10.20.08
Posted in Advocate Articles, Gay Rights at 9:56 pm by pikapp44
Gov. Palin took time this weekend to revisit the merits of another anti-gay federal law that, unlike DADT, failed to make it’s way into the books: the Federal Marriage Amendment. Palin told David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network that she supports passing a federal law that would constitutionally define marriage as a union between a man and a woman and deny same-sex couples the right to marry.
“In my own state, I have voted along with the vast majority of Alaskans who had the opportunity to vote to amend our Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman,” Palin told CBN. “I wish on a federal level that that’s where we would go because I don’t support gay marriage.”
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Posted in E's Thoughts, Gay Portal, WIOD 610 Radio at 8:55 am by pikapp44
I heard this discussed on the radio last night. I know it’s not a story about gays, but it’s so important to everyone and gays could do a lot to save the horses by calling their Senators and Reps in Congress telling them to put an end to the rounding up and euthanasia. The BLM is using our tax dollars to kill the horses.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is rounding up healthy wild horses planning to euthanize them. The BLM wants the horses off grazing land used for cows.
Wild horse advocates fear the free-roaming legends of the West might vanish from the ranges within five years if the federal government continues to round them up, as they’ve done in Red Rock Canyon.
At a news conference Monday, they said they will petition Congress to force several federal agencies to stop most roundups and return horses now in some holding facilities to historic ranges.
They also don’t want “excess” horses euthanized, as Bureau of Land Management officials have suggested might be necessary.
“How can we let our government destroy the last of what we have?” said Karen Sussman, president of the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros, wrapping up the weekend’s Wild Horse and Burro Summit in Las Vegas.
Any hope for keeping viable herds in Clark County have already been quashed by emergency roundups by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service in recent years. No viable herds now exist near the Las Vegas Valley.
About 35 horses roam the south end of Red Rock Canyon, about a dozen are left on Mount Charleston, and no horses or burros are in the Muddy Mountains or Gold Butte, based on estimates by the National Wild Horse Association.
Sussman, speaking to reporters at a corral near the Western Trails Equestrian Park, said it takes about 150 horses to maintain a genetically viable herd and 75 percent of the nation’s herds have fewer than that.
She said the herds are rapidly declining and many will be zeroed out in five years, even though BLM officials disagree.
“I think that’s an erroneous statement,” said Doran Sanchez, communications chief for the BLM in Nevada.
Barbara Wolin, a Las Vegas wild horse enthusiast who was one of about 75 summit participants, said the BLM should put horses back in herd areas that are being used for ranching and other interests (cow grazing).
“I just want to see the horses handled properly and given their just due. They need their place on the range,” she said.
“I don’t think they’ve made the effort to do what they need to bring some relief for these horses,” Wolin said about the BLM.
Laurie Howard, who has served on the boards of a number of wild horse advocacy groups, brought her pinto mustang, Coco, to Monday’s news event. She wants Congress to intervene so that wild horses won’t be euthanized.
“We’re only hoping that the BLM will listen to our suggestions,” she said.
Howard said BLM Deputy Director Henri Bisson seemed to be leaning the way of advocates who called for a halt to the roundups and understood their concerns for wanting to return gelded horses to historic herd areas and pursue better birth-control methods for mares.
“He was very receptive to everything, but he’s on his way out,” Howard said, noting that Bisson plans to retire early next year.
“One of the things we’re concerned about is that (BLM) wild horse specialists are trained properly and that the management is trained properly” and that they understand that family bonds among horses shouldn’t be broken, Howard said.
Sanchez said even if there are gathers next year, the horses that are left have a 20 percent reproduction rate. In a few years there would be too many horses for the ranges to support, especially in Nevada, where wild fires have taken a toll on forage and water is scarce.
“It’s imperative to maintain the overall health of the range and not only for wild horses and burros but also for permitted livestock and wildlife,” he said in a telephone interview.
Sussman said the BLM’s estimates of 29,500 wild horses in 10 Western states is off by as many as 15,000.
Sanchez said, however, the BLM’s count is accurate.
In Nevada, the BLM estimates about 16,000 are in the state, mostly in central and Northern Nevada. Those in Southern Nevada represent 2.5 percent of the nation’s wild horses.
Meanwhile, federal holding facilities are at capacity, adoption outlets are saturated and the BLM is considering exterminating those that are declared excess. The BLM’s budget for wild horses is not expected to increase and bureau officials say they are left with no choice but euthanasia to curb holding costs.
Nearly 74,000 horses were taken off the nation’s ranges between 2001 and 2007. Some 44,000 have been adopted, leaving about 30,000 in holding facilities.
“This is a force that has to be reckoned with,” Sussman said about the BLM’s roundup practices. “They have not been an agency we can rely on.”
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10.17.08
Posted in Advocate Articles, Gay Rights at 4:58 pm by pikapp44
A mid-level New York State appeals court in Albany heard arguments Wednesday in a challenge to the state’s health benefit policy for spouses of gay state workers, the Associated Press reports.
The challenge was brought by taxpayers represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative group. The four plaintiffs, a group of taxpayers the AP says are not state workers, say whether to allow spousal benefits should be left up to the state legislature. Brian Raum, who is representing plaintiffs Kenneth and Denise Lewis and Robert and Elaine Houck, said that former governor Eliot Spitzer’s 2007 authorization of the policy is “completely at odds” with current law and that the change should have been “left up to the democratic process.”
Assistant solicitor general Sasha Samberg-Champion said that lawmakers considered but did not adopt legislation to reverse the policy, which affects only state employees who were legally married in jurisdictions that grant same-sex marriages, including Canada, Massachusetts, and now California and Connecticut. A lower court earlier this year upheld the benefits policy. The appeals court’s decision is expected in about a month.
Another battle over recognition of same-sex marriages is ongoing in the state courts. The New York supreme court ruled September 9 that current governor David Paterson acted within his powers when he issued an executive order requiring state agencies to recognize for legally married same-sex couples all rights afforded to heterosexual married couples in the state. The Alliance Defense Fund had filed suit to fight the May 14 directive.
Justice Lucy Billings wrote in her opinion, “When partners manifest the commitment to their relationship and family, by solemnizing that commitment elsewhere, through one of life’s most significant events, and come to New York, whether returning home or setting down roots, to carry on that commitment, nothing is more antithetical to family stability than requiring them to abandon that solemnized commitment.” This ruling is also under appeal; in New York State, the top-level appeals court, not the supreme court, is the highest court.
New York State does not currently marry gay couples; while the state assembly passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in 2007, the senate has yet to vote on the proposed legislation.
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10.16.08
Posted in Advocate Articles, Gay Rights at 5:20 pm by pikapp44
Remember the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., mayor who wanted to spend $230,000 on a “robo-toilet” to cut down on the number of men who have sex with men in public restrooms?
His name is Jim Naugle. He’s been mayor since 1991. New term limits in Fort Lauderdale mean that come spring 2009, after 18 years in office, the homophobic mayor will bid adieu to City Hall.
Presently, there are four men vying for the office, two are gay men.
Earl Rynerson, a local businessman and relative newcomer to Fort Lauderdale and its political scene, and longtime city LGBT activist Dean Trantalis, who is an attorney and a former one-term city commissioner.
They both consider themselves Democrats and they both say they’re mayoral candidates who happen to be gay.
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10.15.08
Posted in Advocate Articles, Gay Rights at 2:56 pm by pikapp44
Ellen DeGeneres has stepped up her participation in the No on Prop. 8 campaign by recording a TV ad asking voters to oppose the proposed anti-gay marriage California constitutional amendment.
Patrick Guerriero, campaign director for No on 8, made that announcement during a phone conference with LGBT press on Tuesday.
“She’s filmed an ad that could be used in ways that we’ll determine over the next day or so. Certainly you’ll see it on the Web and virally, and potentially on TV,” said Guerriero, who read a transcript that he said is close to the finished product.
“Hi, I’m Ellen DeGeneres,” Guerriero quoted from the transcript. “I got to do something this year I never thought I’d ever be able to do. I got married. It was the happiest day of my life. There are people out there raising millions of dollars to try to take that right away from me. You’ve seen their ads on TV. They’re twisting the truth, and they’re trying to scare you. I believe in fairness. I believe in compassion. I believe in equality for all people. Proposition 8 does not. Please, please vote no on Prop. 8.”
“I think you’re going to see some breakthrough gifts in the next few days,” Guerriero said. Since the No on Prop. 8 campaign put out an SOS roughly a week ago, donations have been running close to $1 million per day — a remarkable feat, he said, and one that has No on 8 poised to cross the $20 million mark shortly.
However, Guerriero stressed, donations need to keep rolling in at that rate through Election Day, at least, in order to get the pro-LGBT side back in the fight monetarily — and of 1 million LGBT adults in California, only 30,000 have contributed so far — and that not a single LGBT demographic or region in the state had given what would be required to win the battle.
“When you do the math, if we have a million adults and we have 30,000 donors, that means 970,000 have not given a dollar yet,” he said. “That means there’s not a single neighborhood, there’s not a single street, there’s not a single congressional district, there’s not a single county where we’re getting enough support from LGBT Californians.”
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10.14.08
Posted in 365 Gay, Gay Portal at 2:47 pm by pikapp44
Openly gay former talk show host Rosie O’Donnell will host a live, hour-long special on NBC on Nov. 26 called Rosie’s Variety Show, it was announced in The Hollywood Reporter today.
The show — a 2009 version of classic variety shows like The Carol Burnett Show or The Ed Sullivan Show — will feature celebrity guests, musical acts, comedy skits and prizes for the audience and TV viewers.
O’Donnell became famous with the success of her long-running NBC talk show The Rosie O’Donnell Show (1996-2002), which ended its run the same year she came out as a lesbian.
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10.13.08
Posted in 365 Gay, Gay Rights at 12:52 pm by pikapp44
The American Family Association is calling off a boycott of McDonald’s after the fast-food giant agreed to end its support for the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
In addition, a company employee appointed to the chamber’s board of directors has resigned.
McDonald’s incurred the wrath of the AFA after it made a $20,000 donation to the chamber, and Richard Ellis, who until last month was vice president of communications for the chain, was named to the chamber’s
board of directors.
The company at first resisted AFA’s demands that it sever ties with the chamber. In a July response to the conservative group that fights LGBT issues nationwide, McDonald’s Global Chief Diversity Officer Pat Harris said: “We have a well-established and proud heritage of associating with individuals and organizations that share our belief that every person has the right to live and work in their community free of discrimination.”
But now in an e-mailed memo to franchise holders, the company said it has dropped ties with the chamber.
“It is our policy to not be involved in political and social issues. McDonald’s remains neutral on same-sex marriage or any ‘homosexual agenda’ as defined by the American Family Association.”
Richard Ellis is no longer with corporate headquarters. He is now with the company’s Canadian operation.
The e-mail said that Ellis stepped down from the chamber’s board “voluntarily.”
“We appreciate the decision by McDonald’s to no longer support political activity by homosexual activist organizations,” the AFA said in a statement to its members calling off the boycott.
The AFA previously boycotted Disney for several year’s over its support for Gay Days at Disney World, although the company was not an official sponsor of the event.
It boycotted Cincinnati-based Proctor and Gamble over the company’s support for the repeal of a city charter amendment that prevented Cincinnati city council from enacting any laws that would recognize gays and lesbians.
The group boycotted Kraft for its support of the Chicago Gay Games and threatened to boycott Wal-Mart over its involvement with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
The boycotts resulted in little impact on the companies.
The AFA boycott of Ford was heralded as a success by the organization which noted that it had resulted in a drop in sales and share value. But most financial analysts said that Ford’s problems were really the result of vehicle designs that failed to impress the public.
The conservative Christian group launched a nationwide boycott of Ford in 2005 over the automaker’s support for LGBT issues, briefly put it on hold, and then reinstated it.
The AFA claimed victory when Ford began pulling its ads from LGBT publications, but industry observers and the company said the ad pullout was part of a downsizing of expenses.
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10.10.08
Posted in Advocate Articles, Gay Rights at 1:21 pm by pikapp44
Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaskan governor Sarah Palin said that she will not officially issue a proclamation recognizing National Coming Out Day. She declined a request by Alaskans Together for Equality to acknowledge the day, which will be on Saturday.
The organization says it approached her after the vice presidential debate on October 2, when debate moderator Gwen Ifill asked Palin and Democratic counterpart Joe Biden whether they support gay marriage.
After both said they did not, Palin added, “If there’s any kind of suggestion at all from my answer that I would be anything but tolerant of adults in America choosing their partners, choosing relationships that they deem best for themselves, you know, I am tolerant, and I have a very diverse family and group of friends. And even within that group you would see some who may not agree with me on this issue; some very dear friends who don’t agree with me on this issue.”
According to the press release, Palin — in October alone — has issued proclamations for Careers in Construction Week, 10th Annual Christian Heritage Week, Biomedical Technician Week, Alaska Taiwan Friendship Week, World Farm Animals Day, Breastfeeding Awareness Month, and Grand Opening of Rilke Schule Day.
“Governor Palin called for ‘tolerance,’ and we hoped she’d show that type of leadership as governor with this proclamation,” said Alaskans Together president Marsha Buck. “Coming out is a difficult and deserves recognition.”
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10.08.08
Posted in 365 Gay, Gay Rights at 3:03 pm by pikapp44
Nine in 10 LGBT teens have been verbally harassed in the past school year, and almost half have been physically harassed.
Homophobic remarks such as “that’s so gay” are the most commonly heard type of biased remarks at school
“The 2007 National School Climate Survey reveals that, on a whole, the situation is still dire for many LGBT youth when it comes to school safety,” GLSEN Executive Director Kevin Jennings said.
“It’s hard to believe that anyone who reads this report could continue to turn the other way as our nation’s LGBT students are bullied and harassed at alarming rates. The good news is there’s hope. The 2007 National School Climate Survey also shows that when schools and educators take action, they can make a drastic difference.”
Students in schools with a Gay-Straight Alliance reported hearing fewer homophobic remarks, experienced less harassment and assault because of their sexual orientation and gender expression, the study found. In addition, these students were more likely to report incidents of harassment and assault to school staff, were less likely to feel unsafe because of their sexual orientation or gender expression, were less likely to miss school because of safety concerns and reported a greater sense of belonging to their school community.
Nevertheless, the study found only about a third of students had a Gay-Straight Alliance at school. The same number of students could identify six or more supportive educators and only a fifth attended a school that had a comprehensive safe school policy.
The survey was released in advance of National Coming Out Day on October 11, and Ally Week which begins on October 13.
GLSEN on Friday will launch the first national multimedia public service advertising campaign designed to address the use of anti-gay language among teens. It was undertaken with the Advertising Council and produced pro bono by ad agency ArnoldNYC.
The campaign includes television, radio, print, outdoor and Web advertising.
The TV ads feature scenarios in which the term “that’s so gay” is used casually in an effort to help teens recognize that their anti-LGBT language is harmful. The ads conclude with comedian Wanda Sykes in one TV spot, and actress Hilary Duff in another, urging teens to “knock it off.”
GLSEN said the campaign hopes to motivate teens to become allies in the efforts to raise awareness, stop using anti-LGBT language, and safely intervene when they are present and anti-LGBT harassment and behavior occurs.
“Every student has a right to feel safe in school free from bullying and harassment,” said Jennings.
“When students do not feel safe, they struggle to learn. This campaign will help educate young people about the harmful language many of them commonly use.”
The new ads are being distributed to approximately 33,000 media stations nationwide this week. Under the Ad Council’s donated media model, all of the new ads will air and run in advertising time and space donated by the media. Media companies, including MTV (which through its Logo channel owns 365gay.com), have made early commitments to support the campaign.
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10.07.08
Posted in Advocate Articles, Gay Rights at 4:39 pm by pikapp44
A new poll shows support for California’s Proposition 8 has grown in an 11-day period, reports CBS 5, the San Francisco Bay Area affiliate that commissioned the survey. Proposition 8 would rescind marriage equality for same-sex couples if passed. The California supreme court legalized same-sex marriage on May 15.
Results found that among 670 likely voters, 47% now support the ban on marriage equality, compared with 42% who oppose. Ironically, a poll conducted 11 days earlier found the same five-point margin, but that time in the opposition’s favor. SurveyUSA, which conducted the research October 4–5, indicates that the only demographic to shift its position is young voters, typically the hardest to poll and predict.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points, which makes the race still too close to call, says the pollster. A summary released by SurveyUSA concluded, “Polling on ballot measures in general is an inexact science, and polling on homosexuality in general is a tricky business. So, not too much should be made of the five points that separates ‘yes’ and ‘no’ today.”
As in previous polls, support for a gay marriage ban was strongest among self-identified conservatives and regular churchgoers. Liberals and those who consider themselves less religious made up the lion’s share of the opposition.
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