Pam Spaulding's Blog, page 64

Attitudes That Transgender Civil Rights Are Up Against

These comments are so sad. We would not need to "waste time" here if we lived in a society that was free of bigotry and hate. Since when is legislating to ensure constitutional rights (that people live their life not according to your opinions but according to theirs) something we do not want our politicians taking up urgently.

We could use a little more love in this world. Support your fellow human beings. Hate will get us nowhere as a society.

~Anonymous commenter for the Baltimore Sun article Miller: Transgender bill unlikely to pass senate

Below are comments left for the Baltimore Sun article Miller: Transgender bill unlikely to pass senate (March 29, 2011) from people against the bill. It's a taste of the attitudes against transgender people's civil rights -- not just for Maryland, but from what I've seen in comment threads for other articles, it's representative what other commenters have said about transgender people's civil rights in other localities accross the U.S. as well.

Now the liberal government wants to force employers ti hire mentally disbaled people. So now, any wacko male can put on a dress and be guaranteed a job.

Next Maryland businesses won't be able to fire anyone for doing a bad job. Obviously that's discriminatory, because the employer discriminates a bad job from a good job. Can't have that.

This is the state government business model: fire no one in hard times, hire as much as you can in good times.

Can anyone give an estimate as to the number of Transgendered people in this State to justify the Legislature even taking this up? What's next? A law against housing discrimination against cross eyed red haired people? You can't make it up.

This is all a part of the radical homopromo lobby and their radical agenda to get to our children before the parents can. They know they need to get to our children, just like Hitler did.

Next will be teaching our captured kids all about their new freak teachers who don't like the way they were made. It will be FORCED that these kids must respect these genetic defective people. It is a terrible bill that must not see the light of day.

Any employer has the absolute right to protect THEIR business. This measn they have the absolute RIGHT to tell you what you are wearing is disruptive to their work environment! If a man wants to dress like a woman..vice versa.. a woman like a slut... and the employer deems it disruptive to their workforce, they have the right to tell that violator... we have a dress code.. you are in violation .. go home and change or you will be FIRED!

There were also two trans people who commented on HB 235 who were against the bill as well in that article's comment thread:

First, I'm glad this bill is going to die. It deserved to die after so-called "Equality" Maryland threw transfolk under the bus on public accommodations. The only assaults have come at the hands of bigots against transfolk, who only want to do their business and leave.

As to perverts like "More to come" who can do nothing but vomit up hate, bigotry and fearmongering, all I can say is that I pity you, boy. Perverted bigots like you have no facts on your side, so you spew bile like this which may incite someone to assault or kill a transperson.

Transfolk have been with humanity for eons! The aboriginal peoples of this continent revered the two-spirit members of their tribe, not to mention societies all over Asia and the Pacific islands.

I'm AM an American, bigots! Like it or not, our Constitution was written to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority, and I demand my rights to be treated equally on the job, access to a toilet on the job, at the mall, at the grocery store, etcetera.

If the perverts of the religious reicht don't like it, go to the Vatican, so you can be with other perverts like yourself.





Transexual and intersex (hermaphrodite) persons SHOULD be protected by antidiscrimination laws. They DO have a MEDICAL condition and are in NO WAY dangerous to ANYONE.

Here are statements and resolutions made by the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health supporting "FULL EQUALITY for transgender and gender-variant people". They also support "legal and social recognition of transgender individuals consistent with their gender identity and expression" and "Support the provision of adequate and MEDICALLY NECESSARY treatment for transgender and gender variant people."

Thursday This & That: Open Thread

It's an open thread! Pleeeeease feel free to chat, blogwhore, and link-share in the comment thread...

So, this is what my cartoon sockpuppet Bookworm Bob have been looking at since our last This & That post -- which was all of yesterday.

• The Los Angeles Times' Fox gives Glenn Beck's show the boot; Sinking ratings, an ad boycott and a focus on conspiracies lead to its demise:

Completing a swift rise and fall from TV stardom, controversial host Glenn Beck will lose his once-popular Fox News show later this year, the network announced Wednesday.

Beck's 5 p.m. program, which earned scorn from liberals for its attacks on President Obama as well as its devotion to sometimes-obscure right-wing thinkers, was a top cable draw in 2009 and a signpost for the populist "tea party" movement in last year's midterm elections, which dealt a ballot-box rebuke to the White House.

But ratings plummeted and advertisers bailed as Beck - a cherubic, salt-and-pepper-haired longtime radio host who has compared himself to a rodeo clown - increasingly pursued a hard-to-follow agenda that many found too conspiracy-minded. He also chafed his bosses at Fox News, who faulted him for spending too much time on his far-flung business operations and not enough on honing his TV presentation.

I have a feeling Glenn Beck won't be going away from media as a whole any time soon -- he still has a popular radio show.

• The Advocate's How Many LGBT's Live in America?:

At least 8 million adults in the United States identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, according to a new study released Thursday by the Williams Institute.

In total, with approximately 700,000 transgender Americans, nearly 4% of the nation's population is openly LGBT.

Furthermore, an estimated 19 million people, or 8.2%, have engaged in some relationships or sexual behavior with someone of the same sex, and 25.6 million admit to harboring at least some same-sex attraction at some point.

The research shows that slightly more people identify as bisexual (1.8%) than as lesbian or gay (1.7%), and women are more likely than men to identify as bisexual.

From the Renna Communications press release for the The Williams Institute comes this quote from Dr. Gary J. Gates, the study author:

Last week, the Institute of Medicine at the National Academies released an analysis of LGBT health research calling for federal statistical agencies to quickly move toward LGBT inclusion in their data collection. The surveys highlighted in this report demonstrate the usefulness of sexual orientation and gender identity questions on large-scale national population-based surveys.  Better data can provide the building blocks for critical information to understand the lives of the 9 million LGBT Americans who have been historically marginalized in both society and research.

A copy of the full report from the Williams Institute is here.

• From Kansas's Lawrence Journal-World's Residents on both sides of adding gender identity to anti-discrimination policy speak out:

Members of the Lawrence community voiced their opinions even before the 7 p.m. start of a meeting Wednesday to discuss a possible amendment to the city's anti-discrimination policy.

Residents Charles McVey and Dominic Klumpe sat outside Christ Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church, 2312 Harvard Road. Each held a sign in protest of a group of Lawrence business leaders and churches who say they are opposed to the suggested inclusion of gender identity.

"I don't want these kinds of attitudes being expressed in my community or prevailing in my community," McVey said. "They're free to their own opinions, but if they're going to start messing with the law, well, that's everybody's business then."

The conversation continued inside the church, where members representing groups comprising Voice of Reason addressed the more than 50 residents in attendance. Groups included Awaken Manhattan, the Alliance Defense Fund, Concerned Women for America and Kansas Family Policy Council. Several of the groups also opposed the anti-discrimination ordinance, which is now in place in Manhattan...

With that list of sponsors, it seems the meeting wasn't organized by the local community, but by national religious right organizations.

• Reisterstown Patch's Letter: Clock Ticking in Maryland for Gender Identity Rights, Unemployed:

Maryland has just a few days left to join a handful of states across the country in providing anti-discrimination protection for gender identity. Gender identity, as defined by House Bill 235, refers to a person's consistent gender-related identity or appearance, regardless of their assigned sex at birth.

Should this bill pass, gender identity will join race, sex, color, creed, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, age, and disability as a protected class from employment and housing discrimination.

Just as you can't fire a person in a wheelchair, who is otherwise qualified for a job, you won't be able to fire a woman dressing in men's clothes. Just as you can't deny renting an apartment to a Middle Eastern person, you won't be able to refuse a lease to a man who is transitioning to becoming a woman.

I like to think of this bill as "trickle-up" politics. Let me explain...

Follow the link for this letter to read what Alessa Giampaolo (the Executive Director for Hand In Hand Home School, a small business that provides educational consulting to private families, non-profits, and educational institutions) explains why she believes HB 235 is "'trickle-up' politics."

• Our Wiener Story Of The Day: The Chicago Tribune's Chicago-bound Diane Sawyer No 1. in city's hearts, TV ratings:

...[Diane] Sawyer is headed to town this week. She is set to be the keynote speaker Thursday at the Chicago Network's 22nd Annual Women in the Forefront Luncheon at the Hilton Chicago. She also plans to anchor her newscast from here that night.

That Sawyer sees wisdom in Chicago may or may not have to do the fact that, although Brian Williams' "NBC Nightly News" is the No. 1 network newscast nationally, "World News" is the broadcast to beat here. It also may have to do with the fact that she likes hot dogs, although you might not want to know the condiment she favors.

...Apart from Kraft Foods headquarters in suburban Northfield, this city's collective wisdom likely wouldn't endorse her condiment of choice.

"I'm looking for ones with Miracle Whip," Sawyer said. "But that may be a Kentucky thing."

As always, "The weenie tempts you!"

So anywho...It's an open thread! What are you thinking about today, or what books or articles have you been reading the past few days? Wanna share?

And again, please feel free to chat, blogwhore, and link-share in the comment thread because...it's an open thread! Woo-hoo!

Republicans embarrass themselves at DADT hearings

crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

This week, House Republicans held hearings over the implementation of DADT.

From what I understand, it didn't go well for them.

However, don't tell that to long-time anti-gay activist and Paul Cameron enabler Robert Knight. According to him, the hearings were a slam dunk:

Rep. Allen B. West (R-Florida) belled the cat neatly during a hearing last Friday on the military's breakneck pace in implementing the new lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) law.

Mr. West, whose 20-plus years in the U.S. Army included combat commands, noted that he and others at Fort Bragg had to endure "sensitivity training" in the 1990s. It didn't enhance the "warrior ethos," he recalled.

What became clear at the hearing of the House Armed Services Committee's Personnel Subcommittee chaired by Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) is that the Pentagon is forging into unknown territory, driven by political correctness, not military need.

Mr. Wilson, Mr. West and Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colorado) were openly skeptical about how honest the process has been. Mr. West noted that political correctness can prove costly, as when commanders ignored Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's plunge into radical Islam before the Fort Hood shootings. Likewise, people are afraid to share qualms over the LGBT law, Mr. West said.

I'll say one thing for Knight. What he doesn't have in truth, he makes up in creativity.

 

In reality, according to the site Equality Matters, the Republicans were hoping to use the hearings to find something - anything - that they could use to delay the repeal of DADT. And they couldn't find a thing:

Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Clifford Stanley said he saw "no issues or problems" with the repeal of DADT, which is expected to be completed by midsummer. "All is going well," Stanley said.

Republicans weren't pleased.

Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) attempted to make the case that under DADT gay and lesbian service members were being discharged for violating standards of conduct rather than for simply being gay and that training for repeal was costing the military too much money. He was rebuked, not once but twice, by Vice Admiral William E. Gortney, who testified that the majority of soldiers discharged under DADT had not violated standards of conduct and that training had only cost about $10,000, a minuscule amount considering the military's annual budget.

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) tried to rehash the issue of troops showering together, criticizing Vice Admiral Gortney for "not being consistent" in his responses.

Extremely embarrassing to Republican efforts to derail the DADT repeal was the following exchange between Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) and  Vice Admiral William E. Gortney. Scott was trying to prove that gay soldiers had been discharged for violating standards of conduct rather than their sexual orientation.

Needless to say, he wasn't successful:

Transcript:

SCOTT: Did you discharge him from the service because he was gay or because he violated a standard of conduct?

GORTNEY: Because he was gay.

SCOTT: He did not violate a standard of conduct before he was dismissed?

GORTNEY: He did not.

SCOTT: That's not the answer I thought you would give to be honest with you, Admiral.

From what I understand there will be another hearing today. I'm hoping that Republicans will end up with more egg on their faces, while Knight will continue to sing their praises from whatever alternate universe he is viewing the hearings.

Treachery Among Washington's Radical-Right Anti-Gay Activists

Sen. Dan Swecker (left) posing with Gary Randall just days before the betrayal. Photo credit: Faith & Freedom Network



Updated Faith & Freedom PAC registry form naming Sen. Swecker to key roles.

Ouch!  Gary Randall has been betrayed by yet another of his anti-gay "friends", and it's clearly shaken him to the core.  Randall is president end executive director of the anti-gay Faith & Freedom Network.  Randall's high level of distress is evident in his latest blog post where he forgets himself and actually acknowledges Pam's House Blend as "a national homosexual blog", the goes on to heavily reference one of my recent diaries (although he failed to link to the source).

Although Randall doesn't name him directly, the cause of his agony is state Senator Dan Swecker (R-Rochester).  Last week, Sen. Swecker joined the strongly bipartisan majority of the Legislature in voting for Washington's out-of-state marriage recognition bill (HB 1649). Emphasis original.

And finally, she thanks and praises the Republican Senators who voted for the bill, saying her take away message was this:

"Never presume to know a Republican will vote on pro-LGBT legislation, no matter their history with other bills."

Friedes says the bill was "a wonderful development" and "progress".

While they officially call it a "technical fix," and some of us believe it, they celebrate the final steps to redefining marriage and family.

Gary Randall and Sen. Swecker have been pretty tight for the past few years.  In 2008, Randall's Faith & Freedom PAC donated to Sen. Swecker's re-election campaign.  Early in 2009 Randall named Sen. Swecker both Vice Chair and co-campaign manager of that same PAC.  Later that year, Sen. Swecker endorsed Gary Randall's anti-gay Reject Referendum 71 campaign.

Just last month, at Sen. Swecker's request Gary Randall dutifully posted Swecker's inflammatory anti-gay letter that called gay families unnatural and implied that if the bill updating the Uniform Parentage Act of 2002 (HB 1267) passed, gays will perpetrate forced pregnancy, human trafficking and slavery.

With a friend like that, could Gary Randall ever have imagined that he was describing Sen. Swecker when he said this?

With the elected shock troops of the homosexual agenda in Washington State politics---you know their names--- we are seeing our culture redefined and destroyed.

Now Randall knows their names too.
Note that Sen. Swecker's vote on the out-of-state marriage recognition bill was not a deciding one.  The Senate passed the bill by a wide margin, 28 to 19.  While it is not surprising that Randall disagrees with Swecker's vote, why would he take the disagreement public?  Apparently Gary Randall is an anti-gay purist.  Indeed he speaks often and with disdain about "moral relativism", throwing the term at the LGBT community and their allies as an insult.

So it seems that Gary Randall will not tolerate a single vote -- even one that does not change the outcome -- that deviates from the path of anti-gay purity.  Unless it is Randall himself deviating from that path.

During the 2010 Census Randall was up in arms that same-sex couples were allowed to report themselves as married, whether legally married in their jurisdictions or not.  "Under federal law, only one man and one woman are legally married. ...This "policy shift" is another attempt to confuse the discussion about marriage," Randall said.

This was in contrast to his mantra during the Referendum 71 campaign to repeal Washington's domestic partnership law, when he insisted that domestic partnerships are marriage.

Randall can flip-flop like that on the definition of marriage but Sen. Swecker can't cast a non-deciding vote for good government?

Hypocrite.

Randall has had public disputes like this before, where he snipes at the former "friend" who betrayed him in a sort of passive-aggressive style.  Early in 2009, Pastor Joe Fuiten calculated (correctly) that the Washington electorate would approve Washington's Domestic Partnership Expansion Bill of 2009 by approving Referendum 71 at the polls.  Fuiten stated as much in a public flourish, a betrayal so bitter and embarrassing that backers of the Reject R-71 campaign like Gary Randall and Ken Hutcherson weren't above getting catty about it in public, even during the R-71 campaign (more here and here and here).

Incidentally, Randall ends the post about Sen. Swecker with a donation ask, saying:

We will be announcing an educational campaign within the next few weeks.

Perhaps he will.  Perhaps not.  Who can forget the big plans he hubristically reported to the Wall Street Journal in July, 2010:

In Bellevue, Wash., the Faith and Freedom Network plans to hire activists for about $10 an hour next month to promote statewide candidates with Judeo-Christian values for the fall elections, says Gary Randall, the group's president. Recruits will knock on doors and will be dispatched in large groups, hoping to draw media attention, he says.

Randall corrected the WJS in a July 19th blog post stating

The Wall Street Journal was correct, except that our campaign they referenced will be launched after the primary and will involve youth from various churches in selected areas. ...Details on this aspect of our efforts will be forthcoming after the primary election.

Never heard another word about it.

###





Gov. Chris Gregoire signs the out-of-state marriage recognition bill in presence of Rep. Laurie Jinkins (left), Janice Langbehn and Josh Friedes

Related:

* Out-of-state marriage recognition bill passes in the Washington state Senate

* Joe Fuiten v. Referendum 71 Rejects

* Gary Randall and Joe Fuiten have embarrassing public spat

What The Citizens For Responsible Government Are Telling Their Supporters About HB 235 Today

An email blast from the Citizens For Responsible Government -- the religious right organizers in Maryland against HB 235:

Please call Senators TODAY

We NEED you to contact Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee about HB235 TODAY!!!

The Maryland legislative session ends on Monday at midnight.  Despite promises by Senate President Mike V Miller that HB235 would stay in rules committee, it passed to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committe yesterday and a hearing is planned for Thursday. We are told that they plan to pass this radical bill despite public outcry in the last few days of the session.

Click here for an easy action email.

Click here to learn how this bill punishes Marylanders.

Click here to learn how this bill punishes Maryland Employers.

Click & here to see how this bill generates lawsuits

Call your legislator today at 1410-841-3000 or 1 301-970-5000

We need your help to stop this bill!

Please contact all of your legislators and please forward this email and keep emailing and calling.

The bill is being heard in the Judicial Proceedings Committee on Thursday.

Cick here to locate and email your own legislators.

Click here for a listing of all 11 committee members.

Call individual legislators Phone 301 970 5000. ( If you have limited time, just call Committee Chair Brian Frosh. ) Tell them that you are against the bill.

Brian E. Frosh, Chair (410) 841-3124 **important**

Lisa A. Gladden, Vice-Chair (410) 841-3697

Robert A. Zirkin (410) 841-3131 important

James Brochin (410) 841-3648 important

Victor R. Ramirez (410) 841-3745 important

Jennie M. Forehand (410) 841-3134

Jamie B.Raskin (410) 841-3634

Norman R. Stone, Jr.(410) 841-3587

Christopher B. Shank (R) (410) 841-3903

Joseph M. Getty (R) (410) 841-3683

Nancy Jacobs (R) (410) 841-3158

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HB235

Gender Identity Disorder is a mental illess.   HB 235 is billed as a Gender Identity Non discrimination bill but is actually a punitive "viewpoint discrimination" bill.  This bill would  

Force you to lie (about gender) in order to not be considered a bigot



Affect Workplace bathrooms, lockers and showers on the basis of "nondiscrimination."



Equate Gender Identity with appearance



Promote cross-dressing on the job



Allow cross dresser and transgender teachers for any age student including pre-school and kindergarten.  (We heard of one little boy who ran home screaming after being told "details" about surgery to change gender when his teacher "transitioned".  He was worried about whether or not someone would do that to him!)

Click here for a list of exemptions that Governor O'Malley supported when he was Mayor of Baltimore and which were included in that city's Gender Identity law.  Assuming that the legislators agree that it would be wrong "to force Marylanders to deny reality,"an infinite number of disclaimers would have to be placed in the proposed state Gender Identity Bill in order to secure the rights of individuals to simply be honest in their everyday lives.

These disclaimers would be absolutely necessary in order to protect Maryland constituents from viewpoint discrimination imposed by their own Government and would have to include items such as "it is not discriminatory for individuals to:

Use pronouns reflecting birth sex."



Suggest that life would be better for such individuals if they didn't transition and break up their own family."



State that taking hormones unnecessarily is dangerous and surgery can have complications."



Etc. etc."

>The bill is flawed and uncorrectable because in America no one should be allowed to force "their definition of reality" on others.  And at present, because of the power of special interests, we doubt that any disclaimers (protections for you) will be allowed in the bill.

MARYLAND CITIZENS FOR A RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT

As you can see, they hit the major themes that the LGBT, and the transgender community in particular, have not yet adequately addressed: the "bathroom bill" meme, the "not in my shower" meme, and the "transgender kindergartener teacher" meme -- as well a number of other arguments.

And, of course, even in sending out this cheesy email blast the Citizens For Responsible Government shows that in Maryland, the religious right are better organized to fight against transgender people with lies than transgender people are to fight against the religious right folk who are telling lies about transgender people.

And of course too, there is no cheesy email blast going out to community supporters from any transgender specific non-profit and/or grassroots organization asking those allies to call their Maryland State Senators.

A Letter To Maryland Sen. Frosh From A Parent Of A Young Trans Woman

This came in my inbox this morning with a note that it is has been made available for publishing at Pam's House Blend.

So, here's that letter -- It's to Maryland Sen. Brian Frosh from a parent of a young trans woman:

Dear Senator Frosh,

As your constituent and a long-time District 16 voter, I want to thank you for helping to move HB 235, the gender identity anti-discrimination bill, out of the Rules Committee for Senate action.  Now that the bill is before your committee, I hope you will keep your promise to do all that you possibly can to expedite its passage.  

This bill is particularly important to me as the mother of a young transgender woman.  She is the product of Montgomery County Public Schools (Woodacres Elementary School, Pyle Middle School, and Walt Whitman High School), where equality for all members of our community was emphasized and practiced.  Now that she has graduated from college and has entered the work force, it is essential that she, like other minorities, be supported by a law that guarantees that she will not be discriminated against when it comes to employment, housing, and credit.  

Because of the vital importance of this bill, I trust that you will use your able leadership to persuade any of your reluctant Senate colleagues to assist you in making sure that this bill gets to the Senate floor in time for prompt passage during this coming week.

This matter is important to me, to my daughter, and to the State of Maryland.  I am counting on you to see that this bill finally becomes law.

Very truly yours,

Deborah S. Strauss

Bethesda, Maryland

Wednesday This & That: Open Thread

It's an open thread! Pleeeeease feel free to chat, blogwhore, and link-share in the comment thread...

Since I've been focusing on Maryland a lot lately, my cartoon sockpuppet Bookworm Bob and I haven't been covering a lot of other trans related news.

So with that in mind, this is what my cartoon sockpuppet Bookworm Bob have been looking at in the news this week that's trans related but I haven't covered, or has an ongoing component to something previously covered, but would like to spend just a bit of time covering.

• LGBT Weekly's Assembly Judiciary Committee Passes Gender Nondiscrimination Act:

The Assembly Judiciary Committee today passed the Gender Nondiscrimination Act (AB 877) by a 7-1 vote. The bill was authored by Assemblymember Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) and is sponsored by Equality California and co-sponsored by the Transgender Law Center. AB 887 seeks to strengthen employment, housing and other civil rights protections for transgender people and others who do not fit narrow gender stereotypes.

"I am very pleased that the Gender Nondiscrimination Act advanced today," said Assemblymember Atkins. "This bill affirms that California does not discriminate, and it is an important step to ensure equal protection under the law for all Californians."

AB 887 takes existing protections based on gender identity and expression and enumerates them as protected categories in non-discrimination laws. In addition, the bill clarifies that gender identity and expression are included in the definition of gender and sex in all California codes.

"Transgender Californians need and deserve non-discrimination protections; to be treated the same way as everyone else," said Equality California Interim Executive Director Jim Carroll. "This bill would ensure that all Californians, including transgender people, are protected equally under employment and housing non-discrimination laws. In addition, by being clear about what the law requires, it will reduce litigation and costs to employers, landlords, and others."

Yea, home state California!

• Hartford Courant's Transgender Non-Discrimination Bill Passes Judiciary -- Without Any Amendments:

The legislature's Judiciary Committee on Tuesday endorsed a bill that would add gender identity and expression to the state's non-discrimination statutes.

Similar bills have been introduced several times since 2006 but has never won passage. In 2007, both the Judiciary Committee and the state Senate approved it but it died before reaching the House of Representatives.

Supporters managed to swat down several proposed amendments that they say would have diluted the protections afforded to transgender individuals and enshrined discrimination into law.

One of those amendments would have permitted local school districts to transfer elementary school teachers who are undergoing gender-reassignment during the duration of their transition.

Ah. An amendment attempt based on the fear mongering of the Transgender Kindergartner Teacher meme. Thank goodness the amendment was swatted down by Connecticut's Senate Judiciary Committee.

• Nashville News Center 5's Non-Discrimination Bill Passes On 3rd Reading:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - On Tuesday night, Metro Council members passed a controversial non-discrimination ordinance on its final reading.

"I think this is a great move for Nashville and it's a great step to show we believe in equality," said Erica Gilmore, one of the co-sponsors of the bill.

The measure would require any contractors doing business with the city to pledge not to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Those contractors already agree not to discriminate against federally protected classes.

After months of debate, the vote in council chambers was 21 to 15. But that vote did not come without another round of debate. Many council members voiced their reasons for voting against the bill.

...Before the bill can become law, Mayor Karl Dean must sign it.  He has said in the past if the bill comes across his desk, he will put his signature on it.

Well, this looks good.

• Palm Beach Post's Lake Worth mayor says The Cottage complaints use 'gay card' against city manager:

LAKE WORTH - City commissioners reacted Tuesday to e-mails accusing City Manager Susan Stanton of being biased against gays and lesbians by passing a resolution reaffirming the city's commitment to diversity.

The resolution, approved before a standing-room-only crowd, reaffirms the city's commitment to "full and equal rights for all of its residents and employees regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity."

It notes Lake Worth hosts the annual PrideFest event and has hoisted the gay pride flag at city hall for 11 years and that city code forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

...Mayor Rene Varela said he did not see a pattern of behavior against businesses owned by or catering to gays and lesbians in the city and accused The Cottage of "pulling out the gay card."

The Florida Sun Sentinal has an explanation of why that publication believes she seems in trouble now, in their piece Lake Worth City Manager Her Own Worst Enemy:

...In 2009, Stanton semi-nestled into the overwhelmingly challenging but extraordinarily accepting community that is Lake Worth, a city that gambled all hopes on her leadership as a great new city manager, regardless of her sexual orientation or gender identity. We all yearned for someone who could bring together divided factions and diminish the frivolity that obscures the economic prosperity and negotiated quality of life we collectively desire in our paradise by the sea.

But where Stanton has not semi-nestled, she has thoroughly vexed. And the most unlikely of allies are making the most frantic of coordinated claims because, in the end, she is simply not well-liked. It's her style. She marginalizes herself with her own brashness, a trait she continues to defend even though it continues to offend - and her stubbornness is not gaining her any ground. Now, some are questioning her commitment to the diverse community she was hired to serve, while others are concerned the city is headed for the same sound-bite-turned-swan-song sung across the state when she was forced from her previous position.

Stanton's annual performance review is next week, and it appears everyone is desperate to make sure their grievances are recorded for the public record, and for the public file that will soon contain her evaluation. So the city that last week celebrated pride is in a siege aimed at ousting Stanton, who seems so cemented in her approach she refuses to entertain suggestions that she be more conciliatory and thoughtful in her communications within and outside the city...

Somehow I don't think the current story is over yet.

• Our Wiener Story Of The Day: Examiner.com's Hot dogs Are #1 Baseball Concession Food:

Forget the stock market; it's the hot dog that indicates how well our economy is doing. Not only do hot dogs continue to outsell other baseball stadium concessions, but 1.06 million more stadium dogs were sold in 2010 compared to 2009, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. In other words? "The hot dog is MVP of stadium concessions," the Council's spokesperson Tom Super said.

The number of hot dogs consumed in 2011 is expected to grow even more.  The Council predicts baseball fans will chow down on 22,435,400 hot dogs this baseball season, an increase of 4.6% over last year. Phrased another way, that's enough hot dogs to round the bases 31,160 times.

So which stadium is expected to consume the most hot dogs this year?

...Dodger Stadium is expected to sell two million dogs, partially due to the foot-long Dodger dog. The number two place for hot dog consumption in New York's Yankee Stadium with an expected 1.62 million dogs sold. Rounding out the top three is the Philadelphia Phillies Citizen Bank Park.

As always, "The weenie tempts you!"

So anywho...It's an open thread! What are you thinking about today, or what books or articles have you been reading the past few days? Wanna share?

And again, please feel free to chat, blogwhore, and link-share in the comment thread because...it's an open thread! Woo-hoo!  

Why are the Republican presidential candidates embracing a vicious hatemonger?

crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

I've said it once and I will say it again:

Singlehandedly, Bryan Fischer is confirming all of what the Southern Poverty Law Center has said about the American Family Association being a hate group.

One has to wonder whether or not he is holding some good information over the head of AFA head Donald Wildmon. It's the only explanation I can garner about why the organization continues to allow him to speak for them. So far, Fischer has:

made an ugly racial slur about President Obama,  viciously attacked a Medal of Honor recipient, and  wrote a ridiculous piece about the supposed lack of morals of Native Americans.
And that's not even counting all of the ugly things he has said about lgbts, particularly his comment about us being associated with Hitler and the Nazis:

So Hitler himself was an active homosexual. And some people wonder, didn't the Germans, didn't the Nazis, persecute homosexuals? And it is true they did; they persecuted effeminate homosexuals. But Hitler recruited around him homosexuals to make up his Stormtroopers, they were his enforcers, they were his thugs. And Hitler discovered that he could not get straight soldiers to be savage and brutal and vicious enough to carry out his orders, but that homosexual solders basically had no limits and the savagery and brutality they were willing to inflict on whomever Hitler sent them after. So he surrounded himself, virtually all of the Stormtroopers, the Browshirts, were male homosexuals.

But apparently there is one group which Fischer has failed to call out and offend - African-Americans. That is until today.

According to Raw Story, he said the following:

Fischer added that welfare had destroyed the African-American family by providing incentives for fornication instead of marriage. "It’s no wonder we are now awash in the disastrous social consequences of people who rut like rabbits," he wrote.

"Welfare has destroyed the African-American family by telling young black women that husbands and fathers are unnecessary and obsolete. Welfare has subsidized illegitimacy by offering financial rewards to women who have more children out of wedlock."

Fischer's comments would be hilarious except for the fact that prospective Republican presidential candidates such as Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Tim Pawlenty, Haley Barbour, and Michele Bachmann has appeared on his radio program.

I think certain questions need to be asked. Not to Fischer of course because that would be like trying to get a straight answer from a corpse.

Questions need to be asked of Gingrich, Huckabee, Pawlenty, Barbour, and Bachmann. How do they feel that they are the right individuals to lead this country if they rub shoulders with such a vindictive hate monger?

Falwell's Liberty University received half a billion dollars in federal aid money

I'm not sure whether to laugh, cry or scream "I've been pickpocketed" at the news that the late Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, where the biology department teaches Young Earth Creationism, is pulling down half a billion of our tax dollars. via Ed Brayton and Salon, the latter citing the The VA News & Advance:

Liberty University, the evangelical private Christian school founded by dead apartheid-supporting bigot Jerry Falwell, received $445 million in federal financial aid last year. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, by the way, received $420 million from the federal government.

That massive sum was thanks to the growth of Liberty's online program, which enrolled 52,000 students last year. The school is the No. 1 recipient of Pell grant money in the state of Virginia.

Falwell is laughing from the grave; talk about f'd up.

Gay Republican Wins New Hampshire GOP Presidential Primary Straw Poll.

Karger's campaign announcement ad (warning: steel yourself, includes obligatory Reagan ring-kiss. Barf!).

The first candidate to throw his hat in the ring for the GOP Presidential nomination, Fred Karger, has taken another first. He's come in first the St. Anselm College straw poll, beating Huckabee, Romney and others. From the campaign:

 There has been a tremendous amount of coverage of our upset win over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in the St. Anselm College Republican Straw Poll last Thursday night.  Prospective candidates Santorum, Pawlenty and Cain had representatives and tables set up, and they and others showed videos.  But after a week of campaigning at St. Anselm's by the Karger campaign, we prevailed and beat Mitt Romney 25% to 23%.  Donald Trump had a mere 8% of the votes cast.

Final Results:
 
Fred Karger, 25%
Mitt Romney, 23% 
Donald Trump, 8%
Tim Pawlenty, 7%
Ron Paul, 7%
Rudy Giuliani, 7%
Rick Santorum, 6%
Sarah Palin, 3% 

Oh, and he's openly gay. 

If you're thinking a gay republican Presidential candidate, WTF?

Well, Karger insists he's mounting a serious campaign, but some have said he's got an ulterior motives. It's certainly possible his eye is not so much on the Oval Office as on the debate podium.

Congratulations, Mr. Karger. This will be a nice recommend to secure a spot on Manchester, NH's WMUR Presidential debate stage. A closer examination of the straw poll by WMUR is here, they say "In the end, this was a big win for Karger." And 322 ballots were cast in total, and that is actually kind of impressive.

It would indeed be interesting to see if in the end an openly gay, strong advocate for LGBT rights will be sharing a stage with Mike "Children are not puppies" Huckabee and Tim "Let's bring back Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Pawlenty. It's likely Karger would be anxious to draw a sharp distinction in contrast. Probably that's why the GOP is trying to keep him out of the debates in Iowa.

Let's hope the GOP doesn't "censor his right to free speech." I'll make the popcorn.

If you're skeptical any Republican, even a gay one, can be a good advocate for LGBT rights, watch Fred defend NH marriage equality in an ad his group, Rights Equal Rights (formerly Californians Against Hate) has produced and financed. It's a pretty slick and withering take-down of National Organization for Marriage. The initial ad buy was for six weeks on cable channels in New Hamphshire.