Category: Politics

LGBT groups turn up heat on Target; but is Best Buy getting off too easy?

LGBTQ Nation • Wednesday, August 11, 2010 • Filed under: Minnesota, Politics • Comments (0)

While the standoff between LGBT groups and Target stores heats up over a $150,000 political donation that helped fund an anti-gay candidate for Minnesota governor, Best Buy, who donated $100,000 to the same fund, has quietly escaped much of the protests and headlines.

Two weeks ago, Target Corporation came under fire from gay rights advocates for contributing to Minnesota Forward, a political action group that has come out in support of anti-gay gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, a staunch opponent of same-sex marriage, who in 2007, authored a constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriage and civil unions, and on numerous occasions has tried to change language in bills that would prevent same-sex couples from receiving benefits.

Within hours, LGBT activists sprung into action, and launched a Boycott Target page on Facebook, and a blog TargetingGLBT, all in effort to pressure the company to rethink its political contributions.

Not more than a day later, it was also revealed that Richfield, MN-based Best Buy contributed to the same group. And while a Boycott Best Buy effort was launched on Facebook as well, it was buried among the Target headlines and to date, barely attracted one tenth of the supporters of the Boycott Target effort.
Continue reading…

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Senate hopeful Sharron Angle: no gay rights, no gay adoptions

LGBTQ Nation • Saturday, August 7, 2010 • Filed under: Nevada, Politics • Comments (2)

Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Sharron Angle believes the clergy should be allowed to endorse candidates from the pulpit and opposes laws allowing gays and lesbians to adopt children, according to a questionnaire obtained by The Associated Press.

Angle

The document provides a window into Angle’s social and moral views, which would place her among Congress’ most conservative members at a time of ongoing culture wars over gay rights, abortion and the boundaries between religion and government.

Among her positions, outlined in answers to 36 yes-or-no questions, Angle would oppose making sexual orientation a protected minority in civil rights laws.

Read Angle’s complete questionnaire here (PDF).

Angle is the Republican nominee for the United States Senate seat in Nevada held by the current Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid.

She supports a federal marriage amendment to ban same-sex marriage, and believes that single-income households are the best way to raise a family.

In a June 2010 radio interview, Angle who opposes abortion including in cases of rape or incest, stated that she had counseled young girls in “very at risk, difficult pregnancies” to consider other alternatives, by which they had been able to make “a lemon situation into lemonade.”

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Prop 8 supporters: ‘We are the victims’

Kelvin Lynch • Saturday, July 24, 2010 • Filed under: California, Politics, Proposition 8 Trial • Comments (0)

"Traditional marriage" supporters feel they are the victims of gay equal rights

David Thompson, an attorney saddled with the unfortunate task of representing Prop 8 defendants, remarked in court during the federal trial that supporting the Prop 8 campaign was” political kryptonite,” according to the Washington Post.

Thompson, while cross-examining Stanford professor Gary Sergura, attempted to show that Prop 8 supporters “had been assaulted, gotten death threats and been subjected to economic boycotts,” and that the gay rights movement had suffered because of it.

In other words, Thompson was saying Prop 8 (a.k.a. “traditional marriage”) supporters are the victims here, not gay people. And that gay people have brought negative backlash upon themselves by standing up for their equal rights. Continue reading…

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Study: ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ costs U.S. taxpayers half a billion dollars

Kelvin Lynch • Wednesday, July 21, 2010 • Filed under: Don't Ask Don't Tell, Politics • Comments (0)

Lt. Dan Choi is a controversial crusader for DADT repeal

A study released by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law estimates that there are currently several thousand lesbian, gay, and bisexual soldiers serving in the military, and enforcing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has cost U.S. taxpayers up to more than a half a billion dollars since its inception in 1994.

Study author Dr. Gary J. Gates (presumably no relation to Defense Secretary Robert Gates) stated that, “Despite official policy requiring that lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals remain silent about their sexual orientation, data from the US Census Bureau suggest that an estimated 66,000 gay, lesbian, and bisexual men and women are serving in the US military.” Continue reading…

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Pelosi: no vote on ENDA this year until Congress repeals ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

LGBTQ Nation • Tuesday, June 15, 2010 • Filed under: Don't Ask Don't Tell, Politics • Comments (0)

There will be no vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) until Congress completes legislative action on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” according to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Pelosi

During her weekly press conference on Friday, Pelosi told the Washington Blade that lawmakers “still have to finish ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’” before moving on to ENDA.

Pelosi called ENDA a “personal priority,” but said the House took up “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” because bringing the fiscal year 2011 defense authorization bill to the floor presented an opportunity for repeal.

“But because the defense bill came up now, we did ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ first,” she said. “But we want to finish that.”

While it could take several months for Congress to finish legislative action on repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” supporters of ENDA have been pushing Pelosi to move forward with the legislation.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act is a proposed bill in the U.S. Congress that would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity for civilian nonreligious employers with over 15 employees.

Full story at the Washington Blade.

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US, UK, France ignore plight of LGBT Iraqis

Kelvin Lynch • Sunday, April 11, 2010 • Filed under: Politics, World News • Comments (1)
By Kelvin Lynch

IraqiLGBT is an organization that operates as a modern-day Underground Railroad to provide safe houses for LGBT Iraqis who would otherwise face certain death in the country.  So why do the United States, the United Kingdom, and France continue to ignore its pleas for help?

Ali Hali, founder of IraqiLGBT.com

More than 700 gay Iraqi men have been brutally murdered by roaming death squads since the U.S.-lead occupation of the country began in 2003.  The violence has escalated in recent years, and there have been reports from inside Iraq that American soldiers are turning a blind eye towards the situation, and have even been involved in some of the killings.  Some Iraqi gays have said they enjoyed more freedom under Saddam Hussein’s rule.

The latest crisis facing Iraqi LGBT is securing asylum in France for 21-year-old Anwar Saleh, who was arrested by Iraqi police in 2009  for coordinating a safe house in Baghdad. He was badly beaten up, tortured and suffered post-traumatic stress after his detention and the abuse he was subjected to.  He was put under investigation and interrogated  about his role as an LGBT activist and his involvement in the running of the safe house.

Iraqi LGBT has issued an urgent appeal for support or housing in France (particularly Paris) for Saleh.  After Iraqi LGBT paid authorities $5000 for Saleh’s release in Iraq, he fled to Paris and lived on the streets, eventually making his way to the Netherlands, where he applied for asylum, but was told it was up to French authorities whether or not to grant him refugee status.  As a result, Saleh must return to France.

Iraqi LGBT has also been attempting for three years to secure asylum in the UK for it’s founder, Ali Hili, who has been been living in exile in London since receiving a fatwa from inside Iraq as well as numerous threats in London which have forced him to move.  He is currently under police protection at an undisclosed location.

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) has consistently decided not to give priority to Ali’s application, which is a direct violation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.  Hili has received many requests to speak internationally, but he has been unable to pursue them because he cannot travel outside the UK until he is granted asylum. His solicitor wrote to the UK Border Agency in August 2009 that: “he desperately wishes to do this [travel] in order to further the aims of Iraqi LGBT -  that is, supporting lesbians and gay men in Iraq and bringing the world’s attention to their plight.”

As for the United States, who started this whole mess in Iraq, there has been nothing but all talk and no action to help LGBT Iraqis.  U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin spoke last month of their concerns for LGBT both in Iraq and as refugees, in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,which was co-signed by 64 other Congresspeople.  Hooray.

Please visit IraqiLGBT and do what you can to help these brave souls.

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‘Tea Party’ protesters hurl racial, anti-gay epithets at lawmakers

LGBTQ Nation • Saturday, March 20, 2010 • Filed under: National Agenda, Politics • Comments (2)

(Photo: The Washington Post)

Tea Party health care protesters showed their true colors Saturday, hurling racial slurs at black lawmakers and anti-gay epithets at openly gay congressman Barney Frank.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus were accosted by protesters who repeatedly racial slurs, including “nigger” as they left a heath care meeting and walked to the Capitol.

“I haven’t seen heard anything like this in more than 40 years, maybe 45.” said Civil rights icon and veteran Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia. “Since the march from Selma to Montgomery really.”

According to the website Talking Points Memo, “When Rep. Barney Frank rounded a corner to leave the building, an older protester yelled ‘Barney, you faggot.’ The surrounding crowd of protesters then erupted in laughter.” Continue reading…

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Hayworth says gay marriage will lead to bestiality

LGBTQ Nation • Monday, March 15, 2010 • Filed under: Marriage Equality, Newsmakers, Politics • Comments (5)

Hayworth

Former Arizona congressman and U.S. Senate hopeful J.D. Hayworth is afraid allowing same-sex marriages could lead to bestiality.

In a radio interview in Florida, Hayworth, who is challenging Senator John McCain in the Arizona Republican Senate primary, said the gay marriage law in Massachusetts is so vague, it could open the door to people marrying horses.

“Now how dangerous is that?” Hayworth said. “I guess that would mean if you really had affection for your horse, I guess you could marry your horse.”

Hayworth said marriage in that state is now defined simply as, quote, “the establishment of intimacy.” He recognizes he’s being absurd but says he’s trying to make the point that under the Massachusetts definition, if you really had affection for your horse, you could marry the horse.

Actually — dumbshit — the law in Massachusetts defines marriage as “the voluntary union of two persons as spouses, to the exclusion of all others,” thereby excluding horses (but including a horse’s ass such as yourself).

Hayworth supports a federal ban on gay marriage.

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Parker victorious – Houston becomes largest US city to elect openly gay mayor

LGBTQ Nation • Saturday, December 12, 2009 • Filed under: Politics, Texas • Comments (0)

Annise Parker has been elected mayor of the nation’s 4th largest city, making Houston the largest U.S. city to ever have an openly gay individual serve as mayor.

Parker-victoriousRecognizing the significance of her victory to the LGBTQ community nationwide, Parker said, “I acknowledge that. I embrace that.”

“I know what this win means to many of us who never thought we could achieve high office,” she told an energetic crowd of supporters in Houston Saturday night.

In her victory speech, and a message posted on her website Saturday night, Parker added: “This election has changed the world for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, just as this election is about transforming Houstonians’ lives for the better.”

With 100% of precincts reporting, Parker claimed 81,743 votes (53.6%) compared to her opponent Gene Locke, who captured 70,770 votes (46.4%).

A longtime city official, Parker is the current Controller for the city of Houston, a position second only to that of Mayor.

Previously, she served as an at-large member of the Houston City Council since 1997. Parker was victorious in her run for controller in 2003, and ran unopposed in 2005 and 2007.

When she takes office as mayor in January, Parker will be the highest-ranking municipal official in the LGBTQ community in the United States. She replaces Bill White, who is term-limited after serving six years and now seeking the Democratic nomination for governor.

In his concession speech shortly after 10 p.m. CT, Saturday, Locke called on his supporters to stand behind Parker.

“Let’s unite and work together, bringing all people together,” he said. “The future of Houston is great only if its people work together.”

Parker and Locke, both Democrats in the nonpartisan race, made it to Saturday’s run-off election after garnering more votes than two other candidates on November 3.

The contest was marked by fierce campaigning and anti-gay attacks against Parker, including mailers condemning her “homosexual behavior.”

Parker and her partner, Kathy Hubbard, have been together since 1990. They have three adopted children.

Election officials described Saturday’s voter turnout as light; unofficial results show 156,863 voters went to the polls (about 16.4%).

Harris County elections spokesman Hector Deleon said officials had expected about 180,000 voters.

Houston is predominantly Democratic and about 25 percent black and one-third Hispanic. Approximately 60,000 of its 2.2 million residents identify as gay or lesbian.

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Houston voters to elect new mayor today; Parker leads in final polls

LGBTQ Nation • Saturday, December 12, 2009 • Filed under: Politics, Texas • Comments (0)

Annise-ParkerHouston voters head to the polls Saturday to vote on several runoff races, and final polls indicate they could elect the city’s first openly gay mayor.

City Controller Annise Parker is a lesbian who has never made a secret or an issue of her sexual orientation. If she wins, Houston will become the largest U.S. city ever to have an openly gay mayor.

In recent weeks, Parker has been a target of anti-gay attacks and mailers, condemning her “homosexual behavior.”

Anti-gay activists and conservative religious groups have endorsed her opponent, former city attorney Gene Locke.

Two polls released this week show Parker leading the contest going ito today’s election.

A poll released by Rice University this week showed Parker leading Locke 49 percent to 36 percent. The poll, commissioned by KHOU-TV and KUHF Radio, is based on telephone interviews earlier this week with 442 registered voters in Houston; the margin of error is 4.7 percentage points.

A Zogby poll commissioned by The Houston Chronicle, also released earlier this week, has Parker in the lead with 41.9 percent over Locke at 36.4 percent. The results are drawn from a survey of 601 likely Houston voters; the margin of error is 4.1 percentage points.

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