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McClatchy reports:Social conservatives who organized the Referendum 71 challenge to domestic-partnership rights for same-sex couples turned in fewer signatures than initially thought.
David Ammons of the Office of the Secretary of State said the actual number is 137,689, about 800 fewer than the 138,500 estimated at Saturday’s turn-in of signatures by the Protect Marriage Washington campaign, which is led by Christian faith groups.
The signature total is 14 percent more than the 120,577 valid signatures needed for the issue to qualify for the Nov. 3 ballot. That is below the typical 18 percent invalidation rate, raising questions about the measure's viability.
Signature checking begins today and could take several days.
Contributor Sara Pollaro is one of four founders of Equal Roots Coalition,a grassroots organization dedicated to fighting for equality for all LGBT people and a member of the OUT West Coalition. Stand Out and Fight Together.
Justice Moreno explained that the Court had voted in 2008 to include gay and lesbian people as a suspect class, thus providing special status and protection under the law for this group. The Prop 8 ruling made an exception to equal protection. “You cannot chip away at equal protection…If you make an exception to equal protection, then you don’t have equal protection,” he said.
Maine Freedom to Marry, the coalition formed to protect the state's new marriage equality law, has shifted into full campaign mode now that opponents to the law have just turned in the signatures today to go to the ballot in a "People's Veto" to overturn the law this November. They need at least 55,000 signatures, but the opposition hasn't stated how many they're turning in, yet they have declared they're confident they have enough.
The Coalition for 2010, formerly known as the Coalition of the Willing which sprung from the Leadership Summit in San Bernardino, will be hosting a "Next Steps Summit" on August 9 in South Los Angeles. At the summit, they plan to discuss actual actions to move forward for a 2010 ballot initiative to undo Prop 8's damage."While it’s no secret that not everyone agrees on when to proceed with a ballot initiative, everyone does agree that the work must be happening now. That work is to change hearts and minds and it must be done whether we are in a campaign for 2010 or later. Since we all share the goal of complete equality for LGBT people, there is much we can do together.Summit participants/organizers include:
"At the meeting, we will be doing in-depth planning for all aspects of what needs to occur between now and qualifying a ballot measure. Everyone dedicated to working for marriage equality is invited, particularly those who have expressed reservations about a 2010 campaign. These concerns are legitimate and important, and any planning for a future campaign must take them into account to ensure our chances of winning.
"We recognize that the last few months have at times been divisive and painful. We hope that meetings like this will begin to unite us. The purpose of this meeting is not to discuss when this issue should return to the ballot or change any one's view about that question. Rather, we invite everyone to join in the planning for what needs to be done and learn how each of us can best contribute. The decision on when to make that contribution is yours.
"It’s time to work together. Juntos podemos. Together we can."
Crossposted with Lez Get Real, written by Paula Brooks.
Last month at an LGBT Pride event in the White House, President Obama called the bill “crucial legislation that will guarantee these rights for all federal employees,” and pledged his support for the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act during the signing of an Executive Memorandum permitting domestic partners to purchase long-term care insurance and allowing employees to use their sick leave to care for domestic partners and non-biological, non-adopted children.
UPDATE: Read this informative post about the numbers involved with Referendum 71.A federal judge in Tacoma has temporarily blocked release of the names and addresses of those who signed Referendum 71, which would repeal a law giving gay couples new marriage-like benefits.Though the secretary's office claims the court has no authority to block the releasing of the names, they don't plan on contesting the order. With the domestic partnership law being placed on hold until the signatures are verified, this is another setback for those who were against Referendum 71 taking place.
U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle this afternoon granted a temporary restraining order requested by Protect Washington Families to stop the Secretary of State's Office from making the signers' names public.
We hope it’s not true the White House pressured Rep. Hastings to withdraw his amendment to stop funding “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” investigations. Such a move would go against President Obama’s commitment to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Now, we need to see some positive action, some follow through from this White House. The Commander in Chief has a key leadership role in ending this bad law. He should publicly endorse the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, sponsored by Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), that overturns DADT. The President and Congress need to get on the same page and same timeline in ending DADT and both need to act with a sense of urgency. Service members are getting fired literally every day just because they are gay or lesbian, and our national security is at risk because we’re losing some of the best and brightest linguists, medics, pilots, and intelligence analysts under this archaic law.So, as far as those who know can tell, there's been nothing from the White House. SLDN needs "to see some positive action, some follow through from this White House." They haven't seen any yet. If SLDN doesn't know what the Obama administration's plan is, the plan doesn't exist.
Thanks to Michael Petrelis and his due diligence, he has been able to secure a transcript of the July 2nd hearing of the federal case against Proposition 8, where Ted Olson made his appearance representing the plaintiffs, basically us. The defendants in the case is the State of California, but since Gov. Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown are against Proposition 8, those responsible for the initiative stepped in to intervene and defend it. Judge Vaughn Walker (pictures) presided.
"Why did Hitler start with gays?" asks Mithal al-Alusi, a secular, liberal Sunni legislator in a chilling piece by USA Today. "They are weak. They have no political cover. They have no legal cover."The young man turns to the camera and pleads with his tormentors.The persecuted gays say that life and safety were better during the reign of Saddam Hussein. Consider the irony. America goes into Iraq to bring freedom and democracy, and the most vulnerable of this country are now suffering more than ever before.
"I'm not a terrorist," he tells the Iraqi police who surround him. "I want you to know I am different. But I am not a terrorist."
To some fundamentalist Iraqi Muslims, Ahmed Sadoun Saleh was worse than a terrorist.
He was gay. He wore his hair long and took female hormones to grow breasts. Amused by his appearance, Iraqi police officers stopped him in December at a checkpoint in a southern Baghdad neighborhood dominated by radical Shiite militias. They groped Saleh and ridiculed him.
The assault was captured on video and circulated on cellphones throughout Baghdad, says Ali Hili, founder of London-based Iraqi LGBT, a group dedicated to protecting Iraq's gays and lesbians. Shortly after the video was made public, Hili says Saleh contacted him, fearing for his life, and asked for his help to flee Iraq.
"Unfortunately, it was too late," Hili says. Saleh turned up dead two months later, he says.
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The militias usually send out warnings before they attack. Posters go up in Sadr City listing the offenders — gay and flashy straight men — by name and neighborhood. "If you don't give up what you are doing," said a recent one seen by a USA TODAY reporter, "death will be your fate. And this warning will come true, and the punishment will be worse and worse."
The poster referred to the offenders as "puppies," the fundamentalist epithet for gays here. "In Arabic culture, if you want to insult someone you call them a dog," human rights activist Yanar Mohammed says. "If you're a small dog, you can just be crushed."
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The militiamen pick their targets by entering cafes and looking for men who appear feminine or too showy, [Emad] Saad says. Then they ask around to get the offenders' names, and later put them on the death lists distributed around town.
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Unable to trust the authorities — and in some cases shunned by their own families — many Iraqi gays have gone into hiding. Hassan and some gay friends say they had found refuge in a house in Karrada. But as the threat against them increased, they became afraid the police would find them. So they scattered.
Hassan says he sometimes stays at home with his brothers — their parents are dead — but he's afraid even of them, afraid they will kill him because he has brought shame to the family.
He says he wanted to move in with his sister, who lives in Abu Dhabi. She turned him away, saying she didn't want her children to know they have a gay uncle.
Unwilling to trust the police, Iraqi LGBT has set up its own safe houses for gays in Iraq. The group has struggled to raise money and had to close three safe houses in the past couple of months, leaving just one open.
Hili says five safe houses are needed, each of them housing 10 to 12 gay refugees. Rent for a 2,150-square-foot safe house is usually $600 a month. Yet other expenses pile up: security guards, food, fuel, medical bills, pots and pans, bedding.
"We desperately need to add more because we have so many urgent cases," Hili says. "We receive requests for shelter every day, but are not able to help."
A very extensive analysis of 15 years worth of polls on LGBT rights was recently released. It showed that though support for marriage equality and other LGBT rights has grown, policymakers lag behind in writing up legislation to reflect the public's massive shift in thinking.A new study by Columbia political scientists Jeffrey Lax and Justin Phillips (h/t Robbie Jones), forthcoming in the American Political Science Review, ranks states according to public support for same-sex marriage and civil unions. Putting the rankings together with the 2008 Trinity ARIS survey reveals that six of the eight states where 50 percent or more of the public supports gay marriage are the states with the highest proportion of Catholics, ranging from Rhode Island at 46 percent to New York and California at 37 percent. Meanwhile, the eight states most opposed to gay marriage include six of the seven with the lowest proportion of Catholics, from Alabama at six percent to North Carolina at nine percent.Blogger Cathy Lynn Grossman at USA Today doesn't credit the bishops for the Catholic support. "The bishops have campaigned long, loudly and clearly against same-sex marriage but the Catholic Church also offers a pervasive message of social justice, an umbrella many liberal Catholics stand under when they argue for marriage equality or life issues such as abortion, contraception and end-of-life decisions."
The effects of this past weekend's Leadership Summit in San Bernardino, CA is still being felt and processed far and wide, with intense debate about its outcome and with different groups moving ahead with their various strategic plans.It seems to me that the first step to winning back marriage equality is finding a mediator who can help this community find common ground and learn to keep our eye on the prize so we can move forward together. There are now so many LGBT folk who want to be leaders - let this be their first real test of leadership: find a way to bring us together.I repeat, it's not about 2010 or 2012 anymore. It's about us uniting. Only then, can we win.
Columbia University today has released an analysis of extensive polling on LGBT rights, and in particular, marriage equality.According to a comprehensive new analysis of public opinion surveys conducted over the last 15 years, support for the legalization of same-sex marriage has grown substantially in the United States. Among other conclusions, two political science professors at Columbia University found reluctance among state and local policymakers to expand equal rights laws and protections even where majorities of voters support them.
The state-by-state analysis of polling data, titled "Gay Rights in the States: Public Opinion and Policy Responsiveness" tracks trends over time on eight policies affecting gay and lesbian rights: same-sex marriage, civil unions, employment non-discrimination, housing non-discrimination, hate crimes, second-parent adoption, health benefits for same-sex partners and sodomy laws.
Explicit support for same-sex marriage by state and age [Image credit: Jeffrey Lax]
Explicit support for same-sex marriage by state and age (Click to enlarge image.)
Image credit: Jeffrey R. Lax and Justin H. Phillips
The peer-reviewed findings of Jeffrey R. Lax and Justin H. Phillips will be published this August in the American Political Science Review.
“The most important predictor of whether a state has a particular policy protecting the rights of gays and lesbians is public opinion,” said Phillips. “Public support for a policy matters far more than how liberal the voters or government officials are in general. For same-sex marriage, majority support seems sufficient for it to be adopted.”
Lax elaborates on why strong supportive public opinion is critical.
“Majority support for a policy isn’t always enough. You often need supermajority support,” said Lax. “Politicians and policy makers are lagging far behind the public’s support on a number of key gay rights policies that are currently being debated across the U.S., particularly housing and employment protection, but even including civil unions.”
According to the analysis, the growth in support of gay rights is accelerating. Roughly half of the change in support nationwide has occurred in the last four years alone. Majorities now support same-sex marriage in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. Of these, only New York and Rhode Island have not yet legalized same-sex marriage. New York Gov. David A. Paterson, however, has announced his support on the issue and his intention to advocate for legislation this fall.
While support for same-sex marriage is growing in all 50 states, polarization between the so-called red states and blue states is becoming more pronounced. (For the purposes of their analysis, Lax and Phillips define red states as those won by George Bush in the 2000 election for president and blues states as those won by Al Gore).
The difference in support for same-sex marriage between red states and blue states has nearly doubled in the last 12 years. Since 2004, support for same-sex marriage in blue states grew twice as much as in red states—an increase of eight points versus four points. Since 1994, support in blue states increased by 18 points versus 10 points in red states.
“In our analysis of persons 18 to 29 years old, roughly 38 states have majorities explicitly favoring same-sex marriage,” said Lax. “Generational change alone could lead to same-sex marriage rights across most of the country.”
Other findings of the study:
- The more media coverage a policy gets, the more likely it is to match majority public opinion. For example, media coverage of same-sex marriage and civil unions is far greater than coverage of job and housing non-discrimination. This increased visibility leads to increased congruence with opinion majorities.
- Of the 25 states with legislative majorities explicitly favoring civil unions, only 12 allow them. No state has legalized civil unions where majorities oppose them.
- Many states have not adopted housing and employment non-discrimination policies despite the fact that large majorities support them. Only 20 states have adopted such protections.
- Interest groups and voters opposed to marriage equality and other non-discrimination policies have influence far beyond their relative share of a state’s population. They can block equality measures even when there is a significant majority favoring them.
Reiterating Courage Campaign COO Sarah Callahan's statements to Unite the Fight, the Courage Campaign has formally proposed the "Four Principles for a United Movement" -- the foundation of a campaign to restore marriage equality to California:
ACTION: Courage Campaign is continuing its great work this weekend of training and empowering the grassroots and community. They, along with API Equality LA, Bienestar, California Faith for Equality, Equal Roots, HONOR PAC, Latino Equality Alliance, Somos Familia, and The Wall Las Memorias Project will host their fifth Camp Courage in East Los Angeles this weekend August 1 and 2.
The Bay Area Reporter (BAR), in an exclusive interview with Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-New York), reports that the U.S. Representative plans on submitting legislation that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. However, the bill would rule out anything other than marriage, consequentially only extending federal benefits to only marriages and not domestic partnerships or civil unions.Under DOMA's Section 3 the federal government is forbidden from recognizing LGBT couples married in the six states where same-sex marriage is legal. Section 2 of the law says those states that outlaw same-sex marriages do not have to recognize legal same-sex marriages from other states. Nadler said his bill would repeal both sections of DOMA.With concerns to California, only the 18,000 couples that got married before Prop 8 would get recognition. However, couples could go to states where marriage equality is legal and get married there. They could then return to California and the state would then be legally bound to recognize their marriage.
"We have got to repeal DOMA and have got to make sure it accomplishes for federal purposes allowing the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages," said Nadler, who led the fight to defeat a Federal Marriage Amendment that would have enshrined the same-sex marriage ban in the U.S. Constitution. "The time for dumping DOMA is long overdue."
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Nadler said that including domestic partnerships or civil unions in his legislation "gets very complicated" because the laws governing such legally recognized relationships are "different in every state." Also, he said it would cloud the legislation's end goal, which is ensuring all Americans, regardless of their sexual orientation, have the right to marry.
"Historically domestic partnerships and other relationships have been an interregnum until we get to marriage, which we need to push for as soon as possible," said Nadler, adding that he could not predict what chances the legislation has of passage. "We have to see what reaction we get. It won't pass this year."
Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was that an amazingly gracious church who, on a hot, San Bernardino summer day, had 200 sweltering people emotionally overheated and packed into its hall with an AC struggling to keep up.
First, we're not done grieving our loss brought upon us by Prop 8. The full scope of its damage has yet to be seen by us because we're still too close to it. We're emotional and want the pain to end, resulting in many of us wanting to rush blindly back to the ballot, and who can blame us? (I myself wanted to rush back at one point.) But we have failed to see that Prop 8 did much more than strip us of our rights. Its tragedy has also made it nearly impossible to gain them back anytime soon in the near future. 2012 seems light years away, and we're going to have to live with this burden of second-class citizenship until then? (Don't get me started on the many other inequalities, not just marriage.) As for 2010, I honestly used to think we could do it, because collectively and united, we really could. But after witnessing the Summit, I just don't see it happening, even with the dedication of the pro-2010 groups. Nor do many major donors it appears. (I understand a great but small meeting took place after the summit, but again, many had already left and yet again, it's another faction.)
