I was actually gone on vacation for the earlier part of this week in Seville, since French vacations don't line up with American elections... but I've been catching up and most of what I wanted to say about the elections on Tuesday has either been covered by a contributor on Bilerico or will be soon (there's some great analysis of the elections lined up for the next few days here at TBP, and I'm sure more will be coming in as our brilliant and committed contributors digest the results).

I have three things to add, though, about fault and finger-pointing, so-called strategic incrementalism, and Gay Apartheid, which may just be my new favorite way to not quite violate Godwin's Law. All after the jump.

Continue reading "We can't deny the fact that you hate us right now, you hate us!" »

Last night's loss in Maine for marriage equality was very disappointing, losing by about 5 percentage points, but the ENDA-like non-discrimination ordinance won in Kalamazoo by an amazing 30 percentage points. The Kalamazoo ordinance covers housing and public accommodations, in addition to the workplace, so its win indicates the high receptivity of non-discrimination as an issue. That should give some comfort to our Blue Dog Democrats on ENDA. At the same time, however, the loss of New Jersey and Virginia governorships to the Republicans may raise the specter of a U.S. shift to the right, which will complicate matters.

I'm sorry to say that we have little time to mourn the loss of marriage equality in Maine, because there is a Senate hearing on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act tomorrow morning at 10 am. United ENDA, a group of over 400 LGBT organizations, has sent out an action alert asking that you call your Senators. Click here for their easy email form.

Where is Indiana's Democratic Senator Evan Bayh on ENDA? We don't know, since he has kept his position to himself. He's one of 6 Senators* likely to vote for ENDA, but who hasn't publicly stated his support. The leadership won't bring it to a vote unless they know they have 60 votes to overcome the Republican filibuster. Please call and ask him to step up to the plate. Contact info and more after the jump.

Sign up here for a reminder of tomorrow's Liveblog of the Senate hearing beginning at 10am tomorrow. Since the real fight is in the Senate, and because the vote there is going to be very, very close, you should join us if you want to read the tea leaves on ENDA.

Continue reading "Indiana's Senator Evan Bayh: Legislator of the Day" »

Tonight is a big night for LGBT rights and issues- Marriage Equality in Maine, Relationship Recognition in Washington State, and a Human Rights Ordinance in Kalamazoo. Add that to the openly gay candidates (Annise Parker in Houston) and races that effect our movement (the New Jersey Governor's Race), and you have a busy night for all things LGBT.

We're going to use this open thread to update election results, talk about the races, follow everything that matters to you. Jump in the comments, add the races you're watching, and give your commentary throughout the evening!

We'll be updating this post all night as results trickle in!

Maine Question 1 Results: 84% Reporting
NO (yay!): 47.4%
Yes (boo!): 52.6% *Winner-UGH*

The Associated Press has declared Yes On 1 the victor. We lost. A recount is expected.

Campaign Statement after the jump.

Washington State Referendum 71 Results: 100% Reporting
Approve (yay!): 51% *Winner*
Reject (boo!): 49%

We won Washington State. LGBT residents keep domestic partner benefits.

Kalamazoo Ordinance 1856 Results:

WINNING PRESS RELEASE AFTER THE JUMP

Yes (yay!): 65% *Winner!!*
No (boo!): 35%

More races (NJ, VA, Houston, St Pete FL, Chapel NC, & more!) and results as they come in after the jump!

Continue reading "Election Night Results Open Thread: Maine, WA State, Kalamazoo & Beyond" »

When my son first came out, one of my initial thoughts was that our family was not a "typical, normal" American family. I, too, thought that a family consisted of parents, children, and grandchildren. Since my son was gay, I thought, he would not have children and I wouldn't have grandchildren. I never even thought about what constitutes a family in the larger sense.

After joining PFLAG, I did learn what constitutes a family. I learned that there are many different forms that a family can take. I thought back to my own life - after my husband, son and I moved away from New York and our family there, our friends in the various cities we lived in became our family. We celebrated holidays, birthdays and happy occasions together. I also saw that my son could indeed have children, though not in the "conventional" way.

Today my attention was brought to a video that was made by Sean Chapin.

Continue reading ""We may be different, but we're not better"" »

As we've seen in the recent spate of hate crimes in New York City - and not just LGBT folks - there's still a lot of work to do around preventing violence based on arbitrary prejudices. The NYC Anti-Violence Project has been working on the issue for years, but it's a never ending job unfortunately. You can support them by attending the 13th Annual Courage Awards fundraiser next week.

The New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP) will hold its 13th Annual Courage Awards on Monday, November 9, 2009 at the W New York Ballroom at 541 Lexington Avenue, New York. The evening includes cocktails and a chefs' tasting and a program featuring the award presentation.

At this year's event, AVP has the privilege of honoring Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tony Kushner, author of Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes and The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures, for his truthful and cutting edge political writing and analysis; Weblog creators Bil Browning (The Bilerico Project), Joe Jervis (Joe.My.God.), Pam Spaulding (Pam's House Blend) and Andy Towle (Towleroad), in recognition of the impact of LGBTQH weblogs have made in the fight for civil rights and against violence in our communities; and Clifford Chance US LLP, for their commitment to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and HIV-affected (LGBTQH) rights and extensive work on behalf of the communities AVP serves.

I'm honored to be included in such an all-star lineup of bloggers. We've chosen Pam to do the acceptance speechifying for us, but we'll all be attending the ceremony. If you've ever wanted to meet any or all of us, this is your chance. Purchase your Courage Awards tickets here.

I think this was one of Bilerico's best weeks ever. Not only did we have some highly popular emotional and entertainment posts this week, but our political coverage was spectacular. What other LGBT site covered the hate crimes bill signing - and gave you personal posts from contributors who attended? Combine that with our Ryan White Act reporting and a big dose of health care breaking news and you've got a recipe for Bilerico! Here are the posts you won't want to miss from the past week:

PS - Did you go vote for Bilerico Project as the best blog from Indiana? Help us win first place (We're in 10th currently! A bunch of corporate blogs are beating us!).

Sunday

TV ads aren't the answer in Maine Filed by: Matt Foreman
The Gay Hate Crimes Crisis Isn't Over Yet Filed by: David Badash

Monday

I have a problem with faggots Filed by: Bil Browning
War is anti-LGBTQ Filed by: Alex Blaze

Tuesday

Bend (Over) It Like Beckham Filed by: Prince Gomolvilas
Drag memorabilia: vintage Finocchio's postcard Filed by: Gloria Brame Ph.D.

Wednesday

WWJB: Where Would Jesus Bank? -or- Jesus Doesn't Bank Here Any More Filed by: Bil Browning
Child witches, demons, and LGBT youth Filed by: Rev Irene Monroe

Thursday

The beginning of the end Filed by: Cathy Renna
LGBT History: A British Bisexual and American Religious Liberty Filed by: Patricia Nell Warren

Friday

When the Government does Right Filed by: Rebecca Juro
Dragon Age: Origins and Buttsex Filed by: Jason Tseng

Bilerico Nation

William & Mary Students Pick Transgender Homecoming Queen Filed by: Michael Hamar (B-DC)
Transgender Comics: "Between the Lines" Filed by: Austen Crowder
Help Us Stop Murder Music in Miami Filed by: Nadine Smith (B-FL)

Okay, gang. I need your help. I'm tired of always being the bridesmaid and never the bride... We've come in second place in the Best LGBT Blog Awards for two years running after barely missing first place by a few votes each time. This time I want to win something, dammit!

We're currently in the running for the top blog in Indiana but we're losing by a mile. A blog called "My Old Kentucky Home" is ranked higher than we are. Seriously. *sighs* (I'll refrain from making Kentucky jokes since we're in their blogroll!)

We're one of the most popular sites in the state, but I just found out we were nominated and voting has been going on for a couple of weeks! We're getting a late start on this and right now we only have 112 votes - that's 11th place out of 50 nominations - but the top site has over 500! We're also the only LGBT blog that made the cut, so we have to represent!

There's no sign up needed to vote. You can only vote once per IP address. Won't you help us win the top spot this time? Send the link to all your friends and post it on Facebook and Twitter too. Can you help us get 400 votes today?

UPDATE: We've moved up to 6th place, but we still need over 200 votes to take the top spot. Won't you help us claim #1?

UPDATE 2: We've fallen to 10th place with a 200 vote gap between us and first place! We're being beaten by a bunch of corporate blogs about social networking! Help!

All of the health care reform debate is really confusing to me and I'll admit that I'm not that well versed in the intricacies. By the time you throw Congressional procedures and protocols, insurance practices lingo, and a bunch of legal and medical terms into a mix, like a majority of Americans, my eyes glaze over slightly and my brain starts to hurt.

After Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced their would be a public option, the rumor mill had our Senator joining Lieberman in supporting a Republican filibuster and I wasn't surprised. Why? Like a lot of other Hoosiers, there's one nugget of information that I do know.

I know the Bayh fortune is built off the medical industry via Bayh's wife - who was paid to sit on the boards of several companies making big bucks off the status quo. Those same companies and related lobbyists have donated quite a bit to Bayh's campaigns. I know I don't trust Senator Bayh with health care reform - and his leadership of the Blue Dogs and their attempted hijacking of the legislation to water it down for the Republicans proves it.

Perhaps all the negative publicity surrounding Bayh's ties to the medical industry is starting to make a dent in the Senator's opposition to health care reform. After all, he's known for keeping his eye on the polls. Color me shocked when a few hours after a Research 2000 poll came out that showed that 54% of Democrats would be less likely to vote for Bayh in a primary if he voted to filibuster the public option, Bayh's office put out this clarification:

Senator Bayh will support moving forward to a health care debate on the Senate floor, where he will work hard to address his concerns and craft affordable legislation that reduces the deficit and lowers health care costs for Indiana families and small businesses.

The same poll showed that 52% of voters think Bayh's $1.5 million in campaign contributions from health and insurance interests hurt his judgment on health care. Yeah. You think? We already knew that.

As we're redesigning the Bilerico properties, we've been wondering about our crossover traffic. Please take a moment to answer this brief question (no sign in or account needed) to help us better serve your needs.

Feel free to leave any suggestions you might have on ways we can improve our local and national coverage of LGBT issues. After all, we're here to provide you with what you're after in LGBT news and opinion; let us know what you want!

Update 10/28/09 5:30pm: Trevor has been found. Thanks everyone!

MISSING

Trevor Garcia, age 17

5'7" tall, 130#, brown hair, brown eyes
Braces on teeth, left ear pierced with a large, square diamond earring.
Last seen on 10/26/09 at Avon High School.

IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL THE HENDRICKS COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT AT 317-745-6464.

President Obama has just signed the first ever piece of pro-LGBT federal legislation into law.

The Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act was attached to the Defense Authorization Bill and added gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability to existing hate crimes laws.

We have a long way to go, but today is historic. By signing, the President sends a clear message that it is not okay to kill gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Thanks to everyone who worked so hard for so many years on this legislation.

Reactions from the orgs - including a joint statement by 30 LGBT orgs - and Judy Shepard after the jump as they come in (check back for updates)...

Continue reading "Obama Signs Matthew Shepard/James Byrd Hate Crimes Bill into Law" »

On Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009- less than a week away- there will be critical votes on on LGBT equality in three states: Washington State, Maine, and Michigan. With so much attention devoted to other issues in the political realm, bloggers have banded together with the Courage Campaign to ensure we don't forget the ones with a firm deadline next week.

For that reason, we've joined with these three campaigns to put together a summary of who, what, and how. If you haven't heard of these campaigns, and/or haven't done anything yet to support them, please consider helping out. If you are a blogger please feel free to grab this content whole cloth and use it for your blog posts. Head over to the Courage Campaign site and grab the formatted HTML to drop into a post.

Last year, as Obama and Democrats were winning across the country, we lost marriage equality in California. It was a bittersweet victory. Pitch in to make sure 2009 isn't a bittersweet year. Take action to support LGBT equality TODAY.

Continue reading "Blog This: The Battleground Basics" »