhere you're standing. (And don't forget Best Buy.)

MoveOn is organizing a boycott — you can join it here. They also suggest selling the stock of early-testers of the Citizens United decision, such as Target and Best Buy. Target stock has fallen recently in the wake of the Emmer story. Our Betters are getting careless; shining a light is not a bad tactic at all.

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Best counter-protests of the anti-gays ever

More here. Read More......

Follow-up to Target and MN Forward story

As a follow-up our earlier piece about Target and MN Backward MN Forward using the Citizens United decision to fund hard-right Minnesotan Tom Emmer in the governer's race, we have these updates.

1. From Steve Perry at Politics in Minnesota, an item from their most recent subscription newsletter, Politics in Minnesota: The Weekly Report (no link, emphasis mine):

Boom times for MN Forward: The new corporate campaign spending vehicle raised about $460,000 by the July 6 preliminary report deadline. Since then it has more than doubled its receipts, which now total $1.1 million. And according to 24-hour reports filed with the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board (CFPD), $320,000 of that sum has come in since Monday of last week. . . . So far, MN Forward has spent $195,000 on TV ads backing Republican Tom Emmer. . . .

Target blowback: Target Corp. has taken heat from employees and consumers since the public disclosure of its role as a founding funder of MN Forward. But so far the negative publicity hasn't extended any further. Another prominent Minnesota retailer, Best Buy, has drawn little public attention.

The Best Buy info is new. Elsewhere in the report we learn that Emmer seems to be getting a ton of hidden help:

Republican Tom Emmer has yet to spend his first dime on TV, yet by mid-July he had been the subject of about $900,000 worth of television spots by third-party groups.

2. About the TPM report that MN Backward MN Forward was going to give to Dems as well, I'm not sure this will happen, though Target execs might have done so. A public show of atonement, says my corporate-cynical self; must control appearances — can't lose sales.

3. About "pharmacy conscience" as one of Emmer's "beliefs" — it seems Target has similar corporate views. Here's Wikipedia, sourced from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 11, 2005:

In 2005, Planned Parenthood protested Target policy involving a conscience clause that allows pharmacists to refuse to dispense the emergency contraceptive, Plan B Levonorgestrel, based on religious beliefs, as long as the employee ensures that the prescription is filled by another pharmacist in a timely manner. . . . [C]ritics feel this policy fails to uphold the pharmacist's duty of care.

Anti-woman as well. Our thanks to an alert Minnesota reader for the tip.

Bottom line — it seems there are three entwined issues here, all of which are easily acted on:

Tom Emmer. A real throwback, and the Republican candidate for governor. His defeat is doable, but progressives need to put shoulder to wheel in an off-year election. In 2002, Repub Pawlenty defeated DFL Roger Moe 44%–36%, with former Dem Tim Penny taking 16% as a third-party candidate. In 2006, Pawlenty won again, but by less than 1% in another race with a spoiler third-party candidate.

This time, both DFL primary candidates lead Emmer by 5%. Not a walkaway, but not razor-thin. With effort, he can be beaten.

Target. They're singing their corporate song: "Please love us, Mr and Ms Gay Person, we've always loved you, and that Emmer stuff, well, someone goofed, is all. Please?" Next will come the commercials with real humans pretending to be caring Target faces, along with an MN Forward–induced PR campaign about (gasp) jobs, and the march is on to "forgive" them.

But remember — there's a history here. Anti-woman in 2005, anti-gay today, and implicitly pro–faux-religion (or whatever you call it when well-funded revenge freaks claim to speak for God). Don't let the repair-ads and implied threat of job-loss throw you. Join and support the boycotts.

MN Forward. This case remains a major test of the Citizens United waters, with Target and Best Buy (don't forget them) major early testees; and it's not over. I guarantee that nationally, RW corps are using Minnesota to figure out how to make Citizens United work without triggering a back-lash. My suggestion: lash back, hard and now.

By the way, the Politics in Minnesota website is a great place to start if you want to get info about Minnesota elections and campaign financing.

Sorry for the length, but this is both important and not simple, so I wanted to bottom-line it as well as give the data.

GP Read More......

Countdown: Target moves into Mr Robert's neighborhood

Mr. Robert's neighborhood just got a new resident. The store chain Target (Targét as was) decided to flex its corporate muscle by throwing $150,000 at the 2010 Minnesota race, via the ironically named "MN Forward", a creature of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce (h/t Steve Perry).

MN Forward is a big supporter of Republican Tom Emmer in the governor's race. Keith Olbermann has the story. (I'm not sure why this segment is only available on YouTube, but the Countdown site appears not to have it.)



Target hits all the ... targets ... with this little bon-bon. A rich chocolate coating of Citizens United, testing just how to control elections with corp funding; with a tangy anti-gay crunch hidden in the middle.

Emmer is also anti-tax, anti-union, anti-minimum wage, anti-abortion, anti-contraception, pro-"pharmacy conscience" . . . and pro-"more rights for DUI arrestees" (yep, he's got two convictions for DUI-related offenses). A real forward-looking guy for MN Forward* to support.

What's Target's defense? As quoted in the show, they only "seek to advance policies in line with our business objectives." (They might as well have said: "Don't blame me; I only want money.")

Quoting pro-gay activist Randi Reitan, "My son is gay, and I love him more than anything I could buy at Target." Thank you for saying it out loud, Ms. Reitan — in the world of actual humans, it's people before things, always.

Note what Christina Bellantoni says, that MN Forward is spooked by the negative publicity. Action, folks.

Action opportunity: Both major DFL party candidates are running 40% to Emmer's 35% in the latest Rasmussen poll. Those candidates are former Senator Mark Dayton and state House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher — and the primary is set for August 10. If you're a Minnesotan, pick one and vote; and then get active in the general election. Emmer's a real troglodyte.

GP

*MN Forward — A prime example of the 180 Tell (whatever they say about themselves is always 180-degrees wrong). If the group were correctly named, they'd be "MN Backward". Read More......

Beautiful vintage gay photos

This site has collected a ton of old gay photos (and some that might just be friendly foreigners, hard to say). They're very cool. (H/t to GayTwogether.com, some of the pics come from there as well.)



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GOP Senator Ensign, under criminal investigation over affair with staffer, may try to block DADT repeal

Ensign, who is facing a criminal investigation over an affair he had with a staffer, is opposed to passing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" compromise because he thinks it "repeals" DADT before the military's study is done. He's a bit of an idiot in addition to a philanderer. The legislation does not repeal DADT at all. It only permits DADT to be repealed once the study is done - the legislation says that, explicitly. So to oppose the legislation because somehow it would repeal DADT before the study is done, when the legislation specifically says the study has to happen first, makes Ensign either a liar, or an idiot. More from Joe over at AMERICAblog Gay. Read More......

Gays now apparently pose a threat to 'spooning' in the military

Anyone else think that the Family Research Concil's Tony Perkins, who brings new meaning to the phrase "straight-acting," spends just a bit too much time thinking about gay sex? Now he's afraid that gays threaten "spooning" in the military. I don't know whether Tony has ever served in the military, but I've got news for him, if soldiers refused to "spoon" with guys they had questions about, the ever-fey Tony would be at the top of the no-spooning list.

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GetEQUAL protests at Capitol for vote on ENDA: Pelosi told us to pressure her

Earlier today, activists from GetEQUAL staged another protest to push for LGBT legislation in Congress. Today, the focus was on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the venue was the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol today.

Last week, GetEQUAL published a list of timeline of broken promises from a myriad of elected officials promising votes on ENDA. To date, there have been no votes and, as far as we can tell, none are planned.

A press release from GetEQUAL's provided context for the protest:

"We know that Speaker Pelosi has the political prowess and the political bandwidth to take on ENDA while the Senate is shepherding 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' through the legislative process," said Robin McGehee, co-founder of GetEQUAL. "We are pressuring Speaker Pelosi to move on ENDA because, while we know that she values the legislation, we have yet to see her show the leadership she's promised in taking ENDA out of committee and moving it through the House."

"We are following her advice to 'make her do it,' and to ensure that she and the rest of the House see that people's lives and livelihoods are on the line here," said Heather Cronk, managing director of GetEQUAL. "As we head into the August recess, we will take the energy of today's Rotunda action out into the states, and look forward to building popular support for the legislation in coalition with other LGBT organizations. We will concentrate on the districts where Representatives and Senators have not yet found the courage to step forward to support ENDA -- both Republicans and Democrats."

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual employees can be fired from their jobs in 29 states, and transgender or gender-nonconforming employees can be fired in 38 states. (My emphasis)

On Saturday at Netroots Nation, Speaker Pelosi repeatedly told progressive activists to "make her" pass progressive legislation like ENDA, comprehensive immigration reform, and a comprehensive climate change bill. GetEQUAL activists took up that challenge and today's action builds on prior actions that GetEQUAL has organized or co-organized, including sit-ins in Speaker Pelosi's offices in March of this year, a shut-down of the Las Vegas Strip last week targeting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and several rallies at Speaker Pelosi's district office in San Francisco, including one yesterday.

And, some photos from the protest courtesy of Ian Goldin/GetEQUAL.

The protest:

The arrests:
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The President is on 'The View' this week with that lesbian expert Elizabeth Hasselbeck

Yes, Obama is taping "The View" later today. We learned this week that one of the show's hosts, Elizabeth Hasselbeck, is an expert on lesbians. Who knew?:

This is actually very embarrassing.

But, "The View" has established its gay bona fides, perhaps the hosts could get Obama to explain his current positions on LGBT issues, particularly why he continues to defend DOMA and DADT in the courts. After all, Obama has said both laws are discriminatory. Since the President, as President, has never talked to LGBT media, maybe "The View" hosts can fill in. Read More......

The anti-gay agenda exposed in Indianapolis

You know how the religious rights and their minions in the GOP are always squawking about the secret homosexual agenda? (Would that our side was organized enough to have an agenda.) We've been wondering what the true goal of the gay haters is. We've had our suspicions, but they're crafty, those haters. But, now we know. See, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is conducting a bus tour of hate this summer. It's been a bust with low turnout at every stop. The Courage Campaign has been tracking and documenting this tour.

Yesterday, the NOM hate bus pulled into Indianapolis. And, that's where the agenda was exposed by Bilerico's Bil Browning:

Now, we know. They want to kill us. Gay marriage = death.

NOM's Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown preach a message of hate against LGBT Americans, as do so many of their colleagues in the theocratic right-wing. They want people to think LGBTs are not equal. They want people to think LGBTs are lesser humans. They shouldn't be surprised when their followers come up with solutions like the one in the photo above. That's the path NOM is leading its followers down. Read More......

Kathy Griffin's confusing comments on Dan Choi

I don't have any idea what to make of this Kathy Griffin comment — either in the context of her beliefs about gays, or the context of her career. Here’s the clip; she's talking with Joy Behar on The Joy Behar Show (h/t Lisa Derrick):



The first part of her remarks just don't match the second, which are admittedly very positive. But given this opening:

He was honorably discharged? I don’t know what that means, because to me if he was discharged for being gay, then I don’t know how honorable that is.

— what can she then say that spins this into a positive? The second half of her answer seems to just ignore what she said in the first part.

As to the implications for her career, I don't know much about Kathy Griffin. She came into my life one New Years' Eve alongside Anderson Cooper — the Night of the Snappy Comeback — and left it when they cut to commercial.

So I only suspect I understand who her audience is. But if what I suspect is true, didn't she just diss a good chunk of them who pays her bills?

Again, not judging; just confused.

To add to the Griffin–Choi madness, there's this from the Wash Post — a profile of Griffin that includes a scene of her filming outside the White House just as Dan Choi and Co. started chaining themselves to the fence:

At the rally, Griffin is approached by Dan Choi, a gay Army officer and radical opponent to DADT, who asks her if he can come up onstage with her. Once there, he takes the microphone and implores the crowd to walk with him a few blocks to the White House.

"I am in uniform, I am still fighting, I am still speaking out, I am still serving, and I am still gay," Choi declares. "Will you all here join me? Kathy will you go with me?" he asks Griffin, whose face freezes in PR horror.

Griffin answers yes, but she means no. She chooses to stay behind and deliver the crowd a text message she says has just been sent from Cher, which she dangles before everyone like it's gay catnip. Choi marches over to the White House, where he and another soldier handcuff themselves to the Pennsylvania Avenue fence and are promptly arrested.

It looks like the Post has it in for her in the article, so who knows what's going on?

But definitely a puzzle, all this. Is Griffin's material really just a shtick, and not much more? I guess I'm not the one to say.

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When anti-gay bigots meet superheroes, hilarity ensues

Fred Phelps at Comic-Con. Read More......

Judy Woodruff looks at why there's a lack of enthusiasm among Dems.

This is definitely worth watching. Excellent analysis featuring Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Kerry Eleveld from The Advocate. The video is here, too.

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