05.31.06
Posted in E's Thoughts, Gay Rights at 3:02 pm by pikapp44
President Bush is expected to hold a press conference next week to announce his support for the federal marriage amendment. According to the conservative Weekly Standard magazine, the president will appear in the Rose Garden on Monday to reiterate his support for the so-called Marriage Protection Amendment, a day before the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the measure.
The proposed amendment, which would ban same-sex marriages and nullify those that already exist, is not expected to garner the necessary two-thirds support it needs to move forward. But it is expected to receive more support than it did in the Senate two years ago, when it failed after garnering only 48 votes.
Although Bush spoke out in support of the amendment in 2004 during his reelection campaign, he now faces opposition from within his own White House. First lady Laura Bush said earlier this month that the issue should not be used as an election tool, and Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, also said she opposes the ban.
Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese called Bush’s forthcoming endorsement a “national disgrace” and said it will further divide the country. (Sirius OutQ News)
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05.30.06
Posted in Gay Rights at 3:53 pm by pikapp44
President Bush reportedly will hold a Rose Garden press conference on June 5 to press Congress to enact the so-called Federal Marriage Amendment that would ban same-sex marriage.
The conservative Weekly Standard reports that Bush will gather supporters of the amendment behind him as he makes his pitch.
“President Bush is once again placating extremists and pushing discrimination when he should be finding solutions for the real challenges facing Americans,” Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese told 365Gay.com.
“It’s despicable that he would use this opportunity and the spotlight of the Rose Garden not to unite the country, but to advocate discriminatory and divisive politics.”
June 5 is the same day that the proposed amendment will be debated in the Senate.
The president has rarely mentioned the proposed amendment since 2004 when it failed to get enough votes to proceed. The measure was reintroduced this year.
The proposed amendment would bar same-sex couples from marrying, block courts and state legislatures allowing gay marriage, nullify marriages already performed in Massachusetts - the only state in the country where they are currently legal - and according to critics possibly block civil unions and override domestic partner laws.
The amendment was introduced by Senator Wayne Allard and reads: “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman.”
While most Republicans were solidly behind the amendment in 2004 the party is deeply divided this time. Earlier this month First Lady Laura Bush said the marriage issue should not be used as an election tool. (story)
The Human Rights Campaign recently came under criticism for endorsing the re-election of Republican Rep. Mary Bono (Calif.). But the organization says Bono is illustrative of moderate Republicans who support LGBT issues.
Bono voted against the marriage amendment in 2004 and has announced her opposition to reintroducing it. She also supported LGBT inclusion in hate crime law and worked to see its passage in the House, although the measure later died in the Senate.
HRC spokesperson Jay Smith Brown tells 365Gay.com that the organization had interviewed Bono’s Democratic challenger, David M. Roth, disputing claims by Roth that he had never been contacted.
In the past HRC on rare occasions has endorsed two candidates in any one race but Brown would say only that in Ross’s case no such decision has yet been reached.
“We will continue to evaluate candidates up to election day and that has been our process all along,” said Brown.
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05.29.06
Posted in Gay Rights at 4:48 pm by pikapp44
Mormons throughout the country have been told to lobby their senators to support the so-called Federal Marriage Amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in the Constitution.
The Senate is expected to vote on the proposed amendment next week.
In a letter read in all congregations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday senior officials of the denomination said that the Church has “repeatedly set forth our position that the marriage of a man and a woman is the only acceptable marriage relationship.”
It was signed by LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley and his counselors.
“We urge our members to express themselves on this urgent matter to their elected representatives in the Senate,” the letter said.
The Utah-based Church has spent millions of dollars campaigning against gay marriage. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is a co-sponsor of the amendment.
The proposed amendment would bar same-sex couples from marrying, block courts and state legislatures allowing gay marriage, nullify marriages already performed in Massachusetts - the only state in the country where they are currently legal - and according to critics possibly block civil unions and override domestic partner laws.
Sunday Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said that he hopes the amendment issue will galvanize the Republican Party. (story)
“It’s important to the heart and soul of the American people,” Frist (R-Tenn.) told “Fox News Sunday”.
“That union between a man and a woman is the cornerstone of our society. It is under attack today … [by] activist judges, unelected activist judges,” he said.
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05.26.06
Posted in Advocate Articles at 2:28 pm by pikapp44
California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to veto a bill passed by the state senate that would add the contributions of gays and lesbians to history textbooks in public schools. The bill, which is currently pending in the state assembly, was authored by lesbian state senator Sheila Kuehl, a Democrat from Santa Monica.
“The governor believes that school curriculum should include all important historical figures, regardless of orientation,” Schwarzenegger’s director of communications, Adam Mendelsohn, told the Sacramento Bee. “However, he does not support the legislature micromanaging curriculum.”
According to the Bee, the bill had passed the senate on a 22–15 vote on May 11 and was awaiting hearings in the assembly. Kuehl expressed disbelief that Schwarzenegger, who traditionally has withheld comment on legislation until it passes the legislature and reaches his desk, has broken with his own precedent and made up his mind on a bill that still hadn’t been vetted by one house of the legislature. “He hasn’t made up his mind—I don’t care what some underling might have said,” Kuehl responded. (The Advocate)
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05.24.06
Posted in Gay Rights at 11:22 am by pikapp44
Dear Friends,
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campaign. If you go to the URL below you can check out what is
at stake and send your own message directly to the relevant
decision makers.
http://ga4.org/campaign/federalmarriageamendment?rk=ppzhIU11wmyhW
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Posted in Advocate Articles, Gay Rights at 9:29 am by pikapp44
Countering conservative Christians’ stronghold on the issue of same-sex marriage, an interfaith coalition of Protestant, Jewish, Sikh, and Unitarian Universalist clergy and lay leaders is orchestrating a petition drive in opposition to the Federal Marriage Amendment. Clergy for Fairness, which represents some 1,600 faith leaders, announced the effort at a press conference in Washington, D.C., Monday, The New York Times reports.
”When one group is singled out for discrimination, it’s not long before other groups will be singled out too,” Rabbi Craig Axler of Congregation Beth Or in Maple Glen, Pa., said at the press conference, according to the Times. ”It’s the first time we see the Constitution in danger of enshrining discrimination against one party, one class, and to remain silent as a Jew is unconscionable.”
That sentiment was echoed by the 34 other representatives for Clergy for Fairness present at the event. Although they represented different faiths and said they have differing opinions on homosexuality and same-sex marriage, they all decried Congress’s attempt to write discrimination against gays into the U.S. Constitution.
At the group’s Web site, visitors can print out postcards to send to their members of Congress to register their opposition to the marriage amendment, which is scheduled to come up for a Senate vote the week of June 5. The bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee last week in a party-line vote, after a closed-door hearing that sent Democratic senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin fleeing in disgust. (The Advocate)
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Posted in Gay Rights at 9:10 am by pikapp44
Five students at Brigham Young University who took part in last month’s Equality Ride protests will be reprimanded but not expelled. During the Soulforce Equality Ride’s stop in Utah, more than two dozen college-age participants in the cross-country gay Christian protest were arrested, along with the parents of ride codirector Jacob Reitan.
The BYU Honor Code Office conducted an investigation of five students at the Mormon-run university who participated in the Equality Ride demonstrations. Four were among the 29 people arrested, and the fifth was involved in a protest outside the university’s grounds.
While the BYU honor code does not prohibit gay students from attending the school, it does forbid students from advocating a “gay lifestyle,” and all five students could have faced expulsion. Instead, BYU announced that the students will be placed on probation. (Sirius OutQ News)
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05.21.06
Posted in Gay Rights at 12:28 pm by pikapp44
FLORIDA GOVERNOR HEADLINES ANTI-GAY FUNDRAISER Continues Republican Investment in Political Gay Bashing
(ORLANDO) Equality Florida is calling on Gov. Bush to reconsider his decision to headline a Friday night fundraiser for the rabidly anti-gay, anti-choice Florida Family Policy Institute (FFPI). The Orlando based organization is one of 34 state chapter-like affiliates of Focus on the Family and is spearheading the effort to permanently ban gay and lesbian partners from receiving the legal benefits and protections of marriage or Civil Unions.
“The Florida Republican Party spent $300,000 to underwrite the far-right’s anti-gay campaign to amend the Florida Constitution and now the Governor, who has said he opposes the amendment, is raising money for them,” said Nadine Smith, Equality Florida Executive Director. “It is hypocritical for the Governor to say he represents all citizens of Florida and then raise money for those who would discriminate.”
Last year, a small group of anti-gay organizations lead by FFPI failed in their attempt to place a measure on the 2006 ballot to amended the constitution and permanently prevent legal recognition or protection for same-sex couples. They have vowed to resurrect the effort for the 2008 election.
The Governor’s sister in-law, First Lady Laura Bush recently warned that politicians shouldn’t use the issue as a political weapon and the Vice President’s lesbian daughter has finally broken her silence to speak out against a Federal constitutional amendment GOP leaders are pushing for in Washington. A U.S. Senate vote could come as early as June 5th.
Through a campaign calledFairnessforAllFamilies.org, Equality Florida is working with local, state and national allies to mobilize fair-minded Floridians to oppose anti-gay constitutional amendments at both the state and national levels.
For nearly 30 years Florida law has restricted access to marriage to opposite-sex couples. In 1997, the Florida Legislature passed the Florida Defense of Marriage Act, again restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples and, this time, adding the prohibition of recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples from other states.
If passed, the amendments would legally deprive thousands of Floridians of any chance to obtain important basic civil rights, including: Social Security and pension benefits, family medical leave, financial obligations and responsibilities to each other and their children, inheritance rights, hospital visitation and medical decision making authority, and scores of tax and other benefits.
Polls show public opinion on the subject is shifting. A majority of Floridians now believes legal protections should be provided to gay and lesbian couples.
Equality Florida is Florida’s only statewide human rights organization dedicated to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. Through education and advocacy, the organization is committed to building a state of equal rights for all Floridians, inclusive of all sexual orientations and gender identities.
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05.19.06
Posted in Advocate Articles, Gay Rights at 2:56 pm by pikapp44
A Senate panel on Thursday advanced a measure that would amend the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage as the committee chairman shouted “Good riddance!” to a Democrat who walked out of the tense session. “If you want to leave, good riddance,” Senate Judiciary chairman Arlen Specter told Wisconsin Democratic senator Russell Feingold, who refused to participate because, he said, the meeting was not sufficiently open to the public.
“I’ve enjoyed your lecture too. See you later, Mr. Chairman,” Feingold told the Pennsylvania Republican before storming out. The testy exchange highlighted tensions over the proposal, which would prevent states from recognizing same-sex marriages.
The measure passed 10–8 on a party-line vote in a brief session held in a small private chamber just off the Senate floor. Specter said he voted for the amendment because he thought it should be taken up by the full Senate, even though he does not support it.
The same-sex-marriage ban deals with one of several hot-button social issues Republicans are raising to rally conservative voters ahead of November’s congressional elections. Because the measure would change the Constitution, it must pass both houses of Congress by a two-thirds majority and then be approved by at least 38 states.
The measure failed in the Senate in 2004 and is not expected to pass this year either. Kansas Republican senator Sam Brownback said he expects it to be brought up for a vote in the full Senate in early June. Same-sex marriage has been a hot topic since a Massachusetts court ruled in 2003 that it violated the state’s constitution to deny marriage rights to gay couples, paving the way for America’s first same-sex marriages in May of the following year.
At least 17 states have amended their constitutions to ban same-sex marriage. Legal challenges seeking permission for gays and lesbians to marry are pending in 10 states. “This issue’s either going to be resolved by the courts or by this body,” Brownback said.
Just over half of all Americans oppose same-sex marriage, according to a March poll by the Pew Research center, down from 63% in February 2004.
Vermont senator Patrick Leahy, the committee’s top Democrat, said the same-sex marriage ban was a waste of time for a committee that needs to tackle a wide range of other pressing issues, such as judicial nominations and oversight of the National Security Administration’s domestic-spying program. “I didn’t realize marriages were so threatened. Nor did my wife of 44 years,” Leahy said.
Leahy said Republican senator Orrin Hatch, who supports the ban, has expressed support for polygamists in his home state of Utah. “I never said that,” Hatch responded. “I know some [polygamists] that are very sincere…. Don’t accuse me of wanting to have polygamy.”
Shortly after the hearing, Feingold issued the following statement:
“Today’s markup of the constitutional amendment concerning marriage, in a small room off the Senate floor with only a handful of people other than senators and their staffs present, was an affront to the Constitution. I objected to its consideration in such an inappropriate setting and refused to help make a quorum. I am deeply disappointed that the chairman of the Judiciary Committee went forward with the markup over my objection. Unfortunately, the majority leader has set a politically motivated schedule for floor consideration of this measure that the chairman felt compelled to follow, even though he says he opposes the amendment.
“Constitutional amendments deserve the most careful and deliberate consideration of any matter that comes before the Senate. In addition to hearings and a subcommittee markup, such a measure should be considered by the Judiciary Committee in the light of day, open to the press and the public, with cameras present so that the whole country can see what is done. Open and deliberate debate on such an important matter cannot take place in a setting such as the one chosen by the chairman of the committee today.
“The Constitution of the United States is an historic guarantee of individual freedom. It has served as a beacon of hope, an example to people around the world who yearn to be free and to live their lives without government interference in their most basic human decisions. I took an oath when I joined this body to support and defend the Constitution. I will continue to fight this mean-spirited, divisive, poorly drafted, and misguided amendment when it comes to the Senate floor.” (Reuters, with additional reporting by The Advocate)
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05.15.06
Posted in Advocate Articles at 5:30 pm by pikapp44
British gay rights groups are crying hypocrisy upon learning that the head of the Roman Catholic Church in the United Kingdom, who has publicly expressed opposition to antigay discrimination, apparently fired a staffer for being gay. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the archbishop of Westminster, dismissed press secretary Stephen Noon in 2003 after Noon’s partner visited him at work, but the firing became public knowledge only recently, after the cardinal said the Catholic Church does not discriminate against gay people, The Times in London reports.
In a letter he wrote to The Times in support of Britain’s embattled new equality minister, Ruth Kelly, a Catholic who will not divulge her views on homosexuality, Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor wrote: “The church has consistently spoken out against any discrimination against homosexual persons and will continue to do so.” Yet, according to The Times, the cardinal felt he had to dismiss Noon because his being gay was in conflict with Church teachings that homosexuality is a sin.
Activists like Terry Sanderson, spokesperson for the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association, are predictably outraged. “The sickening hypocrisy is almost unbelievable,” Sanderson told The Times.
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