Is it homophobic for the White House to deny the 'charge' that Elena Kagan is gay?

It's an interesting question. Is it homophobic to get upset that someone calls you gay? And is it homophobic to call that label a 'charge'? Activist Paul Sousa says yes:

Gays demand White House apology for homophobic remarks
-- Advocates target White House officials Ben Labolt and Anita Dunn --

BOSTON, Mass. (April 16th, 2010) – CBS News recently republished a column claiming that possible Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is gay. White House officials Ben LaBolt and Anita Dunn responded to such "charges" swiftly and with blatant homophobia. Equal Rep, a grassroots organization that lobbies for the equal treatment and consideration of openly LGBT candidates, has organized a national petition campaign demanding those White House officials issue an apology.

Equal Rep is urging participants to sign the letter below and forward it to Brian Bond, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and LGBT Liaison:

"WHEREAS:

*A 2010 CBS news poll indicates that 40% of Americans would oppose a Supreme Court Justice who happens to be gay regardless of qualifications.

*Gay Americans have faced a history of invidious discrimination.

*An openly gay Supreme Court Justice has yet to be nominated or appointed in the entire history of the United States.

*106 of the past 111 Supreme Court Justices of the United States have been heterosexual, white men.

*White House officials responded swiftly and with blatant homophobia to the mere suggestion that candidate Elena Kagan might be gay -- Anita Dunn said: "The fact that they've chosen to become enablers of people posting lies on their site tells us where the journalistic standards of CBS are in 2010." Spokesman Ben LaBolt said the column "made false charges." "Charges" is an extremely loaded word that implies something very negative.

*Diversity characteristics, including one's sexual orientation, are and should be deemed positive factors in a candidate's nomination to the Supreme Court and not a negative characteristic as White House officials have strongly implied.

NOW, therefore I demand those White House officials apologize for their extremely insensitive and homophobic remarks and state that the White House does indeed view sexual orientation as a positive diversity characteristic. Further, that any and all qualified candidates for the Supreme Court who happen to be gay will indeed be considered."

For more information on Equal Rep, please visit www.equalrep.com

I'm not sure where I stand. It's interesting if you see what former White House official Anita Dunn said about this:

CBS initially refused to pull the posting, prompting Anita Dunn, a former White House communications director who is working with the administration on the high court vacancy, to say: "The fact that they've chosen to become enablers of people posting lies on their site tells us where the journalistic standards of CBS are in 2010." She said the network was giving a platform to a blogger "with a history of plagiarism" who was "applying old stereotypes to single women with successful careers."

And she has a point. There are old stereotypes about tough single women being labeled as lesbians. Read More...

Arkansas adoption ban, passed by voters, found unconstitutional

Some good news from Arkansas. Importantly, the judge was willing to overturn a public vote on because it was unconstitutional:

A circuit judge today stuck down Arkansas’ ban against unmarried couples adopting or foster-parenting children.

Act 1, passed by voters in 2008, unconstitutionally burdens non-marital relationships and acts of sexual intimacy between adults by forcing them to choose between becoming a parent and having any meaningful type of intimate relationship outside of marriage, Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled in a lawsuit challenging the law.

“It infringes upon the fundamental right to privacy guaranteed to all citizens of Arkansas,” the judge ruled in the lawsuit filed by the ACLU.

The ruling was based on the state constitution, not the U.S. constitution. Here's the Judge's decision:
Arkansas Judge's ruling on gay adoption ban Read More...

Mike Signorile on 'The Path Forward: An Emergency Summit on LGBT Rights'

Mike Signorile has a post, which is currently on the front page of Huffington Post, on his upcoming town hall forum, The Path Forward. It's scheduled for next Thursday from 2 - 4 PM here in DC. Both John and I will be there.

The panel at the event includes some familiar names: Rea Carey from National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF); Joe Solmonese from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC); Mara Keisling from National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) ; Aubrey Sarvis from Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN); Richard Socarides, who worked as an advisor to President Clinton on gay rights; and the Blogmistress from the Blend, Pam Spaulding.

We're at a critical point in the legislative and electoral calendar. Time is running out. Mike lays out the backdrop the forum:

Since literally the first day that president took office, with the Rick Warren controversy, there has been disappointment that boiled over into anger on several occasions, such as when the Department of Justice filed it's heinous Defense of Marriage Act brief in June 2009. The problem is with Congress as well, which has dragged its feet. A hate crimes bill that languished for over a decade finally passed last year but it was long overdue. A vote in the house on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act may finally happen in coming days - at least that's what we're told - but it has been promised since last summer. In the Senate, the prospects for ENDA are apparently not good. And the president isn't using his bully pulpit to push for it.

The same is true on "don't ask, don't tell" repeal. The White House has sent conflicting messages, with the president announcing his desire to repeal the law and the Pentagon launching a study on implementation. But the White House hasn't publicly called on Congress for a vote this year, before the mid-term elections when Democrats could lose seats, putting any vote on repeal off for years. And repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act - another campaign promise from the president - isn't even on the radar.

Throughout the past year and half LGBT leaders have sent conflicting messages as well, often praising the White House while, to some of us, not pressuring the White House hard enough on demanding votes from Congress.

So on Thursday of next week, from 2-4 ET, we'll be hashing it out at a town hall that will be aired across the country on Sirius 109, and XM 98, as well as online at Sirius.com. We'll be taking questions from the studio audience and from listeners on the phones and it will surely be a lively and spirited discussion. Hopefully, by the end, we'll have a bit of clarity on that path forward.

Hopefully. Read More...

Hospital visitation is great, but is it a 'huge deal'?

As you may know, President Obama last night signed a memo that required hospitals that get Medicare and Medicaid funds to permit patients to designate who they'd like to be able to visit them. Now, this isn't a law, it can be turned over by any future administration. And it doesn't appear to help you if you're unable to designate your partner as the person to visit you (e.g., you're unconscious).

It's an important issue. But is it, as David Smith of the Human Rights Campaign called it, "a huge deal"? Or is it a step that the President announced at a fundraiser in order to placate the gay community, before a tough mid-term election, with a small step to make up for all the big steps (ENDA, DOMA, DADT) that the administration has backed away from? And does HRC really think this is a huge deal, or are they simply, yet again, working for the President rather than working for the community?

I think it's pretty clear that this action was taken to try to placate the community just as Barney Frank, among others, has been publicly criticizing the President for his refusal to commit to repeal DADT this year. Frank has said that the President's inaction is now costing us votes on the Hill. Just as the administration responded to the DOMA incest/pedophilia brief brouhaha by announcing a series of small measures to help the community (putting your partner's name on your passport, and codifying (kind of) some benefits for the partners of gay federal employees (the administration keeps claiming these are new benefits, they're not - gay federal employees have had access to these benefits for over a decade, and have been using), we're again seeing some gay bait and switch. Rather than act on the big stuff, they're choosing to amass a pile of smaller stuff that they hope will fool the community into thinking they've done "something huge."

The day HRC finds its way back to the community and holds the President responsible for his promise to pass ENDA last year, and repeal DADT this spring, that would be a huge deal. Read More...

Jackson Memorial never apologized to Janice Langbehn and her children

Anderson Cooper interviewed Janice Langbehn, who was denied the right to see her dying partner, Lisa Pond, by Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

From the transcript:

COOPER: What did the -- the President actually called you today. What did he say?

LANGBEHN: That was pretty shocking. He said that he -- apologized for how our family was treated, which is something I have been asking Jackson Memorial to do. They refuse to apologize to me and our children.

COOPER: That's the hospital in Florida.

LANGBEHN: That's the hospital in Florida. They refused to apologize to the kids and I. But the President did which makes up for a lot. And then said that he had directed HHS to this memorandum that he was signing today so that patients could decide who their -- who their family is, who their circle of intimacy was.

And I thanked him. Because I believe this will be Lisa's legacy. That she didn't die in vain.

The hospital never apologized. Wow. One of our readers, David, saw this and was appropriately outraged. He sent an email to Jackson Memorial asking them to do the right thing and apologize The hospital has changed its visitor policy, but still won't apologize. This is the response he got:

Thank you for your message to Mr. de la Fè. Jackson Health System has a very liberal visitation policy. Our top priority when a patient arrives in need of emergency medical care is to treat the patient and save their life. We do everything we can to ensure that our patients' loved ones are able to be with them once they are stabilized, as long as having visitors does not compromise their medical treatment or the treatment of other patients nearby. Jackson Health System employs a very diverse workforce that takes pride in delivering quality medical care to everyone. It’s also important to note that we have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind.

Unfortunately, since the matter that prompted your message is currently in litigation, we are unable to express Jackson Health System’s side; however we are confident the facts in the case will clear any misrepresentations of Jackson.

Again, thank you for your comments and concern.

Sincerely,

Eugene Bassett

Interim CEO

Jackson Health System

Classy, huh? Jackson Memorial should at least apologize. That's the very least the executives of the hospital should do. Read More...

Destroying the right wing's anti-ENDA talking points

Read Alvin McEwen's post on the latest lies about ENDA from the Traditional Values Coalition. He deconstructs -- and destroys the attack on ENDA. Alvin monitors the right wing. He knows their tricks. And, he busts them and their sources, like the American College of Pediatricians:

Please bear in mind that it has been revealed on numerous occasions that the American College of Pediatricians is not a professional group but a shell organization designed to give legitimate cover to religious right propaganda about the lgbt community (via the Facts About Youth web page) such as:

Some gay men sexualize human waste, including the medically dangerous practice of coprophilia, which means sexual contact with highly infectious fecal wastes.

Furthermore, the American College of Pediatricians received a rebuke this week from a legitimate medical group, the American Academy of Pediatrics. Also, Dr. Gary Remafedi, M.D., M.P.H., a University of Minnesota researcher wrote the group a letter accusing them of distorting his work.

Alvin also exposes the falsehoods in TVC's "The Gay Report: A Survey Of Homosexual Sex Habits."

As the House prepare to debate ENDA, it's important to know what lies the other side will spew. The right-wingers will say anything to defeat ENDA. And, some people on Capitol Hill could actually fall for it.

I love Alvin's conclusion:

Now none of TVC's claims on its web page have anything to do with the real purpose of ENDA, which is to protect the lgbt community from workplace discrimination. But it has everything to do with exploitations of fear and ignorance.

It's funny because I never knew exploiting fear and ignorance through lies and fraud were Christian values.

Exploiting fear and ignorance will be the top priorities for the right-wing bigots and their allies. We have to stop them.

They're going to flood Capitol Hill with phone calls and letters. Every LGBT person, our allies, our families and our friends in the country all need to call Congress. And, get your family and friends to do the same. Even if you think your member is supportive, call them. The switchboard at the Capitol is 202-224-3121. You can find local numbers via the House website, too.

If we want to be equal, we have to fight for it every step of the way. Calling Congress is critical. The other side is doing it now. Read More...

Hospital visits memo a good step but 'did not grant any new rights'

Much reaction to the new hospital rules issued by the President last night. I haven't seen an official statement from anyone at the White House -- and we probably won't. Keep in mind, anti-discrimination language was supposed to be included in the health insurance reform bill, but the LGBT provisions got stripped out:

Baldwin had sought and secured four pro-gay provisions in the original House version of health care reform, including a prohibition on discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in health care.

But neither the Senate bill nor President Obama’s proposal late last month included those provisions. Baldwin had held out hope, as late as Thursday morning, that at least two of the provisions might be added back under whatever legislative package the House and Senate would eventually vote on. But by Thursday afternoon, when the text of that final package was posted on the Internet, that hope was quashed.

So, this is finally a good move by the President and partially makes up for what was lost in the health care bill. Because Obama actually took some pro-LGBT action, there's been a lot of hyperventilating about it from the usual suspects. As always, Richard Socarides provides some perspective:

Richard Socarides, who advised President Bill Clinton on gay rights issues, said that while the memorandum on its own did not grant any new rights, it did “draw attention to the very real and tragic situations many gays and lesbians face when a partner is hospitalized.”

Ordering the Department of Health and Human Services to find a better way to handle such situations, Mr. Socarides said, is “the kind of thing the gay community was hoping Obama would do right after he was inaugurated.”

We did hope that Obama would have taken some action after the inauguration on the low-hanging fruit. And, let's be honest, this wasn't a heavy lift. The President didn't expend any political capital on it. But, there are some issues coming up, including ENDA and DADT, that will require his direct engagement. He promised.

It just makes me realize how far we have to go to achieve equality when something as basic as hospital visits is treated as an earth-shattering development.

The two-page memo is here:
Hospital visitation memo Read More...