News 8/05/10

(Special thanks to Anita Bryant, Lon Mabon, Maggie Gallagher and others too numerous to mention. The battle isn't over, but we couldn't have done it without your tireless hatred. Thanks homophobes, wherever you are. PS Get a job.)

• National Public Radio frets over Prop 8 ruling. Describes Walker's judgment as bad news for Democrats. Excuse me? "Baltimore is not ready for integrated dancing!"

• MSNBC wonders whether the ruling will have an impact on the mid-terms. Gosh, I wonder too.

• Towleroad has a great media round-up of telly coverage for the Prop 8 ruling. I highly recommend the Rachel Maddow footage eviscerating the pathetic bigot "experts." Rachel also chats with Dahlia Lithwick. Give it a look-see.

• Looks like Elena Kagan will be confirmed to the US Supreme Court, possibly this week. Remember her?

News 7/15/10

(Today in not-takin'-any-more-of-yer-damn-crap: Divine. Congratulations Argentina!)

• Argentine Senate passes marriage equality while the President already vowed to sign the bill. Thousands erupt in joyful dancing.

• BP ready to test new oil cap with lots of conditional phrases.

• Arizona's new law against brown people who don't talk good English heads to federal court in Phoenix today.

• Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D - Illinois) puts forward LGBT inclusive immigration reform bill. GOP decidedly chilly to the idea.

• Skanky, professional hater of gays Anita Bryant returns from the dead. Vows to terrorize children, drink blood and consume the flesh of the living. (Via Towleroad.)

Prop 8 Closing Arguments: An Idea On Trial

 (Hey Anita, perhaps you can offer some bankruptcy tips to our dear friend Maggie Gallagher. I'm not sure where this picture came from. No copyright infringement intended.)

Well, today was the big day and I've started reading the transcripts for the complete closing arguments in the Prop 8 case. The prop 8 Trial tracker coverage starts here. The Firedoglake coverage can be found here.

There are a lot of intersecting issues that I plan to explore over the next few days as I sift through the record.

The first thing that springs out at me from Olsen's closing argument is that the proponents of Prop 8 do not have a rational reason for the passage of their gay marriage ban. All they have is fear that marriage equality "might" harm society "some how."

Pretty flimsy. Especially since that's not how they sold Prop 8 to the people of California.

Their messaging leading up to California's vote was that Prop 8 was necessary to protect children from the idea that gay people are OK. But during the trial, they kept trying to imply that the passage of Prop 8 had nothing to do with animus.

How can you claim that the idea of me is enough to damage vulnerable children, and then turn around and claim you have nothing against me?

You can't.

Win or lose, this case is a game changer for the entire GLBTQ movement.

More tomorrow. I'm going to go make dinner now.

Steak!

And...

Go vote for The Flaming Chef (Jason Zenobia) over at Freedom to Marry's blog contest. Not once, not twice, but once every 24 hours until and including the 25th. (I've set my phone to ring at 1:35 every day to remind me.)

Morning News 5/07/10

Wow, that Parliament is hung! No party wins required 326 seats as Labor and Lib Dems discuss working together. Tories call it "coalition of the defeated."

He gets it. George Rekers's male escort describes him as "...way worse than the orange grove lady." JoeMyGod talked to Jo-Vanni Roman for a couple of hours last night. Naive but not stupid, the young man will be speaking with Anderson Cooper today.

Meanwhile... Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum (who is running for governor) is under fire for paying Rekers almost $90,000 to say horrible things about gays and other minorities in court.

Federal case against DOMA proceeds as Obama admin. defends disgusting, discriminatory law in court.

(The Tanqueray Martini pictured above was last night's libation in honor of HRH Queen Elizabeth II whose government held elections yesterday. God save the Queen! Every last one of us.)

Morning News 5/03/10

Rolling in her grave. Palm Beach Florida school board moves to protect queers.

Justice delayed. Further irritation at the Obama administration kicking the DADT can down the road.

How considerate. Conservatives promise to consider full gay marriage. (UK Conservatives, that is.)

Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Joe Mosca is fourth openly gay mayor in Los Angeles county. (It's practically Pasadena, people!)

"Absolutely." CEO promises BP will pay for Gulf clean-up.

(Weird picture of walking dead, bigot-for-a-living Anita Bryant from my archives. Not sure where I scooped up this gem.)

National Marriage Organization Exhumes Corpse of Anita Bryant

Princeton NJ – In a bold new move designed to reinvigorate the fight for traditional marriage, the corpse of Anita Bryant was wheeled into the conference room of the Motel Six here this morning and propped up near a table of complimentary muffins. A spokesperson for the National Marriage Organization described the divorced former beauty queen’s remains as a “great addition to our army of the undead, fighting for family values in America’s heartland.”

Responding to accusations that the bankrupt, gay–bashing singer is not dead but currently residing in Edmond, Oklahoma, a NMO spokesman conceded that to live in Edmond, Oklahoma is “largely indistinguishable” from being dead and that the alleged corpse of Anita Bryant could only be described as an “Anita Bryant type.”