January 31, 2009

Mormon Church Into Prop 8 for $180,000; Apologetics’ Heads Set to Explode

As of yesterday, we knew this (per my lovely wife):

On November 3, 2008, ProtectMarriage.com received a contribution of $30,354.85 from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. You read that right. The Mormon Church donated more than $30 thousand dollars to eradicate the right of same-sex couples to marry.

As of today, per the LAT:

Mormon church reports spending
$180,000 on Proposition 8

Top officials with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints filed reports Friday indicating that they donated more than $180,000 in in-kind contributions to Proposition 8, the November ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriage in California.

The contributions included tens of thousands of dollars for expenses such as airline tickets, hotel and restaurant bills and car-rental bills for top church officials such as L. Whitney Clayton, along with $96,849.31 worth of “compensated staff time” for church employees.

The church said the expenditures took place between July 1 and the end of the year. The church’s involvement has been a major issue in the campaign and its aftermath. Individual Mormon families donated millions — by some estimates more than $20 million — of their own money to the campaign. …

Fred Karger, who filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission after the election alleging that church officials had not properly disclosed their involvement, said he thought today’s filing proves that his complaint has merit. …

If I weren’t so busy trying to finish the first phase of the Prop 8 donor database (which now has some new additions coming! heh), I’d be sorely tempted to spend my entire Saturday trolling all those anti-gay Mormon blogs that have been perpetuating the lie that the church’s financial contribution to the war on gays amounted to a measly two thousand bucks.

Of course, if you’re looking for something fun to do this fine day…

After all, it’s highly unlikely the blustery little Moroni(c) apologetics are going to be visiting our blogs with their usual self-righteous excuses. At least, not until they’ve had time to think of some new excuses.

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January 30, 2009

Mormon Church Donated $30,354.85 to Eradicate Marriage Rights for Same-Sex Couples.

That’s the church itself, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Utah, not just individual Mormons. They did it on November 3, and that’s what they were so desperately trying to keep under wraps in their lawsuit asking to keep donor information private. Full story in my post at The Gaytheist Agenda.

 

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January 29, 2009

Federal Judge Knocks Back Prop 8 Hypocrites’ Demand for Special Anonymity

No, I’m still not back to blogging, and I owe you all a long post about that (which has been brewing in my head for more than a week), but I’d be unforgivably remiss not to share this bit of good news with you, which just broke about twenty minutes ago:

Nothing much to quote — the headline says it all.

Backstory:

Prop 8 Supporters Launch Attack on Campaign Finance Disclosure Laws
December 27, 2008

ProtectMarriage.com Files Suit to Hide Identities of Campaign Donors
January 8, 2009

Proposition 8 Finance Disclosure Lawsuit Getting A Lot of Attention (Good!)
January 9, 2009

Fred Karger: ProtectMarriage.com, NOM & Mormon Church Look for Sympathy in Federal Lawsuit
January 9, 2009

More on Prop 8 Down-Low Donors
January 9, 2009

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January 27, 2009

Another Year in Hate.

According to the FBI, there were officially 9,535 victims of hate crimes in 2007. Needless to say this doesn’t count those crimes that weren’t reported as hate crimes, or those that weren’t reported at all. However the numbers are still startling. As to anti-LGBT hate crimes, which increased by nearly 100 over the previous year, FBI statistics for 2007 indicate that:

Of the 1,512 victims targeted due to a sexual-orientation bias:

* 58.9 percent were victims of an offender’s anti-male homosexual bias.
* 24.8 percent were victims of an anti-homosexual bias.
* 13.0 percent were victims of an anti-female homosexual bias.
* 1.8 percent were victims of an anti-heterosexual bias.
* 1.5 percent were victims of an anti-bisexual bias.

Who were some of those 1,512 known victims in 2007?

Anonymous gay male.

On September 9, 2007, a 19-year-old gay man and Georgetown University student was followed and attacked by three men who punched him and yelled anti-gay epithets. The student later identified one of his attackers – Phillip Cooney, another 19-year-old Georgetown student – via a Facebook profile.
…..

Friends later expressed shock and claimed Cooney was “one of the nicest and most gentle people we know at this school”. They’re always the nicest people ever until they pummel a gay person half to death.

 
Alfred Dibble .

Alfred Dibble, a gay man who often dressed as a woman, was found beaten, unconscious, and dressed in women’s clothing in downtown Stockton, AZ, on May 19, 2007. He was taken to a local hospital where he died without regaining consciousness on May 23. The Dibble family, joined by anti-violence organizations, asked that his murder be treated as a hate crime.
…..

 
Erica Keel

Erica Keel (1986 - March 21, 2007) was a 21-year-old African American transgender woman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On March 21, 2007 she was killed in what police classified as a hit-and-run accident but witnesses claimed was homicide.
…..
Witnesses and friends of Keel refute that Keel’s death was accidental. Keel was engaged in sex work at the time, and witnesses claimed to have seen Keel enter the car at Broad Street and Girard Avenue. The car then headed North one block, where witnesses say the driver ejected Keel from the car, and ran over her four times as she lay in the street. Lt. Hearn said Keel’s multiple injuries were due to landing on a parked car and hitting a fire hydrant before landing o the pavement.
…..

 
Josie Smith-Malave

On September 1, 2007, Josie Smith-Malave, 32, a former contestant on the Bravo Network’s Top Chef series, was beaten along with her sister and a gay friend, outside of Partners, a bar in Sea Cliff, NJ. Smith-Malave said that while the were beaten others laughed and took photographs of their ordeal.
…..
The incident started when Smith-Malave, her sister, and Durwood, 30, were asked to leave the bar. Reports vary on why the women were asked to leave the bar. The New York Daily News reported that the women began dancing together, and were escorted from the bar after patrons started making nasty remarks. A crowd of 10 or more patrons followed the women out of the bar and surrounded them, yelling anti-gay slurs.
…..
Smith-Malave said the crowed punched, kicked and spit on them while yelling epithets including “fucking dyke” and “bush muncher.” A witness who lives across the street from the bar and saw the attack said she also heard someone yell “I hope you die of AIDS,” during the attack.
…..
On September 13, The Village Voice reported that Matthew M. Walli – a homeless man originally from Oregon – was arrested in connection with the beating. Police said that Walli forcibly stole a video camera from one of the women, forcing her to fall and injure her knee.1 Walli, 20, was charged with second degree robbery as a hate crime, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
…..

 
Kenneth Cummings, Jr.

Kenneth Cummings Jr. (1961 - June 4, 2007) a gay man from Pearland, TX, was last seen alive on June 4, 2007. Terry Mangum, 26, was arrested and later confessed to stabbing Cummings to death after luring him from a gay bar. Mangum said he had gone out intending to target a gay man.
…..
In several jail house interviews, Mangum discussed his motive for killing Cummings. He told The Houston Chronicle that he had studied the bible for “thousands and thousands and thousands” of hours, and that God appeared to him in a dream or “visitation” during a prison stay in 2001 and commanded him to kill. After six months of planning, he went to E.J.’s, where he met Cummings. The two went back to Cummings’ home, where Mangum said he stabbed Cummings in the head with a 6” blade.

“I believe I’m Elijah, called by God to be a prophet,” he told reporters. ”…I believe with all my heard that I was doing the right thing.

Mangum said he went to a gay bar specifically for the purposes of targeting a gay man, and that Cummings “just happened to be the one that I bumped into.”

The Facts reporter John Tompkins did ask Mangum about his sexual orientation, during his jailhouse interview with Mangum, but Mangum went out of his way to tell the reporter that he was not homosexual and that he thought homosexuality was an abomination. “I asked him if killing him was like stomping on a bug,” Tompkins would later testify.”He looked at me kind of confused and I rephrased, “Like swatting a mosquito?’ “He said, ‘Yes.’”

Hence the need for federal hate-crime laws. People who target others in such a manner require stronger penalties because they endanger entire classes of people. They are a severe menace to society and must be treated as such.

 

Michael Wrenn

On August 4, 2007, Michael Wrenn, 47, and his friend Aaron Hudy were assaulted in Seattle, Washington, after Wrenn answered affirmatively when their attacker asked if they were gay. The policeman on the scene did not report the incident as a hate crime.
…..
At the scene, medics treated Wrenn for a bloody nose, cuts to his chin, and bruises to his body. He would later develop two black eyes.
…..
After the attack, Wrenn and Hudy spoke to the policeman on the scene, and explained to him that they believed the attack was a hate crime, motivated by Wrenn’s sexual orientation. The police office did not get out of his car during the interview. When Wrenn emphasized that the only reason he was attacked was his sexual orientation, the officer responded that to him that being gay “is your issue.”
…..

 
Roberto Duncanson

Roberto Duncanson (1987 - May 12, 2007) was an African American gay man from Brooklyn, New York. On May 12, 2007, he was stabbed to death by Omar Willock, who claimed Duncanson had flirted with him.
…..
On May 12, 2007, Duncanson and Omar Willock, 17, passed each other on St. Mark’s Avenue in Crown Heights. Willock reportedly became enraged, yelled “What are you looking at, f—-r?” and started shouting anti-gay slurs at Duncanson. Willock accused Williams of looking at him, in a way he interpreted as flirting. It’s unclear how Willock knew Duncanson was gay.
Duncanson walked away, and continued on his way to visit a cousin on Brooklyn Avenue. Willock allegedly followed Duncanson to his cousin’s house, and waited for him to come out. When Duncanson emerged from the house, Willock continued following him.
The Murder

As Duncanson kept walking, Willock followed and continued to yell anti-gay epithets at Duncanson. Willock then started a fist fight with Duncanson.The fight ended when Willock took out a knife and stabbed Duncanson as he tried to walk away. Paramedics found Duncanson on the sidewalk.He had been stabbed in the back four times.
…..

There you have the classic “gay panic defense”. If a straight person can claim a gay person flirted with them, or that they perceived the gay person was flirting with them, they supposedly had every right to react with utter horror up to and including vicious murder of that gay person. Funny how women can’t use a similar defense against men they aren’t interested in, or how we can’t do so when straights come on to us. (Guess what–straight sex is as icky to most gay people as gay sex is to straights.)

Satendar Singh

Satender Singh (July 21, 1980 - July 1, 2007), a gay man of Fijian descent, was attacked on July 1, 2007, while socializing with friends in Natoma Lake state park, near Sacramento, CA. Singh was punched by a man from another group in the park that had made racist and homophobic comments to Singh’s group. Singh fell backwards, hit his head, and lapsed into a coma. Singh died of his injuries four days later when his family removed him from life support.
…..
Singh was the only single member of his group, and was seen hugging and dancing with other men in his group. Another group in the park, made up of Russian immigrants was offended by Singh’s dancing with men and women in his group, and made homophobic and racist comments to Singh and his friends.4)

Bystander Wolfgang Chargin witnessed the exchanges between Singh’s group and the Russian group, and called 911 to warn that a fight was likely to occur. Chagrin witnessed the escalating conflict between the two groups as they used the picnic area, and said that the Russian group seemed especially offended by Singh’s activity. At one point, when Singh’s group went into the water, some of the men in the Russian group walked over and spat on their blankets.

Chagrin emphasized that Singh’s group was never aggressive, though they were confronted several times.5)
…..
Around 8:00 p.m., Singh’s group was leaving the area when some of th men from the Russian group confronted them. in the parking lot.6) A friend of Singh’s, speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, said the confrontation began when two members of their group returned from a nearby bathroom when two men from the Russian group “saying something” to them.
…..
At that point, Singh responded to the insults, and the two men turned on him. According to witnesses, the two men said to Singh that they belonged to a Russian evangelical church and that he should go to a “good church” like theirs. According to several witnesses, the men sent their wives and children home and called for several more Slavic men on their cell phones.

When members of Singh’s group – which included a pregnant woman – tried to leave the men blocked them with their bodies. The woman said to the men that she didn’t want to fight them, and one of them said to her “We don’t want to fight you either, we just want your faggot friend.”

One of the Russian men then threw a beer into the face of a member of Singh’s group, and then “sucker punched” Singh. As Singh fell to the pavement, the two men ran away. Singh struck his head on a concrete sidewalk when he fell.
…..
Gay activists have claimed that Singh’s attackers have ties to a Sacramento-centered evangelical movement among Russian and Latvian immigrants calling themselves The Watchmen on the Walls. According to witnesses, one of Singh’s attackers bragged about their membership in a Russian evangelical church.
…..

“Good church”, eh? Apparently they don’t teach that “thou shalt not kill” stuff at their “good church”.

 

Steve Domer

…..
Domer was last seen on October 25 [2007], in a gay neighborhood, at NW 39th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Oklahoma City. A witness said he and Domer approached two men in an area with several gay bars. The witness was uncomfortable with the situation and had Domer drive him home, but he believed Domer returned to meet the men later.
…..
Video surveillance footage placed two men resembling Madden and Qualls talking to Domer on October 26, near a car wash on NW 39th and Barnes in Oklahoma City. On November 3, Qualls mother, Tina Melton told police that her son had mentioned “we killed someone.” Melton said that she received an email from Qualls later asking her to forget what he had said.
…..
Madden’s MySpace page was deleted after Domer’s body was found. It had contained numerous photos of him with several other young men with bald heads swastika tattoos, whom he referred to as his Aryan brothers. The page listed Adolph Hitler as a personal hero, and interests included “securing the white race.”Two days after Domer’s disappearance, Madden wrote in a blog, “Well if you only (k)new the things we have done these past few days it would blow your … mind!!!.” in the previous few days and “it might well be the juice in the needle that kills me. Know what I said?”
…..
On October 9, 2008, Madden pleaded guilty to Domer’s abuction and murder, and was sentenced to four consecutive life terms in prison. He will not be eligible parol in the Domer murder case.
…..

Thalia Mosqueda

Thalia Mosqueda, a transgender woman, was shot in the head in the parking lot of a Daytona, FL, nightclub on July 29, 2007, and died soon after. Her killer, Cesar Villazano, said he became enraged when Mosqeuda made sexual advances toward him.
…..
On July 29, Mosqueda went to Garibaldi, a restaurant which operated as a club in the evenings, and catered to a clientele of Latino crossdressers, transgender Latinos, and gay men.

Mosqueda encountered Cesar Villazano at Garibadli when, according to Wesley Rosser, a friend Mosqueda’s, Viillazano was trying to persuade a drag queen at the club to go with him in his car. When she refused, he pulled her hair and tried to force her into the car.

The shooting occurred when Mosqueda intervened, saying to Villazano, “Leave her alone. Can’t you see she doesn’t want to be with you? Villazano argued with Mosqueda before pulling a gun, firing two shots in the air, and then fired a shot at Mosqueda, striking her in the head.

…..

On June 20, 2008, Villazano was found guilty of second-degree murder in Mosqueda’s death. On July 8, 2008, he was sentenced to life in prison. Villazano rejected a prosecutors’ plea offer that would have gotten him a 25 year sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. Villazano is in the U.S. illegally and faces deportation if he is ever released from prison.

 
Unfortunately in the wake of Proposition 8, Proposition 102 and Amendment 2 it’s anticipated that the trend will be for anti-gay hate crimes to continue to increase. Such legislation is typically followed by spikes in crimes against LGBT people as it empowers bigots. They feel entitled to take out their hatred against us because the law has, once again, defined us as inferior and second-class citizens.

We must reverse the trend of anti-gay legislation and put in place laws protecting our rights–the same sorts of laws that protect everybody else. Otherwise we’ll soon be no better off than nations we typically denounce as human rights violators, if we can even do so at this point.

 

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January 19, 2009

In Which Sapph Reaches A Crossroads

1. What goals do I have for this blog? Are they being met? Am I getting closer to meeting them?

My main goal is to effect change for the better by raising people’s awareness of just how big a screwing LGBTs get on a constant basis, and getting more people fired up to do something about it. Am I meeting that goal? I don’t think so, as I believe my very small core of regular readers are already doing something… and it’s highly doubtful those dozens of visitors I get from Salt Lake City every day come here to actually learn anything.

2. Am I Interested in the Topic?

Absolutely. I can’t imagine ever not being passionate about LGBT issues, and politics.

3. Am I getting personal satisfaction from posting?

Not like I used to. I feel like a broken record. I’m writing the same things I wrote five, six, seven years ago, over and over again — not because I don’t have anything new to say, but because things never change… and if I weren’t so stubborn, I would have conceded long ago that this is a big sign that what I have to say doesn’t make a difference. Or that I’m a lousy writer. Or both.

4. How Many Posts Did I write in the Last Month?

Too many. Or too few.

5. Do I have time to keep the blog running?

If it were self-sustaining, yes. Right now, it’s not a question of having the time as it is the question: Should I be channeling my time into something more productive, that will be read, that will fuel dialogue — or that will at the very least pay for itself?

6. Is anyone reading my blog?

Yes, but traffic is much lower than it should be in the winter months, and I’m lucky to get two or three comments in a day.

7. Have I given it enough time?

I’d say so. I’ve been blogging off and on since 2003 (and Webmastering since 1998).

8. Do I still see myself writing on this blog in 18 months time?

If it keeps feeling this stagnant, no.

9. Is the niche growing or dying?

I think it’s static.

10. Is the blog earning anything?

Not enough to pay for itself.

11. Is the blog growing my profile and perceived expertise?

No.

12. Are there any other benefits from this blog?

Such as?

13. Is the blog giving energy to or taking energy away from me?

I feel like Sisyphus.

14. Is the Blog’s traffic and income growing or shrinking?

Shrinking.

15. Are readers engaging with the content?

Only a precious few regularly.

16. If readers are commenting - what are they saying?

Most share my anger and frustration. And then then are the occasional religionists who think they can bible-beat me into submission.

17. What are other bloggers writing about my blog?

About my blog? I get links, yes, but not much in the way of kudos (or brickbats). Nobody ever writes about my blog.

18. Do I have anything original and useful to say on my topic?

See #3.

19. What else could I do with the time that I spend on this blog?

Make more videos (which are sometimes a lot more successful in getting a message across). Design more gear for my shop. Go for a walk. Get my hands dirty with silk-dyeing again. Flip burgers. Shine shoes. (No, forget the last two.) Maintain the Prop 8 donors database (yes, it’s getting there — it’s just a hellishly big job for one person). Answer emails and write letters I’ve been putting off. Stop thinking I can change things.

20. What would the impact be of me not blogging? (on readers and me)

Honestly, I don’t think more than half a dozen people would notice. I’m not an A-lister, and never will be. (I don’t know what I’m doing wrong that the A-listers are doing right, other than being, well, just better at this than I am. The secret eludes me, but I’m guessing my style — and my age, and my gender — are all wrong to attract a substantial, loyal LGBT readership.)

The impact on me, I don’t know — but in order to stop blogging, I’d have to stop paying attention to the news. Any news.

OTOH, I can barely stand to watch the news as it is now. So maybe some deliberately blissful ignorance wouldn’t be quite so hard as I might imagine.

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January 18, 2009

Hear Tell Some Homer-Seck-Shul Preacher-Man Said Some Purty Words Today

And hear tell it’s a doggone shame nobody heard them purty words, ’cause he said ‘em before the cam’ruhs ‘n’ the mikes was turned on — but it’s all okey-dokey, ’cause lettin’ a Homo Preacher Man give a talk on how’s we all oughta not hate the homer-seck-shuls two days before this Inauguralization Thingy, when everybody (like us’ns) was watchin’ the preemie-ear of “Big Love” (and a whole new episode of “Des’prit Housefraus” after that), makes up for givin’ the stage to the homo-hatin’, wimmin-hatin’, Jew-hatin’ Ritchie Warren feller on Inauguralization Day, ’cause, ya knows, we been told over ‘n’ over ‘n’ over agin, how much more important-like the Benny-diction is than that there silly Invocationalism Thingy is (or is it t’other way around?).

Well, don’t ask me — I dunno know nothin’, ’cause I shore didn’t see it, not nowhere, not nohow, and anyways, I’m s’posed to be all happy and cryin’ tears of joyness, ’cause it’s all hunky dory, ’cause that Barack feller is a genius, and this is all part of The Great Plan That’s Gonna Sure-Prize Everybuddy, and I’m jes’ too unedumacated, an’ — well, hay-ell’s bells, Nell! — jes’ too goldarned dumb to git th’ Big Pitcher.

Like that Miss Brit’ny said back in Naught-Two about that Mister Bush Feller: “I think we should just trust our president in every decision he makes.”

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Doubletree Hotel Chain: If No One’s Called a Boycott Yet, We Will

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January 16, 2009

What Idiot Booked the Beverly Hills Bar Association Into the Manchester Grand Hyatt?

This, on the heels of the BHBA filing an amicus curiae brief opposing Proposition 8:

Beverly Hills Bar Association Objects to Site of State Bar Meeting

The Beverly Hills Bar Association has formally objected to the site selected for the annual meeting of the State Bar and Conference of Delegates.

Beverly Hills Bar Association President Nancy Knupfer told the MetNews yesterday that she is sending a letter on behalf of the organization to State Bar President Holly Fujie requesting a change in venue based on the hotel owner’s support of the constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage.

Los Angeles County Bar Association President Dannette E. Meyers said that the delegation members of her organization were discussing “what they want to do” in response to the upcoming meeting at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego yesterday as well.

Both organizations had submitted amicus letters asking the Supreme Court to review the validity of Proposition 8, which the hotel’s owner, Manchester Financial Group’s Chairman Doug Manchester, reportedly contributed $125,000 to support.

Knupfer said that her organization’s position on Proposition 8 “has been very clear,” adding that the fact that the amendment passed into law “doesn’t mean that it’s right.” …

“Our leaders are dismayed to learn that the State Bar Conference will be held at a location whose ownership — despite supporting the repudiation of basic human rights — would profit from our members,” Knupfer wrote. “The very idea of that would certainly cause pain to many of our members.”

Knupfer added that she personally will not stay at the Manchester hotel and that the association would prefer that its members not stay there or attend any bar-related event, reception, meeting or MCLE courses held there.

The president also voiced concern that many members would boycott the event entirely. …

I certainly hope so.

In the meantime, Bravo! to Knupfer, the BHBA, and the LACBA.

Related:

Speaking of Boycotts (And We Were), We Certainly Won’t Be Staying in Any Hyatt or Marriott Hotels, Anywhere
March 16, 2008

Official Gay, Labor Boycott of Doug Manchester’s Hotels; “Ex-Gay” Supporter Advises Customers to Stiff Union Workers
July 11, 2008

Who’s Behind Prop 8: A Web Site Dedicated to Anti-Gay Hotelier Doug Manchester
July 22, 2008

California: Wall Street Journal Takes Note of Proposition 8 Boycotts
August 28, 2008

California Proposition 8: More on Manchester Hotel Boycott (It’s Working, Big-Time!)
August 28, 2008

300 Members of National Communication Association Boycott Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel
November 18, 2008

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Here’s Another Reason to Love Tom Hanks: He Just Put the Mormon Church in Its Place

You know it has to be one helluva good story to make us link to Faux News — but since the meat of it is in direct quotes, it’s got to be legit:

Tom Hanks Says Mormon Supporters of Proposition 8 ‘Un-American’

Tom Hanks, an Executive Producer for HBO’s controversial polygamist series “Big Love,” made his feelings toward the Mormon Church’s involvement in California’s Prop 8 (which prohibits gay marriage) very clear at the show’s premiere party on Wednesday night.

“The truth is this takes place in Utah, the truth is these people are some bizarre offshoot of the Mormon Church, and the truth is a lot of Mormons gave a lot of money to the church to make Prop-8 happen,” he told Tarts. “There are a lot of people who feel that is un-American, and I am one of them. I do not like to see any discrimination codified on any piece of paper, any of the 50 states in America, but here’s what happens now. A little bit of light can be shed, and people can see who’s responsible, and that can motivate the next go around of our self correcting Constitution, and hopefully we can move forward instead of backwards. So let’s have faith in not only the American, but Californian, constitutional process.”

What cracks us up is the response from Bill McKeever, an ultra-uber-super-duper Christian who’s made a career of ripping the Mormon church to shreds (so much so that we’ve used his article on “celestial marriage” for a Mormon Lesson of the Day). Too bad McKeever fails to see the irony in his own rebuke:

Bill McKeever, a rep for the Mormonism Research Ministry, added, “Personally, I find it un-American to tell people that they shouldn’t vote their conscience. Hanks said he doesn’t ‘like to see any discrimination codified on any piece of paper.’ Considering that just about every law discriminates in some form or another, makes this comment ridiculous. Hanks’ comment shows that he very much believes in discriminating against people with whom he disagrees. I may not agree with Mormon theology, but I certainly defend their right to express their opinion.”

Bill, you’re such a card!

Oh, by the way, “Big Love” starts its new season night after tomorrow, on January 18th. We looooooooove “Big Love”!

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Google Continues to Stand Strong on Equality, Signs Amicus Brief to Overturn Prop 8

Backstory:

Google Takes Stand For Marriage Equality, Urges Californians to Vote NO on Proposition 8!, September 26, 2008

From the Official Google Blog, January 15, 2009:

Supporting equality

1/15/2009 05:00:00 PM

In September of last year, Google announced its opposition to California’s Proposition 8. While the campaign was emotionally charged and difficult for both sides, in the wake of the election many were concerned with the impact Proposition 8 could have on the personal lives of people they work with every day, and on California’s ability to attract and retain a diverse mix of employees from around the world.

That’s why we’ve signed an amicus brief (PDF file) in support of several cases currently challenging Proposition 8 in the California Supreme Court. Denying employees basic rights isn’t right, and it isn’t good for businesses. We are committed to preserving fundamental rights for every one of the people who work hard to make Google a success.

Please join us in continuing to fight for equality for all Californians.

Posted by Kent Walker, General Counsel

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Mark the Date: “Prayers for Bobby” Premieres January 24th on Lifetime

From Lifetime:

Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner Sigourney Weaver stars in this emotional true story about a 1970s religious suburban housewife and mother who struggles to accept her young son Bobby being gay. What happens to Bobby is tragic and causes Mary to question her faith; ultimately this mom changes her views in ways that she never could have imagined. Also starring: Ryan Kelley (”Mean Creek”), Henry Czerny (”The Tudors”), Dan Butler (”Frasier”) and Susan Ruttan (”L.A. Law”), Austin Nichols (”John From Cincinnati”), Carly Schroeder (”Mean Creek”), Scott Bailey (”Guiding Light”), and newcomers Shannon Eagen and Rebecca Louise Miller. Based on the book “Prayers for Bobby” by Leroy Aarons. Premieres January 24 at 9 pm et/pt

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R.I.P.: Andrew Wyeth, 1917-2008

Practically everyone is familiar with Wyeth’s portraits of Christina Olson and her brother, Alvaro, on their farm in Maine, the most celebrated being “Christina’s World,” and of Karl and Andrew Kuerner, farmers of German descent tilling the dark earth of Pennsylvania. Wyeth’s landscapes are instantly recognizable: the monochromatic hills and fields in tones of brown, the snow scenes of endless white on white, the details so fine one can pick out individual blades of grass. — CSM

Andrew Wyeth, painter of American
landscapes, dies at 91

Andrew Wyeth, whose evocations of a timeless rural present along the Maine coast and in Pennsylvania farm country made him America’s most popular living artist and whose 1948 painting “Christina’s World” became one of the most famous artworks of the 20th century, died today.

Wyeth, who was 91, died in his sleep in his home in Chadds Ford, Pa., after a brief illness, the Brandywine River Museum said in a statement.

Perhaps no American painter has ever had as strong a hold on the popular imagination as Mr. Wyeth did over the course of his seven-decade career. As the critic Brian O’Doherty once noted, “Wyeth communicates with his audience, numbered in millions, with an ease and fluency that amounts to a kind of genius.” …

The Christian Science Monitor pays tribute with a reprint from 1976:

Andrew Wyeth — show probes
the man and his art

One can feel in his Maine paintings the brittle quality of the air, the boniness of the landscape, the austerity of the life. And in the Pennsylvania paintings the dark, heavy soddenness of the earth and atmosphere is palpable to all the senses. This is partly a result of his microscopic attention to detail and partly of his medium.

Wyeth paints most often in tempera, praising it because “there’s no limitation. The only limitation is yourself. Tempera is, in a sense, like building, really building in great layers the way the earth itself was built. It all depends on what you have in the depths of your being. … I really like tempera because it has a cocoonlike feeling of dry lostness — almost a lonely feeling.” …

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Filed Under: R.I.P.

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January 15, 2009

Chimpy McCokespoon Says “So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!”

Just a reminder, if you forgot, that The Boy King is giving his farewell address to the nation, right this minute (5:00 p.m. Pacific).

Watching it now… and wondering what the hell is making him slur his words so badly.

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A Little Less Secrecy for January 24 Equality Summit

Backstory:

What If Equality California Gave a Summit, And Nobody Came? (P.S. You’re Not Invited Anyway), January 5, 2009

Reports Rex Wockner:

Equality Summit Drops Ban on Media

The Equality Summit, a large gay activist powwow being held in Los Angeles Jan. 24, has abandoned a plan to limit media access to only portions of the gathering. The meeting of more than 250 California GLBT activists at the Los Angeles Convention Center aims to organize and strategize to win back same-sex marriage in California.

Internal meeting minutes and e-mails, released to reporters by a disgruntled co-organizer, had made clear that the 53-member organizing committee had decided to block reporters from attending at least some portions of the summit. “Media will have access to cover only a portion of the summit,” stated the minutes of a Dec. 18 planning-committee meeting. “Co-chairs will determine which section that is.”

The policy was reiterated as late as Dec. 29…

But after the documents became public and news stories were published on Jan. 5 and Jan. 7, organizers apparently opted to reconsider the decision. …

Good!

More at the link.

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California: FPPC to Scrutinize Politicians’ “Open-Ended Slush Funds”

Not a Proposition 8 where-did-the-money-come-from? story, but the opposite: Where does money ostensibly raised for ballot-measure battles actually go?

With California controlled solely by whoever has the most money to buy an election, we’re glad to see the FPPC take on the task of curbing the state’s free-wheeling funding. Perhaps, with a continued, concerted effort to drag the big-money pols kicking and screaming into the light, we may someday see something resembling transparency:

FPPC targets ballot campaign accounts

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass used hers to fund voter registration efforts to elect more Democrats. Former Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata used his to bolster his legal defense fund. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his to pay for his political operation for the last two years.

Ballot measure committees have become the latest tool used by state politicians to raise big money. Unhindered by donation limits, the checks can reach tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But today, in the face of pressure from the state’s most powerful politicians, the Fair Political Practices Commission will consider new rules to strengthen state laws governing how politicians can raise and spend money for ballot measures.

The problem, says Ross Johnson, the chairman of the FPPC, is that not all the money has gone toward ballot measures. He has decried the accounts as “open-ended slush funds.”

Political opposition comes from the governor himself, who appointed Johnson. Schwarzenegger’s political lawyer registered as a lobbyist to argue the governor’s case against the new rules. The governor’s political team declined to comment beyond the letter it sent opposing the new regulation.

“We’re saying you’re raising this money for purposes, ostensibly, of support or opposition to a ballot measure,” said Johnson, a former GOP state senator. “OK, tell us how the expenditures were related to a ballot measure and which ballot measure.” …

Perhaps the most high-profile use of a ballot PAC for something other than a ballot campaign came last month, when Perata, D-Oakland, transferred $1.9 million from his ballot account to his legal defense fund.

Perata has been the target of a years-long FBI corruption probe and faced the unwelcome prospect of leaving office with a quarter-million dollars in unpaid legal bills. Instead, he replenished his defense fund with money that had been earmarked for ballot fights.

Both Bass’ and Perata’s transfers were legal under current law. The FPPC hopes to change that. …

Voters approved limits on direct donations to political candidates in 2000. But a 2005 court case allowed those same candidates to raise unlimited funds in ballot accounts. …

Fundraising exploded. …

Much more at the link.

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Spree Killer Glen Race Sentenced to Life Without Parole

Backstory (full rundown, with numerous quotes, links):

Glen Race Murder Trial Begins in Plattsburgh, NY, September 10, 2008

Race sentenced to life in prison

PLATTSBURGH — During an emotional proceeding this afternoon, convicted murdered Glen Race was sentenced to life without parole for killing Darcy Manor in 2007.

The 27-year-old Canadian man didn’t react when Clinton County Court Judge Kevin Ryan announced his fate before a packed audience.

After a September bench trial, Race was found guilty of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary and three counts of fourth-degree grand larceny in connection with Manor’s death.

Manor, a 35-year-old married father of two, was shot in the back as he worked at a private Mooers camp where Race was hiding out as he fled from allegedly killing two Canadian men. …

Two gay Canadian men, which is what put this bizarre story on our radar in the first place.

In the meantime:

An American mental-health advocate fears a Canadian man diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic will receive inadequate medical treatment if he’s sentenced to life in a U.S. jail for murdering Darcy Manor. …

After he is sentenced, [said Joel Pink, the lawyer for Race’s family in Nova Scotia,] Race would get a new psychiatric assessment before he’s sent to prison.

His family fears that jail will worsen his condition while his conviction is appealed, said Pink.

Bob Corliss, director of forensic services for the Mental Health Association for New York State, said mental-health treatment is available in some state and federal prisons, but it is likely to be inadequate in Race’s case. …

The advocate for the rights of the mentally ill also said it’s possible that Race could eventually be sent to the Central New York Psychiatric Centre, where some severely ill inmates receive more intensive treatment.

Corliss said he was surprised that an insanity defense was not pursued.

Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie noted in a July 2007 e-mail that psychiatrists found Race competent to stand trial. …

More here.

We hope Race does get the treatment he needs. We’re also very glad there is essentially no death penalty in New York (it’s available, but, in short, it was ruled unconstitutional, and is thus unenforceable) — and equally glad Race is off the streets, for good.

There can be no happy ending to this story, but those of us whose passion for justice is matched by our unyielding opposition to capital punishment could not ask for a more reasonable outcome.

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Proposition 8 Amicus Briefs You Won’t Find on the Cal SC Web Site Yet

Lawyer Steve Mayer has tracked down no less than ten amicus curiae (friend of the court) briefs he says aren’t yet available on the California Supreme Court’s Web site, from the Beverly Hills Bar Association; “six Professors of Law in support of Prop. 8″; “various labor organizations against the measure”; “a group of Sacramento lawyers”; Equal Rights Advocates; the Family Research Council; Issues4Life Foundation; Archbishop Mark Steven Shirilau; League of Women Voters; and Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles. Hit Mayer’s blog for the links.

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Shades of 11/12/01: US Airways Jet Crashes in Hudson River

Apparently, the culprit was a bird:

NEW YORK - A US Airways plane crashed into the Hudson River on Thursday afternoon after striking a bird that disabled two engines, sending passengers fleeing for safety in the frigid waters, a government official said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said the US Airways Flight 1549 had just taken off from LaGuardia Airport en route to Charlotte, N.C., when the crash occurred in the river near 48th Street in midtown Manhattan. …

More…

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Proposition 8: Did Mormons Go Too Far?

Why, yes — yes, they did. My lovely wife has posted the video from American News Project, thanks to Chino’s heads-up:

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January 14, 2009

Most Layoffs Are Bad News, But When It’s Oral Roberts University…

…it’s hard to keep the nasty, Schadenfreude-y smirks off our faces:

Layoffs Begin At Oral Roberts University

Dozens of employees at Oral Roberts University started receiving word today that they will be laid off. …

Last November the school said it would lay off about 100 employees — or about 10 percent of its work force. …

The layoffs come days after ORU completed a separation agreement with former President Richard Roberts that will pay Roberts $447,200.

Roberts stepped down in late 2007 amid allegations he misspent school funds to live in luxury.

Hear tell this new round of layoffs will wipe out another 6% of ORU’s remaining workforce.

A tad more at the link.

Related:

Oral Roberts Battles the Devil for ORU, October 26, 2007

File Under News That Made Us Happy Today: Oral Roberts University to Lay Off 100 Employees, November 28, 2008

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EqualityMaine Announces Bill for Civil Marriage Equality

January 13, 2009 — At a State House press conference today, EqualityMaine and several coalition partners unveiled a bill that would extend civil marriage rights to same-sex couples in Maine.

The bill, titled “An Act to Prevent Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom,” is sponsored by Sen. Dennis Damon (D-Hancock). Damon recently sponsored an amendment to extend to domestic partners the protections currently provided in Maine’s Family Medical Leave law.

EqualityMaine and Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) convened the Maine Freedom to Marry Coalition to carry out a coordinated plan for education and advocacy on marriage equality. Other coalition partners include the Maine Civil Liberties Union; the Maine Women’s Lobby; the Portland Chapter of the NAACP; Maine People’s Alliance; and the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence.

Coalition supporters include the Maine Children’s Alliance; the Maine Bar Association Family Law Section; the Maine Bar Association Elder Law Section; Community Counseling Center; the League of Young Voters; the National Association of Social Workers—Maine chapter; Planned Parenthood of Northern New England; the American Association of University Women; and the Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center.

“For the past three years, EqualityMaine has been involved in a public education campaign about civil marriage equality,” Executive Director Betsy Smith said. “After careful consideration, we realized the time was right for this legislation.”

Last November EqualityMaine set out to identify 10,000 voters who support civil marriage equality. When the polls closed on Election Day, volunteers had collected 33,190 signatures. “We have pro-equality majorities in both houses of the Legislature and a strong coalition of partners,” Smith added. “Many challenges remain, but I am confident that legislators will see this bill for what it is: an attempt to provide equal treatment under the law, and to improve the lives of their constituents.”

“Times are tough,” Smith went on. “Maine families are struggling. Civil marriage automatically confers hundreds of rights and protections that affect nearly every part of life — finances, health care, worker’s compensation, parental rights, employment benefits and taxes. Now, more than ever, same-sex couples and their children need the peace of mind that only civil marriage can bring.”

Smith concluded, “Maine’s same-sex couples want and deserve the dignity, respect and legal protections of civil marriage. They want to be able to solidify their families here, where they live, work, worship, pay taxes, raise children and care for aging parents. Today we have taken an historic step toward that important goal.”

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Equality Rollback in Puerto Rico

Disturbing:

Puerto Rico: Changes in Civil Code language would drop recognition of same-sex couples as family, limit access to partnership rights

Worrisome news from Puerto Rico: While it appears that a long-gestating Civil Code draft might finally become law during the current legislative session, a legislative committee has indicated that it won’t include language that would have allowed couples — straight and gay — to enter into a common-law union with the same rights and responsibilities as marriage (”No opportunities for common-law unions“, El Vocero, Jan. 12, 2009).

“It doesn’t have the votes to be approved,” said Liza Fernandez, Co-Chair of the joint Commission for the Revision of the Civil Code, “I understand that rights should be recognized for partners who live together but are not married, be them homosexuals or heterosexuals, but to bring it as a common-law union will not allow me the possibility of granting those rights. We will seek alternatives and will amend other areas such as inheritance to have, for example, a spouse or cohabiting partner [recognized as] the heir apparent.”

In other words, language that would have given same-sex couples access to all rights available to married heterosexual partners in Puerto Rico will be eliminated and, in exchange, they will only be given a few rights.

There is a progressive angle to the alternative which would be of benefit to others. El Vocero says that inheritance rights, hospital visits and medical coverage would be made available to any two people who can demonstrate they have lived together under the same roof for a number of years through a ‘civil pact of solidarity’. Same-sex partners would have access to the ‘pact’ and so would family members, siblings or non-romantic co-inhabitants living together.

But the limited rights would be granted through a Contracts process and not through Family Law. In other words, same sex partners would still not be considered as a family under the new Civil Code. …

More at the link.

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ACLU Withdraws Suit to Stop Arkansas Adoption Ban

Backstory: ACLU Files Suit to Stop Arkansas Adoption Ban, December 31, 2008

Understandable, but extremely frustrating:

ACLU halts effort to toss adoption ban

The American Civil Liberties Union has halted its efforts — at least for the time being — to delay implementation of a law that bans unmarried cohabiting couples from fostering or adopting children after state’s attorneys pointed out that the new law hasn’t been applied to anyone.

Proposed Initiative Act 1 went into effect Jan. 1, and the ACLU, which is spearheading a lawsuit to have the law declared unconstitutional, had sought a temporary restraining order to block its implementation until the case can be heard in Pulaski County Circuit Court.

The restraining order was necessary to protect the interests of one of the 29 plaintiffs, Sheila Cole of Oklahoma, the ACLU said. Cole, a registered nurse who lives with her domestic partner, wants to adopt her 7-month-old granddaughter, identified in court filings as W.H. The baby was placed in foster care with a Bentonville family because of injuries authorities say her parents inflicted. …

The attorney general’s office opposed the restraining order, saying that proceedings involving Cole’s granddaughter have not reached the point where Act 1 would apply. The new law wouldn’t apply unless the state attempts to terminate parental rights to the child, which hasn’t happened and might not happen, according to court filings.

Act 1 won’t prevent a circuit judge from appointing Cole as the child’s guardian or custodian, and the new law explicitly states that it won’t affect the guardianship of minors, deputy attorney general Colin Jorgensen wrote in his four-page response. …

In the agreement, approved Monday by Circuit Judge Chris Piazza, ACLU lawyers agreed to withdraw their request for a restraining order on the condition that the attorney general’s office notify them if Act 1 is going to be applied against Cole or anyone in a similar situation to permanently affect their eligibility to become foster or adoptive parents. The order requires the attorney general’s office to notify the ACLU two weeks before it takes any action under the new law. …

More at the link.

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Remember the Nazi Parents and the Adolf Hitler Birthday Cake?

Backstory: Gotta Love Them Family Values: “Any parent that would impose such horrific names on their children is mentally ill”, December 16, 2008

Adolf Hitler, Sisters Taken from Parents’ Home

Remember 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell?

He’s the little boy whose name was the center of an international firestorm last December after a Greenwich, N.J., supermarket refused to write his name on a birthday cake. The store said it was inappropriate and refused to give an apology after the parents demanded one.

Adolf and his two sisters — one-year-old JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and 8-month-old Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell — were removed from their parents’ home Tuesday night by the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services, Holland Township police chief David Van Gilson told LehighValleyLive.com.

It is unclear why the children were removed from their parent’s home. Gilson said his department did not receive any reports of abuse or negligence.

Heath and Deborah Campbell, the children’s parents, were scheduled to appear for an undisclosed hearing Tuesday, but it was postponed, according to the website.

Due to confidentiality laws, Kate Bernyk with the N.J. Division of Youth and Family Services would not comment or even acknowledge any involvement with the Campbells when NBC10’s Doug Shimell contacted them.

DYFS isn’t talking much about the Campbell’s situation, but the kids being taken away has nothing to do with the names and birthday cake issue in December, according to Sgt. John Harris, Holland Twp. Police in Milford, N.J.

Calls to the children’s parents were met with a message that the line had been temporarily disconnected. …

More at the link, and at LehighValleyLive.com.

It sickens me to imagine what might have prompted the removal, but I’m glad the kids are out from under the influence of those whackjobs, at least for now.

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Religious Leaders, Faith Organizations to Court: Invalidate Prop 8

SACRAMENTO — January 14, 2009 — Today, the California Council of Churches and other religious leaders and faith organizations representing millions of members filed an amicus curiae brief with the California Supreme Court urging the Court to invalidate Proposition 8. The brief argues that Proposition 8 poses a severe threat to the guarantee of equal protection for all and was not enacted through the constitutionally required process for such a dramatic change to the California Constitution.

The brief is filed on behalf of the California Council of Churches, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ, two Episcopal Bishops (of California and Los Angeles), the Progressive Jewish Alliance, the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations and the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of California, and the Northern and Southern California Nevada Conferences of the United Church of Christ. The groups are represented by Eric Alan Isaacson, based in San Diego, and by Jon B. Eisenberg of Eisenberg and Hancock, LLP, based in Oakland.

The religious groups originally filed a writ petition challenging Proposition 8 on November 17, 2008. On November 20, 2008 the California Supreme Court deferred action on that petition, and invited the petitioners to file an amicus curiae brief.

“Proposition 8 poses a grave threat to religious freedom,” said Rev. Rick Schlosser, Executive Director of the California Council of Churches. “If the Court permits gay men and lesbians to be deprived of equal protection by a simple majority vote, religious minorities could be denied equal protection as well — a terrible irony in a nation founded by people who emigrated to escape religious persecution. If the Court permits Proposition 8 to take effect, religious discrimination similarly could be written into California’s Constitution.”

“The United Church of Christ is honored to join other religious bodies in this challenge to Proposition 8,” said the Rev. John H. Thomas, General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ. “We believe our communities are strengthened and our religious freedoms protected by ensuring that the principle of equal protection applies to all Californians. Religious groups know from long experience the dangers posed by placing unchecked power in the hands of temporary majorities.”

For a copy of the brief visit http://www.calchurches.org/marriage/

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