-Empowering Spirits Foundation

The Washington Secretary of State’s office reported today they expect to be done by tomorrow with the signature counting of Referendum 71, an effort to put the new domestic partnership law up to voters to approve or reject. As of Friday night, 129,996 signatures have been checked — 114,583 have been verified and 15,413 have been rejected. That puts the rejection rate at 11.86 percent, lower than the 12.4 percent needed to keep Referendum 71 off the ballot. There are only roughly 8000 signatures left to check.

To track the progress, go to http://wei.secstate.wa.gov/osos/en/initiativesReferenda/Pages/R-71SignatureStats.aspx

8/30/09-by Paula Brooks, www.lezgetreal.com
Washington DC police sources are telling Lez Get Real, that a body found Friday in a wooded section of Rock Creek Park is that of ACLU State Legislative Counsel Larry Frankel.

Rock Creek Park is located in Northwest DC.

 Police say that a jogger running along a path in the park just south of Beach Drive and north of Massachusetts Ave NW, about 11 a.m. Friday saw something floating in the water that later turned out to be Frankels body.

 US Park Police initially responded to the joggers 911 call and were later joined on the scene by investigators from the homicide division of the DC Metro Police.

 A Metro DC Police spokesman confirmed this morning that the body was indeed that of Frankel and said that homicide detectives are continuing to investigate his death, but would offer no cause of death or comment further on the case pending official release of autopsy results.

Frankel, 52, had served as both Executive Director and Legislative Director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania for many years before becoming the State Legislative Counsel for the National ACLU here in Washington. Frankel joined the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office last year and oversaw the support to the 53 ACLU affiliate offices across the country.

 Pennsylvania Rep Mark Cohen said on his blog this morning that Frankel was a “proud gay man, he was militant on the issue of gay marriage, believing that it was far more important to keep the legal option of gay marriage by defeating a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage than to enact civil unions legislation, an uphill battle that some, including myself, thought was winnable. His views on gay marriage were somewhat vindicated when four New England states and the state of Iowa legalized gay marriage this year.”

By The Associated Press
08.31.2009 10:00am EDT

(Fort Worth, Texas) Texas’ liquor board fired two agents and a supervisor, disciplined two other supervisors and changed several policies in the wake of a raid at a gay bar that left a customer seriously injured and led to protests, officials announced Friday.

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said agent Christopher Aller and agent trainee Jason Chapman, who participated in the June 28 raid at the Rainbow Lounge, were fired Friday. Their supervisor, Sgt. Terry Parsons, was not at the Fort Worth bar that night but also was fired, effective Sept. 2.

Aller and Chapman failed to report that they used force when arresting the customer or that he was seriously injured, according to a report on the agency’s investigation released earlier this month. They also were accused of participating in the raid without their supervisor’s approval, disrupting the business during the raid and wearing improper attire, the report states.

Parsons failed to ensure that the agents submitted a report on using force during the arrest, did not take appropriate action after learning they didn’t wear proper attire and did not notify supervisors that multiple arrests had been made that night, the report states.

The commission said Parsons’ direct supervisor, Lt. Gene Anderson, would be suspended without pay for three days and be on probation for six months, and Capt. Robert “Charlie” Cloud, who oversees the Dallas and Fort Worth TABC offices, has received a written reprimand. Both inadequately monitored new agents’ training and inadequately supervised Fort Worth employees and their activities, the agency said.

In announcing the disciplinary actions, the agency’s chief of field operations, Joel Moreno, said he was confident that Anderson and Cloud could make the necessary improvements.

“The first step is by working more closely with their employees, mentoring them and serving as positive role models by exemplifying the agency’s four cornerstones: service, courtesy, integrity, and accountability,” Moreno said in a statement. “It is essential that every employee understands our core value: We do the right thing, not what we have the right to do.”

TABC Administrator Alan Steen, who will make the final decision on any appeals, was not available to comment Friday, agency spokeswoman Carolyn Beck said.

The five may protest their disciplinary actions by submitting a written grievance in the next 10 working days.

Aller, who had worked for the agency for five years, and Chapman, who was hired in April, had been on desk duty during the investigation. Parsons had planned to retire Sept. 2 after completing 20 years with the agency but had been using vacation time.

Phone numbers for the fired employees could not be found Friday. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission Officers Association has not been asked to provide representation for the three, president Darryl Darnell said Friday.

Another sergeant will be transferred from Fort Worth to the Dallas office next week “for the betterment of the agency and to create change in the office,” but that is not considered disciplinary action, Beck said.

Aller and Chapman accompanied six Fort Worth police officers to the Rainbow Lounge in what police billed as a routine liquor license inspection for a new business. Six people were arrested for public intoxication, and one patron, Chad Gibson, suffered a severe head injury while in the agents’ custody, the agency and police have said.

Gibson, who was hospitalized for a week, has said he has a blood clot behind his right eye.

Fort Worth Police Chief Jeff Halstead has said authorities set out to inspect the bar that night. But he acknowledged the visit somewhat resembled a raid because some police officers ran inside, responding to an officer’s two distress calls seeking help with a customer resisting arrest. The two TABC agents were wearing improper attire – shirts that said “state police” instead of coats and ties – and they didn’t tell the owner they were conduction an inspection, the agency said.

Since the raid, the agency has changed several policies – including how it uses force in certain situations – and is shortening agents’ shifts, increasing cultural diversity training and reviewing the agent trainee field training program, Moreno said.

“Most of these were not as a direct result of this incident, but we hope they will prevent a similar incident from happening,” Beck said Friday.

The raid led to numerous protest marches and rallies by gay rights groups, which demanded independent investigations. Some said the bar was targeted because it catered to a gay clientele, and some patrons said they were scared during the raid because agents used excessive force.

A group formed after the raid, Fairness Fort Worth, said Friday that the disciplinary actions and policy changes were appropriate.

“Fairness Fort Worth appreciates TABC’s strong commitment to instituting changes that result in better trained agents and improvements to services for all Texas communities,” spokesman Jon Nelson said in a statement.

A report addressing whether the agents’ use of force was appropriate during the raid is expected to be released in September.

by Shaun Knittel – SGN Staff Writer 

On August 18, Army Lieutenant Dan Choi added his voice to those calling for Gays and Lesbians to march on Washington this October. Choi, a founding member of Knights Out, the group of LGBT alumni of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and an active duty Infantry officer, Iraq veteran, and Arabic speaker, has been notified that he will be discharged under the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy’ (DADT) for coming out as Gay on the Rachel Maddow Show. 

With the debate raging over the repeal of DADT, the U.S. military’s policy prohibiting Gays and Lesbians from serving openly, and the October 11 National Equality March less than 60 days away, SGN spoke with the soldier-turned-activist about his views on former President Bill Clinton, repealing DADT, and the state of the Gay movement. 

A CALL TO DUTY 
“We need to stand together in our nation’s capitol [at the National Equality March] and claim our place as a part of this magnificent national movement,” Choi told SGN during an August 24 phone interview from New York. 

The march is sponsored by a new grassroots organization called Equality Across America and is scheduled for October 11, the 30th anniversary of the first national march on Washington for LGBT Rights. 

“I took former President Bill Clinton’s words as an insult,” Choi said, referring to Clinton’s August 13 comments that the Gay community did not deliver the political support needed in 1993 to prevent DADT and DOMA. “The lawmakers enacted rules that said we [LGBT servicemembers] have to be silent. It would be easier to offer support if we were actually allowed to speak.” 

Choi wants to turn the insult into action. “I’m marching on Washington,” he said. 

THE ROAD TO WASHINGTON
Choi, a 2003 West Point graduate with degrees in Arabic and environmental engineering, appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show to talk about Knights Out in March, 2009. 

“The Rachel Maddow Show chose me,” Choi told SGN. “Knights Out didn’t think we would get that kind of publicity. At first we were just blogged about, but then the Army Times picked up the story and before I knew it, Maddow’s producers called and asked me to do the show.” 

Knights Out officials and Choi decided the time to be silent was over, and in front of millions of viewers the military officer declared he was Gay and was thrust into the role of activist almost overnight. 

“The timeline was intense,” Choi recalled. “In March I said publicly ‘I’m Gay,’ and on May 6 I got a letter saying I was going to be discharged unless I put up a fight. I asked to stay, and on June 28 a board of four officers wrote that they are recommending a discharge.” 

Currently, Choi has not been technically discharged from the United States Army. It is a waiting game; he said his official discharge from the service could happen today, tomorrow, or even months from now. 

“We are just waiting to see what kind of discharge they recommend,” he told SGN. 

The type of discharge is of utmost importance when a servicemember is booted out under DADT. Choi said if you are asked to leave under “other than honorable” circumstances, then you lose all benefits, including the Montgomery G.I. college fund, home loan, and other important VA benefits – including medical coverage a servicemember may need due to injuries suffered in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He said although it is unlikely he would receive an “other than honorable” discharge, “thousands of people have gotten that.” 

In the fallout from his nationally televised coming out, Knights Out has seen a dramatic influx of support and membership numbers are rising. 

“We started out with 23 members, and now we have 79,” Choi said. “People are very supportive and you start to realize why it is important to speak out. I personally have received e-mails from people telling me their real stories and saying ‘thank you for what you do.’ When you get those messages, the mission changes and you realize that what you are doing is needed.” 

Choi said, “By and large the most important element is for people to come out.” In the end, he said, that is what is going to be what we have to fight: people who “are afraid to come out.” 

As for DADT, he believes a repeal is the honorable thing for our Congress to do, saying, “Nobody is saying it is illegal to be silent. But, there is a branch of the government that says you cannot come out of the closet. Our country’s servicemembers are forced into silence.” 

THE NATIONAL EQUALITY MARCH
Choi told SGN he endorses the National Equality March because it is a grassroots event and a call to action. 

“Maybe it’s an Army philosophy,” he said, “but you cannot get anything done without boots on the ground.” 

He said the current generation of LGBT activists needs to claim its place in the movement, and now is as good a time as any. 

“What happened with DADT and DOMA in the 1990s was before some of us had even hit puberty. We didn’t even understand what the words Gay and Lesbian were, let alone identify as such,” Choi said. “We need to meet each other, be trained and see what we can do. Our movement has older leaders who are willing to offer support and training; it’s time to pick their brains and move forward using some of their lessons learned.” 

Education, he said, is key. People need to learn how to successfully lobby Congress, how to get there foot in the door and “come together nationally to meet each other.” 

“In today’s society, there are a lot of people who exist as Gay only on the internet,” Choi told SGN. “This generation hasn’t really had our marches and rallies. The National Equality March will show people they are physically not alone.” 

“This is our time and it is critical that we, as a movement, get together and share skill sets,” Choi added. “We’ll get to shake hands with each other, then join hands and march together as a community.”

Choi said a national showing is important because, “Our struggles are at a federal level. You can’t repeal DADT state-by-state. & Discrimination is out there no matter what state you live in. Marriage equality is not the only issue; we deserve equality across the board.” 

A MOVEMENT WITH HONOR
Choi will soon be stripped of his rank and join over 250 servicemembers discharged from the military since Obama and the 111th Congress was sworn in. Still, he told SGN, he believes DADT will be repealed. 

“Integration is not the right word, ‘integrity’ is the word,” Choi said, pointing out that you cannot integrate a community that is already there. It is estimated that over 65,000 Gays and Lesbians serve silently under DADT. “We all know the truth; everyone in the military knows someone who is serving and is Gay. It is largely a non-issue.” 

Choi, who is Asian American, said he knows more openly Gay servicemembers than Asian ones. 

When a repeal happens, he said, he doesn’t think that “all of a sudden one day, all of the servicemembers who are Gay will come out all at once.” If a soldier or sailor is comfortable with telling the truth, he said, then they will. 

The most significant change you will see, according to Choi, is servicemembers not being afraid to come out. 

“The biggest impact a repeal will have on the military is a positive one. Repealing the law will allow people to serve instead of being kicked out,” he said. 

Besides the National Equality March, Choi said October will also serve as a time when the U.S. Senate will hold a hearing about DADT. He will not be present at the hearing, but said Knights Out is putting together written stories from members which include testimony on their struggles serving under DADT. He said high-ranking generals and admirals who have experience working in coalition with foreign militaries such as Israel, the U.K., and Italy which include Gays and Lesbian servicemembers, will attend the hearing. 

For Choi, it all boils down to honor and integrity. 

“Various communities, be they religious or cultural, have taken the sense of honor and diluted it with what makes you popular or what makes them look good. True honor belongs to people who tell the truth,” he said. “Not lying isn’t a conservative or liberal view, it’s an honorable view. We [out LGBT servicemembers] are picking up the banner of integrity. The truth strengthens every bit of everything we do.”

by Shaun Knittel – SGN Staff Writer

On August 25 at approximately 1 a.m., independent freelance artist Sean B. was attacked outside of the QFC on Broadway near E. Harrison St. According to Sean, who moved to Seattle from Los Angeles, California three years ago, the attack was completely unprovoked.

The 26-year-old said he and a female friend exited the QFC and began walking towards E. Olive St. to go back to Sean’s house. Within seconds, he said, a man around the same age as him, also walking with a female friend, walked towards them.

“He flashed a very intimidating look as he got closer,” Sean told SGN. “As he walked past me, we brushed shoulders. That’s when he attacked me.”

Sean said the man called him a “faggot” and hit him in the face, leaving Sean with a black eye. The attack happened so quickly that he mistakenly thought the man had punched him, but the friend who witnessed the attack told him he’d been elbowed. He said his attacker appeared to be high on crystal meth.

The two men began to scuffle in front of the store. Sean said he flagged down an SPD car so they could arrest the man, who began to walk away as the police arrived.

That’s when, according to Sean, the situation became strange.

“I pointed out my attacker to the police officers,” Sean said. “The man and his friend had crossed the street so the cop had to yell at him to come back over to the scene.”

Sean said what was disturbing is the police officer knew the man by name, saying, “Ramon, get over here!” Then the officer said, “The last time I arrested you, you were throwing people into the street. What did you do this time?”

Sean said the police treated the situation like “a fight between two people, when the truth is I was called a name and attacked.”

He admits that he was intoxicated, but not drunk enough to say that alcohol was to blame for the attack. Sean maintains he said nothing to the man until after he was hit.

“The police kept talking down to me, like I was a child,” he told SGN. “Then the man’s friend told the police that Ramon attacked me because I threw a bottle at him.”

The officer told Sean that since there were no witnesses, it was his word against that of the attacker and his friend. At that point, he said, he realized his attacker was going to get away with it. Sean did not file a police report. He said he became overly emotional and just wanted an apology.

“The officers told me they could not force anyone to apologize and were very uncaring,” he said. “I was obviously assaulted, and the fact that the word ‘faggot’ had been used made it even more demeaning.”

He said the man the police called Ramon offered an insincere apology and simply walked away. After they let the man go, Sean said, he and his friend went around the corner and he sat down and began to cry.

“A man who lives in an apartment building nearby heard me crying and came outside to sympathize with me,” he said. “My eye had begun to swell so the man went inside and got some ice for me to put on it.”

He said the man told him that attacks are on the rise around Capitol Hill, and said someone who thought he was Gay had recently attacked him. The man, according to Sean, is heterosexual.

“Nothing is happening to stop the rise in violence on Capitol Hill,” Sean said. “The attacks are escalating and the police are doing nothing.”

He said he doesn’t understand why, especially during times when the bars are closing, there aren’t more police patrols visible on the streets. He said some of his friends who have grown up in Seattle have told him that they’ve seen or heard about “more attacks during the last three years than that’s happened in 20 years.”

“I think that everyone needs to be aware,” he said. “When something like this happens in our community, people need to come forward.”

He added that he recommends people walk home in groups whenever possible and that, unfortunately, he no longer views Seattle as being as safe a place for Gay people to live as he had previously.

Still, he says, he believes he was attacked because he is Gay, but is worried for everyone’s safety on Capitol Hill, not just the LGBT community.

“This is not a Gay issue; it is a human issue,” Sean said. “It’s become obvious that

by Shaun Knittel – SGN Staff Writer

On August 27, Washington Families Standing Together WAFST filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court requesting a Temporary Restraining Order to prevent the Secretary of State from certifying Referendum 71 to the ballot. If R-71 is placed on the ballot, voters will be asked to approve or disapprove of Senate Bill 5688, which grants registered same-sex domestic partners the same rights and responsibilities as married couples in Washington State.

“We respect the referendum process and the public’s right to vote, but we have been increasingly concerned that, along with other issues our observers have noted with signatures being accepted that, in the view of observers, should have been rejected, the Secretary of State has accepted thousands of signatures that were not in compliance with State laws related to fraud in the signature-gathering process,” WAFST Chair Anne Levinson said in a statement to SGN. “Because of the limited number of signatures turned in, failure to enforce these laws could well lead to a measure being qualified for the ballot that should not be, and that measure has the potential to strip away important protections from thousands of families across the state.”

Levinson said WAFST waited to file the lawsuit because they wanted to give the process a chance to work, but did not want to wait so long as to interfere with the Secretary of State’s ability to produce election materials in a timely manner.

She said those trying to qualify R-71 for the ballot do not think that families different than theirs should have basic rights and protections, so they are trying to overturn the law.

“We expect a strong vote in support of the domestic partnership law if it is on the ballot, be we should not put people through the hardship of a statewide campaign and have them go through months of additional worry needlessly,” Levinson said.

She said R-71 should only be on the ballot if it has qualified based on legally valid signatures.

“In order to ensure that it is not put on the ballot in error,” she added, “we need to file a legal challenge at this point.”

The Secretary of State is the defendant in the lawsuit. The Attorney General’s office and Deputy Solicitor General Jeff Even will represent the Secretary of State in the lawsuit. The case has been assigned to King County Superior Court Judge Julie Spector, who will hear the motion on an expedited basis early next week.

The filing comes amidst a heated battle over the way signatures have been accepted. State officials admit that the scrutiny over the process has been the toughest in the state history. Both sides of the issue continue to send teams of verifiers to watch the state workers check the petition signatures.

According to state elections officials, only three observers from each side are allowed in the counting room at one time. Typically, only two are allowed in, but state officials have allowed each side to bring an additional observer into the room. If an observer has a concern about a signature, they can note where the signature appears on the petition.

Protect Marriage Washington have alluded that the elections workers and Washington Families Standing Together observers have become too friendly. Additional complaints from the R-71 backers include signature-checkers listening to music, speeding up the count, and supervisors who do not see their concerns as valid.

“I’m not personally interested in going to court against a Republican Secretary of State,” said Gary Randall, speaking on behalf of Protect Marriage Washington, “but we will if we’re not satisfied with this.”

State Elections Director Nick Handy said in a statement, “We are proceeding with the Referendum 71 signature check. We also will deal with two lawsuits regarding the referendum. One is in federal court over the release of the signatures, and the second lawsuit will be in King County over the plaintiffs’ Temporary Restraining Order. The focus of our office continues to be on completing this signature check in a fair and accurate manner, and to facilitate our state’s important initiative and referendum process as well as we can.”

R-71 NAMES AND ADDRESSES NOT EXEMPT FROM PUBLIC DISCLOSURE
On August 27, the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) decided the names and addresses of donors to Referendum 71 would not be exempt from public disclosure.

The commission received a request earlier this month by Protect Marriage Washington to remove the names. In a written request, attorneys representing Protect Marriage Washington asked that the names, addresses and occupations of donors be sealed because of threats of violence made against R-71 supporters and churches.

At the time of the request, donors’ information had already been public since June, in accordance with state law.

The PDC said Protect Marriage Washington had not proved that disclosure of donors’ names would result in “manifestly unreasonable hardship” to contributors. The PDC went on to say that they felt “Protect Marriage Washington provided no evidence from or about donors that have demonstrated that they have received threats of violence against their lives or property.”

Most importantly, the PDC said removing the names would hinder the purpose of the public disclosure law.

BY THE NUMBERS
The signature verification of the 137,689 signatures turned in to the Washington Secretary of State’s office by Protect Marriage Washington is now in its fifth week. State Elections Director Nick Handy said the final signatures should be checked by Tuesday. .

Protect Marriage Washington need 120,577 valid signatures in order for R-71 to make the November General Election ballot. The bill would have taken effect July 26, but is now on hold while the R-71 signature-by-signature check is under way. .

As of August 27, the Secretary of State’s office reports that out of 125,631 signatures, 110,797 have been accepted and 14,834 rejected, 11,798 are not registered, 50 are pending verification, 1,256 are a no match and 1,730 are duplicates. That brings the margin of error to 11.81%. In order for R-71 to qualify, the sponsor’s margin of error cannot exceed 12.4%. Unless the margin of error dramatically jumps, it would appear the fate of registered same-sex domestic partners will rest in the hands of the general public come November. .

A daily update is available on the R-71 homepage at www.vote.wa.gov

- www.christiantelegraph.com

An effort to overturn Washington state’s same-sex domestic partnerships law is on pace to qualify for the ballot, with the next several days determining its fate, reports Baptist Press.

Referendum 71, as it is called, would go on the November ballot and reverse a law that grants homosexual couples all the legal benefits of marriage, minus the name. Supporters submitted 137,689 signatures July 25 and have been waiting since then to see if they met the threshold of 120,577 valid signatures.

So far, they’re OK, but barely.

Through Wednesday’s count by the Washington secretary of state’s office, 103,198 signatures had been declared valid and 13,871 invalid, which comes to an 11.85 percent rejection rate. For it to qualify, the rejection rate must stay at or below 12.4 percent. At the current signature-checking rate, supporters should know by Monday or Tuesday if they were successful. Signatures are rejected for a number of reasons, such as the person not living in the state or having signed the petition twice.

Including Washington, five states have so-called “everything but marriage” laws for homosexual couples. Washington, though, would be the first one to put the issue on the ballot.

Washington state Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire signed the bill into law in May, waiting as long as she could to give bill opponents less time to gather signatures. That delay, the Seattle Times reported, eliminated about one-third of the 90 days supporters had to gather signatures.

The law has not gone into effect.

“While the signature count is still considered ‘too close to call’ by the Secretary of State, we are holding onto a pace that will exceed the 120,577 required signatures,” a statement on the Protect Marriage Washington website reads. “My friends, we are very, very close to declaring a victory for this phase one of the R-71 campaign!”

Domestic partnerships and civil union laws often are promoted as a “middle of the road” approach, but opponents argue that they simply are stepping stones to “gay marriage,” as has been shown to be the case in Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire, three states that formerly had similar laws but now recognize “gay marriage.”

Russell Johnson, director of governmental affairs for the Family Policy Institute of Washington, previously told Baptist Press that Washington state now is in a position similar to where California was last year, when the California Supreme Court legalized “gay marriage” and said the state could not have “separate but equal” institutions for opposite-sex and same-sex couples. In other words, the court used the state’s domestic partnerships law as a reason “gay marriage” must be legalized (a ruling eventually overturned by Proposition 8).

“The supporters of this bill have publicly said at press conferences that the intent of this legislation is to create a legal precedent and a legislative precedent for either the courts to impose gay marriage or for the state legislature to adopt terms that redefine marriage,” Johnson said. “Those who support domestic partnerships on the legislative level are pretty clear and up front about their positions.”

by Joe Siegel
EDGE New England Editor

The National Organization for Marriage burst onto the public eye with a much-parodied video, “The Gathering Storm.” The “storm” metaphor fit its leader, Maggie Gallagher, who has become a lightning rod for both sides of the marriage debate.

NOM has been one of the leading opponents of same-sex marriage in the country. Most recently, the organization has devoted its resources to a line-in-the-sand effort to see to it that Rhode Island does not become the latest New England state to allow same-sex couples to wed.

As the very last state in New England that has not legalized same-sex marriage, Rhode Island holds particular significance for both sides. Its GOP governor opposes such a measure, but the issue is very much alive.

EDGE managed to get the Executive Director of NOM’s Rhode Island chapter, Christopher Plante, to sit down for a face-to-face interview to provide his perspective on NOM’s mission.

Plante, a resident of Warwick, R.I., began by reasserting NOM’s mission: to defend and promote marriage. “Gays and lesbians are free to live as they choose,” said Plante. “They’re not free to redefine marriage for the rest of us.”

On August 16, NOM held its first annual “Celebrate Marriage and Family Day,” an event which featured heterosexual married couples renewing their vows at the Aldrich Mansion in Warwick. About 30 representatives from GLBT organizations stood outside the mansion’s gates to express their anger about NOM’s opposition to same-sex marriage.

The protestors were “respectful and dignified”, Plante noted, adding the communications between the GLBT community and himself have been civil.

One of NOM’s more notable national board members is Orson Scott Card, a science fiction author and columnist for the Mormon Times. Card advocated for the overthrow of the government if California’s Proposition 8 had failed to pass last year. Card also wants to criminalize sexual intercourse between consenting adults.

“The dark secret of homosexual society–the one that dares not speak its name–is how many homosexuals first entered into that world through a disturbing seduction or rape or molestation or abuse, and how many of them yearn to get out of the homosexual community and live normally, ” Card wrote in 2004.

For his part, Plante says he was unaware of Card’s involvement with NOM and denied that NOM is a hate group. “I don’t believe that at all,” Plante said. “Do I think that there are extreme people on both sides of the movement that can say hateful things? Absolutely. NOM is here to defend marriage, to protect it, and to encourage it.”

Kathy Kushnir, the head of Marriage Equality Rhode Island (MERI) called NOM “exclusionary”, a charge Plante does not deny. “You know what? Absolutely, because we believe marriage is between a man and a woman. If that’s enough to make NOM a hate group, that makes every person that stood up [at the Celebrate Marriage and Family Day event] a bigot. Are we willing to go that far and say the 800 people on the lawn of the Aldrich Mansion are bigots?” Plante asked.

Plante and other same-sex marriage opponents have warned of what they see as the potentially destructive impact on society if gay and lesbian couples are allowed to get married. Although there won’t be any damage in the immediate future, the effect on future generations will be especially harmful, according to Plante.

“It truly makes fathers or mothers optional,” he asserted. “An institution that has been clearly important, proven to be crucial to the upbringing of children, proven to be the ideal place to raise children with a mother and a father makes that optional. Why would we want to legalize and give the force of law to something that we know is less than the ideal? By codifying same-sex marriage we are intentionally creating a class of children that are denied either a mother or a father. There’s nothing compassionate about that.”

Plante believes same-sex couples can obtain many of the legal benefits which accompany marriage without having to get married. He points to the recent passage of a funeral-planning bill, which would allow gays and lesbians to make funeral arrangements for their same-sex partners.

“What the same-sex marriage movement wants is marriage,” Plante complained. “In California [where Proposition 8 passed, which took away same-sex marriage], they already have almost all of those rights. Proposition 8 did not change same-sex couples’ rights, it just denied them the title of marriage. There was an uproar, so it’s not about the rights. It’s not a civil rights issue.”

Members of the Rhode Island GLBT community believe otherwise. Ken Fish, who has been active in the fight to win equal marriage rights in the state, said Plante is “parroting his employer’s empty rhetoric.” Fish called same-sex marriage “the biggest civil rights struggle of our time.”

Susan Heroux, a member of Queer Action of Rhode Island, sees NOM’s mission as less than noble.

“My wife and I have been legally married for two years and living in Rhode Island,” Heroux told EDGE. “The idea that our marriage redefines someone else’s marriage is simply ludicrous. Groups like NOM want to keep marriage exclusive to heterosexuals – they want to limit marriage to themselves–and that sounds like the definition of discrimination to me.”

Plante does not support the concept of civil unions. Every state which has allowed civil unions eventually upgraded to granting full marriage rights for same-sex couples, he pointed out. (New Jersey is next in line, with full marriage apparently only a question of when, not if.)

NOM has launched a new campaign, known as “Two Million For Marriage,” which calls for concerned citizens to lobby their Senators and Congressmen to vote against an attempt to repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

The consequences of repealing DOMA would be grave, according to NOM’s latest newsletter: “If they succeed in abolishing DOMA, then activist judges will spread same-sex marriage across America…..young schoolchildren will be required to learn that same-sex marriage is good and that parents and pastors who disagree are bigots…and religious charities will be forced out of business (it is already happening in states where same-sex marriage is legal).”

In Rhode Island, much may hinge on the polls next year, when voters elect a new Governor. Attorney General Patrick Lynch (D) and former United States Senator Lincoln, both prospective candidates, support same-sex marriage.

Governor Don Carcieri, a Republican, has been a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage and endorsed the efforts of NOM at a press conference last April.

Plante says NOM will play an active role in supporting candidates who oppose gay marriage and making sure legislators who favor gay marriage are defeated.

“We are going to be involved politically,” Plante noted. “We are going to work as hard as we can for a small organization here in Rhode Island to influence that election to protect marriage.”

Joe Siegel has written for a number of other GLBT publications, including In newsweekly and Options.

By Julie Bolcer, www.theadvocate.com

Concert promoter Live Nation cancelled a series of upcoming shows by Jamaican dancehall star Buju Banton (pictured) on Thursday after gay rights activists pressured the company to drop the antigay performer through an e-mail campaign, reports Change.org.

Banton was scheduled to perform in October at House of Blues venues in Chicago, Las Vegas, Dallas, and Houston, among other dates and locations. However, last week, activists began contacting the Beverly Hills-based Live Nation to express their dismay because of his violent antigay lyrics.

In songs such as “Boom, Bye Bye,” from 1988, Banton calls for the torture and murder of gay men.

“If a guy comes near me,” he sings, “then his skin must peel. Burn him up bad like an old tire wheel.”

Live Nation announced plainly that the concerts by Banton were cancelled, and that refunds would be available to ticket holders.

Banton has long been opposed by LGBT activists because of his antigay lyrics and alleged behavior. In 2006, he was acquitted of charges that he assaulted a group of gay men in Kingston, the capital of Jamaica. In 2007, he signed the Reggae Compassionate Act, in which artists vow to refrain from singing antigay lyrics or making homophobic statements, but he later denied that he took the pledge.

- by Joe Mirabella, www.examiner.com

Moments ago, the public disclosure commission unanmously refused to seal the names and addresses of donors to the reject referendum 71 campaign working to take away domestic partnership rights.

Protect Marriage Washington alleged they were having a hard time raising money for their campaign because people were concerned about having their name disclosed publicly.

The commission said their campaign did not satisfactorily prove “undue hardship.”

The commission celebrated Washington’s public disclosure laws as some of the strongest in the world.

For more info: http://www.pdc.wa.gov/