Judge Rules Yes On 8 Must Reveal Internal Docs

An interesting development in the Olson-Boies federal lawsuit over Proposition 8.

Denying a request to shield the information, U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker said the Protect Marriage campaign had failed to show that providing private e-mails, memos and reports would inhibit the political activities of gay marriage opponents or subject them to unbridled harassment.

"The First Amendment qualified privilege proponents seek to invoke, unlike the attorney-client privilege, for example, is not an absolute bar against disclosure," Walker wrote in an 18-page order. "Rather, the First Amendment qualified privilege requires a balancing of the plaintiffs' need for the information sought against proponents' constitutional interests in claiming the privilege."

The judge agreed with lawyers for two unmarried same-sex couples who have sued to strike down the ban, known as Proposition 8, that confidential communications between the campaign's leaders and professional consultants could reveal a rationale for denying gays the right to wed that is relevant to the case.

The lawsuit argues that the measure was motivated by hostility toward gays and as such must be struck down as inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equality.

Interesting....

D.C. Marriage Bill Introduced

The District of Columbia is poised to become the next jurisdiction in the United States to legalize same-sex marriage now that a bill has been introduced in the DC City Council.

Here's an excerpt from the New York Times coverage:

For the city, the issue has piqued race and class tensions, as most of the vocal opponents represent inner-city black churches, while the more liberal and white population largely backs the measure.

Advocates of the bill hope its success will accelerate efforts to pass similar legislation in Maryland. Maine voters will consider the issue on a ballot initiative in November. New Hampshire is scheduled to begin same sex marriages in 2010.

The City Council has two openly gay members and around 5 percent of the city’s couples identify themselves as gay or lesbian, the second highest rate in the country, according to a 2000 survey by the Human Rights campaign.

If passed, the city would phase out its local domestic partnership law and instead allow two persons who are currently in a valid domestic partnership, as recognized by the city, to apply for and receive a marriage license free of charge.

Ugh, the whole "Blacks versus gays" frame again. DC is 60% Black. Do they not think that the 5% of respondents who say they are gay overlap with that 60% of the population? Black gay people DO exist!

Also, it should be noted that if you are legally married in another jurisdiction (like MadProfessah is) then Washington, D.C. recognizes those marriages now. This bill would allow the 600,000 residents of the District access to marriage equality without having to travel to Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut or Iowa to get hitched.

The Task Force has weighed in on the introduction of DC's marriage bill.

“Today’s introduction of the ‘Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009’ by Councilmember David Catania and 10 co-sponsors is another step toward full freedom and equality in the District of Columbia. It’s time for D.C. to join other fair-minded jurisdictions across this country in issuing marriage certificates to loving and committed same-sex couples.

“Many D.C. couples wish to marry in their hometown and can’t. For some, the financial barriers to traveling to states such as Vermont, Iowa, Connecticut and Massachusetts to marry are too significant. For others, getting married in any of those states may carry less emotional meaning for them or their loved ones, given the significance of the day. For others still, as a matter of principle, they want to be able to get married in the same beautiful city that so many of their friends and neighbors can already get married in.

“To have full marriage rights in our nation’s capital would set a new threshold for other jurisdictions. We look forward to full marriage equality in the District of Columbia, when same-sex couples can be legally married in the city where they live, work, raise their children and make their homes.”

Wonder Man has the link to the video of the bill's introduction by openly gay David Catania.

Obama To Address HRC Dinner On Saturday Oct 10

President Barack Obama will become the second sitting President to address the Human Rights Campaign's annual D.C. fundraising dinner when he does so on Saturday October 10th, the day before the National Equality March.

Also appearing at the event will be:

Lady Gaga, the international singer-songwriter sensation; the cast from the new hit comedy, Glee; and two-time Tony Award nominee Gavin Creel, who is currently starring on Broadway in the role of Claude in the Tony Award winning production of Hair.

Hat/tip to Rod 2.0 and HRC Backstory

Yes On 1 Latest Anti-Equality Reeks Of Desperation

Here's the latest ad from the Yes on 1 team who are trying to prevent Maine's marriage equality law from going into effect. Bizarrely, they keep on talking about California and "what kids in school will be taught." Why do they think that whether a state has marriage equality or not will impact what kids will be taught in schools? In 2005 California did not have marriage equality, yet that is when the ad is referencing. In 2008, California did have marriage equality--did all the middle school textbooks change? It's simply nonsensical.

This ad seems particularly desperate, to me. What do you think?

Eric Lee To Talk About Prop 8 At Oxy TUE OCT 6

Dr. Eric Lee, Executive Director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, will be giving a public talk at 7pm on Tuesday October 6th at Occidental College about "Proposition 8: The California Divide."

New Executive Director of NBJC: Sharon Lettman

Sharon Lettman, formerly of People for the American Way, has been named Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition, the country's largest (and only) national Black LGBT advocacy organization.

On the occasion of her appointment she said:

"We must bring our families together," Lettman said. "Gay and transgender people are our children, our brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, parents, co-workers and friends. They are a vital part of the black community, and it is time for everyone to recognize the real issues we all face when our brothers and sisters are denied full participation in the life of our community.

"What has always drawn me to this work, and to the people I've been proud to stand alongside, is the knowledge that we must work together to create the better future we seek," Lettman continued. "In my new role at NBJC, that means lifting the voices of our community, building bridges so that all who experience discrimination can understand the common ground we share, and walking across those bridges together in greater and greater numbers toward equal rights for all."

Congratulations to NBJC for selecting a dynamic leader. I look forward to continuing to work with NBJC here in LA to advance the mission of empowering the Black LGBT community.

Hat/tip to Pam's House Blend.

US Supreme Court 2009-10 Term Begins Today

The official new term of the United States Supreme Court begins today, with a new member of the Court, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor. NPR's Nina Totenberg has a rundown on what to expect.

Serena Poised To Regain World #1 Ranking

Current World #1 Dinara Safina lost to the 227-ranked player Zhang Shuai at the China Open in Beijing today, and may lose her hold on the top ranking as a result. World #2 and 11-time major champion Serena Williams just needs to win her next match, against Ekaterina Makarova, to reclaim the World #1 ranking.

Venus Williams was also upset in Beijing, losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and reducing her chances of qualifying for the WTA Tour Championships in Doha that she won last year. So far, Safina, Serena, Elena Dementieva, Caroline Wozniacki and Svetlana Kuznetsova have qualified for the prestigious and lucrative year-end championships.

Sunday NYT Calculates The Cost Of Being A Gay Couple

The Sunday New York Times has an in-depth analysis of the financial implications of being a same-sex couple in America. The results are fascinating reading:

It was much more complicated than we initially imagined, and that’s probably why we’ve never seen similar efforts. We looked at benefits that routinely go to married heterosexual couples but not to gay couples, like certain Social Security payments. We plotted out the cost of health insurance for couples whose employers don’t offer it to domestic partners. Even tax preparation can cost more, since gay couples have to file two sets of returns. Still, many couples may come out ahead in one area: they owe less in income taxes because they’re not hit with the so-called marriage penalty.

Our goal was to create a hypothetical gay couple whose situation would be similar to a heterosexual couple’s.

[...]

Here is what we came up with. In our worst case, the couple’s lifetime cost of being gay was $467,562. But the number fell to $41,196 in the best case for a couple with significantly better health insurance, plus lower taxes and other costs.

[...]

Nearly all the extra costs that gay couples face would be erased if the federal government legalized same-sex marriage.

And that last line says it all. Repeal DOMA!

CA-GOV: Poizner Atacks Whitman Over (Non)Voting Record

Hat/tip Law Dork

BOOK REVIEW: Ursula K. Le Guin's POWERS

Ursula K. LeGuin has written some of my favorite books of all time, some classic works of science fiction that have been widely recognized with awards and showered with praised. sadly, Powers is not another one of these books.

Powers surprisingly won the 2008 Nebula Award (LeGuin's sixth!) over Cory Doctorow's Little Brother (which was the only book nominated for both major science fiction awards this year), making it a big year for YA (young adult fiction) with Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book (see MadProfessah's B- review) winning the Hugo award in a huge surprise over Neal Stephenson's Anathem and Little Brother.

Powers is the third book in a new Young Adult (YA) series Le Guin is writing called the Annals of the Western Shore.

The main character is a young boy named Gavir (or Gav) who seems to have the power of precognition; he sometimes sees events before they happen. Unfortunately, he is born in a society that is very caste-driven and includes slavery. Gav and his sister are orphaned slaves in a large plantation in a society which is in a tense stand-off with its neighboring city-states. Gav and the other young slaves are allowed to be educated and Gav is revealed to have an almost perfect eidetic memory and great scholarly potential.

The main difficulty that I had with Powers is the character of Gavir. I understand that he is young but his naivete is just simply annoying, and a bit unbelievable. Maybe readers above a certain age can't enjoy young adult fiction, but millions of adult readers of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels would disagree.

A lot of bad stuff happens to Gavir during the course of the novel, although it ends on a hopeful note with a tie-in to the earlier books in the series (which I have not read) but at this point I was simply uninterested in the story and indifferent about Gavir's future.

Paperback: 512 pages. Publisher: Harcourt Paperbacks. Date: April 6, 2009.

OVERALL GRADE: C/C+.

PLOT: C-.
IMAGERY: B-.
IMPACT: C.
WRITING: C.

We Are Greater Than AIDS

Greater Than from Greater Than on Vimeo.

Morehouse Fires Employee After Anti-Gay Email Distributed

This news is churning the internets. After a scathing email was widely distributed which bemoaned the implications of a wedding between two Black men on the marital prospects of Black women, the woman who sent the email has been fired.

Morehouse College has fired a woman and reprimanded another for discriminatory comments made via their work e-mail accounts.

The fired woman worked as an administrative assistant in the president’s office, according to reports. After receiving an e-mail forward that included wedding photos of a gay couple, she forwarded the e-mail to others and made comments that were considered discriminatory.

Morehouse College President Robert Franklin issued an official statement from the institution and a personal apology:

It is my sincere hope that the gay and lesbian community, and most specifically Michael Cole Smith and Jamil Smith Cole—whose wedding photographs became the subject of an unkind and intolerant email sent and forwarded by a Morehouse College employee—will accept my official apology on behalf of the College community.

Morehouse College—the institution where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of our nation’s premier champions of human and civil rights, was nurtured—has a history of promoting tolerance and inclusion for all people. Remarks such as the ones made in the e-mail were counter to Dr. King’s—and the College’s—core values and will not be tolerated from any Morehouse employee or student. Effective September 30, the employee who made the offensive comments is no longer working for the College.

I will continue to emphasize to the Morehouse community the message that was shared during an April town hall meeting: On the matter of diversity, Morehouse is committed to being a respectful campus that balances personal liberty with the responsibility of membership in a moral community. This has been and always will be a community dedicated to promoting respect and tolerance between heterosexuals and homosexuals. We encourage everyone to aspire to high ethical standards and we demand responsible community behavior. Those who cannot embrace the Morehouse code of ethics will be sanctioned accordingly.

Morehouse has had a long history of problems with homophobia at the all-male, predominantly Black college, as MadProfesssah has reported in the past.

Kudos to Dr. Franklin and his swift action in this matter. Hat/tip to Rod 2.0

Obama's Amazingly Consistent Smile

Barack Obama's amazingly consistent smile from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.

Hat/tip John Scalzi

Nevada Domestic Partnership Law Starts Today

Nevada's new comprehensive domestic partnership law, which was enacted over the Governor's veto earlier this summer, goes into effect today.

Here's a story from the Las Vegas Recorder-Journal about the first couple to get registered in the Silver State:

Tears fell from the eyes of Las Vegans Larry Davis and Lee W. Cagley today as they were handed domestic partnership certificate No. 1 by Secretary of State Ross Miller in the Capitol.

“We feel very fortunate,” said Cagley, an interior designer who redesigned the Governor’s Mansion in its original 1909 style when Miller’s mother, Sandy, was Nevada’s first lady.

“Someone had to be No. 1,” responded Ross Miller, a grin on his face.

His mother, who watched the couple receive their certificate, just smiled.

So far, 746 same- and opposite-sex couples have received domestic partnership certificates from the secretary of state’s offices in Las Vegas and Carson City.

Under a law that went into effect today, the couples gain virtually all the rights and responsibilities as married couples, although they are not considered married under state law.

Congratulations to Nevada in joining California, Oregon, and Washington with comprehensive domestic partnership laws. Unfortunately, in Washington, heterosexual supremacists have subjected the law to Referendum 71 which, unless REJECTED, would prevent the domestic partnership bill from going into effect.

If you know anyone in Washington State, tell them to Approve Referendum 71, in order for same-sex couples to be able register as domestic partnerships in that state.

Jennifer Hudson Sings "Over The Rainbow"

Jennifer Hudson sang "Over the rainbow" in New York City's Central Park last night celebrating the 70th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz.



Hat/tip to Rod 2.0

Matthew's Choice: Hate Crimes Or No More War Funding

Memorial for Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming a few days
after the gay man was brutally left to die in October 1998

Remember the movie Sophie's Choice that won Meryl Streep her Best Actress Oscar? What the LGBT community is facing today is what I call "Matthew's Choice."

The federal hate crimes bill, which would include the possibility of penalty enhancements for crimes motivated by the sexual orientation, gender identity or mental/physical disability of the victim. If enacted, the Mathew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S.909 / H.R. 1913) would become the first substantive piece of federal legislation to increase civil rights for members of the LGBT community.

However, the legislative history of the bill is so convoluted that in order for it to become law, the Department of Defense Authorization bill, which happens to include funding for both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, will also need to become law.

So, if you are against the wars but in favor of LGBT people finally receiving recognition under federal law, you have the awful choice of having to choose between your anti-war principles and your pro-equality principles, i.e. similar horrific choice with no good answer to what Meryl Streep's character had to face in Sophie's Choice. I call this dilemma Matthew's Choice.

There has been quite an intense debate going on among LGBT activists about what position to take on this question of supporting a bill which includes both the Department of Defense Authorization and the federal hate crimes act simultaneously.

For me, if the bill still included a death penalty provision I would NOT be in support of it. However, although I do not support the DOD Authorization I think it is more important to set the precedent that meaningful federal legislation can be passed that includes protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

So, I called my Congressperson Xavier Becerra (CA-31) this afternoon and encouraged him to vote in favor of the conference report on the Department of Defense Authorization bill.

I encourage YOU to call your Congressperson as well. Find the name of your Representative here and MAKE THAT CALL!

MOVIE REVIEW: The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker is the most critically acclaimed movie of the summer (98% rating at rottentomatoes.com) although it is approaching the end of its run in movie theaters, having grossed just over $12 million dollars so far. Over Labor Day weekend the Other Half and I saw it at the Mann Theaters 10 in Glendale.

This is probably the first outstanding artistic venture inspired by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The movie is an intense experience, engrossing the viewer immediately and keeping you on the edge of your seats. The Hurt Locker has been called "the best action movie of the summer" and a "viscerally exciting, adrenaline-soaked tour de force of suspense and surprise" by A.O. Scott of the New York Times (who incidentally can now be seen every weekend taking over for Siskel & Ebert on ABC's At The Movies television show).

Although the film was written by Mark Boal and directed by Kathryn Bigelow it has the look and feel of an unscripted documentary peek at real life of soldiers working in an explosive detection and remediation unit. There are three main characters, played brilliantly by Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Renner and Brian Geraghty but the real main character is the war in Iraq itself and the frustrating, bewildering, terrifying predicament these soldiers (and our country) have found ourselves in.

Running Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes. MPAA Rating: Rated R for war violence and language.

OVERALL GRADE: A+.

ACTING: A.
IMAGERY: A+.
PLOT: A.
IMPACT: A+.

CA-GOV: Whitman Squirms To Defend (Non)Voting Record

This is absolutely incredible. Meg Whitman did not vote in an election until she was 46 years old, 28 years after she was first eligible to vote. Listen to her try and defend this record on the record with a reporter. Absolutely Priceless.

REPORTER: Ms. Whitman, can you address your voting record? Have you ever registered as a Republican before 2007?

WHITMAN: So what I’ve said is there is no excuse for my voting record. I cannot be proud of it. Being able to vote in this country is a right and everyone should take advantage of, and I didn’t as often as I should. And you know what, leaders need to stand up and acknowledge their mistakes, acknowledge when they wish they would’ve done something different or better. And I have said now on numerous occasions I have made a mistake and there’s no excuse for it.

REPORTER: Did you ever register as a Republican before 2007?

WHITMAN: So what I have said is that I did not vote as often as I should. I didn’t register as often as I should and I’m sorry about that and there is no excuse for it.

REPORTER: …you were registered in 1998, and there’s no record of that. Are you inferring that you did? The Bee reported after you were not registered at all before 2002.

WHITMAN: So when I came back to California, I registered in 2002, so I don’t know where that came from, but I registered in 2002 when I came back to California, so thank you for that.

REPORTER: Steve Poizner suggested that you should get out of the race because of this because no one who hasn’t voted before needs to be elected governor, but also can you address the general appearance that someone who did not register to vote or vote over almost most of their adult life didn’t really care about politics and didn’t care about certain civic affairs on either a state level or a national level.

WHITMAN: So I could imagine that Steve Poizner would like me to get out of the race, and it’s not happening.

REPORTER: But answer the question.

WHITMAN: I will, just give me a chance, okay? So I think it doesn’t look good, right? I made a mistake. I didn’t register to vote as often as I should. I didn’t vote as often as I should. It is inexcusable and it’s not the right thing. But as I said, leaders stand up and take accountability for their mistakes and that’s exactly what I’m doing.

REPORTER: But the question is why, and I think the Washington Post today said it may be a display of stunning indifference in not having any interest in issues and social problems and so I think people want to know why.

WHITMAN: What I have said is it was not the right thing to do.

REPORTER: But why?

WHITMAN: It just wasn’t the right thing to do. I should have and I didn’t.

REPORTER: Why not?

WHITMAN: I should have voted and I didn’t and there is no excuse for it and I should’ve voted. I have said many times that I should have and I didn’t and there is no excuse for it.

REPORTER: But why? I’m not saying

WHITMAN: I shouldn’t have — should have and I didn’t. We’re going to move on. Thank you for that.

REPORTER: You made a good point today saying people want to hear the truth, and you made a big push for authenticity. So why can’t you answer the question of why you didn’t vote for - it’s not a small span of time. It’s almost your entire adult life.

WHITMAN: Well I’m going to repeat what I said— I did not vote. I should have voted. It is inexcusable. Voting is something that all of us should take advantage of and I didn’t.

REPORTER: We’re just trying to get some sort of sense of your frame of mind.

WHITMAN: I understand, and I’ve said what I’m going to say about it, so thank you for that. Jack.

No wonder Jerry Brown is currently leading Meg "It's inexcusable" Whitman (and all other potential Republican candidates) in the latest polls.

Protect Maine Equality Needs $$ Before 9/30 Filing Deadline

A new poll from Democracy Corps has Maine's Question 1 leading 50% No, 41% Yes but the good guys and gals at Protect Maine Equality are not resting on their laurels. After all, one year ago Proposition 8 was behind in public polls as well, and it came from behind and eventually passed 53%-47% on November 5, 2008.

Tomorrow is the end of the financial reporting deadline and the campaign has a goal of raising 112,000$ by tomorrow on ActBlue. YOU can do your part by helping MadProfessah.com raise money to defeat Question 1. Please, please PLEASE click on the thermometer at the top of this post or at the right navigation bar and make a donation, no matter how small.

Here are the details of the latest poll results, being released on Wednesday:

Q.6 Now let me ask something else. One of the questions on the ballot this November will read as follows: "Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?" - If the election were held today, would you vote YES or NO on this question?
Total
Yes strongly.........................................................................37
Yes not strongly....................................................................4
No not strongly.....................................................................7
No strongly..........................................................................43
(Don't know/refused)............................................................9

Total yes.............................................................................41
Total no..............................................................................50