Saturday, June 20, 2009

Arrest Made In Queens Internet Murder

Alexys Fermaintt, 30 (left), was arrested by Holyoke, MA police yesterday for the murder of Michael Pecora, 38, who was found stabbed to death in his Queens apartment last week after what police believe was an internet hookup gone horribly bad. The suspect was being hidden in his mother's home, according to television reports. A NY Daily News story not yet online today describes Fermaintt as a "hustler," although other news reports do not. He reportedly has a criminal record in several states, including New York. Police have found Pecora's computer in Fermaintt's Bronx apartment.

RELATED: Since I first posted about this story yesterday, several JMG readers have written to mention having seen the victim's regular postings in Craigslist's M4M section. It's always a good time to review your safety procedures when hooking up with strangers you've met online.

UPDATE: I think I've found one of Fermaintt's hookup photos.

UPDATE II: And here's his MySpace page, where his screen name is Rican2Crave. Judging by his photos and comments calling him "sexy," Fermaintt is openly gay. Only one of his MySpace friends has weighed in his arrest so far, saying, "Hey Alex...I'm so sorry bout what happened and wish you the best outcome papi. Stay strong and I will pray for you. Love - E."

UPDATE III: Fermaintt has this one 18-second video posted under his YouTube account.

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Auto-Tune The News #5

Nope, still not tired of these.

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Pay Up Or Go To Hell

Saying that putting the WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) logo at the top of their stationery "portrays the debtor as a sinner who is going to hell" and therefore violates the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, one debt collection agency is suing another and has filed a federal class action suit to force the removal of the logo. The agency using the logo is being defended by Matt Barber's Liberty Counsel.
Attorneys from Liberty Counsel, which is representing Bullseye, feel fairly confident that the case doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Harry Mihet, lead attorney stated: “They treat their customers with respect, with integrity and the way they would want to be treated. They listen to the debtors. They try to work out solutions for the problems they are facing. They even pray with the debtors over the phone sometimes in certain situations.” Mihet further states that “The only reason they put it there (WWJD) is they want the world to know they have adopted for themselves a code of conduct that goes above and beyond any federal law requirements to be civil and polite to debtors.”
Liberty Counsel: "Competitor businesses may not use the courts to crush their competition and press their intolerance of Christian viewpoints. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act forbids only religious slurs and insults, but does not prohibit courteous references to people of historical, philosophical or religious significance. Courts cannot be used to legitimize religious harassment."

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Sen. Ensign Scandal Widens

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Watching The Defectives

Gentle readers, I'm rerunning my annual Pride rant for the fifth year. I wrote this post in 2005 a couple of days after attending Pride here in NYC. In the following years I've reposted it in advance of the day in the hope of encouraging you to attend. My apologies to those that have read it before. Have a wonderful Pride. Love each other.

Watching The Defectives

Last Sunday at 12:30pm, I was in position on Christopher Street with Terrence, his glamor boys, and touring UK bloggers Dave and Darren. The Pride parade was due to round the corner any minute, but I tore off in search of a bodega, crossing my fingers that my desperate need for a soda wouldn't cause me to miss Dykes On Bikes. Half a block away, I found a little place and ducked in, weaving through the customers clogging the aisles on rushed missions like mine. I was third in line, two bottles of Sprite under my arm, when the man in front of me spotted a friend entering the store.

"David! Sweetie! Where are you watching from? Come hang out with us on Allen's balcony!"

David, a bookish looking middle-aged man, destroyed the festive mood in the little store in an instant. "Absolutely not. Those defectives and freaks?" he spat, indicating the colorful crowd outside the store, "They have nothing to do with MY life, thank you very much. This parade has as much dignity as a carnival freak show. It's no wonder the whole country hates us."

Luckily for David, the Asshole Killer mind ray I've been working on is not yet operational. I settled for pushing him a little, just a tiny bit, just to get by him in that narrow aisle, of course. I returned to my sweaty little group and tried to put what I'd heard out of my mind for the remainder of the day, because I knew that by the next morning, the thousands of Davids of the world, the ones who have media access anyway, would all issue their now familiar day-after-Pride rant. The one where they decry the drag queens on all those newspaper front pages. The one where they beat their chests and lament, "Why don't the papers ever show the NORMAL gay people? Where are the bankers and lawyers? Why must all the coverage be drag queens and leather freaks in assless chaps?"

And every year, the logical answer is that bankers and lawyers are boring to look at and that pictures of marching Gap employees don't sell newspapers. There's no sinister media agenda intent on making gay people look ridiculous, no fag-hating cabal behind the annual front page explosion of sequins and feathers. It's just good copy. Drag queens are interesting. Even the bad ones. Especially the bad ones.

Yet right on cue, the day after Pride, the Davids of the blogosphere dished out their heavy-handed dissections of parades around the country. Only this year, there was a palpably nastier tone to an already traditionally nasty annual debate. Blame the election, blame the recent avalanche of anti-gay legislation, but this year, the usual assimilationist arguments went beyond the hypothetical speculations that maybe our Pride parades were too outlandish, that maybe we weren't doing the movement any favors by showing the country a face that happened to be wearing 6-inch long false eyelashes. This year there was some actual discussion about HOW we were going to "fix" Pride parades. Of how we might go about "discouraging" certain "elements" from taking part in the parades.

This is the part of the story where I have my annual post-Pride apoplectic attack. This is the part of the story where the swelling volume of Nazi analogies overwhelm my ability to speak and all I can do is twitch and bark out little nonsensical bits. This is where I always forget the name given to the Jews who went to work for the Nazis, helping load the trains. "Because that's what you are asking us to do, you assholes!" Then I always ask, "Who are we going to sacrifice to 'save' ourselves? Which child will it be, Sophie?" And this is the part of the story where my friends accuse me of being a hyperbole-laden drama queen, wasting spiritual energy on a non-crisis, and of co-opting the Holocaust as well. More on that later.

These people that want to "fix" Pride don't understand the role that Pride parades have come to play. Initially, the gay parade was about visibility. It was about safety in numbers, and more importantly, "normalcy" in numbers. It was about the idea that if only straight America could see us, could just SEE US, that they'd love us. And accept us. That if we'd mass and march by the righteous millions, the sheer unstoppable force of our collective image would topple bigotry. Would right wrongs. Would stop hate.

Of course, that didn't happen then and it doesn't happen now.

What DOES happen, is that Pride parades, at least in the big cities, have become nothing more significant to straight America than an annual traffic nightmare. As a tool of the gay movement, the Pride parade is now merely a walking photo op for politicians and perhaps not much more. A couple of years ago, the ultimate arbiter of America's cultural zeitgeist, The Simpsons, made note of this:

(The gay pride parade is going past the Simpson house.)

Chanting marchers: "We're here! We're queer! Get used to it!"

Lisa Simpson: "You're here every year. We ARE used to it."

What does all of this mean to the Davids of the world, the gay assimilationists that want to, wish they could, somebody do something, there's gotta be a way we can, Dignify This Parade? The ones begging: "Can't we get our people to at least DRESS respectfully for one lousy day? Is that too much to ask of our people? "

Yes, yes it is.

Because you are kidding yourself if you think Pride parades, in any form, will EVER change the minds of homophobes. The straight people who show up to see Pride parades are already largely convinced. We're parading to the choir, Jesse. Those straight people love our freaks, bless them.

Oh, you could test run a "defective" free parade. You could form urban anti-tranny squads and go around to all the gayborhoods on the morning of the parade and give all the drag queens 50% off coupons for Loehmann's, offer good during the parade only. And they'd GO, of course, cuz hey, those girls love a bargain. But the resultant bland, humorless, "normal" gay parade wouldn't change the course of the gay movement one bit. The part of straight America that is repulsed by drag queens is quite possibly even more terrified by the so-called "normal" gays, because "those clever calculating creatures look JUST LIKE US, and can infiltrate and get access to our precious children. And that's been their disgusting plan all along, of course."

So where does that leave us? Are we post-Pride? Is the parade just a colossally long waste of a miserably hot summer day? Is the Pride parade just an event that does a better job of moving chicken-on-a-stick than it does of moving hearts? I'd say that, yes, as an effective tool of the gay movement, Pride's usefulness has largely waned in many U.S. cities. So do we even need to keep having these parades, since they no longer seem to have much of an impact on the state of the movement? No, we don't.

But...YES, WE DO.

Because even if Pride doesn't change many minds in the outside world, it's our PARTY, darlings. It's our Christmas, our New Year's, our Carnival. It's the one day of the year that all the crazy contingents of the gay world actually come face to face on the street and blow each other air kisses. And wish each other "Happy Pride!" Saying "Happy Pride!" is really just a shorter, easier way of saying "Congratulations on not being driven completely batshit insane! Way to go for not taking a rifle into a tower and taking out half the town! Well done, being YOURSELF!"

I'm not worried what the outside world thinks about the drag queens, the topless bulldaggers, or the nearly naked leatherfolk. It's OUR party, bitches. If you think that straight America would finally pull its homokinder to its star-spangled bosom once we put down that glitter gun, then you are seriously deluding yourself. Next year, if one of the Christian camera crews that show up to film our "debauched" celebrations happen to train their cameras on you, stop dancing. And start PRANCING.

All you suburban, lawn mowing, corpo-droid homos out there, hiding behind your picket fences, the ones wringing your hands and worrying that Pride ruins YOUR personal rep, listen up. Do you think that straight Americans worry that Mardi Gras damages international perception of American culture? America, land of the free, home of "Show Us Your Tits!"? They don't and neither should we. Our Pride celebrations are just our own unique version of Mardi Gras, only instead of throwing beads, we throw shade. No one has to ask US to show our tits. We've already got 'em out there, baby. And some of them are real.

A co-worker of mine heard me discussing my Pride plans last weekend and said, "I really don't understand what it is you are proud about. I mean, you all say that you are born that way, so it's not like you accomplished anything." She wasn't being mean, just genuinely curious, and I think that a lot of gay people probably feel the same way. On this subject, I can only speak for myself.

I'm proud because I'm a middle-aged gay man who has more dead friends than living ones and yet I'm not completely insane. I've lived through a personal Holocaust (here we go again) in which my friends and lovers have been mowed down as thoroughly and randomly as the S.S guards moved down the line of Jews. You, dead. You, to the factory. And you, you, you, and you, dead. I am inexplicably alive and I am proud that I keep the memories of my friends alive. I am proud of my people, the ACT-UPers, the Quilt makers, the Larry Kramers, the Harvey Fiersteins. I'm proud that I'm not constantly curled up into a ball on my bed, clutching photo albums and sobbing. And that happens sometimes, believe it.

And outside of my personal experiences, I am proud of my tribe as a group. Sometimes I think that gay people are more creative, more empathic, more intuitive, more generous, and more selfless than anybody else on the planet. Sometimes I think that if an alien culture were surveying our planet from light years away, they might classify gay people as an entirely separate species of humans. It's easy to spot us because of our better haircuts.

But sometimes I think we are the worst people in the entire world when it comes to standing up for each other. The gay people who'd like to soothe their personal image problems by selectively culling some of our children from Pride events? They disgust me. They appall me. They embarrass me. To them I say: the very road that YOU now have the privilege of swaggering upon was paved by those very queens and leather freaks that you complain about,as you practice your "masculine" and give us butch face. If you want to live in the house that THEY BUILT, you better act like you fucking know it. United we stand, you snide bitches. America's kulturkampf ain't gonna be solved by making flamboyant people go away.

I'll end this by making one final Jewish reference. Possibly you've heard the Jewish in-joke that sums up the meaning of all Jewish holidays? "They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat." My Pride version?

They wish we were invisible.

We're not.

Let's dance.

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Friday, June 19, 2009

Gibbs On Possible Census Change

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs actually gave an OK answer about the proposed counting of LGBT couples in the 2010 census.

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E Coli: Nestle Recalls Cookie Dough Items

Nestle has ordered a recall of all its Toll House cookie dough products after some customers contracted E. coli from eating the raw dough.

In a statement, the FDA said there have been 66 reports of illness across 28 states since March. About 25 people have been hospitalized, but no one has died. E. coli is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration and, in the most severe cases, kidney failure. The FDA advised consumers to throw away any Nestle Toll House cookie dough products in their homes and asked retailers, restaurateurs and other foodservice operations not to sell or serve any of the products. "This has been a very quickly moving situation,'' Nestle spokeswoman Roz O'Hearn said, adding the company took action within 24 hours of learning of the problem. O'Hearn said the company will "cooperate fully'' with the FDA's investigation.

Nestle says that while cooking the items would kill the bacteria, customers should still throw away all cookie dough products as they could contaminate their hands and kitchen surfaces during preparation.

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DOJ To Meet With GLAD, Lambda Legal, Others Over DOMA Challenges

More reaction from the Obama administration. The DOJ has agreed to meet next week with Lambda Legal, Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) and other LGBT orgs to "hash out how to proceed with pending DOMA cases." Via Greg Sargent:

The Obama Justice Department has reached out to major gay rights organizations and scheduled a private meeting for next week with the groups, in an apparent effort to smooth over tensions in the wake of the controversy over the administration’s defense in court of the Defense of Marriage Act. Tracy Russo, a spokesperson for Justice, confirmed the meeting to me, after I posted below that top gay rights lawyers were miffed that administration lawyers had rebuffed their requests to meet and discuss ongoing litigation involving DOMA. At the meeting — which hasn’t been announced and is expected to include leading gay rights groups like GLAD and Lambda Legal — both sides are expected to hash out how to proceed with pending DOMA cases.

Keep up the pressure, it's working.

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The Times Of Harvey Milk

YouTube has posted the full version of the 1984 documentary, The Times Of Harvey Milk.

(Tipped by JMG reader Sean Chapin)

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NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn: New York Marriage Equality "Up In The Air"

Yesterday NYC's openly lesbian City Council Speaker Christine Quinn expressed doubts that marriage equality will come to New York this year.
“I don’t know if we’re going to win this year,” Quinn said in opening remarks to the city council’s annual gay pride celebration, which she hosted. “But I do know we’re incredibly close.” That assessment sounded decidedly less optimistic than what Quinn expressed during an address on June 1 before the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, where she called the passage of marriage equality legislation “a very big thing that I believe is going to happen this month.”
As the state Senate enters its third week of stalemate on Monday, it is becoming increasingly possible that an extended session will be called for, rather than ending things as scheduled on Friday with unfinished business still on the table. Andy Towle reports that some Senators are anxious to finish one tax bill in particular, then call it a day. If your state Senator is on the list below, please CALL THEM TODAY and ask that they push for a vote on marriage equality before allowing the current session to end. (I'm a bit taken aback to see MY own Sen. Liz Krueger on the below list. Calling her right this second.)
Sen. Diane Savino (Staten Island, BK – Southwest): 518-455-2437
Sen. Daniel Squadron (Lower MH, BK – Northwest): 518-455-2625
Sen. Liz Krueger (Manhattan- UES): 518-455-2297
Sen. Eric Schneiderman (NW Manhattan): 518-455-2041
Sen. Jeff Klein ( Bronx, Lower Westchester): 518-455-3595

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Westboro To Picket Gay NYC Synagogue

Westboro Baptist Church claims that it will picket NYC gay synagogue Congregation Beth Simchat Torah this Sunday at its Bethune Street location. The synagogue responds:
CBST will be holding a non-violent prayer vigil and service during the time of their protest. We cannot allow this group to go unchallenged as they engage in hateful speech at our synagogue. The most powerful response to such hatred is our demonstration of what makes us strong and powerful in the face of bigotry. We will not engage in any confrontational action or shouting matches. They would love it if we were to lose our composure. We will present who we are in a strong and meaningful way.

If you have a tallit, please bring it. If you would like to make colorful signs, please consider using:

"We are all created in God's image"
"God loves all of us"
"God made me gay"
and similar messages

8:45 AM on Sunday, June 21st at our Bethune location
As often is the case when Westboro appears, the targeted group is turning the protest into a fundraising opportunity. Furniture mogul Mitchell Gold has pledged a donation for every minute that Westboro protests the CBST. Others are encouraged to join in.

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Real Housewife Danielle Defends Gays

Towleroad points us to this after-the-series clip from the cast of Real Housewives Of New Jersey in which Danielle mentions having taken offense at a "that's so gay" comment from earlier in the show's run. Openly gay host Andy Cohen steps in to support Danielle. Click on the "that's so gay" label in the bottom of this post to see some celebrity PSAs against the expression.

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HomoQuotable - Max Mutchnick

"Dykes on bikes, Tarzana Trannies, Jewish Leather Daddies and Kathy Griffin's mom. Don't get me wrong. I love these people. Let's call them the 'Usual Suspects.' They fought for my rights and taught me how to dance. But they should no longer be representing "the pride." It's a different time. For god's sake, Larry Craig is a life-long homosexual. What I'm trying to say is that "unremarkable" mainstream people are gay, too. So I cringe when a local newsperson shoves a microphone in the face of some young 95-pound twink (Straight Translation: a twink is a skinny homosexual with a lot of moxie). The twink looks into the camera and screams into the reporter's microphone: "Get down here now. The drinks are big. But you know what's bigger..." He laughs in a high-pitched cackle and his "girlfriends" join in. I wish they'd read more and drink less.

"I'm depressed. Why is this the voice speaking for me?

"I know there were many types of interesting, smart people on the parade route showing their support. But guess what, guys and gals? None of you have a loud enough, strong enough or powerful enough voice to be heard over the thumping techno backbeat of the big gay parade. This is a huge problem. Sad, but true. The mainstream media still has no better choice but to showcase the extremes of gay life. I mean, imagine if we used the Mardi Gras as the singular way we'd depict straight folk. The public would be lead to believe that all men wear jock straps on their heads and all women like to do is show us their tits. So you understand my pain when I see one of the "usual suspects" on the news? Is he supposed to be my leader? He's not my leader!" - Will & Grace creator Max Mutchnick, from his HuffPo column titled Where Is My Martin Luther Queen? Tomorrow: The annual reposting of my essay in opposition to this type of thinking.

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Another Gay Internet Hookup Murder

The NYPD suspects that a man found stabbed to death in his Queens apartment last week was murdered by a man he met on the internet.
Michael Pecora's nude body was found in his Forest Hills apartment late Wednesday, hours after his sister called his cell phone only to have a stranger answer, the sources said. The man with Pecora's cell phone was a cab driver, who told the sister he was given the phone earlier in the week by a passenger who said he didn't have any money to pay the fare, sources said. The passenger gave the cab driver the phone and a watch as payment when he was dropped off in the Bronx. The panicked sister called police, and detectives interviewed the cabbie, who told them he picked up the mysterious passenger near Pecora's 65th Ave. apartment, sources said. The building super climbed onto the fire escape and let cops into Pecora's sixth-floor apartment through the window where they found his body sprawled in a hallway near his bedroom. He had been stabbed three times.
Pecora was a 38 year-old University of Tampa graduate, but no other information about him has been released. There has been a rash of internet-related killings of late, including the March stabbing death of gay ABC newsman George Weber.

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Richard Simmons Drops In On Anderson

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SF City Attorney Files Amicus Brief On Behalf Of Federal Marriage Suit

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera has filed the first amicus brief in support of Ted Olson and David Boies' federal marriage suit.
"The constitutional challenge to Proposition 8 in federal court persuasively argues that the measure's only conceivable purpose was to withhold honor and respect from the relationships of same-sex couples, and to do so to them alone," Herrera said. "This kind of discrimination against lesbians and gay men as a class has been remedied before in our federal jurisprudence -- in Romer v. Evans, in Lawrence v. Texas, and in other cases. The plaintiffs here make a compelling case for the federal courts to ensure that justice is done in California, and I am pleased to offer San Francisco's expertise to support their efforts." Herrera's brief additionally supports the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction, which if granted would immediately require local governments in California to resume issuing civil marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Two days ago California Attorney General Jerry Brown said that Prop 8 be kept legal until the federal suit is resolved.

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Signorile On Gay Anger At Obama

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Friendly Voices - Lincoln Chafee

"I served the residents of Rhode Island as both Mayor of Warwick and a United States Senator, and in that time I have dealt with my share of controversial issues. I have seen people of diverse backgrounds and divergent political affiliations come together to do what is right when the best interests of our state's citizens were at stake. Rhode Island legislators should follow in the footsteps of our fellow New England states and be true to our pioneering history of tolerance by advancing a marriage equality bill. But for that to happen, all of us in Rhode Island who believe in full equality need to do our part by voicing support for same-sex marriage loudly and clearly." - Former GOP Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee, the only Republican senator who supported marriage equality in 2006, when he was defeated in his reelection bid. Chafee has announced his plan to run for governor of Rhode Island in 2010.

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White House Working On Including Gay Relationships In 2010 Census Count

In the second bone tossed to the gay community this week, the White House said yesterday it is looking into including same-sex marriages and partnerships data in the 2010 Census.
The administration has directed the Census Bureau to determine changes needed in tabulation software to allow for same-sex marriage data to be released early in 2011 with other detailed demographic information from the decennial count. The bureau historically hasn't released same-sex marriage data. [snip] The Census Bureau has long collected data on same-sex marriages when people chose to report it. White House officials said the previous administration interpreted the federal Defense of Marriage Act as prohibiting the release of the data. The Obama administration has abandoned that interpretation.
Two bones in one week, maybe all this pressure is working?

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Custer's Last Stand, Again

Some Native Amerians in South Dakota are upset that McDonald's has issued a new Happy Meal figure of General George Custer. The toy is a tie-in with the new Night At The Museum movie.
The fast food chain's decision to circulate the toy in Indian Country is akin to circulating a Hitler figure in Israel, according to Laurette Pourier, executive director for the Society for the Advancement of Native Interests-Today. “It's insensitive and disrespectful.” “We are oral historians, and Custer's escapades are not far from our hearts,” said Paula Long Fox, a guidance counselor for the Rapid City School District. “Custer didn't kill Indians or Natives, he killed relatives.” The majority of the U.S. Army's victims were friendly Native Americans who would not run, Long Fox said. The military campaigns against Native Americans were driven by the government's desire to acquire land without any consideration for Native Americans as human beings, she said.
McDonald's apparently plans to run the promotion as planned.

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Maddow On Sen. Ensign

Ensign has resigned from a GOP leadership post, but not from his Senate seat.

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Morning View - Broadway & Spring

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Thursday, June 18, 2009

GOP Rep Calls Obama A "Cream Puff"

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Sen. Gillibrand Pledges To Sponsor DADT Repeal, Says "I Stand With Dan Choi"

Sen. Kristin Gillibrand (D-NY) has published an opinion piece on Huffington Post in which she declares, "I stand with Lt. Dan Choi." Gillibrand goes on to pledge to cosponsor a repeal of DADT.
I am firmly committed to repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell. To that end, I am working closely with Congressman Murphy and Senator Kennedy's offices to develop support for repeal legislation and will be among the original co-sponsors of the bill when it's introduced. In the weeks and months ahead, I plan to work with Lt. Choi to repair the damage that has been done to his career and spare thousands of innocent, brave men and women, from the same injustice.
RELATED: Gillibrand's Senate seat will be challenged in 2010 by my House member, the fabulous Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D), who represents NYC's Upper East Side.
Manhattan Rep. Carolyn Maloney is thumbing her nose at the Democratic establishment, telling fellow pols she'll take on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand at the polls next year. The upper East Side Dem would be running head-long into an organized party effort - captained behind the scenes by Sen. Chuck Schumer - to clear the primary field for Gillibrand. Maloney is expected to make an official decision about her candidacy by July 4, but she's already alerting colleagues that she'll challenge Gov. Paterson's pick to replace Hillary Clinton.
When Gov. Paterson picked the relatively unknown Gillibrand to replace Hillary Clinton, some considered her to be a mere placeholder until the Dems could find a suitably powerful figure to run for the seat in 2010. That talk seems to have died down.

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And Now, A Joke From Free Republic

Via Free Republic, in response to a Scientific American story wondering if same-sex behavior in the animal kingdom has an effect on evolution:
A father watched his young daughter playing in the garden. He smiled as he reflected on how sweet and pure his little girl was. Tears formed in his eyes as he thought about her seeing the wonders of nature through such innocent eyes. Suddenly, she just stopped and stared at the ground. He went over to her to see what work of God had captured her attention. He noticed she was looking at two spiders mating. ‘Daddy, what are those two spiders doing?’ she asked. ‘They’re mating,’ her father replied.‘What do you call the spider on top?’ she asked. ‘That’s a Daddy Longlegs,’ her father answered. ‘So, the other one is a Mommy Longlegs?’ the little girl asked. As his heart soared with the joy of such a cute and innocent question he replied, ‘No dear. Both of them are Daddy Longlegs. ‘The little girl, looking a little puzzled, thought for a moment, then lifted her foot and stomped them flat. ‘Well, we’re not having any of that shit in our garden’ she said.
You've got to be carefully taught.

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SENATOR Barbara Boxer, Don't Forget It

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People For The American Way Calls On Congress, President To "Dump DOMA"

People For The American Way has issued a call for Congress and the president to "Dump DOMA."
"During the campaign, then-candidate Obama spoke eloquently about the importance of ensuring that all Americans are treated with dignity and respect. He made specific pledges to pass hate crimes legislation, enact laws to prevent workplace discrimination, end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and repeal DOMA. Since then, we’ve been waiting for concrete results. Today’s presidential memorandum is a very small step in the right direction, but it’s a token, and tokens are no longer enough. DOMA stands in the way of real progress for same-sex couples now denied federal recognition and protection, and its repeal is long overdue.

"President Obama has a unique ability to provide the moral leadership to ensure that all Americans are treated equally under the law, but so far he has failed to exercise it. We urge the president to live up to his own rhetoric about being a ‘fierce advocate’ for gay and lesbian Americans. Taking action on his pledge to repeal DOMA would be worthy of the vision that he held out to Americans during his campaign."
Their petition is here.

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The Geese Are Cooked

Speaking of more reasonable animal rights activists, the Humane Society is unhappy that the Port Authority is conducting a campaign to kill about 2000 Canada geese around JFK and LaGuardia airports. About 200 birds have been killed so far in attempt to reduce them as a threat to aviation after US Airways 1549 was forced into the Hudson after hitting a flock of flying Canucks. A petition drive to stop the killings has sprung up. The Humane Society:
"Canada geese, in particular, can be successfully managed with nonlethal techniques including hazing, aversive conditioning, egg addling and landscape management"—scarecrows and balloons help scare geese—"In short, geese are not attracted to places that are not attractive - and that simple approach should guide airport area managers. Such an approach was proposed for New York City and unfortunately rejected."
(Via - Gothamist)

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PETA Loves Flies Too

PETA is now upset that the president killed a fly during an interview and is sending him a "humane bug catching" device. PETA: "We support compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympathetic animals. We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals. Swatting a fly on TV indicates he's not perfect, and we're happy to say that we wish he hadn't."

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LGBT History: The Temperamentals

On Monday, Little David, Eric Leven and I attended the Off Broadway play The Temperamentals, a recounting of the formation of the very pre-Stonewall gay rights group the Mattachine Society.
“Temperamental” was code for “homosexual” in the early 1950’s, part of a created language of secret words that gay men used to communicate. The Temperamentals tells the story of two men - the communist Harry Hay and the Viennese refugee and designer Rudi Gernreich - as they fall in love while building the first gay rights organization in the pre-Stonewall United States.
I'm terrible at reviewing plays, so let's just say that we enjoyed it tremendously. The show has a limited run due to cast commitments and the space is quite small, so if you'd like to add some vital LGBT history to your gay pride observations this year, you should move quickly. Get tickets here.

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Pat Robertson: Homosexuals Are Sending The Country Into The Garbage Heap

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Maine Haters Hire Yes On 8 Firm

Marriage equality opponents in Maine have hired the publicity firm behind California's Yes On 8 campaign.
Organizers of an effort to overturn a new law legalizing same-sex marriage in Maine have hired the California public relations firm that ran the successful Proposition 8 campaign to overturn same-sex marriage there. Supporters of the law have hired a seasoned Maine political strategist who ran the successful Maine Won't Discriminate campaign in 2005. That campaign fought a people's veto of Maine's gay-rights law.
Stand 4 Marriage Maine has raised $60K from NOM. Both sides expect to spend from $4-$6M on the battle. Mainers, who famously detest outside intervention in state politics, may not take well to the Yes On 8 crew stepping in.

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Richard Socarides And Oscar Winner Dustin Lance Black Discuss Obama's Memo

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Challenge Filed To DC Marriage Ruling

Represented by the anti-gay Alliance Defense Fund, Bishop Harry Jackson and his six cohorts have filed a court challenge of Tuesday's decision by the DC Elections Board that a referendum could not be mounted to challenge the city's decision to recognize marriages from other jurisdictions.
"We are not going to sit by and allow an unelected board of bureaucrats to deny voters their rightful say on this issue and, by their action, allow the institution of marriage and the entire structure of our society to be radically redefined," said Bishop Harry Jackson, senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville and one of seven District residents who are plaintiffs in the suit. "We will continue to fight for the people of the District of Columbia who want their voice to be heard in this important issue."
The group has asked the court to rule quickly as DC's law goes into effect on July 6th, unless Congress intervenes.

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Barney Frank Flip-Flops On DOMA Brief, Now Says He Supports It

Sen. Barney Frank, who issued a criticism of the DOJ-DOMA brief two days ago, yesterday said that he spoke before reading the brief and now supports it. From his official site:
“When I was called by a newspaper reporter for reaction to the administration’s brief defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, I made the mistake of relying on other people’s oral descriptions to me of what had been in the brief, rather than reading it first. It is a lesson to me that I should not give in to press insistence that I comment before I have had a chance fully to inform myself on the subject at hand.”

“Now that I have read the brief, I believe that the administration made a conscientious and largely successful effort to avoid inappropriate rhetoric. There are some cases where I wish they had been more explicit in disavowing their view that certain arguments were correct, and to make it clear that they were talking not about their own views of these issues, but rather what was appropriate in a constitutional case with a rational basis standard – which is the one that now prevails in the federal courts, although I think it should be upgraded.”
Americablog reacts: "Our senior most gay member of Congress actually said that had Obama argued in court that DOMA is unconstitutional, that would be akin to George Bush not going to court to, for example, get a warrant to spy on Americans. Get it? Defending gay people is like spying illegally. But comparing us to incest and pedophilia, using what I'm told was pretty much the original brief the Bush administration used against us years ago, is somehow a sign that we're better than the Republicans - by repeating their arguments in court."

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Friday June 26th: NYC Drag March

NYC Drag March founder and organizer Brian Griffin explains the history of the march and the plan for this year's event, which takes place Friday, June 26th beginning in Tompkins Square.

(Video by Eric Leven)

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Randi Weingarten Resigns

Randi Weingarten, the openly lesbian head of the nation's most powerful teachers union, is resigning as president of the United Federation of Teachers, the group whom she also represents in the union - some say over her long battle with Michael Bloomberg over school control.
Randi Weingarten will announce she is stepping from her post as president of the United Federation of Teachers next week, union sources said Wednesday. Current chief operating officer Michael Mulgrew will take her place until the next UFT election in May 2010, the sources said. Weingarten was elected president of the UFT's parent union, the American Federation of Teachers last year. She has been presidnt of the UFT since 1998. "It's hard to maintain a foot in both jobs," said one union source.
Weingarten had been locked in a local battle with NYC Mayor Bloomberg over teacher layoffs and control of the schools, something the state Senate was to resolve. (HA!) Of late she has been dating CNN contributor Hilary Rosen, lending the local press to call them "lesbian power couple #1."

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Solmonese On Olbermann

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NOM Threatens NY GOP Senators

NOM has pledged $500,000 to the defeat of any GOP state senators in New York who support a marriage equality bill.
Gay marriage is not high on the list of any voters' priorities, but again and again we've seen politicians respond to political money thrown around by Tim Gill and his friends and ignore the wishes of their own constituents," said Brian Brown, executive director of the anti-same-sex-marriage organization, who said the group is forming a subsidiary, NOM PAC New York, for the purpose. "The first half million dollars will be used in GOP primaries," noted Brown, "but we are also looking to aid Democratic candidates who want to buck the establishment on the marriage issue, and to help in general election contests."
The Empire State Pride Agenda said NOM is making "empty threats."

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Anti-Letterman Rally In Times Square

Socialism and illegal immigration were just some of the completely unrelated topics being shouted about by the crackpots at a protest of David Letterman's joke about Sarah Palin's daughter.

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PBS Bans New Religious Shows

PBS will allow its affiliate stations that currently carry a religious show to continue to do so, but has banned all new religious programming.
The vote by PBS's board was a compromise from a proposed ban on all religious programming. Such a ban would have forced a few stations around the country to give up their PBS affiliation if they continued to broadcast local church services and religious lectures. Until now, PBS stations have been required to present programming that is noncommercial, nonpartisan and nonsectarian. But the definition of "nonsectarian" programming was always loosely interpreted, and the rule had never been strictly enforced. PBS began reviewing the definition and application of those rules last year in light of the transition to digital TV and with many stations streaming programs over their Web sites. The definition doesn't cover journalistic programs about religion or discussion programs that don't favor a particular religious point of view.
How long before the wingnuts blams Obama?

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Maddow On Obama Memorandum

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Morning View - Prince Street Pinkstones

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Open Thread Thursday

What's your housing situation? Alone? Roommate? Partner? Kids? Parents?

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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Where Possible Under Existing Law

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Robert Gibbs On The DOMA Brief

ABC's Jake Tapper asked White House press secretary Robert Gibbs about the DOMA brief and got a typically Gibbsian response.
TAPPER: Does the president stand by the legal brief that the Justice Department filed last week that argued in favor the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act?
GIBBS: Well, as you know, that the Justice Department is charged with upholding the law of the land, even though the president believes that that law should be repealed.
TAPPER: I understand that, but a lot of legal experts say that the brief didn't have to be as comprehensive and make all the arguments that it made, such as comparing same-sex unions to incestuous ones, in one controversial paragraph...
GIBBS: Well...
TAPPER: ...that's upset a lot of the president's supporters. Does the president stand by the content, the arguments made in that brief?
GIBBS: Well, again, it's the president's Justice Department. And, again, we have the role of upholding the law of the land while the president has stated and will work with Congress to change that law.
"It's the president's Justice Department." On other words, next question.

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NGLTF's Rea Carey On New Fed Benefits

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Christian Group Wants To Burn Gay Book

And what century are we living in again?
A group calling itself the Christian Civil Liberties Union filed a claim with the city of Milwaukee seeking the right to burn a public library’s copy of a young-adult book with gay content, according to the American Library Association. The CCLU presented trustees of the West Bend Community Memorial Library with the complaint on June 2, asking for the right to burn or otherwise destroy in public a copy of Baby Be-Bop. The group also demanded $120,000 in damages for being exposed to the book on display, and requested the resignation of West Bend mayor Kristine Deiss for allowing the title to be viewed by the public. Baby Be-Bop, written by Francesca Lia Block, tells the story of a teenager struggling with his homosexuality and an attack by a homophobic gang. It has been the subject of local complaints for months, and has thus far survived attempts to eliminate it.
The Christian Civil Liberties Union claims the book is “explicitly vulgar, racial, and anti-Christian." Racial?

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Obama's Benefits Memorandum

The White House has released details of the president's memorandum granting some benefits to gay federal employees. Obama will make the announcement at a 5:30pm news conference today.
In an Oval Office event later today, President Barack Obama will sign a Presidential Memorandum on Federal Benefits and Non-Discrimination. The Memorandum follows a review by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management ant the Secretary of State regarding what benefits may be extended to the same-sex partners of federal employees in the civil service and the foreign service within the confines of existing federal laws and statutes.

Over the past several months, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management and the Secretary of State have conducted internal reviews to determine whether the benefits they administer may be extended to the same-sex partners of federal employees within the confines of existing laws and statutes. Both identified a number of such benefits.

For civil service employees, domestic partners of federal employees can be added to the long-term care insurance program; supervisors can also be required to allow employees to use their sick leave to take care of domestic partners and non-biological, non-adopted children. For foreign service employees, a number of benefits were identified, including the use of medical facilities at posts abroad, medical evacuation from posts abroad, and inclusion in family size for housing allocations.

The Presidential Memorandum to be signed today will request that the Director of OPM and the Secretary of State act to extend to same-sex partners of federal employees the benefits they have identified. The Memorandum will also request the heads of all other executive branch departments and agencies to conduct internal reviews to determine whether other benefits they administer might be similarly extended, and to report the results of those reviews to the Director of OPM.

The Memorandum will also direct OPM to issue guidance within 90 days to all executive departments and agencies regarding compliance with, and implementation of, the civil service laws, which make it unlawful to discriminate against federal employees or applicants for federal employment on the basis of factors not related to job performance.

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All The Classy Ladies, Put Your Hands Up

I am ashamed to report that after reading a recap of the finale of Real Housewives Of New Jersey in the NY Daily News, I was curious enough to tune in. OMG and WTF! Botoxed, boob-implanted, hair-extensioned, foul-mouthed bimbos gone wild. In front of their kids. In a fancy restaurant. The stuff that camp is fricken' made of, ya gawdamn whore.

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GLAAD Announces New President

Today GLAAD announced that they have selected a replacement for outgoing president Neal Giuliano.
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and GLAAD’s National Board of Directors today announced that Jarrett T. Barrios, a former State Senator from Massachusetts who now heads a leading health care foundation, will serve as GLAAD’s new President. GLAAD works to achieve full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans through media advocacy and anti-LGBT defamation work. “We’re making progress toward equality, but we’ll only achieve full equality if we change hearts and minds – and that’s what GLAAD is all about,” said Barrios. “We’re working for the day when every one of us is accepted, respected and valued for the contributions we make to this country. It’s an ambitious goal, but I know we can do it. I believe in our community, and I believe in our country.”

At 40 years of age, Barrios will become the youngest leader of GLAAD and, as a Cuban-American, he will be the first head of a national LGBT organization fluent in English and Spanish. He was the first openly gay person and the first Latino elected to the Massachusetts State Senate, where he represented a largely white, Catholic, working-class district. He is an accomplished fundraiser and manager who broke fundraising records in his election campaigns and managed a multi-million dollar budget at the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts. He is married to Doug Hattaway, his partner of 16 years, and they are raising two teenage sons.

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Folsom Street East Update

Those perverts at the Folsom Street East fair asked that I post this updated flyer and mention that I'll again be a "celebrity" judge at the 5:30pm porn star contest. If you recall or were there, the last time I judged the contest...well, let's just say that no photos were appropriate for this here website thingy. The fair takes place this Sunday on West 28th Street in Chelsea from 2pm - 8pm. Last year it rained on and off during the fair, which actually turned out to be kinda fun.

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Maine's Anti-Gays Are Racing The Clock

Everyday Christian is crowing that Maine's petition drive to repeal same-sex marriage is "off to a fast start." Anti-gay activists hope to gather the petitions in time for the November election when controversial tax items will be on the ballot, drawing more voters.
It’s a tall order, but one that is feasible if early momentum continues, Bob Emrich said. Emrich, a pastor, is the founder of The Jeremiah Project, a conservative non-profit. To date, he said between 10,000 and 12,000 signatures have been collected since late May. The goal, he said, is to get about 80,000 signatures before the petitions are handed in to account for potential duplications and errors. “We are off to a good start,” Emrich said. “The level of interest and level of intensity is remarkable. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. The challenge is to get the level of action into the right number of signatures.” Other than being at a time with higher turnout, putting the issue to voters in November has other advantages. “For one thing it’s still fresh in people’s minds and they’re still motivated,” he said. “It’s also a shorter period of time and would require less money for a shorter campaign.”
About 55,000 signatures must be gathered. The names must be submitted by September 1st, the 90-day deadline after same-sex marriage was approved. However, making that deadline will put the item on the June 2010 ballot, a lightly attended legislative primary election. If the haters get their petitions in by August 1st, they make the November ballot.

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PhoboQuotable - Kenneth Hutcherson

"Football is like the army -- it's a battle field. In war you have to trust the guy that's next to you. Now, if a teammate has different views about what they're attracted to in the showers it's going to affect the team. It'll destroy the oneness.

"Men are going to be more comfortable with other heterosexuals. It's like having a woman on the team or having a woman in the shower. How can you keep your mind on the game when you're thinking about running back to the showers? It would have a tremendous effect. It would be safer for the team and the individual if they didn't come out.

"When you have a team worth millions and millions of dollars anything that would mess with the oneness must be removed from the team. Homosexuality is a very divisive issue -- it would affect the camaraderie." - Former NFL star and current anti-gay preacher Kenneth Hutcherson, writing in today's Washington Post. Hutcherson is one of the most hatefully vocal opponents of anti-bullying laws in public schools.

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Farewell Carrie Prejean

From the clever video remix artist Dan-O-Rama, whose club videos you've probably been seeing for years.

(Via - Towleroad)

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GLAD Wins DOMA Passport Suit

Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders have won their first DOMA-related suit, in which a married gay person will be allowed to list his or her changed name on their U.S. passport.
GLAD filed its lawsuit, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, in March to challenge section 3 of DOMA on behalf of six married same-sex couples and three men whose same-sex spouses have died. Section 3 of the law concerns federal recognition of same-sex marriages. In addition to the passport issue, other plaintiffs’ claims in the lawsuit involve taxation, Social Security and federal employees’ benefits. The passport complaint involved Keith Toney, who was able to change his last name from Fitzpatrick on his Massachusetts driver’s license after he married Al Toney III in 2004. However, the federal government denied his request to change his name on his passport, citing DOMA, which resulted in a frustrating discrepancy in his legal identification. According to a letter sent to GLAD by the Department of Justice, the State Department will now issue passports to married same-sex couples based on the name on their marriage certificates, provided the state issuing the certificate recognizes the name change in law.

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12 House Reps To Cosponsor ENDA

Washington Blade reports that seven Democrats and four Republicans have signed on as cosponsors of Barney Frank's transgender-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which Frank has announced he will introduce next week. Both other openly gay reps Tammy Baldwin and Jared Polis are cosponsors. The lead GOP cosponsor is Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. In 2007, Frank's version of ENDA without transgender protection was passed by the House, but was never voted on by the Senate. View the 15 years of ENDA votes here. Ted Kennedy is expected to introduce the Senate version, but a timetable has not been announced.

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Hate Crimes Highest In Ten Years, Senate Pushes Vote Back Again

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs has issued a report noting that anti-gay hate crimes in 2008 were the highest in ten years.
Violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people increased 2% from 2007 to 2008, continuing the trend of a 24% total increase in 2007, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP)'s 2008 Hate Violence Report. Bias-related murders were at their highest rate since 1999 with 29 known anti-LGBT murders committed in 2008. Reports of violence in Milwaukee increased 64% and Minnesota and Chicago saw increases of 48% and 42%, respectively.

"We are deeply troubled about the 2008 statistics for a number of reasons including the fact that increases in victimization in the Upper Midwest far exceed the national increase of 2%. With Minnesota's 48% increase in 2008 and continued multi-year trend of such increases, we are concern for the safety of all GLBT Minnesotans even as we continue to work for equality," said Rebecca Waggoner Kloek, Anti-Violence Program Director of NCAVP member organization OutFront Minnesota.

Despite Monday's report that the U.S. Senate would attach the hate crimes act to a tourism bill and vote on it today, yesterday Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said only that his chamber would vote on the act before the current session ends at the end of August.

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Gay Congress Members On DOMA Brief

The openly gay members of Congress have all issued statements on the DOMA hate brief.

Barney Frank (D-MA): “I think the administration made a big mistake. The wording they used was inappropriate. I’ve been in touch with the White House and I’m hoping the president will make clear these were not his views.” Frank says that the DNC fundraiser boycott is wrong. “There are a lot of people who aren’t boycotting. I think it’s a mistake to deny money to the DNC.”

Rep. Tammy Balwin (D-WI): "Last week the Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of DOMA. I was profoundly disappointed by this action, particularly coming from this administration. I still take President Obama at his word that he is committed to the repeal of DOMA. I also recognize that he cannot do it alone. Congress has the responsibility on its shoulders to pass legislation that would give the opportunity to the President to keep his word and ensure that all married people, including those in same-sex marriages, enjoy the same rights under federal law."

Rep. Jaris Polis (D-CO): "I was shocked and disappointed to learn that President Obama chose to defend DOMA in federal court, especially given his campaign promise to call for a full repeal of DOMA. My sadness turned to outrage when I read the Justice Department’s brief that not only defended this hurtful law but seemed to embrace it. Comparing my loving relationship with my partner, Marlon, to incest was unconscionable coming from a president who has called for change. Since this filing, I have called on the President to issue a statement or give any sign that would clarify his position and am disappointed in his lack of reply"

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Governator Supports Prop 8 Challenge

As required by law, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had to file a response to Ted Olson and David Boies' federal challenge to the constitutionality of Proposition 8. He did not deny the unconstitutionality of the amendment and call for swift action by the courts.

Via press release from the American Foundation For Equal Rights, the backers of the suit:
"Today's filing by Gov. Schwarzenegger bolsters our call for a swift end to the constitutionally intolerable situation created by Proposition 8. We are extremely pleased Gov. Schwarzenegger does not dispute the unconstitutionality of Proposition 8 and agrees that swift action is needed to ensure that every person is treated equally under the law," said American Foundation for Equal Rights Board President Chad Griffin. "Exactly one year ago today, thanks to the state Supreme Court, equal marriage rights were granted to every Californian for the first time. We look forward to the federal courts granting those equal rights once and for all by quickly acting on this case." Gov. Schwarzenegger's filing states: "Plaintiffs' complaint presents important constitutional questions that require and warrant judicial determination. In a constitutional democracy, it is the role of the courts to determine and resolve such questions. The Administration encourages the Court to resolve the merits of this action expeditiously."
This is getting more and more interesting, eh?

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Dan Savage Has A Different Idea About LGBT Civil Disobedience

Dan Savage isn't for or against the March On Washington, saying, "I'm officially agnostic: if people want to march, they can march." But he offers up an additional or alternate idea for a protest that he thinks could have a great impact - and it would only require 730 people.
Here's the idea: one gay or lesbian couple—a couple currently denied their rights under DOMA—shows up at the entrance to the White House grounds. A different couple every day. They ask to speak to the president about DOMA. They're refused. They sit down. They refuse to leave. They're arrested, carried away by the police. Couples would be recruited from all over the country, demonstrating that gay marriage isn't just an issue in liberal California or godless New England, and the media in each couple's home city and state would be notified in advance of their arrest. The occasional famous couple—Rosie and Kelli? Ellen and Portia?—would participate to pull in celeb media. But most of the couples who come to D.C. to get arrested would be average folks. The couples would need support, legal and logistical, and we would need someone to organize media outreach and maintain a website. The website would include a photo and profile of each couple that comes to D.C. to get arrested, collect all the press, and be used to recruit couples willing to travel to D.C. and get arrested.

The action would be small scale—it would be human scale—and it would go on and on and on. It would demonstrate better than another gay march just how seriously we take this issue: we take it seriously that we're willing to travel to D.C. and get arrested. It wouldn't be a one-day event that the White House could ignore or bluff its way through with some lame statement about its "commitment" to ending DOMA. The couples would keep coming. Every day an arrest. Drip, drip, drip. Members of the White House press corps would see couples getting arrested every day on their way to work. Gibbs would be forced to address DOMA on a near-daily basis. The president would be asked about the issue again and again.

My boyfriend—who doesn't do demonstrations (or interviews or photos or anything public)—is so upset about the DOMA brief that he's willing to go to D.C. and get arrested. So am I. We can't be the only couple that feels this way.
I like this. A lot.

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Bomb At Sau Paulo Pride, 21 Hurt

A bomb was tossed from a rooftop into the crowd at Sao Paulo Pride on Sunday, but luckily only 21 people suffered minor injuries.
At least 21 people were injured when a homemade bomb exploded at a spot where participants gathered after the gay pride parade in Brazil’s largest city, authorities said Monday. The explosive device was thrown around 9:00 p.m. Sunday in a square in downtown Sao Paulo where there are a number of nightclubs and which has become an area frequented by gays and lesbians. Present at the time of the attack were dozens of people who had taken part a few hours earlier in the 13th edition of the gay pride parade that, with close to 3 million participants, is considered the biggest demonstration in the world in defense of gays. The bomb explosion scattered shrapnel, injuring many of those at the scene where 21 people had to be treated by a team of doctors and paramedics that had been mobilized for the parade. Most of the injuries were not serious and only five people had to be taken to hospital, doctors said.
Three other pride attendees were attacked in unrelated incidents. Sao Paulo's is the largest gay pride event in the world. The author of popular gay blog Made In Brazil comments that he did not attend his pride event this year for several reasons with "1,200 police officers for 3 million people being one of them."

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