06.30.09
Posted in D's Thoughts at 4:09 pm by pikapp44
During a June 19 radio debate, Pennsylvania State Sen. John Eichelberger (R) repeatedly asserted that same-sex marriage is wrong, “dysfunctional,” and would lead to “polygamy, marrying younger people.” (Eichelberger is “sponsoring a Constitutional amendment to redefine marriage as between a man and a woman.”) But perhaps his most shocking comments came when fellow lawmaker Sen. Daylin Leach (D) asked him how gay men and women should be treated:
Leach: Should our only policy towards [same-sex] couples be one of punishment, to somehow prove that they’ve done something wrong?
Eichelberger: They’re not being punished. We’re allowing them to exist, and do what every American can do. We’re just not rewarding them with any special designation.
LGBT activists were incensed by Eichelberger’s comments, calling on him to apologize for his “insensitive remarks.” Yesterday, gay and straight protesters briefly met with Eichelberger, “after [he tried] ducking them twice.” They presented him with 5,000 signed petitions asking him to apologize. Eichelberger refused to do so:
EICHELBERGER: You know, the public process is very important in this country. That’s what my bill does. It allows the public to make a decision, which I think is a healthy thing. So I appreciate your support of at least that concept.
SPEAKER: So are you going to apologize to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people in Pennsylvania — and all the people in Pennsylvania for those comments about allowing to exist and calling them dysfunctional.
EICHELBERGER: No, I think you know my answer to that. Thank you very much.
John Morgan of the Pennsylvania Progressive, who was at the Eichelberger confrontation and captured the exchange on video, said, “The fact he knew we would be at his office at noon and chose not to be there showed his cowardice. It was not until we waited an hour and returned that his receptionist allowed us a few minutes with the Senator in an additional hour.”
Eichelberger has said that his June 19 remarks have been taken out of context. ThinkProgress contacted the senator’s office, asking for clarification and whether he would be issuing an apology. Chief of staff Jason High simply said that the Eichelberger “has already clarified his statement in multiple media outlets.” He pointed us to a June 27 Altoona Mirror story. However, while Eichelberger repeatedly says that his comments are being misinterpreted, nowhere in that article does he shed any more light onto what he actually meant:
He [Eichelberger] said members of Keystone Progress have taken what he said out of context. He said Thursday afternoon he has no intention of taking back or apologizing for anything he stated during the discussion with Leach about heterosexual marriage, bigamy, polygamy, other different forms of marriage and procreation. … Eichelberger said Morrill and his group are purposefully misinterpreting his comment.
Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents, an LGBT blog in Pennsylvania, writes, “It is one thing to disapprove of my identity or believe it is a choice, but quite another thing to suggest that I am permitted to exist in spite of my identity. Should I be grateful to Senator Eichelberger for not condoning someone taking away my existence?”
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Posted in D's Thoughts at 5:46 am by pikapp44
President Obama and first lady Michelle welcomed gay activists to the White House on Monday, with a contingent from Chicago flying in to mark LGBT pride month.
The Obama administration’s lack of progress on key gay issues has been a source of disappointment.
“Many in our community feel he is not doing enough,” Shore told me after the event. “I feel it’s just not up to him. It has to be up to all of us. The slogan was not ‘Yes, he can.’ It was ‘Yes we can.’ So we have work to do.”
Obama in his remarks tacitly acknowledged the critics.
“I suspect that by the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration,” the president said.
On one of the most sensitive issues, getting Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, Obama said he was trying. “Now, I want to add we have a duty to uphold existing law, but I believe we must do so in a way that does not exacerbate old divides.”
As for the controversial military “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy — which can only be repealed by Congress — Obama pleaded for patience.
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06.29.09
Posted in D's Thoughts at 10:31 am by pikapp44
President Obama will host a White House reception Monday in honor of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month, but faces criticism for not keeping campaign promises to the community.
President Obama signed same-sex benefits legislation earlier this month.
“I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans,” the president said in a proclamation this month. “These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy in a way that strengthens our armed forces and our national security.”
But critics say it’s too little, too late.
A memorandum signed this month by Obama means same-sex partners of civil service employees can be added to the long-term care program, employees can use their sick leave to take care of domestic partners, and children and same-sex partners of Foreign Service employees will be included in medical evacuations and housing allocations, according to the White House.
But it does not extend full health care coverage, which would require an act of Congress.
“It seems to me at least to be a nice gesture, but a disappointment,” Richard Kim, a senior editor at The Nation magazine, said at the time. “It will absolutely be seen as something good. But I think, for example, it not including full health insurance, that is going to put a real microscope on that question. You know, why not?” Kim said, adding that memo applies only to federal employees, so most people will not be affected by it.
The extension of health and retirement benefits to same-sex partners is prohibited under the Defense of Marriage Act.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said the entire memorandum violates the act.
“President Obama’s … executive order uses taxpayer money to placate an angry portion of his base at the expense of the rule of law,” Perkins said this month in a written statement. “This order raises the question of whether the president has the authority to ignore (the Defense of Marriage Act) and bypass the legislative process.”
Charles Moran, the spokesman for the Log Cabin Republicans, said the lack of full benefits in the June 18 memorandum shows a lack of commitment to the gay community.
“That’s the part that just shows that the Obama administration really isn’t serious about their promises to the gay and lesbian community. Things like the health benefits, things like retirement benefits and coverage for spouses — these are the core issues,” Moran said.
He said Obama has had multiple opportunities to fulfill his promises to the gay and lesbian community — including by repealing the military’s don’t ask, don’t tell policy and standing against the Justice Department motion filed this month in support of the Defense of Marriage Act.
“Here we are, several months after he’s been inaugurated, and we’ve gotten basically nothing. So it is too little, too late,” Moran said.
Obama said he still wants to repeal the act, as he advocated during last year’s election campaign.
“I believe it’s discriminatory. I think it interferes with states’ rights, and we will work with Congress to overturn it,” he said.
Obama frequently spoke in favor of gay and lesbian rights during the presidential campaign, but also has said he opposes same-sex marriage. In the run up to his inauguration, he declared himself “a fierce advocate for gay and lesbian Americans.”
Given the support Obama received from the gay community during the campaign season, Kim said, so far the Obama administration has let gay and lesbian rights activists down.
Obama got 70 percent of the vote from those who identified themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, according to CNN exit polls.
“I think there is an overwhelming feeling that he has not lived up to expectations on these matters,” he said.
Obama is the second U.S. president to recognize the community. Bill Clinton designated June 2000 as Gay and Lesbian Pride month
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06.25.09
Posted in D's Thoughts at 9:55 am by pikapp44
The Florida Second District Court of Appeals decision last month to reverse a Fla. trial court’s ruling in a custody dispute involving a lesbian couple could set a precedent in determining whether the state, which bans adoptions by same-sex couples, must recognize other state’s inclusive adoption laws.
Lara Embry and Kimberly Ryan each gave birth to a child and adopted the other’s baby in Washington state, but split up after moving to Fla. Following a custody battle in trial court, Ryan won sole custody of her biological child, whom Embry had adopted while the couple resided in Wash., based on Fla.’s 1977 ban on adoption by same-sex couples. The May 13 decision of the Fla. appeals court reversed this ruling, giving Embry the same rights as any adoptive parent.
“Today people are so mobile, and it’s so common for families to move from one state to another. We wanted to make sure they are not stripped of their parental status just by moving across the Florida state line,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Embry’s attorney.
The Liberty Counsel, an anti-LGBT legal advocacy organization representing Ryan, has expressed plans to appeal the court’s recent decision to the state’s Supreme Court.
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06.23.09
Posted in D's Thoughts at 6:12 am by pikapp44
After a Seattle City Light employee filed for the release of the names of gay and lesbian city workers involved in a city-sponsored club earlier in the month, the city of Seattle reluctantly did the same. The city is claiming the state public-records act requires the names to be released.
Philip Irvin, a self-proclaimed civil rights leader who was thwarted in his attempts to create a city-sponsored group of ex-gay employees, asked earlier this month for the names of employees associated with the department’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Questioning and Friends Club. Members of the club sued to prevent their names from being released claiming it would violate their privacy.
“The city sympathizes with the concerns that plaintiffs have expressed,” Assistant City Attorney Gary T. Smith said in court documents. “Nonetheless, the city believes that the Public Records Act obligates it to disclose the records at issue.”
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06.22.09
Posted in D's Thoughts at 2:26 pm by pikapp44
In a letter sent to President Obama today, seventy-seven members of Congress called on the White House to issue a moratorium suspending gay discharges from the military. The new strategy envisions immediate executive action, to be followed by legislative repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law at a subsequent time. The letter calls on the President “to exercise the maximum discretion legally possible in administering ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ until Congress repeals the law.”
The letter outlines a new, two-step repeal plan which begins with a request that the President, “direct the Armed Services not to initiate any investigation of service personnel to determine their sexual orientation, and that [he] instruct them to disregard third party accusations that do not allege violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.”
The letter signals renewed efforts to stop gay discharges immediately while repeal legislation moves through Congress at a slower pace. It states that after the White House suspends the gay ban administratively, “Congress must then repeal and replace ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ with a policy of non-discrimination.” This strategy marks the first time that Congress has called on the White House to take the lead by issuing a presidential moratorium to suspend the gay ban while the legislative process unfolds.
In 2005, bipartisan repeal legislation was introduced in the House and has been reintroduced in the subsequent two Congresses. Companion legislation has not been introduced in the Senate.
Lt. Dan Choi, an Arabic translator whose discharge under “don’t ask, don’t tell” is imminent, stated that, “I am delighted that so many members of Congress are calling on the White House to allow me to do my job in Iraq, and to allow all other loyal gay service members to do their jobs as well.” Today’s Congressional letter cites Choi’s impending discharge as an example of why swift presidential action is needed.
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06.20.09
Posted in D's Thoughts at 5:20 pm by pikapp44
President Barack Obama’s announcement Wednesday offering limited benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees failed to quell growing anger in the gay community that gay rights issues were getting short shrift at the White House.
In fact, Obama’s promise to offer ancillary employee benefits - such as long-term-care insurance and the right to use sick leave to care for domestic partners - while still denying more valuable benefits, such as health insurance and retirement funds, may have further agitated gay and lesbian activists who were already fuming over other perceived snubs.
Obama said he also favors extending health and retirement benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees but that such a move is currently prohibited by the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, which passed in 1996.
“Are they kidding us? Domestic partnership benefits WITHOUT health insurance because of DOMA?” gay fundraiser and activist David Mixner told POLITICO in an e-mail. “It is like rubbing salt in the wound.”
“From what you describe, it seems to me to fall very far short,” said C. Dixon Osburn, a gay activist in Washington. “A patchwork approach that doesn’t amount to a full array of benefits one would want or expect … does not seem like a very good olive branch.”
Obama said Wednesday that he wanted to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, calling it “discriminatory,” and that he supports legislation to give same-sex partners of Federal employees equal benefits as heterosexual couples enjoy.
“Hundreds of Fortune 500 companies already offer such benefits, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because they recognize it helps them compete for and retain top talent,” he said.
Gay leaders have been in a slow burn through much of the spring, distressed about the Obama administration’s failure to press for immediate repeal of the military’s don’t ask, don’t tell policy prohibiting openly gay men and women from serving. Some also chafed at the White House’s refusal to suspend forced discharges of gay military personnel.
The concern escalated to a public furor after the Justice Department filed legal briefs in recent days defending the military policy and DOMA. Justice officials explained that they were required to defend the laws, but many gay leaders said the briefs used unnecessarily inflammatory language, particularly by citing legal precedents from cases that related to incest and underage spouses.
“I think there is more palpable anger in the LGBT lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community at the perceived inaction by the Obama administration than I have felt directed at any prior administration. I think that’s in part because the expectations were high and the response so far has been low,” said Osburn.
In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry insisted that Obama’s action on benefits demonstrated aggressive leadership.
“This is a first step, not a final step,” Berry said. “It’s an example of practicing before preaching. I believe the president is taking bold action to do just that.”
Berry, who is Obama’s highest-ranking openly gay appointee, said Obama has been “very clear” that he would like to do away with don’t ask, don’t tell. However, Obama did not mention the issue Wednesday.
Berry insisted that Obama’s Wednesday announcement had nothing to do with the withering criticism the administration has faced from gays and lesbians in recent days. Some leaders in the community are urging their members to boycott a June 25 Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Washington.
Berry acknowledged that some benefits announced Wednesday by Obama, such as sick leave to care for a same-sex partner, have been permitted on a case-by-case basis in the past.
“What the president is doing today is making this no longer optional. He’s making it mandatory,” Berry said.
But Osburn said the measures were not enough.”The administration, by its failure to move on our issues - they are quickly losing credibility with our community,” he said.
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06.13.09
Posted in D's Thoughts at 10:42 pm by pikapp44
The City of Miami Commission voted unanimously in a 5-0 decision Thursday to adopt a Domestic Partnership Ordinance. The City of Miami will now extend the same health benefits to the declared domestic partners and children of city employees that are granted to heterosexual employees of the city.
“Providing employment benefits, including healthcare, to the domestic partners of our City of Miami employees is a common sense idea that has been far too long in coming. This is nothing more than treating people equally,” said Commissioner Marc Sarnoff. “I am proud to say our City is doing the right thing.”
Miami is now the third municipality in Miami-Dade County to pass this Ordinance, which was previously adopted by the City of Miami Beach and the City of North Miami. County employees in Miami-Dade County also receive similar benefits thanks to the work of Safeguarding American Values for Everyone (SAVE) Dade, who pushed for the most recent City of Miami Ordinance.
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06.10.09
Posted in D's Thoughts at 10:15 am by pikapp44
American Idol” runner-up Adam Lambert has told Rolling Stone magazine he is gay, answering a question that followed the singer for months since he gained millions of fans on the No. 1 U.S. TV talent show.
“I don’t think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear that I’m gay,”
He was nicknamed “Glambert” and Entertainment Weekly magazine called him “the most exciting ‘American Idol’ contestant in years.”
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, a group that advocates for homosexual rights, said it hopes Lambert’s “decision to live openly and honestly inspires gay people and opens the hearts and minds of his fans.”
“I’m proud of my sexuality,” he said. “I embrace it. It’s just another part of me.”
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06.04.09
Posted in D's Thoughts at 9:41 am by pikapp44
President Barack Obama’s promises of change are falling short for one core Democratic constituency: gays and lesbians, whose leaders say Obama’s administration isn’t keeping up with the times.
Gay rights campaigners, most of them Democrats who supported Obama in November, have begun to voice their public frustration with Obama’s inaction, small jokes at their community’s expense and deafening silence on what they see as the signal civil rights issue of this era.
His most important campaign promises repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and the military ban on openly gay and lesbian service-members have not been fulfilled.
And the news, which emerged quietly earlier this year, that he’d supported same-sex marriage back in 1996, then changed his mind, especially rankles. As mainstream Democratic politicians such as Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) move to support same-sex marriage, gay rights advocates say that the barrier-breaking president looks increasingly odd for opposing what they see as full equality.
“Obama is out of step with his party, which is overwhelmingly in favor of marriage at this stage,” said David Mixner, a veteran gay rights activist who is among the organizers of a march on Washington for same-sex marriage scheduled for this fall. “He’s out of step with the next generation.”
Gay rights issues have been moving at breakneck speed, none faster than same-sex marriage. Most public opinion polls now show more than 40 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage, seen as a fringe issue just a few years earlier. Already, five New England states and Iowa have same-sex marriage laws on the books.
“Politicians are finding out that their voters are moving faster than they anticipated,” said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, who called Obama’s place behind that curve “surprising, because he is the next-generational candidate.”
She noted that Obama could be concerned about alienating older voters in the Midwest who would be turned off if he came out in support of same-sex marriage.
The White House has been reluctant to spend its political capital pushing Obama’s highest-profile pro-gay positions believing, White House allies say, that it could detract from priorities like health care. And it may be even less likely to do next year, with midterms approaching.
But officials have told restive gays and lesbians to give them until the end of this month to show movement on a number of lower-profile issues they support, including restrictions on visas for people with HIV. The Pentagon also has toned down public opposition to reversing the gay ban, and the new secretary of the Army’s job will be, in part, to smooth the way for that move.
“The president remains fully committed to advancing LGBT rights. His positions on all of these issues are well-established and well-known. His staff continues to work with Congress on a variety of LGBT issues,” said Jim Messina, the deputy White House chief of staff who is the point man on gay and lesbian issues, citing White House efforts to move hate crimes legislation through the Senate. “While we recognize that some in the community are anxious, the president’s commitment has not wavered.”
Meanwhile, however, marriage equality has emerged as the movement’s central issue, a question that’s seen as a simple matter of justice and fairness by a growing number of Democrats.
“There’s going to come a point where’s he going have to deal with it,” former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who now supports same-sex marriage, said of Obama. “I’m in favor of giving him a little more time. He’s got an awful lot on his plate.”
“But he is a politician like everybody else, and he’s going to respond to pressure. And I don’t blame the LGBT community for trying to push,” Dean said.
Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), who is openly gay and was a major Democratic donor before being elected last year, said he was “very hopeful [Obama’s] position will evolve.”
But Polis warned, “If his position doesn’t evolve, it could turn off some strong supporters.”
Gay leaders in Washington, though, have been loath to publicly criticize the president. They say they still view Obama as an ally and think private talks are more promising than public pressure.
Still, it was especially frustrating for some left-leaning gay figures to see the otherwise dreaded former Vice President Dick Cheney publicly express his support this week for letting states allow gay marriage — a position that puts him to the left of Obama.
“I think that freedom means freedom for everyone,” Cheney said in an appearance Monday at the National Press Club.
Obama also has been criticized for a joke at the expense of same-sex marriage. After the White House Correspondents Association dinner, columnist Dan Savage fumed that Obama’s only reference since being sworn in to the high-profile drive toward same-sex marriage in Iowa had been a joke about going to the state with longtime friend and adviser David Axelrod to “make it official.”
“The best he can do — all he’s willing to do — is toss off an Adam Sandler-level joke,” Savage wrote.
Another Obama ally, writer Andrew Sullivan, recently referred to Obama’s stance on gays as “the fierce urgency of whenever.”
And on the front line, in the states, gay rights advocates are also growing increasingly impatient with Washington.
“His position has been causing some problems for those of us working in the states, those who are against it are using him for cover,” said Alan Van Capelle, the executive director of New York’s Empire State Pride Agenda, who called on Obama to fulfill another neglected campaign promise and back the full repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which blocks the federal government from extending benefits to married same-sex couples.
Gay activists cringed recently when reminded by Donald Trump, of all people, that Miss California Carrie Prejean shared the same position on gay marriage as the progressive president.
“I’m still optimistic that the president is going to be good on his word,” said Aubrey Sarvis, the executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Networks, which opposes the military ban.
“No one believes that [anti-gay federal policies] will be miraculously changed overnight,” said Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese, who added nevertheless that his group is “frustrated at the pace of progress.”
Behind the scenes, patience is wearing thin.
“People are far angrier than they’re saying publicly, because they don’t want to jeopardize [White House] relationships with the groups,” said John Aravosis, an openly gay blogger who speaks to gay leaders. “But everyone is feeling like we’ve entered a danger zone where the administration is backing away from us fast, and I can tell you that the professional gay crowd in Washington, D.C., to a person, feels a sense of impending betrayal.”
The most heated battle is in California, where some of the same voters who overwhelmingly elected Obama also passed a referendum barring same-sex marriage. Proposition 8 has since energized the state’s gay rights movement.
The Army linguist, Dan Choi, spoke at a rally across the street from the Beverly Hills Hilton while Obama spoke inside at a high-dollar fundraiser late last month. The group organizing the rally, the Courage Campaign, has gathered 140,000 signatures on a letter to Obama asking him to rescind the ban.
Back at the fundraiser, Messina had the same message delivered in a somewhat more intimate setting.
He was walking through the men’s room at the Beverly Hilton when Mike Bonin, an activist and former Obama campaign staffer who loves the president “the way Walt Whitman loved Abe Lincoln,” confronted him.
“I told him I was disappointed that [Obama] talked about justice and equal opportunity and across the street stands Dan Choi, who’s about to be booted out of the Army,” he recalled of the faucet-side chat.
Messina, Bonin said, responded that the White House hadn’t forgotten, and complained that the administration hasn’t gotten enough credit for pushing to outlaw hate crimes against gays and lesbians, but was ultimately “noncommittal.” Bonin, who said he kept Messina standing by the sinks for about ten minutes before letting him proceed to his destination, said marriage advocates in California have been using Obama campaign tools and strategies to push the White House.
“All the people who signed this petition for Choi, all the people who are outside across the street at this rally, all the people who are coming to these [political training camps] are Obama people who love and support our president,” he said. “But he didn’t stand up for us, and until he does we’re going to love him enough to be tough on him.”
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