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Well, Porno Pete is at it again. Instead of staying home with the family he professes to love, he is in a tizzy over International Mr. Leather - which apparently was in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend. It is suspicious that this man can't pry himself away from any gay venue (never a straight one) where there are ball gags and chains. Talk about issues!
Fortunately, for those who were tied up and could not make it - Porno Pete provided us with an eyewitness report. This year's focus is on Water Boys - which has pissed off Porno Pete and whipped him into a furor - copious puns intended.
What kind of loser keeps coming back each year to do the same lame-ass "undercover" report? Pete, the "shock value" ended in 1992 - move on. Talk about a one trick pony.
No wonder why he has slipped into right wing irrelevance. Even those who agree with him are tired of his bizarre act. Porno Pete - it is time you be true to yourself and admit your proclivities. Anyone who keeps showing up or writing about such places clearly must desire entering that arena.
Porno Pete, we do want to thank you for the belly laughs your ongoing buffoonery has provided us. For the sake of our selfish amusement, we hope you'll always be a nosy busybody who will keep us entertained.
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Family Law Attorney Don Schweitzer appeared on the O'Reilly Factor to oppose same-sex marriage. When pressed, he could not come up with a cogent or lucid reason why Californians should vote against granting gay people marriage equality. Watch the video to see how intellectually bankrupt our opponents truly are. We can only hope this clown is the one who argues any future court cases for the right wing.
Also, opponents of same-sex unions were pondering a range of legal and legislative challenges to Gov. David A. Paterson's new policy of having state agencies honor same-sex marriages that have been performed outside New York. However, such challenges are likely to fail and face an uphill fight, legal experts said.
Surely the trailing edges of society will soon reflect on the resistance to this phenomenon with chagrin and more than a little embarrassment. It is bracing, after all, to realize how recently much of this nation blanched at interracial marriage, and thrilling to recognize how quickly most of us buried that prejudice, first in law, then in custom.
I came across this interesting story by Hank Plante, the political editor for San Francisco's CBS affiliate. It's about legal scholars telling same-sex couples in California to get married BEFORE the November vote. The reason is, even if the proposed anti-gay constitutional amendment passes, it would not be retroactive, and the couples would still be married.
In New York, Gov. David A. Patterson has directed all state agencies to begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, California and Canada. In a directive issued on May 14, the governor’s legal counsel, David Nocenti, instructed the agencies that gay couples married elsewhere "should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union."
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By 51 to 42 percent, state voters believe gay couples have the right to marry, according to a May 17-26 poll of 1,052 registered voters. The poll was taken after the May 15 California Supreme Court decision overturning a state ban on same-sex marriages. The results marked the first time in more than 30 years of state polling that a majority of Field Poll respondents favored making gay marriage legal.
The more people learn about this issue - the more they will support marriage. The idea that gay couples will affect heterosexuals who want to marry is ludicrous. Any straight person who believes this needs serious psychiatric help and a marriage counselor. The fair-minded majority are beginning to see through the right wings bizarre and illogical arguments.
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The ACLU's exciting newGet Busy, Get Equalproject is a damn cool resource. It is a sleek online toolkit that provides the GLBT community with the ability to reach out to neighbors, schools, employers and elected officials and get them to pass laws or adopt policies protecting LGBT people and the relationships of LGBT people.
There is also information on how to protect your relationship and family and how to share your experiences to illustrate the real harm of discrimination. This collection of information, helpful hints, step-by-step instructions and other resources can be used right now to protect LGBT people and our rights.
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When former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA) endorsed Barack Obama in April and announced he would serve as a national security advisor, pundits naturally began speculating on his vice presidential prospects. The argument in favor of Nunn is that he is a former Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, which would help negate one of the McCain campaign's largest advantages.
Nunn's position is strengthened because he appears to be on the same rhetorical page as Obama. Last year, for example, he helped lead a bipartisan conference at the University of Oklahoma with the goal of ending political squabbling in Washington. In April, the conservative southern Democrat articulated his reasons for backing Obama:
"Demonizing the opposition, oversimplifying the issues, and dumbing down the political debate prevent our country from coming together to make tough decisions and tackle our biggest challenges," said Nunn.
This statement was curious, considering Nunn's crass conduct during the fierce 1993 "gays in the military" battle. Instead of leading in a contemplative manner, Nunn exploited his position of power to cheapen the national dialogue and dumb down the debate - the opposite of what he now says he stands for. This "statesman" brazenly exploited every last negative anti-gay stereotype for political gain and temporarily derailed Bill Clinton's nascent presidency in the process. Nunn's grandstanding was an unforgivable act of bigotry and betrayal and helped set back the GLBT movement for years.
For those who don't remember, candidate Bill Clinton promised to repeal the ban on openly gay service members. As president, he tried to follow through and a national uproar ensued. The opposition from conservative Republicans was to be expected, but Nunn's fingerprints were all over the bloody knife that protruded from Clinton's back.
Nunn called for a public "field hearing" to ostensibly find out what men and women in uniform thought of lifting the ban. In an orchestrated publicity stunt, Nunn escorted the national media into the attack submarine, the Montpelier, and the submarine tender Emory S. Land. A May 11, 1993 New York Times article vividly described the scene:
Under the glare of television cameras in cramped sleeping quarters, mess halls and even shower rooms aboard several ships and submarines toured by the senators here at America's largest Navy base....on the Land, 90 women share four showers and four toilets. On the Montpelier, most of the all-male crew sleeps in triple bunks separated by a corridor two feet wide. There are 117 bunks for 147 men, so crewmembers take turns sharing the same beds.
In a flash, Nunn lowered the tenor of the debate and created visions of promiscuous, unpatriotic gays and lesbians transforming our Navy into a hapless fleet of Sodomy Subs. All people wanted to talk about after this monstrosity was bunk beds.
Gratuitously piling it on, Nunn held a meticulously planned hearing in a 1,100 seat military auditorium. In a typical Nunn effort to be "fair" and "elevate" the debate, fifteen of the seventeen uniformed speakers chosen were adamantly against lifting the ban.
The Nunn Show ensured America heard from people like Petty Officer 2d Class Darlene Harris who said, "I've been in berths where there were a lot of lesbians, and it was terrible."
Nunn's theatrics and fear that gays in uniform would engage in "hand holding" and "kissing" lead directly to the disastrous Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) policy that has robbed the U.S. military of more than 11,000 service members, including at least 58 Arabic linguists. A GAO report released in 2005 estimated that DADT has cost U.S. taxpayers $200 million and the loss of "valuable personnel over the last decade." Yet, despite his direct role in weakening our military and making America more vulnerable to terrorist attacks, Nunn is considered a defense expert.
When it comes to the idea of Sam as Veep, I'm having Nunn of it. Beyond his DADT disaster, the senator's weakening of Clinton helped enable and propel the Gingrich revolution in 1994 - a huge setback for gay and lesbian equality.
The idea of Obama picking Nunn to run as his vice president is preposterous. John Marble, Communications Director for the Stonewall Democrats, says that selecting Nunn "would depress the vote a bit." (Yeah, we'd all need Prozac, to be sure)
Marble stressed that it is not time to panic because "there is no indication that the Obama campaign is seriously considering it." Indeed, he points out that pundits had considered Nunn as a possible running mate for both Gore and Kerry.
Still, it is crucial that Obama's gay staff members make it clear to the candidate how unacceptable Nunn would be. The campaign shouldn't even float his name unless it is attached to a runaway blimp drifting towards outer space.
Addendum: The thought of the Obama campaign selecting Nunn as VP (or other Cabinet positions) has upset leading activists including David Mixner and Michelangelo Signorile. A chorus of GLBT leaders is speaking up to also say they will have Nunn of it.
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Former Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) who helped author the Defense of Marriage Act, says he is now sorry and will work towards DOMA's repeal.
Good for Barr. It takes a big person to apologize.
For those who don't remember, he squared off on TV against former Human Right's Campaign Executive Director Elizabeth Birch. In a classic moment, she looked at him and said, "Which marriage are you defending - your first, your second, or your third?"
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