Paul Krekorian for City Council

Guess what? There's an election today in Los Angeles. Paul Krekorian is a strong supporter of the LGBT community and a current Assemblymember who is running for the Los Angeles City Council in District #2. The special election was set for today to fill the seat being vacated by Wendy Greuel who became Los Angeles City Controller on July 1st. Bizarrely, the Los Angeles Times has endorsed another candidate, Christine Essel, who has never held elected office but is movie studio executive following in Greuel's foot steps (and has been endorsed by her) from the board room to the council chambers.

The Los Angeles City council is a 15-member body that is the elected political body representing nearly 4 million residents. This is an important election.

Krekorian has been endorsed by Stonewall Democrats. MadProfessah endorses Krekorian for City Council.

Henin Expected To Announce Return To Tennis Tuesday

7-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin is expected to announce the end of her retirement from tennis on Tuesday, multiple sources are reporting. Henin announced her retirement effective immediately on May 14, 2008 while still ranked #1 and the clear favorite to win another title (her fifth) at the 2008 Roland Garros grand slam tournament.

Belgian Kim Clijsters returned from retirement this summer and won the 2009 US Open in just her third tournament back on the tour following a 2 1/2 year gap and the birth of her daughter Jada.

I am completely unsurprised by this turn of events, and knew that as soon as Clijsters was back Henin would return as well. Last month rumors started circulating that Henin was starting training again and some people noted that Henin's projected "absence" from the sport would appear to coincide with an 18-month ban that would have been imposed if there had been a doping violation. I'm not saying that there has been, but it is curious that if Henin does indeed announce her return to the tour today, what her first tournament is, and whether it occurs before November 14, 2009.

92% of Iowans Say Gay Marriage Doesn't Affect Their Lives

What was the big deal again? In a poll released today about Iowan voter attitudes about gay marriage the number 92 jumped out of this summary of the results:

Forty-one percent say they would vote for a [constitutional amendment to] ban [same-sex marriage], and 40 percent say they would vote to continue gay marriage. The rest either would not vote or say they are not sure.

[...]

The overwhelming majority of Iowans - 92 percent - say gay marriage has brought no real change to their lives.

[...]

The poll shows that 26 percent of Iowans favor April's unanimous court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, 43 percent oppose it and 31 percent don't care much or are not sure.

Despite the 43 percent opposition to the ruling, 61 percent of Iowans say other issues will influence their decision on whether to vote to retain Iowa Supreme Court justices in the 2010 elections.

The margin of error was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points and the poll was conducted of 803 Iowans from September 14-16 by a Des Moines based firm.

Gee, what a surprise! Nearly 5 months after gay marriage became legal in Iowa, 92% of respondents basically said it had no impact on their lives. I hope heterosexual supremacists like the Nationak Organization for Marriage are reading these results and gnashing their teeth.

Eye Candy: Marcus Randall

Marcus Randall was Hunk du Jour's Hunk of the Day on Thursday September 17th. I figured y'all might enjoy him as Eye Candy.

Lost's Michael Emerson Wins Best Supporting Actor Emmy!

Michael Emerson, who plays the evil Ben on Lost, probably my favorite television show, has finally been recognized by the Emmy awards for his amazing work on that program.

In other television news, 30 Rock won again for Best Comedy Series and Mad Men (which I have never seen, and probably never will) won Best Drama Series. Happily, Glenn Close won Best Actress in a Dramatic Series for Damages (which is another of my favorites).

Uruguay Now Most Pro-LGBT Country in South America

Uruguay is rapidly gaining a reputation as the most pro-gay country in South America despite neighboring Argentina and Brazil.

The small country enacted nationwide civil union legislation in 2007, ended it's ban on gays openly serving in the military earlier this year and last week opened up adoption to same-sex couples.

MadProfessah visited the country in 2006 (Montevideo) and quite enjoyed it!

VIDEO: Whitney Houston's Million Dollar Bill

Poll On Maine's Question 1: 48% Yes, 46% No

A Daily Kos-funded poll has been released which shows that the fate of marriage equality in Maine is "too close to call."

The Resarch2000 poll (conducted September 14-16 using random digit dialing with margin of error plus/minus 4 points) says that 48% of Maine voters will vote YES to reject Maine's marriage equality law, while 46% would vote to keep it. In another bad sign for marriage in Maine, 49% of respondents say that they are opposed to marriage equality, with 46% supporting it.

QUESTION: As you may know there will be one question on the ballot this November in Maine addressing the issue of same-sex unions. In part it will read "Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry?" A yes vote takes away the right of same-sex couples to marry. A no vote keeps the right of same-sex couples to marry. If the election were held today would you vote YES or NO on this question?

	YES	NO	NOT SURE
ALL	48	46	6
MEN	52	43	5
WOMEN	44	49	7
DEMOCRATS	31	60	9
REPUBLICANS	74	20	6
INDEPENDENTS	45	52	3
18-29	43	52	5
30-44	45	49	6
45-59	51	44	5
60+	55	38	7
DISRICT 1	45	50	5
DISTRICT 2	51	42	7

QUESTION: Regardless of how you might vote do you favor or oppose allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally?

	FAVOR	OPPOSE	NOT SURE
ALL	47	49	4
MEN	43	55	2
WOMEN	51	43	6
DEMOCRATS	63	31	6
REPUBLICANS	20	77	3
INDEPENDENTS	53	44	3
18-29	54	41	5
30-44	50	46	4
45-59	45	53	2
60+	37	58	5
DISRICT 1	51	45	4
DISTRICT 2	43	53	4

Basically this is a situation where the people who are opposed to marriage equality, Republicans, males and people over 60 are more intensely opposed (and more likely to vote) than the people who are in favor of it.

This shows that the fight to defend marriage equality in Maine is going to be very tough. If you want to help, there are numerous ways that you can get involved.

1) Give money. (You can click on the thermometer on this page)
2) Go on a Volunteer Vacation to Maine (spend a week campaigning against Question 1--they have scholarships so that anyone who has the time but not the money should be able to go!)
3) Tell your friends to Vote No On Question 1 To Protect Maine Equality!

Keep your fingers crossed. There are less than 46 days left until election day! What are YOU going to do to save marriage equality?

Celebrity Friday: Mehcad Brooks (reprise)

Mehcad Brooks recently told an interviewer that he supports marriage equality. The True Blood star said that he will not be getting married in California until everyone has that right.

“I’m also not even concerned with marrying somebody until it’s legal for everybody to get married. And what I mean by that is the whole Prop 8 thing,” Brooks told honeymag.com. “I find it really offensive. I just find it really problematic when you start throwing people’s rights away. Until we get our gay brothers and sisters back into a realm of consciousness that everyone else is in, it’s just not right. A woman who’s getting married — it’s probably going to be a gay man who made her dress, and a gay man who’s doing her hair and makeup, but he can’t get married. How messed up is that?”

Not just a pretty face and a set of killer abs but an insightful guy as well!

Bill To Repeal DOMA Introduced

Yesterday, U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and more than ninety other congressmembers introduced the Respect for Marriage Act (H.R. 3567) in Washington, D.C. which would repeal 1996's Defense of Marriage Act.

According to The Advocate there are currently 92 Congressmembers who voted for that bill and who are still in Congress now:

Sanford Bishop (D-AL)
Rick Boucher (D-VA)
Corrine Brown (D-FL)
James Clyburn (D-SC)
Jerry Costello (D-IL)
Elijah Cummings (D-MD)
Norman Dicks (D-WA)
John Dingell (D-MI)
Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)
Chet Edwards (D-TX)
Bart Gordon (D-TN)
Gene Green (D-TX)
Tim Holden (D-PA)
Steny Hoyer (D-MD)
Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)
Paul Kanjorski (D-PA)
Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
Dale Kildee (D-MI)
Sander Levin (D-MI)
Daniel Lipinski (D-IL)
Alan Mollohan (D-WV)
John Murtha (D-PA)
Richard Neal (D-MA)
James Oberstar (D-MN)
David Obey (D-WI)
Solomon Ortiz (D-TX)
Collin Peterson (D-MN)
Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
Nick Rahall (D-WV)
Bobby Rush (D-IL)
Ike Skelton (D-MO)
John Spratt (D-SC)
Bart Stupak (D-MI)
John Tanner (D-TN)
Gene Taylor (D-MS)
Peter Visclosky (D-IN)

Spencer Bachus (R-AL)
Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD)
Joe Barton (R-TX)
Brian Bilbray (R-CA)
John Boehner (R-OH)
Ken Calvert (R-CA)
Dave Camp (R-MI)
Michael Castle (R-DE)
Howard Coble (R-NC)
Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL)
David Dreier (R-CA)
John Duncan Jr. (R-TN)
Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)
Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ)
Elton Gallegly (R-CA)
Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
Ralph Hall (R-TX)
Doc Hastings (R-WA)
Wally Herger (R-CA)
Pete Hoekstra (R-MI)
Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
Bob Inglis (R-SC)
Sam Johnson (R-TX)
Walter Jones (R-NC)
Pete King (R-NY)
Jack Kingston (R-GA)
Tom Latham (R-IA)
Steven LaTourette (R-OH)
Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
John Linder (R-GA)
Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ)
Frank Lucas (R-OK)
John McHugh (R-NY)
Buck McKeon (R-CA)
John Mica (R-FL)
Sue Myrick (R-NC)
Thomas Petri (R-WI)
George Radanovich (R-CA)
Harold Rogers (R-KY)
Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)
Ed Royce (R-CA)
James Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
John Shadegg (R-AZ)
Chris Smith (R-NJ)
Lamar Smith (R-TX)
Mark Souder (R-IN)
Cliff Stearns (R-FL)
Mac Thornberry (R-TX)
Todd Tiahrt (R-KS)
Fred Upton (R-MI)
Zach Wamp (R-TN)
Ed Whitfield (R-KY)
Frank Wolf (R-VA)
Don Young (R-AK)

There are at least 5 members of the Congressional Black Caucus who voted for DOMA who are still in Congress. Let's hope that now that there are legally married same-sex couples in California, Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut and Vermont these elected officials will see the error of their ways and support Rep. Nadler's bill to correct their mistake from 13 years ago.

President Bill Clinton, who signed DOMA into law, is one of several former supports of the bill who now support H.R. 3567 and said so in a statement released yesterday.

“Throughout my life I have opposed discrimination of any kind,” Clinton said, according to Nadler. “When the Defense of Marriage Act was passed, gay couples could not marry anywhere in the United States or the world for that matter. Thirteen years later, the fabric of our country has changed, and so should this policy."

Yes on 1 Radio Ad Transcript

Here's a transcript of a radio ad that has started running in Maine about Question 1, which would eliminate marriage equality in that state if passed by voters on November 3, 2009:

The chair recognizes the representative from Brunswick.” Special interest groups got the legislature to approve homosexual marriage and tried to prevent Mainers from voting on it. Representative Charlie Priest – “We ought naught to send it out to referendum.”

 But Question 1 gives us our vote.

Scott Fitzgibbon, professor of law from Boston College Law School, “Unless Question 1 passes there will be real consequences for Mainers. It will no longer be live and let live. Homosexual marriage will be the law whether Mainers like it or not.

“Dear Governor Baldacci, we write to provide you with an analysis of the effects…” Distinguished legal scholars wrote the Governor warning of the flood of lawsuits against individuals, small businesses and religious groups.

Church organizations could lose their tax exemption. And in Massachusetts, homosexual marriage is taught in public schools. Federal courts have ruled that parents have no right to notice, or to pull their children out of this instruction.

Vote Yes on Question 1 to preserve traditional marriage between one man and one woman. Paid for by Stand for Marriage Maine. Titles for identification only. No university endorsement implied.

Jeremy Hooper over at Good As You has posted the audio of the ad so you can hear it for yourself. I don't think the "good guys" have posted a radio response yet.

To support the Protect Maine Equality/No on 1 organization which is defending Maine's marriage equality law, please donate here.

VIDEO: NO ON 1 Response to Anti-Marriage Equality Ad

Yes On 1 Ads Start Airing; LA Maine Event TONITE

The heterosexual supremacists who think that it is reasonable to have a majority vote on whether other consenting adults should be able to get married have begun their television advertising campaign to repeal Maine's marriage equality law (see above). The Yes on 1 ad should look familiar to people in California. They are using the same color scheme as the Yes on 8 folks, as well as the same kind of talking head (white male law professor) warning of "the consequences of gay marriage whether you like it or not."

To me, this one does not seem as effective as their devastating ad featuring Gavin Newsom, but we'll see what DailyKos's poll on Question 1 says later this week.

Jeremy Hooper from Good As You has already developed a response video.

If you live in Los Angeles, you can attend a Los Angeles for Maine event at East/West Lounge (8851 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA) tonight at 7pm. All money raised will be going to No on 1/Protect Maine Equality. MadProfessah is a co-host.

People Believe Gays Face More Discriminaton

The Pew Research Center has been doing a lot of public opinion research about Americans feelings about religion and other minorities. They have released a chart showing that more people feel that gays and lesbians face discrimination than Muslims, Hispanics and Blacks.

The only group that Americans perceive as subject to more discrimination than Muslims is homosexuals; nearly two-thirds of adults (64%) say gays and lesbians face a lot of discrimination. About half say blacks (49%) and Hispanics (52%) suffer from a lot of discrimination, and more than a third (37%) say there is a lot of discrimination against women in the U.S. today.

Interesting.

Mother of ENDA Appointed to EEOC by Obama

This is very cool! Openly lesbian Georgetown law professor Chai Feldblum and self-described mother of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (and primary author of the Americans with Disabilities Act) has been appointed by the Obama Administration to sit on the federal commission that is tasked with insuring anti-discrimination in employment nationwide, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Here's the formal announcement from the White House:

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals today:

Chai R. Feldblum, Nominee for Commissioner, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Chai Feldblum is a Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center where she has taught since 1991. She also founded the Law Center’s Federal Legislation and Administrative Clinic, a program designed to train students to become legislative lawyers. Feldblum previously served as Legislative Counsel to the AIDS Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. In this role, she developed legislation, analyzed policy on various AIDS-related issues, and played a leading role in the drafting of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and, later as a law professor, in the passage of the ADA Amendments Act of 2008. She has also worked on advancing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights and has been a leading expert on the Employment Nondiscrimination Act. As Co-Director of Workplace Flexibility 2010, Feldblum has worked to advance flexible workplaces in a manner that works for employees and employers. Feldblum clerked for Judge Frank Coffin and for Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun. She received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and B.A. from Barnard College.

I have met Professor Feldblum at seminars at the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School. I still remember her calling ENDA her "baby." She quipped "hey, I don't have kids, I have federal bills."

Perhaps this signals a more extensive political push for passage of ENDA through this Congress?

US OPEN 2009: Venus and Serena Win Doubles Title

Venus and Serena Williams beat the #1 seeded doubles team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber 6-2 6-2 to win their 10th career major doubles title and 3rd of the year (Australia and Wimbledon and now U.S. Open).

US OPEN 2009: Del Potro Wins 1st Major Title

20-year-old Argentine Juan Martin del Potro outlasted 15-time major champion, 28-year-old Roger Federer 3-6, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 in a 4 hour, 6 minute marathon to win his first major title and prevent the Swiss great from winning his 6th consecutive US Open title.

Del Potro became the first person to win a major by beating Federer and Nadal at a major tournament. In the semifinals, del Potro handed the Spaniard his worst loss in a major, allowing Nadal a mere 6 games in 3 sets. The Argentine also became the first person in Federer's 21 grand slam major finals to beat Federer other than Nadal (who has done it 5 times out of 7).

Federer was definitely not playing his best tennis, not serving particularly well, finishing with only 13 aces and 11 double faults over 5 sets, a far cry from the 50 aces Federer served in his thrilling 5-set Wimbledon win over Andy Roddick earlier in the summer.
Federer finished with 56 winners to 62 errors (-6) compared to del Potro's 57 winners to 60 errors (-3). Federer was attempting to extend a 40-match winning streak in New York, his last loss coming to another Argentine, David Nalbandian, in 2003. However, despite being ahead in both the second and fourth set, Federer managed to lose them both in tiebreaks and eventually lost the match and his title to the 6'6" 182 pound youngster from Tandil, Argentina.

US OPEN 2009: Serena Apologizes For Saturday's Outbursts

Serena Williams issued a press statement on Sunday which said

Last night everyone could truly see the passion I have for my job. Now that I have had time to gain my composure I can see that while I don't agree with the unfair line call in the heat of battle I let my passion and emotion get the better of me and as a result handled the situation poorly.

and then amended it to include a full apology earlier today

I want to amend my press statement of yesterday, and want to make it clear as possible - I want to sincerely apologize FIRST to the lines woman, Kim Clijsters, the USTA, and tennis fans everywhere for my inappropriate outburst. I'm a woman of great pride, faith and integrity, and I admit when I'm wrong.

I need to make it clear to all young people that I handled myself inappropriately and it's not the way to act -- win or lose, good call or bad call in any sport, in any manner.

I like to lead by example. We all learn from experiences both good and bad. I will learn and grow from this, and be a better person as a result.

I do think it is reasonable for Serena to apologize and completely inappropriate for Mary Carillo to say that Serena should have been prevented from playing the Women's Doubles with Venus (which they won easily earlier today).

US OPEN 2009: Men's Final Preview

Roger Federer SUI (1) vs. Juan Martin Del Potro ARG (6). For the xith year in a row, Roger Federer is in the finals of the US Open, facing a 6th different opponent. His five other victories, in order, were over Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi,Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Muray.today he plays the 6'6" (or 6'7") Juan martin del Potro from Argentina. del Potro means "young colt" in Spanish and that is what this 20-year-old phenom is. Last year, while most of the major players were in China playing in the Olympics, the youngester ran through the Tour like a bull in a china shop, racking up a record four consecutive tournament wins on the hard courts. These were also his FIRST tour victories.

del Potro has never defeated Federer in 6 tries, although at the French Open this year he came back from a break down in the 5th set to even the match and put a scare in the Swiss great in the semifinal round. Federer came through then, and I expect he will do so again, for his record 16th major singles title.

MadProfessah's pick: Federer in 5 sets.

BOOK REVIEW: Jhumpa Lahiri's UNACCUSTOMED EARTH

MadProfessah's favorite writer, Jhumpa Lahiri, has had her most recent book Unaccustomed Earth listed in the New York Times list of the 10 Best Books of 2008. Lahiri won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her first book (a collection of short stories titled Interpreter of Maladies) in 2000.

Her second book, The Namesake, was her first novel and was made into a well-regarded film directed by Mira Nair and starring Kal Penn (see MadProfessah review).

I read this collection of stories last summer and am now finally getting around to writing up my review.
To do so, I re-read the first half of the collection again.

Although not packing as devastating an emotional wallop as her first collection of stories Interpreter of Maladies, this latest collection is still full of superb writing, intriguing characters and genuine insight into the human condition.

The collection begins with the story "Unaccustomed Earth" about a widowed father and adult daughter trying to connect as their lives follow increasingly elliptical orbits and both of them attempt (unsuccessfully) use an obligatory family visit to reveal a secret that they have been itching to share with the other.

After the stunning, heart-breaking first story comes "Hell-Heaven" which has very similar characters from her first novel, The Namesake: the father is a professor while the stay-at-home mother is slowly going stir-crazy and the first generation Bengali-American kids confound and disappoint their parents.

"A Choice of Accommodations" is the weakest story in the first half of the book, in my opinion. This is partly because I could not connect fully with the central character who is a married Bengali man attending a wedding of a former college crush with his wife on a rare weekend getaway together. Lahiri does excellent work of dissecting her character for the reader with clear, detailed prose--it's just that in this case the characters are a bit remotely drawn.

My favorite story of the collection is "Only Goodness" which would make an excellent Bengali remake of "Ordinary People." The story is told from the perspective of the older daughter of a Bengali couple who succeeds academically but not as well as her younger brother who goes to Princeton. But slowly we realize that all is not well with the younger brother and his "problem" becomes an unmentionable shame to the entire family with several agonizing scenes depicted with surgical precision and maximal emotional impact by Lahiri.

Part One of the collection ends with "Nobody's Business" which is a bit of a departure from Lahiri--slightly. Instead of focusing on the internal machinations and external challenges of the Bengali immigrant family assimilating in America, the general topic basically all of her writings tend to be about, this story is about a family of choice, of three housemates in Cambridge (only one of whom is Bengali) and the complications that can result when you get more information than you really want to know about the people you live with but are not related to. The central character is a Caucasian male graduate student with an unexpressed crush on the beautiful female Bengali character and Lahiri inserts the Bengali social custom of arranged marriages and the social pressure of "marrying well" as a running joke throughout the story.

The second part of the collection is three paired stories featuring Hema and Kaushik, two star-crossed lovers who also (surprise!) happen to Bengali. The first time I read the collection I felt that part of the problem with the second half is that neither Hema or Kaushik are incredibly likable characters--Lahiri is going for a nuanced portrayal which risks the emotional connection of the reader to her story. Additionally, the end of the story, which is surprisingly tragic is completely predictable. Instead of stomach-sinking dread at the inevitable conclusion one feels a sense of annoyance that Lahiri couldn't avoid the temptation of such a pat conclusion.

All in all, although Unaccustomed Earth is not as uniformly enthralling as her first novel, I do think it is, on balance, a stronger collection than Interpreter of Maladies (which is saying a lot, since that collection won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, mainly on one devastating short story) and indicates that Lahiri is growing and improving as a writer, one that I look forward to reading again and again for many years to come.

Published: April 1, 2008. Length: 352 pages (Hardcover).

PLOT: A.
IMAGERY: A.
IMPACT: A+.
WRITING: A+.

OVERALL GRADE: A/A+.