Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyOctober 9th, 2008
The LA Times reports
Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina, Los Angeles Board of Education President Monica Garcia and state Assembly candidate John Perez opened the Cesar Chavez Avenue storefront office for the “No on 8” campaign, which will communicate with Latino voters across the state.
Perez, the cousin of LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, is gay.
October 9th, 2008
The nation’s largest Spanish language newspaper, La Opinión, is recommending a “NO” vote on Proposition 8.
The true threats to marriage are lack of communication, infidelity, domestic abuse, and economic pressures.
The driving force behind the measure comes from Evangelical, Catholic, Mormon, Baptist, Orthodox Jewish, and Adventist congregations, with money, sermons, prayers, fasting, and very respectable and respected opinions.
But that does not mean it is acceptable to impose these beliefs on all of society, and much less, change the State Constitution.
We recommend voting NO on Proposition 8.
Or, as most of their audience will read it:
Estamos con el NO a la Proposición 8.
See list of newspapers opposing the amendment here.
October 9th, 2008
In one of the most famous American defenses of religious freedom, Thomas Jefferson wrote: “[I]t does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”
We must say the same thing about same-sex marriage.
Growing up at the tip of the great Central Valley in Northern California, our local news source was The Redding Record-Searchlight. Much of my awareness of the world outside our community was from their pages.
Redding is a small city on the border of an agricultural valley and the Cascade foothills. With an economy tied to farming, lumber and tourism and a high level of retirees, the culture is a mix of liberals and conservatives with both groups leaning towards a ‘live and let live’ mentality. Highly religious, this is an area where residents are unlikely to favor same-sex marriages, but also often likely to ‘not notice’ that their neighbors are a long term same-sex couple.
There are no gay community services that I’m aware of but the population tends to support about two gay bars at any given time.
There is also a lack of organized anti-gay efforts. Perhaps the best known situation was in 1999 when two white supremacist brothers torched an abortion clinic and synagogues in Sacramento (two hours away) and shot to death a gay couple, neighbors of my father.
The Record Searchlight has now joined the growing list of newspapers, urban and rural, Northern and Southern, conservative and liberal, English and Spanish who agree that Proposition 8 is unnecessary, cruel and intrusive. They just don’t buy that scare tactics and outlandish claims of anti-gay activists.
October 9th, 2008
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Californians Against Hate have come to terms with Bolthouse Farms and have agreed to call off their boycott of the juice maker.
The “Don’t Buy Bolthouse” campaign ended because the company’s chief executive “has provided us with a compelling perspective which clearly demonstrates the separation between Bolthouse Farms and . . . its founder, William Bolthouse,” Californians Against Hate said Wednesday in a written statement.
That perspective, the statement continued, “provides us with confidence that Bolthouse Farms is committed to working productively with the [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] community.”
The boycott had been originated because the company’s founder – who, though he sold the company still leases his land to them – had significantly financed the signature gathering for Proposition 8.
October 9th, 2008
Newspapers Endorsing Proposition 8
Newspapers Neutral on Proposition 8
Newspapers Opposing Proposition 8
and second editorial criticizing Yes on 8’s advertising
and second editorial criticizing Yes on 8’s advertising
and second editorial criticizing Yes on 8’s advertising
October 9th, 2008
Ten years ago today, Matthew Shepard’s attackers were arraigned in court.
According to reports, Aaron James McKinney and Russel Arthur Henderson, both 21, were arraigned on charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, and aggravated robbery. Two accomplices were also arraigned. They were Chasity Vera Pasley, 20, and Kristen Leann Price, 18. They were charged with being accessories after the fact.
According to reports that had emerged to date, McKinney and Hendersen befriended Matthew at the Fireside Lounge, told him they were gay, and lured them to their pick-up truck to give him a ride home. Somewhere near the Wal-Mart, McKinney turned to Matthew and said, “Guess what? We’re not gay, and you’ve just been jacked,” and started beating him inside the truck. They drove out to a field on Snowy Mountain View Road, then dragged Matthew to a fence post, where he was “tied spread-eagle, beaten and burned,” then left to die.
It would later emerge that Matthew hadn’t been burned, nor had he been tied “spread-eagle.” Instead, his hands were tied behind his back, and tied to the fence post just a few inches above the ground. But this early report of being tied “spread-eagle,” along with early descriptions of his being mistaken for a scarecrow, led to later images of Matthew hanging by his arms, appearing as an upright scarecrow or as someone who had been crucified.
Court documents told a clearer story. Shepard was “struck in the head with a pistol,” and the suspects “beat him, while he begged for his life.” According to one report, Shepard received a 2-inch deep gash in his head, crushing his skull. They took his wallet and shoes, and left him tied to the ranch fence, unconscious and barely breathing. The temperature had dropped into the low 30s during the 18 hours Shepard was left outside.
Then McKinney and Hendersen then met up with Pasley and Price, who helped them dispose of their bloody clothing.
Laramie Police commander Dave O’Malley said that while robbery was the chief motive, Matthew was singled out in part because he was gay. He also added that in his 25 years on the police force, he had seen a few hate crimes over the years, “but nothing anywhere near this.”
Matthew was unconscious upon discovery. He has not regained consciousness since then. “They’re not expecting him to ever wake up,” Walter Boulden, a friend of Matthew’s, said.
McKinney and Henderson were then involved with another assault within the same hour. Further investigation stemming from that assault eventually led police to the suspects in Matthew’s beating.
A basket of dried flowers appeared on the fence post where Matthew Shepard was left to die. The Denver Post reported that one local resident “wasn’t shocked to hear a gay man had been beaten so severely.” She said: “Here in the rural West, such intolerance still is not that unusual.”
See also:
(Oct 16) Today In History: Rest In Peace
(Oct 13) Today In History: “Something In the Culture”
(Oct 12) Today In History: Matthew Wayne Shepard (Dec 1, 1976 – Oct 12, 1998)
(Oct 11) Today In History: The Vigil
(Oct 10) Today In History: Armbands and Scarecrows
(Oct 9) Also Today In History: Details Emerge
(Oct 9) Today In History: “We Just Wanted To Spend Time With Him”
(Oct 8) Today in History: Two Men Arrested
(Oct 7) Also Today In History: Another Assault In Laramie
(Oct 7) Today In History: “Baby, I’m So Sorry This Happened”
(Oct 6) Today In History: Before Matthew Shepard
October 9th, 2008
Ten years ago today, Dennis and Judy Shepard, exhausted by their long travel and numbed by the news, stepped into the intensive care unit of Poudre Valley Hospital and saw their son, Matthew Shepard, for the first time since seeing him off to college just a few months earlier.
Dennis and Judy were in Saudi Arabia, where Dennis worked, when they got a call in the middle of the night. Phone calls in the middle of the night is never good news. For Dennis and Judy, the news was beyond imagination — beyond belief. The Shepards had to endure a nineteen hour wait for a flight to begin their long thirty-hour journey to Fort Collins, Colorado. During that long flight home, they had no idea that news of Matthew’s beating had made headlines worldwide. They saw that it was front-page news when they arrived in Ft. Collins, but they didn’t know the extent of the attention nationwide.
When they got to the hospital, staff had to sneak them in to avoid the press. Once they got inside the hospital, the outside world disappeared.
“That sort of information just washes over you when you are trying to be there for your son,” Shepard said of the media attention showered on her family. …
“Dennis likened it to a prairie fire; it went so fast,” Shepard said of the media explosion and the mythology that blew up around her son’s death.
National networks came, national and regional newspapers posted correspondents in Laramie. Radio stations also joined in the fray.
“I just felt it was invasive and improper when we just wanted to spend time with him,” she said.
What Dennis and Judy saw must have been devastating. His aunt and uncle had earlier describe Matthew’s appearance to the press as as horrifying, with wounds concentrated on his head and face. The most severe blow was inflicted with a gun and probably caused irreparable brain damage, R.W. Eaton said. “He looks like hell,” Roxanne Rose said. “I can’t explain it. I don’t know how to explain it. He is hanging onto life by a thread.” Said Eaton: “It’s like something you might see in war.”
Doctors encouraged the family to bring familiar items to Matthew’s bed, in case he still had some lingering awareness. So they filled his room with sunflowers and the music of John Fogerty and Elton John. Judy wore the perfume he had given her for Christmas.
That same evening in Laramie, people gathered for candlelight vigil. The news bulletins and medical updates from Poudre Valley Hospital were grim.
See also:
(Oct 16) Today In History: Rest In Peace
(Oct 13) Today In History: “Something In the Culture”
(Oct 12) Today In History: Matthew Wayne Shepard (Dec 1, 1976 – Oct 12, 1998)
(Oct 11) Today In History: The Vigil
(Oct 10) Today In History: Armbands and Scarecrows
(Oct 9) Also Today In History: Details Emerge
(Oct 9) Today In History: “We Just Wanted To Spend Time With Him”
(Oct 8) Today In History: Two Men Arrested
(Oct 7) Also Today In History: Another Assault In Laramie
(Oct 7) Today In History: “Baby, I’m So Sorry This Happened”
(Oct 6) Today In History: Before Matthew Shepard
October 8th, 2008
In their first television ad, supporters of anti-marriage amendement Proposition 8 trumpeted their spokesman as “Professor Richard Petersen, Pepperdine University School of Law”. This did not sit well with the school which then demanded that their name be removed from the commercial.
Yes on 8 got around to removing the reference to Pepperdine on the ads running on television programs though they left the school’s name on the ad on their site.
Now they have a new ad; one released well after Pepperdine requested that they not insinuate the school’s support. And guess what – it too quotes “Professor Richard Petersen, Pepperdine University School of Law”.
But what do you expect?
Answering the call of his Prophet is far more important to Peterson than honoring the request of his employer. And the Yes on 8 campaign has long since decided that winning is more important than having integrity.
October 8th, 2008
The Salt Lake Tribune reports on increased organized efforts to get students at Brigham Young to influence the vote in California.
But during a special satellite broadcast from Salt Lake City tonight to LDS chapels in Utah County as well as in California, LDS authorities are expected to ask Brigham Young University students and other Californians living in Utah to participate in phone trees in support of Proposition 8, which would define marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman.
A supporter of the initiative made a statement that reveals not only that this amendment is an attempt by the Mormon Church to influence elections but also that it seeks to do so deceptively.
“This is going to set a precedent,” said Kuder, who is in favor of the initiative. “The church has not been involved with politics in this way for a very long time. The church doesn’t want to make a statement in favor of Prop 8 but it wants members to be in favor.”
October 8th, 2008
In a debate held in Southern Arizona yesterday, two candidates for Congress sparred over one candidate’s role in placing Proposition 102, Arizona’s so-called “marriage amendment,” on the ballot.
First-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Gabrielle Giffords blasted her challenger, State Sen. Tim Bee (R-Tucson), over his role in the contentious final night of the legislative session when he cast the sixteenth, deciding vote to put the proposition on the ballot. According to the Arizona Daily Star:
Giffords’ sharpest attack on Bee, the outgoing president of the state Senate, was blaming him for a blowup on the last night of the 2008 legislative session, when several pieces of legislation died in the wake of a combative debate about sending a measure to define marriage to the November ballot.
“The individuals that I know that work at the state Legislature reported that the end of the session was the worst end that anyone could remember in the history of the state Legislature,” Giffords said. “Crying. Tears. Bills that were left undone.
“When we talk about leadership as the Senate president there’s an opportunity to really lead,” she said, declaring her opposition to what is now Proposition 102. Specifically, Giffords pointed out a solar-energy bill and guest-worker proposal failed to get a final vote.
Arizona has the most sunshine of any state in the union, yet Bee and his cronies shoved aide a badly needed solar-energy bill. Arizona has one in four schools that don’t meet federal standards, and we have more than a million Arizonans without access to affordable health care. Oh yeah, there’s also a widening state budget deficit of $3 Billion, and that will only get worse with a state economy that has been shedding jobs over the past several months.
But what does Bee think is more important? A proposition that Arizona voters already said no to two years ago.
Please help us tell them to trust the people and to work on issues that are really important. Please give generously today.
October 8th, 2008
Ten years ago today, on October 8, 1998, Laramie, Wyoming police arrested Aaron James McKinney and Russell Arthur Henderson, both 21, and charged them with attempted murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery of Matthew Shepard.
McKinney’s and Henderson’s girlfriends, Chasity Vera Pasley, 20 and Kristen Leann Price, 18, were also arrested and charged with being accessories after the fact. Police said the women women helped McKinney and Henderson dump their bloody clothing.
Albany County Sheriff Gary Puls announced the arrests of Henderson, Pasley, and Price at 4:30 in the afternoon. McKinney was arrested later at 11:30 pm at Pudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he had been treated for a skull fracture that he suffered during a fight early in the morning on the day before.
Meanwhile, ten years ago today, Matthew Shepard is in a coma at that very same hospital, where he remains in critical condition.
See also:
(Oct 16) Today In History: Rest In Peace
(Oct 13) Today In History: “Something In the Culture”
(Oct 12) Today In History: Matthew Wayne Shepard (Dec 1, 1976 – Oct 12, 1998)
(Oct 11) Today In History: The Vigil
(Oct 10) Today In History: Armbands and Scarecrows
(Oct 9) Also Today In History: Details Emerge
(Oct 9) Today In History: “We Just Wanted To Spend Time With Him”
(Oct 8) Today In History: Two Men Arrested
(Oct 7) Also Today In History: Another Assault In Laramie
(Oct 7) Today In History: “Baby, I’m So Sorry This Happened”
(Oct 6) Today In History: Before Matthew Shepard
October 7th, 2008
JAMA is reporting that circumcision, which may eliminate HIV transmission in heterosexual sex by up to 50%, is less helpful in male-male anal sex.
The study’s authors wrote that circumcision appears to provide “not statistically significant” protection from HIV in men who engage in anal sex with other men. The researchers said however that more research may be necessary to quantify the amount of protection — or lack thereof — provided by circumcision.
It seems counter-intuitive that a virus’ ability to infect a man would be impacted by the gender of his partner, assuming penetrative-only sex. Somehow I suspect some relevant questions were not addressed.
October 7th, 2008
Mormons for Proposition 8 have analyzed the donations to Yes on 8 over $1,000 and found that the largest contributing group is members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
In other words, at least 57% of individual donations greater that $1,000 are from members of one denomination.
Yes on 8 has also selected as the face of the campaign one Richard Petersen, a Mormon law professor teaching at Pepperdine University.
(hat tip to Utah Reader and johnson)
October 7th, 2008
Internal polling prepared for the No on 8 campaign shows that this proposition is neck and neck, perhaps even ahead. The anti-gay advertising is flooding the airwaves and their lies are working.
“We have the messages, our advertising is compelling, but polling tells us that it is not being seen or heard as much as the Yes side, and that needs to change,” Lake says in the memo.
Geoff Kors concluded: “The proponents will continue to mislead the public, and we can’t let their lies stick. And if we can’t get the resources into this campaign – both in dollars and volunteer hours – we will lose. Right now the fundraising gap is $6million. That’s the challenge, but I believe once the community understands how tight this race is, they will dig deep and give to our efforts. I’m comfortable that our best fundraising weeks are those ahead of us. We need everyone to pitch in right now.”
I believe that the Box Turtle Bulletin reader is not complacent. I believe that you are neither selfish nor lazy. I believe that you care enough to pull out your wallet, volunteer your time (if Californian), and make a difference.
October 7th, 2008
After same-sex marriage became legal in June, California revised the form to read “Party A” and “Party B” instead of “Bride” and “Groom”.
Anti-gay activists immediately leaped on the change as evidence of harm to heterosexuals. Which is nonsense.
But it appears that some folks missed being called a bride or groom on the form and so the state will revise the form to allow each party to tick a box for bride or groom if they so choose.
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