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It’s coming along slowly, but it’s coming.
List of lawyers just entered into Base8, after the jump.
And guess what? Most are Mormon! What a surprise! Not.
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It’s time.
It’s taken so long because of the research. And it’s not done. And it will be an ongoing project, with no end in sight.
Cutting to the chase:
What: A human-edited database of businesses and individuals who have contributed to anti-marriage equality ballot initiatives, in a format much like the old Yahoo!; i.e., in top-down directory style, and completely searchable (by anything from name to Zip code).
Why: Because we don’t believe in giving our money to people who will in turn use our money against us.
Why it’s different: It is the result of many months of detailed, cross-checked research, which (while using information that is 100% publicly accessible and easily confirmed) reaches far beyond a mere mirror of public records, and begins the laborious process of making sense of the vast web of connections among donors. And, while using a standard, top-down directory format, the information is presented in clear, plain English.
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Long list, via email (many thanks, you-know-who-you-are!), massaged for organization & clarity, with live links added:
ARIZONA
Phoenix, Arizona: Gather at 6pm at the southwest corner of Camelback at 7th Avenue for a rally and then march. For more information, contact John Allard at arizona@marriageequality.org
CALIFORNIA
Auburn, California: Gather at 5:30pm at the Placer County Courthouse (101 Maple Street). For more information, contact ca-placer@marriageequality.org
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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?
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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 MurderAs 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.
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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.)
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.
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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)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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“Good church”, eh? Apparently they don’t teach that “thou shalt not kill” stuff at their “good church”.
Steve Domer
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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.
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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.
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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?”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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The role of religion in the presidential campaign tops the 2008 “Top Ten” list of top church-state stories, according to the editors of Church & State.
The monthly magazine, published by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, is the nation’s only news periodical devoted exclusively to the intersection of religion and government.
Said Church & State publisher Barry W. Lynn, “It was a wild and crazy year. To tell you the truth, I’m glad it’s coming to a close. I’m hopeful 2009 will be a lot better.”
After studying the past 12 months of news, the editors selected the following 10 stories as the most important and most interesting church-state developments for the year.
1. The Role of Religion in the Presidential Campaign: Not since 1960 when John F. Kennedy the first Roman Catholic president was elected, has religion played such a large role in a presidential campaign. News media representatives grilled candidates on what sins they had committed and what their favorite Bible verses were. Barack Obama fought false rumors that he is secretly a Muslim, and Mitt Romney’s Mormonism became a controversial topic. Candidates were held accountable for the incendiary comments of their pastors and their clergy supporters, such as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and TV preacher John Hagee. Many observers thought the whole thing was an unholy mess, especially in a nation that separates religion and government.
2. The Resurgence of the Religious Right: While pundits and progressives have proclaimed the demise of the Religious Right, the fundamentalist political movement remained extraordinarily powerful. Republican John McCain found it necessary to name evangelical Sarah Palin as his running mate to mollify the GOP’s restive religious base, and Religious Right forces rammed through bans on same-sex marriage in California, Florida and Arizona. Moderate evangelical Richard Cizik was forced out as government affairs representative at the National Association of Evangelicals after coming under fire from Religious Right forces.
3. The Battle Over Gay Marriage: Bans on same-sex marriage were approved in California, Florida and Arizona with conservative religious forces leading the drive. California’s approval of Proposition 8, with massive funding from members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was particularly contentious. The Mormons, joined by the Roman Catholic hierarchy and evangelical Protestant congregations, were successful in passing a constitutional amendment that takes away the right of same-sex couples to marry and reflects church doctrine in civil law. The issue now moves back to the state Supreme Court.
4. The Ascendancy of Rick Warren: Once known primarily as a mega-church pastor and best-selling author (The Purpose Driven Life), the Rev. Rick Warren has rapidly moved into position as the nation’s most prominent preacher, despite right-wing views on reproductive freedom, gay rights and church-state separation. Warren, a Southern Baptist who heads Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., is viewed by progressives as Jerry Falwell in a Hawaiian shirt with an ace PR team. After hosting a presidential debate stacked toward John McCain and being asked to give the invocation at Barack Obama’s inauguration, many think Warren seems destined to be the new Billy Graham.
5. Religious Right Influence at Justice Department: Religious Right influence at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) was exposed this year. According to an internal DOJ investigation reported in the media in July, senior aides in the department used religious and political criteria to hire staff members for non-political positions. Monica Goodling, a top adviser to the attorney general, checked to see if job applicants were “pro-God in public life” and held right-wing views on abortion, homosexuality and other issues. (Goodling is a graduate of TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Regent University.) DOJ also posted a legally dubious memorandum this year insisting that the federal government may give grants to “faith-based” social service agencies that discriminate in hiring, even if Congress has explicitly banned such bias.
6. Battles Over Creationism in Public Schools: New battles have erupted over the teaching of evolution in public schools. Blocked by the courts from teaching fundamentalist religious concepts directly in biology classes, Religious Right forces are trying a backdoor strategy. They are demanding that schools teach the “strengths and weaknesses” of evolution, a euphemism for creationist ideas. Over the heated objections of educators, scientists and civil liberties activists, the Louisiana legislature approved an “academic freedom” law encouraging such instruction in the state’s schools. Now the Texas State Board of Education is debating a similar proposal as part of its 10-year review of science standards.
7. Church Politicking Plot: The Religious Right’s dream of building a fundamentalist church-based political machine took a big step forward in 2008 when more than 30 pastors used their pulpits to endorse Republican political candidates. They acted at the behest of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a wealthy Religious Right legal outfit that wants to challenge the federal tax law ban on partisan politicking by tax-exempt groups. The ADF, which was founded by TV preachers and other religious broadcasters, hopes the Internal Revenue Service will revoke participating churches’ tax exemptions leading to a court showdown.
8. Defeat of Jeb Bush Referenda: Florida Gov. Jeb Bush saw his school voucher subsidies for religious and other private schools overturned by the state Supreme Court in 2006. Undeterred, the now former governor’s allies on an obscure tax commission engineered two measures onto the November 2008 ballot that would have repealed the state constitution’s ban on public funding of religion as well as diluted its provision for a strong system of public schools. To Bush’s dismay, the state Supreme Court on Sept. 3 struck the referenda from the ballot, derailing the scheme.
9. Blocking of ‘Christian’ License Plate: The South Carolina legislature unanimously approved a special “Christian” license plate featuring a bright yellow cross, a stained-glass church window and the words “I Believe.” Backed by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, four local clergy and two minority faith groups challenged the government favoritism toward one faith. On Dec. 11, a federal district court blocked issuance of the plates. The judge’s action may forestall similar sectarian plates under consideration in other states.
10. The Christmas Wars: It has become an annual holiday tradition Religious Right groups and their allies in the right-wing media launch a yearly crusade to stop the alleged secularization of Christmas and to pressure government to include Christian symbols in the holiday mix. They rail against stores’ use of the term “Happy Holidays” and insist that advertisements say “Merry Christmas” instead. This year, much of the attention focused on a Washington State battle where an atheist Winter Solstice sign was positioned near a Christian Nativity scene in the state capital. Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly and an array of Religious Right scolds lambasted Gov. Christine Gregoire for allowing the anti-religious sentiment. Ironically, credit for the atheist display actually should go to the Alliance Defense Fund, a Religious Right legal group that sued Gregoire last year, insisting that the Capitol is an open forum where a Nativity scene (and all other forms of speech) must be allowed.
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom. Americans Unitied for Separation of Church and State Links: Homepage; Americans United (Press Center); Americans United (Action Center)
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It was very tempting to title this: “So, Who’s Got Joe Kanefield’s Nuts in a Vice?” Or: “Is Joe Kanefield Just Another Anti-Gay Running Arizona Elections?” but that might suggest there’s something corrupt about Arizona’s “top election official,” and we don’t want to make anybody think such a thing. We certainly don’t think such a thing. In fact, we are 150% certain that Joe Kanefield is an honest, hardworking public servant who does his job with complete integrity. So, don’t you get the idea that there’s anything underhanded going on here. And if you think such a thing, you sure didn’t get that idea from us. Nossirree.
Backers of gay marriage ban did not properly fill out campaign donor list PHOENIX — The backers of the successful ballot proposal to constitutionally ban gay marriage did not get the occupations of the majority of those who contributed to the campaign despite a state law requiring them to gather that information.
But the state’s top election official said Monday that the wording of the law allows them to get away with that. Joe Kanefield said they do not have to give back the donations that came without the required information or even to pay a fine.
A review of the public reports filed by the Yes for Marriage campaign shows occupations listed for only about one out of five contributors. The campaign managed to collect more than $7.7 million, mostly from individuals identified only by name and address.
By contrast, Arizona Together, the committee that collected nearly $750,000 for the campaign against Proposition 102, has occupations listed for virtually all of its contributors. …
Kanefield, the state elections director, said the law does require campaigns to get the information on occupations. And Kanefield said that, based on Frazier’s complaint, he sent a letter to John LeSueur, treasurer of the Yes for Marriage campaign asking for an explanation.
The response came in the form of several hundred pages of affidavits saying the information had been requested from the donors. …
On the bottom of each letter was a note, in small type, saying that if the contributor did not provide information about occupation, he or she “may do so” by sending an e-mail to a campaign address.
LeSueur did not return several calls seeking comment. But the committee never filed an amended report adding even a single address. Despite that, Kanefield said they are now in compliance with the law.
That law, he said, only requires a campaign to make its “best effort” to get the missing information. Kanefield said even the boilerplate language at the bottom of the acknowledgement of the donation meets that legal description. …
More at the link.
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ARIZONA — December 2, 2008 — The Arizona Supreme Court should strike down two voucher programs that direct tax dollars into religious and other private schools, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
In a friend-of-the-court brief filed Dec. 1, Americans United urged the justices to hold that the voucher plans violate explicit provisions of the state constitution that bar public funding of private education. For example, Article IX, Section 10, states that “no tax shall be laid or appropriation of public money in aid of any … private or sectarian school.”
Observed the AU brief, “No-aid provisions likes this one exist in many state constitutions as a supplement to basic church-state protections, and voucher schemes like the two at issue here contradict their plain meaning. … In addition to the obvious financial benefit they provide to sectarian private schools (in the form of publicly funded tuition payments), the voucher provisions aid the religious missions of these schools and of the religious groups that operate them.”
Americans United noted that opposition to taxation in support of religion has a long constitutional history.
“Thomas Jefferson emphatically wrote” the brief asserted, “that one of the principal cornerstones of our republic is a ‘wall of separation between Church and State’. … The tenet of church-state separation with the longest and deepest historical pedigree is the prohibition on the expenditure of taxes to support religion in general or religious training in particular.”
Americans United also urged the justices to be wary of claims that voucher programs benefit students. The brief cited an array of studies indicating that voucher plans do not improve student academic performance.
The Arizona Court of Appeals has already ruled in the Cain v. Horne case that the programs violate the state constitution.
A hearing at the state’s high court is scheduled for December 9.
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
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Sorry for the short notice, but word didn’t get out until today. Culled from various news sources:
WHAT: Mormon Temple Protest/Candlelight Vigil
WHERE: Meet at Pioneer Park, across from Mesa Arizona Temple Visitors’ Center and Gardens
WHEN: Friday evening, before start of Christmas Lights Celebration at 7:00 p.m.
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As thrilled as we are to hear that X-thousand people came out in San Francisco and New York and Chicago for Saturday’s nationwide Proposition 8 protests, we’re even more impressed by the smaller cities and towns where a hundred people, or just a dozen, gay and straight, braved brutal climates, of both the environmental and the anti-gay varieties. It’s not easy to stand on a street corner and absorb the hate even when you’ve got 2,000 people on your side; we can’t begin to imagine what it’s like to do the same thing when your group numbers a few dozen — or just a few.
So, let’s look at a quick rundown of the best numbers I could find for the “big” protests, and then take a moment to appreciate some brave souls who took up the mantle of equality for all in places you might least expect anyone to do it.
The Big Protests: 2,000 People or More
New York - ? (I’ve heard everything from 4,000 on up.)
San Diego (20,000+)
Los Angeles (”12,000 is a conservative number”)
San Francisco 7,500 (various sources)
Seattle, Washington (3,000 to 6,000)
Washington, D.C. (5,000+)
Boston (+/- 4,000)
San Jose (2,000)
Chicago (2,000+)
Phoenix (2,000)
Salt Lake City (2,000)
Santa Rosa, CA (1,700+)
The Pretty Big Protests: 1,000 People or More
Sacramento (1,500)
Raleigh, North Carolina (1,400)
Dallas (1,200+)
Atlanta (1,200)
Philadelphia (”easily surpassed” 1,000)
Orlando, Florida (+/- 1,000)
Las Vegas (1,000+)
Long Beach, CA (1,000+)
Irvine, CA (1,000+)
Good Turnouts: Under 1,000
Minneapolis (700+)
Ventura, California (600)
Santa Cruz (500+)
Palm Springs (500+)
St. Louis, MO (500+)
Escondido, CA (+/- 500)
Good Turnouts Considering the Political Climate and/or Weather
Chico, California (500)
Pomona, California (400+)
Honolulu, Hawaii (+/- 400)
[A rally on Maui was also planned.]
Asheville, North Carolina (+/- 400)
Napa, California (400)
Boulder, Colorado (”hundreds”)
Oklahoma City (”hundreds”)
Madison, Wisconsin (”hundreds”)
Cincinnati, Ohio (”hundreds”)
Springfield, Missouri (”hundreds”)
Fresno, California (”hundreds”)
Boise, Idaho (”hundreds”)
San Antonio, Texas (”hundreds”)
Charleston, South Carolina (”hundreds”)
Lake Worth, Florida (”hundreds”)
Ithaca, New York (”hundreds”)
Portland, Oregon (”several hundred”)
Albuquerque, New Mexico (”a few hundred”)
Rochester, New York (”a few hundred”)
Detroit (200-500)
Albany, New York (300+)
Reno, Nevada (300)
Pasadena, California (+/- 300)
Olympia, Washington (+/- 300)
Charlotte, North Carolina (200+)
Syracuse, New York (+/- 200)
Modesto, California (+/- 200)
Fargo, North Dakota (+/- 200)
Wilmington, North Carolina (+/- 150)
Smaller Groups in Places That Should Surprise You
Several dozen protested in downtown Anchorage Saturday afternoon. …Alaska was the first state in the nation to constitutionally ban gay marriage, back in 1998, when voters approved the change by a more than a two-to-one margin.
About 25 gay rights advocates held up signs in front of Fairbanks City Hall…Voters in Alaska approved a ban on gay marriage 10 years ago.
An Army wife organized the gathering in Fairbanks, which started at 9:30 a.m. and involved waving signs in front of passing motorists on Cushman Street.
One sign read, “Love is love.” Another: “Equal rights for all.” A man held a sign saying, “I am Sarah Palin’s gay friend.”
Kristen Magann, the organizer, described herself as heterosexual, happily married and a believer that sexual preference should not determine civil rights.
“I want to make this message heard,” she stated in an e-mail, “that all people no matter their sexual orientation should be allowed the same rights under the law.”
More than 100 people rallied on the corners of East Magnolia Street and Cornwall Avenue in Bellingham the morning of Saturday, Nov. 15, to protest California’s recent ban on gay marriage.Chants of “It’s about love not hate,” and “Hey mister president, what do you say, don’t hate families because they’re gay” filled blocks of downtown Bellingham during the two-hour protest. …
The protesters in Bellingham were outside the Federal Building from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. A smaller group continued the protest outside the Bellingham Farmer’s Market after noon.
The ironic marquee of the Empress Theatre on Virginia Street served as an appropriate backdrop to a Proposition 8 protest Saturday night.On one level of the marquee, the Empress Theatre advertised an upcoming gay and lesbian night, while one line below it advertised the Latter-day Saints Concert series.
The Saturday concert was what prompted about 75 people to gather in front of the theater chanting and demanding a return of same-sex marriage rights that the passage of Prop. 8 eliminated.
Solano County is the only Bay Area county where voters approved Prop. 8.About 75 people showed up to a Fairfield rally organized by Fairfield High School student Crystal Nievera, 16.
“Not everyone voted yes on 8 (in Solano County),” said Nievera, who feared a small showing based on what her Facebook group told her.
The protesters met at Fairfield City Hall and marched to Solano County Municipal Court, where they would be more visible on busy Texas Street.
The young organizer invoked the spirit of slain Fairfield councilman Matt Garcia, a strong supporter of youth before he was gunned down in September at age 22.
“This is why today, I’m trying to make a difference,” Nievera said.
Toni Pinck stood quietly next to Chauvin, holding a “No on Prop. 8” sign. Her son was married in San Francisco Aug. 15.“I’m here to show support for people that are still fighting for their civil rights,” she said. “I wouldn’t have been able to vote for Proposition 8 if it weren’t for people who fought for the woman’s right to vote many years ago.”
Marina Martinez and Evelyn Iraheta, also Tracy residents, were married Oct. 24 in Stockton. They said they thought their neighbors were supportive of their marriage before Proposition 8 was introduced in June, until the “Yes on 8” signs began to appear. …
Demonstrators also took to the streets of Salinas against Prop 8. The Salinas march happened to take place on the same day an event at Hartnell College called for the strengthening of families.. . .
The latest returns in Monterey County show the Proposition 8 race was much closer, than Santa Cruz County. No on 8 collected 52% of the total vote.
Young gay students, middle-aged white and Latino couples and community activists came together Saturday on the city’s streets to protest passage of Proposition 8. …“We are here because we need to remind people we live in a nation under civil law and Prop. 8 forces some to live according to the religious views of others,” said Randall Lopez, an organizer with the Inland Empire Human Rights Coalition, which held the local protest. …
On Saturday morning, about 30 people gathered in front of Colton City Hall to kick off the rally. …
Nicolas Daily, 19, of Redlands, who described himself as a gay black man, stood high on the steps urging the group to join him in singing “Let it Be” and “Somewhere over the Rainbow.”
“I honestly just want people to know this is not going to go away,” he said. “We are going to be out here until we get our rights.”
Cherie Stevens, Mother of gay son: “We want our son to have the very same rights as his straight brothers.”Cherie and her husband were among a group of 60 individuals at the Bonneville County Courthouse who all wanted to make their voices and opinions heard. They say our country was founded on the idea of equality and will now just take some time before this rings true for everyone.
Jamee Greer took charge of a sizable crowd that united and protested Saturday in favor of gay marriage rights, a group pulled together in Missoula by the Internet and text messages.He gave the group its marching orders, announcing the rules of the road, as the protesters carried signs and prepared to march from North Higgins Avenue to the Missoula County Courthouse.
“This is about basic human rights and civil rights not being met here at home in Montana,” said Greer…
In Missoula, Brian Cook wore a picture of his 21-year-old gay son, Andrew Sullivan-Cook, who was in Dallas marching with Join the Impact protesters. “I’m here, not only in support of my son’s rights, but it’s simply the right thing to do,” said Cook. “Even if my son wasn’t gay, I’d be here.”
Cook said his daughter, and 15-month-old grandson, would be marching in Dallas alongside his son.
About 65 people are gathered in front of Grand Forks’s Town Square this afternoon to protest the passage of Proposition 8 in California…The group first came together at about 12:30 p.m. in front of Grand Forks City Hall. The protest is part of a nationwide event in 300 cities, according to jointheimpact.com. The Grand Forks event is scheduled to run until 3:30 p.m.
At about 1:30 p.m., the group left their spot in front to move to Town Square at the corner of DeMers Avenue and Third Street.
Horns were honking for several hours early Saturday afternoon, supporting about 120 gay rights activists with signs and flags who were protesting the recent approval of California’s Proposition 8. …There were many supportive honks throughout the afternoon, said John McClelland, president of the Stonewall Democrats of Denton County, a gay and lesbian political organization.
Jack Harnstrom and Jon Hill have been partners for 14 years, but when California was set to vote on banning same-sex marriages, the Duluth residents raced to Palm Spring, Calif., to be wed.Their wedding ceremony was Nov. 3, a day before California voted to take away that right. On Saturday afternoon, the couple joined about 75 others at a gay rights rally against California’s Proposition 8 at Lake Avenue and Superior Street in downtown Duluth.
More than 120 people lined the street in front of the Federal Building Saturday afternoon to protest the recent passage of a California ballot proposal banning same-sex marriage.Signs reading “Stop the Hate” and “Equal Rights for All” attracted honks as passing motorists showed support. The crowd stretched nearly a full block along West Michigan Avenue.
They were among about 100 people who attended the rally in front of MSU Auditorium.Organized by MSU Alliance of Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgendered and Straight Ally Students, the protest was one of hundreds that took place Saturday nationwide.
Among the nationwide turnouts Saturday was a gathering of about 40 people at the corner of Main and University streets in Peoria. The group protested the decision that affected an estimated 18,000 California couples seeking the legal distinction. …“This is a more conservative area, and we know that. Everybody knows someone who is gay. A lot of times it’s just not talked about. But we still participate in the homeowners’ associations, or neighborhood watch groups. … We buy Girl Scout cookies from neighbors’ kids.
“I do what I can to support my neighbors and their families. Why not support me and my family, my relationship?”
University students and Champaign-Urbana families took to the streets Saturday to protest the recent passing of Proposition 8 in California which bans gay marriage. …The event in Campustown was sponsored by the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Resources and was organized by Brooke Elliot, senior in Education, and Virginia McCreary, graduate student.
Elliot said they planned a protest on campus because many people were not able to get to Chicago for its protest. …
About 80 protestors stood on the corners with colorful signs. Some cars driving down Green Street honked in support of the cause.
At 1 p.m. the protestors had a moment of silence which was broken by a car honking in support of the protest. The protestors then marched down Green Street to Fourth Street and back again shouting their message and waving their signs.
The protestors were met with little resistance.
On two occasions, groups of students walking past the protestors made remarks in opposition of the protest.
One worker at Potbelly Sandwich Works opened the door as the protestors were walking past and said, “Good job guys!”
Every time a car honked, they cheered. A group of about 20 people stood at the corner of Main Street and Jefferson Boulevard in downtown South Bend on Saturday, waving signs in support of same-sex marriage. …“It sets a precedent,” said Mandy Studdard, who helped organize the South Bend rally. “People say ‘If the rest of the country doesn’t want this, why should we have it here?’ We’ve got to set a different precedent. That’s not how it’s supposed to be.”
About 50 people protested in Jackson outside the state capitol…“[W]hen people see protests happening around the country, they’ll understand that this isn’t just an issue that’s happening somewhere else, this is an American issue happening everywhere, because it affects all of us,” organizer Brent Cox said.
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia
A mixed group of students and local activists marched in protest today as part of a national day of action against the passage of California’s constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.Nearly 100 students and residents joined for a march from the drill field around campus and back chanting slogans, bearing signs and waving and cheering at passing cars.
“We’re in southwest Virginia, we want to improve the LGBT community’s visibility and we want people here to know we exist,” said organizer Tami Grossman.
About 35 people gathered in front of Greenville City Hall on Saturday afternoon to protest voter passage of California’s Proposition 8, a referendum that reversed a state supreme court ruling allowing gay marriage. …The group protested peacefully and without incident, displaying signs and flags representing gay pride. They sang songs of protest, led by Georgia Winfree, of the group Someone’s Sister, then marched together along Fifth Street where an occasional passing car honked in response.
In Macon on Saturday, more than 50 advocates for Join the Impact, an international organization supporting equal rights for people who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, protested the California Proposition 8 vote outside City Hall.Protesters waved signs reading “What Would Martin Do?” “Fight the H8” and “Would You Rather I Marry Your Daughter?” …
“Today’s protest is a small piece of the puzzle,” said Alex Webb, organizer of the Macon rally. “This started off as an online movement and has become a national and international phenomenon. There are people in London standing with us right now … standing with us against our treatment as second-class citizens, standing for equal rights for all.”
150 people came out on a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon to show support for same-sex marriage and solidarity with gay and lesbian people in California. …Protesters gathered at the corner of Elmwood Avenue and Bidwell Parkway with signs that advocated equality under state marriage laws for all people. The event began at 1:30pm and also featured remarks by local activist Kitty Lambert and New York State Assembly member Sam Hoyt.
Standing on the steps of City Hall, more than 70 gay men, lesbians and their supporters yesterday protested a California vote banning same-sex marriage and called for all states to provide civil marriage “equality.” …A steady stream of drivers crawling across usually crowded Main Street honked their horns in support of the crowd. Many drivers yelled out “Yes” and “Way to go” or waved their fists in solidarity. For at least the first hour of the demonstration, no passers-by said or did anything in opposition to the gay-marriage cause.
“Westchester is a very, very affirming place to live,” said Scott Havelka of Rye Brook, interim executive director of The Loft, a gay community services center in White Plains, which supported the rally.
About 100 supporters of marriage equality for same-sex couples stood in a steady drizzle outside Burlington City Hall on Saturday to register their disappointment with the outcome of the Proposition 8 vote in California Nov. 4.Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force field director Robyn Maguire rallied the crowd, insisting that Vermont could do better than California.
“We want Vermont to reclaim its role in this important civil rights issue,” Maguire said. “It’s been eight years and it’s time for us to move forward. Now more than ever does Vermont matter.”
Gay marriage proponents united Saturday in grass-roots protests around the country — including one in Market Square. …“It’s a matter of equality,” said Forest Stone, a Portsmouth resident, as she stood in the rain Saturday among nearly 100 other sign-touting, umbrella-gripping demonstrators.
Like dozens of others, Stone and her 6-year-old daughter Annalie both held bright signs facing traffic in front of the North Church, while some people in passing cars encouraged the efforts with honks and shouts.
The Protest That Touches Us the Most
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
“We’re small but mighty,” said protest organizer Jennifer Rowe today.Rowe, along with Amanda Zuke, Kyle Cardoza, Liz Laplante and two other concerned citizens, gathered outside Sault Ste. Marie’s Civic Centre to protest the recent adoption of California’s Proposition 8, outlawing same-sex marriage.
“We’re here to show our support for those in the United States who are fighting to get same-sex marriage recognized and for human rights across the board,” Rowe told SooToday.com. …
“The battle may have been fought and won in Canada to allow people to marry whoever they want, but being respected just as another human being is still a problem,” said Rowe. “There’s still a long way to go in some cases.” …
Rowe says she’s already started planning something to happen locally in support of Join the Impact’s fight.
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With lots of links and discussions:
When They Boycott, They’re Just Exercising Their Rights…
AFA Gearing Up For Another Boycott?
BTB, November 13, 2008
The El Coyote Boycott
El Coyote: An Uncompromising Faith
BTB, November 12, 2008
All Of Those Gay Friends You Say You Have? They Are No Longer Your Friends
BTB, November 13, 2008
The El Coyote Boycott
BTB, November 14, 2008
Arizona:
Employee Fired By LDS-Owned Firm for Opposing Prop 102
BTB, November 14, 2008
Plus:
K-EARTH Morning DJ [Gary Bryan] Contributed to Yes on 8
BTB, November 12, 2008
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Maybe if they stopped practicing discrimination far and wide…
November 10, 2008, press release from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission:
UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX TO PAY $1,875,000 FOR RELIGIOUS BIAS AGAINST NON-MORMONS EEOC Settles Suit on Behalf of Class of Enrollment Counselors in Online Division
PHOENIX — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced that Federal District Court Judge Mary H. Murguia has entered a consent decree for nearly $2 million and significant remedial relief to resolve a class religious discrimination lawsuit against the University of Phoenix, Inc., and its parent corporation, Apollo Group, Inc.
Apollo Group and the University of Phoenix are one of the largest employers in the Phoenix metropolitan area. In its lawsuit, filed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (EEOC v. University of Phoenix, Inc., and Apollo Group, Inc., CV 06-2303-PHX-ROS), the EEOC charged that the University of Phoenix engaged in a widespread practice of discriminating against non-Mormon employees who worked as enrollment counselors in the University’s Online Division. Enrollment counselors at the University of Phoenix are responsible for recruiting students and are largely evaluated based on the number of students they recruit. At present, the University of Phoenix has over 2,000 employees working in online enrollment.
Robert Lein, who filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC that resulted in the lawsuit, said, “I am very pleased with the outcome of this case and I thank the EEOC staff for their work. I am happy to hear that the University of Phoenix is making significant changes to its environment to prevent what happened to me and many of my colleagues from happening again in the future.”
Testimony of witnesses in the case revealed that managers in the Online Enrollment Department at the University of Phoenix discriminated against non-Mormon employees, and favored Mormon employees, in several ways, including: (1) providing the Mormon employees better leads on potential students; (2) disciplining non-Mormon employees for conduct for which Mormon employees were not disciplined; (3) promoting lesser-qualified or unqualified Mormon enrollment counselors to management positions while repeatedly denying such promotions to non-Mormon enrollment counselors; and (4) denying tuition waivers to non-Mormon employees for failing to meet registration goals, while granting the waivers to Mormon employees.
“We are pleased that University of Phoenix is going to stop condoning such favoritism toward Mormon employees and the resultant discrimination against non-Mormon employees,” said EEOC Phoenix Regional Attorney Mary Jo O’Neill. “It is the EEOC’s belief that, for many years, the University of Phoenix condoned an environment in which Mormon managers felt free to engage in favoritism toward their Mormon employees, and did so by providing the Mormon employees things such as strong leads on potential students. Given that evaluations are based largely on recruitment numbers, this disproportionate assignment of leads affected a whole host of matters for employees, including compensation, access to tuition waivers, and ability to be promoted.”
The consent decree entered into by the EEOC, the University of Phoenix, and Apollo Group provides monetary relief of $1,875,000 for 52 individuals. The amount of relief provided to any individual is based on the nature of the discrimination he or she experienced. The consent decree also contains several strong provisions designed to stop further religious discrimination and prevent it from recurring, including:
• Dissemination of a Zero Tolerance Policy to all employees in the University of Phoenix Online Enrollment Department, stating that the company has zero tolerance for religious discrimination and that any violation of the policy will result in termination;
• Training for managers and non-managers on the issue of religious discrimination;
• Creating a system to include in managers’ evaluations an assessment of their compliance with equal employment opportunity laws; and
• Hiring a Diversity Officer, and the staff necessary, at the University of Phoenix to monitor compliance with the terms of the consent decree.
EEOC’s Phoenix District Director Chester Bailey said, “We hope this settlement sends a message to all employers to be vigilant in ensuring a fair and equitable work environment for all employees regardless of their religion. The relief the EEOC obtained will require this large employer to change discriminatory business practices that already have affected potentially hundreds of non-Mormon employees at the University of Phoenix Online.”
The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available on its web site at http://www.eeoc.gov.
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By Malcolm Lazin, Executive Director, Equality Forum
A great paradox of the 2008 federal election in which the first African-American was elected President is that three states passed referenda to amend their respective state constitutions to prohibit same-sex couples from marrying and Arkansas passed a referendum to preclude unmarried couples from adopting or fostering children.
Eighteen states allow their constitutions to be amended through ballot initiatives without consent by the legislative and/or executive branches. The remaining states enable their constitutions to be amended by the public after legislative and/or executive action. Some states require majority approval and others mandate voter approval ranging from 60% to two thirds approval.
The same-sex ballot initiatives exemplify the danger posed to all citizens by stripping away of fundamental rights from marginalized citizens and the importance of the judiciary in protecting civil liberties.
Barack Obama was born in Honolulu on August 4, 1961. In 1961, 16 states not including Hawaii had laws that made miscegenation a crime and branded the offspring of a black and white couple as a bastard. In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Loving v. Virginia that miscegenation laws were unconstitutional because they violated the due process clause and equal protection of the 14th Amendment.
Given prevalent racial animosity in 1961, had racists tried to amend state constitutions to prohibit miscegenation, those ballot initiatives would have been overwhelmingly passed in most states.
During World War II, had xenophobes tried to amend state constitutions to prohibit the civil liberties of Japanese-Americans, they would have been easily approved. State amendments to limit civil liberties could have been readily enacted against immigrants such as the Irish, Chinese and Jews, among others.
A democracy is measured by how it protects minority religious, political, racial and other individual differences. The U.S. Supreme Court has addressed these concerns in various decisions including Loving v. Virginia and Romer v. Evans.
In Loving, which overturned Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act, Chief Justice Warren writing for a unanimous court ruled that marriage is one of the “basic civil rights of man” and that to deny this fundamental freedom on such unsupportable basis as racial classification deprives citizens of liberty without due process of law.
In 1992, Romer v. Evans arose from a ballot initiative titled Amendment 2 to the Colorado constitution that prevented any municipality from protecting homosexual citizens from discrimination. The initiative passed with 53.4% approval. Amendment 2 was spearheaded by Colorado for Family Values that claimed the anti-discrimination protections for homosexuals in Aspen, Boulder and Denver were special rights that needed to be constitutionally banned.
The Colorado Supreme Court overturned the amendment as a violation of equal protection and ruled was subject to strict scrutiny in which the state needed to prove a compelling state interest, which it had failed to demonstrate. Colorado appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1996, in a 6 to 3 decision, Justices Stevens, O’Connor, Kennedy Souter, Ginsberg and Beyer affirmed the Colorado Supreme Court decision.
Justice Kennedy writing for the majority held that the discrimination in Amendment 2 neither met the strict scrutiny test nor the lower rational relationship to a legitimate state interest. Justice Kennedy stated, “It is not within our constitutional tradition to enact laws of this sort.” He found that laws of this kind “raise the inevitable inference that the disadvantage imposed is born of animosity toward the class of persons affected” and was born of a “desire to harm” homosexuals.
Proposition 8 that prohibits same-sex marriage was passed with 52% approval. The proposition did not require consent by the legislative and/or executive branches. Proposition 8 was principally funded by out of state interests including tens of millions by the Mormon Church. The California Legislature had passed a bill providing for same-sex marriage. Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the measure because he believed the issue should be decided by the California Supreme Court.
In 2008, the California Supreme Court decided that the prohibition against same-sex couples from marrying violated the California constitution and was subject to the strict scrutiny. Governor Schwarzenegger and other prominent California Republicans were among in-state opponents to Proposition 8.
While the four state initiatives represent a setback, there is momentum for full equality including same-sex marriage for gay men and lesbians. In 2000, 61% of Californians opposed and 39% supported same-sex marriage. In 2008, those percentages respectively shrunk to 52% v. 48%.
Lambda Legal, ACLU and others are planning to challenge in the California state courts the constitutionality of Proposition 8. Ultimately the California Supreme Court decision could reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
Five of the six U.S. Supreme Court justices who concurred in Romer v. Evans remain on the court. We pray for their continued wisdom.
Equality Forum is a national and international gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization with an educational focus.
Mr. Lazin is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney, who received the U.S. Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award. He is the former Chair of the Pennsylvania Crime Commission. He is the recipient of the National Education Association’s Creative Leadership in Human Rights Award and is a current Prime Mover of the Hunt Alternatives Fund.
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Actually, I was going to suggest the rest of the country boycott California, or at least the most bigoted bastions of it (my wife and I are already trying to figure out how much of our staples can be bought from places where the law respects us as equal citizens), after launching a full-scale boycott on Utah.
I can’t link you to the Associated Press article that’s the main source of the story (because of this, that’s why), but in short:
We’re talking ski resorts and the Sundance Film Festival (sorry, Bob, but I never could understand why such a decent guy like you chose such an anally-retentive theocracy like Utah), and I’d add skipping Utah altogether on long motor trips, so as to avoid paying for gas, food, or accommodations there. (Don’t laugh: When Buffy and I drove from the D.C. area all the way to California, we went many miles out of our way to avoid Virginia, the
Honestly, having been to Utah many times, I can’t recommend the northern end for anything. (Seriously, once you’ve seen the Great Salt Lake, you’re like, “Well, that took all of five minutes to look at a bunch of salt on the ground. I also think I burnt my retinas.”)
And if you think you’re going to miss Bryce and Zion, hey, that’s what coffee-table books are for. And, besides, if you’re going to be near southern Utah, the Grand Canyon is much more breathtaking, and rafting on the Colorado River is out of this world. (Sure, I’m recommending you go to Arizona, another state that just outlawed our humanity, but I’d rather give my money to the nice people in Williams and Flagstaff, and even Prescott, who don’t blink an eye when you ask for one double bed in a room, than to the bigots I know funded the attack on my marriage.) Then head up to Bullhead City for some mining-town play (Oatman is great, and you can feed the wild burros that roam the street), go through Laughlin, Nevada (the gambling there is awful), and do Vegas (although, as I understand it, the real estate under the casinos is mostly Mormon-owned, so you might want to reconsider).
Doesn’t that sound like a lot more fun than putting money directly into the pockets of the bigots who are laughing at you right now? And who will just use that money to fund their next attack on civil rights?
Now… How effective would a boycott be? Impossible to say — of course, it would depend on how many people are willing to stand with us in solidarity — but for an idea of the pie, Utah enjoys some $6 billion in tourism dollars every year.
The idea for a Utah boycott probably started with an offhand remark by John Aravosis (who was subsequently quoted for the AP article) — “I think it’s also time for the Sundance Film Festival to leave Utah. And for any gay and gay-friendly producers to pull their films, and for gay and gay-friendly Sundance goers to skip the festival until it leaves Utah” (” Oh yeah, now the Mormons want to play nice. Too late.“), in response to a mere afterthought buried in the middle of Mario Ruiz’s HuffPo piece the day before, “Gays Hit Back at Mormons“:
Gay people are fed up and have learned a thing or two about mobilizing themselves — and not just for angry rallies. Some pro-Proposition 8 folks may come to regret their not so private support of hate. And were you thinking about skiing in Utah this year? Hmmm, Colorado’s looking pretty appealing these days.
(Or maybe the boycott idea began earlier than that, elsewhere — or simultaneously. I’m reminded of the way the prototype for the modern motion picture projector came to be — and I relate this solely from memory: Thomas Edison was sued by a couple of French brothers over the patent of the Kinetoscope, who claimed they’d invented the machine first, while at the same time, some other guys claimed they’d invented it. They probably all invented the same thing around the same time, individually of one another. Necessity being the mother of invention, sometimes it’s just the time for everybody to invent the Kinetoscope.)
Oh, and Utah’s reaction (aside from the Mormons alternating between trembling in fear at the Big, Bad Gay People and screaming “Christian persecution!” at the top of their lungs)? The AP article had no definitive comment from the Utah Office of Tourism, but what one representative did say is enough to make you boycott Utah for its sheer arrogance alone:
“We’re respectful of both sides of the equation and realize it’s an emotional issue, but we are here promoting what we think is the best state in the country.”
“Best state in the country?” My white lesbian butt it is. Even if my state decided to turn me into three-fifths of a person this week, California still kicks Utah’s ass in every way, shape, and form, and always will. Come to think of it, so does every other state I’ve ever visited (which is around 38 or 40; I’ve lost count). Except Virginia, of course.
Oh, and some Utahns (”Utahans”? I can never remember) are trying separate the actions of the Mormon church from the state. Give me a break. The whole bloody government is run by LDS, Inc. (last I checked, something like 90% of the Utah state legislature is composed of Mormons) — which is why you can’t get so much as a glass of decent, grown-up beer in the one place you’d most like to drink yourself into unconsciousness.
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So says Margaret, comment #1:
Yes, of course I responded. You know me too well by now to even ask.
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Two memos — one to the Mormons, and one to the Obama faithful.
Pyrrhic victoryA Pyrrhic victory is a victory with devastating cost to the victor.
The phrase is named after King Pyrrhus of Epirus, whose army suffered irreplaceable casualties in defeating the Romans at Heraclea in 280 BC and Asculum in 279 BC during the Pyrrhic War. After the latter battle, Plutarch relates in a report by Dionysius:
“The armies separated; and, it is said, Pyrrhus replied to one that gave him joy of his victory that one more such victory would utterly undo him. For he had lost a great part of the forces he brought with him, and almost all his particular friends and principal commanders; there were no others there to make recruits, and he found the confederates in Italy backward. On the other hand, as from a fountain continually flowing out of the city, the Roman camp was quickly and plentifully filled up with fresh men, not at all abating in courage for the loss they sustained, but even from their very anger gaining new force and resolution to go on with the war.”
In both of Pyrrhus’s victories, the Romans lost more men than Pyrrhus did. However, the Romans had a much larger supply of men from which to draw soldiers, so their losses did less damage to their war effort than Pyrrhus’s losses did to his.
The report is often quoted as “Another such victory over the Romans and we are undone,”[citation needed] or “If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.”
Although it is most closely associated with a military battle, the term is used by analogy in fields such as business, politics, law, literature, and sport to describe any similar struggle which is ruinous for the victor. For example, the theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr writing of the need for coercion in the cause of justice warned that: “Moral reason must learn how to make a coercion its ally without running the risk of a Pyrrhic victory in which the ally exploits and negates the triumph”
To the Mormons:
Mormons, enjoy your Pyrrhic victory. Your cost? Your integrity, your humanity, and your very soul.
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Mark 8:36
And you self-righteous, holier-than-thou Mormons gloating over at Mormon Apologetics: Get the hell off my site. Bigots are not welcome here and never have been. Go waste someone else’s bandwidth. As soon as I can stop my nearly-uncontrollable crying and rein in my despair and utter disgust at your revolting attack on my very life, and get more than an hour’s uninterrupted sleep, I’m banning every IP address in Utah. You… people have been using the Newswire to prop up your lies, your high-fives, and your “We beat Teh Gays!” backslapping for far too long. If nothing else, by blocking you, at least I can stem part of the tide of your bullshit comments I delete the moment I see them — “Ohhhhhh! We’re not attacking The Gays! We’re doing it out of loooooooooooooooove! Love the sinner, hate the sin! God blessssssss!” I’m sick of you using my Web site to convince yourselves that your war on my life is some sort of mission from God. Keep your crazy-ass religion out of my face, and keep your self-congratulatory clusterfucks in your own sad, sick, insular little world of “celestial marriage,” “spirit babies,” and magic underwear.
Do you get it? I think you, and your religion, are absolutely delusional. I think you are a cult. I can tell you the truth now, because I have NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE. YOU have left me NOTHING. Instead of minding your own business and burying your noses in the Book of Mormon — while conveniently ignoring the Doctrines and Covenants you should have been heeding — you would have done better to pay attention to Sun Tzu:
“When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard.”
I could humor you, and patronize you, as long as you left me an outlet. But you went over the line this time. Way over the line.
The gloves are off.
Why should I pretend to respect you and your oppressive, life-sapping, fascist agenda, when you NEVER respected my life, my pacifism, my complete and total willingness to let you live in peace?
Instead of love, you spread hate. Instead of peace, you wage war. Instead of Jesus, you conjure Lucifer himself.
If my Christian heritage was right, then I call upon the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and all the angels and saints, to see that you never again have a single night’s sleep unbothered by the wrenching knowledge that you persecuted an imagined enemy that never did you a lick of harm.
May you lie awake in anguish and torture over the wrong you have committed.
May your cries for forgiveness from your “Heavenly Father” go unheeded, and may your sin haunt you until the day you die.
May you experience the Hell you so fear.
And while you await your just desserts of eternal hellfire, why don’t you find what’s left of your “Christian mercy” in your blackened little hearts and just put a knife through my chest and twist it as hard as you can? As I’ve told you before: The only difference between you and Dan White is that Dan White murdered Harvey Milk quickly and mercifully with a bullet through the head. But you, Mormons, you enjoy teasing out my long, slow, painful death by torture.
You are a sociopathic eight-year-old boy relishing in the perverse delight of pulling the wings off flies, and in holding a magnifying glass over an ant in the summer sun.
You delight in torturing the weak to death. You just can’t confess to the perverse joy you take in inflicting as much pain on us as you can.
To you, I say: Go. To. Hell.
Literally.
In the Name of the Cross, I damn you to Hell.
Save your self-righteous “You’re persecuting the Mormons!” crap comments — I’ll delete them, so don’t waste the keystrokes.
YOU are the persecutors. YOU are the oppressors, the haters, the slavemasters, the destroyers of everything that is good and precious and loving.
To the Obama supporters:
I wanted to be big tonight and congratulate you on Barack Obama’s hard-won victory, but I can’t. I can’t count the number of times I tried to warn you that Obama really was sacrificing gays for the religious extremists — whose vote he would have had anyway! — but you just wouldn’t listen. You kept calling me a racist, when all I was trying to do was make you see that his win would be marked by the footprints embedded in our backs. I’ve been telling you this for more than a year; my very first post about Donnie McClurkin (while I was trying to make the same point on Democratic Underground, and spent the next few months getting raked over the coals) was on October 23, 2007.
You just wouldn’t listen.
Well, until tonight. I was just over at DU to see if anyone had even noticed what was happening in California — and in Arizona, and Florida, and Arkansas. It’s of no consolation at all to me to see that some of the DUers I used to go ’round and ’round with — the ones who called me a racist — are finally realizing that a significant percentage of Californians who voted for Barack Obama also voted to destroy my marriage.
It’s too late for that realization to make any difference now. It’s over. You stood by silently and let us be sacrificed.
This is not an “I told you so” post. I get no satisfaction from this. I wanted, so much, so very, very much, to be proven wrong. I didn’t want to be right about this.
But I was. There’s no other way to put it: Obama fucked us. Sideways. And you enabled him, encouraged him, went the length to deliberately overlook what he was doing to us.
I knew his deeply-ingrained homophobia would come back to bite us in the ass. Maybe you knew it too, but you were just hoping some miracle would happen, and the chickens wouldn’t come home to roost.
But my worst fears came true. Just take the mailer targeting African-American voters:
More Lies, Dirty Tricks from Yes On 8: Deceptive Mailer Targets African-American Voters
NO ON 8 Emergency Appeal: Lies About Obama
And that was just within the past four days.
And then there was the message on my answering machine I came home to today, after blogging all night (again) against Prop 8, grabbing a couple hours’ fitful sleep, hitting the streets for three hours at mid-day — and taking shit from bigots ever-so-safe in their cars.
Listen to it. You’re not going to like it. But if you have a single fair bone in your entire body, you will listen to it — in fact, I dare you to listen:
That is what I came home to.
I should have taken it as an omen.
Look, I crapped all over your guy during the primaries, and then, after he got the nomination, I eased up, nailing him only when failing to do so would be a disservice to my own honesty.
No, I didn’t vote for him — and now maybe you understand why.
As I’ve explained too many times, I’m in California, ferchrissakes, where Obama had it sewn up. If I’d known my vote would have been the one to keep Gramps and the Alaska Airhead out of the White House, I would have held my nose one more time and given your guy my vote. But I didn’t have to, so I didn’t (and lest any boobs get the wrong idea, I voted for McKinney).
But you assured me — assured me — Obama supporters were all about CHANGE and FAIRNESS and EQUALITY and GOOD.
Yeah, well.
Look at the numbers, babes. Your compatriots betrayed not only me, but you.
More than that, Barack Obama betrayed all of us.
OK, I’ll stop. If you’re an Obama supporter, and your dazed, shocked, fabulous thrill is even the least bit tinged by the slightest pain for your gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, I’m not going to keep beating you over the head. The damage is done.
What I do want to beat you over the head with is this:
Some of us who don’t trust Obama have always had very good reasons not to.
Not trusting Obama doesn’t automatically make one a racist.
You’ve got your guy in like Flynn, so that battle is done. Now it is time for you — if you are the peace-, freedom-, and equality-loving American you say you are, if you value your gay brothers and sisters as much as you do yourself — to stand up for those of us you trampeled in the stampede.
It’s up to you. The bigots don’t listen to us — we’re just a bunch of godless, hedonistic, mentally ill, child-molesting, diseased perverts who barely deserve to live, let alone be treated like real citizens of these Dis-United States.
Now that you’ve got your guy, what are you going to do for us? How are you going to make it up to us, when — what? — 75% of us voted for your guy, at their own expense?
What are you going to do? This is not a rhetorical question. You know you owe us, every last one of us, for all the elections when we’ve held our noses and voted for the Dem, no matter how homophobic he was/is. (Wanna argue? If it looks like a homophobe, and walks like a homophobe, and sounds like a homophobe… Sorry, babes, but your guy fulfills all the criteria, and you know it).
And another thing: Don’t you ever, EVER, give ANY gay person ANY more shit about court decisions threatening to cost Democrats the election — whatever election.
Faulty memory? Go read what some of your compatriots have said over the years. You may even find your own words there.
I don’t know what else there is to say. I’m sure I’ll think of something after sunrise, after another futile attempt at sleep. Whether I write it or not, I don’t know. Whether I ever write another word at all, I don’t know. Everything I do is futile.
I’ve spent the past five months trying to drill some sense through the thick skulls of Mormons and other religious bigots, the past year trying to make Obama supporters understand that my resistance wasn’t a Black Thing, but an Equality Thing, and my entire fucking LIFE trying to make YOU ALL understand that this is my LIFE, not some passing fancy, not some irresistible perversion, but my fucking LIFE you’re ALL playing games with for the benefit of YOUR narrow, tunnel-visioned agenda, whatever that may be.
All I know is this: You’ve all fucked me, my wife, my community, our fucking MARRIAGES, over for your own perceived benefit.
Without so much as a kiss.
I know you thought you were doing what was right and good for our nation (sorry, I mean your nation, the one you share with the religious bigots, the one I no longer belong to), but I can’t let up on you until you try, really try, to fix this.
Are you going to get on your man’s case over sacrificing us like this? Are you going to stay on his case? Or are you going to forget about Those Gays until 2012, when you need our money and our votes again?
Not a rhetorical question. What are you going to do, Obama supporters? What are you going to do?
Or are you just going to pretend I’m just a know-nothing racist… again?
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Yes - 855,110 - 56%
No - 665,863 - 44%
67% of precincts reporting
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Unbelievable interview in the Washington Blade:
‘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?
I can answer that! Your North Vietnamese captors were “pretty damned sadistic” homosexuals who seemed to get a “big bang” out of torturing you.
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.
Yeah, you wouldn’t want your screwing around on your first wife or the Vicki Iseman story to be made “relevant in public life,” would you, Johnny?
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.
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Just beautiful — and well worth the click and full read:
Preserving California’s Constitution California voters will have a chance in November to protect the rights of gay men and women, and to preserve the state’s Constitution. They should vote against Proposition 8, which seeks to amend that Constitution to prevent people of the same sex from marrying. …
Opponents of giving gay couples the protections, dignity and respect that come with marriage are working furiously to try to overturn the court ruling through Proposition 8. It is our fervent hope that Californians will reject this mean-spirited attempt to embed second-class treatment of one group of citizens in the State Constitution. …
The proponents of Proposition 8 make the familiar claim that legalizing same-sex marriage undercuts marriage between men and women. But thousands of gay and lesbian couples have been married in California since the May ruling and marriage remains intact.
Similar discriminatory measures are on the ballot in Arizona and Florida. They also should be rejected.
Thank you, NYT!
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I’m afraid I’ve been horribly negligent about bringing more (much-needed) attention to the fight against Arizona’s Proposition 102, which (you guessed it) threatens to enshrine discrimination in the state’s constitution by outlawing marriage equality. (And just guess who’s driving the anti-gay crusade? Yep, the Mormons, who are bound and determined to force the rest of us to live by their beliefs, and are failing miserably to adhere to their own Articles of Faith, particularly 11 and 12.)
Naturally, I’m more inclined to concentrate on California’s Prop 8, not only because it’s my state (and, frankly, the chances of my marriage being annulled if Prop 8 passes are extremely slim), but because of California’s unique position: This is the first time the anti-gay crusaders are trying to take away the right to marriage that we already have — and their success would set a dangerous precedent in California and throughout the nation.
None of that, however, makes the battles for marriage equality in Arizona and Florida (which is also facing an anti-gay constitutional-amendment vote) any less important, or urgent.
In Arizona, the No on Prop 102 folks need our help, and they need it now:
Obviously, we can’t vote in Arizona, but I just this minute made a donation of $102, and as I write this Buffy is (literally) digging her credit card out of her purse to make a second donation.
Please join us and do the same, no matter where you live.
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