All those damn Jews, I mean gays, control the media

I understand we're all rich and have long... never mind. Read More...

Jeremy Hooper's very Maggie Christmas

Good As You's Jeremy Hooper really is a class act. NOM's Maggie Gallagher is not. Read their holiday email exchange here and you'll see why. Read More...

AIDS activists carol outside Hillary's NY house

Interesting tactic. Read More...

Obama now says he didn't campaign on public option. Did he not campaign on the repeal of DOMA and DADT either?

This has been a rough year for those of us who expected President Obama to follow through on his campaign promises. John wrote a post today about Obama's statement yesterday that he didn't campaign for the public option. He did. There's a lot of evidence, starting with Obama's own words, that he did campaign for the public option, a lot. But, now that he's in the White House, and decided to compromise on the public option, that promise is apparently no longer operative. I actually heard Obama make a commitment to push for the public option on a conference call with bloggers in July.

This got me wondering: What other promises did Obama make during the campaign that may no longer be operative? I worry that the repeal of both Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) may fall into that category. The President has actually been going out of his way to enforce both laws, even defending them in court, much to the chagrin of the LGBT community and our allies. On DADT, the White House long ago switched their promise from "repealing" DADT to "changing it in a sensible manner." And on DOMA, we're being told that no one wants to even touch it during Obama's first term. (And if you don't touch it, the chances of repealing it are never going to get better.)

We'll find out in a few weeks if the President is going to push for the repeal of DADT. If it's not in his budget, due the first week of February, that will be a big signal of what lies ahead in 2010. Read More...

Gay marriage in Mexico City angers Catholic church and conservatives

Duh.

We posted the news about Mexico's City new same-sex marriage law on Monday, when the news broke. Bet no one ever could have imagined this reaction from the Catholic Church or the ultra-conservatives:

With a vote of 39-to-20, legislators in the capital approved a bill that will make Mexico City the first city in Latin America to approve gay marriage – angering the Catholic Church and politicians from the nation´s conservative ruling party.

The bill redefines the definition of marriage, paving the way for same-sex couples to wed as early as February. Leftist mayor Marcelo Ebrard, from the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), now must sign the bill into law, which he is expected to do.

Members of Mexican President Felipe Calderón's National Action Party (PAN) have said they will fight the measure in court, as has happened in the US. The bill follows other controversial moves in left-leaning Mexico City, which also legalized abortion in a woman´s first trimester of pregnancy.

What's new? The Catholic Church is having a hissy fit over LGBT civil rights again. Sooner or later, those bigots are going to have to realize equality is breaking out all over the place and their position to obstruct justice is not a very Christian legacy. Read More...

DC asks judge to dismiss lawsuit trying to put gay marriage law on ballot

Finally, it looks like someone is asking the courts to realize that putting our civil rights up for a popular vote is wrong:

The District of Columbia is asking a judge to throw out a lawsuit by opponents of same-sex marriage.

The plaintiffs, led by local pastor Bishop Harry Jackson, are seeking to get their proposed ban on gay marriage on the ballot. They are suing after the Board of Elections and Ethics turned them down.

DC's lawyers filed a response on Friday arguing the ballot initiative would violate Washington DC's Human Rights Act. It does. You can't deny benefits on the basis of sexual orientation in our nation's capitol! Read More...

Copy of the court order in the Golinski case

This is one supremely pissed off judge. Background on this case here. In a nutshell, the Obama administration is refusing to obey a judge's order to stop discriminating against a lesbian and start providing her with health benefits. And the judge is pissed. For you non-lawyers out there, a lawyer friend summarized the document below like this:

"OPM, go to hell -- you didn't formally appeal my order. Ms. Golinski, go ahead and file a mandamus action or a motion for contempt against the government or whatever you have to do to force them to comply with my order."

Go Lin Ski Read More...