Election 2012: Could This Be The Election Year That LGBT Americans Score Big?

 

 

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LGBT Americans and our progressive allies could be looking at an election in 2012 that will be historic - perhaps even a turning point in the battle for LGBT full equality. The potential is there and the community has to be made aware that we need everyone to step up, give until it hurts, volunteer and make sure we don't miss this moment. Everywhere we look there is history waiting to be made. The ballot box for LGBT Americans could hold a considerable number of victories for us come November. Let's take a look:

-The LGBT community has an excellent opportunity to add two more marriage equality states by winning ballots in both Washington and Maine. Polls are increasingly favorable for us in those states and victory is within grasp. The Washington effort is being led by Washington United for Marriage. In Maine you can send your assistance to Equality Maine.

-While polls are close LGBT Minnesotans have a chance to defeat the religious right's amendment to the Minnesota State Constitution banning marriage equality.

-Very strong efforts for marriage equality are underway in Maryland and New Jersey. If they succeed through the legislative process in Maryland, we could face a ballot vote in the Old Line State which could be a tough battle but within reach. New Jersey simply becomes a question if we can muster enough legislative votes to override a veto by Republican Governor Christie.

-In New Hampshire where the situation appeared dire, there seems to be some sense that if the Republicans legislatively repeal marriage equality, they will lose enough of their own members and not be able to override Democratic Governor Lynch's veto.

-North Carolina will vote on banning marriage equality in May.  The Republicans moved it to the May primary date so there would be less Democrats voting.  Basically they attempted to rig the election so few voters would vote. It is an uphill battle but we might make a surprising showing for a Southern state. 

-The LGBT community could see a major historic moment if Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin is elected to the United States Senate. She would be the first openly LGBT person every to serve in that institution. You can send your support to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund.

-While Congressman Barney Frank is retiring and Congresswoman Baldwin is running for Senate we should not be afraid that Congressmen Jared Polis and David Cicilline will be left alone. There are at least four viable openly LGBT Americans who have announced they are running for Congress. They are:

Mark Pocan (WI-2)

Mark Takano (CA-41)

Richard Tisei (MA-6)

Matt Heinz (Arizona)

In addition there are two candidates who have not officially announced but if they do, they would be powerful candidates. They are:

Sean Maloney (Upstate New York)

Justin Amash (Western Michigan)

-There is a very good chance we could take the mayor's seat in San Diego.

The above is the tip of the iceberg of all the excitement at the ballot box for LGBT candidates and victories for marriage equality. This could be our moment in the sun. Please don't miss it.

LGBT VIDEO: Dancing and Singing "Secretly"

 

 

When you went to LGBT bars in the late 1950's into the 1960's, the juke box was filled with music that had hidden meaning for the community. Some patrons would gather around the piano bar and sing "Somewhere" from West Side Story and many would have tears in their eyes. Even Sammy Davis, Jr's "Candy Man" had a special place in our list of songs. One of those songs became a hit twice. "Secretly" was recorded first by Jimmie Rodgers (1958) and then by the "Lettermen" (1965).

Men would dance with men and women would dance with women as this song told of our closet and hidden lives. This video is set to that song as it shows vintage photographs (some that I have placed on the site before). The lyrics were perfect for the days of the closet.

Election 2012: Odds and Ends

 

 

-The Florida primary is yielding a ton of interesting information for people to ponder over their morning coffee. First and foremost the turnout was a quarter of a million voters less than in 2008 showing a real lack of excitement about the choice of Republicans.

-One of the most interesting exit poll numbers in Florida was that 40% of the people, who did bother to vote, wished there was someone else running! Hardly a sweeping endorsement of Romney, is it?

-The 35% of Florida voters who descried themselves as 'very conservative' and strong supporters of the Tea Party voted by wide margin for Newt.

-Really good news is coming out of Ohio. President Obama is making a big comeback in the Buckeye State! Where he was once behind, he is now leading Mitt by 7%. The President's approval rating has jumped since last November by 8%. Ironically, Santorum does better than Romney against the President and trails him by 6%.

-More good news out of Oregon! In a race that was expected to be closer, Democrat Suzanne Bonamici defeated Republican Rob Cornilles by a landslide margin of 57% to 38% for a special election to fill the seat in Oregon's 1st Congressional District.

-Santorum is working Colorado, the home of Focus of the Family, hard. According to CNN he has picked up the endorsements of former Congressman Tom Tancredo, former Congressman Bob Schaffer and former Lt. Governor Jane Norton.

-Here is the February schedule for the primaries and caucuses:

Nevada caucuses - February 4
Maine caucuses - February 4-11
Minnesota caucuses - February 7
Missouri primary - February 7
Colorado caucuses - February 7
Arizona primary - February 28
Michigan primary - February 29

-The good news for Romney is that the states of Nevada, Colorado and Arizona have some of the largest Mormon populations in the country (see map). Nevada is at about 7%, Arizona has 6% and Colorado is more on the low end with 3%.

-Missouri could be a problem for Romney. In the latest Public Policy Polling, Romney was running third in the quest for delegates in the caucuses. Gingrich was at 30%, Santorum was at 28% and Romney at 24%. Wouldn't be surprised if Santorum took Missouri after Florida.

-Political genius Nate Silver for the "New York Times" had presented "Five Paths Forward for the GOP Nomination" in his latest column. It is well worth the read!

-President Obama 445 bundlers raised an astounding $74 million last year. Sixty of the fundraiser brought in over $500,000 each to the campaign.

-If Maryland passes marriage equality in its legislature, it is likely to face a referendum in November. The latest poll taken by the "Washington Post" has marriage equality winning by 50% to 44%! That is the largest margin since they started taking polls on the issue in Maryland.

-"Edge" reports that a former Romney Intern when he was running for Governor of Massachusetts says the flyer distributed at Gay Pride 2002 was cleared by the campaign. In that flyer Romney endorses marriage equality.

-Incumbent Senator Bill Nelson from Florida is in a tough race. Although the latest Suffolk University poll had him with a ten point lead over Republican Congressman Connie Mack (son of the former Senator).

-First Lady Michelle Obama charmed a crowd of Hollywood types at a fundraiser in the home of former Ambassador to the Bahamas Nicole Avant and her husband, Netflix's Ted Sarandos. Among those attending the event (where some paid up to $35,000!) wereJeffrey Katzenberg, Steve Bing, Berry Gordy, Vivica Ferrell, Quincy Jones, Jerry and Ann Moss, Jimmy Jam, Irena and Mike Medavoy, Rob and Michele Reiner, Terry Lewis, Reed Hastings, Arnon Milchan and Harvey Weinstein.

Hell's Kitchen Journal: On Becoming A Writer

 

 

My passionate love affair with writing began at a very early age and wasn't fulfilled until the latter part of my life. The years in between were spent overcoming the myths and justifications that danced in my head about why I could never be a writer.

Growing up, books were my great escape. With no television and minimal contact with the outside world, books were a magic carpet that transported me to far away places. My beloved mother, Mary, insisted that all three of her children not only be literate but also love books. We had shelves that dad had made and they were filled with books in the front room. Most of them were very old and out-dated since they had been picked up at penny sales or given to my mother by others.

Amidst those books was a set of encyclopedias that had blue covers with gold printing. They were published sometime in the 1930's and someone had given them to mom. Despite being decades out-of-date, we loved those books filled with knowledge. Often mom, with great pride, would say, "Go look it up in the encyclopedias." Most likely by the time we left home, I had read almost every volume.

Of course old knowledge can be a trap and in my freshman year in high school (we were transported from our small rural school by long bus rides to a more sophisticated high school) we had a science class project. Going home, I planned my outline and then took down the old blue cover books of knowledge and worked hard to prepare for my first high school science report. When I presented it, the information was so old that my teacher, Mr. Downey, made fun of me in front of the class as they all roared with laughter. My refuge of knowledge had betrayed me in the most humiliating way.

Quickly I learned the library had access to current information. At the same time I began to fall in love with Steinbeck, Capote, Williams and other great American writers. With a dictionary by my side I would look up words that I never encountered before reading their books. Amazed at their ability to make sentences flow with imagery that boggled the mind. I was in awe. Later in college I discovered the classics and current international writers.

I yearned so badly to be a writer but was convinced that my background, schooling and the little blue books of knowledge had left me in the dust of that possibility.

Sometimes we find our dreams come true out of necessity and that is how I became a writer. After being arrested in front of the White House over DADT in 1993 all my clients left me almost within a week. No one would hire me and quickly my debts became massive over the next three years. A literary agent named Todd Shuster approached me about writing what would become my first book -Stranger Among Friends. Desperate for funds, the fear, low self-esteem and barriers had to be discarded.

At first my attempts to duplicate the beauty of the sentences of my favorite writers had to be forever vanished from my writing. My strength was not the flow of my prose nor the structure of my sentences. Storytelling was my ticket to writing and I was an excellent story teller. With that, at the age of fifty, I published my first book.

After three books, two screenplays, a play and this blog, I have realized a lifelong dream. I have joined the pantheon of those before me who put pen to paper to hopefully, in some small measure, enlighten the human condition.

I am a writer

LGBT: Major Survey Says College Freshmen Want LGBT Americans To Get Married!

 

 

The Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA has released results of a survey of incoming college freshmen in 2011. More than 200,000 first time, full time students participated in the survey. The students at the four year colleges were generally more liberal on marriage equality, abortion and legalizing marijuana than they were two years ago.

The students certainly want to get LGBT citizens to the 'church on time"! An amazing 71% of college freshmen believe same sex couples should be able to legally get married. That is up from 64% in 2009. Now if all those freshmen could just convince their parents and grandparents we would be in great shape.

Regarding the issue of abortion, 61% believe in a women's right of choice. That is up from 58% two years ago. As for smoking a joint, 49% believe it should be legal and that is an increase of 3%.

LGBT: Ecuadorian "Change The Gay" Clinics Use Torture

 

 

In Ecuador, clinics have been offering programs to 'cure homosexuality and parents have been placing their children in them. Under the guise of addiction clinic's, these institutions have been using torture and humiliation as means to create behavior modification.

The Ecuadorian government has been cracking down on the clinics especially since a CNN Report was aired highlighting the massive violation of human rights. The government recently appointed a new national Health Minister, Carina Vance, who has been an LGBT activist and she has been closing some of the clinics. CNN reported specifically on the story of lesbian Paola Concha. The report said,

Paola Concha is openly homosexual and is not afraid to speak about her sexual orientation publicly. But the 28-year-old Ecuadorian woman says her family didn't feel the same way.

Five years ago, when she was 23, she says, her family contacted a center that promised to cure Concha of her homosexuality. That, she says, is when her nightmare started.

"On December 8 of 2006, they stormed into my house, overpowered me, they put me inside a van and took me to a so-called 'therapeutic' center. By the time I got there, I was already handcuffed and beat up," Concha said.

The clinic was called Puente a la Vida, or Bridge to Life. In December, CNN was granted limited access to the clinic. It looked like a mid-level tourist resort with buildings, houses and meeting rooms where patients were treated. The facility is located on the outskirts of Quito, Ecuador's capital.

Concha says she endured all kinds of demeaning and abusive treatment during the 18 months she was held there.

"I was kept in handcuffs for more than three months. I would be left without food for more than three or four days. They would handcuff me in a bathroom to a toilet bowl facing a toilet that was used by 60 people at the center," Concha said.

Shame on Governor Chris Christie....

 

New Jersey's Governor Chris Christie loves to give the appearance that he is tough and often swaggers around loudly proclaiming his views. As he campaigns for the Vice Presidency on a Romney ticket he tells those that disagree how "things are done in Jersey." Wonder if the governor shares with those voters that the way a governor acts these days in Jersey is cowardly? Wonder if tells about a governor of the Garden State distorts history and advances division in order to advance his creeds with the right wing religious extremists who have taken over his party?

Bigotry is exactly what the cowardly Governor Chris Christie is currently practicing "Jersey style."

The New Jersey legislature is set to pass marriage equality and the governor promises to veto the civil rights bill. He wants a referendum on the issue and to allow the voters of New Jersey to vote on the rights of its neighbors. In pressing his case, he said that African-Americans would have loved the right to have the public vote on their rights in the 1960's.

What planet is he living on? Does he really believe African-Americans in Mississippi wanted the public to vote on their rights in the 1960's? Are you kidding me, Governor? African American leaders in New Jersey were the first to respond to this insanity. Mayor Cory Booker of Newark said,

"I shudder to think what would have happened if the civil rights gains, heroically established by courageous lawmakers in the 1960's, were instead conveniently left up to popular votes in our 50 states,"

The first African-American Speaker of the New Jersey Assembly, Shelia Oliver, was shocked and offended at the governor's suggestion and said,

“Governor, people were fighting and dying in the streets of the South because the majority refused to grant minorities equal rights by any method. It took legislative action to bring justice to all Americans, just as legislative action is the right way to bring marriage equality to all New Jerseyans.”

Even President Eisenhower and Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen opposed a referendum on civil rights for African Americans.  Republican Minority Leader Dirksen said in 1959:

“Do we have legislative responsibility or don’t we?” he said during the debate on the Senate floor. “I’m ready to accept my responsibility. I’m not going to pass the buck to the people back home and say, ‘I’m thinking about the next election.' And they would say, ‘Haven’t you got any guts to stand up under the Constitution of the United States?’”

The governor pointed out that individual rights had been voted on before in New Jersey. In 1915, male voters in the states voted overwhelmingly to deny women the right to vote. Does Governor Christie really think this was a bright spot in New Jersey's history? That this vote was the right action to be taken in the suffrage movement?

Even The New Jersey Star-Ledger, a conservative paper, took on the governor's lack of courage in an amazing and powerful endorsement of marriage equality that must be read in its entirety but here is a powerful excerpt:

Imagine how different American history would be if this rule by referendums had carried the day from the start.

Take race relations. If Southern states could have held a referendum on free speech rights for Martin Luther King Jr., can anyone doubt how it would have turned out? How long would it have taken for voters in Mississippi to integrate its public schools?

Gallup has traced attitudes toward interracial marriage for decades. Note that when the Supreme Court struck down Virginia’s ban in 1967, fewer than 1 in 5 Americans supported the court’s position. If Christie’s philosophy had carried the day, the ban would have remained in place until the late 1990s.

The point is that minority rights should not be subjected to majority vote. That misses the gist of constitutional rights.

As James Madison put it in Federalist Paper 51: “It is of great importance in a republic not only to guard society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part. If a majority can be united by a common interest, the rights of the minority will be insecure.”

Christie is not bothered by such niceties. He is a politician who sees this kind of restraint as an obstacle to be overcome, not a principle to be respected. He has even threatened to ignore Supreme Court rulings that he doesn’t like.

He is, in other words, exactly the type of politician that Madison had in mind when he drafted the Constitution’s restraints on majority power.

Americans must remember in this time of historic struggle for civil rights that Governor Chris Christie was nothing more than a coward, bully and horrible historian.

LGBT History: Meeting Our Pioneers....Jim Foster

 

 

Often the real mover and shakers from our glorious history live in the shadows of our legends like Harvey Milk or Elaine Noble. Many of them died during the AIDS epidemic and no one was left to tell their story. As we move forward this week making great progress on marriage and a host of other LGBT issues, let us not forget a silent hero from our past - Jim Foster.

Jim Foster, along with Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, was one of the founders of the modern day LGBT political movement in San Francisco. He was so successful that the became a role model for many of us still struggling to come out of the closet. Foster was among the founders of the first LGBT political club in San Francisco. At first he worked through the Society for Individual Rights (SIR) where he was a major player in assisting a young Dianne Feinstein to be elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1969.

In 1972, as a McGovern delegate, he became the first openly gay man ever to speak to a national political convention. While speaking very late at night, his speech is still remembered by those of us who couldn't believe a gay man was speaking to the National Democratic Convention. His speech electrified the small activist LGBT community in 1972. Among the lines of his historic address were:

"We do not come to you begging your understanding or pleading your tolerance. We come to you affirming our pride in our lifestyle, affirming the validity of our right to seek and to maintain meaningful emotional relationships and affirming our right to participate in the life of this country on an equal basis with every citizen."

At that very same convention, it was the first time the LGBT community was able to maneuver and bring a 'gay rights plank' to the floor where it was voted down. Foster was the key force and floor leader in that battle.

One of the sad aspects of Foster's career is that he supported a liberal straight Democrat over Harvey Milk when Milk ran for Supervisor. It led to an intense rivalry in the city.

In 1980, Foster became a key supporter of Senator Edward Kennedy in his primary challenge to President Jimmy Carter. Foster used personal funds to keep the campaign running in San Francisco when money was short and earned the love and respect for the senator the rest of his life.

Foster died of HIV/AIDS in 1990. Like many who died in this epidemic whose contributions are unknown today, Foster left his mark for good and enabled us to make it this far.

LGBT: An Important Couple of Weeks for Marriage Equality

 

 

The election year of 2012 is shaping up to be a major one for those who support marriage equality. The states of New Jersey, New Hampshire, Maine, Washington, Minnesota, North Carolina and Maryland all have serious marriage equality efforts taking place. In some states we are fighting off repressive initiatives or repealing existing marriage equality legislation (Minnesota, North Carolina and New Hampshire). In the other states we are proactively fighting for the passage of full equality in the legislatures.

While Minnesota and Maine are next November and North Carolina is this May, we face some real action over the next couple of weeks.

-The passage of marriage equality is moving rapidly through the New Jersey legislature and the pro forces might have enough votes to override a veto by Governor Christie.

-In Washington State it appears we are currently just one vote short in the State Senate and passage is likely with the Governor signing the legislation. The likelihood of a referendum is high.

-The recent opposition by the Democratic Senate President in Maryland has slowed down that effort.

-New Hampshire has postponed a vote until February in the Republican effort to repeal marriage equality.

The next couple of weeks promise to be a really interesting and extremely important time for marriage equality supporters.

LGBT: Two LGBT Candidates Could Run For Gifford's Seat

 

 

While clearly understandable, there was a great deal of sadness surrounding the news that Congresswoman Gabby Gifford would be unable to seek re-election. Once again we have learned the lesson of the power of guns in America to change the course of our nation. Every American hopes down the road she recovers enough so we once again can have her talents, wisdom and love in public service.

The Governor will set a special election and this will be a marginel seat for the Democrats. There are two LGBT Americans that might seek to win election to this seat. Remember at one time openly gay Republican Jim Kolbe represented the same district before Giffords won.

One of the frontrunners for the seat would be Arizona State Representative Matt Heinz (photograph above). The out Democrat is an emergency room physican in Tuscson. He has served in the Arizona State Assembly since 2008. Heinz was endorsed by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund in that race. He received a fellowship in vascular surgery at Harvard Medical School but complete his residency at the University of Arizona.

The other possible LGBT contender would be open lesbian State Senator Paula Aboud. She currently is serving as the Democratic Minority Whip in the Arizona State Senate. She was a teacher and moved to Maine to coach tennis and squash at Colby College. After several years there she returned to Tuscon and became involved in politics. She was appointed to Gabby Gifford's seat when Gifford went to Congress. She won it in her own right in the next election.