In Houston, Obama criticizes politicians who like to “use immigrants or gay people or folks who aren't like us as scapegoats.” Check out the video clip via Towelroad.
Lisa Keen with the Bay Area Reporter gives an update on LGBT superdelegates and the race between Clinton and Obama
GLSEN responds to John Cloud’s use of their statistics in his Time Magazine piece on the murder of eighth-grader Lawrence King, who identified as gay and wore make up and nail polish to school.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
New Jersey provides proof of why civil unions are not equality
Yesterday, we got a pointed reminder from our neighbor next door about why only marriage provides equality and not anything else government tries to put in its place.
On the one-year anniversary of its civil unions law, New Jersey released its first interim report studying the actual impact of the law and found that civil unions confer a “second-class status” to same-sex couples and do not fulfill the directive from the state’s Supreme Court that equality be provided.
The report provided evidence of how same-sex couples in Massachusetts, where marriage is legal, do not face the same barriers to being treated equally that couples in New Jersey are facing under civil unions and also looked at Vermont where couples in civil unions are having the same problems couples in New Jersey are experiencing.
While the reasons were several, one of the report’s key findings was that numerous private sector employers in New Jersey, who use marriage as the determining factor in providing employees with access to benefits for their families, have shown little willingness to use civil unions in the same way. (In Massachusetts this has been a non-issue with same-sex couples who are married.) Another finding was that emergency room personnel, doctors and nurses, teachers and others don’t understand what civil unions are, rendering them practically useless in situations when the protections they are supposed to provide are most needed, such as in the case of a medical emergency.
These and other deficiencies outlined in the report go to the heart of the debate about civil unions versus marriage and why the two aren’t the same, either legally or practically.
Already there are calls by New Jersey legislators to stop dawdling and make marriage a reality for same-sex couples. Governor Corzine, too, has expressed concerns with the findings of the report and reiterated that he will sign a marriage bill into law following the General Elections in November.
It sounds like things are on the right track in New Jersey.
By serving as laboratories for civil unions and marriage for same-sex couples, New Jersey and Massachusetts are doing all of us a huge service. Their experiences should help move the debate on this issue further away from the irrational arguments our opponents like to use against us and more towards the common-sense arguments for marriage equality that can now be buttressed with real facts about what happens when states stand up for our families.
This report and the next will also put to rest the notion that the only difference between a civil union and a marriage is the name they go by. We’ve always known the two are not the same and have said so, but having it in black and white from a state that has civil unions makes it much more difficult to dispute.
This can only help our community's efforts here in New York and in other states to win access to marriage and the protections it provides.
On the one-year anniversary of its civil unions law, New Jersey released its first interim report studying the actual impact of the law and found that civil unions confer a “second-class status” to same-sex couples and do not fulfill the directive from the state’s Supreme Court that equality be provided.
The report provided evidence of how same-sex couples in Massachusetts, where marriage is legal, do not face the same barriers to being treated equally that couples in New Jersey are facing under civil unions and also looked at Vermont where couples in civil unions are having the same problems couples in New Jersey are experiencing.
While the reasons were several, one of the report’s key findings was that numerous private sector employers in New Jersey, who use marriage as the determining factor in providing employees with access to benefits for their families, have shown little willingness to use civil unions in the same way. (In Massachusetts this has been a non-issue with same-sex couples who are married.) Another finding was that emergency room personnel, doctors and nurses, teachers and others don’t understand what civil unions are, rendering them practically useless in situations when the protections they are supposed to provide are most needed, such as in the case of a medical emergency.
These and other deficiencies outlined in the report go to the heart of the debate about civil unions versus marriage and why the two aren’t the same, either legally or practically.
Already there are calls by New Jersey legislators to stop dawdling and make marriage a reality for same-sex couples. Governor Corzine, too, has expressed concerns with the findings of the report and reiterated that he will sign a marriage bill into law following the General Elections in November.
It sounds like things are on the right track in New Jersey.
By serving as laboratories for civil unions and marriage for same-sex couples, New Jersey and Massachusetts are doing all of us a huge service. Their experiences should help move the debate on this issue further away from the irrational arguments our opponents like to use against us and more towards the common-sense arguments for marriage equality that can now be buttressed with real facts about what happens when states stand up for our families.
This report and the next will also put to rest the notion that the only difference between a civil union and a marriage is the name they go by. We’ve always known the two are not the same and have said so, but having it in black and white from a state that has civil unions makes it much more difficult to dispute.
This can only help our community's efforts here in New York and in other states to win access to marriage and the protections it provides.
Morning Sweep
New Jersey releases it first interim report on its civil unions law and finds that civil unions confer “second-class status” on same-sex couples. See here for Governor Corzine's reaction and here for Pam of Pam's House Blend and here for our reaction (or just look above!). In conjunction with the report, Garden State Equality unveils a website called Civil Unions Don’t Work, which includes video clips of testimony from couples before the New Jersey Civil Unions Commission describing how exactly their civil unions don't measure up to marriage.
Connecticut State Representative Jason Bartlett, a Democrat who represents the Danbury area, announces he is gay.
A House subcommittee in the Tennessee legislature kills a bill prohibiting discussions of homosexuality in public schools.
National LGBT groups have started the search process for LGBT individuals who want to serve in the next Presidential Administration (no matter who wins they say). A bit early isn't it?
Connecticut State Representative Jason Bartlett, a Democrat who represents the Danbury area, announces he is gay.
A House subcommittee in the Tennessee legislature kills a bill prohibiting discussions of homosexuality in public schools.
National LGBT groups have started the search process for LGBT individuals who want to serve in the next Presidential Administration (no matter who wins they say). A bit early isn't it?
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Morning Sweep
Democratic presidential primaries will be held in Wisconsin and Hawaii today. Hillary Clinton fielded a question on gay rights at a rally in Green Bay.
Actress Natalie Portman doesn't want to get married because she doesn't like that government excludes gay people from the institution.
The New York Times reports on the increase of private gay sex parties, which have arisen as an alternative to the bathhouses that were largely shuttered after the AIDS crisis of the 1980s/90s.
Jason West, the staunchly pro-marriage equality former mayor of New Paltz, talks to the Times about his refusal to leave the Green Party and his current life as a painter.
A transgender woman got the green light from a Brooklyn judge to move forward in her case to sue the MTA for a bigoted remark made by a transit employee after the woman had inquired about her malfunctioning metro card.
After a state report showed that civil unions are not equal to marriage, New Jersey marriage equality advocates are calling for a law providing full marriage equality.
A few hundred marriage equality advocates in Indiana rallied in front of the Statehouse in Indianapolis to protest a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
Actress Natalie Portman doesn't want to get married because she doesn't like that government excludes gay people from the institution.
The New York Times reports on the increase of private gay sex parties, which have arisen as an alternative to the bathhouses that were largely shuttered after the AIDS crisis of the 1980s/90s.
Jason West, the staunchly pro-marriage equality former mayor of New Paltz, talks to the Times about his refusal to leave the Green Party and his current life as a painter.
A transgender woman got the green light from a Brooklyn judge to move forward in her case to sue the MTA for a bigoted remark made by a transit employee after the woman had inquired about her malfunctioning metro card.
After a state report showed that civil unions are not equal to marriage, New Jersey marriage equality advocates are calling for a law providing full marriage equality.
A few hundred marriage equality advocates in Indiana rallied in front of the Statehouse in Indianapolis to protest a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Gays Gone Wired - Tueday, Feb. 26
The Pride Agenda's OffSprung! series of events (targeting "the next generation of LGBT leaders, advocates and allies") will be hosting a happy hour panel discussion/Q&A with four of the most influential New York-based LGBT bloggers. 
Gays Gone Wired: How Bloggers Are Changing the LGBT Rights Movement
featuring:
Andrew Belonsky (Queerty), Jeremy Hooper (Good As You),
Join us on Tueday, Feb. 26 at Therapy in Manhattan (348 W. 52nd St. between 8th & 9th Aves.) from 6:30PM - 8:30PM.
RSVP here or on the OffSprung! Facebook event page.
Morning Sweep
Fifty-five same-sex couples took part in a mass-civil union ceremony in Atlantic City last night. The event was held to mark the first Valentine's Day same-sex couples in NJ could legally be joined together.
Maryland's Attorney General has publicly announced his support for legislation that would make it legal for same-sex couples to marry.
The Southern Voice highlights the often overlooked divide between the priorities of general LGBT advocacy groups and those of groups that specifically represent LGBT people of color.
A columnist in the North Country Gazette looks at some of the court battles being waged over the increasing presence of LGBT issues in public schools across the country.
Departing NGLTF Executive Director Matt Foreman took some shots at openly gay Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank for Frank's role in passing ENDA last year in the House without transgender protections.
A public school in Colorado is making sure it is a safe, welcoming place for a transgender third grader.
A gay group in Elmira is hosting a fundraiser for a local church's aid work in Guatemala to thank the church for their years of support of the local LGBT community.
Towleroad has a round-up of the coverage on the very sad incident of the gay 14-year old in California who was shot in the head by one of his peers while in class.
Maryland's Attorney General has publicly announced his support for legislation that would make it legal for same-sex couples to marry.
The Southern Voice highlights the often overlooked divide between the priorities of general LGBT advocacy groups and those of groups that specifically represent LGBT people of color.
A columnist in the North Country Gazette looks at some of the court battles being waged over the increasing presence of LGBT issues in public schools across the country.
Departing NGLTF Executive Director Matt Foreman took some shots at openly gay Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank for Frank's role in passing ENDA last year in the House without transgender protections.
A public school in Colorado is making sure it is a safe, welcoming place for a transgender third grader.
A gay group in Elmira is hosting a fundraiser for a local church's aid work in Guatemala to thank the church for their years of support of the local LGBT community.
Towleroad has a round-up of the coverage on the very sad incident of the gay 14-year old in California who was shot in the head by one of his peers while in class.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Morning Sweep
The New York City Health Department has a new campaign to promote safe sex.
The New York Times has more on the lesbian couple who have filed suit in Colorado to get the state's constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage thrown out.
A gay Republican in Arizona is entering the race to replace retiring anti-gay Republican Congressman John Shadegg.
Marylanders may be pinning their hopes for marriage equality on a black evangelical bishop who also holds a seat in the state senate.
Know Thy Neighbor has posted the names of every single person who signed the petition to get a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage on the state ballot in November.
Amidst a Castro Street that has been transformed to look like it did in the late 1970d, San Francisco looks back on its history of advancing gay rights as the state's Supreme Court gets set to hear arguments on the legality of denying gay couples the right to marry.
Rhode Island's state legislature will examine legislation that would make it legal for Rhode Island same-sex couples who were married in neighboring Massachusetts to get a divorce in their home state.
The New York Times has more on the lesbian couple who have filed suit in Colorado to get the state's constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage thrown out.
A gay Republican in Arizona is entering the race to replace retiring anti-gay Republican Congressman John Shadegg.
Marylanders may be pinning their hopes for marriage equality on a black evangelical bishop who also holds a seat in the state senate.
Know Thy Neighbor has posted the names of every single person who signed the petition to get a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage on the state ballot in November.
Amidst a Castro Street that has been transformed to look like it did in the late 1970d, San Francisco looks back on its history of advancing gay rights as the state's Supreme Court gets set to hear arguments on the legality of denying gay couples the right to marry.
Rhode Island's state legislature will examine legislation that would make it legal for Rhode Island same-sex couples who were married in neighboring Massachusetts to get a divorce in their home state.
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