Politics: June 2012
Your Personal President [Open Thread]
Filed by Bil Browning | June 30, 2012 9:45 AM |What dark horse candidate would you like to see become President? Think of someone outside of the usual choices - a celebrity, an activist, your great aunt Gertrude - and tell us why you'd support their candidacy.Read More
DC Republican Party Adds Gay Inclusion to Platform
Filed by Bil Browning | June 29, 2012 3:00 PM |While Indiana Democrats are really just Republican-lite for the most part, DC Republicans are a lot more liberal than their counterparts nationwide. Confirming this for me is this press release from the DC chapter of Log Cabin Republicans.Read More
State Rep. Greg Harris Talks Illinois LGBT Politics with Gay Chicago TV
Filed by Waymon Hudson | June 29, 2012 12:20 PM |I was pleased to sit down with Illinois State Representative Greg Harris, the highest ranking openly gay elected official in the State of Illinois, and talk in-depth about the pressing issues facing the LGBT community not only here in the state, but nationally as well.Read More
Least Expected Press Release Headline on Obamacare Ruling
Filed by Bil Browning | June 28, 2012 4:30 PM |Wait. What?! This hit my inbox today from the national Libertarian Party.Read More
Canadian Trans Rights Bill Supporters Targeted
Filed by Mercedes Allen | June 28, 2012 12:00 PM |On Wednesday June 6th, Parliament voted to send Private Member's Bill C-279: An Act to Amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code (gender identity and gender expression) to committee for review as part of its trek toward passage.Read More
Supreme Court Upholds Obamacare
Filed by Bil Browning | June 28, 2012 10:35 AM |If there was ever a reason for the White House to start re-claiming the label "Obamacare," now is the moment. The Supreme Court has upheld the president's signature health care law - including the individual mandate.Read More
5 Things to Listen for at DOD's LGBT Pride Event Today
Filed by Karen Ocamb | June 26, 2012 1:00 PM |Here are five issues pro-equality participants at the Department of Defense Pride event might want to listen and watch for today.Read More
SCOTUS Overturns Much of AZ Immigration Law, Keeps 'Papers Please'
Filed by Karen Ocamb | June 25, 2012 4:30 PM |Today, the high court ruled on Arizona's "papers please" law, which has become a model for other states and a hot topic on the presidential campaign trail with President Obama opposing the law and Mitt Romney wanting it replicated elsewhere. The political fallout is still to be determined. Read More
Westboro Baptist Devotee Runs for Kansas Board of Education
Filed by Bil Browning | June 25, 2012 1:00 PM |How bad do you have to be when both Westboro Baptist and the Republican party distance themselves from you?Read More
Seriously: How Do We Even Talk?
Filed by Terrance Heath | June 24, 2012 4:00 PM |Do ever have one of those moments when you realize that you and the person you're arguing with, even though you're both speaking English, don't actually speak the same language?Read More
Gay Congressional Candidate Within Striking Distance in Michigan
Filed by Bil Browning | June 22, 2012 3:30 PM |Trevor Thomas, a longtime progressive activist who's worked for HRC and SLDN, is within striking distance of his anti-choice primary opponent according to the Grand Rapids Press. If Thomas can raise enough cash to up his name recognition, he'd likely surge to victory. Read More
Tammy Baldwin's First Campaign Ad
Filed by Bil Browning | June 22, 2012 11:00 AM |Everyone's favorite lesbian running for the Senate, Tammy Baldwin, has released her first campaign ad.Read More
Krugman's Right - Again
Filed by Terrance Heath | June 21, 2012 4:00 PM |I wonder sometimes if Paul Krugman ever gets tired of being right. Or does he get bored with it, given how often it happens?Read More
Lost in Space: Danger LGBT Community, Danger
Filed by Mark Segal | June 21, 2012 1:30 PM |It is a waste of time to ask the president to issue any new policy changes. Not that the change is not necessary, not that you'd be wrong in wanting the changes. It's just absolutely a waste of time and priorities.Read More
Using 'House Faggot' Is Not Okay, Dan Savage
Filed by Viktor Kerney | June 21, 2012 10:00 AM |If we want people to take our battle and cause seriously, we have to do the same. So I challenge us to hold Dan Savage accountable for his poor use of words.Read More
It's Time for the Senate to Walk the Walk on ENDA
Filed by Rebecca Juro | June 20, 2012 9:30 PM |The time for just talking about protecting all Americans from discrimination in the workplace is over. Over a quarter-century of waiting is long enough. It's time to get this done.Read More
Politics & Pride: Learning from Our History
Filed by Waymon Hudson | June 19, 2012 1:00 PM |Now, more than ever, LGBT Pride celebrations need be something more. We need to put the politics back in Pride. We need to be asking people to not only celebrate our community, but also educate and agitate as well. Read More
Rep Adam Schiff Wants to be a Leader on LGBT Rights
Filed by Karen Ocamb | June 19, 2012 11:30 AM |The slight man in a perfectly pressed preppy shirt and pants eases eagerly but gracefully through the crowd in the hot afternoon, extending his hand, greeting people--genuinely happy to be at the LGBT party.Read More
Hey Mitt, Leave Our Teachers Alone
Filed by Terrance Heath | June 15, 2012 2:30 PM |As I thought about how much our son has grown and improved over the past year, and how much the staff at his school had to do with those changes, I couldn't help being mystified at Romney's assertion that our children need fewer teachers.Read More
IN Republicans Omit Marriage Opposition from Platform
Filed by Bil Browning | June 15, 2012 11:30 AM |Both the Republican and Democrat state party platforms have undergone dramatic changes in regard to marriage equality in Indiana. Democrats now oppose a constitutional amendment while Republicans have jettisoned their vociferous support for it.Read More
After 40 Years, PA Democrats Come Out Strong on Equality
Filed by Mark Segal | June 14, 2012 5:30 PM |Bet you didn't know that Pennsylvania was in the vanguard of the push for LGBT equality. That was 37 years ago, when it was called lesbian and gay rights, and we were called gay activists.Read More
LAUSD Gives Middle Finger to Anti-Gay Religious Right
Filed by Karen Ocamb | June 14, 2012 1:30 PM |While "protecting" students is axiomatic, actively incorporating lessons about LGBT people into public schoolrooms is not - even though California's FAIR Act has been in effect since January.Read More
MT Senator Baucus Endorses Marriage Equality
Filed by D Gregory Smith | June 14, 2012 12:00 PM |Say what you will about Max Baucus - and we have - but this gives me a moment of pride.Read More
I Have a Crush on Obama: Gay Remix
Filed by Bil Browning | June 13, 2012 3:00 PM |Remember Obama Girl and her viral crush on everyone's favorite candidate? Now Obama Boy Justin Brown is crooning his love for the President.Read More
Senate ENDA Hearing: Action & Reaction
Filed by Karen Ocamb | June 13, 2012 10:45 AM |Yesterday's historic ENDA hearing in the Senate indicates that incredible progress has been made at the political leadership level over the past several years. Here's what happened, where it's going next, and reactions from LGBT and anti-gay groups.Read More
Someone Grab the Smelling Salts
Filed by Bil Browning | June 12, 2012 11:45 AM |Tony Perkins is upset that California schoolchildren will learn about history. Why? Because there were LGBT people all throughout history!Read More
CSW Honoree Attorney General Kamala Harris Interview
Filed by Karen Ocamb | June 11, 2012 5:00 PM |The Los Angeles and West Hollywood LGBT communities strongly backed Kamala Harris in her run for Attorney General not only for the civil rights history she brings to the job - but because she ACTS on her principles.Read More
Indiana Dem Platform Will Oppose Marriage Amendment
Filed by Bil Browning | June 11, 2012 3:30 PM |While it's a big step forward for the Indiana Democratic Party to oppose the amendment, the party still lags behind steps taken recently by far more conservative states like Montana and Texas.Read More
Total Recall: Shades of Gray Davis
Filed by Terrance Heath | June 11, 2012 1:00 PM |Plenty of things have been bothering me in the wake of the Wisconsin recall election. But one that particularly "sticks in my craw" is what appears to be the developing conventional wisdom that recall elections should hardly ever happen, and are appropriate only in very narrow circumstances. Read More
Worst. President. Ever. Still.
Filed by Terrance Heath | June 10, 2012 3:00 PM |Not that Bush asked "Miss me yet?" himself during his recent visit to the White House, but the American people are still answering it with a resounding "No."Read More
Alberta Reinstates Healthcare Funding for Sex Reassignment Surgery
Filed by Mercedes Allen | June 07, 2012 4:00 PM |The Alberta Government has announced that it will be reinstating health care funding for sex reassignment surgery (often called gender reassignment surgery, and abbreviated as GRS by the province and its clinicians), effective June 15th. Read More
The Secret of Joy: Six Lessons From Quebec's 'Maple Spring'
Filed by Terrance Heath | June 07, 2012 11:30 AM |As I read more about the student movement in Quebec, known as the "Maple Spring" or the "Casserole Revolution," it brings to mind the final scene from Possessing the Secret of Joy, by one of my favorite authors, Alice Walker. Read More
Obama's LGBT Fundraiser in Beverly Hills
Filed by Karen Ocamb | June 07, 2012 10:00 AM |I am heading out to Netroots Nation so I will not be covering President Obama's LGBT fundraiser at the Beverly Wilshire. However, my friend Ted Johnson of Variety is covering it, and I recommend that you pop over to see what happened.Read More
AG Eric Holder's Remarks Celebrating LGBT Pride Month
Filed by Karen Ocamb | June 06, 2012 5:30 PM |Attorney General Eric Holder issued a statement in celebration of LGBT Pride Month, and the work the Department of Justice has and will continue to do for the LGBT community. Read More
LGBT Connect At Netroots Nation
Filed by Dr. Jillian T. Weiss | June 06, 2012 2:30 PM |I am at Netroots Nation today, the annual political convention for American progressive political activists. The convention actually starts tomorrow, but today Netroots Nation hosts the LGBT Connect program, the brainchild of Mike Rogers, a seasoned political activist, managing director of Raw Story, and a Bilerico colleague.Read More
NY State Appellate Court: Calling Someone Gay Is Not an Insult
Filed by John M. Becker | June 06, 2012 11:30 AM |The idea that speculation about a person's sexual orientation, founded or not, is so damaging, so grave an insult, that it amounts to defamation, is being increasingly challenged in American courts.Read More
C-279: When a Victory For One Can Be a Victory For . . . One
Filed by Mercedes Allen | June 06, 2012 10:00 AM |The second hour of Second Reading debate for Bill C-279: An Act to Amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code (gender identity and gender expression) occurred on Friday June 1st, and the Second Reading vote is to take place today, June 6th. Read More
Breaking: 9th Circuit Will NOT Re-Hear Federal Prop 8 Case
Filed by Karen Ocamb | June 05, 2012 1:15 PM |The case will now likely go to the US Supreme Court.Read More
Blacks, Gays & Marriage: When A Leader Leads
Filed by Terrance Heath | June 05, 2012 11:00 AM |When I read about the recent polls indicating a huge shift among African-Americans towards supporting same-sex marriage I was skeptical. Surprised. Hopeful. But still skeptical. Several days later, I remain so - unable to settle into one reaction or another. Read More
Meet California's 50th AD Candidates in Today's Primary
Filed by Karen Ocamb | June 05, 2012 10:00 AM |Please do not forget to vote in today's very important Primary elections. This is California's first open primary where the top two candidates will face off in November. Read More
Anti-gay Campaign Claims Enough Signatures to Put Marriage on Ballot in Washington
Filed by Joe Mirabella | June 04, 2012 7:00 PM |Opponents of Washington State's marriage equality law claim they have collected enough signatures to qualify Referendum 74 for the ballot in November. Read More
Out Lesbian Latina Won Texas House Seat
Filed by Joe Mirabella | June 04, 2012 5:00 PM |Mary Gonzalez, an out lesbian Latina woman, won a Texas State House seat last week. Read More
Read President Obama's LGBT Pride Month Proclamation
Filed by Viktor Kerney | June 03, 2012 11:30 AM |President Obama's 2012 LGBT Pride Month ProclamationRead More
Romney's Faith Isn't the Problem
Filed by Mark Segal | June 01, 2012 5:00 PM |Does religion matter in the race for president? Seems like a simple question with a simple answer, doesn't it?Read More
Catholics Stand Up Against Bishops
Filed by Joe Mirabella | June 01, 2012 12:00 PM |An unlikely movement is underway in Seattle. Seattle is known for secularism, yet there is a storm brewing here that could shake the seemingly unshakable -- the Catholic Church. Read More
