Box Turtle Bulletin

The Daily Agenda for Saturday, May 5

Before my senior year in high school, I had the privilege of participating in a summer-long exchange program with a host family in the beautiful colonial city of Orizaba, Vera Cruz, Mexico. (Here’s the map, and here’s a street view of the family’s home, behind the gate. The second story has been added since I was there. But otherwise, how cool is Google maps?) Orizaba was best known for two things: 1) it lay at the base of the Pico de Orizaba, a dormant volcano which is Mexico’s tallest peak, and 2) it was the orignal home of Cervecería Moctezuma, the brewer of Dos Equis, Tres Equis, Superiór, Sol and Noche Buena brands of beer.

It was the experience of a lifetime, and I learned so much about Mexico that I never would have learned any other way. For example, one of the surprises for me was how popular mayonnaise was there. You never would have guessed it, but it was used quite a lot. Whenever you bought a torta (a kind of sandwich) from a street vendor, it often had huge globs of mayonnaise oozing out the sides. I was especially shocked when my “brothers” slathered mayonnaise on their corn-on-the-cobs one afternoon.

I bring that up because mayonnaise, it turns out, played an important role in Mexican history. It was during the French occupation under Emperor Maximilian when le mayonnaise was introduced in Mexico, and for the next few years the national craze was satisfied by ships from France which brought the sought-after condiment in barrels carefully packed in ice through the port of Vera Cruz. But in 1864, a fierce Atlantic storm sank a fleet of ships carrying a very large supply, sparking a severe national shortage that lasted for weeks. And so on this date every year since then, Mexico commemorates that tragic event with the holiday they call…

Wait for it…

El Sinko de Mayo. (*)

TODAY’S AGENDA:
Okay, actually Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican army’s surprise victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. The victory proved temporary. As French forces withdrew from Puebla towards Vera Cruz, they were able to contain the pursuing Mexican army at Orizaba a month later. Outside of the state of Puebla, it is not an official Mexican holiday. In fact, it is more widely celebrated in the United States than it is in Mexico. Many Mexican-Americans look to the holiday as a celebration of their cultural heritage, but for everyone else it’s an excuse for faux-Mexican restaurants to break out their cheap tchotchkes, recycle bad 1950’s stereotypes, and promote happy hour specials on Coronas, margaritas and appetizers. Olé!

Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Brussels, Belgium, Houston, TX (Black Pride); Norrköping, Sweden and Raleigh, NC.

Other Celebrations This Weekend: Hot Rodeo, Banning, CA; Boston LGBT Film Festival, Boston, MA; Purple Party, Dallas, TX; Frieberg International Gay Film Festival, Frieberg, Germany; and Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Miami, FL.

AIDS Walks This Weekend: Atlantic City/Asbury Park/Morristown/Newark/New Brunswick/Pennsauken/Ridgewood, NJ; Charlotte, NC; Ft. Wayne, IN; Orange County, CA; Poughkeepsie, NY; Portsmouth, NH and Raleigh, NC.

TODAY IN HISTORY:
Marriage In Hawaii, Almost: 1993. In the case of Baehr v Lewin, Nina Baehr sued the state of Hawaii over the state’s refusal to issue her and her partner a marriage license. That refusal, according to their lawsuit, amounted to illegal discrimination. On May 5, 1992, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that her argument had merit. They didn’t rule Hawaii’s ban illegal, but remanded the case to a lower court, and placed the burden on the state to prove that it had a compelling interest under strict scrutiny for denying same-sex partners a marriage license.

The case would drag on for another six years with little doubt about where the state Supreme Court would go if the case made its way back there again. And so on 1998, voters approved Amendment 2 to the state constitution, which made Hawaii the first state to amend its constitution to address same-sex marriage. But unlike other state constitutional amendments that would follow, Hawaii’s Amendment 2 didn’t ban same-sex marriage outright. It granted Hawaii’s legislature the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples, which it later did by passing a law that banned same-sex marriage.

In February of 2011, Hawaii’s governor signed into law a bill granting civil unions to the state’s same-sex couples. That law took effect on January 1, 2012.

Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY:
Del Martin: 1921. In 1955, Martin and Phyllis Lyon, her lifelong partner, along with six other women, founded the Daughters of Bilitis, which became the first major lesbian organization in the United States. Phyllis edited the DOB’s newsletter The Ladder beginning in 1956, with Del contributing a groundbreaking essay in the very first edition. Del herself edited The Ladder from 1960 to 1962. The Daughters eventually disbanded in 1970 after having established chapters all across the United States.

In 1964, Del and Phyllis helped to found the Council on Religion and the Homosexual, bringing together national religious leaders and gay and lesbian activists for a national discussion of gay rights. Later, Del was heavily involved in getting the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. In 2008, Del and Phyllis became the first same-sex couple to be married after the California’s Supreme Court ruling legalizing marriage equality. Del passed away two months later.

If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. Don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).

And feel free to consider this your open thread for the day. What’s happening in your world?

(*) Obviously, mayonnaise was not shipped from France to Mexico. But in 1978 they did sell the American brand Best Mayonaise in local stores. And I may have exaggerated its popularity, but it really is true that my “brothers” coated their corn-on-the-cobs with it. Totally grossed me out.

Well, This Will Be Fun

Dan Savage has accepted NOM’s Brian Brown challenge to a debate to the death. It’s Orville Redenbacher time.

Colorado House Finance Committee Approves Civil Unions Bill

That vote was 7-6, with support from Rep. Don Beezley (R-Broomfield) casting the deciding vote. It faces one more committee vote next week in the House Appropriations Committee, where it will require the support of one more Republican representative  before reaching the House floor for final approval.

It’s a race against the clock, as the legislative session is scheduled to end on Wednesday. There is some concern that Republican House Speaker Frank McNulty may try to run out the clock in scheduling the bill for a vote. According to the Associated Press, he issued a pointed warning from the House Podium “cautioning lawmakers against questioning others’ motives if they don’t like what happens with legislation before the session ends.”

But while Republicans only hold a slim one-vote lead in the House, Breezley now makes two Republicans supporting Civil Unions. Republican Rep. BJ Nikkel cast the deciding vote to advance the civil unions bill in the Colorado House Judiciary Committee yesterday. (Perhaps significantly, neither Republican is running for re-election.) The bill has already been approved by the state Senate, and Democratic Gov. John Hickenloope has voiced his firm support for the bill.

Guess Who Thinks Fight Against Homosexuality is Like Fighting Against Those Who Freed The Slaves?

Dan Savage walked into a “bullshit” storm when he pointed out that the Bible that condemns homosexuality is the same Bible that condones slavery. Anti-gay Christian are still furious over that, with National Organization for Marriage’s Brian Brown has challenged Savage to a debate. (I and at least one writer for Savage’s newspaper hope he takes up the challenge.)

Meanwhile, Lou Engle yesterday asked for support for an upcoming TheCall rally in Virginia by comparing his fight against LGBT people to Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson’s “rallying the Virginians” against the forces of Washington — you know, the guys who were trying to hold the Union together and free the slaves.

By the way, Jackson died eight days after being shot at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. Lee, of course, lost the war and the sacred cause for which it was fought.

Fear the Fischer: AFA’s Spokesman Calls Romney To Heel Again

On April 26, the very day when Gov. Mitt Romney’s openly gay foreign policy spokesman Richard Grenell was muzzled during an important foreign policy conference call with reporters, American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer told his national radio audience that if Romney wants to win in November, “you had better start listening to me.” According to Republican insiders speaking to reporters at several news outlets, it looks like that’s more or less what the Romney campaign was doing. And so on Tuesday when news of Grenell’s resignation broke, Fischer made a victorious prediction:

And here’s what’s important. This is why it’s important that I take Gov. Romney on, that we as a pro-family movement take Gov. Romney on, is I will flat-out guarantee you he is not going to make this mistake again. There is no way in the world that Mitt Romney is going to put a homosexual activist in any position of importance in his campaign.

Today, Bryan Fischer, whose campaign to force Grenell off of Romney’s campaign resulted in that campaign stuffing Grenell in a different sort of closet, is not just claiming credit for Grenell’s departure. He is now extending that credit to the Romney campaign itself:

Richard Grenell, the homosexual marriage crusader Mitt Romney hired to be his foreign policy spokesman, is gone because Romney wanted him gone. Romney’s camp said not a single solitary word in his defense when the issue of his gay activism was raised.

They slapped duct tape on his mouth to keep him from saying a word, even on a conference call he himself organized (some “spokesman,” eh?), then remained studiously silent until he got the message and fell on his sword.

Whatever anyone may think of Fischer, his recounting is events does seem to match up with what many others within the Republican party are saying privately. Romney’s mistake is that he thinks that he can wait out the likes of Bryan Fischer, which anyone with a passing familiarity with anti-gay activists knows is astoundingly naive. And as if that point needed any proof, Fischer is again furious over Romney’s milquetoast attempt at defending Grenell on Fox News earlier this morning, which Fischer calls a “tripple Etch-A-Sketch moment”:

1. Throw conservatives under the bus by hiring Grenell as a shout-out to the homosexual lobby.

2. Throw Grenell under the bus when supporters of natural marriage complain.

3. Then throw conservatives under the bus again to give another shout-out to the homosexual lobby.

You can get whiplash trying to stay up with this guy.

Fischer is calling Romney to heel again, this time demanding that Romney publicly answers whether he agrees with the Mormon church’s position that homosexuality is sinful. Clearly Fischer is not going to allow one inch of wiggle room for Romney’s half-hearted stab at pivoting to the middle. And if this episode is any indication, Romney’s not going to struggle very hard. Romney’s whole campaign has been an exercise in ceding power to the most radical voices of his party. Fischer brags that he can effectively call the shots on who the Romney campaign can hire, and so far his boast appears to be correct. And Fischer’s still not satisfied.

And by the way, Romney is scheduled to speek at Liberty University a week from tomorrow. Which means that he has at least another whole week of cowering to the radical right.

Romney Defends Gay Former Staffer, Barely

Gov. Mitt Romney, presumptive Republican presidential nominee, appeared on Fox News this morning to defend Richard Grenell — days after Grenell resigned from Romney’s campaign because Romney declined to defend him when he was still part of the campaign. Romney told Fox News:

We select people not based upon their ethnicity or their sexual preference or their gender. But upon their capability. He was a capable individual. We’re sorry to have him go and actually a whole series of the senior people on my team and my supporters called him and encouraged him to stay. But he expressed a desire to move on and I wish him the very best.

Romney now is trying to have it both ways: He plays the nice guy who’s sorry to see a gay staffer leave, but he also lets himself off the hook over the reasons why that gay staffer left. And of course, Fox News wouldn’t dare press him on that. This leaves Bryan Fischer still effectively in charge of Romney’s personnel decisions. Romney’s done nothing to change that dynamic.

Exodus Cancels Albuquerque Ex-Gay Conference; Midland, TX, Conference Dropped from Web Site

Exodus International took the unprecedented step of canceling a “Love Won Out” conference scheduled for Albuquerque, New Mexico on May 12. The “Love Won Out” conference (which I attended in Phoenix in 2007) is a traveling roadshow conducted four to six times a year in different cities across North America, and serves as a kind of day-long infomercial for the ex-gay movement.

In an email to those pre-registered for the conference, Exodus events director David Fountain called the cancellation “one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make.” He added, “Unfortunately, due to the low number of registrations we simply were unable to justify the substantial cost of bringing the LWO Conference to the Albuquerque area.”

Exodus had also scheduled a Love Won Out conference for Midland, Texas in November 2012, but that conference no longer shows up on Exodus’s web site either.

In its heyday, LWO was a joint project of Exodus and Focus on the Family with additional participation from the National Association of Research and Treatment of Homosexuality (NARTH) During the early years, it was not unusual for LWO conferences to attract an audience of 2,000 or more. But when I attended LWO in 2007, the conference drew over a thousand people, already down some from its heyday, but still substantial enough to be counted as a success. But since then, we’ve had reports of lower attendance figures. Memphis drew only about 600 attendees in 2008, and another one in Orlando that year drew 500. Figures in the 400-600 range now appear to be the new normal. In 2009, Focus On the Family announced its withdrawal from LWO and it became the sole property of Exodus in 2010.

Last February, Exodus brought LWO to Atlanta where, as has become typical, they drew “over 500” according to Exodus. Metro Atlanta has a population of more than five million deep in the Bible belt, and is a convenient day’s drive from a dozen other cities in six states. Albuquerque,on the other hand has a metro population of 900,000, and is located in a rather sparsely populated state that is not quite the haven for Evangelical Christian activism as Atlanta. It’s hard to see how Albuquerque (or Midland) could draw a large crowd given their much smaller populations and very long distances from other population centers.

Last fall, there were reports that Exodus was undergoing a rebranding exercise in an effort to stave off bankruptcy. The first evidence for that exercise came in January when Exodus president Alan Chambers appeared on a surprise panel of a meeting of the Gay Christian Network and said that “99.9% of them (ex-gays) have not experienced a change in their orientation.” I wanted to attend another LWO to see how that change in direction was reflected in their conference, and with Albuquerque being a very short flight from Tucson, where I live, I had already purchased airline tickets to go. It looks like those tickets will have to go somewhere else — and they won’t be for Midland either.

The only LWO conference scheduled this year is in September near Harrisburg, PA, not far from Philadelphia. If that holds, it would be only the second LWO conference scheduled for this year. While that conference could concievably draw from a much larger population base (Philly, Baltimore/Washington, New Jersey, etc.), I would not be surprised to see that conference canceled as well. And if it is canceled, that could spell the end of “Love Won Out” altogether.

The Daily Agenda for Friday, May 4

Keith Haring's "Flowers IV", 1990.

Today is Greenery Day, a Japanese holiday which originally stems from the celebration of Emperor Hirohito’s birthday. Following his death, the national holiday was changed to its present name and, like our Memorial Day, represents an important early summer vacation opportunity.

TODAY’S AGENDA:
Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Brussels, Belgium, Houston, TX (Black Pride); Norrköping, Sweden and Raleigh, NC.

Other Celebrations This Weekend: Hot Rodeo, Banning, CA; Boston LGBT Film Festival, Boston, MA; Purple Party, Dallas, TX; Frieberg International Gay Film Festival, Frieberg, Germany; and Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Miami, FL.

AIDS Walks This Weekend: Atlantic City/Asbury Park/Morristown/Newark/New Brunswick/Pennsauken/Ridgewood, NJ; Charlotte, NC; Ft. Wayne, IN; Orange County, CA; Poughkeepsie, NY; Portsmouth, NH and Raleigh, NC.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY:
Keith Haring: 1958. Inspired by graffiti art in New York, Keith Haring’s bold lines, vivid colors, and simple, active figures became an iconic presence throughout the 1980’s. He was a huge proponent of public art, and that led to commissions and collaborations from around the world. The very out, HIV-positive gay man even found common ground in his collaboration with the visionary Baptist preacher/folk artist Howard Finster. From his diagnosis of AIDS in 1988 until his death in 1990 at the age of thirty-one, his artwork also became the de facto art of AIDS through the work of the Keith Haring Foundation. In 2008, Rizolli published a 522-page monograph supplemented with a wealth of material including drawings, studio photo, and journal entries. His Journals, which he kept from the age of nineteen until his death, were re-issued in 2010 by Penguin Classics.

UPDATE: By the way, Google is celebrating Keith Haring’s birthday:

If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. Don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).

And feel free to consider this your open thread for the day. What’s happening in your world?

Colorado House Judiciary Committee Advances Civil Unions Act

BTB’s Daniel Gonzales live-tweeted this evening’s (May 3) session of the Colorado House Judiciary Committee, which voted 6-5 to advance the Civil Unions Bill. The bill now goes on to the House Finance Committee before reaching the House floor, where it is expected that there is enough GOP support in the Republican-controlled chamber to pass the bill. The Senate passed the bill last week with bipartisan support. Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper has promised to sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

Rep BJ Nikkel (R) listens to testimony during the committee hearing. House sponsor Mark Ferrandino (D) in the foreground. Photo by Dan Gonzales.

Rep BJ Nikkel was swarmed by reporters after providing the swing vote necessary for the committee to pass the bill. In last year's hearing in which the bill died Nikkel had been a "no" vote. Photo by Dan Gonzales.

How to follow today’s happenings in Colorado

A number of activists will be live-tweeting the rally at noon as well as the House Judiciary Committee hearing at 1:30. The most common twitter hash tag by far is #COleg with #LGBT and #civilunions also sometimes used.

The Colorado Channel does not stream live video of committee hearings, it has audio only for those. Also the CO Channel doesn’t much care for Firefox so dust off your copy of Safari or Internet Explorer. The hearing will be held in the Old Supreme Court Chambers — audio streams are organized by room name.  I believe this or possibly this is the link you’ll want for audio starting at 1:30. (if neither audio stream is working email Jim since I’ll be in the committee hearing by then)

And remember, Colorado is in the Mountain time zone. We’re the often forgotten bastard child squeezed in there between Pacific and Central.

Did Grenell Jump or Was He Pushed?

Or did he just simply let go?

On April 19 when Gov. Mitt Romney named Richard Grenell, a longtime GOP communications strategist as his national security and foreign policy spokesman, conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan hailed the announcement as “a real outreach to gay Republicans” while Karen Ocamb said is marks “the day Romney pivots to appeal to mainstream voters for the general election.”

But if that was a pivot, it ended Tuesday when Grenell resigned from the campaign. His very brief announcement hinted at why he left such a high-profile post in a national presidential campaign: “My ability to speak clearly and forcefully on the issues has been greatly diminished by the hyper-partisan discussion of personal issues that sometimes comes from a presidential campaign.”

What “hyper-partisan” discussions was he referring to? At first, some speculated that it may have been related to the initial criticisms from pundits and bloggers over provocative Twitter posts that he made about Rachel Maddow’s appearance, Newt Gingrich’s wife Calista’s appearance, Hillary Clinton’s appearance, Michele Obama’s accent, and other snarky tweets. But it quickly seemed unlikely that those criticisms led to Grenell’s sudden departure. Most of them came from left-of-center and beyond, which Republicans tend to wear as a badge of honor (as many Democrats do with criticism from the right). And besides, by April 22 when Grenell deleted some 800 tweets and took his personal web site offline, those criticisms were already loosing traction. The world quickly moved on to the next outrage.

Well, most of the world anyway. One key component of the restive GOP base didn’t. SPLC-certified hate-artist Bryan Fischer of American Family Association called Grenell’s appointment “a deliberate poke in the eye” to Christian conservatives, and mounted a campaign for Grenell’s removal with a six-point list of demands for Gov. Romney. Family “Research” Council warned that Grenell’s support for same-sex marriage would have him lobbying “for foreign policy more in line with the current administration than the last Republican one.” National Review’s Matthew Franck wrote that Grenell supported marriage equality “with a kind of unhinged devotion that suggests a man with questionable judgment.” He even suggested that Grenell’s gayness would cause him to turn traitor to the Republican cause and switch teams if Obama were to come out for same-sex marriage.

Those criticisms apparently spooked and paralyzed the Romney campaign. Andrew Sullivan did some “actual reporting from yours truly” and got to the bottom of Grenell’s resignation:

It seems clear from sources close to Grenell and reporters on the foreign policy beat that his turning point came last week. He’d been part of organizing a conference call to respond to Vice President Biden’s foreign policy speech, now known best for the “big stick” remark. So some reporters were puzzled as to why Grenell, a week into his job as Romney’s national security spokesman, was not introduced by name as part of the Romney team at the beginning of the call, and his voice completely absent from the conversation. Some even called and questioned him afterwards as to why he was absent. He wasn’t absent. He was simply muzzled. For a job where you are supposed to maintain good relations with reporters, being silenced on a key conference call on your area of expertise is pretty damaging. Especially when you helped set it up.

Sources close to Grenell say that he was specifically told by those high up in the Romney campaign to stay silent on the call, even while he was on it. And this was not the only time he had been instructed to shut up. Their response to the far right fooferaw was simply to go silent, to keep Grenell off-stage and mute, and to wait till the storm passed. But the storm was not likely to pass if no one in the Romney camp was prepared to back Grenell up. Hence his dilemma. The obvious solution was simply to get Grenell out there doling out the neocon red meat — which would have immediately changed the subject and helped dispel base skepticism. Instead the terrified Romneyites shut him up without any actual plan for when he might subsequently be able to do his job. To my mind, it’s a mark of his integrity that he decided to quit rather than be put in this absurd situation. And it’s a mark of Romney’s fundamental weakness within his own party that he could not back his spokesman against the Bryan Fischers and Matthew Francks.

This confirms what the Washington Post learned shortly after Grenell’s resignation, when Jennifer Rubin wrote: “The ongoing pressure from social conservatives over his appointment and the reluctance of the Romney campaign to send Grenell out as a spokesman while controversy swirled left Grenell essentially with no job.” She later reported that many members of the campaign privately reached out to Grenell over the weekend to try to persuade him from resigning, but they were unsuccessful. She then reiterated the root of the problem: “Despite the controversy in new media and in conservative circles, there was no public statement of support for Grenell by the campaign and no supportive social conservatives were enlisted to calm the waters.”

[Update: The New York Times this morning has more. During that foreign policy conference call:

It turned out he was at home in Los Angeles, listening in, but stone silent and seething. A few minutes earlier, a senior Romney aide had delivered an unexpected directive, according to several people involved in the call.

“Ric,” said Alex Wong, a policy aide, “the campaign has requested that you not speak on this call.” Mr. Wong added, “It’s best to lay low for now.”

For Mr. Grenell, the message was clear: he had become radioactive.

After interviewing more than a dozen aids and advisers, The Times describes the episode as “halting attempts by the campaign to manage its relationship with the most conservative quarter of the Republican Party.”

“It’s not that the campaign cared whether Ric Grenell was gay,” one Republican adviser said. “They believed this was a nonissue. But they didn’t want to confront the religious right.”]

This leaves many wondering if there is any room for gay Republicans in visible positions. GOPRoud’s Jimmy LaSilva said, “This was an opportunity to send an important message that Mitt Romney wants everybody to get behind him and to support his campaign. They let that opportunity pass.” [Update: Go Proud’s Christopher Barron added, “It doesn’t bode well for the Romney campaign going forward if they couldn’t stand up to the most outrageous attacks about him being gay.” Fred Karger, who ran against Romney as an openly gay candidate told TPM,

“It’s going to be difficult for Romney to take other steps like this. And that’s what’s really frightening to me. It’s just too tough to stand up to these groups because they have a lot of money and power. You’ve got to be able to do that, that’s leadership.”]

Sullivan was more direct:

So if all gay Republicans who support marriage equality are banned even from speaking on other topics entirely (like Iran or Afghanistan, where Grenell is a fire-breather), who’s left? The answer, I’m afraid, is no one. Grenell was prepared to stay silent on gay issues entirely and do his job. But that wasn’t enough. Romney’s anti-gay agenda is therefore deeper and more extreme than Bush’s.

Meanwhile, AFA’s Bryan Fischer is declaring Grenell’s resignation a huge win. With continued silence from the Romney camp, this leaves likes of Fischer to operate as the de-facto gatekeepers of acceptable members of the Romney campaign — and perhaps even of a Romney administration.

The Daily Agenda for Thursday, May 3

TODAY’S AGENDA:
One Colorado Rally for Civil Unions: Denver, CO. As Daniel Gonzales mentioned in Tuesday’s post the Colorado civil unions bill is headed to a crucial showdown in the House Judiciary Committee this afternoon at 1:30. One Colorado will hold a rally beginning at noon in front of the Denver City & County Building at 1437 Bannock Street. Information about the rally can be found on One Colorado’s Facebook page. Meanwhile, here is a list of state representatives who could use your persuasion.

Pride Celebrations This Weekend: Brussels, Belgium, Houston, TX (Black Pride); Norrköping, Sweden and Raleigh, NC.

Other Celebrations This Weekend: Hot Rodeo, Banning, CA; Boston LGBT Film Festival, Boston, MA; Purple Party, Dallas, TX; Frieberg International Gay Film Festival, Frieberg, Germany; and Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Miami, FL.

AIDS Walks This Weekend: Atlantic City/Asbury Park/Morristown/Newark/New Brunswick/Pennsauken/Ridgewood, NJ; Charlotte, NC; Ft. Wayne, IN; Orange County, CA; Poughkeepsie, NY; Portsmouth, NH and Raleigh, NC.

Sir Francis Bacon, looking fabulous as always

TODAY IN HISTORY:
Sr. Francis Bacon Accused of “His Most Abominable and Darling Sin”: 1621. On May 3, 1621, Sir Simonds D’Ewes published his political biography of Sir Francis Bacon, in which he accuses the great lawyer, scholar and “father of empiricism” of “his most abominable and darling sin.” D’Ewes continued, “I should rather bury in silence than mention it, were it not a most admirable instance of how men are enslaved by wickedness and held captive by the devil.” D’Ewes accused Bacon of “keeping still one Godrick, a very effeminate-faced youth, to be his catamite and bedfellow… deserting the bed of his Lady.” That same year, Bacon resigned as Lord Chancellor over accusations that he accepted payment from litigants, which, while against the law, was a widespread and accepted practice at the time. He quickly confessed to accepting payments, a confession that may have been prompted by threats to charge him with the capital offense of sodomy.

Medical Report of a Gay Civil War Veteran: 1921. Dr. Clarence P. Oberndorf, a New York City psychoanalyst, spoke at the Annual Meeting of the Medical Society of the State of New York in Brooklyn about one of his patients, a 74-year-old Civil War veteran who suffered from depression, saying “For sixty years I have been leading a double life.” He became aware of his feelings for other men at a very early age. “He preferred rough, coarse men, like longshoremen, husky and full of vitality. These he sought at intervals, while his acquaintances knew him as a refined gentleman interested in art and literature.” He never married. “In my younger days,” he remarked, “I used to grieve because of my affliction, but in later years I have become indifferent.”

Oberndorf’s goal was not to cure homosexuality per se. “Where treatment is undertaken for passive homoerotism in the male,” — active homosexuals, or “tops,” were not considered truly homosexual in the early 20th century — “psychoanalysis may powerfully influence the attitude of the patient toward his malady by removing some of the urgent neurotic fears which accompany the inversion. After analysis such an invert at least feels himself more reconciled to his passive homoeroticism than previously. I have had male passive homoerotics seek treatment with just such stipulations — not to be cured but to be made more content with their lives.”

If you know of something that belongs on the agenda, please send it here. Don’t forget to include the basics: who, what, when, where, and URL (if available).

And feel free to consider this your open thread for the day. What’s happening in your world?

Well At Least It Doesn’t Involve Firearms This Time

He wrote on his YouTube page, “I vote for the Bible.”

Missouri GOP Lawmaker Comes Out, Denounces “Don’t Say Gay” Bill

GOP Missouri state Representative Zach Wyatt has come out as gay, and he is calling on fellow Republicans to withdraw their support of a “Don’t Say Gay” bill that has been introduced in that state’s legislature. The “Don’t Say Gay” bill, otherwise known as HB 2051, says simply:

Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, no instruction, material, or extracurricular activity sponsored by a public school that discusses sexual orientation other than in scientific instruction concerning human reproduction shall be provided in any public school.

The bill would not only ban any discussion of sexual orientation with regard to anti-bullying efforts, but it would also eliminate all gay-straight alliances in public schools. The bill was sponsored by GOP state Rep. Steve Cookson and co-sponsored by 19 other Republican lawmakers, including the House Majority Leader Tim Jones. Rep. Wyatt, who become the fourth openly gay lawmakers in the Missouri legislature, has called on his fellow twenty Republicans to withdraw the bill:

“Today I ask you to stand with me as a proud Republican, a proud veteran, and a proud gay man who wants to protect all kids, addressing bullying in our schools,” Wyatt said.

As for his own personal decision to come out:

“I will not lie to myself anymore about my own sexuality. It has probably been the hardest thing to come to terms with. I have always ignored it. I didn’t even think about it or want to talk about it. I’ve not been immune to it. I hear the comments, usually snide ones, about me,” Wyatt said.

“I am not the first or last Republican to come out. I have just gotten tired of the bigotry being shown on both sides of the aisle on gay issues. Being gay has never been a Republican or Democrat issue, and it should never be.”

Wyatt also expressed his regrets over his no vote last year on a non-discrimination bill. News reports also say that he “regrets of taking the GOP stance rather than expressing his own views when interviewed two years ago on school bullying.” Wyatt has announced that he is not running for re-election so that he can study marine biology.

According to Politico, House Education Committee Chairman Scott Dieckhaus (R) said earlier this week that the legislation will likely not make it out of his committee.

Update: Here is video of Wyatt’s coming out press conference:

OutFront Colorado urging participation in tomorrow’s civil union rally

UPDATE: Location of the rally has been changed to the front of Denver City & County Building at 1437 Bannock Street (still at noon).

An image from last year's rally for civil unions. Photo by Dan Gonzales.

.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post the Colorado civil unions bill is headed to a crucial showdown in the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow afternoon (Thursday).

State equality org One Colorado is holding a rally before the hearing. The rally will be at noon on the east steps of the Capitol in the front of Denver City & County Building at 1437 Bannock Street. (facebook event page)

Colorado’s oldest and most respected LGBT publication OutFront editorialized today urging Coloradans to attend the rally and committee hearing in support of the bill. Quoting OutFront:

Once again your community needs you.

Yes. You.

OutFront continues:

A little more than a year ago, we asked you to join hundreds of your brothers and sisters at a similar rally to make your desire for equal rights known through the hollowed halls of the Colorado Capitol. More than 300 supporters showed up. And despite the community’s best effort, a Republican controlled committee killed the legislation that would have granted more than a dozen rights and responsibilities to hard working, tax paying, Coloradans — both gay and straight.

So, you might think there’s no point in showing up again. They’ve already told us “no.”

But that is exactly why we must stand taller, fight harder, scream louder.

The Colorado Civil Union Act has a real chance of becoming a reality.

OutFront continues:

“Is there hope?” one of our Twitter followers asked us.

There’s always hope. And this time hope’s name is Rep. Brian DelGrosso of Loveland. DelGrosso, unlike other Republicans on the committee, has vocalized the possibility his ‘nay’ can become an ‘yea.’

Again, please consider contacting the members of the House Judiciary Committee to show your support for civil unions. I’ve posted their contact information here.