Is this Arnold’s Final Solution? Kill all of us who aren’t as rich as he and Maria?
While gutting $656 million in funding (up from an earlier $489 million) — on top of previous cuts by the state legislature for programs on which Californians’ very lives depend — Arnold Schwarzenegger simultaneously approved the construction of a new Death Row housing unit at San Quentin. Cost: $356 million, with a predicted $39 million overrun.
“Gottlieb received most of the credit for identifying the disease, but Dr. Weisman ‘contributed his open eyes. He felt right away he was observing something that was never seen before.’”
Sure, Skyy gets free advertising from us via a self-congratulatory press release — but we’re always happy to give a free plug to a company when we like what they’re doing… and we like what they’re doing:
SKYY® Vodka Toasts Gay Pride
SKYY Vodka to Serve as Official Spirit of Gay Pride Festivals, Gay and Lesbian Film Festivals and many other LGBT Programs
SAN FRANCISCO — June 17, 2009 — SKYY® Vodka has announced its increased support of events and programs supporting the national Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender communities and a cause near to their hearts, HIV awareness. For 2009, SKYY is devoted to developing and expanding its partnerships with numerous gay and lesbian organizations across the country, including the STOP AIDS Project in San Francisco, Frameline33 — San Francisco’s International LGBT Film Festival, Equality California, Heritage of Pride in New York, amfAR — The Foundation for AIDS Research, AIDS Project Los Angeles and the LGBT Center in New York.
One of the very few good things (and maybe the only good thing) George W. Bush ever did was signing PEPFAR into law last summer, which, among other things, lifted “the HIV travel/immigration ban, which bars foreign travelers with HIV/AIDS from entering the United States unless they obtain a spouse or family waiver.”
So why can’t Canadian Martin Rooney cross the border to go shopping — or do something a wee bit more important, like passing through the U.S. to get to Mexico, where he does awareness- and fundraising for AIDS Tijuana? (”To access Tijuana,” Rooney explains, “you have to go through San Diego, and basically the bottom line to this is very simple — I cannot do my humanitarian work.”)
The [California] state Senate on Wednesday rejected a former Long Beach City Council member appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the state parole board after lawmakers criticized him for anti-gay remarks he made in 1993.
Douglas Drummond was censured by the council for voicing support for Fidel Castro’s sequestering of the AIDS population in Cuba, applauding the fact that same-sex couples don’t reproduce and saying about gay political progress: “How do we deal with it short of killing them?”
Speaking to a private meeting of a conservative group, Drummond also said: “Do you know why I don’t worry about gay activity? I’m going to give you a clue. So far in San Francisco, over 10,000 have died. In Long Beach, over 1,000 have died. I’m serious.”
Drummond, 72, whom Schwarzenegger appointed to the $111,845-a-year-post last summer, told the Senate Rules Committee that he has changed his views, donated money to gay organizations and marched in gay-pride parades. He voted for his own censure in Long Beach.
“I was wrong,” Drummond said. “It was awful. I apologize, I really do.” …
Yeah, well, we might be more willing to give Drummond the benefit of the doubt, except: How often does a Republican really change his tune?
Mind you, I don’t like Andrew Sullivan — in my book, he’s still a neocon Republican enabler, and I take an extremely dim view of his irresponsible promiscuity (while no one ever “deserves” HIV, there’s a very good reason Michaelangelo Signorile calls him “Bareback Andy“).
That said, when Sullivan is right, he’s right, and this is one of those times he’s right — at least when he’s not making Obama’s inaction on LGBT rights all about himself:
John Aravosis (whose AMERICAblog has finally been remodeled from Web 1.0 — much nicer, John, much nicer) explains — albeit with a headline that barely scratches the surface:
Good piece, well worth the full read — and a good article to pass along to those who still don’t see what the big deal is about Rick Warren (since, after all, it’s only us lowly ‘mos having big ol’ faux-outrage hissy fits), but who might be persuaded to righteous outrage by Warren’s African crusade:
If you want to foster AIDS and kill queers in Africa, Rick Warren’s the man for you. While Warren’s characterization of queers (and Jews and Muslims) as godless perverts fuel bigotry in the US, the real effects of inviting Warren to preside over Obama’s inauguration will be felt in sub-Saharan Africa. …
In case you actually care, his campaign for AIDS prevention, in a region decimated by the disease, sneers at condoms, needle exchange, and sex education. He claims all those efforts merely slow the spread of AIDS, while his plan can stop it flat. The secret — abstinence before marriage, religious conversion, and, not included on his website, that perennial favorite, queer-baiting.
One of his closest allies in Uganda in his so-called fight against AIDS is Martin Ssempa, an evangelical preacher who blames queers for the disease, makes a show of burning condoms, and this spring organized a rally with the theme “A Call for Action on Behalf of the Victims of Homosexuality,” where he spent most of his time railing against queers.
As far as treatment goes, Ssempsa offers faith healing in his Pentecostal services if only victims believe enough and make a nice donation. In general, the bulk of his anti-AIDS activism seems to be legal battles to ensure that homosexuality remains illegal and the media continues to portray queers as sexual predators.
He’s getting it done. Homosexuality is still illegal, and queers face increasing harassment and violence from everyone from the government to their next-door neighbors. Newspapers sometimes print lists of people suspected of being lesbian or gay, opening them up to job loss and physical violence. Several activists are arrested every year. …
Terrible for queers, Warren and his pals are almost worse for AIDS. Uganda’s HIV infection rate, which had dipped from its 1996 height, has been climbing back up in recent times. The problem? Advocates like Warren and Ssempa dumping sex education and condom promotion in favor of abstinence-only programs, which study after study show actually increase risky sex. …
The most vulnerable of all are gay men. Warren has supported figures like the archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, who in 2006 and 2007 campaigned ferociously for anti-gay legislation which stipulated five years’ imprisonment to anyone who had anything to do with a same-sex marriage ceremony, participated in gay organizing, or had anything to do with anything gay of any kind “directly or indirectly in public and in private.”
Hate-mongering may have become a habit for Akinola. In 2005, he was implicated in the massacre of more than 650 Muslims by a Christian mob tied to the Christian Association of Nigeria. He was president of the group at the time. For all this, Akinola earned praise from Warren in an April 2006 Time Magazine article lionizing him as a defender of the faith, a “Nelson Mandela”, and “a model for Christians around the world.” …
Nine gay men were each jailed for eight years by a court in Senegal, the highest such sentence in a country where homosexuality is outlawed, their lawyer and gay rights groups said Wednesday.
The nine, all aged under 30, appeared in court Tuesday charged with “indecent conduct and unnatural acts and membership of a criminal organisation”. They were arrested in December in the Dakar suburb of Mbao.
“This is the first time that the Senegalese legal system hands down such a harsh sentence against gays,” said Issa Diop, one of four defence lawyers representing the men. …
Homosexual acts are punishable with a maximum sentence of five years in Senegal, where 95 percent of the population is Muslim.
However, the judge in the case raised the sentence to eight years after taking into account their “membership of a criminal organisation”. Most of the men belonged to an association set up to fight HIV/AIDS.
A legal source told AFP the men were arrested after police got an anonymous tip-off. “They were arrested while they were in the act and they had pornographic pictures,” the source said. …
Senegalese gay activists say homophobic sentiments have surged in the last year.
In February 2008 a local magazine focusing on celebrity and nightlife published pictures of what it said was a gay marriage. In the ensuing furore, several men seen in the images fled their homes and in some cases the country.
In August, a Belgian and a Senegalese man were sentenced to two-year prison sentences for “unnatural acts”.
And after an HIV-AIDS conference in Dakar in December, an Islamic group denounced as “inappropriate” the part icipation of gays during its proceedings.
Where: The Petersen Automotive Museum 6060 Wilshire Blvd. (at Fairfax). Enter the parking garage & museum from Fairfax.
When: Saturday, January 17th, 2009 6:00 - 9:00pm
Parking is $10.00 per vehicle. Please carpool!
What better way to keep your resolutions than joining us to begin our official countdown to AIDS/LifeCycle 8 with special guest star Heidi Hamilton of 97.1 FM’s Frosty, Heidi & Frank Show!
Share an ADVENTUROUS evening featuring tasty hors d’oeuvres, no-host bars, fun giveaways, and the entire second floor of the museum to ourselves to check out amazing vehicles from now and days gone by!
This is our last and largest registration event of the year, and registration is guaranteed to close, so act now and tell your friends and family to do the same!
Inspiring, and devastating. If you don’t cry by the end…
“Gay civil rights hero Leonard Matlovich interviewed on ‘Good Morning America’ and at a dedication of a proposed memorial for Harvey Milk during March on Washington. Both 1987…”
Possible Obama Pick for “Drug Czar” Criticized by Dozens of Health, Criminal Justice and Drug Treatment Organizations
Ramstad’s Positions on Syringe Exchange, Medical Marijuana And Other Issues Backwards and Harmful, Say Experts
WASHINGTON — December 3, 2008 — A growing number of organizations are expressing concern about reports in the media that President-elect Obama may be considering appointing Republican Congressman Jim Ramstad (R-MN) to be his “Drug Czar”, citing Ramstad’s positions on syringe exchange programs, medical marijuana, and other issues. In a letter to President-elect Obama released today, the National Black Police Association, the Latino Commission on AIDS, the National AIDS Fund and more than three dozen other public health, criminal justice and drug treatment organizations warn that Ramstad’s positions are backwards and at odds with science and human rights.
Rep. Ramstad is well known in the substance abuse treatment community for successfully fighting to pass legislation designed to make health insurance companies cover drug treatment and mental health services like any other medical conditions. He is notably recovering from alcohol misuse and, if appointed, would be the nation’s first Drug Czar to be in recovery from a drug problem. Still, some charge that he is too wedded to faith-based 12-Step treatment programs and not open to more evidence-based treatment programs, like methadone maintenance therapy.
In 1998 Ramstad voted in favor of making permanent the federal funding ban on syringe exchanges, despite decades of research showing that syringe exchange programs reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C without increasing drug use. He voted in 2000 to prohibit the District of Columbia from spending its own locally raised, non-federal funds on syringe exchange programs and voted last year against repealing the same D.C. ban. Rep. Ramstad has also consistently opposed congressional efforts to stop the arrest of patients suffering from HIV/AIDS, cancer and illnesses who use medical marijuana to ease their pain and suffering in states where it is legal. These positions clearly conflict with President-elect Obama’s stated positions on the issues.
With controversy around Ramstad growing, the Drug Policy Alliance recently released five criteria that President-elect Obama should use when choosing a Drug Czar. Rep. Ramstad meets none of these criteria, which include:
1. Is s/he committed to enacting and supporting evidence-based policies? ONDCP should make decisions based on science, not politics or ideology.
2. Is s/he committed to reducing the harms associated with both drugs and punitive drug laws?
3. Does s/he think drug use should be treated as a health issue not a criminal justice issue?
4. Does s/he welcome and encourage debate and research? We need a Drug Czar who is open-minded and willing to consider every alternative.
5. Is s/he committed to reducing the number of nonviolent offenders behind bars?
“Former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke once said that the Drug Czar should be more of a surgeon general than a military general or police officer,” said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. “Ramstad is just not right for the position. His opposition to repealing the federal syringe ban is reason enough to exclude him.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — December 1, 2008 — On this World AIDS Day, as 33 million people worldwide live with HIV, we pause to recognize the magnitude of the HIV/AIDS crisis in our own country and to call for action commensurate with this domestic crisis.
AIDS is the number one killer for black women between the ages of 25 and 34.
Black women are now almost 15 times as likely to be infected with HIV and 23 times more likely to be diagnosed with AIDS as white women.
The HIV rate in Washington, D.C., our nation’s capital, is 1 in 20-the same as the overall rate in sub-Saharan Africa.
A total of 56,300 people in the United States were newly infected with HIV in 2006, a number 40 percent higher than previously estimated.
Fifty-three percent of new HIV infections in 2006 occurred in gay and bisexual men of all races and ethnicities.
African Americans, who make up only 12 percent of the U.S. population, now make up more than 45 percent of new infections.
If African Americans in the United States constituted their own country, that country would rank 16 in the world among those with the highest number of individuals living with HIV.
The number of African Americans infected with HIV now exceeds the number of HIV-positive people in 7 of the 15 countries targeted by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR.
The United States has increased its PEPFAR commitment for international HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment by $48 billion over the next five years.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would need $4.8 billion over the next five years to reduce the annual number of new HIV infections in the United States.
Only 4 percent of the current share of HIV/AIDS domestic funding is devoted to prevention programs.
As a new administration prepares to move to Washington, we urge them to be more than simply aware of the numbers. We want them to move quickly to address the U.S. epidemic. It is time to develop a National AIDS Strategy that includes:
2. Programs based on solid, evidence-based public health principles, including removing the ban on funding for syringe exchange and discontinuing funding for abstinence-only education.
3. Participation and leadership on the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS from the most vulnerable communities by including people of color, women, and gay men who are living with HIV/AIDS.
4. More funding to the Minority AIDS Initiative to address the disproportionate effect that HIV/AIDS has had on communities of color.
5. An end to the unnecessary discrimination that prohibits people with HIV from entering the United States as either visitors or immigrants.
We must continue the admirable work to fight HIV/AIDS around the world, but we must also seriously address the root causes of our own AIDS epidemic that allow the epidemic and the stigma attached to it — poverty, discrimination, violence, homophobia, and stark racial and gender inequities — to persist and grow here at home.
The Center for American Progress is a think tank dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through ideas and action. We combine bold policy ideas with a modern communications platform to help shape the national debate, expose the hollowness of conservative governing philosophy, and challenge the media to cover the issues that truly matter.
SAN FRANCISCO — November 24, 2008 — “Therefore be it resolved, that I, Gavin Newsom, Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco, join the LGBT community in recognizing Leonard Matlovich’s unprecedented contribution to the pursuit of equality and celebrate his contributions and heroism, do hereby proclaim November 15, 2008, as ‘Leonard Matlovich Memorial Day’ in San Francisco!”
Thus, in the city in which a local TV news anchor who thought he was off-mike once referred to him as a “faggot flier,” late US Air Force Tech. Sgt. Leonard Matlovich, immortalized on the cover of Time magazine and by his own tombstone in Washington DC’s Congressional Cemetery, was honored by the Mayor and others on Saturday, November 15th.
The occasion was the dedication of a bronze memorial plaque since installed on the side of the apartment building at the corner of 18th & Castro where he once lived. It was conceived by friends of Leonard and the nongay owner of the building. As its text notes, Matlovich, a 12-year Air Force veteran with a Bronze Star and Purple heart earned during three tours of duty in Vietnam, was the first to make the nation aware of the absurdity and injustice of the military’s ban on gays when he volunteered to challenge it in court.
Though he didn’t succeed, his example inspired others to continue to try to this day and others, still, to come out to their family and friends, including some of the speakers at the dedication ceremony.
Representing the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, formed in 1993 to fight the modern version of the military’s ban, San Francisco attorney Jo Hoenninger recalled that, despite having never met him, Leonard inspired her to tell the truth when asked if she was a lesbian when she, too, was in the Air Force. Thinking the importance of her job for the service might save her, she was, nonetheless, soon discharged. She added that she believed that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would have been overturned by now had Leonard lived.
GLBT Historical Society Executive Director Paul Boneberg revealed that he was still in the closet when Leonard’s famous “I Am A Homosexual” Time magazine cover appeared in 1975, forcing him to hide it behind another magazine while reading it. Twelve years later, as the head of Mobilization Against AIDS, Boneberg would be arrested along with Leonard and several other gay leaders at a protest in front of the White House against the Reagan Administration’s failure to adequately address AIDS which, by that time, had already killed 20,000 in the US. Leonard was arrested wearing his US Air Force jacket, his medals, and carrying a small American flag. By coincidence, the building on which his plaque was installed will soon house an exhibit of the Historical Society’s huge collection of GLBT memorabilia, including Leonard’s uniform, Harvey Milk’s chair, and the sewing machine upon which Gilbert Baker created the first rainbow flag.
In a remarkable coincidence, chants of the huge San Francisco anti Prop 8 crowd marching by below rose upward, filling the LGBT Community Center’s fourth floor ceremonial room as CA Assemblyman/State Senator-Elect Mark Leno also presented a certificate in Leonard’s honor and emphasized how fitting it was that the dedication was happening the same day as nationwide protests against anti gay marriage bigotry.
Attendees watched video clips of some of Matlovich’s numerous appearances on national television and speeches, including Walter Cronkite introducing his first television interview on May 26, 1975; being interviewed in Miami by NBC nightly news as one of the leaders of the 1977 fight against the Anita Bryant campaign which also used the threat of the city becoming “another San Francisco,” and, like Yes On Prop 8, the fear of gays’ influence on children to win; his revealing in 1987 to Charlie Gibson on Good Morning America that he had AIDS; his final speech just weeks before he died at a 1988 Sacramento gay rights rally where he told the crowd that “our mission is to reach out to teach people to love and not to hate”; and ABC’s Peter Jennings announcing his death and reading his epitaph which the Associated Press has described as “still as fresh as today’s headlines: ‘When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one’.”
Leonard’s friend, and co-organizer with him of a never-realized plan to erect a Washington DC memorial to Harvey Milk, activist Ken McPherson, said he knew that Leonard would be out in the streets himself if he were still alive.
LGBT liaison to out-of-the-country San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Alex Randolph, who had not been born when Leonard came out nor yet in grade school when he died, said how happy he was to learn of another gay hero, and presented the certificate from the Mayor proclaiming “Leonard Matlovich Memorial Day.”
More than one speaker agreed with the words of reporter Neely Tucker in an article in The Washington Post just a few days before:
“He had the knack for taking your heart and making it catch for a moment… He seemed to make people want to be braver than perhaps they were.”
A Website, www.leonardmatlovich.com, to further memorialize Matlovich and grow support for overturning “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will be launched soon.
Big excitement at Kos, that is. I’m not holding my breath (and I don’t want any goddamn separate-but-equal crap, and if you’re offering “legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples,” then bloody well CALL it MARRIAGE, religious bigots be damned!):
One more thing: Why is Obama compelled to slap HIV/AIDS onto every freaking discussion of LGBT rights? Gayness and HIV do NOT go hand in hand, and continuing to operate in this 1985 mindset not only fuels homophobia (GAY = Got AIDS Yet? GAY = Got AIDS Yet? GAY = Got AIDS Yet? …) is homophobic in itself.
As much as Andrew Sullivan and I disagree on some of the most fundamental issues, I’m always ready to acknowledge that when he’s right, he’s absolutely right:
When political attacks are launched from churches, political responses will be delivered to churches. If goddamned McDonald’s had organized and paid for Prop 8, we’d be marching on goddamned McDonald’s.
I strongly support civility in this struggle. Religious services and practices should be scrupulously respected. But when a church, like the Mormon church, makes a concerted effort to enter the public square and strip a small minority of basic civil rights, it is simply preposterous for them then to argue that the Mormon church cannot be criticized and protested because they are a religion. I have never done anything — nor would I do anything — to impede or restrict the civil rights of Mormons. I respect their right to freedom of conscience and religion. In fact, it is one of my strongest convictions. But when they use their money and power to target my family, to break it up, to demean it and marginalize it, to strip me and my husband of our civil rights, then they have started a war. And I am not a pacifist.
I do not intend in any way to remove a single right from Mormons. …
I should add that I dated a Mormon man for a few months a while back. What he told me about the LDS church’s psychological warfare on their gay members, the brutality and viciousness and intolerance with which they attack and hound and police the gay children of Mormon families, would make anyone shudder.
They hounded my ex for having HIV and for being gay. They followed him secretly, outed him to his family and persecuted him for his illness. … You want me to love these people? Let me say it’s my Christian duty to try.
The Mormons are not unique in this persecution of their own gay folk. … But the Mormons are particularly vicious homophobes. … The cruelty the Mormon church inflicts on its gay members is matched only by the Mormons’ centuries-long demonization and hatred of black people. … And what we have just witnessed is a trial run for much larger ambitions.
If we don’t resist this now, we will not be able to resist it later.
‘I hope gay and lesbian Americans will give full consideration to supporting me’
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Oh, sorry, couldn’t help that. Let’s do go on.
Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told the Blade in an exclusive written interview this week that he appreciates the Log Cabin Republicans’ decision to endorse him, and he hopes “gay and lesbian Americans will give full consideration to supporting me.” …
BWAHAHAH—! Damn. Sorry.
McCain reiterated his long-held position that he would leave it up to military leaders to decide whether the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law should be retained or repealed. …
Yeah, and he said he’d leave marriage to the states, too — until he realized he needed to suck James Dobson’s Bible bookmark a lot harder to win over the evangelamentals.
Washington Blade: What personal experiences or friendships in your life have shaped how you view gay issues?
John McCain: I have known former Congressman Jim Kolbe for 25 years.
That punk?! Mr. Forced-Out-of-the-Closet, who won’t even co-sponsor the UAFA because he’s got the connections to keep his Panamanian lover in the U.S. as long as he wants? That Jim Kolbe?
Don’t make me laugh — Jim Kolbe isn’t gay — he’s just a homosexual. And he’d still be a Larry Craig-style homosexual if he hadn’t been outed by Kurt Wolfe.
… When he came out in 1996…
Was forced out.
…there was no question that I would stand by him. He’s a friend and a patriot and has been an admirable public servant, and a good example of why someone’s sexuality should not be relevant in public life.
I have also known former Tempe Mayor [Neil] Giuliano for many years.
A Log Cabinette. A Jew for Hitler.
He headed Mayors for McCain in our 2000 campaign. …
Like I said, a Jew for Hitler.
Blade: Do you have any role models who are openly gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender?
McCain: I had the humbling experience of speaking at Mark Bingham’s funeral after the attacks on Sept. 11. Mark had supported me during the 2000 campaign.
That’s sad to hear.
Unfortunately, I barely knew him, but our country learned about him after 9-11. He was one of the heroes on 9-11 who tried to retake control of United Flight 93. His efforts along with the other brave patriots could have saved hundreds of lives. I honor and respect Mark. …
What, a queer has to die saving his country before you can “honor and respect” him? You sure don’t “honor and respect” those of us still alive and living with your party’s vile attacks on us every day of the week.
Blade: Would you decline to nominate a qualified Supreme Court justice, cabinet member or other appointed position just because the person is openly gay?
McCain: I have always hired the most qualified and competent people — regardless of their political party, race, gender, religion or sexual orientation.
Blade: Would you decline to nominate a qualified Supreme Court justice or cabinet member who had a history of anti-gay rulings?
McCain: I will nominate judges who interpret the Constitution, not judges who legislate from the bench. Legislators pass laws; judges interpret them. Unfortunately, too many judges have become confused [about] their role. …
Just the answer I expected: a non-answer.
Translation: “I’m gonna pack SCOTUS with all the Scalias and Thomases I can dig up, and there’s not a damned thing you can do about it, so kiss your ‘rights’ goodbye, pansies.”
Then he pats himself on the back for supporting PEPFAR, and then he avoids the question of whether he’d have a LGBT liaison in the White House:
I have already publicly stated that there will be no White House Office of Political Affairs in my administration — professional politics should be at the party committees, where it has a rightful place, not in the White House. I intend to be a President for all Americans. …
Except gay ones.
He also won’t give a straight answer on ENDA or DADT (you expected him to?).
Blade: Would a McCain administration be willing to meet with and work with gay leaders to discuss matters of interest to the gay community?
McCain: I have met with leaders of Log Cabin Republicans in my campaigns. I am always willing to listen to all viewpoints and that will continue if I become President.
Dog whistle: “I’m only willing to meet with fag— er, Uncle Tom— er, Republican homos. The rest of you can bite me.”
Next, he says he appreciates the endorsement of the Log Cabinettes, and then delivers the punch line:
I hope gay and lesbian Americans will give full consideration to supporting me. The stakes are high in this election. I will have an inclusive administration and I will be a president for all Americans.
My Aunt Fanny you will.
Next, he goes back to paying lip service to “states’ rights” and marriage equality, driving his homophobia home for the benefit of the religious extremists:
However, at the same time, my own view is that marriage should be reserved for a man and a woman. That’s what I supported in Arizona. I realize this is a controversial issue and we must conduct this debate in a way that respects the dignity of every person.
There’s no “debate” on equal rights — you’re either for equality, or you’re against it. It’s clear where you stand, McCain.
And you wouldn’t recognize the “dignity of every person” if it bit you in the ass. (Tell me, have you stopped using the word “gooks”? And do you still stand by “I will hate them as long as I live”?)
He then points out that he voted against the FMA, because “this should be a state matter, and not one for the federal government — as long as no state is forced to adopt some other state’s standard.”
Next, the Blade corners him on his opposition to LGBT adoption:
Blade: Regarding adoption by same-sex couples, you have been quoted as saying you don’t believe it’s appropriate. Can you elaborate?
McCain: I hope my comments are not misinterpreted. I respect the hundreds of thousands of gay and lesbian people who are doing their best to raise the children they have adopted. As someone who adopted a child, Cindy and I know better than most couples the amazing satisfaction that comes from providing love to an unwanted child. I believe a child is best raised by a mother and father because of the unique contributions that they make together to the development of a child. …
Taking your talking points from Maggie Gallagher then, are you?
As I did in my home state of Arizona, I support the effort in California to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. However, the people of California will ultimately decide this issue, and I’ll of course respect the decision of the voters.
Homophobic little jerk.
Lots more of the same, and then:
Blade: Del Martin died on Aug. 27. She and Phyllis Lyon, her partner of 55 years, got married in the first legal gay union in California in June —affording Phyllis many of the basic protections and rights granted to married couples, such as hospital visitation and estate planning issues. Do you envision a time when all GLBT citizens will have similar basic rights? During your administration?
McCain: I respect that Del and Phyllis spent a lifetime together. As I stated earlier, however, I believe that issues regarding marriage and family laws are best decided by the states and not the federal government.
Never mind that Del and Phyllis were far more successful at marriage than you could ever hope to be, McCain. Jealous much?
Next, he tries (and fails) to justify voting against the Matthew Shepard Act, and finally dodges a Boy Scouts question.
Now, all you homos and ‘phobes voting for McCain, raise your hands — I want to know who you are so I can avoid getting the stink of you on me.
They’re called the “Hebrew Israelites,” and they’re scarier than a megachurch full of drunken Promise Keepers with erectile dysfunction and loaded AK-47s.
If you think a group called the “Hebrew Israelites” has anything whatsoever to do with being Jewish, you couldn’t be more mistaken — they hate Jews, too, and think the Holocaust is “a joke.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center’s latest Intelligence Report (Fall 2008) features several articles on these hate-filled cretins, who are nothing less than the mirror image of the KKK, and just as deranged. They believe, for instance, that African-American women are destroying the black community with the spread of AIDS, because they’re actually lesbians, and, of course, everybody knows lesbians are notorious for spreading AIDS.*
… [S]ecurity guards wear black headscarves, black T-shirts and black military-style pants tucked into combat boots. They grip cell phones and billy clubs. On their belts are sheaths and holsters, some empty, others holding blades and guns. …
Behind that locked door is the Baltimore branch of the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ, a black supremacist sect headquartered in New York City. Obsessed with hatred for whites and Jews, the leaders of the Israelite Church have managed to build up 29 church branches in recent years. …
… [T]he Hebrew Israelite movement [is] a black nationalist theology that dates back to the 19th century. Its doctrine asserts that African Americans are God’s true chosen people because they, not the people known to the world today as Jews, are the real descendants of the Hebrews of the Bible. Although most Hebrew Israelites are neither explicitly racist nor anti-Semitic and do not advocate violence, there is a rising extremist sector within the Hebrew Israelite movement whose adherents believe that Jews are devilish impostors and who openly condemn whites as evil personified, deserving only death or slavery.
The notorious white supremacist leader Tom Metzger once remarked of extremist Hebrew Israelites, “They’re the black counterparts of us.” …
Confrontations between Hebrew Israelite street preachers and their perceived enemies are growing uglier and gaining increasing attention through video clips circulated to legions of viewers on websites like YouTube. …
In [one] video, a preacher of the Israelite School, a man who identifies himself as General Mayakaahla Ka, offers this stark prediction for the future of the white race: “Every white person who doesn’t get killed by Christ when he returns is going into slavery!” …
Mobile clusters of up to a dozen extremist Hebrew Israelite street preachers, known in the movement as “camps,” have become a common presence at busy intersections, plazas and public transportation centers in large American cities, especially in Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., as well as Venice, Calif. The camps are often remarkably aggressive and intimidating, railing against “white devils” and calling for death for Jews and homosexuals. …
Extremist Hebrew Israelites have a long, strange list of enemies. At the top of the list are white people, who they preach are descended from a race of red, hairy beings, known as Edomites, who were spawned by Esau, the twin brother of Jacob (later known as Israel) in the Old Testament. Equally hated are “fraudulent” Jews, “the synagogue of Satan.” They’re closely followed in no particular order by Asians, promiscuous black women, abortionists, continental Africans (who, according to the extremist Israelites, sold the lost tribes of Israel, who were black, to European slave traders), and homosexuals, who according to extremist Israelites should all be put to death. (In December 2006, three gay men who were assaulted inside an Atlanta nightclub identified their attackers as Hebrew Israelites; no arrests were made). …
The man with the most power over the extremist Hebrew Israelite movement is Jermaine Grant, 30, the head of the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ. Grant rose from the lower levels of the organization to become its top leader in 2000. This was after Christ failed to return to earth to slay or enslave all Edomites, as had been long prophesied by Grant’s predecessor, Ahrayah, the movement’s founding “godfather.” …
Since 2001, Grant has produced the Arch Angel Awards, a version of the Grammys for musical artists who are avowed loyalists of the Israelite Church. The most famous of them is Wanya Morris, the lead singer of Boys II Men, a popular R&B group that’s won four real Grammys and sold over 60 million records. …
… [”General Yahanna”], whose real name is John Lightborne, is the leader of the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge… Lately, Yahanna has forged a presence on YouTube, where videotapes of his group’s street sermons demonizing the white race are widely circulated, and in Washington, D.C., where the Israelite School’s noisy demonstrations have led to a host of citizen complaints… Yahanna spoke by phone with the Intelligence Report, elaborating on his arguments that it’s not only white people destroying black communities, but also black women, the Rev. Al Sharpton and lesbians. Additionally, he discussed the future enslavement of white people, and the reasoning behind his condemning Barack Obama and Martin Luther King Jr. …
[Yahanna:] You live by Old Testament laws, some of which, like polygamy, are illegal. We don’t go against the law. But we believe that, according to the Bible, man has the right to have more than one woman. Now they have gays getting married and all kinds of stuff, saying adults should be able to marry children and animals. …
[SPLC:] You say the Lord is against the abuse of black women. But YouTube videos show you hurling abuse at black women passing by on the street.
[Yahanna:] We have black women who’ve written us personally, thanking us for what I’m saying in those videos. Christian women are doing some of the most egregious things in their households. The Christian black women are the number one group getting AIDS and STDs. If you survey the religion of the people getting AIDS, Christian black women represent the highest number of new AIDS cases in America. Muslim women come second.” [Editor’s note: Yahanna is referring to his own informal “survey.” There is no official research on the religious backgrounds of AIDS cases]. …
Because we say to black women that they cannot continue this lifestyle, they attack us. We’re talking about black women stopping all the things they’re doing sexually to destroy the black community. Black men are making whores out of our daughters. In D.C., they tried to oust a minister [the Rev. Willie Wilson] who told black women they’ve got to stop being lesbians, and quoted the same AIDS stat I quoted. But when I post it on YouTube to save black women, it gets twisted into somehow I hate black women.
So you believe AIDS is a God-delivered curse to the wicked?
I believe any sin we do against God helps to bring these curses on us. I heard all the rumors that AIDS was created in a lab and it doesn’t discriminate. We as black people have lost our moral compass, and until we get it back, we will get thousands more curses. The bedrock issue is not whether they’re lesbian, it’s how do we save these sisters from destroying themselves by the sexual deviancy that leads to the transmission of STDs and AIDS.
Could a gay man join your church?
Absolutely. We have quite a few ex-gay men in the Israelite School community. If you follow God’s rules, you’ll have enough power to leave any sinful life behind — crack, drugs and homosexuality, anything that’s destroyed our communities and left us in these ghettos. We give them the power to wash that stuff out and to live a healthy life that will help save other people’s lives. We have people come to us who say, “Yes, I’m gay. Yes, I’m a child molester. But I want to be brand new.” We start them on that righteous walk, and we’ve had great success.
What do you do about ex-gay members who go back to same-sex love?
Things like that are brought to our council, no different than someone who was on crack and backslid and ended up taking crack again. So a homosexual who leaves that lifestyle but backslides is just another sinner who’s made a mistake. But as of yet we haven’t had any who’ve done that. In fact, we have the opposite. They’ve gone on to take wives.
What do you believe should happen to gay men who choose to remain gay?
* Just in case some lesbian-hating ignoramus who can’t think for himself, or a Paul Cameron follower — or, wait, that’s redundant — stumbles across this post, let’s get one thing straight (so to speak): the truth about HIV/AIDS among Women Who Have Sex With Women, per the Centers for Disease Control.
Braking the Cycle to Ring the NASDAQ Stock Market Closing Bell
What:
Braking the Cycle will preside over the Closing Bell along with beneficiary organization, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center. In honor of the occasion, Jeffrey H. Klein, Capital & Major Gifts Officer for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center, will be joined by riders and Center Board Members.
Braking the Cycle has delivered over $1 million to support the HIV/AIDS services of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, while spreading awareness about HIV in communities across 275 miles from Gettysburg to Manhattan.
Where:
NASDAQ MarketSite - 4 Times Square - 43rd & Broadway - Broadcast Studio
Noting the FRC’s latest toxic missive claiming that “Homosexuals are less likely to enter long-term partnerships, less likely to be sexually faithful, and less likely to remain committed for a lifetime,” Alvin writes:
I have just emailed the Family Research Council asking where did they receive this information regarding gay marriage. …
My guess is that they used a study completed in the Netherlands by one Dr. Maria Xiridou. If this is the case, they took the study out of context big time.
You see, the 2003 published study’s objective was “to access the relative contribution of steady and casual partnerships to the incidence of HIV infection among homosexual men in Amsterdam and to determine the effect of increasing sexually risky behaviours among both types of partnerships in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).”
The study only looked at casual relationships amongst gay men and was completed before same-sex marriage was legalized in the Netherlands.
(Falls Church, Va.) A Pakistani man with HIV is fighting deportation from the United States and seeking asylum.
The man, who wishes to be identified only by his initials, S.K., fears persecution based on his sexual orientation and HIV status if he is returned to his homeland.
Under Pakistani law, being gay is punishable by death. LGBT people are forced to live in secrecy and constant fear of exposure, a legal brief said.
An Immigration judge disputed the risk and denied S.K.’s application for asylum.
The judge held that S.K., who has HIV and was in a committed relationship with a man in Minnesota, could avoid persecution by hiding his sexual orientation, marrying a woman, and having children. …
MEXICO CITY — August 6 — The Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW) is the recipient of the 2008 international Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and Human Rights Watch announced today. The award, which recognizes outstanding individuals and organizations that protect the rights and dignity of people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS, was presented in Mexico City on August 6, 2008, at the XVII International AIDS Conference.
“Sex workers routinely face human rights abuses, including the discriminatory denial of health services, arbitrary detention by police, harassment, and sexual and physical violence,” said Richard Elliott, executive director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. “This award recognizes the extraordinary contribution of the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers in the struggle for sex workers’ rights.”
Since 1994, APNSW has represented sex workers in various policy and educational forums, promoting the participation of sex workers in HIV/AIDS programs and supporting dialogue between nongovernmental organizations, governments, and activists. The group has challenged the increasing criminalization of all forms of sex work and unethical drug trials with sex workers as subjects.
APNSW has shaped policy at the global and regional levels, and built the capacity of local grassroots sex worker organizations, including by creating a network of transgender activists. Throughout Asia, the network has been challenging gender-based violence, promoting access to health care for sex workers, and advocating for the decriminalization of sex work.
“I am honored to accept this award on behalf of the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers,” said Andrew Hunter, the network’s policy director. “International recognition of sex workers’ human rights is vital to curb the HIV pandemic. Governments and UN agencies need to promote sustainable, comprehensive HIV prevention and care initiatives for sex workers that are community-led and protect their human rights.”
The stigmatization, social exclusion, and legal marginalization of sex workers contribute to human rights violations, and can exacerbate their risk of HIV infection. Increasingly, according to APNSW, anti-trafficking efforts and laws criminalizing transactional sex have resulted in violence and human rights abuses against sex workers at the hands of police. The organization pointed to new anti-trafficking legislation in Cambodia, where sex workers have been sent to “rehabilitation” centers and subjected to sexual violence and beatings, and had little access to health care or food.
“Being a part of APNSW — working in solidarity with tens of thousands of sex workers in the region — has allowed us to challenge the way the authorities have applied this law in Cambodia, and to gain strength to bring this issue to international attention,” said Kao Tha of the Women’s Network for Unity, a sex worker rights organization in Cambodia.
“The International AIDS Conference presents a forum to focus worldwide attention on the epidemic and our global response,” said Joe Amon, director of the HIV/AIDS program at Human Rights Watch. “Unfortunately, too often that response has been tainted by prejudice and misinformation. Only by ensuring the health and human rights of sex workers will governments, UN agencies, donors and nongovernmental groups be effective at reducing the vulnerability of sex workers to HIV infection. The Asia Pacific Network’s work epitomizes this.”
The Awards for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights were established in 2002 by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and Human Rights Watch. An award is presented annually to one Canadian and one international recipient. This year’s Canadian recipient was Peter Collins, a prisoner and health activist in Ontario, Canada.
WASHINGTON, DC — July 31, 2008 — President Bush signed the President’s Emergency Program [PEPFAR] into law yesterday at the White House.
The landmark bill, which passed in both the House and Senate by wide margins earlier this month, provides $48 billion over the next five years for the global fight of AIDS. Within the legislation is a directive to lift the HIV travel/immigration ban, which bars foreign travelers with HIV/AIDS from entering the United States unless they obtain a spouse or family waiver. That ban is blatantly discriminatory, particularly against gay men and lesbians with the illness, because under current US immigration law, their partners do not qualify as spouses or family.
While the President’s signature on this bill is a first step toward working to end immigration discrimination, one more barrier for HIV-positive visitors and immigrants must be removed. US immigration laws require the Secretary of Health and Human Services [HHS] to maintain a list of diseases that render people unable to enter the United States. HIV remains on that list.
“Out4Immigration applauds the US government’s continued commitment to the global fight against AIDS. We are especially pleased by the provision in this legislation sponsored by Senators John Kerry and Gordon Smith in the Senate and Congresswoman Barbara Lee in the House that repeals the draconian ban against people with HIV entering our country. We hope that the Secretary of Health and Human Services acts quickly to remove HIV from the list of diseases that prevents entry into the US as is dictated by PEPFAR” said Michael Lim, Vice President of Out4Immigration.
“Today we all know that HIV/AIDS is a preventable disease and that people who are living with the illness can take proven precautions to prevent its transmission.” Out4Immigration is a national grassroots organization dedicated to raising awareness about the discrimination gay and lesbian Americans face under current US immigration law. Because the United States does not recognize same-sex relationships at the federal level, gays and lesbians are shut out from many federal benefits that would protect their families. One of the most devastating consequences of this is lack of immigration rights.
“Prior to PEPFAR, and what we hope will be a swift removal of HIV by the HHS, an American gay person in a relationship with a foreign partner with HIV/AIDS could be permanently separated from their partner because the foreign partner did not have the right to travel in and out of the country because of the HIV travel ban,” explained Lim.
“On the other hand, heterosexuals married to a foreign partner with HIV/AIDS could obtain a waiver, based on the fact that they were assumed to be in a committed, monogamous relationship that would prohibit the spread of the disease to the community at-large. This was blatant discrimination against gays and lesbians.”
The PEPFAR legislation, with the lifting of HIV by the HHS, will now treat all foreign visitors and immigrants with HIV/AIDS the same. “It is an important first step to end immigration discrimination in the US,” said Lim. “According to a Human Rights Watch report, we still have more than 36,000 committed same-sex binational couples who are denied the right to a green card because our country does not recognize their right to be together.”
These couples would benefit from legislation called the Uniting American Families Act [UAFA], which would effectively add the words “or permanent partner” to existing immigration law wherever the word “spouse” appears. The bill currently has 99 co-sponsors in the House and 14 in the Senate. It needs many more in both chambers to come up for a vote that would have the kind of overwhelming support PEPFAR had to insure the president’s signature.
For more than two decades, the International AIDS Conference has taken place every two years in countries around the world with the exception of the United States.
The International AIDS Society does not hold its conferences in countries that restrict short-term entry of people living with HIV/AIDS and/or require prospective HIV-positive visitors to declare their HIV status on visa application forms or other documentation required for entry into the country.
The United States made news around the world in 1989 when Dutch AIDS activist Hans Paul Verhoff was denied entry into the United States because of his HIV status. The ban was codified into as part of the NIH reauthorization in 1993.
But this era has gladly come to an end. Thankfully, the reauthorization of PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief which was signed into law yesterday. It included a provision to repeal discriminatory HIV travel and immigration law, raising the possibility of the International AIDS Conference coming to the United States.
There are many reasons it makes sense to do so. First, with one in 20 DC residents living with HIV, this conference could potentially shine an international spotlight on our devastating HIV/AIDS statistics. Second, with so many decisions that impact HIV/AIDS around the world being made in our nation’s capitol, the possibility of bringing HIV/AIDS advocates from around the world to DC has exciting potential. Third, a conference of this size could be a huge economic boost to the District.
As plans are made for the 2012, the International AIDS Society has an opportunity to make a powerful statement by bringing the conference back to the United States for the first time in twenty years. I hope they do so by holding the 2012 conference in the United States, and give serious consideration to holding the conference in Washington, DC.
WASHINGTON — July 30 — HRC — The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, today called on the Department of Health and Human Services to update its regulations following the President’s signing of legislation to reauthorize PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Included in this measure was a provision to repeal our nation’s discriminatory law barring HIV-positive visitors and immigrants. The PEPFAR bill passed the Senate on July 16 and the U.S. House passed the bill last week.
“We appreciate the President signing the repeal of this unjust and sweeping policy that deems HIV-positive individuals inadmissible to the United States,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “The HIV travel and immigration ban performs no public health service, is unnecessary and ineffective. We thank our allies on the Hill who fought to end this injustice and now call on Secretary of Health and Human Services Leavitt to remove the remaining regulatory barriers to HIV-positive visitors and immigrants.”
HRC has been a lead organization lobbying on Capitol Hill for the repeal and will continue to work to ensure that Department of Health and Human Services’ regulations are changed. The Human Rights Campaign has worked closely with the offices of Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Gordon Smith (R-OR), as well as Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), the sponsor of an effort to repeal the ban in the House of Representatives. Both Sen. Kerry and Rep. Lee participated in a national media conference call held by HRC in March. In addition to action alerts urging members to contact their Senators, HRC and Immigration Equality drafted a coalition letter on behalf of more than 165 organizations in support of the Kerry-Smith provision in the PEPFAR bill, and directly lobbied numerous Senate offices on the repeal measure.
In December of 2007, Senators Kerry and Smith introduced legislation, the HIV Non-Discrimination in Travel and Immigration Act (S. 2486), to repeal the ban. In the House, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) introduced similar the legislation, H.R. 3337, in August 2007. The travel and immigration ban prohibits HIV-positive foreign nationals from entering the U.S. unless they obtain a special waiver, which is difficult to obtain and can only allow for short-term travel. Current policy also prevents the vast majority of foreign nationals with HIV from obtaining legal permanent residency in the United States.
The ban originated in 1987, and explicitly codified by Congress in 1993, despite efforts in the public health community to remove the ban when Congress reformed U.S. immigration law in the early 1990s. While immigration law currently excludes foreigners with any “communicable disease of public health significance” from entering the U.S., only HIV is explicitly named in the statute. For all other illnesses, the Secretary of Health and Human Services retains the ability, with the medical expertise of his department, to determine which illnesses truly pose a risk to public health.
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In a remarkable coincidence, chants of the huge San Francisco anti Prop 8 crowd marching by below rose upward, filling the LGBT Community Center’s fourth floor ceremonial room as CA Assemblyman/State Senator-Elect Mark Leno also presented a certificate in Leonard’s honor and emphasized how fitting it was that the dedication was happening the same day as nationwide protests against anti gay marriage bigotry.
