I found this video very interesting. ABC News conducted a test to see how people would react to a gay-bashing. They staged a verbal gay-bashing scenario at a local sports bar in Linden, N.J. by hiring an actor to play a homophobic patron and two actors to play a gay couple. Another set of actors played a heterosexual couple at the opposite end of the bar.
I was surprised at the result of the video. It's funny how we as gays change our behavior when out in public and especially in what would be considered a very straight bar. Take a look at what happens.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says the Obama administration will uphold the laws which includes Don't Ask - Don't Tell. In the video below Gates says the administration has been a little busy and that DADT will "be pushed down the road a little bit."
I am not surprised that President Obama doesn't want to make this change while trying to gain the confidence of the military. Unfortunately, he also want to increase the troops in Afghanistan and DADT is a policy that makes our military weaker by dismissing qualified soldiers. President Obama needs to listen to the many military officials that say this law needs to go. Hopefully he won't wait until the troops are pulled our of Iraq in 18 months but before we weaken our troops even farther.
The President addresses the people of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota as they face down disastrous flooding. He speaks of what the government is doing, but also stresses that times of crisis like this are reminders of the need and opportunity Americans have to keep their dedication to service. Janet Napolitano is mentioned as one of the people coordinating the help as the head of Homeland Security.
The latest podcast episode of "Thoughts From A Lezzymom" is now available on iTunes. You can subscribe and listen to it here. Please use the tell your friends link in iTunes and spread the word about the show.
In this episode of the podcast we are bringing you less news because we have two great interviews for you. The first interview is with comedian Vickie Shaw. Vickie has performed in almost every state in the US and has headlined in various venues including: Michigan Womyn's Festival, National Women's Music Festival, Monterrey Beach Women's Festival; and the Dinah & Lina Shore Golf Tournament in Southern California. In this interview Vickie discusses her family and how she became a comedian. She also gives her thoughts on Proposition 8 and the debate over marriage equality. You can learn more about Vickie at her website.
Photo By David Plakke
There is also another great song from the Podsafe Music Network. This time we feature folk artist Amy Speace's song Not the Heartless Kind from her album Songs for Bright Street. You can learn more about Amy's music from her website.
Our second interview is with Harry Knox, Director of the Religion and Faith program at the Human Rights Campaign. Harry talks about using teachable moments to talk educate the community about LGBT issues. Also, how to not be affraid of the religious arguments people try to use.
Finally I give my thoughts on two experiences I had dealing with people telling their coming out stories. Many people shared they still struggle with an internal homophobia. The interesting thing is the contrasting story of a Junior High and High School student.
Thanks for listening and remember you can send me comments and show ideas by emailing me at lezzymom@gmail.com.
House votes 186-179 to recognize marriage for lesbian and gay couples in the state; bill now moves to state Senate
WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, praised the New Hampshire State House of Representatives’ passage of legislation that would permit lesbian and gay couples to marry. The House of Representatives voted 186-179 in favor of House Bill 436, which would allow lesbian and gay couples to marry under state law.
“This is a very proud day for New Hampshire and a very proud day for every American who believes in the promise of equal rights for all,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “We congratulate Representatives Ed Butler, Paul McEachern, Barbara Richardson, and Jim Splaine for their leadership in sponsoring this bill, as well as GLAD, PFLAG New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition, and the many activists, including HRC members, who have been working to build support for this legislation.”
Solmonese continued: “The New Hampshire State House of Representatives recognized that lesbian and gay couples who form committed relationships and loving families deserve the same level of respect afforded to straight couples. We hope that this bill will pass the state Senate and be enacted as law.”
This year, HRC has mobilized members to support House Bill 436. In 2006, HRC worked closely with legislators, community groups and local leaders to help elect fair-minded majorities to both the New Hampshire House of Representatives and Senate, which subsequently voted to pass civil unions legislation in 2007.
Two states, Massachusetts and Connecticut, currently permit gay and lesbian couples to marry under state law. New York recognizes marriages by gay and lesbian couples legally married outside of the state. Earlier this week, Vermont’s state Senate voted 26-4 to pass legislation that would allow lesbian and gay couples to marry in Vermont. New Hampshire or Vermont could be the first state to adopt marriage equality legislatively. (California’s legislature has twice passed bills that would have permitted gay and lesbian couples to marry, but each bill was vetoed).
In addition to New Hampshire, seven states plus Washington, D.C. have laws providing at least some form of state-level relationship recognition, short of marriage, for gay and lesbian couples. Four other states—California, New Jersey, Oregon, and Vermont—plus Washington, D.C. provide gay and lesbian couples with access to the state level benefits and responsibilities of marriage, through either civil unions or domestic partnerships.
Maine, Washington and Hawaii provide gay and lesbian couples with limited rights and benefits, not all the rights provided to married couples.
Gay and lesbian couples do not receive federal rights and benefits in any state. To learn more about state by state legislation visit: www.hrc.org/state_laws.
Gainesville Voters Defeated Ballot Measure Seeking to Repeal Protections for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender People
WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, issued the following release regarding voting in a city election in Gainesville, Florida today, where voters rejected a proposed amendment to the city charter that would have repealed existing laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Amendment 1, which would have repealed ordinances prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, was defeated 58 percent to 42 percent.
“This is an important victory for equality, for the proposition that people deserve to be judged based on their merits, and should not face discrimination simply because of who they are,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “Gainesville voters saw past the deception and scare tactics used by proponents of Amendment 1 and made clear that Gainesville rejects discrimination against any of its residents, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.”
Solmonese continued: “Congratulations to Commissioner Craig Lowe, Equality is Gainesville’s Business, Equality Florida, the ACLU, as well as Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan, and the rest of the city commission, and the many activists, including HRC members, who worked so hard to protect equality for everyone in Gainesville.”
Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan added: “As Mayor, I am extremely pleased that Gainesville voters chose to reaffirm that discrimination has no place in our city. Many thanks to Equality is Gainesville’s Business and the hundreds of tireless volunteers who represented the true values of Gainesville. These volunteers demonstrated the diversity and expertise within our community, representing such groups as the NAACP of Alachua County, the Human Rights Campaign, the ACLU of Florida, the University of Florida Student Senate and others.”
The Human Rights Campaign has had a field director on the ground in Gainesville for more than a month working with Equality is Gainesville’s Business (a group formed to oppose Amendment 1), Equality Florida, HRC members and other activists to organize opposition to Amendment 1. A field organizer was sent to Gainesville to assist for the past two weeks. Their work included organizing door to door canvassing and phone banks to voters.
Gainesville ordinances have prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation since 1998. Discrimination based on gender identity has been prohibited since January 2008. A petition drive last year placed Amendment 1 on the ballot in today’s city election.
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
In an interview with 365gay.com Sen. Barney Frank talks about what he believes the LGBT community can get done in the next two years. He also take a shot at Supreme Court Justice Scalia and calls him a Homophobe.
Ok while I'm not going to jump big time on the Meghan McCain bandwagon I am going to at least applaud her for having the guts to be an individual. I am also going to applaud anyone who can call themselves a "progressive republican" which to her means someone a little more progressive on the social issues. Anyone that is ready to not use the social issues as a wedge is a republican I can listen to. Listen to Meghan say she is for gay marriage.
26-4 Vote Sends Measure to House; Bill Would Allow Gay and Lesbian Couples to Marry Under Vermont Law
WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, applauded the Vermont State Senate for its bipartisan 26-4 vote in support of S. 115, a bill that would recognize marriage for gay and lesbian couples under state law. The bill now moves to the state House of Representatives.
“We encourage the House to expeditiously pass this bill and the Governor to sign it into law, giving all committed couples in Vermont the basic respect and dignity they deserve,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “We congratulate Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, Senator John Campbell, Senator Claire Ayer, the 23 other Senators who voted yes, and the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force, on this strong statement of support for equality.”
Two states, Massachusetts and Connecticut, currently permit gay and lesbian couples to marry under state law. New York recognizes marriages by gay and lesbian couples legally married outside of the state. Vermont was the first state to recognize civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, in 2000. If S. 115 is enacted into law, Vermont would become the first state to adopt marriage equality legislatively. (California’s legislature has twice passed bills that would have permitted gay and lesbian couples to marry, but each bill was vetoed).
In addition to Vermont, seven states plus Washington, D.C. have laws providing at least some form of state-level relationship recognition, short of marriage, for gay and lesbian couples. Four other states—California, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Oregon—plus Washington, D.C. provide gay and lesbian couples with access to the state level benefits and responsibilities of marriage, through either civil unions or domestic partnerships.
Maine, Washington and Hawaii provide gay and lesbian couples with limited rights and benefits, not all the rights provided to married couples.
Gay and lesbian couples do not receive federal rights and benefits in any state. To learn more about state by state legislation visit:www.hrc.org/state_laws.
Ellen had her wife Portia de Rossi on the show to be interviewed for the first time. It was such a fun interview. The highlights for me were in the first part of the interview where they were just being themselves. I have the clip below.
Julian Bond the Chairman of the NAACP spoke at the Los Angles Human Rights Campaign Gala Dinner this past weekend. In this speech he states that "Gay rights are civil rights" and pledges the NAACP's help to fight for equality. His speech is quite inspirational. Enjoy.
This past Thursday the Human Rights Campaign held its annual Lobby Day event.
Lobby day is a day where members of HRC come from all over the country to lobby their members of Congress on the LGBT issues that will be coming up.
This year HRC had their largest group ever with almost 300 people coming to lobby. I am from Arizona so it's a tough day for us. While we do have some friendly Representatives to work with, we are still a Republican state and it make for some tough discussions.
We first met with our Senators - Jon Kyl and John McCain. Now when I say we met with them what I mean is we met with some staffer from their office. McCain's staffer was newly off the campaign and didn't know how the Senator felt about any of our issues.
While that meeting was a waste of time we did meet with a knowledgeable staffer from Senator Kyl's office. We discussed our 6 issues - Hate Crime, fully inclusive ENDA, tax equity for domestic partner and health beneficiaries act, domestic partner benefits and obligations act, repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, and Early Treatment for HIV act. While I don't think we earned any votes I think as tax cutting conservatives they will at least read the two bills that cut taxes.
The afternoon allowed us to meet with some friendly faces. One was Representative Raul Grijalva. He always has a 100% score on the HRC score card. He is also the Vice Chair of the LGBT Caucus. He is a great supporter of our community and it is always a pleasure to meet with him. And yes we actually do meet with him.
In fact, all of our Democrats meet face to face with us. We had some hard discussions with our Blue Dog Dems that sometimes have to worry about how their vote will play at election time. But Rep. Giffords and Rep. Mitchell are still very strong allies. Another 100% earner is Rep Pastor. Another great supporter of the community.
We did have some opportunity for education. While I won't talk about all the Republicans, I will talk about Rep. Flake. He voted for the sexual orientation only version of ENDA. While thanking him for that we began to speak of the fully inclusive bill that would be coming soon. He told us he was much more comfortable with it being just sexual orientation. We began to ask if he knew and transgender people. He said he did not. We shared stories about some of the people is Arizona and why this was important to have in the bill. We told him we would get him more educational information. He said that would be a good idea. This is why we have been discussing this issue for the last 3 years. To provide education and improve the comfort level for them to ask the questions and have the conversations that need to happen.
All in all Lobby Day was a huge success. Hearts and minds were changed in many states. I highly encourage everyone to attend a lobby day in your state or with HRC in Washington D.C.. It's a unique experience and one you will never forget. This was my third time and already I can't wait to come back and do it again.
In this weeks address President Obama discusses the new lending guidelines aimed at lowering mortgage payments. He also discusses an initiative to generate funds for small business and college loans along with the release of his administration's first budget which includes $2T in deficit reduction and the start of long overdue health care reform.
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