LGBT POV

Is there such a thing as a polite slug-fest? That’s how Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer and Republican challenger Carly Fiorina sparred in their first and perhaps only debate Wednesday night for the US Senate seat Boxer has held for three terms. Boxer has faced tough re-election battles before, but this one is particularly hard in an anti-incumbent year with a very rich opponent and an independent, Karl Rove-back 527 group swift-boating Boxer in TV ads on Medicare.

Right now, as Boxer pointed out during the debate, Senate Democrats need 60 votes to pass legislation and most of their Republican colleagues have just said “No” without offering solutions. Some pundits predict that if Boxer loses, the Senate will revert to 1994-style hard line conservative Republican control.

Please click inside to read more about my take on the debate.

California Sen. Barbara Boxer is in a tough re-election race against former HP CEO Carly Fiorina. Their first debate is happening tonight at 7:00pm Pacific on KTTV in Los Angeles, KGTV in San Diego and nationally on CSPAN and NPR radio affiliates. The one hour debate is expected to focus on jobs and the economy – which the Boxer campaign team thinks will show a “clear contrast” between the two women.  it depends on the three journalists on the panel whether they are asked about marriage equality, which Boxer supports. Another issue to watch for is climate change, an issue Boxer takes very seriously.

Equality California had a fruitful year – getting 14 bills and resolutions passed through the state legislature. Seven bills now sit on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk but the Religious Right is pressuring the governor to veto at least two of them.

One of those bills, SB 543 – introduced by openly gay state Sen. Mark Leno and sponsored by EQCA – would allow young people 12 to 17 years old to access counseling without parental consent. While the Religious Right’s ongoing public relations efforts claim that parents and churches know what’s best for children – a  2006 survey of at-risk youth in Massachusetts says that LGBT youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers – often because of school bullying, religious stigma, or family rejection.

The bill is now on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk and the Religious Right is pressuring him to veto it. “To deny these youth mental health services because they are too afraid to ask their parents for permission is unconscionable,” says EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors.

Kors adds:

“Anti-LGBT organizations are also working to defeat a bill that puts into California code that clergy, acting on behalf of their religion, shall not be required to marry couples if such marriage is inconsistent with their faith. Although our opponents want clergy protected, they are opposing this bill as it will take away their ability to falsely claim that clergy will be required to marry same-sex couples as they did during the Proposition 8 campaign.  We are urging everyone to contact the Governor and urge him to sign these and all seven EQCA sponsored bills.”

There is an action alert set up at www.eqca.org for people to contact the Governor.

Actor and voice-over artist Ben Patrick Johnson hosted a fundraiser for Democratic candidate Brittany Novotny on Sunday, Aug. 29 at his home in West Hollywood.  Novotny is running for Oklahoma House District 84 against notoriously homophobe Sally Kern, the Republican state leader who says homosexuals are the number-one threat to America today. If elected, Novotny would become the first transgendered American elected to a state Legislature. Novotny’s platform is focused on local issues – jobs, transportation and schools.  See Ben Patrick Johnson’s  Facebook page for more information and how you can contribute. Here’s who showed up:

Log Cabin Republicans have been chatting up  this new “Young Guns” ad – which the Washington Post wrote about Tuesday. Funded Virginia  Republican House whip Eric Cantor’s political action committee (ERICPAC) and controlled by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the ad features the “hot guys” of the GOP – Cantor, Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.). It’s kind of like the Republican version of Justin Timberlake “bringing sexy back.” It also promos a book by Cantor as well as a promo for new GOP candidates.

“America is at a crossroads, and Washington remains out of touch,” intones the “Voice of God” narrator. “There is a better way….A new team is ready to bring America back.” The “young guns” appear. “Together they are ready to make history. Together they are the young guns: innovative, energetic, forging new solutions.”

The Republican Jewish Coalition, a national group that has held events in conjunction with Log Cabin Republicans and includes recently out Ken Mehlman on their board of directors and hosts Beverly Hills events with Karl Rove and Michelle Bachmann, is taking former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina to Israel this Labor Day Weekend for what’s being billed as a “personal trip.”

Fiorina is trying to unseat Democratic Senate incumbent Barbara Boxer, who is Jewish, and the race is close. Fiorinia, who is strongly Pro-Life, is endorsed by both Tea Party hero Sarah Palin and the conservative gay group GOProud.

RJC maintains that the trip is not political, but the Los Angeles Times points out:

“It will serve to remind conservative evangelicals, a key Republican voter bloc that sympathizes with Israel, of Fiorina’s candidacy, and could also capture the attention of Jewish voters, who usually side with Democrats.”

The four-day trip just happens to start the day after peace talks are scheduled to resume between Israeli and Palestinian leaders and while RJC says that makes meeting top Israeli leaders difficult, The Times reports that Fiorina is hoping to meet with “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Ehud Barak to ‘convey directly to the people of Israel that they will not have a stronger friend in the U.S. Senate than me.’”

Fiorina is leaving the day after a debate with Boxer scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 1 from 7:00pm-8-pm Pacific on KTTV, Fox Channel 11 in Los Angeles. It will also be broadcast on C-Span. The Times notes that during her primary contest with former congressmember Tom Campbell,

“Fiorina had to fend off criticisms about HP’s ties to Iran under her watch. She has said she was unaware that a Dubai-based subsidiary of HP sold printers to Iran, an Israeli adversary which that is subject to a trade embargo. During the campaign she has said HP complied with every export law.”

Two days before the 47th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Rev. Eric Lee, President of King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Los Angeles, posted an essay on the Huffington Post blasting the LGBT community for “unconscious racism.”

“There is a travesty of justice occurring within lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organizations that is holding all of us back in our movement for justice and equality.

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I believe that the cause of justice and equality also suffers when the unconscious racism of the white male-dominated LGBT community goes unchecked.”

My jaw dropped. I’ve known Rev. Eric Lee (pictured here at a post-Prop 8 rally) for two years – since he took his courageous stand in favor of marriage equality and against Prop 8. I know him to be a man deeply committed to justice and equality and very comfortable around gay people. So I was stunned that he delivered this painful broadside against the entire LGBT community – especially knowing how beloved and respected he is by that community – without explaining the specifics of what prompted the deeply troubling charge of racism – unconscious or not – or offering any solutions.

This is the first of a three-part series responding to Rev. Eric Lee’s charges. In the segment I look at racism within the LGBT community.

Ben Patrick Johnson, one of West Hollywood’s favorite actor/activists, is hosting a fundraiser for Democratic candidate Brittany Novotny on Sunday, Aug. 29 at 4:00pm in West Hollywood.  Please see Ben Patrick Johnson’s Facebook page for more information.

Novotny is running for Oklahoma House District 84 against notoriously homophobe Sally Kern. You remember her – she’s that Republican state leader who says homosexuals are the number-one threat to America today, among other outlandish claims. If elected, Novotny would become the first transgender American elected to a state Legislature. Novotny’s platform is focused on local issues – jobs, transportation and schools.

For more on this – including a reminder of who Sally Kern is, click here.

In his Washington Post column, Eugene Robinson summed what’s happening Saturday at the Lincoln Memorial on the 47th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech:

“The majestic grounds of the Lincoln Memorial belong to all Americans — even to egomaniacal talk-show hosts who profit handsomely from stoking fear, resentment and anger. So let me state clearly that Glenn Beck has every right to hold his absurdly titled ‘Restoring Honor’ rally on Saturday.

But the rest of us have every right to call the event what it is: an exercise in self-aggrandizement on a Napoleonic scale. I half-expect Beck to appear before the crowd in a bicorn hat, with one hand tucked into the front of his jacket.

That Beck is staging his all-about-me event at the very spot where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his immortal ‘I Have a Dream’ speech — and on the 47th anniversary of that historic address — is obviously intended to be a provocation. There’s no need to feel provoked, however; the appropriate response is to ignore him. No puffed-up blabbermouth could ever diminish the importance of the 1963 March on Washington or the impact of King’s unforgettable words.

Lincoln and King will always have their places in American history. Beck’s 15 minutes of fame and influence are ticking by.”

Here’s a portion of that speech, delivered on August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

Please click inside to read the entire MLK speech.

An Aug. 24 Rasmussen Reports poll has longtime California Sen. Barbara Boxer and recently political Republican challenger Carly Fiorina in a statistical dead heat.  Political strategists now call this a “toss-up” rather than a safe win for Boxer – despite the fact that Fiorina is Pro-Life and more conservative that the state that voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama (60.94 percent to John McCain’s 36.91) might suggest. The poll puts Boxer at 44 percent compared to Fiorina’s 43 percent – with 5 percent preferring someone else and 8 percent undecided. The margin of error is 4 points.  When “leaners” are counted, Boxer leads 49 percent to 44 percent. However, 52 percent of those polled view Boxer unfavorably compared to Fiorina’s unfavorables at 42 percent, with 11 percent not sure.

What may be of particular concern to Boxer is that an independent group called Crossroads GPS – that the Sacramento Bee identified as backed by GOP strategist Karl Rove – just launched a $1 million week-long TV ad blasting Boxer for voting for Medicare cuts included in the federal healthcare reform bill. Given Boxer’s liberal record on healthcare issues, including Medicare, this sure seems like the “swiftboating” of Barbara Boxer to me – targeting senior and sick Californians who are staying indoors during the August heat wave.

The Boxer campaign has not yet responded on the campaign website’s front page or in their “Setting the Record Straight” page, which hasn’t been updated since July 2. However, the Bee reported, Los Angeles County Democratic Party’s Kam Kuwata “slammed the ad buy, saying Fiorina is “getting rewarded by Karl Rove and Texas oil billionaires for supporting tax breaks for companies that ship American jobs overseas.”

Here’s the ad entitled “Worried:”

Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic blog broke the story: “Ken Mehlman, President Bush’s campaign manager in 2004 and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, has told family and associates that he is gay.”

Ken who, you might ask if you’re new to LGBT politics? Well, as Ambinder explains, “Mehlman is the most powerful Republican in history to identify as gay.” He was head of the Republican National Committee in 2007 and George W. Bush’s campaign manager in 2004. He is considered incredibly smart on messaging and has a donor and politico address book that is the envy of political consultants everywhere. He was also intensely despised as a closeted gay man who was using those brains on behalf of antigay politicians.

UPDATE: The Advocate just posted an interview with Mehlman in which he explained why he didn’t fight against the GOP’s antigay policies: ”I wasn’t in the place I am today where I’m comfortable with this part of my life, it was really hard and it was particularly hard because there was really nobody who knew this about me and so there was no one I could even talk to about it.”

Please click inside for more, including comments from American Foundation for Equal Rights’ Chad Griffin, Log Cabin Republican Executive Director R. Clarke Cooper and (UPDATE) Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors.

The White House is hosting a live webcast today at 4:30 pm Eastern, 1:30pm Pacific time during which Tina Tchen, Deputy Assistant to the President & Director of the Office of Public Engagement will answer questions on women’s issues. Go to WhiteHouse.gov for the webcast. The 30-minute interview will be conducted by BlogHer and the topics will include “honoring the historic moment of the 19th Amendment and celebrating the 90th anniversary of a women’s right to vote.” This photograph shows women suffragists marching in Washington DC on March 3, 1913. Please visit this site to learn more about Lucy Burns who was arrested for protesting at the White House. Also go here to see photos from the City of West Hollywood’s commemoration of Women’s Equality Day on Aug. 17.

On the BlogHer website, they note that: “The suffragettes — Alice Paul, Susan B. Anthony, and many more — rallied, marched, were imprisoned, starved themselves in order to have a say in the way our government votes. The final voting by the Senate was after the National Women’s Party urged voters not to vote for anti-suffrage candidates.”

Although the 19th Amendment finally passed – not all women were allowed to vote due to laws upholding racism. Ida B. Wells, BlogHer notes, “formed the first Black women’s suffrage club in 1913 and created a stir when she refused to stay in the back of the lines during the March on Washington.” (Poet Maya Angelou talks about the women’s movement on this video.)

Politicos are going to get twisted trying to figure out what the Aug. 24 primary results mean for the November elections. The Huffington Post has a good roundup of the winners and losers and the Daily Beast has a good roundup of a variety of smart bloggers’ opinions. MSNBC political all-star Chuck Todd at First Read sizes it up this way:

“Anger trumps accomplishments: So much for the idea that insiders were making a comeback last night. In a stunning development in Alaska’s GOP Senate primary, incumbent Lisa Murkowski (R) trails virtually unknown Joe Miller, who was backed by the Tea Party and Sarah Palin, by 1,960 votes with 98% of precincts reporting. In Florida, meanwhile, wealthy outsider Rick Scott bested establishment politician Bill McCollum (pictured), even though McCollum led in some late polls. And proving that all it takes to triumph in a crowded GOP field in Arizona is to air an incendiary TV ad aimed at the president — plus have a famous last name and the most money — Ben Quayle won the Republican primary for the open congressional seat vacated by Rep. John Shadegg (R). In addition to being blows to Conventional Wisdom and some polling, these results tell us something very significant about American politics right now: The candidates who are channeling the public’s anger best are winning, especially on the GOP side. One operative put it this way: If 2008 was about “hope,” then 2010 might be about “fear.”

Please click inside for reaction from Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith.

With large Target and Best Buy stores anchoring the “gateway” into the east side of West Hollywood, Mayor John Heilman sent a strongly-worded letter to Gregg Steinhafel Chairman, President and CEO of Target Corporation about his $150,000 contribution to an antigay candidate three weeks ago. The following week, a group of LGBT activists protested outside Target to let motorists and passers-by in the heavily-trafficked area know about the boycott.

Now it appears that the removal of Target and Best Buy from the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index caught the eye of at least one retail expert. In her Retail Industry Blog for About.com on Tuesday, entitled “Best Buy and Target Risk Losing $759 Billion in LGBT Consumer Spending From Gay Rights Boycotts (TGT, BBY),” Barbara Farfan writes that the US retail industry and Target and Best Buy “can’t afford to ignore the ongoing boycotts.”

Farfan writes:

“Target has been the main target of the consumer protests that refuse to die, but Best Buy is equally as culpable in its support of a Minnesota political candidate who openly opposes gay rights. While the support of the candidate is offensive to the LGBT community, the betrayal is worse. At the political point of purchase, both Best Buy and Target proved that gaining a political advantage was more important than losing LGBT customers. In other words, it seems apparent that to Target and Best Buy, money is more important than relationships. And worse than that, money is more important than trust.

The reason the LGBT community feels so betrayed is because Target and Best Buy are both well-known for their gay-friendly workplace policies.”

Why can’t the LGBT community just ‘get over it?” They can’t, Farfan writes, and here’s why:

“What if the political candidate with the corporate philosophies that Best Buy and Target liked had been, by the way, an openly active member of the Ku Klux Klan? Would Best Buy and Target have put their money behind that candidate? And while that might seem to be a preposterous comparison, to the LGBT community it is just about the same. Prejudice is prejudice. Oppression is oppression. Human rights are human rights.”

Ben Patrick Johnson, one of West Hollywood’s favorite actor/activists, is hosting a fundraiser for Democratic candidate Brittany Novotny on Sunday, Aug. 29 at 4:00pm in West Hollywood.  Please see Ben Patrick Johnson’s Facebook page for more information.

Novotny is running for Oklahoma House District 84 against notoriously homophobe Sally Kern. You remember her – she’s that Republican state leader who says homosexuals are the number-one threat to America today, among other outlandish claims. If elected, Novotny would become the first transgender American elected to a state Legislature. Novotny’s platform is focused on local issues – jobs, transportation and schools.

Novotney is looking forward to coming to Los Angeles. She told me:

“For the last six years, Rep. Sally Kern has played a divisive brand of politics that has failed to address the real problems that face Oklahomans. Our local business paper even called her ‘bad for business.’ I’m running for office to represent all Oklahomans by helping small businesses create jobs, ensuring quality education for our children, and investing in our transportation infrastructure.

Some folks may want to make this campaign about the fact that my history includes a gender transition, but this campaign is not about my past, it’s about OUR future.

I look forward to meeting supporters who want to help us defeat the divisive KERNservative politics of old, and move Oklahoma forward toward a brighter future.”

Here’s a reminder of who Brittany Novotny is trying to defeat:

I’ve been a little surprise at the burst of attention over the “news” that Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman and attorney general candidate Steve Cooley would defend Prop 8 in the federal trial, if elected and given the opportunity.

Maybe it’s just a California thing – but LGBTs here have been discussing this since before the primaries.  In fact, it was a key point during the April 25 Equality California Political Action Committee Forum with all the Democratic candidates for attorney general.  

In this post, I look at who’s saying what about defending Prop 8 and get some guidance from Lambda Legal’s Jon Davidson. Here’s an example of some of Davidson’s insight: “If they get elected, Whitman and/or Cooley might also seek to file an amicus brief after their election or after they are sworn in, which would be after the oral argument.  They would need to seek permission to file late.  There is no way of knowing whether the Ninth Circuit judges hearing the case would grant such a request to file late.” (emphasis mine)

The Desert Sun notes that this was the first debate in the 45^th Congressional District in eight years so there was a lot to talk about and high expectations. However, Republican Rep. Mary Bono Mack, who’s trying to hold onto her seat, and Democratic challenger Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet – who the Democrats think has a chance to win – dodged many questions, though policy distinctions did emerge. (See the reply here.)

On Prop 8,  Bono Mack – who voted against the federal constitutional marriage amendment – refused again to take a firm position, saying it’s a state issue that will be resolved by the federal court: “I respect both sides of this issue,” she said.

Pougnet said, “I support the ruling” by Judge Vaughn Walker on Prop 8 but said gays are more concerned about jobs.

Bono Mack attacked Pougnet for his environmental positions, saying the only thing “green” about the Palm Springs mayor is that he’s “green with envy” over her job. She also said he was out-of-touch and a supporter of President Obama’s “big-government” agenda.

On April 1, the Bono Mack campaign released an internet ad targeting Pougnet that some critics thought was a subliminal message about his sexual orientation  for voters who do not already know that Pougnet is legally married to Christopher Green and they are raising twins. The Bono Mack campaign later claimed they forced Pougnet out of the closet on “Obamacare.” Pougnet said he generally supported the President’s healthcare policies.

Here’s one debate viewer’s reaction:

“Both of these candidates avoided the gay issue and they both need to be pulled up on it. I think they’re playing really safe. Everybody knows it’s a new day, a new dawn. Gay people are in California, we (overturned) Prop. 8, Steve is legally married in the state of California … Rather than nit picking and calling each other names, speak to my heart … I think they spent probably 30 minutes out of an hour debate insulting each other rather than talking to my heart and what’s importance to me.”

Here’s the Bono Mack internet ad against Pougnet:

‘

Late Thursday afternoon, Bill May, Chair of Catholics for the Common Good, sent out a breathless alert urging his followers to immediately contact their Assemblymember to STOP Senate Bill 906, authored by openly gay state Sen. Mark Leno (pictured).

“[S]o far it has failed to get the 41 votes needed to pass. They are holding the vote open for the rest of the day to twist more arms for its passage. We don’t know who has voted or not. To be safe, please contact your Assembly member right away and ask him or her to vote “NO”.

The bill is very deceptive. It appears to be harmless and well intentioned, but it is really a Trojan horse sponsored by the opponents of Prop 8. It is another slap at the 7 million voters who passed it. The outcome of this bill is important as we are confident the current legal defense of Prop 8 will be eventually successful.”

How deceptive and harmless is it? Please click inside to see – plus an update from Bill May.

Gay Politics reports that openly gay Democratic Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet is going to debate Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.) tonight live on the local CBS Palm Springs affiliate, KPSP TV.  Apparently, this is the first time in 8 years that Bono Mack has debated a general election opponent.

Bono Mack initially enjoyed backing from the LGBT community because she was married to the late Sonny Bono, husband of Cher and father of Chaz. She won Republican Sonny Bono’s House seat and has kept many of her LGBT constituents as a moderate Republican on LGBT issues. She is endorsed by both gay Republican groups, Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud. But Michael A. Jones at Change.org’s Gay Rights blog noted that many wondered “what the heck she was smoking” when she voted against the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Openly gay Steve Pougnet, who is married and raising two children with his husband, is seen as a formidable challenger to Bono Mack this November.  According to Denis Dison at Gay Politics, if Pougnet wins, “he’d be the first openly gay parent ever to win a seat in Congress.”

“This debate will be a great opportunity for you and all of the residents of Riverside County to see the clear differences between me and my opponent. You’ll get to hear directly from us about where we stand on the issues that matter to you, and how we would work to solve the problems that face our nation and our district,” Pougnet said yesterday in an e-mail to supporters.

The one-hour debate will be streamed live online at KPSPlocal2.com beginning at 6:30 pm PDT, which is 9:30 pm in the East.

Pougnet, who posts on Daily Kos – Steve Pougnet for Congress – also noted there:

“I am definitely looking forward to tonight and the opportunity to highlight the differences between my opponent and me. I’ll be pointing out that she voted against the stimulus, but tries to take credit for it by showing up to every ribbon-cutting she can find. I’ll be pointing out to the public that Mary says she’s a friend of the LGBT community, but voted against repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and that she has entire support of the GOP Brass, making calls and fundraising on her behalf. I will, however, be proud to say that I will advocate for clean energy solutions, that I’m a DFA All-Star nominee, I diary here at DailyKos and I raise for my campaign on ActBlue.

The debate will be tonight at 6:30 PST (9:30 EST), broadcasted live on KPSP.

It will be live on the radio here.

We will be having a debate watch party at 6pm at the Desert Democratic HQ at 67555 East Palm Canyon Drive in Cathedral City, please contact 760-325-8674 for more details.

Tonight at 6:30pm PST (9:30 EST) the voters will get an opportunity to really hear from the candidates, and I am looking forward to having you there with me. Listen live with me.“

California Assembly Speaker John A. Perez, the nation’s highest ranking openly gay state official, was honored by Equality California at their annual gala at the Ritz-Carlton hotel downtown on Saturday. EQCA executive director Geoff Kors said the lobbying group changed venues from the Century Plaza Hotel because that hotel is part of the Hyatt chain under boycott by the Unite Here! union. The gay conservative group GOProud recently crossed the picket line by holding a reception at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego.

Perez comes out of both the labor and Latino political movements and powerfully explained to the EQCA audience why the LGBT community needs to build coalitions with the two groups. Perez is also a prodigious fundraiser and like former state legislator Sheila James Kuehl and current state Senator Mark Leno, he judiciously contributes funds to political candidates who he deems will be good on LGBT and progressive issues.

Here’s an excerpt from his EQCA speech:

“We have to recognize that effectively fighting for our rights is not simply a matter of holding press conferences or sponsoring legislation, or even precinct walking and phone banking; although those are important. It’s a matter of connecting to people on an emotional, personal and visceral level. This is something the Labor Community understands clearly.

One worker cannot stand up to the Corporation alone.  But every worker, standing together, presents a united front that cannot be ignored. Building on that, by recruiting allies, that Union’s strength and value is only magnified.

That’s a lesson Harvey Milk learned early on. How fundamentally different would our world be if labor leaders in San Francisco never made the decision to approach Harvey Milk about the Coors boycott.
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We still see the results of that early partnership today.  In a majority of states in this country, most of us in the room could be fired for simply being gay, lesbian or bisexual. And in almost every state, a transgender person could be fired for being transgender. There is nothing in the laws of those states protecting LGBT people.

But in every one of those states a union contract guarantees that protection. Wherever you find a union contract, you find a de facto ENDA.  That is a living, breathing example of the need for us to rededicate ourselves to those early lessons of coalition building.”

If that whet your political whistle – please click inside for the transcript of the entire speech. Video to come.