LIVE STREAMING: New York Senate Vote on Marriage Equality Bill

Today at 12pm EST/9am PST, the New York Senate special session is set to begin. On the agenda is the state's marriage equality bill on which they're to debate and vote. Bookmark this page.



UPDATE 3 4:35pm PST: The AP is now reporting that Gov. Paterson is pushing for a vote on the marriage equality bill next week for special sessions on November 16 and 17. So it appears will be going through this process yet again.

UPDATE 2 10:40am PST: I must say, this does not come as a surprise to me. The New York Times is reporting that the state senate will not take up the marriage equality bill today.

Republicans and Democrats said that as of Tuesday afternoon the measure was still several votes short of the 32 necessary for approval. About five Democrats remained either opposed or noncommittal, meaning that Republican votes were needed to secure passage.

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It was unclear when the Senate would take the issue up. Wednesday is Veteran’s Day and a holiday, meaning that it would be at least the end of the week before they could vote on the bill. "It sounds like today is just not going to be the day," said Senator Eric T. Schneiderman, a Democrat from Manhattan who has been one of the same-sex marriage bill’s main proponents. "There are a lot of us who want to see it voted on and passed as soon as possible. So if today’s not the day, I think our views on the overall strategy don’t change."

This does not mean the bill is dead. The NY Times reports that a vote could come next week.

UPDATE 9:10am PST: It's not looking good for marriage equality. The New York Daily News is reporting:

As of this moment, the outlook for the same-sex marriage bill is not good, and it appears likely that the measure will not come up for a vote when the Senate convenes at noon for a

A source involved in the negotiations said definitively: "It is not coming to the floor."

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See my post on the steep climb this bill faces.

Though I reported yesterday the Democrats, who control the chamber, were negotiating late into the night Monday on whether or not to submit the bill for a vote, Newsday reports that no final decision was made. The state's $3.2 billion deficit may take up the whole session.

This day has been a long time coming (if it happens at all). One of the many reasons it took so long is the bill's biggest foe, Sen. Ruben Diaz (D), who I've posted on before about his ridiculous hypocrisy.

New York Times wrote a profile on him today. Diaz objects to being called a homophobe.

Two of his brothers are gay, he murmurs, one of them recently deceased. So is a granddaughter. There is an old friend who works for him in the Senate. And a former campaign aide.

“I love them. I love them,” says Mr. Díaz, who grew up one of 17 children in Puerto Rico. “But I don’t believe in what they are doing. They are my brothers. They are my family.”

His voice rises again. “So how could I be a homophobe?"

Uhm, easily. Suppressing the rights of LGBT citizens from living full lives so they're not equal to yours is homophobia.

He's one of those hurdles we have to clear. The Democrats have control of the chamber 32-30. Obviously Diaz, who is Democrat, won't vote with most of his party. So we need some moderate Republican support.

ACTION: If you're a New Yorker, contact your Senator and tell them to vote for marriage equality!

Live Streaming of the Next Steps Working Meeting

UPDATE: Logistics has announced that they have facilitators for Fresno and Davis and San Diego. Please email the following for information:

For Fresno: Jason Scott, jason@jasonscott.com
For Davis: Linda Waite, Exec@GSAFEweb.org
For San Diego: Kent Hartman, hartman.kent@gmail.com

The logistics team for the Next Steps Working Meeting has issued the following, an update about their plans to stream the meeting, which Unite the Fight will host.

On Sunday, August 9 at 10:00 a.m., a diverse array of groups and individuals from around the state will be gathering at the historic Jewel’s Catch One in South Los Angeles for the Next Steps Working Meeting to plan for the ballot initiative campaign to repeal Prop 8.

The title of this meeting is intentional – this will not be a talking heads event, but an opportunity for the community to get down to brass tacks and create plans and committees to get the work done.

We know that it is not practical for everyone across the state to come in person to this meeting, but we do want everyone to have the opportunity to discuss, plan, join, and work on the next steps we need to take to gather the signatures this fall.

Therefore, we are looking for 3 locations that we can stream to. Activists who attend these streaming sessions can view the proceedings in L.A. and then discuss and plan among themselves, finally conveying a summary of their discussions to their counterparts in LA.

To make this happen, we need a location in each of the following areas: Bay Area, Central Valley/Fresno, and San Diego. And we need someone to volunteer in those locations to provide the necessary equipment, receive the stream, and facilitate the discussion. There is no budget for this – these volunteers will be providing an important service to the community out of their own goodwill.

To volunteer a location and to facilitate, please email JaneWishon@yahoo.com

Unite the Fight Streaming CA Leadership Summit on Marriage Equality Now!

Unite the Fight will provide a live stream of tomorrow's Leadership Summit in San Bernardino, CA. The summit will be a large gathering of California LGBT organizations' leaders, individual activists, community organizers and allies. Many items will be discussed, but most prominently, next steps towards winning marriage equality back in California. (I will provide an agenda once it becomes available.)

Bookmark this post so you can return tomorrow to watch the live stream. You will be able to chat with fellow viewers, Twitter and ask Unite the Fight questions during the Leadership Summit. This post will also be put at the top of the site when the summit begins.

Please be patient as technical problems are always sure to arise unexpectedly.

When: Saturday, July 25
Time: Approx. 10am PST through 4pm PST

MAJOR THANKS TO DAWN AND MARIE COBALT FOR MAKING THIS POSSIBLE WITH THEIR CAMERA!! AND TO ROBIN MCGEHEE FOR SAVING THE DAY WITH HER MOBILE INTERNET CONNECTION!

You can view the recorded Live Leadership Summit here.

Leadership Summit Agenda

Just got the agenda. Here it is.

Process Used to Devise Agenda

· Survey went out to the participants of the Fresno Leadership Summit, the Poll4Equality group, OUTWest, Q*POC, and other places to solicit input from many parts of our movement about what should be on theagenda. Upwards of 50 people responded to the survey.

· A conference call was held on Wednesday, July 15 from to get more feedback and input on the agenda. Over 25 people representing a cross-section of groups from across the state participated.

· Several task forces were created to make recommendations about how specific portions of the potential agendamight be handled. They met between the July 15-July 20

· A group of people from the July 15th call volunteered to be on a drafting committee. Those people met on July 20th in person and on the phone to bring together the recommendations from the task forces, the input from the call, and the data from the survey to craft the proposed agenda below.

· A second conference call was held on July 22nd for anyone to give their feedback, comments, and suggest edits to the agenda proposed by the drafting committee. Those edits were sent back to the drafting committee and what you have before you is the final product of an open, transparent process.

Drafting Committee: Ari Gutierrez (Latino Equality Alliance), Chaz Lowe (Yes on Equality), David Fleck & Mike Bonin (Courage Campaign), Marc Solomon (EQCA), Robin McGehee (Meet in the Middle), Sara Reece (The Task Force), John Lewis (Marriage Equality USA), Doreena Wong (API Equality LA), Tom Watson & Lester Aponte (Love Honor Cherish), Elizabeth Gill (ACLU of Northern California), Vincent Jones (Liberty Hill), Josh Einshorn (OUTWest & Allornotall.org)



Summit Goals/Expectations

· Discuss pros & cons of various strategies to regain marriage equality

· Seek consensus on a process for the marriage equality coalition to decide which strategy to employ

· Seek consensus around a date by which the marriage equality coalition will make a decision

· Gain an understanding of how ready our movement is to wage a campaign

· Develop strategies to improve campaign readiness

· Foster community building among the movement

Summit Values

· Inclusion

· Assume that we have the same goal: regaining marriage equality

· Leave with clear next steps

· Enable community input as much as feasibly possible



Summit Agenda

10:00 Setting the Tone

10:05 Welcome

Intros

Review Goals/Expectations

Review Suggested Rules of Engagement

Review Agenda



10:20 Ballot Timeline/Process

goals: (1) educate attendees about basic process to put initiative on ballot; (2) share various thoughts about potential timelines; (3) acknowledge that more discussion is needed about which provisions to include in ballot language; (4) explain general consensus that drafting should be entrusted to a small group with specific expertise who consider community input



10:30 Voices from Experts

Goals: (1) provide attendees an opportunity to understand what benchmarks experienced campaign consultants use to determine campaign readiness; (2) provide attendees an opportunity to get an expert analysis on where we stand with those benchmarks



11:40 Voices from the Community: Get Engaged Tour Report

Goals: (1) share feedback and findings from the statewide “Get Engaged Tour”



11:55 Voices from the Field: Canvass Report

Goals: (1) Inform attendees about some ongoing canvassing operations; (2) share findings from canvassing;



12:10 Lunch

Goals: (1) facilitate networking and conversations among activists in the same region; (2) stimulate conversation about “the movement & the campaign”; (3) enable attendees to build community



12:55 Youth, families, schools & marriage equality

Goals: (1) introduce people to the particular challenges faced by youth in the movement to regain marriage equality in a manner neutral to a particular view about when to return to the ballot; (2) let attendees know how they can participate in the ongoing discussion to overcome those challenges and protect gay youth as we work to regain marriage equality



1:10 Community Decision-Making

Goals: (1) share results of community survey on potential processes/methods for the coalition to decide how/when to return to the ballot; (2) seek consensus around a date by which a decision will be made; (3) seek consensus around a process to decide when to return to the ballot as a coalition



1:55 Regaining Marriage Equality

Goals: (1) discuss pros of returning to the ballot in 2010; (2) discuss pros of other strategies to regain marriage equality; (3) gain a sense of where organizations/individuals in the marriage equality coalition stand on returning to the ballot in 2010



2:55 Final Questions

Goals: (1) enable attendees who haven’t asked questions to ask questions of any presenters from the day



3:30 Next Steps/Wrap Up

Goals: (1) Ensure that attendees are on the same page about next steps from previous conversations throughout the day; (2) Enable attendees to suggest and agree to additional next steps; (3) Provide attendees an opportunity for some group reflection over the day; (4) Tie-up any loose ends



3:55 Conclusion
Goals: (1) End on a happy note…YES WE WILL!!!;



4:00 End

View Live Feed of Meet in the Middle Here on Unite the Fight and SheWired!

EQUALITY RALLY LIVE FEED AIRING NOW!!!





Go to our Qik Channel to watch the recorded videos of the Equality March from earlier today. Keep checking our Qik Channel. We're constantly adding videos!

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Today, you'll have TONS to watch and read, including live video, UTF YouTube channel videos (uploaded later in the day with one-on-one interviews with speakers and celebs), slide shows, Tweets and articles. We'll continue to update you on our progress through Twitter throughout the day as well!

Our YouTube channel will be embedded at the top of the blog all day. Check back for the interviews - just scroll up!

UNITE THE FIGHT LIVE FEED OF LOS ANGELES DAY OF DECISION RALLY 7PM PST

UPDATE: Click on the "Qik" logo to see options for other videos from our live broadcast!

Right now the screen says, "This channel has no videos yet." This will disappear when feed begins approximately at 7pm PST. Be sure to refresh your screen periodically if it does not.

This feed is done through Qik, an application allowing us to provide a live feed through our iPhones, so bear with us if it's a bit shaky at times.

Go to Unite the Fight Qik Channel to view older feeds recorded live from today's rally if you've joined us after 7pm. These older videos are also played here automatically until a new live feed activates again by us.

You can also follow along with us at Twitter!

On Saturday, May 30th, we'll also have a live broadcast of Meet in the Middle. We will have a full internet connection, camera and crew for a quality broadcast. Stay tuned!

Live Broadcast of CA Supreme Court Ruling on Prop 8 at 10am PST

Unfortunately, the site source for live embedding has complications.

YOU CAN WATCH RULING LIVE HERE!

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Live feed of Los Angeles Day of Decision rally provided by Unite the Fight. Watch here at 7pm PST.