A Gay Blog….Just Two Gay Women Giving Our Opinions…Very Exciting Stuff;)
Nitzan Horowitz, the second out member of Israel’s Knesset, was sworn into office Tuesday. The former TV journalist aims to focus on improving LGBT rights, including a planned bill to extend marriage or civil union rights to gay couples.
The National Equality Rally will take place May 3 at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall — the same site where gay rights pioneers launched the LGBT civil rights movement with rallies every 4th of July from 1965 through 1969.
The rally is a call on Congress and President Barack Obama to:
• Pass a trans-inclusive hate-crimes bill and Employment Non-Discrimination Act
• Repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the Defense of Marriage Act
• Support GLBT health issues
• Provide equal benefits for same-sex couples and their families
• Advance federal marriage equality
For more information on the National Equality Rally, visit www.NationalEqualityRally.org.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People announced support on Monday for California’s supreme court to invalidate Proposition 8, the November ballot initiative that constitutionally banned same-sex marriage in California.
The civil rights group not only wants the court to overturn Prop. 8 — they want California’s legislature to go on record against Prop. 8 as well.
“The NAACP’s mission is to help create a society where all Americans have equal protection and opportunity under the law,” wrote NAACP CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous (pictured) in a letter to legislative leaders. “Our mission statement calls for the ‘quality of rights of all persons.’ Prop. 8 strips same-sex couples of a fundamental freedom, as defined by the California state supreme court. In so doing, it poses a serious threat to all Americans. Prop. 8 is a discriminatory, unprecedented change to the California constitution that, if allowed to stand, would undermine the very purpose of a constitution and courts — assuring equal protection and opportunity for all and safeguarding minorities from the tyranny of the majority.”
The California state conference of the NAACP has already filed briefs with the California supreme court in the legal challenge against the ballot initiative, which squeaked by with 52% of the vote. California’s state court will begin hearing oral arguments to Prop. 8 on March 5.
“The NAACP has long opposed any proposal that would alter the federal or state constitutions for the purpose of excluding any groups or individuals from guarantees of equal protections,” said NAACP chairman Julian Bond in a press release. “We urge the legislature to declare that Proposition 8 did not follow the proper protective process and should be overturned as an invalid alteration that vitiated crucial constitutional safeguards and fundamental American values, threatening civil rights and all vulnerable minorities.”
Alexander Robinson, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, an LGBT rights organization, said that the letter represented forward movement for the NAACP. “It’s consistent in that they have always opposed constitutional bans,” he observed, “but I think that weighing in so clearly on an action that would have the effect of reinstituting marriage given that they still have not taken a position on gay marriage is a significant step forward.” Robinson also anticipated that the national organization might get some pushback on the letter from local NAACP chapters.
Despite some well-publicized calls for a more inclusive GOP, newly installed Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele rejected the possibility of any kind of legally recognized civil union for gays and lesbians. Appearing on Mike Gallagher’s radio show, Steele responded to a question on civil unions by saying, “No, no no. What would we do that for? What are you, crazy?”
As they’ve done many times before, Westboro Baptist Church leader Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper had planned to picket an upcoming production of the Matthew Shepard play The Laramie Project — but the United Kingdom will have none of their “extremist” hate.
According to London’s Daily Telegraph, Phelps and his daughter have been barred from entering the country because their church has called for violence against gays.
The two had planned to picket a production of the show at the school arts center in Basingstoke, Hampshire, on Friday, but according to reports, if they attempt to enter the country, they will be stopped by immigration officials.
“Both these individuals have engaged in unacceptable behavior by inciting hatred against a number of communities,” a U.K. Border Agency spokesperson told the Telegraph. “The Government has made it clear it opposes extremism in all its forms.
“We will continue to stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country.”
Phelps and members of his Kansas church have regularly picketed the funerals of gay men and women as well as U.S. soldiers, claiming their deaths are punishment for America’s tolerance of gays and lesbians.
Wednesday, Feb. 18 marked the second anniversary of Lisa Pond’s death.
Pond, 39, slipped out of consciousness alone in Jackson Memorial Hospital’s trauma unit in Miami while her partner of 17 years, Janice Langbehn, and three of the couple’s four adoptive children begged hospital staff for a chance to say a final goodbye.
Langbehn waited in the hospital lobby, trying to prove to hospital nurses and doctors that, as a domestic partner, she had the legal authority to consent to medical procedures and be at her partner’s side.
She finally got that chance eight hours later, with the help of the priest who administered last rites to Pond.
Langbehn was told by a staff social worker that she was not allowed into Pond’s hospital room because she did not qualify as family, and she should not expect to get any information regarding Ponds’ condition because she was in “an anti-gay city and state.”
The statement is a central part of the federal lawsuit Langbehn has filed against Miami-Dade’s Public Health Trust – the entity that runs Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Represented by Lambda Legal, Lang- behn asserts that the hospital intentionally inflicted pain and suffering on her family by denying them the rights that other families get.
County attorneys representing the trust are asking that the case be thrown out. At a hearing Feb. 6, attorneys for the Public Health Trust told US District Judge Adalberto Jordan to dismiss the case because that the hospital is not bound by law to allow patients—straight or gay—to see their loved ones. Langbehn’s charges, they said, are vague and trivial complaints without foundation.
Jordan will decide whether the case will move forward.
For Beth Littrell, senior Lambda Legal attorney, the county is “grasping at straws” to use legal technicalities to counter the humane and ethical right of family members, including same-sex life partners and domestic partners, to see a dying loved one.
“There’s nothing vague about following hospital visitation standards. There’s nothing vague about treating patients and patients’ families with dignity in their final hours,” Littrell said.
“[Jackson’s lawyers] are attempting to avoid liability by hiding behind technical arguments to avoid the obvious harm that they inflicted on this family.”
The Langbehn case is the third case Lambda has argued regarding the rights of same sex couples in dire emergency room scenarios.
In 2000 a Maryland jury decided in favor of the University of Maryland Hospital System against Jim Flanigan. a gay man whose partner Robert Daniel died in hospital care.
Although the men were registered domestic partners in California, where they lived, hospital staff withheld any information or visitation rights to Flanigan until his dying partner’s family arrived more than 24 hours later.
In December 2008, a Washington State Judge allowed Sharon Reed’s case to move forward against The University of Washington Medical Center and a nursing agency; Reed was not allowed to see her partner of 17 years, Jo Anne Ritchie, until Ritchie was in her final hours and was heavily medicated.
Langbehn’s case, Littrell said, illustrates the worst-case scenario. The family had traveled from Washington to Miami to go on a cruise. Pond collapsed shortly after boarding the cruise ship and was rushed to Jackson.
Littrell said that while the Langbehn case may not change new laws that deny same-sex couples marriage rights, it could have lasting effect to protect long-time partners.
“It will just have a deterrent effect, because it will put hospitals on notice that they are liable if the fail to treat patients and families with appropriate care,” Littrell said. “We think that what happened to Janice and her family is unfair, unlawful, and outrageous.”
PepsiCo announced Wednesday morning a multiyear distribution deal with the makers of the energy drink Rockstar, prompting calls among gay rights activists for a company-wide boycott.
Rockstar was co-created by Dr. Michael Weiner, better known as conservative radio host Michael Savage, who has often broadcast antigay tirades, referring to gay callers as “sodomites” who should “get AIDS and die.”
His equally conservative wife, Janet, serves as the company’s CFO, while his son Russell — cofounder of the Paul Revere Society, which campaigns for the deportation of all illegal immigrants — serves as the CEO.
Savage has been equally outspoken on issues including abortion and autism, once defining an autistic child as “a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out.”
Earlier this year, it was the antigay American Family Association calling for a boycott of PepsiCo after the company donated a combined $1 million to the Human Rights Campaign and Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
“We were indeed surprised by PepsiCo’s support of the homosexual group,” the AFA’s Donald E. Wildmon wrote in October about the $500,000 donation to PFLAG. “It would appear to us that PepsiCo would not involve itself in a political and culture war, especially supporting an organization seeking to redefine marriage and family.”
A statement released by PepsiCo today said of the deal with the energy drink manufacturer: “Rockstar is a major milestone in our bid to become the undisputed category leader in energy drinks. We’re moving assertively to the front of the energy drink pack.”
Drama students at Corona del Mar High School were busy Wednesday learning the lines and music to “You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown” after “Rent” the spring musical they were in rehearsals for was cancelled.
Drama advisor Ron Martin tells the Los Angeles Times that principal Fal Asrani ordered him to drop “Rent” because of its gay characters. Asrani disputes Martin’s claim. She says she only asked to see the script.
“Rent” tells the story of a group of struggling artists in New York City, several of whom are gay.
Martin tells The Times that he chose the story to teach tolerance after hearing students use gay slurs.
“My responsibility as a drama teacher is to expose my students to a variety of different types of plays,” Martin told The Times.
He also said that he removed a portion of the script that showed a sex scene between two of the gay characters and that he discussed the production with Asrani before assigning it.
Further, he asserts that at a recent meeting with Martin and a representative from the teachers union, Asrani said the production could not go on and that she needed to review the script because of “prostitution and homosexuality.” There is no prostitution in the musical.
Asrani tells The Times she did not order the play cancelled and never received a copy of the script.
Dana Black, president of the Newport-Mesa Board of Education, said that the district does not shy away from edgy subject matter, and, “we don’t want anybody feeling alienated.”
In the meantime, Martin said he replaced “Rent” with “Charlie Brown” because it “is safe.”
North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns, the city’s first openly gay mayor, is not ready to end his political career.
Burns, who will be forced out by term limits in May, is making a bid for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by Republican Mel Martinez, who will leave next year.
We watched an interesting video on the latest diet craze acai. It talks about acai berry side effects and what products actually work.