Joe Tarver attended last night's PFAW/Soulforce-sponsored panel discussion with Danny O'Donnell and Tom Duane. He had the following to report back:
Last night as a prelude to Soulforce’s Right to Marry campaign, People For the American Way (PFAW) and Soulforce NYC sponsored a discussion with State Senator Tom Duane and Assemblymember Daniel O'Donnell to talk about the progress and prospect of marriage equality in New York. Gay City News Editor in Chief Paul Schindler moderated the discussion.
PFAW’s office in Manhattan’s Flatiron District was packed with more than 100 people who came to hear Duane and O’Donnell and meet some of the Soulforce students and activists who will be fanning out across New York in four separate contingents starting this Sunday. With the Assembly passing marriage legislation on June 19, the mood was upbeat and celebratory. Several LGBT community allies were there, including the Upper West Side synagogue B’nai Jeshurun, staff from the office of U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler and, of course, PFAW.
Assemblymember O’Donnell talked to us about what it meant as a gay man to lobby his fellow Assemblymembers for the ability to marry his longterm partner John Banta. He stressed how his being able to make the issue personal with his colleagues was a key reason 85 Assemblymembers voted to pass the bill. We agree. O’Donnell’s hard work and telling his personal story Assemblymember-to-Assemblymember made a difference in our community’s campaign to pass the bill.
O’Donnell reminded us all that, despite the victory, work with the Assembly must continue. Elections are next year and he urged everyone to remember those who supported us during the June 19 vote and to be there for them. He named four Assemblymembers who did the right thing and voted for the marriage bill despite knowing that there could be concern over their votes back in their districts: Assemblymembers Albert Stirpe, Jr. (D-North Syracuse), RoAnn DeStito (D-Rome), Michael Cusick (D-Staten Island) and Janele Hyer-Spencer (D-Staten Island). These (and other) Assemblymembers should know that, come election time, the Pride Agenda will not forget their courage and leadership on this issue.
Senator Duane, who will be our community’s point person for the campaign to pass the bill in the State Senate, told everyone that it’s possible to get the current Republican Majority to take up the bill and pass it, but that it would be easier with a Democratic Majority in place. (The margin of Republicans to Democrats in the Senate is now down to a very slim two seats.) He emphasized how important it will be to continue building support for marriage with straight allies and highlighted how the Pride Agenda’s work building religious and labor support for marriage equality had changed the way the issue was viewed in Albany. Duane urged the activists in the room with Soulforce’s Right to Marry campaign to focus on the personal aspect of why marriage matters when they meet with elected officials across the state these next two weeks.
Both O’Donnell and Duane noted how much having Governor Spitzer’s support for marriage equality had shifted the political terrain in New York State on marriage equality.
For more information on Soulforce’s Right to Marry campaign and the kickoff this Sunday in Albany, go here. We’ll try to give you a few updates as they make their way through New York.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Morning Sweep
An opinion piece by a straight writer in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin hits the proverbial ball out of the park in its attempt to rationalize why allowing gay people to marriage is simply the right thing to do.
The New York Times profiles Assemblymember Daniel O'Donnell--the openly gay sponsor of the marriage bill that recently passed in the NYS Assembly--for its "Public Lives" column.
In another effort to streamline, PlanetOut, Inc. announced that it will be closing its international offices.
The Matthew Shepard Act (hate crimes bill) has been introduced in the U.S. Senate alongside other amendments to the defense authorization bill.
A little bit of news analysis: right now it's unclear as to whether or not the strategy of mixing the legislation into a wider debate on U.S. presence in Iraq will ultimately result in the bill's passage. It could prove to be either a politically expedient move or one that ultimately results in a presidential veto, should Bush be unhappy with what certain parts of the bill say about curtailing the Iraq mission. Regardless, right now this strategy gives the bill its best chance for passage.
You can do some lobbying of your own here.
Some people are not happy that Mike Gravel, a pro-marriage (and darker-than-night horse) presidential candidate, was not invited to participate in HRC/Logo's gay debate.
Here's the police report that was filed after Florida Republican state representative Bob Allen was detained for soliciting an undercover officer for oral sex.
The New York Times profiles Assemblymember Daniel O'Donnell--the openly gay sponsor of the marriage bill that recently passed in the NYS Assembly--for its "Public Lives" column.
In another effort to streamline, PlanetOut, Inc. announced that it will be closing its international offices.
The Matthew Shepard Act (hate crimes bill) has been introduced in the U.S. Senate alongside other amendments to the defense authorization bill.
A little bit of news analysis: right now it's unclear as to whether or not the strategy of mixing the legislation into a wider debate on U.S. presence in Iraq will ultimately result in the bill's passage. It could prove to be either a politically expedient move or one that ultimately results in a presidential veto, should Bush be unhappy with what certain parts of the bill say about curtailing the Iraq mission. Regardless, right now this strategy gives the bill its best chance for passage.
You can do some lobbying of your own here.
Some people are not happy that Mike Gravel, a pro-marriage (and darker-than-night horse) presidential candidate, was not invited to participate in HRC/Logo's gay debate.
Here's the police report that was filed after Florida Republican state representative Bob Allen was detained for soliciting an undercover officer for oral sex.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Morning Sweep
Gay City News wonders how to keep Democratic presidential contenders accountable for the many promises that they seem to be making to the LGBT community during the 2008 election.
A Republican Florida state representative was nabbed by an undercover cop for solicitation (of the male-to-male variety). He also happens to be the co-chair of John McCain's Florida campaign operations. Naturally, he's denying everything.
The Colorado Springs Independent profiles Tim Gill's (and his foundation's) involvement in helping to elect LGBT-friendly lawmakers in state legislature races.
Fifty prominent straight Oregonians are publicly voicing their support for two significant pro-LGBT bills that are under attack from anti-gay groups.
The American Public Health Association opposes Pres. Bush's selection of Dr. James Holsinger as the next U.S. Surgeon General because his views on homosexuality "put his political and religious ideology before established medical science." This is only the second time that the group, which is made up of 50,000 public health officials, has opposed a Surgeon General nominee.
The New York Times also opposes the Holsinger nomination.
Michael Moore on his gay following, big pharma and HIV/AIDS, and possibly making a movie about gay rights (or the lack, thereof).
A Republican Florida state representative was nabbed by an undercover cop for solicitation (of the male-to-male variety). He also happens to be the co-chair of John McCain's Florida campaign operations. Naturally, he's denying everything.
The Colorado Springs Independent profiles Tim Gill's (and his foundation's) involvement in helping to elect LGBT-friendly lawmakers in state legislature races.
Fifty prominent straight Oregonians are publicly voicing their support for two significant pro-LGBT bills that are under attack from anti-gay groups.
The American Public Health Association opposes Pres. Bush's selection of Dr. James Holsinger as the next U.S. Surgeon General because his views on homosexuality "put his political and religious ideology before established medical science." This is only the second time that the group, which is made up of 50,000 public health officials, has opposed a Surgeon General nominee.
The New York Times also opposes the Holsinger nomination.
Michael Moore on his gay following, big pharma and HIV/AIDS, and possibly making a movie about gay rights (or the lack, thereof).
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Jose Peralta's response to "Courtin' Trouble"
Remember that ignorant little piece that Errol Louis penned in the Daily News a couple of weeks ago about gay marriage possibly leading to polygamy and incest?
Assemblyman Jose Peralta (Queens) wasn't very happy about what Louis had to say and sent a response to the Daily News. It never ran, but we have a copy of it:
Touché.
Assemblyman Jose Peralta (Queens) wasn't very happy about what Louis had to say and sent a response to the Daily News. It never ran, but we have a copy of it:
"Now that the New York State Assembly has passed legislation providing same-sex couples with access to marriage, opponents are trying to scare New Yorkers about what this means by using the worn-out slippery slope argument that this will lead to incest and polygamy. We heard it on the floor of the Assembly during debate on the bill and we heard it in this newspaper just a few days ago.
As a person of color, I have to say that it is disturbing to hear the same ugly and untrue arguments being used today by defenders of the status quo that were used forty years ago when people of different races wanted to marry.
When a mixed race couple went before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1958 to be allowed to marry in the famous Loving v. Virginia case, the voices of doom were saying the same thing. They said this would weaken the family, be bad for kids and be the end of civilization as we know it. They talked about bestiality being next. Never mind that there was no evidence to back any of this up, they still put it out there to scare people.
Our vote on marriage was about nothing more than a vote to allow two adults who are in love and of the same sex to be able to marry. No legislature is compelled to say what was done for one particular set of circumstances must be done for another. We looked at the facts regarding same-sex relationships and deliberated over what would be the best public policy decision to reach. That debate might be very different for a different set of circumstances.
Allowing same-sex couples to marry is about far more than live-and-let-live. There ARE same-sex couples living in New York and they ARE raising children – tens of thousands of them. Extending marriage and the literally 1,324 laws and statutes related to it that are designed to protect those families is not about making these families feel good. It is smart public policy to take an institution that has been used to protect opposite-sex couples and their children and apply it to same-sex couples and their families. The institution I’m talking about is marriage. It provides a healthy and necessary framework for two people to take care of each other and should be extended in this case to same-sex couples.
Slippery slope arguments are never based on fact. They are about hysteria. With this change in marriage, people ask, what other changes will we be forced to face? For better or worse, marriage has always been about change. From polygamy in biblical times -- to consolidation of power and prevention of war in medieval times -- to the inferior status of married women in more modern times -- to the ban of interracial marriage just decades ago -- society has always asked what model of marriage best fits the needs of that time.
The question is now being asked about two people of the same-sex, and I for one have provided my answer on the basis of equality, justice, family protection and good public policy. The restriction on same-sex couples marrying in New York should end. That does not put New York sliding down a slippery slope to anything else. It only answers the question for my gay and lesbian constituents and the gay community across the state."
Jose Peralta
New York State Assembly
39th District
Touché.
Morning Sweep
Lots of buzz this morning about Logo/HRC's "gay debate" on Aug. 9. More here, here, here and here.
The American Psychological Association is set to review the effects of "reparative therapy," which attempts to change an individual's sexual orientation. Most experts believe that the APA panel will find that such therapies are damaging and harmful.
Straight couples in Florida are worried that a proposed amendment to the state constitution (narrowly defining marriage and forbidding any other alternative) will threaten their domestic partnerships. A bipartisan advocacy group has been organized to fight the amendment.
A court battle in Michigan is proof that marriage amendments also jeopardize domestic partner benefits.
¡No me digas! Bill Richardson used the "m" word.
GLAAD gives "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" two snaps up. Towleroad notes that the movie is getting mixed responses from the LGBT community.
The American Psychological Association is set to review the effects of "reparative therapy," which attempts to change an individual's sexual orientation. Most experts believe that the APA panel will find that such therapies are damaging and harmful.
Straight couples in Florida are worried that a proposed amendment to the state constitution (narrowly defining marriage and forbidding any other alternative) will threaten their domestic partnerships. A bipartisan advocacy group has been organized to fight the amendment.
A court battle in Michigan is proof that marriage amendments also jeopardize domestic partner benefits.
¡No me digas! Bill Richardson used the "m" word.
GLAAD gives "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" two snaps up. Towleroad notes that the movie is getting mixed responses from the LGBT community.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Logo, HRC to host first-ever presidential debate (discussion) on LGBT issues
So far Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards have committed to participating. This is a groundbreaking event--never before have top-tier presidential candidates come together during a primary season to discuss LGBT issues.
Joe Solomonese (HRC's Exec. Director) and Melissa Etheridge will moderate/emcee the August 9 event, (a lesbian in our office wonders why the male is a political figure/advocate and the female is an entertainer...) which will be broadcast live on Logo from Los Angeles.
Republicans are also invited to participate.
Read the press release here (via Queerty)
Pride in Our Union
We posted yesterday on DC37's support of the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) and the marriage equality bill. We ran this full-page ad today in The Chief (a highly regarded newspaper for civil employees), noting the bredth of union support for LGBT issues:
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