Box Turtle Bulletin

CBN News A Year Late

The Christian Broadcasting Networ is reporting a story today about how firefighters were forced to man a vehicle in the San Diego Gay Pride Parade. The only problem, the story is about 2007 Gay Pride.

But there is a 2008 fireman story, and it was reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Tonai, a 17-year fire department veteran, signed up to ride in the 2008 gay pride parade under the city’s all-volunteer parade policy, which San Diego Fire-Rescue Chief Tracy Jarman instituted in response to the 2007 controversy.

“A whole bunch of people wanted to do this,” Tonai told me.

But on parade day many of them were off battling wildfires up north, and the job went to Tonai and three female colleagues.
…
I asked him what he thought of his parade duty.

“The crowd response was just awesome,” Tonai said. “To me, it justifies what I do. There’s definitely nothing negative about this event.”

And as for the lawsuit filed last year by firemen who were offended by “celebration of lewdness and obscenity in support of the homosexual agenda”, well its certainly no without its own entertainment.

Aguirre, having learned that one of the firefighters subscribes to Playboy and brought copies to the station house, wants to question them about the magazine’s racy photos and cartoons.

He contends the firefighters can’t plausibly claim they were subjected to workplace harassment from sexually explicit behavior at the parade when they voluntarily view sexually explicit materials on the job.
…
The firefighters’ lawsuit contained 26 pages of photographs purportedly portraying “explicit and offensive sexual remarks and gestures” from the 2007 parade.

The city trumped that in a brief that contains 36 pages of “sexually explicit” images from six recent issues of Playboy.

San Diego Journalist Whines About Marriage

San Diego Union-Tribune journalist, Craig Gustafson, just can’t understand why the San Diego County Clerk isn’t joining Ann Barnett in her anti-gay parade. You can almost hear the whine in his voice.

San Diego County, known for decades as a bastion of conservatism, is proceeding with gay marriage ceremonies Tuesday even though officials don’t necessarily have to.

Why, there’ve been 220 complaints!!! And the Clerk is a Republican!!! And the County voted by 63% in 2000 to ban gay marriage!!!

But County Clerk Greg Smith isn’t willing to cut off all marriage to spite gay couples.

Many urge the county to avoid gay nuptials in a similar fashion to Butte and Kern – at least until voters weigh in on a constitutional amendment in November that would ban gay marriage.

Smith, a Republican, has no such plans.

“Absolutely not,” he said.

Someone should punish him. How about “the supervisors – who do control Smith’s budget”?

Charles LiMandri, a Rancho Santa Fe attorney and general counsel to the National Organization for Marriage, said the supervisors should be courageous enough to speak out. LiMandri said they should be trumpeting the people’s will as displayed in Proposition 22.

“I’m disappointed that our leaders aren’t doing their jobs,” he said.

But the Board of Supervisors – all of whom are Republicans!! – aren’t willing to punish him. Why, if they aren’t going to be homophobes, what are they there for?!?

Previously, the San Diego County supervisors have been willing to take stands on social issues.

Sigh. The Supervisors weren’t even willing to scream their opposition to gay marriage. Only one made the obligatory “Personally, I believe that marriage is best defined as being between a man and woman” comment, and the others won’t comment at all. (Their email addresses are included in a sidebox so the outrage can pour in).

Poor Gustufson, it sucks to be anti-gay in San Diego.

Carl DeMaio Wins City Council Seat

Gay Republican Carl DeMaio won his election for San Diego District 5 outright and will not need to participate in a run-off election in November.

Ex-gay gadfly James Hartline did not place in the top three contenders for District 3. It seems that the good Christians of San Diego must have failed the test that Hartline thinks God set out for them.

San Diego’s Pro-Marriage Mayor Re-elected

In September, Republican San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders surprised residents when he changed his views and endorsed same-sex marriage. This decision did play a part in his campaign for re-election.

While his largest opponent, Steve Francis, supports domestic partnerships and did not make Sanders’ position on marriage a central issue, he did criticize Sanders for his decision and say that he would have vetoed the city’s amimus brief filed in support of the gay marriage case that was before the state Supreme Court.

Oddly, this election did not follow the predictable lines. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports

Francis welcomed a number of progressive groups to his cause this year as opposed to 2005, when he ran as a conservative with the backing of the county GOP. In another change this year, that party’s endorsement went to Sanders.

The county GOP flooded the homes of San Diego’s 185,000 registered Republicans with mail praising the mayor and protesting Francis. At the same time, the mayor targeted the city’s 205,000 absentee voters exclusively with his own campaign mail, most recently two weeks ago with a brochure that asked, “Who do you trust to get our city back on track?” The piece answered the question by comparing Sanders’ accomplishments with alleged examples of Francis’ hypocrisy.

Francis, on the other hand, shopped for votes on the political left. His final mailer touted endorsements from three labor unions, two Latino newspapers, the Sierra Club and leaders of the black, Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender, and Filipino/Asian-American communities.

Although Francis sought to portray himself as the more liberal Republican and hired a gay policy director, Democratic activists in the gay community, including Nicole Murray-Ramirez, rewarded Sanders for his support and worked for his reelection.

Sanders, who served as chief of police and as CEO of the San Diego United Way and board member for the city’s Red Cross, was “always reaching out to the gay and lesbian community,” said Murray-Ramirez, who rode in the city’s first Pride parade in 1974. “He marched in over a dozen Gay Pride parades and was the first police chief to march in uniform. He’s more of a public servant than a politician.”

When Sanders pledged his support for gay marriage, he also revealed that his daughter, Lisa, is a lesbian. Many have attributed Sanders’ marriage views to his daughter’s sexual orientation, but Corbin and Murray-Ramirez said that having gay appointees to advise him also contributed to his support.

In Tuesday’s election Sanders received 52% of the vote, enough to avoid a run-off in November.

Visiting San Diego?

San Diego is worth a visit. The city is charming and friendly with a world famous zoo, beautiful parks, perfect weather, and a thriving gay community. And although it is a military city that leans Republican, they are often of the pro-gay variety and the city is very supportive of its gay residents.

However, not everyone will make you welcome. For example, much of the funding for the anti-gay marriage amendment in California came from San Diego.

Among the major donors to Protect Marriage are a group of San Diego County businessmen. Developer Doug Manchester alone has contributed $125,000 prompting gays to urge a boycott of his properties. Manchester owns the Manchester Grand Hyatt and the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina.

Mission Valley developer Terry Caster has donated $162,500, Carlsbad car dealer Robert Hoehn gave $25,000, and La Jolla businessman Roger Benson has given $50,000, according to state records.

Now these businessmen are entitled to their opinions and to seek the advancement of their political goals, even if they are designed to harm gay men and women. And we are entitled to avoid giving them a single cent, if possible.

So if you live in San Diego, or are planning a visit, you may wish to avoid patronizing any of the following businesses.

Manchester:

The Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego
The San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina
The Grand Del Mar
Whitetail Club & Resort

Caster:

A1 Self Storage (throughout California)
Caster Center and Stadium Park

Hoehn:

Hoehn Mercedes
Hoehn Porsche
Hoehn Audi
Hoehn Infinity
Hoehn Acura
Hoehn Honda

Roger Benson appears to be retired and I am unable to identify his investment or ownership in any business that might be impacted by my spending decisions.

Some activists in San Diego are considering calling for a boycott of the above listed businesses. Complicating matters is that some of the businesses have a national reputation for working with the community. Hyatt, for example, is proud of their perfect score by HRC.

But some are not waiting for an official boycott. GLAAD has already pulled from an event at Manchester’s hotel.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation announced that it has withdrawn from a “Pride Rocks” event scheduled for the summer at the Hyatt owned by Doug Manchester. The event celebrates gay pride.

The president of the gay and lesbian alliance , Neil Giuliano, said in a news release that Manchester’s decision to fund an initiative that would “hurt loving, committed gay couples makes it impossible for us” to take part in an event that promotes his hotel.

So if you are considering a visit to one of the most beautiful cities in California, by all means please come. Just put some thought into where your money goes while you’re there.

Hartline’s Sad Revelation

Ex-gay James Hartline is a favorite of Christian media when they are looking for an extremist to quote. Hartline lives his life as an anti-gay activist, pestering the San Diego City Council, protesting the ballpark, and writing fiery denunciations of anyone anywhere who isn’t as completely and unrelentingly hostile to gay people as he is (and few are).

Hartline is also running for a City Council seat in an effort to defeat what he views as ungodliness.

And it has become painfully obvious that those who trot Hartline out to put an ex-gay on display and those who happily print his thoughts on the evils of homosexuality are only using him and do not respect him.

From Hartline’s blog dated February 18, 2007

I recently asked God about the role of my particular city council campaign in our city. The Lord responded by letting me know that my campaign is a test for the Christians of San Diego. You see, pastor after pastor preaches in the pulpit about the corruption and immorality in our culture. These same pastors now have a chance to do something about the things they have been preaching about. If they do not support my campaign for the city council, than all of their complaining is just empty rhetoric.

My campaign is a test for me and it is a test for the Christian Community of San Diego. For me, it comes down to my obedience to God. God instructed me to run this race.

The candidate complains that as of that date “only 7 of the 2,000+ pastors in San Diego have endorsed my campaign” and “only 34 Christian voters have contributed”.

It is no surprise that few are willing to sign on to Hartline’s campaign. James is a rather tragic example of the consequence of excessive drug use combined with mental illness.

Although quite intelligent, Hartline’s rants display a universe of allegances and associations conspiring with Satan against him and his goals. But in the end he will emerge victorious when God heals him of HIV thus illustrating to all that James Hartline is God’s chosen prophet to lead the world in a marvelous new revival.

God speaks regularly to his prophet and reveals all sorts of amazing things such as the reason for wildfires, the pro-abortion goals of Horton Hears a Who, and how those who oppose Hartlines political extremism are “virulently anti-Christian”. It doesn’t take long for a picture of James’ mental condition to appear.

I cannot fault the conservative community for not wanting to advance his political efforts. Few, even among the most conservative, would want to allow James any influence in public policy decisions.

But I do fault and condemn those who – knowing Hartline to be as he is – are still willing to present him to the public as though he is credible. I fault WorldNetDaily for continuing to rely on him for their source as a “San Diego pro-Christian activist”. I fault Peter LaBarbera for dragging him to Chicago and for encouraging his efforts. I fault those local churches and other anti-gay activists who tell him he’s doing God’s work.

To both champion him publically and shun him privately is self-serving and heartless. What these and other “Christian” voices have done to James Hartline is both sad and cruel.

Anti-Discrimination or Anti-Information?

Living expenses in Southern California can be very expensive. Finding a two bedroom apartment in the West Hollywood area will run you at least $2,000 per month. So often young single men and women have roommates.

One common way to find a roommate is to register with a service that allows you screen for an ideal roommate. This way those needing someone to share the rent could find someone needing a place to stay.

In the past, members could choose various attributes of the person they wanted to room with: smoker or non-smoker, male or female, gay or straight, and within age ranges as well as where they wanted to live and how much they wanted to pay.

However that may all change. One such service, Roommate.com, had been operating happily along when in 2003 they were sued by the Fair Housing Councils of the San Fernando Valley and San Diego. They claimed that allowing member to search and filter by such things as sex or orientation was facilitated them in discrimination.

Today the 9th Circuit decided 8-3 that Federal protections do not shield roommate services from being liable to anti-discrimination laws.

The judges said a site called Roommates.com may be brought to trial for possibly violating anti-discrimination laws because it requires users to provide information about gender, sexual orientation and whether they have children, and then uses the information to screen people for matches.

“A real estate broker may not inquire as to the race of a prospective buyer, and an employer may not inquire as to the religion of a prospective employee,” Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote for the majority. “If such questions are unlawful when posed face-to-face by telephone, they don’t magically become lawful when asked electronically online.”

Some will find this to be a fair application of law reasonably determined to shield minorities for discrimination. Others, namely gay persons looking for a roommate that isn’t going to hassle them or straight women who don’t want to live alone with a straight man, may find it to be counterproductive. And others are concerned as to how this decision might impact other online services that allow members to search by attributes.

Roommates.com may appeal to the US Supreme Court.

Briefly Noted

They were against it before they were for it. Time is not on my side, not for any prolonged writing pleasures anyway. So let’s try this out as a new feature between features.

• Fifty-six percent of Virginians support amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage, but only 46% support it when the text of the proposed amendment is actually read to them. (via GoodAsYou.org)
• Eureka! Vacationing gays are descending on the beautiful Ozarks in Arkansas, and the locals aren’t quite sure what to make of it.
• First we had the book The End of Gay. Is it now The End of Ex-Gay?
• A British court refused to recognize a lesbian couple’s Canadian marriage as a full marriage in Britain, although it can be recognized as a civil partnership.
• Two men were beaten in the head with baseball bats and a third was stabbed by three assailants as they were leaving San Diego’s Pride festival at Balboa Park late Saturday night.
• Imagine having a neighbor who constantly hurls anti-gay and anti-AIDS threats at you. A Rhode Island judge puts a stop to it.