Secret documents reveal NOM strategic goal "to drive wedge between gays and blacks"

It's not like we didn't think this was happening, but, wow, it's really ugly to see it in writing. As John notes on the main AMERICAblog home page, the religious right wanted to fan a race war, and they admitted it in writing.  Ben Smith at Buzzfeed calls the documents "explosive".

Earlier tonight, Alvin McEwen tipped me off about some court documents that revealed NOM's strategy. It's ugly. From Alvin:

The National Organization for Marriage's unsuccessful fight to skirt Maine's financial disclosure laws just backfired majorly on the group by revealing a distasteful part of its game plan to stop marriage equality.

According to a court document that was uploaded online, NOM specifically worked to drive a wedge between the black and gay community on the subject of marriage equality

Here's the key passage about gays and blacks (and there's also a strategy for Latinos):

The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks - two key democratic constituencies. We aim to find, equip, energize and connect African American spokespeople for marriage; to develop a media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a civil right; and to provoke the gay marriage base into responding by denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots. No politician wants to take up and push an issue that splits the base of the party. Fanning the hostility raised in the wake of Prop 8 is key...

They mean hostility between African-Americans and white gays.

The full document is below. (John links to a second confidential NOM document that is similar to this one, but also includes the "fanning the hostility" phrase. There seem to be at least three different documents.)

Jeremy Hooper and HRC's NOM Exposed are on top of this, too.

And, as for NOM and Latinos, read the post from Dr. Gary Segura, who runs Latino Decisions polling firm -- and was an expert witness in the Prop. 8 case and several DOMA cases. He noted:

For starters, Latinos are far more liberal on marriage equality than stereotypes might suggest.

This has the potential to be a very big story. Ben Smith at BuzzFeed has already picked up the story.
Nom Depo Exhibit 28 Read the rest of this post...

Turkish military requiring gays to "prove" they're gay, with photos in action

And you have to be "passive" in the photos, not active - active with another guy isn't proof enough.  Which, ironically, means that the Turkish military has an official policy that it's okay for straight guys to boink other men, so long as they're "active."  Which is kind of a funny policy for a bunch of homophobes. CBC News:

Lacking any valid "diagnostic tools," a physician told the BBC World Service, potential gay draftees must prepare whatever evidence they can to convince a military health panel of their homosexuality, sometimes deemed as a "psychosexual disorder."

"They asked me if I liked football, whether I wore women's clothes or used women's perfume," said one gay conscript in his 20s.

Gokhan, also conscripted in the 1990s and using a different name, said he submitted a photo of himself having sex with a male partner. He said he had heard it was otherwise impossible to obtain a pink certificate.

''The face must be visible,'' Gokhan said, adding he worries about the possibility they could be made public. ''And the photos must show you as the passive partner.''

Because everyone knows that Turkish military guys are always boinking other men actively.  I think I'll wait for the DVD. Read the rest of this post...

Join our live chat with Jeremy Kennedy, campaign manager for Protect All NC Families

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Blogosphere responds to today's NC MoneyBomb

Donate today.
There's been an awesome response to the NC moneybomb today from across the blogosphere. If you haven't given yet, please use this ActBlue page to give to the campaign fighting the anti-gay amendment in North Carolina.  And don't forget our live chat with Jeremy Kennedy, the campaign manager for Protect All NC Families, at 3 PM ET.

NC's own Pam Spaulding: "Game on! We’re all-in against Amendment One during this week’s Money bomb Blogswarm" From Pam:

The poorly-written discrimination measure designed to hurt gay and lesbian couples in NC — and that will also harm hundreds of thousands of families in this state will be on the ballot on May 8.

Why do I think we can win? The polling shows we can:

54.2% of North Carolinians surveyed either oppose or strongly oppose “an amendment to the constitution that would ban same-sex marriage.”
Only 37.8% polled were in any way supportive of Amendment One.
The poll also illustrates a dramatic increase in the category of “strong opposition” to this type of amendment from only one year ago, with 34% now voicing strong opposition versus 21.8% in February 2011.
Overall opposition to Amendment One increased even further when North Carolinians polled were asked whether they opposed an amendment to the North Carolina constitution “that would prevent civil unions and domestic partnerships for same-sex couples.” Nearly 57% of North Carolinians (56.9%) polled opposed or strongly opposed an amendment on that basis.

What is the challenge ahead?

Bottom line – we need to raise money to get on the air to combat the lies and misinformation being spread by Tami Fitzgerald‘s Vote for Marriage NC — with help from the right-wing Heritage Foundation and the Family Research Council, an organization recognized as a national hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Early voting starts in NC on April 19.

BlueNC: "Moneybomb to stop Amendment One begins today" James Protzman wrote:

The money bomb to fight Amendment One begins today. My family has contributed, and we ask that you do as well. For those unable to give, we have a stockpile of yard signs on hand, free for the asking. The only catch is, you have to come to my house in Chapel Hill to pick them up. Let me know if you want one.

This is a fight for the heart and soul of freedom. Please give.

Towleroad: Moneybomb: Help Defeat North Carolina’s ‘Amendment One." From Andy:

This week, Towleroad is assisting in a 'money bomb' intended to raise $1 million for the campaign to defeat Amendment One in North Carolina, which appears on the ballot on May 8 and would constitutionally ban same-sex marriage there.

Daily Kos: "This week: Netroots Money Bomb to oppose NC’s Amendment One." Scott Wooledge:

I don’t buy that North Carolinians are just too southern and can’t be reached and educated. These are pronouncements made by people who don’t live there and underestimate the North Carolina people and are more than a little condescending to the most progressive southern state, which broke for a guy named Barack Obama in 2008.

Joe My God: "LAUNCHED: NC Marriage Moneybomb"-- and Joe sums it up succinctly:

North Carolina's marriage vote is May 8th and the good guys need dough to get their message out.

Good As You: "Six weeks to Protect NC Families #4marriageNC." And, Jeremy, of course, nails it:

North Carolina voters will vote on a marriage amendment in six weeks (!), going against one of the most nakedly faith-based, proudly extremist-aligned campaign we've ever faced. It's the last Southern state to weigh in on whether a state's most precious governing document should be turned into a weapon that targets certain kinds of taxpayers, so I don't have to explain the importance of the effort.

We can win this. To help, give a little coin now, in this crucial period

Prop 8 Trial Tracker: "Why North Carolina is different–and important." Jacob Combs writes:

Out of all the Southern states, North Carolina seems the most natural choice to reflect the growing support for marriage equality across the U.S. by bucking the tradition set by its neighbors and defeating a marriage ban. A win for our side in North Carolina would show that the momentum for marriage equality truly is building, and that the coalition of voters from all walks of life that support the right to marry can make a difference and defeat an odious measure like Amendment One.

Back 2 Stonewall: Help Save North Carolina’s LGBT Community From Discrimination and Bigotry! – Help Fight NC’s Amendment One!" From Will Kohler:

Today the Coalition to Protect All NC Families launches a week-long moneybomb to get over the $1,000,000 mark to combat and defeat the poorly-written discrimination measure which was speciffically designed to attack and hurt gay and lesbians in North Carolina.

Back2Stonewall.com supports the Coalition to Protect All NC Families bid to defeat this measure and ask that all our readers will join in to help.

If you can DONATE PLEASE DO. (Even our poor assed blog manages to scrounge up a donation thats how important we think this is!)

And, Bilerico: "North Carolina Amendment Recap & LiveChat at 3pm." Bil Browning reminds us about the live chat at 3 PM Today:

Today at 3pm Eastern we'll be co-hosting a livechat with Jeremy Kennedy, the campaign manager for Protect All NC Families - the organization leading the fight against the state's proposed anti-marriage constitutional amendment. Other chat co-hosts include Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend, Adam Bink of the Courage Campaign, and Joe Sudbay from Americablog.

Also - this week the blogosphere is working with the campaign to push a "moneybomb" - a concerted effort in order to bring a national focus to Protect All NC Families and their efforts to defeat Amendment One. The money bomb will encompass a major social media fundraising push, state and national blogger outreach, the coalition campaign's over 100 partner organizations and others to build on the campaign's momentum.

Read the rest of this post...

Albanian #2 Defense official calls for gay rights advocates to be beaten

The inner-commie lives on.

The Albanian government should publicly reprimand Deputy Defense Minister Ekrem Spahiu for homophobic remarks and endorsing violence against people participating in a Gay Pride parade, Human Rights Watch said today. Asked what he thinks of plans to hold a Gay Pride parade in the capital, Tirana, Spahiu said the participants should be beaten.

"I am shocked that a high ranking government official is calling for violence against peaceful LGBT demonstrators," said Boris Dittrich, advocacy director in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. "Government officials should be supporting plans to hold a Gay Pride parade, not making threats against the participants."

On March 22, 2012, Spahiu told the Albanian newspaper Gazeta Shqiptarein response to a question about plans of the Albanian LGBT community to hold a Gay Pride parade on May 17, the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia:

"What remains to be done is to beat them up with a stick. If you don't understand this, I can explain it: to beat them with a rubber stick."

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This week, A Money Bomb to Help North Carolina Defeat Anti-gay Amendment 1

Please give to help fight the anti-gay constitutional amendment in North Carolina.

It's a big week for North Carolina. Protect All NC Families, the campaign to defeat Amendment 1, is going to hit the $1 million mark -- with our help:

On Monday, March 26, Protect All NC Families, the coalition effort to defeat Amendment One on May 8, announced the launch of an aggressive weeklong grassroots fundraising effort to reach the referendum campaign’s initial $1 million dollar fundraising milestone.

To date, Protect All NC Families has already raised more than $950,000 in financial contributions, the vast majority from thousands of individual North Carolina donors, as well as key coalition members the Human Rights Campaign, Replacements, Ltd, Self-Help, Equality NC, ACLU NC and others.

The campaign launched this week’s fundraising campaign, also known as a “money bomb,” as a primarily online effort in order to bring a national focus to Protect All NC Families and their efforts to defeat Amendment One. The money bomb will encompass a major social media fundraising push, state and national blogger outreach, the coalition campaign’s over 100 partner organizations and others to build on the campaign’s momentum.

To learn more, visit: https://secure.actblue.com/page/ncmoneybomb

“This seven-day money bomb enables us to do the most important thing we could in this campaign: educate as many state citizens as possible in as many ways as possible about the harms of this constitutional amendment, including communicating those harms to women, children and families on television and radio,” said Jeremy Kennedy, campaign manager for Protect All NC Families.

I gave. My favorite North Carolinians, Pam Spaulding and her wife, Kate, reached deep into their rainy day fund to contribute $1,000. This one is personal for Pam. Seems like everyone asks Pam to help their causes -- and, she always does. On this one, I also want to give back on something that matters personally to Pam. So, Carlos and I dipped into our rainy day fund to match Pam and Kate's contribution. He's from California and I'm from Maine. We both know what it's like to have your rights put on the ballot. This year, my political money is going to the efforts to achieve equality.

Then there are people with a lot of money (some of them from NC) who need to deliver. Polling shows that we can win -- if we can get the resources. I have been very impressed with the team running the NC team. They are playing to win. And, playing hard. Their newest hashtag on twitter is #FirstinFight, a very clever play on the state's motto -- and an indication of the key role NC has for the equality debate in 2012. Winning in North Carolina will keep up the momentum.

At 3 PM ET today, Bilerico, Pam's House Blend and AMERICAblog, among others, are going to be doing a live chat with NC's campaign manager, Jeremy Kennedy. He'll answer our questions about the campaign's strategy to win.

There's a lot on the line this year. We've been on a roll. Let's keep it going. Donate today.

And, all those people who want marriage in the DNC platform need to do everything possible to win in North Carolina, the state that will host the Democratic convention. As Amanda Terkel and Sam Stein reported earlier this month, many DNC types are looking for reasons to keep marriage out of the platform. We can't give them any excuses. And, don't forget, the President opposes Amendment 1. All those gay donors who have been writing big checks for his reelection need to write checks to help win in NC, too.

The other side is already spewing their lies. Alvin McEwen takes apart their first ad here. The haters want to keep their winning record intact. Let's stop them in North Carolina.

Also want to give a shout out to the Courage Campaign for all the help that group is giving to NC, too! Read the rest of this post...

Student sues to make prom more inclusive

NY Daily News:

An Atlanta-area teen is suing his high school after he claims he was booted from his position as student body president for introducing changes that would make it easier for gay couples to be named prom king and queen.

Reuben Lack, a senior at Alpharetta High School, said he brought up the idea of a gay-friendly "prom court" during a student council meeting in January, according to the suit.

On Feb. 8, Lack says he was stripped of his presidency and for "pushing personal projects," his lawyer said.

The 18-year-old filed the suit on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta in order to be reinstated as president.

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