LGBT Rights and Politics
Gay Marriage Poll Numbers in Iowa and Maine
Published September 21, 2009 @ 03:02AM PT
There are new poll numbers out in Iowa and Maine gauging support for same-sex marriage. Both states have legalized marriage equality, and both states are seeing a flurry of activity by opponents of LGBT rights to repeal marriage.
Let's look at Maine first, since anti-LGBT forces (led by Maine's Roman Catholic Church and outside groups like the National Organization for Marriage and Focus on the Family) have organized to place a measure on the November ballot that could repeal same-sex marriage if approved. As Kos reported last week, it's a pretty darn tight race, and if you take into account the margin of error, it's essentially a tie score in Maine. About 49 percent of folks would vote today to repeal marriage rights, while 47 percent would vote to keep marriage rights for same-sex couples. Those numbers show that we've got our work cut out for us in Maine -- which is why it's ever-so-crucial to support the efforts of the No on 1 campaign up there, which is fighting hard to preserve marriage equality.
Iowa has no ballot measure, but in the wake of the state's Supreme Court decision earlier this year recognizing marriage equality, nearly every anti-LGBT politician in the state has come out like gangbusters to bash LGBT folks. Given the number of Republican candidates running for governor who continue to blast gay marriage, as well as the National Organization for Marriage's money dump into the state to support a (losing) right-wing politician, one might assume that there's a populist rebellion on the horizon leading scores of Iowans pissed off that their state Supreme Court recognized some rights for LGBT people. Far from it.
The Des Moines Register released a new poll that shows 41 percent of folks oppose same-sex marriage, while 40 percent favor it. Call me an optimist, but given that there's no ballot campaign in the works, and a torrent of hateful rhetoric from the anti-gay right, those poll numbers are pretty damn good.
Even more heartening is the fact that 92 percent of Iowans say that legalizing gay marriage has had no direct impact on their lives. That certainly deflates a talking point of the anti-LGBT crowd that says same-sex marriage would threaten families or kids.
Of course, it would be great to see these numbers reversed. Better yet, it would be great to see marriage equality winning in these polls by a landslide. For Maine, the poll is a wake-up call that while the campaign to preserve marriage equality is close, there's much work to be done to take this from a "tie" to an outright win for equality.
In Iowa, these polls reaffirm that while the state is split, it's not a state that's becoming readily accessible to anti-gay, fringe messaging.
These are good numbers. But there's still much work to be done.
Mike Huckabee is the Darling of the Anti-LGBT Right
Published September 19, 2009 @ 05:10PM PT
The GOP sure has a way of resurrecting their dead. Or rather, their losing Presidential candidates. There was Richard Nixon (lost in 1960). There was the first George Bush (lost in 1980). Bob Dole (also lost in 1980). John McCain (lost in 2000). And now there's former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who while getting his clock cleaned in 2008 after a few surprise primary victories, has again emerged as a darling of the radical, anti-LGBT right-wing.
Huckabee won a 2012 GOP presidential straw poll at this weekend's "Value Voters Summit" in Washington, D.C., a gathering sponsored by the extremely anti-gay Family Research Council. Not only did he win, but he mopped the floor with the other candidates, beating them by more than 2 to 1.Huckabee's 28 percent bested Mitt Romney, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and Indiana Rep. Mike Pence (all of whom finished with about 12 percent).
What does this say? Well, perhaps not much, given that 2012 is three years away. But on another level, it's a sign that instead of learning from the drubbing that the GOP took in 2008 (and 2006), they're not backing away from extreme right positions on social issues that go against the grain of the American public. Huckabee was only too thrilled to echo that sentiment at the Value Voters Summit.
"There are so many people who have told us as conservatives that we should move to the center, on the sanctity of marriage or the sanctity of life," Huckabee said. "I'm not sure the center makes a whole lot of sense."
Huckabee is one of the most bigoted politicians in the Republican party. Huckabee has said he finds LGBT people to be aberrant and sinful. Huckabee has suggested that gay marriage would be the downfall of civilization. Huckabee is excited to be speaking at an organization in Illinois that has compared LGBT people to Nazis and has urged churches to respond to homosexuality as if it were on par with nazism.
Politics like that get you the top spot in GOP straw polls? Embarassing. Politics like that should get you branded the David Duke of the 21st century.
Instead Huckabee is celebrated among the religious right. If the GOP is willing to embrace Mike Huckabee, than they better be willing to embrace a man who calls LGBT people sinful, and a man who would rather speak at an organization comparing gay people to Nazis than an organization like the ACLU -- which he's also apparently comfortable trashing.
A Memo to the GOP: God Doesn't Choose You to Legislate Discrimination
Published September 18, 2009 @ 10:44AM PT
When it comes to Republican politics nowadays, the word "God" is invoked about every fifteen seconds. This weekend, with the Family Research Council's "Value Voters Summit" happening, you can expect that rate to jump drastically. But while it's certainly expected that religion might inform one's politics, only a downright fool would suggest that God chose someone for office so that they could pass anti-gay laws.
Yet that's what's happening in Arizona. Gov. Jan Brewer, who took office earlier this year after former Gov. Janet Napolitano was appointed Secretary of Homeland Security, took a bold anti-LGBT action and decided to repeal all domestic partner benefits for statewide LGBT employees. The move kills domestic partner benefits for about 800 statewide workers, many of them same-sex couples. The Governor followed up her anti-LGBT action with a shot of religious craziness.
"God has placed me in this powerful position as Arizona's governor' to help the state weather its troubles," said Gov. Brewer. Then she goes on to thank the Lord that she lives in a country of Christianity. Because that's in the Constitution....er, wait. No it isn't. We're a country that supposedly celebrates the separation of religion and state.
Not to be outdone by the Governor of Arizona, former Miss California Carrie Prejean strutted into the Values Voter Summit to announce that God chose her to oppose gay marriage on national television. Prejean, celebrating her opposition to same-sex marriage, said about her beauty pageant answer trashing marriage equality, "I’m so proud of the answer that I gave. God chose me for that moment."
Enough already. God is not choosing politicians or former beauty queens to embrace anti-gay platforms, much like God didn't choose George W. Bush to be President and God didn't choose Kanye West to perform live music before a universe of admirers.
There's a great quote by an American theologian named Reinhard Niebuhr who spoke to the idiocy of people who claim that God is speaking to them to fulfill a political agenda.
"The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious fanaticism," said Niebuhr.
Fanatics. That may be a pretty harsh word. But given the rhetoric of Gov. Jan Brewer and Carrie Prejean, it might just be on point.
Gay Marriage Doesn't Harm Kids. But Lies Do.
Published September 16, 2009 @ 08:50AM PT
Opponents of marriage equality in Maine took to the airwaves yesterday with an advertisement that said LGBT people (specifically, in their words, "homosexual marriage") would be a threat to children and taught in schools. The advertisement is dishonest, plays up on fears, and distorts the truth about Maine's same-sex marriage law. So what's an activist to do?
Hit back with an advertisement that completely disarms the negativity and misrepresentations championed by people who hate on same-sex marriage. That's what the No on 1 Campaign did today, with a new ad that tells the truth about same-sex marriage, and what will and won't be taught in Maine's public schools.
The ad features Maine teacher Sherri Gould, who has been teaching in Maine since 1983. According to Gould, what's taught in the classroom is fairness and decency. "We teach respect and Maine values. That will never change."
That's right. Respect. Fairness. Decency. Those are the things that are taught in Maine public schools. It's too bad that opponents of marriage equality in Maine can't go back and take a few classes themselves on these subjects. Instead they rely on tired and false innuendo to suggest that gays and lesbians pose a public threat. That's not decent or fair. It's downright manipulative. And Maine voters will know the difference.
Check out the No on 1 ad below:
The Defense of Marriage Act Was the Worst Vote of His Political Career
Published September 16, 2009 @ 05:47AM PT
Yesterday, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introduced the Respect for Marriage Act -- with the support of 90 members of Congress -- to effectively repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and send the message that the federal government shouldn't be in the business of defining marriage. Finally, for the first time since DOMA passed in 1996, efforts have begun in Congress to repeal it.
While Rep. Nadler is one of the leaders of the DOMA repeal efforts, there are two voices bringing a whole bunch of gravitas to the argument over eliminating DOMA. Voices like Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), pictured above, who voted for DOMA back in the day. His take on DOMA now?
It was the worst vote of his entire political career.
We'll second that, and say that it was probably the worst vote for all 342 U.S. house members who voted for the act, as well as the 85 U.S. Senators who signed onto it.
"[My] vote fed the bigotry," Rep. Blumenauer writes. "Once Congress had put its imprimatur on DOMA, it was a logical step for the homophobes and political cynics to intensify their efforts and make permanent a ban on gay marriage in both the U.S. and state constitutions -- spawning many state initiatives and intensifying the assault."
DOMA was bad law in 1996, and it's bad law in 2009. Even former President Bill Clinton, who signed DOMA into law, and former Congressman Bob Barr, who authored the text of DOMA, have called for its repeal.
You can, too, by clicking here and sending a message to your Congress members to support the Respect for Marriage Act. Repealing DOMA is certainly going to take more than 90 U.S. House members. So the work on this begins, but it's work that's well worth the undertaking.
Oh, and if you want to thank Rep. Blumenauer for admitting his mistake in voting for DOMA thirteen years ago, feel free to send him a message on Twitter - @RepBlumenauer. Might we suggest, "@RepBlumenauer thanks for switching your position on the Defense of Marriage Act and working to end discrimination."
Who is the Most Discriminated Group in America?
Published September 15, 2009 @ 10:29AM PT
It's 2009, we have an African-American President, the first Latina Supreme Court Justice, six states have recognized marriage equality, and a female Speaker of the House. That's a pretty impressive line-up, but as the Pew Forum finds, these are the best of times and the worst of times for discrimination.
To be sure, great strides have been made by many groups in the United States. But when it comes to the issue of who are the most discriminated groups in America in 2009, the survey says: LGBT people and Muslims.
LGBT people, according to the Pew Forum, face the most amount of discrimination in the United States. Their numbers show that 64 percent of the public at large think that gays and lesbians receive heavy doses of discrimination on a day-to-day basis. Muslims come in a close second at 58 percent.
Arsalan Iftikhar at trueslant.com writes that these numbers reflect a change in how society reflects on race and civil rights.
"We can find that both, one, American Muslims and, two, the American LGBT community now currently represent two of the lower societal ‘rungs’ of our current civil rights ‘discrimination totem pole’ today," writes Iftikhar.
Does that gel with where we are as a country nowadays; that LGBT people and Muslims face the brunt of discrimination?
Regardless, surveys like these always reaffirm that more work needs to be done to truly make this a post-racial, post-sexual orientation, post-gender society.
Overwhelming Support for Repealing the Defense of Marriage Act
Published September 10, 2009 @ 10:48AM PT
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is one of the worst, most discriminatory bills ever written into law. It's the thirteen-year-old gift that keeps on discriminating against gays and lesbians, denying millions of folks their right to Social Security survivors' benefits, equal treatment under U.S. immigration laws, the right to take leave to care for a spouse, and more. A time for a repeal of DOMA is now.
Efforts are underway in Congress to introduce a bill calling for a repeal of DOMA, with Rep. Jerry Nadler from New York taking the lead. Going hand-in-hand with the proposed legislation is an initiative from the Human Rights Campaign -- RepealDOMANow.org -- that hopes to mobilize tens of thousands of letters from folks urging their Congressional Reps to overturn DOMA. You can take action here to help make that happen.
"Thanks to a string of state-level victories, tens of thousands of loving, same-sex couples across the country have finally been able to join in marriage this year," HRC says on RepealDOMANow.org. "Yet because of DOMA, enacted in 1996, the federal government doesn't recognize a single one."
And they're right. No matter that marriage equality is the law in places like Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Iowa, New Hampshire or Maine (ballot initiative pending). DOMA means that couples married in these states won't be recognized on the federal level, and won't have access to the more than 1,100 benefits that straight couples receive from the federal government.
That's unfair, unjust, and unconstitutional. Much like HRC's new Web site says, it's time to Repeal DOMA Now.
