Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors calls on President Obama to file a brief in the federal court challenge to Prop 8 – and calls on you to sign EQCA’s petition to pressure the president to do that. Click inside for more information and the link to the petition.
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Equality California, gay marriage, Geoff Kors, LGBT politics, marriage equality, No on 1/Protect Maine Equality, Prop 8
(Editor’s note: I’ve known Herb Hamsher and his partner Jonathan Stoller and their family, Judith Light and Robert Desiderio, since the early 1990s. They were very close friends with author Paul Monette and even did the entire 7-day, 545-miles California AIDS Ride in his memory after Paul died. Herb has a Ph. D. in Clinical Psychology but he has one of those Buckminster Fuller kind of minds dedicated to deep compassion and empowering the human spirit in others. So when he gets angry, as he does here, he’s incredibly articulate about what precisely is making him angry. Here it’s religious bigotry. Click inside to read Herb’s thoughts.
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gay apartheid, Herb Hamsher, LGBT equality, No on 1/Protect Maine Equality
Gloria Nieto, longtime LGBT and Latina activist, went to a conference and found herself, her grief: “How do we live our lives when we have been told we are second-class citizens time and time again? How do we face a day having lost our partners, our brothers and sisters to an early death from a disease no one seems to care about any more?” Elizabeth Edwards helped her broken heart. Click inside to read her story.
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Elizabeth Edwards, Gloria Nieto, grief, No on 1/Protect Maine Equality
OK – political break over. Robin Tyler offers a counter-point to the POV provided below by Jeanne Cordova. Robin says: “Probably the most debilitating LGBT response to the Maine defeat is a fatalistic “straight people hate us, we should settle for less than legal equality.” This is the essence of Jeanne Cordova’s post.” Click inside for more.
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gay marriage, inter-racial marriage, Jeanne Cordova, marriage equality, No on 1/Protect Maine Equality, Robin Tyler
Nationally, Jeanne Cordova may best be known as the author of “Kicking the Habit: An Autobiographical Novel : A Lesbian Nun Story.” But in Los Angeles, she is well-known as a longtime writer and community activist who challenges notions of gender and spirituality. This POV is taken from her blog, “This Lesbian World.”)
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gay marriage, Jeanne Cordova, marriage equality, No on 1/Protect Maine Equality
I first became aware of Julia Rosen during the No on Prop 8 campaign when she and a number of other (mostly male) bloggers created this wild and effective netroots/blogger push during the latter part of the campaign. She regularly blogged (and still does) for Calitics – one of California’s preeminent political blogs. In October 2008, Julia was working with Rick Jacobs and Eden James at the Courage Campaign and her no-frills work ethic, her internet savvy and her clear brain power earned her the kind of admiration that usually wins awards. Instead, Julia went to Maine. Here is her “lessons learned” report, cross-posted with permission from Calitics. Click inside to read her thoughts.
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Calitics, Courage Campaign, Eden James, Julia Rosen, Nate Silver, No on 1/Protect Maine Equality, Prop 8, Rick Jacobs
Michael B. Keegan, the openly gay President of People for the American Way, also issued a notice to People For’s supporters. He outlined some take way lessons – including that the Radical Rights lies still work. This is something we need to drill down into understanding better. Click inside to read Michael’s takeaway lessons.
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Michael Keegan, No on 1/Protect Maine Equality, People For the American Way
With the antigay marriage arguments basically laid out – tomorrow we’ll talk about schools – let’s turn to how we reacted to the loss in Maine and discuss what’s next. To open the series, here’s longtime LOGBT politico, David Mixner, a longtime LA guy who now lives in NYC. This is a cross-post from his blog davidmixner.com, with permission. Click inside to read David’s thoughts.
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David Mixner, gay marriage, LGBT politics, marriage equality, No on 1/Protect Maine Equality
In his Nov. 5 Washington Update newsletter, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council – which contributed $25,000 to the Yes on 1 ballot fight in Maine (hat tip Joe.My.God) – usurps the term “bullying” to complain about how the group Maine Marriage Equality is challenging the blatant erosion of the separation of church and state by Religious Right political professionals. But this is the message that is being fed out to religious conservatives across the nation – setting the stage for the fights ahead. Click inside to read Perkin’s message and how Maine Marriage Equality wants to challenge the tax-exempt status of politically antigay churches.
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Family Research Council, gay marriage, LGBT politics, Maine Marriage Equality, marriage equality, No on 1/Protect Maine Equality, Religious Right
There’s an old saying:
“The Devil screams the loudest just before leaving the room.”
After last night’s devastating loss of marriage equality in Maine 52.84% – 47.16% – an almost exact mirror of the loss of constitutionally protected same sex marriage rights with Prop 8 in California – it’s time to call out the “Devil” cleverly disguised as the antigay forces of the Religious Right. Click inside to read my analysis and challenge to those who call themselves Christians.
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Americablog, Brian Camenker, Bruce Wilson, Carrie Prejean, Catholic Church, gay marriage, Joe Sudbay, Lou Engels, marriage equality, McPherson, Miles, Nate Silver, No on 1/Protect Maine Equality, Pam Spaulding, Pam's House Blend, Paul Madore, Peter LaBabera, Prop 8, religious antigay bigotry, Religious Right, Sarah Palin
Phillip Minton describes himself as “the sole blogger behind Unite the Fight. He’s being modest. Phillip is one of the hardest working bloggers in the LGBT movement. Click inside to read his personal reaction to the defeat of marriage equality in Maine.
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gay marriage, marriage equality, No on 1/Protect Maine Equality, Phillip Minton, Prop 8, Unite The Fight
As you know by now – we lost marriage equality in Maine 52.84% – 47.16% - an almost mirror to the loss of Prop 8 last year. Last night I thought I’d write the standard political analysis – but something kept bugging me deeper than just the anger of losing again despite an almost perfectly run campaign. And suddenly I realized I was re-living the soul-wrenching rage over how religion turned a blind eye to my gay brothers who lay dying of AIDS – saying it was God’s wrath and they were being punished for their “sin” of homosexuality. What we’ve been seeing in California and Maine – and will soon see in New Jersey – is the use of religion to kill our relationships since we are no longer dying en masse of AIDS. This is not just about marriage equality – it is about ending US. Click inside for more info about the races and about the piece I’m working on now. Meanwhile – please plan on attending this:
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No on 1/Protect Maine Equality, Prop 8, Religious Right
Julia Rosen from the Courage Campaign is in Maine and gave me details about where to watch for the returns, as well as updated information. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has a camera at the Portland party – with an interview with No on 1 campaign manager at 6:15, our time. Click inside for details – as well as links for watching results for Washington state.
Also – I also covered the LA Police Commission hearing today – they formally voted to sever ties to the Boy Scouts/Learning for Life Explorer Program. More inside.
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Courage Campaign, Julia Rosen, LA Police Commission, LAPD, No on 1/Protect Maine Equality
Today I will complete the third installment of what has become a book-on-blog commemorating the passage of Prop 8 one year ago. But first – this heart-stopping news out of Maine – a new poll that shows the Religious Right with an edge in tomorrow’s election. NO ON 1/Protect Maine Equality DESPERATELY needs your help. THIS IS A RED ALERT! The National Organization for Marriage has poured in last minute money to outspend No on 1 and they need money to keep up with the last ad buy. Here’s the ACT BLUE PAGE to contribute – http://www.actblue.com/page/noon1redalert.
OR CLICK HERE. Meanwhile click inside to read the last Public Policy poll and news from Nate Silver.
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gay marriage, marriage equality, National Organization for Marriage, No on 1/Protect Maine Equality, Prop 8
It’s not as if the LGBT political community in California didn’t see Prop 8 coming. They did and they started preparing for it well before the initiative was formally announced – just as the LGBT community in Maine expected their antigay ballot measure after their marriage equality bill was signed into law. California’s two marriage equality bills, you remember, were vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger – apparently on the advice of his openly gay chief of staff, Susan Kennedy. But signed or vetoed, the community knew another initiative fight was ahead.
What many in today’s LGBT community might not realize is just how hard a struggle it was to get domestic partnership rights in California. While tremendous progress was made between the passage of the antigay marriage Prop 22 in 2000 and the passage of Prop 8 in 2008 – it was never as “easy” as many thought it should have been to defeat Prop 8.
As we shift from the joy of the freedom to marry to the politics of Prop 8 in this commemorative series, I asked Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors, who was involved in the domestic partnership battle, to lay out a brief synopsis of what that struggle was like. Click inside to read his historical recollection.
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Approve Referendum 71 in Washington, Carole Migden, domestic partnership, Equality California, gay marriage, Geoff Kors, Gov. Gray Davis, Jackie Goldberg, LGBT politics, Mark Leno, marriage equality, No on 1/Protect Maine Equality, Susan Kennedy
CORRECTED: DEMOCRATIC Gov. John Baldacci, who just a few years ago opposed marriage for same sex couples, had an abrupt change of heart and is now out advocating for marriage equality and a No on 1 vote in the Nov. 3 election. But in her indomitable way, Rachel Maddow asks if there is a “back-up” plan should marriage equality fail. The governor had no answer. All hands on deck.
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No on 1/Protect Maine Equality, Rachel Maddow
Next Tuesday, Nov. 3, straight politicos will eye election returns in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races – and an odd GOP primary in upstate New York – to try to gauge a new political trend or mood in the country.
Many LGBT people and their allies, however, will be fixed on the results of two antigay measures – one in Maine to determine if marriage equality will go into effect, and one on the West Coast in Washington state, to determine if LGBT couples get to keep their domestic partnerships.
For LGBT Californians, it is also a moment of grief as we note and mourn the passage of Prop 8 – the constitutional amendment that stripped away the right of same sex couples to marry.
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Approve Ref. 71, Equality California, Geoff Kors, No on 1/Protect Maine Equality, Prop 8
Attorney David Link follows up on his first post about Stand for Marriage Maine’s latest campaign ad and considers the history of how the antigay movement always brings up children. Click inside for his analysis.
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Anita Bryant, David Link, No on 1/Protect Maine Equality, Stand for Marriage Maine
Jesse Connolly was the NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality campaign manager. Click inside to read a piece the very popular campaign manager wrote for the Huffington Post in which he discusses the campaign and some points to think about when we need to battle over marriage equality again – especially the problem of polling. And here are two short videos from NEW LEFT MEDIA produced and edited by Chase Whiteside (interviews) and Erick Stoll (camera) chronicling the final days on the ground of the No on 1 campaign.
We’re now past crunch time and into nail biting time in the campaign to keep marriage equality in Maine. And the No on 1/Protect Marriage Equality 
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