Politics: February 2009
VA attorney general says state can purge gay employees
Filed by Alex Blaze | February 28, 2009 | 3:00 PM |I got a press release yesterday from a man suing the Virginia Museum of Natural History because they fired him for being gay. Instead of arguing that they didn't fire him for being gay, they're saying that there's no employment...Read More
James Dobson resigns as chairman of Focus on the Family board
Filed by Bil Browning | February 27, 2009 | 4:00 PM |Oh happy day! James Dobson has stepped down as chairman of the board for Focus on the Family. Conservative evangelical leader James Dobson has resigned as chairman of Focus on the Family but will continue to play a prominent role...Read More
Hate Crimes & ENDA: Bad Bills Come and Bad Bills Go
Filed by Guest Blogger | February 27, 2009 | 1:00 PM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Kathy Padilla has been advocating on transgender issues since 1984, when she volunteered at the Outreach Institute of Gender Studies and Transgender Week (formerly Fantasia Fair); the longest running lgbt community event in Provincetown. She's been...Read More
Compromise doesn't happen 5 miles before the finish line if you're serious
Filed by Alex Blaze | February 27, 2009 | 12:00 PM |Laurie Higgins, of the Illinois Family Institute, responded to one of my particularly colorful posts here at Bilerico and called it "deeply troubling." Similar to what my fifth-grade teacher said about me.... Actually, one thing I love about the rightwing...Read More
Stumbling on the way to Equality
Filed by H. Alexander Robinson | February 27, 2009 | 11:00 AM |Like many others who watch political leadership closely, we were initially optimistic about the election of Michael Steele as the chair of the Republican National Committee. Not only did he offer a different face to the party, his profile had...Read More
ACLU Video features Florida High School v. Rainbows Case
Filed by Waymon Hudson | February 27, 2009 | 10:00 AM |February 24 marks the 40th anniversary of the Tinker decision, a landmark Supreme Court case affirming students' First Amendment rights to free speech in public schools. In honor of this anniversary, the ACLU has released a short video about a...Read More
Standing Together and Continuing the Conversation
Filed by Kate Kendell | February 27, 2009 | 10:00 AM |Next Thursday, the California Supreme Court will hear arguments in our legal challenge to Proposition 8. As we seek to overturn Prop 8, we have the broadest array of support ever seen on an LGBT issue before any California Court....Read More
Banks Gone Wild
Filed by Sara Whitman | February 26, 2009 | 6:00 PM |I've had it. Maybe it's my inner Republican coming out in full force but this whole bailout business is getting to me. Yesterday, the NYTimes reported that AIG is still sucking wind and needs, oh, another 60 billion or so....Read More
And Blankenhorn and Rauch think these people will compromise on marriage?
Filed by Pam Spaulding | February 26, 2009 | 5:00 PM |WingNutDaily agrees with Colorado State Senator Scott Renfroe (R) that gays should be put to death. Or, more accurately, "gays," since WND doesn't acknowledge the use of that word as the rest of society does at this point. It's no...Read More
Obama picks openly gay man to head Office of National AIDS Policy
Filed by Bil Browning | February 26, 2009 | 3:00 PM |From a press release sent to Bilerico Project by the White House press secretary: President Barack Obama today announced the appointment of one of the nation's leading public health policy experts as the Director of Office of National AIDS Policy....Read More
Report from Charlotte: Where Stonewall 2.0 hasn't fizzled
Filed by Matt Comer | February 26, 2009 | 11:00 AM |After the passage of Proposition 8 in California, this new little thing called Join the Impact managed to organize perhaps of hundreds of thousands of people seemingly overnight. But after the famous November 15 Prop. 8 protests, things seemed to...Read More
Far right targets Pro-Equality Florida Legislators
Filed by Nadine Smith | February 26, 2009 | 10:00 AM |The far-right is targeting legislators who are backing pro-equality bills in the upcoming session. Several far-right groups have already sent out e-blasts calling on their members to "kill" these bills. Please take a moment right now to send a personal...Read More
Colorado Republican and Democrat: No HIV screening for sluts!
Filed by Alex Blaze | February 26, 2009 | 10:00 AM |Colorado Senator Dave Schultheis (R-Colorado Springs) is opposed to HIV screening for pregnant women, because if a woman has HIV she's obviously a slut who deserves to die from AIDS: "This stems from sexual promiscuity for the most part, and...Read More
The Cost of War
Filed by Sara Whitman | February 25, 2009 | 5:30 PM |I'm still digesting the President's speech last night. Mostly, he did a good job being serious, focused and being honest about the problems we face. I found one part of what he said particularly interesting... "We will never again hide...Read More
A real Savior-based economy
Filed by Alex Blaze | February 25, 2009 | 1:00 PM |South Carolina's governor, Mark Sanford (R), recently rejected stimulus money for his state's unemployment insurance fund. The funds are meant to alleviate the burden of state unemployment funds (since most states can't deficit spend), increase the amount of free money...Read More
I have doubts about Obama's stimulus package
Filed by Bil Browning | February 25, 2009 | 12:00 PM |I don't understand Obama's stimulus package. I'm not an economist - just an average working class American citizen. While everyone has been praising Obama's address to the joint session of Congress last night, I'm left with more questions than answers....Read More
Censorship Deprives Millions of Hearing Oscar Night Equality Messages
Filed by Waymon Hudson | February 25, 2009 | 11:00 AM |By now we've all heard the great pro-equality speeches by Sean Penn and Dustin Lance Black from the Oscar telecast. Sean Penn, not surprisingly, took on anti-gay political sentiment (and Westboro Baptist Church), while Black delivered a tear-jerking message to...Read More
Bobby Jindal - Science Fail
Filed by Storm Bear | February 25, 2009 | 8:00 AM |click to enlarge Bobby Jindal, the GOP governor of Louisiana delivered the Republican response for Obama's Joint Session of Congress speech. You know it didn't go well when Fox talking heads calls it lackluster. You are certain it sucked...Read More
Bilerico-FL contributor Anthony Niedwiecki wins Victory Fund endorsement
Filed by Bil Browning | February 24, 2009 | 6:30 PM |Congratulations to Bilerico-Florida contributor Anthony Niedwiecki for winning an endorsement by the Victory Fund for his Oakland Park City Commission race! Anthony is a professor and administrator at the law center at Nova Southeastern University where he teaches employment discrimination...Read More
Is the U.S. Changing Its Anti-Gay Stance at the UN?
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | February 24, 2009 | 4:30 PM |Amid the marriage uproars, many gay media almost lost an important piece of news in the shuffle. We LGBT people had a longstanding grievance against the Bush administration for opposing and undercutting establishment of our rights in the global arena....Read More
Is the U.S. Changing Its Anti-Gay Stance at the UN?
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | February 24, 2009 | 4:30 PM |Amid the marriage uproars, many gay media almost lost an important piece of news in the shuffle. We LGBT people had a longstanding grievance against the Bush administration for opposing and undercutting establishment of our rights in the global arena....Read More
Recall Sam Adams efforts launched
Filed by Alex Blaze | February 24, 2009 | 2:00 PM |I was meaning to post about this last week right before I ran off on vacation (I'll be posting about that this weekend once I go through my pictures). A group in Portland, OR, has formed to gather signatures to...Read More
RNC Chair Michael Steele: Gay Rights? Depends on when you ask me...
Filed by Waymon Hudson | February 24, 2009 | 10:00 AM |Michael Steele, the new RNC Chair who has promised an "off the hook" make-over for the Republican Party, can't seem to get all of his issues squared away or remember what he's said in past interviews. Steele, who has a...Read More
No marriage amendment for Indiana but the dollars flow on
Filed by Bil Browning | February 23, 2009 | 7:00 PM |This is almost becoming old hat by now. There will be no marriage amendment voted on this year. The Indiana Family Institute is conceding defeat and while expressing "disappointment" at the Republican Senate leaders' decision not to bring the matter...Read More
There is compromise on this issue, but this isn't it
Filed by Alex Blaze | February 23, 2009 | 5:30 PM |Guest blogger Jack Drescher and Nan Hunter both addressed this recent NY Times column on a supposed compromise on the issue of same-sex marriage. I wanted to address the column from a different point of view, but both of their...Read More
Mary J. Brenny: More Important Than The Gay
Filed by Scott Kaiser | February 23, 2009 | 4:00 PM |The following is from a blog post that was forwarded to me by my partner. It was written by JC Christian of the blog Jesus' General. The post illustrates well the absurdity of gay politicians voting against gay issues. I...Read More
The new peace proposal on marriage
Filed by Nan Hunter | February 23, 2009 | 3:00 PM |In today's N Y Times, there is a jointly-authored proposal for a compromise on marriage by David Blankenhorn (self-described liberal anti-gay marriage advocate) and Jonathan Rauch (self-described gay conservative). It's likely to be the beginning of an effort to build...Read More
The top 20 most admired people is a diverse crowd!
Filed by Alex Blaze | February 23, 2009 | 2:30 PM |Via JMG, here are the results from the periodical Harris Poll that asks Americans who they admire most. It's a pretty diverse group - seven people of color of which five are black, five women, three LGBTQ people, four from...Read More
A College Frat Boy & The Kiss of Dismissal
Filed by Steve Ralls | February 23, 2009 | 1:30 PM |How officially homophobic is the U.S. military? Apparently, even more so than a frat party, as we learned from a story on the campus of GW in recent weeks. "GW," for those not living inside the beltway, is short for...Read More
And the Winner Is...Gay Marriage! Or: Why Milk and Sean Penn's Acceptance Speech Do not Equal the Need for Gay Marriage
Filed by Yasmin Nair | February 23, 2009 | 11:00 AM |As expected, Milk received major 2008 Oscar awards, including the one for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor (Sean Penn). And, as I expected, the success of Milk has become, in a bizarre fashion, some kind of emblem for the...Read More
What Would King Solomon Do?
Filed by Guest Blogger | February 23, 2009 | 10:00 AM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Jack Drescher, M.D. is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and presently serves as a Consultant to APA's Committee on Public...Read More
Working Toward a Real Economic Recovery
Filed by Guest Blogger | February 22, 2009 | 2:00 PM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Rea Carey is the Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. President Obama just signed the stimulus bill, which holds promise for at least beginning to alleviate some of the hardship inflicted by...Read More
Working Toward a Real Economic Recovery
Filed by Guest Blogger | February 22, 2009 | 2:00 PM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Rea Carey is the Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. President Obama just signed the stimulus bill, which holds promise for at least beginning to alleviate some of the hardship inflicted by...Read More
The Curious Case of Bristol Palin
Filed by Kate Clinton | February 22, 2009 | 12:00 PM |My niece declined a glass of wine at dinner, beamed and announced she is pregnant. I am thrilled for her and her husband. I am amazed at the implied optimism - they are going to be able to afford food,...Read More
Help raise the public awareness of Simmie's unsolved murder
Filed by Michael Emanuel Rajner | February 22, 2009 | 10:00 AM |Please attend Simmie's memorial on Sunday, February 22nd at 7pm to help raise the awareness that his murder remains unsolved. The memorial is being organized by FAU Lambda United and will happen on the corner of West Sistrunk and NW...Read More
Healthy Teens Campaign: Governor Crist Agrees to Review Florida's Abstinence-Only Funding
Filed by Michael Emanuel Rajner | February 21, 2009 | 1:00 PM |GOVERNOR CRIST AGREES TO REVIEW FLORIDA'S ABSTINENCE-ONLY FUNDING Sarasota, FL -- The Healthy Teens Campaign, a broad-based group of over 80 organizations working together to advocate for comprehensive sex education in Florida public schools to improve the health and safety...Read More
Minnesota's Gay Republican Senator Koering Answers Questions about his Anti-Equality Vote with Nasty Email
Filed by Waymon Hudson | February 20, 2009 | 2:00 PM |Wow. If this is "damage control", I'd hate to see him stick his foot in his mouth! State Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley Minnesota, is answering those who are asking him about his statement that he will not vote for...Read More
Not without its share of surprises
Filed by Guest Blogger | February 19, 2009 | 6:30 PM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger George True Simpson is the eCommunications Associate at Equality California and blogs at The California Ripple Effect. Interests include any and all internet fads/trends/memes and harnessing the extraordinary potential of online organizing to advocate for justice...Read More
Schadenfreude of the Day: Fox News Host Vs. Lansing Mayor
Filed by Jeremy Bishop | February 19, 2009 | 5:30 PM |Showing poor judgment, I hopped over to The Drudge Report to do some of my daily opposition research, and stumbled upon an article where a CNBC host laments Obama's mortgage plan, asks the question should taxpayers have to pay for...Read More
McCain Picked the Wrong Palin
Filed by Terrance Heath | February 19, 2009 | 5:00 PM |Well, it's clear now. John McCain picked the wrong Palin as his running mate. Bristol is clearly smarter than her mother. Of course, that's not saying a lot......Read More
GOP to Undergo "Hip Hop" Makeover to Appeal to Blacks and Latinos
Filed by Michael Crawford | February 19, 2009 | 4:00 PM |Are the Republicans now taking lessons in ebonics? That's the question that popped to mind as I read RNC Chairman Michael Steele promising a "off the hook" makeover of the GOP to appeal to young Black and Latino voters. We...Read More
GOP to Undergo "Hip Hop" Makeover to Appeal to Blacks and Latinos
Filed by Michael Crawford | February 19, 2009 | 4:00 PM |Are the Republicans now taking lessons in ebonics? That's the question that popped to mind as I read RNC Chairman Michael Steele promising a "off the hook" makeover of the GOP to appeal to young Black and Latino voters. We...Read More
They are Exactly Who We Said They Were
Filed by Sean Bugg | February 19, 2009 | 2:00 PM |In some of the least surprising news of all time, anti-gay (and primarily Mormon) members of the Utah state legislature have defeated a series of pro-gay bills that would have secured inheritance, medical, adoption and employment rights for gay and...Read More
They are Exactly Who We Said They Were
Filed by Sean Bugg | February 19, 2009 | 2:00 PM |In some of the least surprising news of all time, anti-gay (and primarily Mormon) members of the Utah state legislature have defeated a series of pro-gay bills that would have secured inheritance, medical, adoption and employment rights for gay and...Read More
FBI investigated Jack Valenti for being "a sex pervert"
Filed by Bil Browning | February 19, 2009 | 1:00 PM |The FBI investigated former Lyndon Johnson aide Jack Valenti in 1964 to see if he was a queer. The married man went on to be president of the Motion Picture Association of America for almost 40 years. Valenti's crime was...Read More
The dangers of sexual harassment law reflected in verdict for firefighters
Filed by Nan Hunter | February 19, 2009 | 11:00 AM |Four San Diego firefighters have won a sexual harassment suit based on a claim that being ordered to represent the department by participating in a gay pride parade led to catcalls directed at them and their being forced to watch...Read More
Historic Domestic Partnership Legislation Introduced in Florida
Filed by Nadine Smith | February 19, 2009 | 10:00 AM |Sen. Eleanor Sobel (Hallandale Beach) has introduced a statewide Domestic Partnership bill (SB 1642). Equality Florida has been working closely with Sen. Sobel in preparing this historic legislation. The companion bill will be sponsored in the house by Rep. Richard...Read More
Virginia is For Haters - Virginia General Assembly Slights Gays Again
Filed by Michael Hamar | February 19, 2009 | 10:00 AM |Tuesday last week was "Crossover" day in the Virginia General Assembly, which is the day when the two legislative houses of original introduction must complete work on their bills. Unfortunately, Virginia is maintaining it's record for being an extremely anti-gay...Read More
Carol Carter and her Racist Emails: Still as Classy as Ever...
Filed by Waymon Hudson | February 18, 2009 | 2:30 PM |Remember Florida Republican State Committeewoman Carol Carter of Hillsborough County, the GOP funny woman who sent out this knee-slapper of racist email? I'm confused. How can 2,000,000 blacks get into Washington, DC in 1 day in sub zero temps when...Read More
Carol Carter and her Racist Emails: Still as Classy as Ever...
Filed by Waymon Hudson | February 18, 2009 | 2:30 PM |Remember Florida Republican State Committeewoman Carol Carter of Hillsborough County, the GOP funny woman who sent out this knee-slapper of racist email? I'm confused. How can 2,000,000 blacks get into Washington, DC in 1 day in sub zero temps when...Read More
Black History Month: Bayard Rustin
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | February 18, 2009 | 11:30 AM |Barack Obama's election as America's first black President is a good time for refreshing our memory on LGBT figures in the black civil-rights movement. Bayard Rustin -- that brilliant, charismatic, passionately courageous man who was Dr. Martin Luther King's chief...Read More
The Next Governor of Indiana
Filed by Douglas Meagher | February 17, 2009 | 9:30 PM |Right now the idea of enduring another political campaign sounds about as appealing as listening to fingernails on a chalkboard, but Election Day 2012 is a mere forty-five months away. Never mind that we'll have elections in 2010 and 2011,...Read More
Things that make you go HUH?: Minnesota's gay Republican will not vote for marriage equality bill
Filed by Waymon Hudson | February 17, 2009 | 6:00 PM |Can someone please explain this "logic" to me? From the Minnesota Independent (via Pam's House Blend & Tips-Q): State Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley, told KLKS on Friday that he will not vote for the Marriage and Family Protection Act,...Read More
ACTION: Urge Mayor Fenty to Recognize Gay Relationships
Filed by Michael Crawford | February 17, 2009 | 12:30 PM |LGBT activists are calling on D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty to recognize marriages, civil unions and domestic partnerships legally performed in other jurisdictions as domestic partnerships in the District. The D.C. City Council passed a law last year giving the mayor...Read More
ACTION: Urge Mayor Fenty to Recognize Gay Relationships
Filed by Michael Crawford | February 17, 2009 | 12:30 PM |LGBT activists are calling on D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty to recognize marriages, civil unions and domestic partnerships legally performed in other jurisdictions as domestic partnerships in the District. The D.C. City Council passed a law last year giving the mayor...Read More
Raleigh, Charlotte dioceses pushing same-sex celibacy, NC marriage amendment
Filed by Pam Spaulding | February 16, 2009 | 5:30 PM |And the Catholic church wonders why people are leaving in droves. This article turned up in Sunday's edition of the News & Observer. The Raleigh diocese is launching a Courage ministry to "help" gay and lesbians pray away same-sex attractions....Read More
The Time to Wait is Over
Filed by Sean Bugg | February 16, 2009 | 3:00 PM |I'm old enough to remember the days when government and citizens firmly believed that homosexuals shouldn't be in government or military service because their perverted lifestyles meant they could be blackmailed and attacked by the nation's enemies. These being more...Read More
More like them
Filed by Terrance Heath | February 16, 2009 | 1:30 PM |Sometimes ya gotta wonder if Republicans can actually hear themselves when they talk. And then, you hope they don't, because it's infinitely more frightening to think that they do, and that they mean to say things like "We should be...Read More
Outrageous anti-gay Don't Ask, Don't Tell commentary up at MSNBC.com
Filed by Pam Spaulding | February 16, 2009 | 12:30 PM |I don't know who the "F" Merrill R. Darby is, but this guy has one of the most homophobic commentaries I've ever seen, easily eclipsing some of the best of Elaine Donnelly of The Center for Military Readiness re: DADT....Read More
Slavery and Semantics
Filed by Terrance Heath | February 15, 2009 | 1:00 PM |Living in D.C. means that there are lots of historical sites and I can visit if I want. Living here for almost 15 years means that I've either visited them already or don't really think about visiting them anymore, because...Read More
Slavery and Semantics
Filed by Terrance Heath | February 15, 2009 | 1:00 PM |Living in D.C. means that there are lots of historical sites and I can visit if I want. Living here for almost 15 years means that I've either visited them already or don't really think about visiting them anymore, because...Read More
One Guilty, Three to Go, in South African Murder Trial
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | February 15, 2009 | 10:00 AM |In a packed courtroom yesterday, Thato Mphithi, 24, one of the three men accused of murdering lesbian soccer player Eudy Simelane, was sentenced to 31 years in prison. He had plead guilty. The other three men are pleading not guilty,...Read More
President Clinton Sleeps With The Wrong People (Again)
Filed by Jeremy Bishop | February 14, 2009 | 5:30 PM |LGBT-Rights Pioneer, Cleve Jones recently posted to The Huffington Post an article entitled, "What Would Harvey Milk Say About President Clinton's Speech at the Manchester Hyatt?" In it, Jones states, "This Sunday, President Clinton is scheduled to give a paid...Read More
Tell President Clinton He Is Wrong
Filed by Bo Shuff | February 14, 2009 | 11:30 AM |The Courage Campaign has done a great job harnessing the reaction to the passage of Prop 8. Today they bring to light that former President Clinton will headline an event at a hotel that is not only in dispute with...Read More
Robin and Diane Get Married for You
Filed by Karen Ocamb | February 14, 2009 | 10:00 AM |Robin Tyler and Diane Olson seem drawn to the Beverly Hills Courthouse, having filed the first lawsuit challenging California's marriage laws shortly after being denied a marriage license there on Feb. 12, 2004. That lawsuit was folded into the historic...Read More
Robin and Diane Get Married for You
Filed by Karen Ocamb | February 14, 2009 | 10:00 AM |Robin Tyler and Diane Olson seem drawn to the Beverly Hills Courthouse, having filed the first lawsuit challenging California's marriage laws shortly after being denied a marriage license there on Feb. 12, 2004. That lawsuit was folded into the historic...Read More
Jared Polis on the Economy Recovery Plan
Filed by Michael Crawford | February 13, 2009 | 5:31 PM |Openly gay freshman House member Jared Polis is definitely one to watch. Not just because he was the first openly gay male incumbent elected to Congress. Check out this clip from CNN where Rep. Polis talks about President Obama's economic...Read More
Joe the Plumber will fix the economy some time between noon and 6pm next Thursday
Filed by Alex Blaze | February 13, 2009 | 1:30 PM |Joe the Plumber apparently knows how to fix the economy now; he's advising Congressional Republicans on the jobs bill. The Senate staffers who showed up at 9 a.m. for the closed-door meeting refused to leak the contents of their discussion...Read More
Live Blog from South African Murder Trial
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | February 13, 2009 | 11:00 AM |Here's an update just emailed from Human Rights Watch on the trial of soccer player Eudy Simelane's alleged murderers in South Africa. Internet wizardry makes it possible for Americans to track the trial via a live blog from the town...Read More
Senatorial Lessons on MTV
Filed by Steve Ralls | February 13, 2009 | 10:00 AM |Apparently, Colorado State Senator Ted Harvey (pictured) hasn't yet heard the news about Chris Brown & Rihanna. Senator Harvey, who is infamous in Colorado political circles for his unwavering anti-immigrant views and his far-right stances on issues of civil rights...Read More
Ken Starr's fudging the truth about Prop 8
Filed by Alex Blaze | February 12, 2009 | 4:00 PM |David Hart finds this interesting quotation from Ken Starr, the man who held the nation hostage with his obsession with Bill Clinton's sex live: "What is being argued before the California Supreme Court is: Do the people have power under...Read More
Spain to allow FtM into the Military
Filed by Brynn Craffey | February 12, 2009 | 1:30 PM |Just to provide some perspective on how much power the religious right wing wields in the United States, consider this breaking news story coming out of Catholic Spain, where the Defense Ministry, headed by a woman, seems to be on...Read More
Whitman plans run for California governor
Filed by Sara Whitman | February 12, 2009 | 1:00 PM |I guess the cat is out of the bag... Whitman plans run for California governor. Ah, only kidding. That would be my evil non-twin Meg Whitman. But it was a fun headline....Read More
Racist, prostitute-hating police officers beat up little girl and press charges against her
Filed by Alex Blaze | February 12, 2009 | 11:00 AM |File this under "fucked up." Two years ago, 12-year-old Dymond Milburn, who's black, was out resetting a broken circuit in her yard when four plainclothes police officers, who were in the neighborhood on a call they got that three white...Read More
Florida Supreme Court Action Alert
Filed by Nadine Smith | February 12, 2009 | 10:00 AM |Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Wells is retiring next month, and Governor Charlie Crist is in the process of selecting Wells' replacement. This is an extremely important moment for us as the balance of the court is at stake! Gov....Read More
Keeping whites and colors separate: The "U-Washee"
Filed by Bil Browning | February 11, 2009 | 3:30 PM |Racism is ingrained in the Midwest; we've normalized it. Take, for example, my earlier post on Tony Zirkle, the Hoosier Republican congressional candidate who spoke at a dinner honoring Hitler's birthday. (He also publicly advocated for racial segregation.) Zirkle lost,...Read More
Accused Murderers of Lesbian Soccer Player on Trial
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | February 11, 2009 | 12:30 PM |Lesbian soccer player Eudy Simelane has become South Africa's Matthew Shepard. Her grisly murder last year, following torture and gang rape by several young men, has set off a tidal wave of outrage in South Africa. Simelane, who once played...Read More
Tennessee church shooter Jim David Atkinsson's manifesto
Filed by Alex Blaze | February 11, 2009 | 10:30 AM |The manifesto of Jim David Atkisson is going around the internet, and it's after the jump. Atkinsson just pled guilty to murdering two people and injuring six others after he entered a Unitarian Universalist Church in Tennessee and opened fire....Read More
Clearly, you need more Gina de Vries in your life!
Filed by Gina de Vries | February 11, 2009 | 10:00 AM |Attention Pioneer Valley, Boston, NYC, & New England people! I'm hoping to make it out to the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Reproductive Justice conference at Hampshire College this April, and to turn it into an opportunity to do some...Read More
Municipal Election Results are In!
Filed by Waymon Hudson | February 11, 2009 | 9:30 AM |Results are in for the Municipal Elections in Fort Lauderdale, Dania Beach, and Wilton Manors! Fort Lauderdale Mayor- Jack Seiler (defeating openly gay candidates Dean Trantalis and Earl Rynerson) The best news is that Naugle is gone for good! District...Read More
Ding Dong the Witch is Dead
Filed by Father Tony | February 11, 2009 | 12:10 AM |Fort Lauderdale has a new mayor! The hideous reign of the homophobic Mayor Naugle is over. Shortly before the polls closed earlier this evening, I interviewed him. Watch it after the jump....Read More
Let's Talk Stimulation: The Economy & the LGBTQ Community
Filed by Waymon Hudson | February 10, 2009 | 4:30 PM |We have lots of issues facing us as a community. They are all extremely important (I'm not one to make grand "this is the number one issue facing LGBTQ folks" statements). But one that seems to not get included in...Read More
Let's Talk Stimulation: The Economy & the LGBTQ Community
Filed by Waymon Hudson | February 10, 2009 | 4:30 PM |We have lots of issues facing us as a community. They are all extremely important (I'm not one to make grand "this is the number one issue facing LGBTQ folks" statements). But one that seems to not get included in...Read More
Get OUT and Vote!
Filed by Waymon Hudson | February 10, 2009 | 10:00 AM |It's Election Day in Fort Lauderdale, Wilton Manors, and Dania Beach. There are lots of openly LGBT candidates running, as well as many allies to our community, so get out and make your voice heard!!! For information on polling places,...Read More
Really? Michelle Malkin is complaining about this one?
Filed by Alex Blaze | February 09, 2009 | 5:00 PM |Both opponents of Prop 8 in California and Amendment 2 in Florida have set up websites to show the names of donors and their zip code based on information given to their respective states' secretaries of state. The NY Times...Read More
"A Propitious Moment for Seeking Change"
Filed by Steve Ralls | February 09, 2009 | 4:00 PM |Add Owen West to the list of military veterans who are ready to see "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" end. The Iraq war vet, who served two tours of duties in the war zone with the Marines, writes in Monday's New...Read More
President Barack Obama at a Town Hall in Elkhart
Filed by Bil Browning | February 09, 2009 | 2:50 PM |Jerame and I went to go see Barack Obama speak in Elkhart today. Below are his comments. I want to start by thanking Ed for coming here today and sharing his family's story with all of us. You know, we...Read More
Freedom To...Starve?
Filed by Rebecca Juro | February 09, 2009 | 2:30 PM |I don't know about you, but I'm long past sick of the elitist tunnelvision of these so-called marriage equality advocates. America is in the beginnings of a massive recession. Americans are losing their jobs by the millions. LGB and especially...Read More
Let's ENDA bipartisanship
Filed by Alex Blaze | February 09, 2009 | 1:30 PM |Bipartisanship and centrism are back in the news as Obama's attempts to engage in a great compromise with Republicans on the economic recovery bill have fallen flat. He tried to include Republicans in good faith and that will likely make...Read More
Happy birthday, Charles!
Filed by Brynn Craffey | February 09, 2009 | 12:00 PM |The 200th birthday of Charles Darwin is next Thursday and may I be the first one on Bilerico to wish a rousing "Happy birthday!" to the distinguished British naturalist, whose brilliant "On the Origin of Species" threw religious fundamentalists into...Read More
White House Entry
Filed by Brett Abrams | February 09, 2009 | 11:00 AM |In this week's Washington Blade, a front page article declares the sudden access accorded representatives of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) to the White House. The supposition is a return of GLBTQ people and issues to the White House after...Read More
Municiple Election Scorcard for February 10th!
Filed by Waymon Hudson | February 09, 2009 | 10:00 AM |The Dolphin Democrats, the LGBT Democratic group in South Florida, have released a scorecard for voters in the February 10th municipal elections. Make sure to go vote (and don't forget about the March 10th elections as well!) (click to enlarge)...Read More
Point: The Matthew Shepard Act will show that hate is not tolerated
Filed by Mercedes Allen | February 08, 2009 | 1:00 PM |I'm not one to believe that legislation is a be-all and end-all solution to the troubles that plague us, but it can be a necessary step in order to achieve equality in spirit. Hate crime laws exist because assumed and...Read More
Invalidate Prop 8
Filed by Michael Crawford | February 08, 2009 | 10:30 AM |I don't know how anyone can look at the divorce video by Courage Campaign and say "I'm not political." The video which has been viewed nearly 100,000 times puts a face to the 18,000 married same-sex couples in California facing...Read More
Shut up Cheney
Filed by Kate Clinton | February 07, 2009 | 4:00 PM |Our Inaugural viewing pod thought Dick Cheney's wheelchair was a clever ploy. We didn't fall for it. He couldn't have strained his back lifting file boxes. The files had all been shredded months ago. We bet the wheelchair was intended...Read More
Marriage Equality News from Vermont
Filed by Ellen Andersen | February 07, 2009 | 2:30 PM |All hail from the wonderfully snowy Vermont! I've been AWOL from Bilerico ever since my move this summer (sorry Bil and Alex!), but I'm back with some pretty exciting news to report. Yesterday, a marriage equality bill (H. 178) was...Read More
Map Showing Supporters of Florida's Amendment 2 Hits the Web
Filed by Waymon Hudson | February 07, 2009 | 1:00 PM |Financial supporters of Florida's Amendment 2, the dangerously worded constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in the state, may now have their day in the sunshine. A new website called Marriage4All.org has launched with a handy, searchable database and map so...Read More
Equality California Sponsors Lobby Day Urging Invalidation of Proposition 8
Filed by Father Tony | February 07, 2009 | 10:00 AM |Equality California is sponsoring Lobby Day at the California State Capitol. There will be training, rallying, meetings with legislators and much more. Details after the jump....Read More
Gainesville is Ground Zero, Help Defend Our Protections
Filed by Nadine Smith | February 06, 2009 | 3:30 PM |We're Fighting Back, Join Us! The far right has made Gainesville "ground zero" in their effort to role back hard-won antidiscrimination protections while dehumanizing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Floridians. Equality Florida is standing up to this blatant...Read More
A Question of Religion
Filed by Waymon Hudson | February 06, 2009 | 1:30 PM |I'll be the first to admit that I have a long and messy history with organized religion. Having been chased out of the Southern Pentecostal church I grew up in for at first asking too many questions, then for coming...Read More
Jon Hoadley: Looking past the election
Filed by Bil Browning | February 06, 2009 | 11:30 AM |During Creating Change I had an opportunity to sit down with Jon Hoadley, the Executive Director of Stonewall Democrats. We chatted about the Obama campaign, openly gay Congressman Jared Polis' winning campaign and the Trans for Obama fundraiser....Read More
So what's so wrong about a little bit of unpaid taxes?
Filed by Ricci Levy | February 06, 2009 | 10:30 AM |I mean, clearly, this is not an usual situation. Lots of folks don't pay their taxes - or pay them, but not quite all of them - or even have liens against them for back taxes due for 16 years....Read More
A Tempest in a Tea(dance)pot
Filed by Father Tony | February 05, 2009 | 7:30 PM |There is an intriguing ethical and financial battle brewing in Miami. As you may know, the Winter Party is one of the biggest annual gay charity events. It is organized by The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, benefiting a...Read More
Something's Up in Colorado
Filed by Nancy Polikoff | February 05, 2009 | 2:30 PM |Thanks to my colleague, Tony Varona, for alerting me to new legislation introduced in Colorado allowing two unmarried people to designate each other as entitled to make medical decisions, inherit, sue for wrongful death, and more, through use of a...Read More
The Perpetual Culture War
Filed by Alex Blaze | February 05, 2009 | 1:30 PM |The cat's been out of the bag for a long time about the "Culture War" being just another means to keep the Christian conservative flock in-line to support right-wing economic policy that ultimately benefits nobody but the rich, but I...Read More
The Perpetual Culture War
Filed by Alex Blaze | February 05, 2009 | 1:30 PM |The cat's been out of the bag for a long time about the "Culture War" being just another means to keep the Christian conservative flock in-line to support right-wing economic policy that ultimately benefits nobody but the rich, but I...Read More
More Racist Emails from Florida Republicans
Filed by Waymon Hudson | February 05, 2009 | 12:00 PM |Updated at the end of the post. Maybe emails like this will put a stop to the ridiculous "post racial world" talk that is going on after the election of Obama... Florida Republican State Committeewoman Carol Carter of Hillsborough County...Read More
Black History: The Freedom Rides
Filed by Storm Bear | February 04, 2009 | 5:40 PM |click to enlarge Birth Of A Notion Disclaimer From Wikipedia: Civil Rights activists called Freedom Riders rode in interstate buses into the segregated southern United States to test the United States Supreme Court decision Boynton v. Virginia, (1960). The...Read More
20% of same-sex couples in Oregon got registered
Filed by Alex Blaze | February 04, 2009 | 5:00 PM |From 365gay.com: A year after Oregon established a domestic partner registry, about 2,600 Oregon same-sex couples - about one in five - have registered.[...] Under the partnership law, couples who register are guaranteed the right to visit partners in hospital...Read More
Overpaid CEOs: What Other Rich People Are Robbing the Rest of Us?
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | February 04, 2009 | 12:30 PM |Americans are loving it as President Obama vents at the CEOs who paid themselves bonuses out of bailout funds. People cheered when Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill made her historic speech demanding that CEOs "shouldn't get paid more than the President...Read More
Representative Kelly Skidmore Pushes for Statewide LGBT Protections in Florida
Filed by Waymon Hudson | February 04, 2009 | 11:30 AM |Representative Kelly Skidmore, at the request of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, has again filed legislation to amend Florida's civil rights laws to protect members of the LGBT community from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. The...Read More
The Peter is flipping out about the gay nom for Office of Personnel Management
Filed by Pam Spaulding | February 03, 2009 | 6:00 PM |As Josh at Right Wing Watch puts it, Peter LaBarbera sees the nomination of openly gay John Berry to head up the Office of Personnel Management as some sort of "gay mole", one with a sinister plot to homosexualize the...Read More
TX: out lesbian Annise Parker runs for mayor of Houston
Filed by Pam Spaulding | February 03, 2009 | 4:00 PM |Annise Parker is a popular elected official in Houston, and she's making a strong bid to become the city's first openly gay mayor. Parker is a past president of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, and represents 2.2 million people as...Read More
Creating Change Plenary Speech on HIV/AIDS
Filed by Guest Blogger | February 03, 2009 | 12:30 PM |Editor's Note: Kenyon Farrow is an organizer, communications strategist and writer working on issues at the intersection of HIV/AIDS, prisons and homophobia. A current Policy Institute fellow with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Farrow is working on a...Read More
API Equality Celebrates Chinese Lunar New Year
Filed by Karen Ocamb | February 03, 2009 | 10:00 AM |The 10th annual Golden Dragon Parade through Chinatown in downtown Los Angeles is one of the most colorful celebrations in a city renown for its colorful creativity. And for the fourth year in a row, API Equality participated in the...Read More
API Equality Celebrates Chinese Lunar New Year
Filed by Karen Ocamb | February 03, 2009 | 10:00 AM |The 10th annual Golden Dragon Parade through Chinatown in downtown Los Angeles is one of the most colorful celebrations in a city renown for its colorful creativity. And for the fourth year in a row, API Equality participated in the...Read More
Mormon Church Spent More to Pass Prop 8 Than It Originally Reported
Filed by Michael Crawford | February 02, 2009 | 5:00 PM |Props to Pam Spaulding for bringing this to our attention: Six weeks into an investigation by California's Fair Political Practices Commission, the Church of Latter-Day Saints has admitted that it spent nearly $188,000 more on the campaign to approve Proposition...Read More
Barney Frank says military spending counts as spending
Filed by Alex Blaze | February 02, 2009 | 3:00 PM |This is a pretty bad-ass video. I've noticed as well that for years conservatives and the Washington establishment are against spending, but somehow military spending doesn't ever seem to count as spending. Barney Frank articulates here on This Week the...Read More
Why the family planning funding mattered
Filed by Alex Blaze | February 02, 2009 | 12:00 PM |Several people argued on my last post about Obama capitulating to House Republicans on funding for women's reproductive health in the stimulus package that it's in the spirit of bipartisanship, not capitulating, to take rational criticism from the minority party...Read More
No thaw in Icelandic-Hoosier relationships
Filed by Don Sherfick | February 02, 2009 | 9:45 AM |The news from Iceland about that tiny North Atlantic island just naming the world's first openly lesbian head of state has no doubt sent chilling winds blowing through the halls of the Indiana General Assembly. No doubt, the same lawmakers...Read More
An Open Letter to the Citizens and Elected Official in the Great State of California
Filed by Guest Blogger | February 01, 2009 | 4:00 PM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Carlos Mock, MD has published three books and is the Floricanto Press editor for its GLBT series. He was inducted in the Chicago Gay & Lesbian Hall of Fame in October of 2007. He grew up...Read More
An Open Letter to the Citizens and Elected Official in the Great State of California
Filed by Guest Blogger | February 01, 2009 | 4:00 PM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Carlos Mock, MD has published three books and is the Floricanto Press editor for its GLBT series. He was inducted in the Chicago Gay & Lesbian Hall of Fame in October of 2007. He grew up...Read More
"Domestic Partnership" Does Not Equal Marriage
Filed by Michael Crawford | February 01, 2009 | 11:30 AM |An editorial on marriage in the Portland Press Herald laid out in the clearest language possible why the debate around relationship recognition should about marriage and not just the collection of rights and responsibilities accessed through marriage. A domestic partnership...Read More
