Box Turtle Bulletin

The Daily Agenda for Saturday, May 21

TODAY’S AGENDA:
The Rapture: The Kingdom of God. Today is the day of the Rapture, according to Harold Camping, who has been plastering billboards all over the place (even in Malawi) announcing the event. The rapture is expected to take place at 6:00 p.m. in whatever time zone you happen to be in. Sort of the way we watched fireworks around the world on New Years’ Eve, 2000.

Now, a lot of people are running around with their hair afire saying that today is supposed to be the end of the world. Relax, people. A little rapture here and there does not mean that it’s the end of the world. All that happens today is that there will be a great earthquake and the remains of the all the believers (and not homosexual (PDF: 380KB/12 pages)) who have ever lived will be instantly transformed into glorified spiritual bodies to be forever with God. The bodies of all the unsaved people (and homosexuals) will be thrown out upon the ground to be shamed. Then the Son of the Living God will save his devoted followers who are spotless and without blemish (and not homosexual) to meet him in heaven in order to protect them from the Great Tribulation.

Now, it may seem like the end of the world when that happen, but it’s not. You see, after the rapture, the One True God will begin executing judgments against unbelievers and homosexuals during a period called the Great Tribulation. At the end of the Tribulation the nations of the New World Order will join together and, possibly led by homosexuals, will attack Israel. But that’s when Jesus Christ will physically return to lead the armies of heaven to a mighty victory at the Battle of Armeggedon, where His armies will destroy all unbelievers and homosexuals. The dead will rise again (and, I’m not clear on this, but I think this includes the bodies that were thrown upon the ground during the rapture) and Christ will judge all who have ever lived, giving rewards to some and punishment to others. Those who are condemned for destruction (i.e., homosexuals, etc.) will be cast into the Lake of Fire. After that, God will destroy heaven and Earth because they have been polluted by sin and homosexuals. He will create a new heaven and a new Earth, put those who were saved (i.e., not homosexuals) on the new Earth, and rule it forever.

That happens on October 21, 2011. So, you know, there’s still time.

Harvey Milk Day: San Francisco. The Harvey Milk Foundation kicks off a two-day celebration today at the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy (19th Street between Collingwood and Diamond). It all starts with a hotcakes breakfast at 10:00 a.m., and continues with at street carnival for the kids and a kid-friendly drag show (That’ll set our opponents to chattering!) beginning at 6:00 p.m.  Yeah, I know. Same time as the rapture. Someone must have forgotten the check the calendar.

Other Harvey Milk Day Observances Today: Austin, TX; Palmdale, CA; Santa Cruz, CA; and Sarasota, FL.

AIDS Walks This Weekend: Buffalo, NY and Raleigh/Durham, NC.

Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Long Beach, CA; Nantes, France, and Tours, France.

TODAY IN HISTORY:
White Night: 1979. On this date, Dan White was found guilty in the shooting  death of San Francisco Supervisor and LGBT advocate Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. Unfortunately, he was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter instead of first-degree murder, and sentenced to a paltry seven years in prison. (He would only serve five.) The jury bought the defense arguments that White was suffering from diminished capacity due to depression and an overload of junk food, a defense that has since been derided as the “twinkie defense.”

The gay community was already angry with the police and fire department, which had raised money for White’s defense. That anger boiled over when the verdict was announced, leading to rioting at City Hall. Police officers — their badges were covered with black tape to prevent identification — broke up the riot. Later that night, San Francisco police staged a retaliatory raid on a gay bar in the Castro, shouting “”dirty cocksuckers” and “sick faggots” while attacking patrons and shattering a large plate glass window. For the next two hours, police officers indiscriminately attacked passers by on the street. Later that night, a freelance reporter overheard a group of police officers celebrating at a downtown bar. “We were at City Hall the day [the killings] happened and we were smiling then,” one officer said. “We were there tonight and we’re still smiling.” Gay leaders refused to apologize for the riot at city hall, and an investigation into police misconduct in the Castro and City Hall ended without any charges being filed.

CT Adds Gender Identity To Hate Crime Law: 2004. Connecticut governor John Rowland signs legislation which adds gender identity to the state’s hate crime law. The act makes Connecticut the eight state in the nation to provide hate crime protections for gender identity.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Raymond Burr: 1917. He started out as a stage actor, landing on Broadway in 1941 for Crazy with the Heat. It didn’t take long for him to switch to the silver screen for the film noir classic Raw Deal. He was adept at playing the heavies, as an aggressive prosecutor in A Place In the Son, and as the murder suspect in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. But he is best know for his two long-running television roles, in Perry Mason(1957-1966) and Ironside (1967 -1975). Like most gay actors, Burr rarely spoke about his private life. His official biography listed three marriages, but later investigations could only verify the second one. What has been verified is that Burr enjoyed a long 35-year relationship with his partner, Robert Benevides, who he met on the set of Perry Mason. Benevides was not only his life-long partner until Burr’s death in 1993, but together they owned an orchid business(orchids were one of Burr’s passions) and then a vineyard. Benevides still operates the the Raymond Burr vineyards.

Frank Kameny: 1925. Easily one of the giants of the American gay rights movement, Frank Kameny fell into it when he was fired from his job as an astronomer with the Army Map Service in 1957 because of his homosexuality. Kameny took on the U.S. Civil Service Commission and argued his appeal all the way up to the Supreme Court, which refused to hear his case. They missed out on quite case. Kameny wrote his own petition to the Supreme Court, in which he denounced the government’s ban on hiring gay people as “a stench in the nostrils of decent people, an offense against morality, an abandonment of reason, an affront to human dignity, an improper restraint upon proper freedom and liberty, a disgrace to any civilized society, and a violation of all that this nation stands for.”1925.

Throughout his lifetime, Kameny placed himself in the middle of many first in the gay rights movement. He founded the Washington D.C. chapter of the Mattachine Society in 1961, a group which distinguished itself for its aggressiveness. In 1965. Kameny helped to organize the first gay rights protest in front the White House, the Pentagon, the U.S. Civil Service Commission, and Philadelphia’s Independence Hall. In 1968, he created the slogan“Gay is Good,” and in 1971, he was the first openly gay candidate for Congress. During the same period, he was on the front lines of the battle to get the APA to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. The federal ban on hiring gay people was finally lifted in 1975.

Kameny is now recognized as a national treasure; his papers are now a part of the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian holds several of Kameny’s picket signs and other artifacts in its collection. His home is now recognized as a D.C. Historic Landmark, and in 2009, he received an official apology for his firing from the Office of Personnel Management.

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).

The Daily Agenda For Friday, May 20

Today is Emancipation Day in Florida, an unofficial commemoration of the day in which Major General Edward McCook read the Emancipation Proclamation from the steps of the Knott House in downtown Tallahassee on May 20, 1865. The Knott House, which served as temporary Union headquarters after the Civil War,  is now a museum and hosts an annual re-enactment of the reading.

TODAY’S AGENDA:
Harvey Milk Day Observances Today: Oceanside, CA; San Diego, CA; and Sarasota, FL.

AIDS Walks This Weekend: Buffalo, NY and Raleigh/Durham, NC.

Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Long Beach, CA; Nantes, France; and Tours, France.

L-R: Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo

TODAY IN HISTORY:
AIDS Virus Identified: 1983. In a paper published in the US journal Science, a team from France’s Pasteur Institute, led by Luc Montagnier, described a suspect virus which had been isolated in a patient who had died of AIDS. Montagnier’s groundbreaking work led to the determination by US researcher Robert Gallo in 1984 that the virus was indeed the cause of AIDS. Gallo named his virus HTLV-III, and promptly claimed credit for discovering the virus. But the rest of the world began calling it the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV. A three year acrimonious spat between Gallo and Montagnier ensued over who was the first to discover it. The dispute was finally settled after intensive negotiations resulting in both parties being awarded credit, and everyone lived happily ever after. As it were.

Romer v. Evans: 1996. On this date, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the landmark decision striking down Colorado’s Amendment 2 to the state constitution which would have disenfranchised that state’s LGBT citizens from the right to petition their state and local governments for laws banning discrimination. Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote:To the contrary, the amendment imposes a special disability upon those persons alone. Homosexuals are forbidden the safeguards that others enjoy or may seek without constraint.”

(Amendment 2) is at once too narrow and too broad. It identifies persons by a single trait and then denies them protection across the board. The resulting disqualification of a class of persons from the right to seek specific protection from the law is unprecedented in our jurisprudence.”

As for the argument that the constitutional ban on anti-discrimination laws was meant to deny LGBT people “special rights,” Kennedy wrote, “To the contrary, the amendment imposes a special disability upon those persons alone. Homosexuals are forbidden the safeguards that others enjoy or may seek without constraint.” Justices John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O’Connor, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer joined Kennedy in the majority opinion.

Dissenting justice Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justice Clarence Thomas, considered Colorado’s attempt to disenfranchise an entire class of people “unimpeachable under any constitutional doctrine hitherto pronounced.” Pointing to the Bowers v Hardwick, the 1986 Supreme Court Decision which declared that sodomy laws were constitutional, Scalia wrote, “If it is rational to criminalize the conduct, surely it is rational to deny special favor and protection to those with a self-avowed tendency or desire to engage in the conduct.” Seven years later, the Court would correct that contradiction in Lawrence v Texas, which finally struck down anti-sodomy laws in the 13 states where such laws were still in effect.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Cher: 1946. It’s hard to believe that beginning today, Cher qualifies for Medicare. She started out as one-half of the husband-and-wife singing duo Sonny & Cher with their 1965 hit, “I Got You Babe.” After a string of hits and a popular television series, their marriage ended and Cher’s solo singing career took off. She also became an Academy Award winning actress, winning a Best Actress award for her role in 1987’s Moonstruck. In 2002, Cher began her Farewell Tour, after which she said she would retire from show business. The tour lasted three years, and at some point she re-named it the “Never Can  Say Goodbye” Tour. But in 2005, she finally retired the show and retired herself. Then she retired from retirement in February 2008 for a show at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas which lasted until February 2011. Her most recent single from the Burlesque soundtrack is fitting: “You Haven’t Seen The Last Of Me.”

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).

Rhode Island civil unions pass the House

The Rhode Island House has voted on civil unions and the bill passes 62 to 11.

Democrats voted 56 yes; 8 no; 1 not voting
Republicans voted 6 yes; 3 no; 1 not voting

The bill will pass now go to the Senate where its passage is certain and then it will be signed by the Governor. In the immortal words of Gavin Newsom, it’s going to happen whether you like it or not.

In our frustration with this second class solution in place of what was promised, let’s keep in mind that only three years ago we would have danced in the streets tonight in celebration of a civil unions victory. And come July 1, many gay couples in Rhode Island will have legal rights and security for their relationship that they do not have today.

Why I oppose the effort to get Orbitz to cease advertising on Fox News

A collection of gay and progressive groups have banded together to demand that Orbitz Travel not advertise on the Fox News Channel. The coalition consists of:

• Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
• Courage Campaign (a multi-issue advocacy organization seeking progressive change in California)
• Equality Matters (a new media and communications initiative in support of gay equality)

Here is the reasoning:

Fox News has a conservative bias. It tends not to be pro-gay but to instead give a voice to those, like Bill O’Reilly, who are conservative and do not speak out as favorably on gay rights issues as we would wish. Therefore they should not receive any ad revenue from companies that want gay customers.

Fox News demonstrated an indefensible bias in its coverage of core issues for the LGBT community. An analysis of coverage on everything from gay marriage to the repeal of DADT to gay individuals supports a conclusion that Fox’s coverage is driven by a political agenda and cannot be considered an objective news source.

Or, as the more histrionic dropfox.com put it:

Fox News gave Mike Huckabee his own show despite a history of comparing homosexuality to drug abuse, incest, pedophilia, and necrophilia. Huckabee has repeatedly used his Fox platform to campaign against gay marriage, even insultingly suggesting that marriage equality poses a threat to stable society.

Bill O’ Reilly has repeatedly used his popular and prime time show to warn against the “dangers” of allowing gay people near children, to assert that same-sex marriage could lead to nuptials with turtles, ducks or dolphins, and to baselessly claim that implementing a hate crimes bill could protect pedophiles.

First, it’s pretty clear that those who are leading this campaign have never ever actually watched any of the programs about which they complain.

Their depiction of Bill O’Reilly, for example, is so far from reality that it embarrasses me for my community. While O’Reilly is by no means an advocate for our community and opposes basic equality, he has also advocated for the end of DADT, has spoken favorably at times about civil unions, and conditionally supports gay adoption. He is not “progressive” in his views, but they are not outside the realm of reasonable political positioning.

O’Reilly is prejudiced, biased, and opinionated, but his show also features regular guests, like Margaret Hoover, who use that time to argue in favor of marriage equality and other pro-gay positions. And I would argue that more conservative families have been exposed to pro-gay arguments – made by conservatives – through The O’Reilly Factor than by any other venue.

The sort of caracatures that this coalition set up are best left for the Peter LaBarberas and Linda Harveys of the world, not for organizations which purport to be advocating for accurate portrayal of gay people or for equality for all.

But I don’t think the anti-gay defamation or marriage equality really have much at all to do with this campaign. These organizations don’t like Fox’s perspective or viewpoint – in general – and want to silence the network. The gay angle is just convenient. So they are seeking to pressure a gay-supportive company to stop advertising with Fox (and you can be sure that it won’t stop with Orbitz).

And this campaign cares nothing for the fact that at least a third of gay Americans are not “progressive”. While these openly gay Americans may object to statements made on Fox, they do share many of their underlying values and perspectives. But that is ignored.

“You can’t appeal both to gay customers and conservative customers!” this campaign tells Orbitz, “so you must choose what kind of customers you want!”

And that is the sort of stupid, hard pressure, arrogant nonsense that only feeds anti-gay activists with the ammunition that they need to portray our community as intolerant, demanding, and totalitarian. Because this tactic IS intolerant, demanding, and totalitarian.

If we disagree with O’Reilly – and we do – then let’s challenge his views. Let’s demand that he retract extremist positions. And let’s inform his specific advertisers of where he is taking positions or making statements that are offensive and based in prejudice and fear.

But demanding that those who like us must also hate those we hate has not been an effective strategy since sixth grade. And frankly, if we go down that path we may find ourselves losing more friends than they do. Most successful business people don’t respond well to bullies.

Jennings to leave education department

Before there was “It Gets Better”, there was the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Educators Network. And before Dan Savage used the internet and airwaves to reach kids to tell them to just hold on for a while longer, Kevin Jennings worked to set up places on campus where kids could be safe from bullying and where teachers and others could give help and support.

This has made Kevin Jennings one of the favorite targets of anti-gay activists. Homophobia cannot survive without reinforcement and there is no message more detrimental to the goals of those who seek to persecute children into compliance with social and religious demands than the message that they are okay as they are.

So when President Obama appointed Jennings to the Education Department’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, they went apoplectic. Jennings “has played an integral role in promoting homosexuality and pushing a pro-homosexual agenda in America’s schools—an agenda that runs counter to the values that many parents desire to instill in their children.” Or, in other words, how can Mommy and Daddy raise someone to despise gay people if the President appoints one of them there perverts?

And besides there is that tale from decades ago about how Jennings was unsure of what to say to a kid named “Brewster.” So, yeah, that proves something or other and justifies the – frankly shocking – level of contempt expressed towards the man.

Obama ignored the cries for Jennings’ firing and, for the most part, the raging animus has now leveled off to a simmer of ill will. But it seems that after two years, Jennings has had enough.

It has been an honor to serve in the Obama Administration and specifically on Secretary [Arne] Duncan’s leadership team at the Department of Education. I am incredibly excited to return to the nonprofit sector by joining the Be the Change team and working on issues like promoting public service and increasing economic opportunity, the kinds of critical challenges we must solve if America is to continue to thrive in the 21st century.

I wish Jennings well.

Uganda Parliament Spokesperson: Anti-Gay Bill Has Not Been Revived

From Warren Throckmorton:

In contrast to reports attributed to the BBC (at 14:20) that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill will soon be taken up by Uganda’s new Parliament, a parliamentary spokeswoman denied today that any action has been considered. When asked about the BBC report that the Ninth Parliament had inherited three bills, including the anti-gay bill, parliamentary spokewoman, Helen Kawesa said, “I don’t know where that news is coming from. No one has said anything here about it.”

Kawesa said the Ninth Parliament was just getting started, and elected Rebbecca Kadaga to the post of Speaker, the first woman to hold that position in Uganda’s history. Kawesa said that bills will not be considered during this initial period when committees are being formed and chairs of those committes are appointed. She also confirmed that no motion to re-introduce or continue bills had been made.

The BBC’s Africa Service reported earlier today that the Anti-Homosexuality Bill had been revived in Uganda’s 9th Parliament. Throckmorton got additional confirmation that the bill has not been revived from Stephen Tashobya, former chair of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee for the prior Parliament.

The situation however remains fluid, but as the BBC report initially stated (and is now confirmed by Daily Monitor) the new Parliament’s highest priority is a bill responding to the nationwide riots which have sprung up over the past month. The bill would amend the constitution to allow the government to ban public meetings and to hold people in detention for six months without bail for “economic sabotage.”

The Daily Agenda for Thursday, May 19

Ugandan MP David Bahati (AP Photo/Ronald Kabuubi)

TODAY’S AGENDA:
Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” Bill Returns: Kampala. According to a BBC Africa Network Report, today’s opening of Uganda’s 9th Parliament has brought with it the revival of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. There had been talk of a procedure by which the new Parliament may take up unfinished business from the old Parliament. If this report is correct, then it appears that this procedure has been invoked. Stay tuned.

Civil Unions Vote: Rhode Island. The Rhode Island House is scheduled to vote on a watered-down civil unions bill today. The bill is very controversial — marriage equality supporters say it’s a second-class step, while anti-gay opponents decry any step toward recognizing gay relationships in any form. The move toward civil unions was seen by many on the both sides as an unacceptable compromise, but it cleared the House Judiciary Committee by a strong 9-3 vote.

EQCA Town Hall: San Francisco. Equality California will host a town hall meeting in San Francisco to discuss whether we should wait for the courts to restore the freedom to marry — a decision which could have a nationwide impact — or whether Californians should try to overturn Prop. 8 through a ballot measure in 2012. The town hall will take place this evening at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market St. from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Habitat for Humanity Pride Build: Montgomery Co., MD. Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County (MD) is kicking off the inaugural Pride Build. There will be a cocktail reception and fundraiser at the home of Jeffrey Slavin, Mayor of the Town of Somerset and Pride Build Steering Committee Member this evening from, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Please click here to register. There’s more information about Pride Build here.

AIDS Walks This Weekend: Buffalo, NY; Raleigh/Durham, NC.

Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Long Beach, CA; Nantes, France; Tours, France.

TODAY IN HISTORY:
Oscar Wilde Released from Prison: 1897. This date in history ended a six-year ordeal for Oscar Wilde. In 1891, he was denounced as a homosexual by the Marquess of Queensbury. Wilde, who was involved with the marquess’ son, Alfred Douglass, sued the Marquess for libel but lost the case when evidence supported the marquess’ allegations. Because homosexuality was still considered a crime in England, that evidence led to Wilde’s arrest. His first trial resulted in a hung jury, but a second jury in 1895 sentenced him to two years of hard labor. Wilde was imprisoned in Pentonville and then Wandsworth prisons in London. The regime consisted of “hard labour, hard fare and a hard bed.” Ill with dysentery and weakened from hunger, Wilde collapsed during Chapel, bursting his right ear drum. He spent two months in the infirmary, and his health never fully recovered.

He was later transferred to Reading prison, where he wrote a 50,000 word letter to Douglass. He wasn’t allowed to send the letter, but he was permitted to take it with him when he was released. The letter, since named De Profundis was published in 1962’s Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde. It reads, it part:

When first I was put into prison some people advised me to try and forget who I was. It was ruinous advice. It is only by realising what I am that I have found comfort of any kind. Now I am advised by others to try on my release to forget that I have ever been in a prison at all. I know that would be equally fatal. It would mean that I would always be haunted by an intolerable sense of disgrace, and that those things that are meant for me as much as for anybody else – the beauty of the sun and moon, the pageant of the seasons, the music of daybreak and the silence of great nights, the rain falling through the leaves, or the dew creeping over the grass and making it silver – would all be tainted for me, and lose their healing power, and their power of communicating joy. To regret one’s own experiences is to arrest one’s own development. To deny one’s own experiences is to put a lie into the lips of one’s own life. It is no less than a denial of the soul.

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).

BBC Africa Report: Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” Bill Is Back

A reader from Uganda wrote in to say that he heard a report from BBC Network Africa’s Joshua Male saying that three bills from the 8th Parliament have been carried over to the 9th, which convenes today. Two of the three bills, according to this report, are the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, and the similarly contentious Marriage and Divorce Bill. (Our reader didn’t catch the third bill.) We are still seeking confirmation. Stay tuned.

Update: I just listened to Joshua Male’s report on BBC Network Africa which is available online. His report said, in part:

The 9th Parliament has inherited three controversial bills that form part of its deliberations. They include the Anti-Homosexuality Bill which was shoved at the eleventh hour of the 8th Parliament, the Marriage and Divorce Bill which, among other things, would criminalize marital rape, widow inheritance [sic], in addition to providing for women’s property rights and rights to negotiate sex including seeking divorce on grounds of the man’s impotence or the size of their sexual organ. Another controversial bill is the one that seeks to enact more stringent laws for the media.

The report goes on to say that a new anti-rioting law will be the new Parliament’s first priority.

Update 5/18: It now appears that the BBC reporter either jumped the gun or was speaking to an unreliable source.

Minnesota’s marriage ban amendment moves to House floor

From the timesunion.com

The Rules Committee of the Minnesota House has narrowly approved a floor vote on the constitutional gay marriage amendment.

The committee voted 13-12 Wednesday to put the issue before the full House. The committee’s Republican majority voted in favor, with one defection from Rep. Tim Kelly of Red Wing. All 11 committee Democrats opposed the measure to put the definition of marriage in Minnesota’s Constitution to a statewide vote in 2012.

The vote is likely to be held tomorrow. While there is a Republican majority, there is still a chance that this could fail. Kelly is the second Republican to express opposition to the amendment and if only three or four more find their conscience (or predict the future cost of this vote) then a protracted battle in the media might be avoided.

And there is a potential bright lining to this cloud. Should this go to the voters, polls suggest that we may well win.

And I also believe that the Republican Party in Minnesota is taking a huge gamble. They ran on the economy but now are pushing a social agenda that is increasingly being perceived as punitive, cruel, and bigoted. I believe that in the next election cycle this vote will be featured in television ads that portray these Republicans as out of touch with their constituents and as beholding to theocrats and special interest groups.

What we need is a gay politician

The disappointment in Rhode Island illustrates one of the problems that our community has in trying to achieve our goals of equality and fairness: legislators who are gay do not represent our community.

My congressional district is majority Hispanic. And they have elected a Hispanic congressman whom they expect to represent them and to look after their specific interests. My congressman came out of the Hispanic community, first established his name there, and gradually proved himself and gained the respect and support of his community. He does have other interests and agenda, but he knows his base and he knows that if he fails to represent his community’s interests then they’ll replace him with someone who will.

This is a typical pattern for minority communities and minority representation.

But it is not at all typical of politicians who are gay. Take, for example, Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox (AP):

“I believe they have a higher expectation of me,” Fox said, because of his sexual orientation. “I think it’s also people that want this badly, that may not understand the process as much. … When they say ‘Oh we’ve now got a gay speaker of the House, now anything is possible.'”

Fox, 49, has served in the legislature for nearly 20 years and came out in 2004 while addressing a gay marriage rally. But he seldom talks publicly about his sexual orientation.

Fox did not come out of the community and does not represent the community. Fox came out of the closet.

To Gordon Fox, the gay community is “they”, a group of people with whom he decided to associate in his 40’s. Fox has made his political career despite his orientation, by keeping it unspoken, by seeing it as a liability.

I do believe Gordon Fox when he says that he is disappointed. I believe him when he says that he wants to achieve marriage equality. But for Rep. Fox, gay rights are not and never will be his highest priority. He will never be willing to give up other issues, pay the political capital, or make our community’s needs his only agenda.

Because Gordon Fox owes us nothing. We did not create him or empower him or elect him to represent us. His loyalty is to a party structure, to his district, and to his fellow legislators who gave him his position. He would like to help us, but not at the cost of those to whom he owes his success.

I appreciate those politicians who are come out; I really do. I recognize that they are more receptive to our issues, that they can experience some sense of kinship. But they are allies, not representatives of our community.

And what our community needs at this time is not more politicians who are gay. What we really need now is a gay politician.

Gays Are Bringing It On

The rapture, that is.

If you haven’t done so already, mark your calendar for May 21.

Rhode Island Civil Unions Includes Strange Reciprocity Clause

Yesterday, we noted that civil unions were voted out of committee and scheduled for a vote on the House floor Thursday. LGBT advocates see civil unions as a setback after having been assured this year that the legislature in Providence would take up full marriage equality, and the state’s LGBT groups are backing away from supporting this new legislation.

And for good reason. The race to water down Rhode Island’s civil unions bill has begun. Mike Airhart points out that the latest draft civil-union legislation appears to withhold recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states. Oddly, it does recognize civil unions from other states. The previous draft recognized “A civil union, or a substantially similar legal relationship, legally entered into a another jurisdiction.” The current draft strikes the “substantially similar” clause and recognizes only civil unions.

Which puts LGBT new residents and visitors to Rhode Island in a peculiar position. Rhode Island will recognize a couple joined in a civil union from New Jersey, but married couples from just a few miles across the border in Connecticut and Massachusetts will be legal strangers to each other.

The Daily Agenda for Wednesday, May 18

TODAY’S AGENDA:
Marriage Ban Vote: Minnesota. The Minnesota House Rules and Administration Committee will meet at 8:30 AM CDT in the State Office Building to consider SF1308, the proposed constitutional ban on marriage equality. The committee is expected to move the bill to the House floor for a vote by the full House tomorrow. The bill cleared the Senate last Wednesday. If it passes the house, the proposed amendment will go before the voters in 2012.

Immigration Strategy Meeting: New York, NY. Immigration Equality will host a private meeting today with representatives from a number of LGBT advocacy groups to discuss strategies for keeping bi-nationals together. The issue arose following the decision by US Attorney General Eric Holder to vacate a Board of Immigration Appeals decision to deport a gay Irishman whose U.S. partner is prohibited from sponsoring because of the Defense of Marriage Act. A spokesman for Immigration Equality explained, “There has been enormous attention focused on our work surrounding LGBT bi-national families recently, and many groups and individuals have expressed an interest in that work. We are bringing a group of those allies together for an off-the-record discussion about how to ensure we win that campaign as quickly as possible, and end the discrimination those families are facing.”

AIDS Walks This Weekend: Buffalo, NY; Raleigh/Durham, NC.

Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Long Beach, CA; Nantes, France; Tours, France.

Jack Baker and James McConnell applying for a marriage license in Minneapolis.

TODAY IN HISTORY:
Marriage In Minnesota: 1970. Today, there is a push on in the Minnesota legislature to put a marriage ban on the ballot. It turns out that marriage has been a hot topic there for more than forty years. Mike McConnell met Jack Backer in 1966 on a blind date at a Halloween party in Oklahoma when they were both 24-year-old grad students. On Baker’s 25th birthday, they became “betrothed,” as they put it, in a private ceremony. They moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where they met activists Barbara Gittings and Frank Kameny. “That’s what lit our fires of pride,” recalled McConnell in Joyce Murdoch and Deb Price’s Courting Justice: Gay Men And Lesbians V. The Supreme Court. “These fine people were willing to say, ‘Look, I’m as good as anybody else.’ That’s all I needed to hear.”

In April, 1970. McConnell accepted a job at the University of Minnesota’s library and and Baker enrolled as a first year law student. Three weeks later, on this date in 1970, the couple applied for a marriage license in Minneapolis. Their presence caused a minor stir among nervous office workers. Baker told them, “If there’s any legal hassle, we’re prepared to take it all the way to the Supreme Court. This is not a gimmick.” There were legal hassles. Not only were the denied a license, but the university fired McConnell when news of their application hit the papers.

A federal judge blocked McConnell’s firing. He called the episode “rather bizarre, but concluded that “An [sic] homosexual is after all a human being and a citizen…. He is as much entitled to the protection and benefits of the laws… as others.” Unfortunately, that decision was reversed on appeal, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up the case.

Meanwhile a state judge, ruling on the marriage case itself, sided with county officials and ordered them not to issue a license. While McConnell and Baker appealed that decision, McConnell legally adopted Baker in August 1971, which allowed them at least some of the benefits of marriage (inheritance, medical decision-making, even reduced tuition for Baker) and the two were married in a private ceremony a month later by Methodist ministers. But in October, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in Baker v. Nelson that state law prohibits same-sex marriage. The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the appeal “for want of a substantial federal question,” and Baker v. Nelson became established precedent.

The couple are still together in  Minneapolis, where McConnell works as a librarian and Baker is retired from his law practice.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Patrick Dennis: 1921. His 1955 novel, Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade, based on growing up with his real life Aunt, Mame Dennis, became one of the best-selling books of the 20th century. It remained  on the New York Times bestseller list for 112 weeks, and became the basis for the movie Auntie Mame in 1958 starring Rosalind Russel. But that wasn’t fabulous enough. It went on to become a Broadway musical in 1966 starring Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur. From there it became a Hollywood musical starring Lucille Ball and Bea Arthur. Mame’s outrageous main character defined camp. Mame’s commitment to imagination and style can best be summed up in her most famous line: “Life is a banquet, and most poor sons of bitches are starving to death. Live!”

Dennis married in 1948 and had two children. He struggled with his bisexuality and was said to have been a fixture in Greenwich Village. He tried to commit suicide at one point, and after years of leading a double life, he decided to leave his family after he had fallen in love with another man. By the 1970s, his novels fell out of favor and out of print. His caviar tastes and extravagant nature, not unlike those of his quasi-fictional Mame, soon had him flat broke. He began a second career as a butler, and a rather anonymous one at that. He worked at the estate of Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds, where it is said that his employers had no idea who he really was.

Top: Don Bachardy and Christopher Isherwood. Bottom: Isherwood sitting for Bachardy

Don Bachardy: 1934. He met writer Christopher Isherwood on Valentine’s day when he was eighteen and Isherwood was 48, and they remained together as partners until Isherwood’s death in 1986. Bachardy still lives in the house they shared together in Santa Monica. It’s a shame that virtually every biography about Bachardy starts with that introduction because he is a talented painter in his own right. He studied at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and the Slade School of Art in London. His first one-man exhibition was held in 1961 at London’s Redfern Gallery. Most of his work is portraiture, and several of his sketches appeared in Isherwood’s novels.

If Bachardy is sometimes overshadowed by his relationship with Isherwood, he seems to have come to terms with it. But it did pose problems between them earlier in their relationship. During a particularly difficult period when Bachardy was studying in London, they almost broke up. Isherwood imagined what it would be like to live without Bachardy, and wrote A Single Man in which Bachardy’s character was already dead before the novel began. If you know the novel’s story, the result is not a happy one. Bachardy and Isherwood remained together for 33 years, and their relationship became an integral part of each other’s art. When Isherwood was dying of cancer, he continued to sit for Bachardy’s portraits. “Chris was in a lot of pain towards the end,” he told The Sunday Times. “But he had sat for me so often over the years, and I knew this was something we could still do together. Each day, I could be with him intensely for hours on end.”

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).

Bloomberg’s single issue advocacy

Mayor Bloomberg flew to Albany today to lobby Republican New York State Senators to vote for marriage equality. The New York Times wrote about his trip.

I just got goose bumps.

The visit by Mr. Bloomberg, who has been among the biggest donors to Senate Republicans in recent years, came as lawmakers and same-sex marriage advocates begin a monthlong push to muster the small number of Republican votes needed to win approval of same-sex marriage in the Republican-controlled Senate.
…
In pledging to support senators who back same-sex marriage — “no matter where they stand on any other issue,” the mayor said — Mr. Bloomberg is dangling a potent political carrot: his money and muscle in the next election.

I can’t recall a straight politician of Bloomberg’s stature – in any party – ever basing the allocation of their considerable financial support and influence solely on a pro-gay position. Ever.

RI Committee advances civil unions

The Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee voted 9 to 3 to advance the civil unions bill to the floor of the full House. It is likely to be passed by a wide margin on Thursday.