In Ohio, men tell women whether or not to have an abortion

... or so a new law would have it.

Thanks to the every informative @JereKeys of www.JereKeys.com (who will be leaving and I will be at a loss for good information sources once he is gone). I'm just going to quote straight from the story and not comment, because I think the Pam's House Blenders are doing a fine job:

Led by Rep. John Adams, a group of state legislators have submitted a bill that would give fathers of unborn children a final say in whether or not an abortion can take place.

It's a measure that, supporters say, would finally give fathers a choice.

"This is important because there are always two parents and fathers should have a say in the birth or the destruction of that child," said Adams, a Republican from Sidney. "I didn't bring it up to draw attention to myself or to be controversial. In most cases, when a child is born the father has financial responsibility for that child, so he should have a say."

As written, the bill would ban women from seeking an abortion without written consent from the father of the fetus. In cases where the identity of the father is unknown, women would be required to submit a list of possible fathers. The physician would be forced to conduct a paternity test from the provided list and then seek paternal permission to abort.

Claiming to not know the father's identity is not a viable excuse, according to the proposed legislation. Simply put: no father means no abortion.

I think there is a distinct sector of society that honestly believes that the only real people are those in long-term monogamous marriages, and that shotgun weddings are the answer to all of life's sexual problems.

So much for that whole sexual revolution, and woman's reproductive rights movement we had.

Day of Decision Upon Us

The rumors are flying, and it's starting to look like we will the California Supreme Court's decision on Proposition 8 on Thursday, though we won't know for sure until tomorrow. Both Joe.My.God. and Pam's House Blend and reported rumors that barricades are being dropped off in the Castro of San Francisco in expectation of the decision.

... which, IMHO, does not bode well for us.

Keep an eye on the blogosphere tomorrow. The Day of Decision appears to be upon us.

For those with a short memory, Proposition 8 went back to the courts in arguments stating that a public vote cannot take away the civil rights of individuals -- that, since the court decided marriage is a civil right, a referendum cannot deny people civil rights. It would have been like people just deciding one day to vote on the legality of interracial marriage, and then denying that right to people. The court did not seem open to the idea of overturning Proposition 8, however; I remember a quote from that discussion from one of the Justices -- "Yea, but we're working under a new Constitution, now." We are waiting to hear whether Prop8 was a legal referendum or not.

Oh, burn.

Maine Senate Approves, Baldacci Considers

Making this quick...

The Maine Senate approved the equal marriage bill forwarded to it by the Jucidiary Committee in a 20-15 vote, even overcoming an attempt to add a referendum amendment to the bill. Then, later, Governor Baldacci who has been obsequious about his support, called one of the Pam's House Blend authors at home and indicated that he is considering signing the bill.

From PHB:

I [Baldacci] was extremely impressed by the arguments for both sides, but especially by the proponents.
They were very respectful- I liked that they turned their backs when they disagreed.

I was truly impressed by the people who spoke for the bill.

I was opposed to this for a long time, but people evolve, people change as time goes by...

At that point, he told me that civil rights sometimes take time to obtain.

I told him that I understood that all Mainers have an opinion regarding LD 1020 and while WE can all openly discuss them and many have already, HIS was the one opinion that had to be kept private and he HAS to keep quiet right now, as to let the legislative process play out without interference.

His response was that I was absolutely right.

I think, what we're seeing, is two things: one, people are starting to see that marriage for same-sex couples is not the end of the world, as some anticipated; and, two, that voting against it would put them on the wrong side of history.

Gathering Storm, indeed. Let's go, Maine!

Four best words out of Iowa today

Perhaps the most amazing words out of the ruling (available thanks to Pam's House Blend) today striking down the same-sex marriage ban in Iowa -- and legalizing equal marriage, to be enacted within three weeks.

A unanimous decision.

Wow. Thank you, Iowa.


Update: Ha! My friend Sarah S. on Facebook: "YAY! I live in a progressive state! I'm thinking about marrying a woman just because I can!" Oh, but don't forget to watch the fabulous blogosphere of the Christian right -- I have no doubt that many more posts like this one from Peter LaBarberawill be popping up amidst the jubilation.

Update: A joint statement has come out from the Iowa House Speaker and the Senator Majority Leader: "When all is said and done, we believe the only lasting question about today’s events will be why it took us so long. It is a tough question to answer because treating everyone fairly is really a matter of Iowa common sense and Iowa common decency. Today, the Iowa Supreme Court has reaffirmed those Iowa values by ruling that gay and lesbian Iowans have all the same rights and responsibilities of citizenship as any other Iowan." Hells, yea, Iowa!!! (Thanks to @queerunity)

DADT: And the saga goes on...

After the Obama administration delayed the retraction of Don't Ask Don't Tell, over 1000 retired military officers (read that: retired) sent a letter to the administration asking to keep banning gays from the military.

I think Pam's House Blend said it best, as they usually do:

My question -- why aren't all of these outraged officers signing on to a petition opposing the lowering of education and physical recruiting standards, or the enlistment of felons and gang members into their beloved military? Or what about the military's reluctance to deal with rapists in the ranks who terrorize female soldiers -- talk about unit cohesion!

Duh. Because gays are the evilest, most vile, awfulest people ever to walk to the planet.

HRC's Position on an Inclusive ENDA

Thanks to PamsHouseBlend...

HRC has changed its policy on supporting an inclusive ENDA -- one that protects gender identity and expression for the whole country. 

Their new policy:

It's the policy of HRC that the organization will only support an inclusive ENDA. In 2007 House leadership informed us that there were insufficient votes to pass an inclusive bill, so they decided to vote on a sexual orientation only bill. We made a one time exception to our policy in 2007 because we strongly believed that supporting this vote would do more to advance inclusive legislation. We will not support such a strategy again. We look forward to Congress sending President Obama a fully inclusive ENDA for his signature.

I've oscillated on this point; my initial statements drew a lot of criticism. I was one of the "support it slowly" argument-makers -- you know, "let's get this now and work on other things later." Right. I have since changed my mind, clearly. I am now a inclusive-only ENDA supporter.

I'll let you read Pam's above linked article and make decisions for yourself on the situation and the change in policy.

Gainesville (FL) Goes Through Article XII

From Pam's House Blend...

Gainesville, FL is getting a brand spanking new law to fight. Guess what it reads?

Amendment to City Charter Prohibiting the City from Providing Certain Civil Rights

Shall the City Charter Be Amended to prohibit the adoption or enforcement of ordinances, regulations, rules, or policies that provide protected status, preferences, or discrimination claims based on classification, characteristics, or orientations not recognized by the Florida Civil Rights Act. The act recognizes, race, color, creed, religion, gender, national origin, age, handicap, marital and familial status. Additionally, this amendment voids existing ordinances concerning sexual orientation, gender identity, and other ordinances inconsistent with this amendment.

The reason this caught my eye? Because Cincinnati fought this off -- and won -- in 2004. In fact, it looks suspiciously like the old law in Cin-Town. Which law? Famous Article XII:

“The City of Cincinnati …may not enact, adopt, enforce or administer any ordinance, regulation, rule or policy which provides that homosexual, lesbian, or bisexual orientation, status, conduct, or relationship constitutes, entitles or otherwise provides a person with the basis to have any claim of minority or protected status, quota preference or other preferential treatment.”

It didn't take the commentators long -- the first comment, actually -- to make the connection. And, of course, there's always Romer v. Evans, but does it apply, this time? But, apparently, that only applies to states, even though the SCOTUS tried to send the message to Cinci that this applies here, too.

But, we'll see.

Random Gay News Round-Up

...well, not really. Just a couple things this morning.

Because I'm a righteous and self-important queer blogger, imagine my enthusiasm when I read the piece in the Washington Post about the growing influence of gay bloggers on the political world. It focuses on the ever fabulous Pam's House Blend, but also mentions some other friends of this blog (including Bilerico):

In the past, someone like Spaulding would have been relegated to the sidelines. She doesn't work for national gay rights organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign or the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. She lives with her partner, Kate, an audiologist, in Durham, far from San Francisco, New York or Washington, where gay activism has been historically based. But now she's helping shape the agenda, one voice in a chorus of sometimes dissonant, sometimes harmonious, often in-your-face voices that is pushing established gay groups and redefining the meaning of grass-roots action in this new media age...

"For me, blogging has been about looking outside my own lens. If it wasn't for reading blogs, for example, I wouldn't know as much as I know now about transgender issues," Spaulding says. "At first I thought, 'I'm not transgender. This is not my issue.' But then you read about it, you make the connections and you realize that, yes, I'm a part of that, too."

It's an interesting article that has highlighted a lot of the stuff that has happened over the past few months amongst gay bloggers -- including the Rick Warren debacle and the JoinTheImpact movement. It's well done, over all.

And just a few things on marriage: the New York Times calls for an actual vote (preferably a vote in the affirmative) for equal marriage in Rhode Island. The same could be said for New York State. Illinois has an equal marriage bill introduced. And financial analysts predict that equal marriage in Maine could bring about $60million to the state's economy for same-sex nuptials. I feel like we're in a race for the first legislatively-passed equal marriage law.

Oh, and the Utah State Senator Buttars thing goes on... the ass. Someone is finally pointing out that the man is a distraction and taking away from real work. The same could be said for the entire legislature who, apparently, hates gays just so much.

US Military likes everyone...

...except the gays.

I think Pam Spaulding over at Pam's House Blend has this right.

Apparently, after allowing people with more felonies join the army, the US military is now allowing people with higher weights sign up to meet the demand for activities around the globe.

True story.

But still no homosexuals.

And probably not until 2010 ... or later.

God bless the USA.

A moment for Harvey Milk

From Pam's House Blend...

"Somewhere in Des Moines or San Antonio there is a young gay person who all the sudden realizes that he or she is gay; knows that if their parents find out they will be tossed out of the house, their classmates will taunt the child, and the Anita Bryant's and John Briggs' are doing their part on TV. And that child has several options: staying in the closet, and suicide.

And then one day that child might open the paper that says "Homosexual elected in San Francisco" and there are two new options: the option is to go to California, or stay in San Antonio and fight. Two days after I was elected I got a phone call and the voice was quite young. It was from Altoona, Pennsylvania. And the person said "Thanks".

And you've got to elect gay people, so that thousand upon thousands like that child know that there is hope for a better world; there is hope for a better tomorrow. Without hope, not only gays, but those who are blacks, the Asians, the disabled, the seniors, the us's: without hope the us's give up. I know that you can't live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. And you, and you, and you, and you have got to give them hope." 

-Harvey Milk, 1978

GAY STUFF: BLOGGING: Write to Marry Day, 10/29

Today is Write to Marry Day for bloggers across the country!!!! (Thanks to JereKeys for reminding me, and thanks to Pam's House Blend for organizing this, and don't forget to check out my previous posting on the issues.)

Now, I'm not one for marriage. It doesn't fit within my personal ideals of life. In fact, I'm kinda centrally anti-marriage as a heteronormative institution that is based on undermining women and should be destroyed from the get-go, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't allow people to shackle themselves if they want.

I kid, but only a little.

Seriously, marriage isn't my thing. Hell, monogamy isn't my think. Hell, dating isn't even my thing. That doesn't mean it isn't other people's. . . and the ongoing laws making the practice of same-sex illegal are nothing more than bigoted religious crap with no basis in reality except for the twisted nightmares of the far right.

And, in the end, I'm far more anti-right wing than anti-marriage.

I don't think this is going to make the "best of the web 2008" awards anytime soon :-).

There's some crazy stuff on YouTube about Prop 8 in California. First, one from the crazies, one of the sickest videos I have ever seen:



And then one from the good guys:



I love Dave. :-)

ELECTION 2008: Things have gotten ugly...

Do they think this will help?

Thanks to Pam's House Blend...

ELECTION 2008: What does CHANGE stand for?

Thanks to Pam's House Blend...

A Florida middle school teacher faced disciplinary action after using the word "nigger" to describe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, WJHG's Kristy Wolski reported. 

the 7th grade teacher, Greg Howard, asked his students what "change" stood for in relation to the Obama campaign and proceeded to write out the acronym "come help a nigger get elected."

The school suspended Howard without pay for 10 days and removed him from his position at the school."That shouldn't happen," said Billy Delahunt, an Obama supporter. 

"Because they're there to learn, they're not there to discriminate."

Real clever guy. And this on the back of the drunken Hillary supporter...

I'm a drunken Hillary supporter, and I'm NEVER like that.

GAY STUFF: Sick Treatment of Transperson

Heard about this from Leslie last night, comes from Pam's House Blend (now blogrolled), via WMC-TV in Memphis:

The tape clearly shows a Memphis police officer walk over to Johnson - a transsexual - and hit her in the face several times.

"Actually he was trying to get me to come over to where he was, and I responded by telling him that wasn't my name - that my mother didn't name me a 'faggot' or a 'he-she,' so he got upset and approached me. And that's when it started," Johnson said.

Johnson said the officer was attempting to call her over to be fingerprinted. She said she chose not respond to the derogatory name the officer called her.

"He said, 'I'm telling you, I'm giving you one more chance to get up.' So I'm looking at him, and he started putting his gloves on, and seen him take out a pair of handcuffs," Johnson said.

The officer hit Johnson several times with the handcuffs wrapped around his knuckles. In the video, you can see the flash of the metal. The tape shows another officer holding Johnson's shoulders as she tries to protect herself.

WHAT WHAT WHAT?

This is the statement from the Shelby County Sheriff's Department:

As it relates to the February incident that occurred at the jail facility, the police department has been conducting a thorough internal investigation. The details surrounding the complainant, witnesses and law enforcement officials’ statements are part of an ongoing investigation and can not be released at this time.

As a standard departmental policy, a full, impartial hearing will be held with the accused officer.

Memphis Police can confirm the work status of the two primary officers involved in this complaint. Officer J. Swain was a probationary officer and has been separated from the Memphis Police Department. Officer B. McRae has been placed on non-enforcement status pending an administrative hearing.

And here's the video: