Governor Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) has issued an executive order to recognize same-sex marriages performed out of state.
An Oklahoma congressman thinks firing someone for being LGBT is fine...because it's a choice. I'm guessing he failed to say why anyone would choose to be subject to homophobic animus/discrimination (as all of the choicers do).
Four Iranian men will be hanged for sodomy, which is weird since, according to the Iranian President, they don't even have gay people in that country.
After the passage of Amendment One in North Carolina, the state's Democratic governor Bev Perdue had an interesting (and accurate) comment that left another state's governor less than thrilled.
After President Obama's announcement supporting marriage equality, he took some (read: a lot of) time to reach out to religious leaders.
Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren is invoking the spirit of Republican President Theodore Roosevelt in calling for the big banks to break up.
The Iowa Catholic school openly gay student who was prohibited from accepting a $40,000 grant has reached an agreement with the archdiocese.
And lastly, with the California legislature looking to put restrictions on reparative "therapy," CNN takes a look at some of the survivors of this...well, let's call this "therapy" what it is, A SCAM!!!
Amendment One. Need I say more? At first I wasn't going to, but here we go...
I really don't want to dwell on this too much, so I'll say that on the good side, a lot of young people turned out to vote against this. Last week I mention a couple of stories showing how the upcoming generations are far more LGBT inclusive. That fact bodes well for the overall fight for LGBT equality. Then there is the obvious fact that enshrining discrimination into a Constitution is a reprehensible thing to do, but so chose a majority of North Carolina voters. I'll just end this part by reiterating the words of on of the amendment's supporters who said that should the measure pass, it will likely be repealed within 20 years. Hopefully, it won't take nearly that long.
***
The day after the fall of North Carolina to constitutionalized bigotry, President Barack Obama formally announced (finally) that he supports that right of same-sex couples to marry under the law. He has been "evolving on this issue for about 18 months now according to my reading, so it's high passed time that he come to this conclusion. There are some who will say that he should have done this before the vote in North Carolina...and I would agree with that statement. However, given how the vote ended up, President Obama would not and could not have single-handedly pushed that amendment to defeat.
To be honest, were I a betting man, I would have had him announcing support for marriage equality at the nominating convention this Summer. However, based on pressure from within the administration and the campaign, combined with pressure from without in terms of progressive organizations and LGBT groups, it looks seems like the announcement had been forestalled as long as possible.
I think that with this cloud of doubt lifted from the campaign, many gay people who had admonished the President for his hesitance on this issue will be far more willing to work on his campaign's behalf and give money to his organization. It is good to know that the President is on our side. now, the only question is exactly how hard will he fight for marriage equality?
After President Obama's announcement on marriage equality, the Log Cabin Republicans (a conservative gay group) praised him...by calling the announcement callous and offensive. I don't understand their "logic" either.
Based on information from the Federal Bureau of Investigations, gay men face higher rates of hate crimes than Jews, blacks, lesbians, etc.
In the wake of Amendment One's passage, a petition is circulating asking the Democratic Party to take their convention out of North Carolina. Because of North Carolina's importance to the national election, I doubt the DNC will take heed (but I signed it anyway on principle).
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
In a monthly newsletter, a Republican group in Greene County Virginia is suggesting an armed revolution if President Obama is reelected.
Support for the "Buffett Rule" just came from a place where no one looked for it: actor Will Smith.
As time ran out for a vote on civil unions in Colorado, the Governor called for a special session to vote on the bill.
A gay student has been told by his Catholic school that he can't accept a scholarship (named after Matthew Shepard) at the school. Obviously, this is what God would want.
Mitt Romney is STILL trying to take credit for the auto bailout...which he actually had denounced at the time. Rewriting history is the new GOP past-time.
A homophobic Tennessee school board member may be harassing an openly gay student (among others) in a high school in a totally different school district.
And lastly, to lift your spirits a bit, I give you Stephen Colbert (at his finest) with Eric McCormack.
Today is the day of decision on North Carolina's discriminatory Amendment One. If you're from the state or know a registered voter who is, make sure they know what this bill does and who it hurts and, most importantly, make sure you/they vote against it.
A day after Vice President Joe Biden endorsed marriage equality, the White House Press Secretary spent half of a press conference on the issue. After all that dancing, he must be tired.
After facing public pressure, anti-gay Nebraska football coach Ron Brown has stated that he will not testify against a proposed anti-LGBT discrimination ordinance in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Being so homophobic that you try to take back the word "gay" sounds, well, pretty gay (if recent research has anything to say). I think this homophobic pastor will have to find that out the hard way.
It's interesting how the numbers tend to speak in direct opposition to what Republicans are saying about President Obama's "anti-business" record and how it's smothering businesses.
And lastly, MSNBC's Thomas Roberts interviews Randy Roberts Potts on marriage equality.
Despite being a hero for the political left, Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren has some work to do in gaining support from he large pool of Massachusetts independents.
With its massive, "successful," and on-going boycott of Home Depot (among others corporations), the so-called American Family Association is now setting its sights on Campbell Soups. In future news, Campbell Soups stock just tripled in price.
There are precious few openly gay Olympic athletes (especially from the States), but here is the story of one current hopeful.
This is, without a doubt, the best response to the homophobic/violent words of Pastor Sean "crack the wrist" Harris.
And lastly, here is more on what is wrong with America's health care system compared to that of other nations.
Tomorrow is the day of decision on North Carolina's Amendment 1 so make sure you are getting the word out to any and all North Carolinians that you know on the damage this amendment will do, not just to the LGBT community, but many other swaths of society in the state.
Last week I talked about one of the worst things ever said by a politician. This week, it's one of the worst things said by a member of the clergy. A fire storm erupted when Pastor Sean Harris of Fayetteville, North Carolina, in a fiery sermon, talked about punching kids who MAY be gay. The sermon, if you want to call it that (a fellow pastor thinks it was to blasphemous and venomous to be called a sermon) was talking about gender roles and such. It sounded very much out of the 1950's.
This kind of talk is a stain on religion, in this case Christianity specifically. A lot of people already associate religion with backwards thinking, small/close-mindedness, and the like. This incident greatly exacerbates this problem. not only this, but there are unfortunately people who will hear the message Harris was sending, and act on it. Children will be abused because their parents may merely think they may end up gay (regardless of the child's actual sexual orientation). Children are some of the most defenseless people in society. If their own parents start abusing them, what recourse will they have.
To make matters even worse, the pastor gave a half-assed "apology." He "apologized" for the words, but not the intent. Your classic non-apology that tends to come after someone says something homophobic. There is no doubt in my mind that he meant every word he said during that sermon. When you take the way that the original message was given (he was passionately shouting) and compare that to the "apology," the insincerity is obvious. While there have been a handful of conservative/religious figures that have condemned the pastor's sermon, most seem to be silent (and thus complicit in whatever people take heed to what the pastor said).
It's no wonder so many people make a point to stay away from organized religion. Even I (a Christian) can't blame them. So far as I'm concerned, anyone who advocates for violence against children in this fashion is no true Christian.
***
Now for something good out of North Carolina (it seems like ALL of my attention has been focused on this state this week). A group of junior high students made a trip to UNC-Chapel Hill to drum up some support in the fight against Amendment One. I mentioned this story in yesterday's Wrap-Up, but if you haven't seen the article, you can find it HERE. It is truly heartening to see kids that are willing to stand up and fight for the rights of others. Some these kids have family members who are gay, some have friends who are gay, and some are just decent people doing the right thing. I'm so glad that the next generation is making their voices heard.
To go along with that, groups of university students from UNC Chapel Hill and Duke are mobilizing their fellow students to vote against this measure, especially early voting since school will be out by the actual Election Day. Here is a video about their efforts:
And lastly on the Amendment One/student front, over half of the students in the Campbell University School of Law (a conservative Baptist university) signed a resolution denouncing Amendment One, even though the school's official stance is for the amendment. This all demonstrates the fact that there is a huge generational shift taking place on the issue of marriage equality, which is of course not news. What will be news, one way or another, is whether or not that shift has thus far been enough to tip the scales at the polls in favour of marriage equality.
Make sure you are all spreading the word to friends in North Carolina about the harm that will be caused if this amendment passes.
The April jobs report will come out after this gets posted, but there may be some good news on the jobs front.
The wife of a North Carolina senator may have spurred a racial backlash against Amendment One. We can only hope.
Chelsea Clinton has written a letter on behalf of Protect ALL NC Families opposing Amendment One.
A GSA from a North Carolina junior high school are making their stance on Amendment One known. Thank the good Lord for the next generation.
Despite Campbell University School of Law (a conservative Baptist university) being officially for Amendment One, most of the school's students signed this resolution.
An interfaith/humanist coalition is urging President Obama to live up to a campaign promise and sign an employment non-discrimination executive order.
Rhode Island civil unions have been dubbed a "complete failure." This is not at all surprising. After all, separate but equal IS inherently unequal and gay couples know that they deserve full equality.
And lastly, The Young Turks take on the Grenall Saga in incredibly accurate fashion.
How are some Florida foreclosure victims trying to solve their problems? By running for office. Talk about being the change you want to see.
The wife an ardent supporter of North Carolina's far-reaching Amendment 1 says that his goal is to save the white race. Lord knows if those dirty sodomites get to marry, white people will become extinct.
The University of North Carolina has written in detail all of the legal implications of Amendment 1 in one nice and neat document everyone should share with their North Carolinian friends.
Yesterday, Newt Gingrich formally suspended his campaign. Knowing the GOP, I thought saying children should be janitors would have made him a slam-dunk for the nomination.
Pastor Sean Harris, another pastor who has recently said parents should beat the gay out of their kids, has issued an apology. Unfortunately, it's worse than your standard non-apology that people issue when caught saying something homophobic.
Was did Richard Grenall resign from the Romney campaign because of a Twitter controversy of because he is openly gay and there was pressure from the religious right? Hopefully, it was the former.
One of Romney's donor seems to think America needs MORE income inequality because, of course, there aren't enough poverty stricken Americans yet.
And lastly, current polling has Obama with an electoral advantage (but with tons of toss-up states).
Matthew Vines (who spent a little time doing research on homosexuality and the Bible) sounds off on gays in the Christian community (P.S. If you haven't seen the video from that first link, it is well worth a watch).
If you forgot or didn't know how inspirational Hudson Taylor is, first off, SHAME ON YOU!!! Second, here is a reminder. Would that there were more Hudson Taylors in this world.
And lastly, Zach Wahls is living proof that same-sex couples can be great parents just like anyone else.
Another reminder that there is less than a week until voting ends on North Carolina's Amendment One. If you or someone you know is a registered in the state, make sure you/they KNOW THE FACTS about this proposed law before heading to the polls.
Some cowardly anonymous group in Michigan is putting out literature depicting President Obama as Adolf Hitler. When will people learn that unless someone is having people murdered by the millions, calling them a Nazi just makes you look stupid?
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) gives President Obama an A- on LGBT issues, which I think is being a little generous.
During the 2008 GOP nomination, John McCain had quite a file on Mitt Romney...which you can now read (all 200 pages of it).
As to Romney's history on the marriage equality fight in Massachusetts, it's a complicated legal morass.
As to Romney's stance on the auto bailout, it looks like his campaign is trying to shake the Etch-A-Sketch. It isn't good for him that his original stance is VERY well known.
House Republicans are so Hell-bent on renegging on the debt deal reached last year that they are willing to shut down the government and let kids go hungry to get what they want. What a faithless/heartless lot.
You know how right-wingers are always claiming gay people are trying to "indoctrinate" kids into homosexuality? Well, guess who is REALLY indoctrinating who.
The Marine who was discharged for comments he made about President Obama (i.e. the Commander-in-Chief) sounds off on the incident.
As into politics as I am, the idea that the 2016 race has already begun is just daunting. First speculation about Rick Santorum for the GOP, now speculation about Hillary Clinton for the Democrats.
After President Obama's announcement supporting marriage equality, he took some (read: a lot of) time to reach out to religious leaders.
