Politics: March 2011
3 Ways to Improve ENDA Advocacy: Take the Fight to the States
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 31, 2011 | 7:00 PM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Tico Almeida is a civil rights litigator at the boutique law firm of Sanford Wittels & Heisler LLP, which was recently named by Law360 as the only plaintiff-side law firm on the 2010 list of the...Read More
IN Rep Turner: Abortion and Gay Marriage
Filed by Bil Browning | March 31, 2011 | 6:00 PM |What is it about Indiana recently? Ever since I moved away, the state has become a hotbed of LGBT and progressive news stories as the Republicans stray further and further into Teabagger territory and the Democrats move down to take...Read More
Homophobic Counselor Files Religious Discrimination Suit
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 31, 2011 | 5:00 PM |A CDC-contracted counselor refused to help a lesbian woman and got fired. Now she's filing suit saying her religious beliefs were violated: There's no dispute that a woman came to Marcia Walden in 2007 for advice involving a same-sex relationship,...Read More
Office of Civil Rights to Investigate Anti-Gay Bullying in York County, Virginia Schools.
Filed by Michael Hamar | March 31, 2011 | 3:00 PM |I have written previous posts about the tragic suicide of Christian Taylor several times in the past both here on The Bilerico Project and my personal blog. Among other things, Christian was called "gay," "faggot," and "queer." His principal tormentor...Read More
Best of the Congressional Correspondent's Dinner
Filed by Bil Browning | March 31, 2011 | 2:00 PM |Last night was the Congressional Correspondent's Dinner and there were quite a few good speakers. Apparently, our Congressmen really are jokers! My favorite? New York Congressman Anthony Weiner. Republican Senator Rand Paul didn't too bad either. I mean, c'mon, the...Read More
Rightwing Christian Organization Gets Federal Money
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 31, 2011 | 12:00 PM |The Indiana Family Institute, an off-shoot of Focus on the Family, is receiving federal money, The American Independent reports: The anti-gay, politically influential Christian organization the Indiana Family Institute (IFI) has been endorsed by the State of Indiana as "collaborative...Read More
Updates: Immigration Hold Lifted, Indiana Senate Passes Marriage Amendment
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 30, 2011 | 4:00 PM |Earlier this week Metro Weekly reported that a spokeperson for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said that deportation cases involving foreigners with American same-sex spouses were put on hold. It turns out he spoke to soon: Wednesday morning USCIS...Read More
ENDA Redux: Why Bother?
Filed by Dr. Jillian T. Weiss | March 30, 2011 | 3:00 PM |The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, has been reintroduced in Congress. We know ENDA is not going to pass because of the Republican majority. Why bother? The answer is that...Read More
Progress in the Montana Legislature?
Filed by D Gregory Smith | March 30, 2011 | 1:30 PM |Diane Sands, the first openly gay member of the Montana Legislature and a human rights champion in the state, yesterday attempted to "blast" SB 276 onto the floor for a full vote. The motion failed - it needed 60 votes,...Read More
Will Marriage Save Us?
Filed by Anthony Carter | March 30, 2011 | 12:30 PM |Marriage, any type of commitment, and being truly, terrifyingly, unabashedly, emotionally intimate is for grown ups. This is the reason we now have this insane obsession with marriage. Although I have never really had the desire to marry, I am...Read More
Publicly-Funded Schools Should Be Forced Away from Homophobia
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 30, 2011 | 11:30 AM |Another Ontario Catholic school district is fighting to keep GSA's out of their schools. This was their solution: A Mississauga high school principal faces the ire of students after she drew an umbrella on a blackboard at the launch of...Read More
3 Ways to Improve ENDA Advocacy: Religious Exemptions
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 30, 2011 | 9:30 AM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Tico Almeida is a civil rights litigator at the boutique law firm of Sanford Wittels & Heisler LLP, which was recently named by Law360 as the only plaintiff-side law firm on the 2010 list of the...Read More
And They Wonder Why...
Filed by Bil Browning | March 30, 2011 | 8:30 AM |Here's a note to our Congressional and Gay Inc leadership... If you want to understand why people are confused about the status of ENDA and never sure what's really going on and where the truth lies, perhaps you should start...Read More
The Bisexuality of Sarah Palin's Inner Circle
Filed by Gloria Nieto | March 29, 2011 | 6:00 PM |I have been friends with Geoffrey Dunn for well over two decades. He is an award winning journalist and film maker. He has given me this exclusive preview interview for his forthcoming book on Sarah Palin. His book, The Lies...Read More
Newt Gingrich Promises to Roll Back LGBT and Women's Rights
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 29, 2011 | 3:30 PM |As a follow-up to my post this morning, here's Newt Gingrich saying limiting LGBT and women's rights is the absolute most important thing for the next president to do, promising that, if elected, he'd sign a series of executive orders...Read More
Blame the Gays for the Bad Economy
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 29, 2011 | 10:30 AM |When it comes to the economy, it's hard to see what conservatives are supposed to say in 2012. Their ideas - budget cuts, deregulation, and privatization - haven't helped the economy and they were instrumental in keeping measures that would...Read More
3 Ways to Improve ENDA Advocacy: Overcome Fear of Trans Americans
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 29, 2011 | 9:30 AM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Tico Almeida is a civil rights litigator at the boutique law firm of Sanford Wittels & Heisler LLP, which was recently named by Law360 as the only plaintiff-side law firm on the 2010 list of the...Read More
Some Gay Immigration Cases Put on Hold
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 28, 2011 | 6:00 PM |The US government has confirmed that, because of the Holder letter, immigration cases involving married, same-sex, binational couples will be put on hold: Following up on reports from this weekend, Metro Weekly just received confirmation from Christopher Bentley, the spokesman...Read More
UK Equality Commission Wants to Question Youth about Sexuality
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 28, 2011 | 4:00 PM |The Equality and Human Rights Commission in the UK wants to survey students as young as 11 about their sexuality and experiences with harassment and bullying. I can definitely sympathize with where they're coming from - there isn't much good...Read More
New York Gov. Cuomo May Slash Funding for LGBT Homeless Youth
Filed by Karen Ocamb | March 28, 2011 | 1:00 PM |At the beginning of February, the New York Times looked at the budget cuts proposed by Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in his $132.9 billion budget, compared to the budget priorities of his famous father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo:...Read More
Maryland House Passes Gender Identity Bill
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 27, 2011 | 1:00 PM |The controversial gender identity anti-discrimination bill in Maryland that doesn't include protections for public accommodations protections was passed by the house yesterday. It goes on to the senate and then to the governor. Interestingly enough, even though public accommodations was...Read More
#SSS: An Immigration Slam Dunk
Filed by Phil Reese | March 27, 2011 | 10:00 AM |President Obama has had his critics from within the LGBTQ community, but will he go down as the hero of same-sex binational American couples? We've already discussed the Justice Department's decision to no longer defend the constitutionality of the so-called...Read More
Police who Beat Gay Men Get Fired, but Will They Get Charged?
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 26, 2011 | 4:00 PM |Police beat two gay men in 2009 in Denver, one for using the women's restroom and the other for calling his father and telling him police were beating his companion. The two men were hospitalized with severe injuries. The police...Read More
Starving Out the Strikers
Filed by Terrance Heath | March 26, 2011 | 2:00 PM |I admit sometimes I look at the GOP majority in the House and wonder where these people came from. (Their districts, I know.) Defending the Defense of Marriage Act? Hearings on Muslim Americans? Emergency meetings to defund NPR? All...Read More
Target Suing San Diego Marriage Equality Group Over Canvassing Efforts
Filed by Karen Ocamb | March 26, 2011 | 12:00 PM |There's a new wrinkle in the ongoing relationship between Target Corp. and the LGBT community. According to AP, Target is suing the marriage equality group Canvass for a Cause to try to stop them from canvassing at their stores. Target,...Read More
Canada's Trans Rights Bill C-389 Dies At Election Call
Filed by Mercedes Allen | March 26, 2011 | 10:00 AM |On June 8th, 2010, Bill C-389 moved onward from Second Reading in Canada's Parliament to the next stage. On February 9th, 2011, it passed. With Friday's election call, Bill C-389, An Act to Amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and...Read More
Uganda: 'Kill the Gays' Bill Dead?
Filed by Bil Browning | March 25, 2011 | 12:00 PM |Has Uganda's "Kill the Gays" bill finally died in the country's Parliament? Local television reports announced the bill's demise yesterday after the Museveni administration pulled its support. Information Minister Kabakumba Matsiko said in the news report that homosexuality is already...Read More
Texas Voter ID Law Will Disenfranchise Transgender People
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 25, 2011 | 11:00 AM |The Texas house just passed a bill requiring voters to present identification at the polls, harsher than any state has passed in recent years, including Indiana. The goal of these sorts of laws is to decrease the number of voters...Read More
Remember the Triangle Fire
Filed by Jessica Max Stein | March 25, 2011 | 8:30 AM |Today is the centennial of the Triangle Waist Factory Fire - more familiarly the Triangle Fire - a 1911 blaze near Manhattan's Washington Square that killed 146 garment workers, most young immigrant Jewish and Italian women, many just in their...Read More
Tipper Gore & the Accidental Activist
Filed by Bil Browning | March 24, 2011 | 7:00 PM |On Sunday night Jerame and I attended a GetEqual fundraiser with Jillian Weiss. During the speeches it was announced that Tipper Gore was in attendance. Mrs. Gore smiled and waved brightly to the assembled guests and according to the Washington...Read More
Heterosexual Privilege On Display
Filed by Bil Browning | March 24, 2011 | 3:00 PM |Watch as Colorado state senator Kevin Lundberg displays his heterosexual privilege without a clue that he's doing it. How disheartening to see him argue what he thinks is a sound point without even thinking about the flip side of it....Read More
The Rebecca Juro Show with HRC Press Secretary Michael Cole-Schwartz
Filed by Rebecca Juro | March 24, 2011 | 2:00 PM |On tonight's show we welcome Human Rights Campaign Press Secretary Michael Cole-Schwartz. We'll talk with Michael about HRC's advocacy of LGBT rights, where they are now and where they're going. There's been a lot of discussion about HRC's past and...Read More
Fred Karger Files Presidential Candidacy
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 24, 2011 | 1:00 PM |Friend of the site Fred Karger files to run for the presidency in 2012. He says that he's the first openly gay candidate to run for a major party ticket, "of the ones who are being seriously considered." You hear...Read More
Nations Call for LGBT Rights; the Vatican Decries Attacks on Homophobia
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 24, 2011 | 9:30 AM |Eighty-five countries, including the US, signed on to a statement to the UN decrying violence against LGBT people: The statement expresses "concern at continued evidence in every region of acts of violence and related human rights violations based on sexual...Read More
Stop Disagreeing With Us or Else!
Filed by Bil Browning | March 24, 2011 | 8:30 AM |You won't believe this e-mail that Indiana Senate Majority Leader Connie Lawson (R) sent to a leader of the Indiana Libertarian Party from her official senate e-mail account about a proposed marriage discrimination amendment. The Libertarians have loudly opposed the...Read More
Women's History Month: The Forgotten Wife of Christopher Columbus
Filed by Patricia Nell Warren | March 23, 2011 | 7:00 PM |It's Women's History Month again, and American neo-conservatives go on clinging to their anti-female denialisms about our history. Indeed, they're now having our textbooks revised so they can minimize the historical importance of anything female they don't like. That's why...Read More
Philadelphia Keeps Genders Separate on Bus Passes
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 23, 2011 | 4:00 PM |When you buy a monthly public transport pass in Philadelphia, you have to choose if you want a boy-pass or a girl-pass if you're buying online. In person, the agent at the counter will judge for herself whether you should...Read More
Fred Karger to File for GOP Presidential Candidacy Today
Filed by Karen Ocamb | March 23, 2011 | 11:30 AM |Los Angeles-based openly gay Fred Karger, a longtime Republican political consultant and a major thorn in the side of the National Organization for Marriage, announced that he will file paperwork seeking to be the Republican Party's candidate for President in...Read More
Indiana Senate Committee Passes Marriage Discrimination Amendment
Filed by Bil Browning | March 23, 2011 | 10:30 AM |An Indiana state senate committee passed a marriage discrimination amendment this morning, moving the proposal one step forward to passage. The legislation now goes to the full senate for passage. The measure passed on a 7-3 vote. After every Fortune...Read More
Woman Prosecuted After Failed Suicide Attempt
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 23, 2011 | 9:30 AM |An Indianapolis woman is being prosecuted for murder after an attempted suicide caused a miscarriage: David Rimstidt, chief deputy to Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry, said the case was unique but the charges were appropriate given the facts. Shuai admitted...Read More
Lobbying Against Indiana's Marriage Discrimination Amendment: Newbie Report
Filed by Betty Greene Salwak | March 23, 2011 | 8:30 AM |A couple of weeks ago I attended a lobbying workshop presented by Indiana Equality Action, in which we learned how to address our legislators on the upcoming vote to embed marriage discrimination in the Indiana constitution. On Tuesday I drove...Read More
Flushing the 'Bathroom Bill' Fear Once and For All
Filed by Mercedes Allen | March 22, 2011 | 7:00 PM |As I write this, the LGBT community is struggling with a situation in Maryland where the provision for "public accommodations" has been removed from a bill that proposes to extend human rights to trans people, due to the ongoing "bathroom...Read More
Clementi Parents Don't Want 'Harsh' Punishment
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 22, 2011 | 6:00 PM |Six months ago Rutgers student Tyler Clementi committed suicide shortly after he was taped engaging in sexual acts with another boy. Dharun Ravi, the student accused of doing the taping, and Molly Wei, the fellow student whose computer Ravi used,...Read More
NOM Lies & Distorts the Truth Again in New Attack Ad
Filed by Michael Hamar | March 22, 2011 | 3:30 PM |As regular readers of my personal blog know, I view Christianists and pathological liars to be pretty much synonymous. Never is this more the case than when looks at the propaganda put out by the National Organization for Marriage ("NOM")...Read More
Video from Haas Convening: LGBT Suicide and a DOMA/Prop 8 Update
Filed by Karen Ocamb | March 22, 2011 | 1:30 PM |On Saturday, March 12, I attended the 2nd annual convening of LGBT journalists, editors and bloggers in San Francisco, sponsored by the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund. We heard extraordinary presentations from Ann Haas from the American Foundation for...Read More
Context Doesn't Always Help
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 22, 2011 | 10:30 AM |But you know how people always say that someone accused of homophobia, etc., was taken out of context? A lot of times the context doesn't always help. It's like how Dr. Laura complained that her n-word rant last year was...Read More
Poll: Most Hoosiers Oppose Marriage Amendment
Filed by Bil Browning | March 22, 2011 | 9:30 AM |A new poll released this morning by Indiana Equality Action shows an overwhelming shift in Hoosier's attitudes about a proposed anti-same-sex marriage amendment. Most Indiana residents oppose the amendment and pro-LGBT measures have massive levels of support. The poll surveyed...Read More
Modern Medicine Now Able to Bestow Constitutional Rights
Filed by Drew Cordes | March 21, 2011 | 7:00 PM |If there's anything that illustrates the inanity of our nation's policies on queer rights, it's what I'm about to go through. In two months, I'll be trekking up to Canada for sex reassignment surgery. (Yes, Canada. That's what I think...Read More
Obama & Brazilian President Agree to Action on LGBT Rights
Filed by Bil Browning | March 21, 2011 | 4:00 PM |Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and President Obama put out a joint statement today about their meeting in Brazil. I found this section to be interesting (emphasis mine): Democracy, Human Rights, Racial Equality and Social Inclusion They agreed to cooperate in...Read More
Homeless Youth to Lose Housing as Millionaires Whine about Taxes
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 21, 2011 | 2:00 PM |The state of New York is considering serious budget cuts to homeless youth programs, institutions that are already serious underfunded will have to get by with even less. A resident at the Ali Forney Center for homeless LGBT youth in...Read More
Founders Tell America: "You Figure It Out"
Filed by Don Davis | March 21, 2011 | 11:00 AM |In our efforts to form a more perfect union we look to the Constitution for guidance for how we might shape the form and function of government; many who seek to interpret that document try to do so by following...Read More
Ft. Worth Officials Recommend $400K Settlement in Gay Bar Raid
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 21, 2011 | 10:00 AM |The legal battle in Ft. Worth after the Rainbow Lounge bar raid continues. Almost two years ago the gay bar was raided by police, significantly injuring several of the patrons. After the fact, the Texas ABC and the Ft. Worth...Read More
City Councillor Protests St. Patrick's Day March Gay Exclusion
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 20, 2011 | 1:00 PM |It's hard to believe that gays are still excluded from the St. Patrick's Day march in Boston. It seems like a relic of another part of gay history, but apparently the folks organizing that march are still taking a stand...Read More
Where Are the 'Good' Christians When It Comes to LGBT Rights?
Filed by Michael Hamar | March 19, 2011 | 12:00 PM |Some readers from time to time complain that on my personal blog I am too hard on Christianity and that there are Christian denominations that actually do good works as opposed to the politically motivated professional Christians - e.g., Focus...Read More
Gay Man Beaten to Death by (Likely) Lover, who then Blamed the Bible
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 19, 2011 | 10:00 AM |Near Philadelphia, an older, mentally disabled man, Murray Seidman (right), was stoned to death by a much younger man he met at the psychiatric wing of the hospital he worked at, John Joe Thomas. According to police Thomas admitted to...Read More
Dana Beyer Cleared of Ethics Charges
Filed by Jake Weinraub | March 18, 2011 | 4:00 PM |After several years of a political battled riddled with discrimination, spin, and security breaches, Dana Beyer, senior aide to Montgomery County, Maryland Councilwoman Duchy Trachtenberg, has been exonerated of all ethics charges. While it's great that the charges were finally...Read More
Who Sponsored the New York City St Patrick's Day Parade?
Filed by Joe Mirabella | March 18, 2011 | 1:00 PM |On Thursday, Alex Blaze pointed out the heartwarming highroad that the Irish Foreign Minister took by refusing to be the grand marshal of the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade. He turned down the offer because he opposed the...Read More
Indianapolis Tea Party Mayor Opposes Marriage Amendment
Filed by Bil Browning | March 18, 2011 | 11:00 AM |It looks like just about everyone but the religious right and shameful politicians hoping to score points off the backs of a minority are lining up to oppose Indiana's marriage discrimination amendment. The amendment would not only ban same-sex marriage,...Read More
How the US Army Will Implement DADT Repeal
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 18, 2011 | 9:30 AM |The Huffington Post obtained a slideshow being used for training for DADT repeal in the Army. The full document is after the jump, but here are some bureaucratic highlights that answer a lot of questions people have been asking over...Read More
Disgusting Comments from Montana Republicans
Filed by D Gregory Smith | March 18, 2011 | 8:30 AM |The Montana law outlawing homosexuality was ruled unconstitutional years ago, but it's still on the books. A bill has been introduced to simply reconcile the language of the criminal code and the law. Not so simple. And not so fast....Read More
Irish Foreign Minister Supports Gays at St. Patrick's Day Parades
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 17, 2011 | 6:00 PM |The process to ban gay and lesbian people from marching under their own banners at St. Patrick's Day parades back in the mid-90's is my first memory of gay news ever being discussed on TV in my house growing up....Read More
400 (And Counting) Faith Leaders for UAFA
Filed by Steve Ralls | March 17, 2011 | 5:00 PM |In an overwhelming show of support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans with partners from abroad, a coalition of more than 400 faith leaders have called on Congress to pass the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA). The letter, first...Read More
Who Destroyed the Economy, Teachers or Bankers?
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 17, 2011 | 3:00 PM |I would hardly call Jon Stewart a liberal, much less a leftist, and I don't remember him ever calling himself either of those terms either. He's a centrist with some fairly rightwing positions (like continued support for the occupation of...Read More
Kansas Keeps Unconstitutional Sodomy Law
Filed by Bil Browning | March 17, 2011 | 10:30 AM |It must be time to give out the douchebag of the week award. This time the winners are Kansas state legislators Jan Paul and Lance Kinzer. The duo removed an amendment to legislation meant to clean up Kansas' outdated criminal...Read More
What if the Right Threw a Gay Pride? The Long East End Pride Story, Short
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 17, 2011 | 9:30 AM |East End is a neighborhood in London described by Wikipedia as "synonymous with poverty, overcrowding, disease and criminality." It has a large immigrant population, which, today in London, means lots of Muslims. Earlier this year stickers (right) started appearing all...Read More
Congress: DOMA Repeal Introduced, Obama Condemned, Developmental Aide Threatened
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 16, 2011 | 5:00 PM |A bill to repeal DOMA was just introduced in the House of Representatives today. Lead cosponsors include all the gay and lesbian members of Congress, Jerry Nadler, and John Conyers; there are 69 cosponsors total. Senate Democrats are expected to...Read More
Equality Is My Dream
Filed by Bil Browning | March 16, 2011 | 11:30 AM |Yesterday I showed you the complete "Rally for Equality" on the Indiana Statehouse steps to oppose HJR-6, the state's proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships. One of the speakers on stage was teen Dorothy...Read More
Unelectable: Republican Rose Ferlita Isn't Married
Filed by Bil Browning | March 15, 2011 | 7:00 PM |This has to be one of the most despicable political fliers I've seen in a while. Rose Ferlita, a Tampa Republican, is running for mayor. Less Government Now, a 527 group, sent out the flier headlined with, "Rose Ferlita: Unmarried....Read More
D'Amico Top Vote Getter in West Hollywood Election
Filed by Karen Ocamb | March 15, 2011 | 5:00 PM |In the final count on Monday of the remaining provisional and mail-in ballots of the March 8 election in West Hollywood, the results indicate that challenger John D'Amico came in as the top vote getter. D'Amico came in with 2876...Read More
From Wisconsin to Wal-Mart: Women Take on a Corporation
Filed by Terrance Heath | March 15, 2011 | 1:30 PM |If you think conservatism’s war on America’s working- and middle-classes is only happening in Wisconsin and a few other states, you’re wrong. If you think that it’s only a war against public employees, you’re more wrong than you know. Dan...Read More
Recall Hopper!
Filed by Jake Weinraub | March 15, 2011 | 12:30 PM |It's great to know that the folks in power screwing up the lives of thousands of Wisconsin residents are at least pissing off their own families too. Wisconsin state senator Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac), who worked closely with Governor...Read More
Indiana LGBT Folk Rally at Statehouse Against Marriage Amendment
Filed by Bil Browning | March 15, 2011 | 11:30 AM |About 500 Hoosier LGBT people rallied against a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, civil unions and domestic partner benefits yesterday. While Fox 59 has done an admirable job of leading the way for accurate LGBT reporting, I was...Read More
Nancy Pelosi Calls Out House DOMA Defense; DOMA Repeal to Be Introduced
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 14, 2011 | 2:00 PM |Nancy Pelosi points out that the House resolution to take up the legal defense of DOMA allows the House to hire private lawyers. She sees ten cases taking an average of 18 months each, times the number of lawyers necessary...Read More
Is Obama Morphing into George Bush?
Filed by Michael Hamar | March 14, 2011 | 11:00 AM |When many of us voted for Barack Obama in 2008, we thought that we'd see some of the worse abuses of the misrule of George W. "Chimperator" Bush's reign reversed. While this has happened on some fronts, in other disturbing...Read More
Christian Homophobia Builds Character
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 14, 2011 | 10:00 AM |Leave it to the website of David Horowitz, the veteran of the PC Wars of the 1980's, to finally just say in about a straight-forward fashion as possible what I've been reading between the rightwing lines for years now: Christian...Read More
Wisconsin Recalls, Explained
Filed by Don Davis | March 14, 2011 | 8:30 AM |I'm unable to finish my story about Titan Cement suing two North Carolina residents who appear to be doing nothing more than speaking the truth, because, unfortunately, other important news has forced itself to the front of the line. That's...Read More
Invisible at Death
Filed by Joe Mirabella | March 13, 2011 | 2:30 PM |Death Certificates in Washington State do not count gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people, and Washington is not alone. There is not a single state in this country recording this data. This is problematic for several reasons. For example: Local,...Read More
Coming Out in Wisconsin
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 13, 2011 | 11:30 AM |Editor's Note: Ryan Biava is a PhD Candidate in political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and was a founding board member of Equal Rights Washington. [Disclosure: He is a member of the Teaching Assistants Association, a public-sector union affiliated...Read More
#SSS LGBT Youth, Immigration Equality Reform & Montana Queer Politics
Filed by Phil Reese | March 13, 2011 | 10:00 AM |This week Joe and I are at the Haas Jr. Foundation LGBT writer, journalist and blogger summit in San Francisco California, however we wanted to share a few special interviews this week while we're away. This weekend we will be...Read More
Boxer Introduces Equal Access to COBRA Act
Filed by Karen Ocamb | March 11, 2011 | 2:00 PM |California Sen. Barbara Boxer reintroduced the Equal Access to COBRA Act in the US Senate Thursday. The bill would give domestic partners of a partner who loses their job the same access to COBRA health coverage as married spouses currently...Read More
Why Not Have Muslim Congressman Ellison Investigate the Catholic Church?
Filed by Michael Hamar | March 11, 2011 | 9:30 AM |For the record, I'm not anti-Irish - in fact, I am 3/8 Irish. That said, it's individuals like House Homeland Security Committee Chairman, Rep. Peter T. King (R-NY), that make it impossible for me to be a Republican no matter...Read More
Human Rights Watch Compares Mississippi HIV/AIDS Services to Ethiopia
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 10, 2011 | 5:00 PM |HRW filed a report on HIV/AIDS in Mississippi. Remember, they're talking about a part of the richest country in the world that constantly says it has the best health care system in the world: The 59-page report, "Rights at Risk:...Read More
GOP Will Defend DOMA With Hired Lawyers
Filed by Bil Browning | March 10, 2011 | 3:00 PM |What a waste of taxpayer money. What happened to making the economy the first priority? What about jobs? The only people getting jobs out of this will be the lawyers the government has to hire to fight for Republican legislators'...Read More
West Hollywood Election (Unofficial) Results
Filed by Karen Ocamb | March 10, 2011 | 1:00 PM |Tuesday, March 8, was Fat Tuesday and Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood was filled with young LGBTs and allies bedecked in colorful beaded necklaces. At campaign night headquarters for John D'Amico near the city's Mardi Gras revelers - the...Read More
Maryland Delegate Peter Murphy Comes Out
Filed by Bil Browning | March 10, 2011 | 10:30 AM |Maryland Delegate Peter Murphy (D-Charles County) has come out of the closet in an article in the Washington Blade. Murphy, who was previously married to a woman and has two children, says that he's been out to his colleagues and...Read More
What Is Happening in Madison Is an Essentially Queer Conversation
Filed by Susan Raffo | March 10, 2011 | 9:30 AM |I've been struggling about how to talk about what is happening at the capitol building in Madison as an LGBT conversation. I've wanted to add to what we know - the numbers of LGBT people organizing in the capitol, the...Read More
Target to Same-Sex Marriage Group: Get Off My Property!
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 10, 2011 | 8:30 AM |I didn't know Target was involved in a suit against Canvass for a Cause, a group collecting signatures to legalize same-sex marriage by ballot initiative in California. Target is mad that they're collecting signatures outside Target stores and tried to...Read More
Live Video Townhall With Congressman Jared Polis
Filed by Bil Browning | March 09, 2011 | 6:30 PM |Bilerico Project is proud to host a live video townhall meeting with Congressman Jared Polis tonight in conjunction with Rep Polis' Fearless Campaign and the National Stonewall Democrats. The event will go live at 9pm. Watch live streaming video from...Read More
Toronto Mayor Threatens Pride Again because of Pro-Palestine Message
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 09, 2011 | 4:30 PM |The same controversy that happened last year in Toronto is set to happen again: [Toronto mayor Rob] Ford, who was elected on a right-wing, waste-slashing agenda last November, told the Canadian Jewish News last week that he will cut funding...Read More
Lesbian Appointed to Hawaii Supreme Court
Filed by Nancy Polikoff | March 09, 2011 | 3:30 PM |I have an address book that is more than 25-years-old. When I heard that Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie had nominated Sabrina McKenna to the Hawaii Supreme Court, I knew the name immediately. Could this be the same Sabrina McKenna who...Read More
Tonight On Bilerico: Live Video Townhall with Rep Jared Polis
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 09, 2011 | 12:30 PM |Editors' Note: Guest blogger Michael Mitchell is the Executive Director of the National Stonewall Democrats. When the GOP took control of the House last November, there was a general feeling in our community (and much of the progressive and even...Read More
Sources: Lady Gaga Backs Out of Exclusive Target Deal
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 09, 2011 | 11:30 AM |Metro Weekly and The Advocate are reporting that the Lady Gaga's exclusive distribution deal with Target has been called off. There hasn't been an official announcement, yet, but that's what several people involved in marketing have said. Target apparently hasn't...Read More
Afghani Feminist Speaks Out on International Women's Day
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 08, 2011 | 5:00 PM |Yahoo! News interviewed Chekeba Hachemi, a women's rights activist and editor of Afghanistan's only magazine for women for International Women's Day, today. While I don't know which year she's referring to, Afghanistan has consistently appeared on 10-worst countries lists for...Read More
Maryland Gay Delegates' Open Letter to Colleagues on Marriage Equality
Filed by Bil Browning | March 08, 2011 | 3:30 PM |Six openly gay and lesbian Maryland state legislators have written an open letter to their colleagues in the House of Delegates to urge them to support marriage equality. The body is set to vote on legislation legalizing same-sex marriage this...Read More
Anal Sex and Human Evolution
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 08, 2011 | 1:30 PM |Here's a video of a Colorado woman testifying on the civil unions bill in that state, arguing that anal sex isn't something we're supposed to do because we have anal sphincters. I'm guessing some people couldn't keep from giggling during...Read More
Clarification in New York Marriage Rules for Transgender People
Filed by Austen Crowder | March 08, 2011 | 12:30 PM |One of the most understated barriers to equality for trans people isn't animus - it's ambiguity. Some of our biggest steps of progress come from the clarification of rules regarding gendered institutions like marriage. Take TLDEF's latest victory regarding policies...Read More
America Is Not Broke
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 08, 2011 | 9:30 AM |Michael Moore had a column yesterday at Truth Out, responding to the biggest rightwing lie since "Saddam Hussein has WMD's": America is not broke. Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you'll give up...Read More
Deconstructing the Angry West Hollywood Election
Filed by Karen Ocamb | March 07, 2011 | 7:00 PM |For some long-term West Hollywood residents, there has never been as nasty a campaign season as the one leading up to the Tuesday, March 8 election for three seats on the West Hollywood City Council. Unsubstantiated allegations of corruption and...Read More
Anti-Gay Bullying: One Mother's Letter to President Obama
Filed by Michael Hamar | March 07, 2011 | 6:00 PM |As The Advocate and other news outlets have reported, President Obama - who I often refer to as our faux fierce advocate in the White House - will be holding an anti-bullying conference on March 10, 2011. The Advocate notes...Read More
Rhode Island Congressman Now Supports Marriage Equality
Filed by Bil Browning | March 07, 2011 | 5:00 PM |Check out this public letter Rhode Island Congressman Jim Langevin published in the Providence Journal over the weekend. While he didn't support marriage equality previously, he's changed his position. For many years, I supported civil unions as a reasonable way...Read More
Trans Prisoners Gain Rights in Germany, UK
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 07, 2011 | 2:00 PM |New guidelines on how to deal with transitioning in prison were handed down by the Ministry of Justice in the UK: The document says: "An establishment must permit prisoners who consider themselves transsexual and wish to begin gender reassignment to...Read More
Former Godfather Pizza CEO to Run for Prez?
Filed by Bil Browning | March 07, 2011 | 1:00 PM |How cheesy is this? Herman Cain, the former CEO of Godfather Pizza, is exploring a presidential run on the GOP ticket. Cain has caught the attention of conservative activists influenced by the tea party movement who aren't bothered by candidates...Read More
A Day in the Life of a Real State Worker
Filed by Don Davis | March 07, 2011 | 12:00 PM |What with all the attacks on labor in states like Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, and Wisconsin, there has been just so much misunderstanding out there these past couple weeks about what things are actually like for state workers. Are the...Read More
How Discharges Will Happen Post-DADT
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 07, 2011 | 11:00 AM |Here's a preview for what life will be like in the military for LGB soldiers. Stephen Jones is being charged with "deriliction of duty" for the incident described below: According to the Navy's investigative summary of the episode, the trouble...Read More
No One Cared He Was Gay Except the Pentagon: A Soldier's Memoriam
Filed by Michael Hamar | March 06, 2011 | 5:30 PM |In light of the thinly veiled anti-gay bullshit taking place at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command near Charleston, South Carolina, a post done by my friend Lyndon Evans - one of the first LGBT bloggers I got to know...Read More
Are Republicans Playing the Christianists on DOMA Defense?
Filed by Michael Hamar | March 06, 2011 | 2:30 PM |In today's GOP giving political fellatio to the Christian Right is de riguer since the religious Kool-Aid drinking crowd makes up such a large portion of the GOP base. But in announcing his plan to defend DOMA, it seems that...Read More
Hundreds Call for Removal of Anti-Gay Crusader Appointed to Equal Rights Board
Filed by Nadine Smith | March 06, 2011 | 11:30 AM |Last week, Equality Florida launched a campaign to replace anti-gay crusader Terry Kemple who was recently appointed to the Hillsborough County Human Relations Board, a board charged with protecting equal rights. Over 800 fair-minded Tampa Bay residents responded and have...Read More
#SSS: Maryland, Harvard & the ROTC, Westboro and More!
Filed by Phil Reese | March 06, 2011 | 10:00 AM |At the very last moment of today's round table somebody moves me emotionally very unexpectedly - despite our disagreement. We'll get to that later though... That is only one of numerous incredible moments on this week's SameSexSunday. Poor Joe is...Read More
This PFLAG Parent Is Angry!
Filed by Annette Gross | March 05, 2011 | 2:00 PM |In response to the proposed marriage discrimination amendment (HJR-6) in Indiana, there is going to be a Rally for Equality on Monday, March 14th from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis. I'm helping to work...Read More
Indicted: Remember Indiana's Charlie White?
Filed by Bil Browning | March 04, 2011 | 11:00 AM |Do you remember back in September when I blogged about Indiana's Republican Secretary of State candidate, Charlie White? White won the election even though I asked, "Did IN Republican Secretary of State Candidate Commit Voter Fraud?" According to a grand...Read More
Larry Craig Is Back in the Senate
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 04, 2011 | 9:30 AM |As a lobbyist: Walking the halls of the Congress, you never know who you might run into - and today it was a blast from the past. I sat down in the subway that runs beneath the Capitol, and across...Read More
Social Security: If You Can't Kill the Program, Screw the People
Filed by Don Davis | March 03, 2011 | 6:00 PM |There are a lot of ways to be petty and cheap and stupid. There are also a lot of ways to stick it to a program, and by extension, the clients of that program, that you don't like. This week...Read More
Gay Marriage Stole Your Job
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 03, 2011 | 1:00 PM |NOM has been blanketing the district of Maryland senator Jim Brochin with mailers because he announced his support for same-sex marriage. Here's part of the mailer, which seems to be saying that same-sex marriage is as bad as unemployment, or...Read More
Christians Preserve Right to Bully Suicidal Kids
Filed by Bil Browning | March 03, 2011 | 12:00 PM |Check out this bit of "pro-family" crowing from the Indiana Family Institute's newsletter listing all of their accomplishments in the Indiana legislature this session: Anti-Free Speech homosexual "bullying" bill dies in Senate committee. The homosexual lobby was pushing SB 538,...Read More
IRS to Require Income Splitting for Same-Sex Couples
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 03, 2011 | 9:30 AM |The IRS has instructed same-sex couples that are DP'd, CU'd, or married in community property states (Washington, California, Nevada), to start income-splitting, i.e. averaging the incomes while filing separately. The Sacramento Bee reports that this will increase some people's tax...Read More
Indiana's Jud McMillin: A Tale of Glass Houses & Rocks
Filed by Bil Browning | March 02, 2011 | 6:00 PM |Indiana Republican state representative Judson (Jud) McMillin is a man with a secret past. The young freshmen legislator, who represents a southern Indiana district on the Ohio border, grew up in the area and when he's not climbing on his...Read More
The GOP's Budget Body Count: 700,000
Filed by Terrance Heath | March 02, 2011 | 5:00 PM |The Republican response to the painful consequences of their budget cuts runs the gamut from “So be it,” to “So what?” “So be it,” said Speaker John Boehner to news that Republican budget cuts would slash over 200,000 jobs....Read More
Our Coming Culture of Poverty: Now Everyone Will Be Greedy
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 02, 2011 | 4:00 PM |Over the last 24 hours*, I read four items where people were called greedy: 1. An article from Rahna Reiko Rizzuto on Salon, where she talks about taking a professional opportunity in Japan for six months and leaving her children...Read More
Russian Gay Activist California Tour Cancelled Over Anti-Jewish Remark
Filed by Karen Ocamb | March 02, 2011 | 1:30 PM |There was great excitement in California when it was announced that Russian gay activist Nikolai Alekseev was coming to America to speak about his often dangerous demonstrations supporting LGBT rights. The trip was arranged primary by Alekseev Chicago-based activist friend,...Read More
Westboro Baptist Church Wins Supreme Court Case
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 02, 2011 | 11:30 AM |The Supreme Court has ruled that a civil judgment against the Westboro Baptist Church, in a case brought by a father of a guy killing Iraq whose funeral the Phelpses protested, can't stand because of the First Amendment: "What Westboro...Read More
Rethinking Sexual Hypocrisy
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 02, 2011 | 10:30 AM |I posted yesterday a video with Lawrence O'Donnell's very waspy attack on Newt Gingrich's ability to "defend" the institution of marriage considering his several divorces and remarriages. But if you want to see how it's really done, take a look...Read More
CPAC Souvenirs: Gauche Bumpersticker
Filed by Bil Browning | March 02, 2011 | 9:30 AM |I picked up all sorts of unintentionally funny tidbits at the CPAC convention last month, but I really giggled over this one. It's a bumper sticker who's maker obviously did not get the Freedom Fries memo a few years back....Read More
Teaser: First Indiana Expose Tomorrow
Filed by Bil Browning | March 01, 2011 | 6:00 PM |After I put out my call for dirt on hypocritical Indiana legislators who voted in favor of a marriage discrimination amendment, my inbox exploded and quite a few tips have led to some shocking revelations. Just as I was about...Read More
UK Foster Parents Told They Can't Be Homophobic
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 01, 2011 | 3:30 PM |A couple in the UK, which had previously fostered almost twenty children and was considered an exemplary foster parenting couple, were told several years ago that they couldn't foster anymore because they're homophobic. They sued, and the court sided with...Read More
Four Ways to Improve Massachusetts' Anti-Bullying Law
Filed by Guest Blogger | March 01, 2011 | 12:30 PM |Editors' note: Carly Burton is the Director of Public Policy and Political Affairs for MassEquality. Massachusetts' new anti-bullying law is a tremendous step forward in keeping students safer in our schools. But there are several ways to improve the law...Read More
One Queer Madisonian Reflects on Day 14 of the WI State Capitol Occupation
Filed by Caitlin Breedlove | March 01, 2011 | 11:30 AM |I grew up in Madison, WI, and I would be the first to admit I did not think that a town that has mostly been known for its comfortable arm-chair liberal majority and the power they wield could do this....Read More
Justice Department Wants a Court to Strike Down DOMA
Filed by Alex Blaze | March 01, 2011 | 10:30 AM |Something tells me the situation on DOMA is going to be murky for a while: The Justice Department says a lesbian federal employee should still be denied permission to add her wife to her health insurance despite the Obama administration's...Read More
