Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyJune 23rd, 2011
TODAY’S AGENDA (OURS):
New York Senate Vote on Marriage Equality (?): Albany, NY. Trying to predict when the New York state Senate will take up the marriage equality bill is like trying to predict when Amy Winehouse will make it through a whole concert sober. Today might be the day, but then again maybe not. There is talk that there are thirty-two votes available and that a compromise has been worked out, but there is no word yet on when — or even if — the measure will be brought to the floor for a vote. NOM is frantically lobbying to derail the bill, and as a measure of their desperation they’ve even pulled the “ex-gay” card. In an email blast last night, NOM targeted these Senators:
Please call and tell these 7 senators to vote no on the same-sex marriage bill. Marriage belongs to the people of New York, and it’s not just 62 senators, but every New Yorker who deserves to vote on marriage.
Stephen Saland (518) 455-2411
Andrew Lanza (518) 455-3215
Mark Grisanti (518) 455-3240
Greg Ball (518) 455-3111
John Flanagan (518) 455-2071
Joseph Addabbo (518) 455-2322
Shirley Huntley (518) 455-3531And if you have trouble getting through on the direct lines, call the Capitol Switchboard at (518) 455-2800 and ask for these 7 senators.
The last two are listed as “yes” votes for marriage equality. Saland and Grisanti are listed as undecided. Lanza is a “lean no” and Ball and Flanagan are both “no.”
Advocates for marriage equality are recommending calls to:
Empire Pride also wants all New Yorkers to call their senator’s office right now. Their simple click-to-call tool couldn’t be easier.
Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Anchorage, AK; Antwerp, Belgium; Augusta, GA; Barcelona, Spain; Baton Rouge, LA; Berlin, Germany; Casper, WY; Chicago, IL; Cleveland, OH; Columbia, SC (Black Pride); Dublin, Ireland; Durango, CO/Four Corners; Harlem, NY; Houston, TX; Knoxville, TN; Lexington, KY; Lisbon, Portugal; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Mexico City, DF; Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN; New Orleans, LA; New York, NY; Oklahoma City, OK; Omaha, NE; Oslo, Norway; Outer Banks, NC; Panama City, FL; Paris, France; Prince Albert, SA; San Francisco, CA; Santa Fe, NM; São Paulo, Brazil; St. Louis, MO; St. Petersburg, FL; St. Petersburg, Russia; Seattle, WA; Valencia, Spain and Wichita, KS.
TODAY’S AGENDA (THEIRS):
Ex-Gay “Family Intensive” Weekend: Memphis, TN. Love In Action is the Memphis-based ex-gay program which became famous when a teenager by the name of Zach posted on his MySpace blog that his parents were sending him away to an ex-gay youth program after he came out to them. He also posted the program’s rules that he would be forced to live under while locked away in the “therapy” program. The Exodus-affiliated program quickly became the focus of worldwide controversy and daily protests, as well as a documentary that premiered in San Francisco last month. “Love In Action” was investigated by the state of Tennessee for child abuse and for operating a separate unlicensed drug and alcohol treatment program. Love In Action eventually settled with the state and shut down their youth program.
Love in Action, however, is still in business. This weekend, Love In Action will host what they call a “Family Intensive Weekend” beginning today. Love In Action’s web site doesn’t disclose the cost, but when this program was first announced in 2007, the cost was $2000 for parents, $3000 if they brought their child along. Ex-gay survivor Peterson Toscano wrote about the effect that a similar program had on his parents. Remember, as we reported in the Kirk Murphy case, parents come under a lot of blame for their children’s sexuality. The victims aren’t just the kids. They include the entire family as well.
TODAY IN HISTORY:
Lawrence v. Texas: 2003.It was on this date in 2003 in which the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling striking down Texas’s sodomy law, and laws like it in thirteen other states. In the 6-3 decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority that the decision specifically overruled the 1986 Bowers v. Hardwick decision which upheld Georgia’s sodomy law. “Bowers was not correct when it was decided, and it is not correct today. It ought not to remain binding precedent. Bowers v. Hardwick should be and now is overruled.” Antonin Scalia wrote a scathing dissent, one part of which is very prescient given current court challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act:
If moral disapprobation of homosexual conduct is “no legitimate state interest” for purposes of proscribing that conduct…what justification could there possibly be for denying the benefits of marriage to homosexual couples exercising “the liberty protected by the Constitution”? Surely not the encouragement of procreation, since the sterile and the elderly are allowed to marry.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAY:
Alan Turing: 1912. It’s hard to imagine what the 21st century would look like without him. The English mathematician, logician, and cryptanalyst practically invented computer science when he formalized the idea of “algorithm” and “computation” with the Turing machine. During the Second World War, Turing worked for the famous Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, where he headed the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including the method of the “bombe,” an electromechanical machine that could determine the settings for Germany’s “unbreakable” Enigma machine. Turing’s efforts were instrumental in Germany’s ultimate defeat when the Enigma code was cracked.
But Turing’s heroism didn’t help him when he was arrested for homosexuality in 1952. Turing was given a choice between imprisonment or probation on the condition he underwent chemical castration via estrogen hormone injections. Turing chose the latter, and his conviction led to his security clearance being revoked. This effectively ruined both his career and reputation. On 8 June 1954, Turing’s cleaner found him dead, with a half-eaten apply laying beside his bed. An autopsy revealed that he died of cyanide poisoning. That apple was never tested for cyanide, but it is believed that this was how he ingested the fatal dose.
If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. PLEASE, don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).
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