One Colorado, the group leading the lobbying effort for civil unions here, has repeatedly pledged to support any lawmaker — Republican or Democrat — who supports relationship recognition legislation. This week, campaign finance reports show the group has made good on its promise.

Two Republican state senators, Jean White, R-Hayden, and Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, were gifted $1,000 each by One Colorado’s small donor committee.

Both women voted in 2011 for a bill that would have established civil unions. A third Republican senator, Nancy Spence, also voted for the Colorado Civil Union Act last year, but is term-limited. A similar bill will soon be debated this year.

“(LGBT equality issues) are neither red nor blue,” said One Colorado’s Executive Director Brad Clark. “We will show support to any lawmaker who does the right thing. We pledge our support regardless of party affiliation.”

One Colorado organized its small donor committee in October 2011.

In the four months since the organization filed with the Secretary of State’s office, more than $8,000 has been raised.

One Colorado also donated $1,000 to two Democratic groups, one charged with keeping the party in control of the state Senate and another to win back the state House. The committee gave an additional $500 to the Ferrandino Leadership Fund, established by gay Denver lawmaker and House Minority Leader Mark Ferrandino.

Individuals are allowed to donate $50 per calendar year to small donor committees. In turn, those committees are allowed to donate up to $2,250 to candidates for both primary and general elections.

A who’s-who of LGBT power brokers and allies made up the committee’s initial filing with the Secretary of State.

Individuals who donated include Denver’s first openly gay city council member Robin Kneich, Tracks nightclub owner Andrew Feinstein, the Gill Foundation’s Bobby Clark, Leslie Herod and Tim Sweeney, the Matthew Shepard Foundation’s Jason Marsden, Dr. Mark Thrun, Babes Around Denver founder Dede Frain and lesbian state Rep. Sue Schafer.

“There is an energy and intensity in the LGBT community to support candidates that are doing the right thing,” Clark said.

Metropolitan State College of Denver political scientist Norman Provizer said One Colorado donating to Republican and Democratic lawmakers is all part of the American political process.

“At this juncture, there is a wide range of methods to get money to campaigns,” he said. “But they all have the same purpose: support your friends who support your policies.”

One Colorado also has a registered Political Action Committee. However, those coffers have remained dormant since the 2010 election cycle, according to reports filed with the state.

Clark said One Colorado will continue to raise money and invest its funds in individuals who are thoroughly vetted.

“We’ll go through a rigorous endorsement process later this year,” he said. “We’ll be donating to lawmakers based on their record.”

In a party line vote, the Republican majority House of Delegates voted 71-28 to pass the legislation, while a State Senate committee endorsed its version of the Republican-backed measure also on a 8-7 party-line vote.

Republican Governor Bob McDonnell is expected to sign the measure into law as soon as it crosses his desk.

Sponsors and supporters are claiming that the law will protect religious freedom. Critics charge that the state’s government, which contracts with dozens of private, state-licensed child placement agencies, in the commonwealth, is now in a position to sanction discrimination.

Opponents also argued that since the state is allowing this exemption then state funding should be eliminated.

The new rules run headlong into voter opinion — fifty-five percent of Virginia adults believe it should be legal for gay parents to adopt.

Nearly six thousand Virginia children live in foster homes.

Marriage, Santorum explained is an “intrinsic good” in which gay and lesbian people should not be allowed to partake in:

SANTORUM: You’re not entitled “to special treatment under the law…[Marriage is] not a right, it’s something that has existed since the beginning of human history as an institution where men and women come together for the purposes of forming a natural relationship as God made it to be. And for the purposes of having children and continuing that civilization. It is an intrinsic good…And as a result of that, we extend a privilege. We extend certain privileges to people who do that because we want to encourage that behavior. [...]

Two people who may like each other or may love each other who are same-sex, is that a special relationship? Yes it is, but it is not the same relationship that benefits society like a marriage between a man and a woman.

Watch:

Scott Lively

Obviously, that was not the only absurd claim he made during his hour long presentation, as he also found time to go after the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN ) and accuse them of creating Gay-Straight Alliances in schools are part of an effort to seduce lonely kids and recruit them into homosexuality:

“These are activist clubs in the public schools in which these teenagers … many of these kids, when you see the kids that get wrapped up in this, they’re the misfits, for the most part, they’re the kids that don’t have friends in other places, they’re chubby or they have a bunch of acne or they’re socially awkward and then the Gay-Straight Alliance Club reaches out to these kids and brings them in and then they start adopting a gay identity,” said Lively.

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Joseph Bukombe

When asked about his dreams for the future and the life he wishes for himself in San Diego, Bukombe describes his commitment to working hard and staying focused on his job as a chef at the restaurant on El Cajon Boulevard in North Park.

“I’ve always had a dream of owning my own hotel back home in Uganda and I pray that, maybe as situations get better where gay people can live freely, [that could be a possibility]. I would love to open a restaurant back home and hope people back home would come,” Bukombe said.

Hearing him talk about the future in such a positive way, it is difficult to truly comprehend what Bukombe has been through these past two years and the challenges he still faces.

Recounting his time at Otay Mesa, he explains, “Every day you live in fear; you don’t know what’s happening tomorrow. You see people being deported … almost for nothing, you know. So, it was crazy.”

Bukombe’s words are slow and deliberate, as if recounting these events involves delving back into part of his memory bank he has purposefully left behind. This becomes clearer as he recalls what life behind bars was like.

While he was able to resist deportation by refusing to sign the travel documents necessary to send him back to Uganda, Bukombe said his time in detention was marked by depression and anxiety, both of which required psychiatric help. He talked about the darkest period of his detention, and his answer is telling. When he first arrived at Otay Mesa he was told he must sign deportation papers.

“I refused because I knew what I was going to face. It was like signing a death warrant. … And I remember the guy told me, ‘If you don’t sign I’ll charge you with a criminal … charge and then send you to federal prison for four to nine years.’ So I told him, ‘You know what, it’s better. It’s better to spend nine years – I’m already doing two years here.’”

Ordeal worsens after detainees learn that he is gay

Bukombe’s feelings of isolation were exacerbated when his case became well-known among his fellow inmates. He recalls losing a lot of friends, being picked on, and getting into confrontations, an ordeal he says was never-ending.

“You know, [detainees] live there two or three months and then they got deported and then new people come. So you have to go through the same things, like, you’re coming out, coming out; every day, you’re experiencing that,” he said.

Prohibited from using a computer and only granted access to visitors on the weekends, Bukombe admits that his time in detention was extremely lonely but also forced him to be strong. He had friends who hadn’t abandoned him when they discovered he was gay and he says that they created a small family of sorts and that those relationships gave him the strength to go on.

Living among hate was nothing new to Bukombe, though. He grew up listening to his preachers condemning homosexuality in the Pentecostal Church in Kampala, Uganda, which left him with many unanswered questions.

“You know, I was … living with shame. There were a couple of times where I really hated myself for that. I tried to commit suicide, like, three times because I was [so] confused,” he said.

Learning to love himself and a God who doesn’t hate

With the help of pastor Rich McCullen and other pastors at Missiongathering Christian Church in North Park, Bukombe said he began to develop a different, more personal and loving relationship with God.

“I grew up listening to people … condemning and preaching a message of hate to spread the hate,” he said. “You know, it’s like putting a bunch of people in a group and teaching them to go out and hate other people. But Jesus never did that. Jesus preached love and Grace. So I’ve really come to know God in a different way; in a personal way and as a God of love, who loves everybody.”

There is an ease in which Bukombe speaks about his relationship with God and it is clear that this is the main source of his strength and convictions. He has had a long struggle with accepting himself and being comfortable exposing his true identity to the world.

Following a hearing of more than six hours, the Judiciary Committee passed the bill along party lines, 5-2, sending it to the full Assembly for a vote on Feb. 16, reported the New Jersey Star-Ledger.

At the same time the committee was taking testimony, Christie repeated before an overflow crowd at a town hall meeting in Morris County that he would veto any same-sex marriage bill that landed on his desk.

He again offered up the alternative he proposed last week: a referendum on the issue in November, noting that 31 other states had already done so. What he failed to say, however, was that such a referendum has never been approved by voters.

More: New Jersey Star-Ledger

Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) said he would not allow a referendum on the issue.

“It’s time for everyone, from the governor to the chattering observers, to stop talking about a marriage equality referendum in terms of ‘if,’” Sweeney said in a written statement. “There will be no referendum on marriage equality in New Jersey, period.”

The state Senate is expected to take up the legislation on Feb. 13.

The group, led by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Freedom to Marry, “has come forward to urge members of Congress to end the unfairness,” said said Evan Wolfson, founder and President of Freedom to Marry.

“Because of the ‘gay exception’ created by DOMA, America’s legally married gay and lesbian couples – including service members risking their lives on the front lines for our safety – are treated as strangers under federal law, rather than provided the respect and protections federal law normally assures to married couples and their loved ones,” said Wolfson, in a statement.

“In America, we don’t have second-class citizens, and shouldn’t have second-class marriages, either,” he said.

The Respect for Marriage Act (H.R.1116 and S.598) currently has a record number of Congressional cosponsors with 136 in the House and 32 in the Senate.

The Senate Judiciary Committee considered the bill with a hearing in July and subsequently passed the legislation out of committee in November.

Under DOMA, legally married gay and lesbian couples are denied more 1,100 federal responsibilities and protections of marriage, including Social Security survivors benefits, federal employee health benefits for spouses, protections against spouses losing their homes in cases of severe medical emergencies, the right to sponsor a foreign born spouse for immigration, the guarantee of family and medical leave and the ability to file joint tax returns, among many others.

“The federal government should not be in the business of picking which marriages it likes and which it does not, but that is exactly what DOMA does,” said Joe Solmonese, Human Rights Campaign president.

“The breadth and depth of this coalition shines a bright light on the heart-wrenching discrimination against loving, committed families caused by DOMA,” Solmonese said.

House Majority Leader Rep. David Bettencourt (R-Salem), who formally introduced the House Republican agenda, told reporters that the House was focusing on changes to economic and education policy that would bring job creators to New Hampshire and put citizens back to work.

Bettencourt also said that lawmakers did not need to spend much time on same-sex marriage, which is the target of several bills aimed at repealing repeal it.

“If their minds aren’t already made up, it’s something they’re intimately familiar with,” said Bettencourt of his fellow Republicans.

Other controversial social issues such as gun rights, immigration and labor laws were all also absent from the agenda.

Bettencourt said such bills distract from the Legislature’s real initiatives.

New Hampshire is one of six states — along with the District of Columbia — where same-sex marriage is legal. The others are New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, and Vermont.

“When you see the gay pride parade going down the street in the major cities, what banner are they flying over them? They’re flying the banner of the rainbow. What is the rainbow? The rainbow is God’s covenant with man never to destory the Earth by water again … So there’s an enormous warning there and, at the same time, we’re also given a clue as to what’s happening with apostasy in the modern age when people will raise the rainbow flag — and there’s a passage in Isiah, I forget the chapter and verse, that says “they parade their sin like Sodom.”

“And that is what is exactly going on with people who have defined themselves by this particular behavior and lifestyle. They parade their sin like Sodom. And they do it under the rainbow banner almost as if they’re saying “God, you can do nothing to us” because they don’t believe that Sodom was destroyed because of homosexuality so they aren’t learning the lesson from that.”

Watch:

The Senate Judiciary Committee reported out the legislation, known as Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, on a party-line vote of 10-8. The bill aims to strengthen and improve programs authorized under the existing law — first enacted in 1994 — to assist victims and survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.

Sen. Patrick Leahy

Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) spoke highly of VAWA in his opening statement and said no other statute “has done more to stop domestic and sexual violence in our communities.”

“As a prosecutor in Vermont, I saw firsthand the destruction caused by domestic and sexual violence,” Leahy said. “Those were the days before VAWA, when too often people dismissed these serious crimes with a joke, and there were few, if any, services for victims. We have come a long way since then, but there is much more we must do.”

According to a statement from the committee, among the ways the bill builds on existing law is setting aside grant money for programs addressing sexual assault crime and enhancing training for officials to identify high risk offenders who could commit domestic violence homicide.

But the legislation also has enumerated protections for victims of domestic violence in the LGBT community. The bill would make grants available for programs providing services to LGBT victims of domestic violence. Additionally, the bill has non-discrimination language prohibiting VAWA grantees from discriminating on the basis sexual orientation or gender identity.

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, thanked the committee in a statement for passing legislation that has specific language related to the LGBT community.

“Victims of domestic violence need assistance, not irrational barriers based on their sexual orientation or gender identity,” Solmonese said. “We thank the members of the Judiciary Committee that have recognized the discrimination LGBT domestic violence victims face when seeking assistance. Specifically, Chairman Leahy has shown great leadership in reauthorizing VAWA and ensuring that the bill would explicitly make grants available for service providers doing innovative work with LGBT victims.”

But Leahy also chided Republican members of the committee for voting against the legislation for reasons that possibly alluded to the LGBT protections in the legislation.

Ellen DeGeneres

“DeGeneres is not a true representation of the type of families that shop at their store,” says the group.

“Funny that J.C. Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families,” the group wrote on its website.

“More sales will be lost than gained unless they replace their spokesperson quickly. Unless J.C. Penney decides to be neutral in the culture war, then their brand transformation will be unsuccessful.”

In response to the attack launched on DeGeneres by the AFA, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) on Thursday launched an online campaign in her defense.

“While designated hate groups try to start ‘culture wars,’ it’s clear that a vast majority of Americans today support Ellen as well as their LGBT friends and family members,” said Herndon Graddick, a senior GLAAD official, in a statement

“Selecting an out performer who has inspired and entertained millions is not only a smart business practice, but a reflection of how LGBT Americans today are an integral and valued part of the fabric of our culture,” Graddick said.

JC Penney officials indicated they would not surrender to the AFA’s demands.

“We share the same fundamental values as Ellen,” noted the company’s President, Michael Francis. “At J. C. Penney, we couldn’t think of a better partner to help us put the fun back into the retail experience.”

In a unanimous decision, the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned a lower court’s ruling and concluded that the videotapes should remain under seal.

Siding with the ban’s supporters, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled the public doesn’t have the right to see the footage that former Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker had produced with the caveat it would be used only by him to help him reach a verdict.

Chief Judge Walker “promised the litigants that the conditions under which the recording was maintained would not change — that there was no possibility that the recording would be broadcast to the public in the future,” a three-judge 9th Circuit panel said in a unanimous opinion.

via: Associated Press

“Regrettably, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has decided not to unseal the video record of the historic twelve-day public trial of Prop. 8,” said Chad Griffin, Board President of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the sole sponsor of the federal court challenge to Proposition 8.

“It speaks volumes that the proponents of Proposition 8 spent millions on a political campaign to publicize their views, yet they have done everything they can to stop the public from seeing the weak case they put on at trial,” Griffin said, in a statement.

The same 9th Circuit panel is also considering whether Proposition 8 is constitutional. That decision, which could come any day, is expected to go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

WJW-TV

Jonathan Simcox and Steven Ondo

In court documents filed by the couple’s attorney — nationally-recognized civil rights attorney David Malik — Jonathan Simcox and his partner, Steven Ondo, claim they were subjected to “excessive force and undisguised prejudice,” because of their sexual orientation.

Simcox and Ondo alledge they were subjected to derogatory name-calling and then hauled off to jail in their underwear, despite repeated requests to change clothes.

The lawsuit also states that the men were ordered to stand outside in their front lawn for 5-10 minutes while they were publicly humiliated.

“We were called faggots a lot by police, and I consider that a fighting word.” His partner added; “It was more humiliating than I can even explain to you,” Simcox told WJW-TV.

The lawsuit stems from last April’s arrest of the couple for creating a public disturbance and assault on a police officer.

According to the couple, they were walking home from a bar when they started arguing. They say a neighbor, who happened to be an off-duty Cleveland police officer came outside and confronted them.

“He came out over shouting, saying, ‘Shut up, you`re disturbing the peace’,” said Simcox. “I pushed to get past him, as soon as I did that he knocked me on the ground, and just started beating me, hitting me, standing over top of me, and punching me repeatedly.”

A few minutes later, more officers arrived at their house, they were arrested and hauled off to jail.

“At the time my hands were all cut up, I was covered in blood,” said Simcox. Simcox and Ondo said they were later released from jail and told that no charges were being filed against them.

In the lawsuit filed this week, the men state that a week later, in an early morning raid, “6 or 7 members of the Cleveland Police Warrant Team” woke them, informing them they were wanted on a warrant for “assaulting a peace officer.”

The men state each time they tried asking questions, the officers became increasingly violent. “The officer in the glasses grabbed me by my shirt, and punched me twice in the face, after he punched me, he threw me up against the wall,” said Simcox.

Simcox says at the time of the arrest, he and his partner were wearing only underwear and t-shirts. When Simcox’s brother asked police if he could get them some pants and shoes, one of the officers allegedly responded by saying, “You can go get them shoes, but faggots don`t deserve to wear pants in jail.”

The lawsuit states that the men were ordered to stand outside in their front lawn for five to 10 minutes wearing only their t-shirts and underwear while they were publicly humiliated. The couple were then taken to jail and according to the lawsuit for, “at least one whole day their repeated requests for pants were denied.”

“The City of Cleveland is aware that the lawsuit has been filed and will appropriately address this legal matter in court. At this point, the City has no comment on this pending litigation,” Interim Law Director Barbara Langhenry told WJW-TV.

Civil rights attorney Sam Riotte told the station, “Jonathan and Steven’s rights were violated in part of who they are, because they are homosexuals.” As for the assault charge, Riotte said, “They went to trial, it was proven they didn’t do anything wrong, they were found not guilty.”

The bill, garnering three more votes than the required 25, passed with bipartisan support of 24 Democrats and four Republicans.

The bill now moves to the House, where it already has enough support to pass.

Lacey All, Chairperson of Washington United for Marriage, a broad statewide coalition of organizations, congregations, unions and business associations working to advance marriage equality in Washington state, released the following statement within minutes of the Senate adjournment for the evening:

“We thank Majority Leader Brown, Sen. Murray and the bipartisan coalition of senators who stood with us today in the name of equality. ”

The overwhelming support we’re seeing from businesses, labor, faith communities and people all across the state is a testament to the momentum of this movement and sensibilities of Washingtonians.

“Volunteers from every part of the state have contributed thousands of hours of their time to make today possible, and we thank them for their commitment to this issue.”

Senate Republicans introduced a series of amendments, which passed, that would ensure protections for religious bodies, churches, and institutions — including affiliated child adoption and fostering agencies — that would protect them from charges of bias or discrimination for refusing to sanctify, solemnise, or otherwise embrace same sex marriage.

An amendment to put the legislation on the November ballot was defeated after Sen. Lisa Brown (D-Spokane) reminded colleagues that the purpose of representational democracy was to prevent minorities’ civil liberties being infringed and voted on by the majority.

Following the vote, amid cheering Senators, a motion was made without objection to to immediately advance the bill to the state’s House of Represenatives for its consideration — a vote in the House could occur as early as next week, and supporters are confident there are enough votes for passage.

Once the state House has approved the legislation, Gov. Chris Gregoire would have five business days to sign it into law, which she has indicated she will do.

Gay and lesbian couples would then be able to wed beginning in June, unless opponents follow through on their threat to seek a ballot referendum.

A referendum cannot be filed until after the bill is passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gregoire — opponents would need 120,577 signatures by June 6.

Washington has had a domestic partnership law since 2007 and an “everything but marriage” expansion of the domestic partnership law since 2009.

That law makes sex between individuals of the same gender a crime in Kansas.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in the state legislature, Thomas Witt, Executive Director of the gay rights advocacy group Kansas Equality Coalition, urged lawmakers to repeal the outdated law, but the committee took no action on the bill.

“It’s an unconstitutional law and it makes no sense to have it on the books,” said Kerry Wilks, Chairperson of the Kansas Equality Coalition. “It has mattered to some people, and just the fact that it’s on the books should be enough.”

On January 20, 2012, Kansas Republican Governor Sam Brownback released his list of 51 “out of date, unreasonable, and burdensome” laws to be repealed — missing from that list was the unconstitutional law banning same-sex relationships.

“We are angry and disappointed that Governor Brownback has failed to keep his promise to repeal laws that are unreasonable. There is nothing more unreasonable than Sam Brownback’s preserving an unconstitutional law that’s used by government officials to harass gay and lesbian Kansans,” said Thomas Witt, spokesperson for the Kansas Equality Coalition.

“The U.S. Supreme Court has made it clear that being gay or lesbian is not a crime, and Brownback’s announcement is a gross act of disrespect to our nation’s Constitution, and to the thousands of gay and lesbian Kansans singled out by this unjust law,” Witt said.

Upon taking office in 2011, Governor Brownback had made repealing unreasonable, out-of-date laws a top priority for his administration.

Wilks said anger is growing in the gay community that the bill did not make it onto the repealer’s list.

“It’s telling someone that who they are is wrong, and that’s not right,” she said.