GLAAD to CNN: Fire Roland Martin for Antigay Comments

CNN commentator Roland Martin made it a not-so-super Sunday with a tweet and a Facebook posting widely perceived to be homophobic, and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has called on the network to fire him.

GLAAD reports that after retailer H&M’s Super Bowl commercial featuring soccer player David Beckham, Martin tweeted to his nearly 95,000 Twitter followers, “If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him! #superbowl.”

In response, GLAAD wrote, “@rolandsmartin Advocates of gay bashing have no place at @CNN #SuperBowl #LGBT.” Martin replied that GLAAD was “way off base” and suggested that his tweet was a joke about soccer fans, not gays.

Earlier in the day, he had posted on his Facebook fan page, “Who the hell was that New England Patriot they just showed in a head to toe pink suit? Oh, he needs a visit from #teamwhipdatass.”

GLAAD reports that Martin has a history of antigay statements, noting that he defended comedian Tracy Morgan’s homophobic stand-up performance (for which Morgan has apologized) and boasts on his website that his wife “has counseled many men and women to walk away from the gay lifestyle.”

In a message on its website, GLAAD concludes, “Martin’s tweets today advocating violence against gay people weren’t an accident — they are a part of a larger pattern for Martin. Anti-gay violence in America is a serious problem facing millions of Americans. It’s no joke. CNN should fire Roland Martin.”

Freedom to Marry vs. NOM on who should decide who gets married

From Sunday's televised "debate" on same-sex marriage between Freedom to Marry President Evan Wolfson and National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown.

The discussion was centered on whether marriage equality in New Jersey -- or in any other state -- should be decided by the state legislature, or, as Gov. Chris Christie has advocated, a ballot referendum.

As Hooper describes, "Brian Brown continued to (a) make the case for majority tyranny stifling the civil rights of a minority; and (b) filter his personal, faith-based desire to discriminate through that oh-so-exhausting lens of self-victimization that the far-right has adopted in order to make their cause seem 'nice.'-- fortunately, Freedom to Marry's Evan Wolfson was on hand to speak undeniable sense to blatant untruth."

Watch the exchange via WABC-TV, which serves New York and much of Northern New Jersey:

Gays don't deserve 'privilege' of marriage because gay unions don't 'benefit society'

Rick Santorum told a gay man in Fulton, Missouri Friday afternoon that he didn’t deserve the “privilege” of marriage because his same-sex relationship does not “benefit” society in the same way that opposite-sex marriage does.

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.

Karen Handel Drove Decision To Defund Planned Parenthood

Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the nation's leading anti-breast-cancer charity, has insisted that its since-reversed decision to pull funding from Planned Parenthood arose from a routine change in criteria for grant eligibility that had nothing to do with abortion politics.

But a Komen insider told HuffPost on Sunday that Karen Handel, Komen's staunchly anti-abortion vice president for public policy, was the main force behind the decision to defund Planned Parenthood and the attempt to make that decision look nonpolitical.

"Karen Handel was the prime instigator of this effort, and she herself personally came up with investigation criteria," the source, who requested anonymity for professional reasons, told HuffPost. "She said, 'If we just say it's about investigations, we can defund Planned Parenthood and no one can blame us for being political.'"

Emails between Komen leadership on the day the Planned Parenthood decision was announced, which were reviewed by HuffPost under the condition they not be published, confirm the source's description of Handel's sole "authority" in crafting and implementing the Planned Parenthood policy.

Handel's strategy to cut off Planned Parenthood involved drafting new guidelines that would prevent Komen from funding any organization that was under investigation by local, state or federal authorities. Since Planned Parenthood is currently the target of a congressional inquiry prompted by House Republicans into the way it uses government funds, the family planning provider would have been immediately disqualified from receiving new Komen grants.

After the initial uproar when news of the decision broke, the story that Komen told the public was that the cut-off was unrelated to a political agenda against Planned Parenthood.

Miley Cyrus

"I believe every American should be allowed the same rights and civil liberties. Without legalized same-sex marriage, most of the time you cannot share the same health benefits, you are not considered next of kin and you are not granted the same securities as a heterosexual couple. How is this different than having someone sit in the back of the bus because of their skin color? We all should be tolerant of one another and embrace our differences. My dad, who is a real man's man, lives on the farm and is as Southern and straight as they come. He loves my gay friends and even supports same-sex marriage. If my father can do it, anyone can. This is America, the nation of dreams. We're so proud of that. And yet certain people are excluded. It's just not right." - Miley Cyrus, writing for Glamour Magazine. 

Ninth Circuit Prop 8 Ruling on Tuesday

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's public information office expects a ruling on Tuesday, Feb. 7 in the Perry v. Brown case challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8.

N.J. Teen testifies for Her Gay Dads' Right to Marry

Here's another video: Greg Quinlan, president of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX), at the marriage equality hearing in New Jersey.



He also demanded an apology from the bill's sponsors for calling people of faith 'bigots':

“I want to talk first of all about something I heard from the very beginning by people of this Legislature that we are bigots as people of faith, because we do not hold that homosexual marriage should be codified. That somehow we are bigots and we are ideologues because we are people of faith. I want to address that hate. Everyone in this room who is a person of faith deserves an apology from one of the sponsors of this bill for calling us bigots.”


Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2012/02/quinlan.html#ixzz1lM8j7P8Z

Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2012/02/quinlan.html#ixzz1lM8bupSJ

Donald Trump endorses Mitt Romney

The Extreme Anti-Gay Views Of Komen Vice President

When Nancy Brinker, the founder and CEO of Susan G. Komen For The Cure hired Karen Handel as her Senior Vice President, she knew what she was getting. Handel, who joined Komen in April of 2011, had not only previously worked for Komen, but had been Georgia’s Secretary of State and had run for Governor of the Peach Tree State as well. As it turns out, Handel’s move to the Dallas, Texas based breast cancer non-profit was not a huge transition for her personal politics: she is 100% anti-gay.

In a 21st century United States of America, where the majority support same-sex marriage, and the majority support a women’s right to choose, it’s unconscionable that the Susan G. Komen Foundation would hire someone so rabidly against the gay community and women. But Nancy Brinker — whose last-ditch effort to lie her way out of a public relations nightmare yesterday in an interview with breast-cancer survivor and MSNBC anchor and veteran journalist Andrea Mitchell proved disastrous — did just that: hire as senior VP a woman opposed to women’s rights and gay rights. If that was in fact her goal, she accomplished it in expert fashion.

Let’s be perfectly clear here: Komen does not fund abortions at Planned Parenthood. Their Planned Parenthood funding was used for women’s health and especially for breast cancer screening, a direct tie-in with the Komen mission to reduce and cure breast cancer.

Below is a 2010 interview with former Georgia politician and Komen VP Karen Handel, which focuses on then-candidate Handel’s positions on gay rights, gay adoption, and gay marriage, just one year prior to her joining Komen in 2011. Almost amusingly, Handel in the beginning of the video attempts to minimalize her association with the Georgia chapter of the L0g Cabin Republicans, the gay Republican group of which she was a dues-paying member, and which actually endorsed her two years running.

Broad coalition launched to repeal federal 'Defense of Marriage Act'

A broad coalition of more than 50 civil rights, labor, progressive, faith, student, health, legal, women’s, and LGBT organizations on Thursday announced support of the Respect for Marriage Act-- the bill to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that withholds federal protections for legally married gay and lesbian couples.

NJ Gov. Christie On Putting Marriage Equality To A Popular Vote

"If the majority of the people want [same-sex marriage], prove it. Put it on the ballot, let it be voted on… I’ve called upon every Republican in the state legislature to vote to put it on the ballot. You need three-fifths to put it on the ballot. The Republicans have two-fifths in the legislature. So that means the Democrats only need to come up with one-fifth of the legislature…
We’re making this really easy for them. I have not heard yet from one Republican who wouldn’t vote to put it on the ballot… This is the bargain of your life! I’m giving ‘em two-fifths!
And the polls they show me say that if it goes on the ballot, it will lose. How much more magnanimous can I be? What else do you want me to do? Go campaign for it too? [laughter in crowd] Look, I’m doing the best I can here!” [crowd applauds]

GLSEN's PSA To Play At Super Bowl

Kansas legislature refuses to repeal outdated law that criminalizes gay sex

In the landmark Lawrence v. Texas case nearly a decade ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states cannot criminalize gay sex between consenting adults -- but in Kansas, there remains a law on the books, albeit not enforceable, that LGBT rights activists call offensive and unconstitutional.

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.”

Washington State Senate Approves Bill To Allow Same Sex Couples To Wed

The Washington state Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage, setting the stage for the state to become the seventh to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed.

The measure now heads to the House, which is expected to approve it. Gov. Chris Gregoire supports the measure and has said she will sign it into law, though opponents have promised to challenge it at the ballot with a referendum.

The packed public galleries burst into applause as the Senate passed the measure on a 28-21 vote Wednesday night after nearly an hour and a half of debate. Four Republicans crossed party lines and voted with majority Democrats for the measure. Three Democrats voted against it.

Democratic Sen. Ed Murray, the bill's sponsor, said he knew same-sex marriage "is as contentious any issue that this body has considered in its history."

'Priscilla' Director Stephan Elliott: I'm Gay

It may not come as that much of surprise given that he directed one of the most iconic gay films of the 90's, but director Stephan Elliott came out of the closet for the first time publicly yesterday at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards, ABC reports:

"I've been offshore for many, many years for another reason," Elliott, director of Priscilla Queen Of The Desert and A Few Best Men, said. "Basically it was because I was scared of who I was. I basically was scared that I was gay. Even after Priscilla I stayed offshore basically because I was frightened of my family. And tonight I'm coming out."

The news was greeted by loud, supportive applause and looks of shock from his peers.

A teary Elliott then thanked the audience and urged other high-profile members of the entertainment industry to get behind the push for equal marriage rights in Australia.

One Million Moms Go After JC Penney for Hiring 'Open Homosexual' Ellen DeGeneres

One Million Moms, a subset of the hate group American Family Association, is attacking JC Penney for hiring Ellen DeGeneres as its spokesperson. Says the group in an action alert:

Funny that JC Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families. More sales will be lost than gained unless they replace their spokesperson quickly. Unless JC Penney decides to be neutral in the culture war then their brand transformation will be unsuccessful.

Their marketing strategy is to help families shop and receive a good value for their money. Degeneres is not a true representation of the type of families that shop at their store. The majority of JC Penney shoppers will be offended and choose to no longer shop there. The small percentage of customers they are attempting to satisfy will not offset their loss in sales.

JC Penney has made a poor decision and must correct their mistake fast to retain loyal customers and not turn away potential new, conservative shoppers with the company's new vision.

One Million Moms is calling on its followers to call JC Penney and demand they replace DeGeneres. Their numbers are 972-431-8200 (customer service) and 972-431-1000 (corporate headquarters).

[You can always call and say the opposite. I did.]

Dan Savage's It Gets Better Comes to MTV

The It Gets Better campaign, launched by Dan Savage in 2010 as a response to antigay bullying and teen suicide, is now an hour-long special with appearances by Zachary Quinto, Jake Shears, Chaz Bono, Margaret Cho, Sia, and Adam Levine, reports Entertainment Weekly.

EW's Tanner Stransky exclusively reports that the advice columnist-activist will host the special, also titled It Gets Better, which will follow three young people as they struggle with LGBT issues and will premiere simultaneously on Logo/MTV February 21.

Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin
Civil-rights activist, organizer of the 1963 March on Washington

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream—and a gay ally who helped make it come true. A pacifist and activist, Bayard Rustin (1912-1987) learned to take a nonviolent yet effective stand for equality from his grandmother, Julia, and the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. In his youth, Rustin rallied against Jim Crow laws and the racially charged case against the Scottsboro boys. Later, he debated Malcolm X, stressing the importance of seeing the world’s various races as one big family.

Rustin first met King in 1956, when Rustin helped organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott. He educated MLK in Gandhian nonviolent protest principles and went on to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where King made his immortal “I had a dream” speech.

But Rustin’s homosexuality posed a problem: Some civil rights leaders took issue with it, while members of the U.S. government used Rustin’s sexuality—and his arrest in 1953 for a “sex perversion” offense—to undermine his effectiveness. Senator Strom Thurmond, in particular, blasted Rustin as a “Communist, draft-dodger, and homosexual” in 1963 and had his arrest file entered in the congressional record. 

Before views about homosexuality softened, much of Rustin’s accomplishments in the civil rights movement went unsung, though they are chronicled in the brilliant documentary Brother Outsider.

By the 1970s, Rustin began championing gay rights more directly: In a 1986 speech, “The New Niggers Are Gay,” he drew an explicit connection between the struggles of the black and LGBT communities:

“Today, blacks are no longer the litmus paper or the barometer of social change. Blacks are in every segment of society and there are laws that help to protect them from racial discrimination. The new ‘niggers’ are gays. It is in this sense that gay people are the new barometer for social change. The question of social change should be framed with the most vulnerable group in mind: gay people.”

Why Voting On Civil Rights Is A Lousy Idea

Marriage News Watch‘s Matt Baume discusses why putting civil rights ts to a popular vote, as politicians like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie seem desperate to do, is downright un-American.

“When the United States Supreme Court ended the ban on interracial marriage in 1967, 74% of Americans would have opposed that decision. And it’s been nearly a century since New Jersey put civil rights on the ballot, the last time being a 1915 referendum on allowing women to vote. Voters rejected that measure.”

9th Circuit to Rule Tomorrow on Release of Prop 8 Case Videotapes

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals announced on its website that it will be ruling tomorrow on the release of videotapes made of the civil bench trial in Perry v. Hollingsworth, one of two decisions anticipated in the Prop 8 case.


Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/#ixzz1lANSwI00

NH Governor John Lynch Vows to Veto Marriage Equality Repeal

In his State of the State address, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch vowed to veto any bill that would repeal same-sex marriage.

'Game Change'

Although John Heilemann and Mark Halperin's book Game Change focused on all the players in the 2008 presidential election, this new trailer for the HBO adaptation makes it clear the film focuses primarily on the McCain/Palin portion of the story.

Washington House Panel Advances Marriage Equality Bill in 7-6 Vote

The House Judiciary Committee approved its gay marriage bill on a party line vote, with seven Democrats voting for it, and six Republicans voting in opposition.

Three Republican amendments were rejected, including one that would have added private businesses and individuals, such as bakers and photographers, to the religious exemption in the measure that doesn’t require religious organizations or churches to perform marriages, and doesn’t subject them to penalties if they don’t marry gay or lesbian couples.

Senate Floor Vote Expected Today or Tomorrow.

Women for Santorum

Last week, Rick Santorum told Piers Morgan that rape victims should accept their babies as gifts from God: “I think the right approach is to accept this horribly created — in the sense of rape — but nevertheless a gift in a very broken way, the gift of human life, and accept what God has given to you.”