10/25/2010
Watch: Meg Whitman Endorses Jerry Brown for Governor
After hitting Meg Whitman hard for aping Schwarzenegger, Whitman gives Jerry Brown the biggest endorsement of his campaign.
Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...
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Posted 8:24 PM EST by Andy Towle in California, Jerry Brown, Meg Whitman, News | Permalink
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Gay Youth Activist Commits Suicide in Brooklyn
Joseph Jefferson, a 26-year-old gay rights activist based in Brooklyn, New York, committed suicide over the weekend.
Author Nathan James writes, on Facebook:
I've been working on the story of another sad ending to a promising young gay life this weekend. Joseph Jefferson, a 2002 graduate of Harvey Milk High School, POCC and GMAD worker, and assistant to LGBT event promoters Laurence Pinckney and James Saunders, died by suicide yesterday at the age of 26. Mr. Jefferson, whose Facebook page includes these words, written by him, could not bear the burden of living as a gay man of color in a world grown cold and hateful towards those of us who live and love differently than the so-called "social mainstream". Mr. Jefferson wrote:
"Belonging is one of the basic human needs, when people feel isolated and excluded from a sense of communion with others, they suffer. I have been an advocate for my peers and most importantly youth because most have never had a deep emotional attachment to anyone. They don’t know how to love and be loved in return. The need to be loved can sometimes translate to the need to belong to someone or something. Driven by that need….. Most will do anything to belong."
As an advocate for LGBT youth, Mr. Jefferson surely made a positive impact onb those he met and counseled. But this same nurturing and enrichment he offered to others, was absent in his own life to such a degree, that he felt the only way to deal with the pain of his existence was to end it.
Antoine Craigwell reports, on AlterNet: "Pinckney said that Saunders and GMAD are collaborating to hold an event: “Celebration of Life – Stop the Madness” at the LGBT Center on Friday, from 6 – 8pm, to raise funds to assist with Jefferson’s funeral expenses, during which those who are active in the community would speak about the crisis in the Black gay community."
Posted 7:45 PM EST by Andy Towle in Deaths, New York, News | Permalink
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Watch: IL Governor Pat Quinn's Glee-Inspired Campaign Ad
A bit of campaign ad brillance from Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. The latest polls show Quinn trailing Republican Bill Brady by between 4 and 10 points.
Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...
(via daily dish)
Continue reading "Watch: IL Governor Pat Quinn's Glee-Inspired Campaign Ad"
Posted 7:09 PM EST by Andy Towle in 2010 Election, Glee, Illinois, News, Pat Quinn | Permalink
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Anti-Gay Hate Groups Launch Bus Tour Targeting Pro-Equality Judges in Iowa
Last week I wrote a lengthy post on the new hate-a-palooza bus tour in Iowa, meant to drive up support for the campaign to oust state Supreme Court justices who approved marriage equality, and sponsored by a coalition of anti-gay hate groups like NOM and the AFA.
NOM's Brian Brown tweeted the photo above of the bus at its first stop, revved up and ready to hate.
At a Statehouse rally Monday to kick off a bus tour, gay marriage opponents pleaded their case for why voters on Nov. 2 should opt not to retain Chief Justice Marsha Ternus, and justices David Baker and Michael Streit. Iowa voters have never ousted a state Supreme Court justice.
"I can't overstate the significance of what is about to happen in Iowa," said Brian Brown, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Organization for Marriage. "The whole country is looking at you. This cannot be overstated."
At a counter rally about 100 yards away, organizers argued that anti-gay rights groups that have been spent more than $600,000 to oust the justices are only focused on the one issue and don't care about the damage they'll do to the state's judicial appointment process.
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"We are going to send a message all the way across America. These judges are rogue judges and they're arrogant," Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King told the crowd Monday, standing in front of a bus emblazoned with the justices faces with the word "No," superimposed on them.
The campaign is well-funded: "Thus far, the campaign to remove the justices has spent more than $650,000 and those who want to retain them have spent $227,000, much of it on television ads. The National Organization for Marriage has been the biggest spender, contributing $435,000 to efforts to remove the judges. About $100,000 has come from the AFA Action Inc., the political arm of the Mississippi-based American Family Association. The Campaign for Working Families, a Washington-based group, also spent $100,000, and the Washington-based Family Research Council added $18,000. The Iowa-based Iowa Family Policy Center has spent roughly $10,000."
The Courage Campaign, which is tracking the bus tour like they did NOM's previous hate-a-palooza tour, reports that the turn-out for the haters is already pathetic.
Another group, Fair Courts for Us, is holding a series of press conferences and events around the state meant to counter the Judge Bus' hateful message.
Watch its first press conference, held today in Des Moines (tomorrow in Sioux City, Carroll, and Mason City, AFTER THE JUMP...
Continue reading "Anti-Gay Hate Groups Launch Bus Tour Targeting Pro-Equality Judges in Iowa"
Posted 6:47 PM EST by Andy Towle in Gay Marriage, Iowa, News, NOM, Steve King | Permalink
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Log Cabin Republicans File Brief Opposing DOJ's Request for Stay of DADT Injunction
The Log Cabin Republicans have filed a set of briefs opposing the government's request for a stay of the injunction barring enforcement of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Says the brief, in part:
"With the injunction in place, nothing will change with regard to the composition of the military, the training, promotion, demotion, and deployment of servicemembers, the mission and operations of the armed forces, or anything else that pertains to the important governmental interest that the military serves. The evidence at trial showed that homosexual men and women already serve today; they are deployed to theaters of combat when needed – indeed, retained overall in greater numbers during times of combat – even if they are openly homosexual; it is their discharge, not their presence, that if anything impacts morale and good order."
Read the full LCR brief, below.
Said lead LCR attorney Dan Woods:
"We weren't surprised by the Ninth Circuit ruling granting the government a temporary stay, given the short amount of time the judges had to consider the case. Now that the Court has had additional time to study the case and when it has the opportunity to consider the opposition brief we have filed today, we are cautiously optimistic that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will deny the government's motion for a stay of the injunction because the government has not met the factors required for a stay pending appeal. The government's motion does not show that the government is likely to prevail on the merits of the appeal and does not even attempt to refute the fact that the constitutional rights of current and prospective gay and lesbian servicemembers will continue to be violated during any stay. It remains sad and disappointing that the government seeks to continue to enforce 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' by its motion for a stay pending appeal, even as the President has repeatedly said that the policy 'weakens' our national security and recently said in a 'tweet' that he basically agrees with Judge Phillips's decision."
MetroWeekly reports: "Additionally, Metro Weekly has learned that Servicemembers Legal Defense Network plans to file its own opposition before the court in the form of an amicus curiae, or friend of the court, brief. Amicus briefs commonly are filed by people and groups interested in the outcome of a case even though they are not a party to the case. Lambda Legal Education and Defense Fund also plans to file an amicus brief in the case, as does Servicemembers United. Other groups could file as well. After the LCR filing, the Ninth Circuit is free to rule on the stay issue at any time."
Lambda Legal filed a friend-of-the-court brief today as well:
"Lambda Legal's amicus brief argues that DADT takes a heavy toll on lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) service members, forcing them to live in constant fear of being discovered. But its influence extends far off American military bases: 'DADT is nothing short of a public pronouncement by the federal government that discrimination against LGB people is acceptable, that LGB people are inferior to heterosexual people, and that being lesbian, gay or bisexual is a shameful trait that ought to be concealed.' The brief also argues that DADT's discriminatory message is particularly damaging to lesbian, gay and bisexual youth, as exemplified by the surge of recently-reported teen suicides caused by antigay bullying. 'The government cannot plausibly claim that its actions are unrelated to such tragedies and abuses, so long as it remains the nation's leading model for open discrimination against LGB people.'"
LCR Opposition to Motion for Stay
Posted 6:21 PM EST by Andy Towle in Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Log Cabin Republicans, Military, News | Permalink
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HRC Sends Letter to Obama Saying DADT Must End This Year
Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese today sent a letter to President Obama regarding saying that it would be unacceptable for him to not use his authority as President to stop discharges of service members should we fail to succeed in legislative repeal this year.
Here's the letter:
Dear Mr. President:
Years from now, students of the movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality (LGBT) will no doubt see this fall as a pivotal period in the history of our struggle for fundamental fairness. In January, we were all inspired by your State of the Union pledge to end our nation’s discriminatory ban on open service by gays and lesbians. Equally inspiring was the testimony in support of repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law by the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. We have come so far, but the only true measure of success is whether the thousands of brave gay and lesbian Americans who are serving their country, and the many more who want to serve their country, can do so openly and honestly. We have not yet met that goal, and without your leadership and unparalleled efforts, this historic opportunity to remove a stain of discrimination from our nation will pass all of us by.
Last week, lawyers for your administration asked for an emergency stay from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, seeking to end a worldwide injunction of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law while they work to overturn a federal judge’s conclusion that this law – one that you have called discriminatory and contrary to our national security on many occasions – offends the protections of our Constitution. I continue to struggle with how your administration can defend a law you oppose, and how it could be even remotely constitutional for a statute to single out one group of brave Americans, because of who they are and who they love, and order them serve in silence and deception. How can our government have a duty to defend a statute that is clearly so contrary to our Constitution’s guarantee of equality for all?
More, AFTER THE JUMP...
Continue reading "HRC Sends Letter to Obama Saying DADT Must End This Year"
Posted 6:04 PM EST by Andy Towle in Barack Obama, Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Human Rights Campaign, Joe Solmonese, Military, News | Permalink
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