WATCH: Obama Supports The "Ground Zero Mosque"

I agree with him. Even if 68% of Americans oppose it. Constitutional rights (freedom of religion) is not subject to popular whim.

Federer v Djokovic, Nadal v Murray Semifinals in Toronto

Today there's a dream line up of semifinals at the Rogers Cup in Toronto; World #1 Rafael Nadal plays World #4 Andy Murray and Roger Federer plays World #2 Novak Djokovic.

Federer came back from down 2-5 in the third set to even the match and defeat Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych 6-3 5-7 7-6(5) on his very first match point, despite being 2 points away multiple times from his third consecutive loss to the hard-hitting Czech for the year. Murray has to reach the final in order to maintain his #4 ranking over Robin Soderling, who was taken out earlier by a resurgent David Nalbandian.

Celebrity Friday: Mitrice Richardson

The sad, mysterious story of Mitrice Richardson has come to an end with the revelation that skeletal remains found in a Malibu Canyon belong to the 25-year-old Black lesbian student and beauty queen who disappeared 11 months ago.

Richardson was arrested at Geoffrey's restaurant in Malibu after acting bizarrely and saying she was unable to pay her $89 dinner tab. She was released from custody shortly after midnight without her car — which had been impounded — or a cellphone or purse. Investigators believe she was spotted three times in the canyon area in daylight hours that morning. After that, she was never heard from again.

The remains — which include a skull — were found about two and a half miles from the last credible sighting of her on Sept. 17. The discovery casts an ominous shadow over the case of the missing woman.

[...]

The release of the Cal State Fullerton graduate into an area near a rugged canyon that she was not familiar with prompted widespread criticism of the Sheriff's Department. Her mother and father filed lawsuits accusing the Sheriff's Department of negligence in releasing her without transportation or conducting a mental health exam.

Geoffrey's staff told sheriff's personnel that Richardson was acting crazily at the restaurant. And police investigators said later that an examination of her diaries and text messages revealed she was probably suffering from a severe bipolar disorder and may not have slept for five days before her arrest.

Rod 2.0 posted this local ABC television coverage of the Mitrice Richardson story and decried "A young life lost over $89."

Freedom To Marry Returns To California...August 18

The Freedom to Marry returns to California...soon. There are multiple (unconfirmed) reports that Judge Vaughn Walker has lifted the stay on his decision striking down Proposition 8.

The official word is now that the judge has indeed ruled that the losers in Perry v. Schwarzenegger are denied a motion for stay but has stayed his own decision in this matter until Wednesday August 18th at 5pm.

Judge Walker's Final Order Lifting Stay on Prop 8 Ruling

538 Claims Marriage Equality Support Accelerating

Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com has analyzed the polling on public support for marriage equality and notes that there appears to be an acceleration in the rate at which support for legal recognition for gay and lesbian couples is increasing.

Something to bear in mind is that it's only been fairly recently that gay rights groups -- and other liberals and libertarians -- shifted toward a strategy of explicitly calling for full equity in marriage rights, rather than finding civil unions to be an acceptable compromise. While there is not necessarily zero risk of backlash resulting from things like court decisions -- support for gay marriage slid backward by a couple of points, albeit temporarily, after a Massachusetts' court's ruling in 2003 that same-sex marriage was required by that state's constitution -- it seems that, in general, "having the debate" is helpful to the gay marriage cause, probably because the secular justifications against it are generally quite weak.

In mathematical terms we we would say that the second derivative (the rate of the rate of increase) is positive, but you can just notice that there is an uptick in the blue graph at the end.

But no matter how you analyze it, it shows that the National Organization for Marriage will be out of business soon. Hurray!

MOVIE REVIEW: The Kids Are All Right

Decided to go see The Kids Are All Right starring Annette Bening and Juliane Moore as a lesbian couple on our 2nd wedding anniversary at the shiny, new L.A. Live Regal 14 Theaters in downtown Los Angeles. Mark Ruffalo stars as the sperm donor (I prefer the term sperm dad or "spad," being one myself) which resulted in the couples two kids, played by Mia Wasikowska (last seen in Timothy Burton's Alice in Wonderland) and Josh Hutcherson (who has starred in Journey to the Center of the Earth, Zathura, Bridge to Teribithia).

The film was written (with Stuart Blumberg) and directed by Lisa Cholodenko, a lesbian mom herself.

The Kids Are All Right is a heart-wrenchingly real depiction of American family life, especially from an LGBT perspective. It is also laugh-out-loud, gasping-for-air funny. However, as I told my husband on the way out, "There's an awful lot of heterosexual sex in that movie for a lesbian comedy!" He pointed out that there's a fair amount of depiction of gay sexuality as well, with multiple kisses and affection between Jules(played by Julianne) and Nic (played by Annette), not to mention the entire "gay man porn" subplot.

The basic premise is that the two kids, Joni (played by Wasikowska) and Laser (played by Hutcherson) become curious about their father and make contact with him. Since Joni is 18, she has to make the call to the sperm bank, at the request of her rambunctious 15-year-old brother. But it is another member of the family who ends up making a significant connection with Ruffalo's Paul, who is played with excessive charm.

As a matter of fact, all the acting is superb, with Annette and Bening leading the pack. Annette's Nic is fragile, funny and domineering, but fiercely loves her family. Julianne's Jules is spacey, beautiful and (often inadvertently) hysterically funny. This film should get them both back into the Oscar nominations discussion, and may even win one or both of these beautifully aging actresses (Annette, 51; Julianne, 49) that little gold statuette they have been denied for years.

The writing is astonishing. All of the characters are flawed, but also appealing in some way. Just like in real life. Although some critics have taken issue with the degree of accuracy or fidelity in the depiction of lesbian sexuality as well as the non-depiction of people of color in a positive light,

overall I would argue this is a must-see film for most regular film goers.

(On a side note, it was pretty surreal to watch the final scenes of the movie and yell out "Hey, that's Occidental College!" Joni goes off to college, and the place she picks just happens to be the place at which I teach and work. Go figure. It's silly, but that familiar aspect, as well as the distinctive shots of Los Angeles gave the film an especially high emotional resonance with me.)

Running Time: 1 hour, 46 minutes. MPAA Rating: Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, language and some teen drug and alcohol use.

Plot: A-.
Acting: A+.
Visuals: A.
Impact: A.

Overall Grade: A (4.0/4.0).

CNN Poll Shows National Majority Supports Marriage Equality

A spanking new CNN poll (released today) shows that a majority of Americans support marriage equality. However, as one can see from the excerpt above, there are slight variations in this "majority" support depending on how the question is asked.

The first question asks "Do you think gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to get married and have their marriage recognized by law as valid?" while the second question asks "Do you think gays and lesbians should have a constitutional right to get married and have their marriage recognized by law as valid?" Notice the support is higher in the second question. It's easier to say yes to something that SHOULD be true, as opposed to the first question which is asking for the respondent's evaluation of current law.

Note this interesting little nugget:

The gap widens dramatically when age is taken into account. Nearly six in ten Americans under the age of 50 say gay rights are protected under the Constitution. Only 38 percent of Americans over the age of 50 say the same thing.

"This is one of the few instances when independents side with one party rather than falling in between the Dems and the GOP," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said. "56 percent of Democrats and 57 percent of Independents think the Constitution conveys the right to marry to same-sex couples. Only a quarter of all Republicans agree."

It should also be noted that the support for marriage equality (among the larger sample) is not above the margin of error of the poll.

Oh, and in other horrifying political opinion news, 49% of Americans think that birthright citizenship guaranteed by the 14th Amendment should be repealed (51% oppose it). Oy vey!

FOOD REVIEW: Five Guys Burgers

After hearing that Five Guys Burger was Barack Obama's favorite burger joint in D.C. the next time I was in town I checked it out. Apparently, Obama's new fave is Ray's Hell Burger (since that's were he took Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recently for a cheeseburger).

I have bad news for devotees of In-n-Out Burgers: I have found a better burger. The burgers at Five Guys are superior to the ones at In-n-Out although they are not as cheap. But I'd rather pay twice as much for a burger more than twice as good (and more than twice as filling).

Name: Five Guys Burgers
Location: 2300 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201.
Contact: 703-812-8440.

AMBIANCE: B-.
SERVICE: B+.
VALUE: A-.
FOOD: A.

OVERALL: A-.

ABA Endorses Marriage Equality

The American Bar Association endorsed marriage equality at its national conference today. The ABA passed the following resolution:

"RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association urges state, territorial, and tribal governments to eliminate all of their legal barriers to civil marriage between two persons of the same sex who are otherwise eligible to marry."

Evan Wolfson of Freedom To Marry noted:

"The American Bar Association, the largest voluntary professional organization in the world, has strongly declared that there is no good reason to continue excluding same sex couples from marriage. With today's resolution, the ABA embraces our nation's promise of liberty and equal protection under the law and signals a growing consensus in America's legal profession that marriage is a fundamental right that belongs to every citizen."

Another big win for marriage equality!

GOP Kills 2 API Federal Judicial Nominations

Edward M. Chen, federal district court nominee

Wow. The GOP must really care about what people of color think about their actions. What they really do care about is the (federal) judiciary. So, it is notable that they have done their best to kill the nominations of two Asian-American men to be federal judges in the 9th Circuit.

Goodwin Liu and Edward Chen were nominated to the federal judiciary by President Obama but blocked by Republicans despite having received 12-7 endorsements from the Senate Judiciary committee.

Under a rarely invoked rule, the Senate must agree to carry over pending nominations when it goes on a 30-day recess. But Republican leaders objected to carrying over several disputed nominees, including Liu and Chen.

"The Republicans are obstructing and, in effect, trying to kill these nominations," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Friday. "It is tragic because these are very worthy nominees who deserve to have their nominations debated and put to a vote."

The San Francisco Chronicle explains why the Republicans are blocking the confirmation of Liu and Chen to the bench.

Liu, a former Rhodes scholar and Supreme Court clerk, has been labeled an extreme liberal by Republican opponents, who cite his support of same-sex marriage and affirmative action.

Chen's opponents point to his background as an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer in San Francisco from 1985 until 2001, when federal judges appointed him as a magistrate.

Under procedures requiring unanimous consent, Republicans have regularly objected to holding Senate votes on Obama's judicial candidates.

They agreed to allow a handful of confirmation votes Thursday, the last day before the recess. But they blocked votes on more than 40 other candidates, and returned five who have encountered opposition, including Liu and Chen, to the White House.

If renominated, Liu and Chen will return to the Judiciary Committee for new votes after Congress returns Sept. 13. To force the Senate to consider their confirmation over Republican objections, Senate Democrats would have to muster 60 votes, which would require support from at least one Republican.

As I noted last month, whether Goodwin Liu joins the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is a key test to see whether President Obama will actually go to bat for things that progressives believe in.

The 9th Circuit, of course is the appellate court which will be hearing the appeal of Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the Proposition 8 case.

Out College Presidents Meet and Organize

Nine college presidents met over the weekend in Chicago and agreed to form a new organization, called LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education. Apparently, there were 25 invitations sent out, but nine who attended:

Charlita Shelton of University of the Rockies
Theodora Kalikow of the University of Maine at Farmington
Karen Whitney of Clarion University
Neal King of Antioch University Los Angeles
Katherine Ragsdale of the Episcopal Divinity School
Raymond Crossman of the Adler School of Professional Psychology
Charles Middleton of Roosevelt University
Les McCabel of Semester at Sea
Ralph Hexter of Hampshire College

Interestingly, missing from this list are the two Black LGBT college presidents MadProfessah blogged about earlier this year, DeRionne Pollard of Montgomery College and Raynard Kington of Grinnell College.

Hat/tip to TowleRoad.

Gay Beats Bolt In 100m in Stockholm

Well! For the first time, American Tyson Gay has beaten Jamaican phenom Usain Bolt in the 100m. It happened yesterday at a race in Stockholm, Sweden. Bolt, the World and Olympic record holder had not been beaten in over two years and over two dozen races. Gay won in 9.84while Bolt was second with 9.97, well below what he ran a month ago (9.82) or his reigning world record time of 9.58.

Watch it for yourself:

Hat/tip to Rod 2.0

Connecting Federal Rulings on Prop 8 and SB 1070

My friend Sandip Roy has a great piece up on Salon magazine connecting the two recent federal rulings on Arizona's SB 1070 and California's Proposition 8. Called "Proposition 8 and S.B. 1070: Sisters under the skin?", Sandip writes from the perspective of a queer immigrant to point out that the two apparently disparate rulings validated two parts of his identity but stemmed from the same law: the 14th amendment to the U.S. constitution.

On July 28 Susan Bolton issued an injunction that defanged the anti-immigrant S.B. 1070 in Arizona. On Aug. 4, Vaughn Walker found California’s Proposition 8 that outlawed same-sex marriage unconstitutional. For this they will both be tarred as “judicial activists.” Judge Bolton has received death threats. Judge Walker is being denounced.

I have no idea if the two judges know each other, but within one week, they had suddenly brought together two parts of who I am. As a gay immigrant, I am used to juggling identities, never sure which one is acceptable in which setting, which one I should check at the door.

[...]

The fight over Proposition 8 in California rested on the 14th Amendment of the U.S. constitution. What Judge Walker found was Proposition 8 violated the due process and equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

The fight over illegal immigration is about federal jurisdiction and states' rights but it also boils down to the 14th Amendment. That’s the grand prize, the Holy Grail that the Russell Pearces of Arizona are really aiming to overturn. Pearce wrote in an e-mail obtained by CBS 5 News: "I also intend to push for an Arizona bill that would refuse to accept or issue a birth certificate that recognizes citizenship to those born to illegal aliens, unless one parent is a citizen."

[...]

Yes, both victories are just rest stops in much bigger fights. Both fights are probably headed for an uncertain future in the U.S. Supreme Court. But until today I didn’t realize that in some ways it’s the same fight. Supervisor David Campos told the cheering crowd that this was about "justice for all" -- not just "gays and lesbians, but immigrants and minorities and transgender."

That can sound like San Francisco big umbrella talk. But these cases touch each other in ways I didn’t realize. My numerologist friend said, "Of course they do, the digits in 1070 add up to, you guessed it, 8."

[...]

If the twin judgments show anything it's this. Though the crowd that celebrated Bolton’s decision in Phoenix might look different from the crowd celebrating Walker’s ruling, these are sisters under the skin. As [Equal Justice Society's Eva] Paterson reminded the crowd, "It’s the same law that gave equality and protection to immigrants in Arizona."

A great example of intersectional analysis at work..

Eye Candy: Khalon Webb

Khalon Webb is a 29-year-old model from Washington, D.C. He is today's Eye Candy model although I first found about him on the Dark Flex blog.

08/08/08 2 Years Later: We're STILL Married

August 8, 2010 12noon: celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary with a brunch at an East Hollywood restaurant called Square One Dining.

MOVIE REVIEW: Salt

The Other Half and I saw Salt at our new favorite theaters, the Arclight Cinemas in Pasadena, on its opening weekend.

Salt stars Angelina Jolie, Chiwetel Ejiofor and

Liev Schrieber in a script written by Kurt Wimmer and directed by Phillip Noyce (Clear and Present Danger, Dead Calm).

One of the interesting aspects of Salt is that the main character of Evelyn Salt was originally written for a male actor, namely Tom Cruise. When you see the movie this is not surprising because it is very reminiscent of the Jason Bourne movies (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum.)

Similar to these movies, Salt is pretty action-packed; it is practically a non-stop thrill ride. As a feminist, it is quite fun to see Angelina Jolie kicking so much butt.

There are some aspects of the plots that don't quite past the smell test but in general events are proceeding so quickly one generally doesn't dwell on these imperfections. Without giving away any spoilers I will say that the movie ends in such a way that makes a sequel (or sequels) highly likely.

Running Time: 1 hour, 39 minutes. MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action.

Plot: A.
Acting: A-.
Visuals: A-.
Impact: B.

Overall Grade: A-/B+ (3.583/4.0).

VIDEO: Inception vs Toy Story 3

CA GOV and CA AG Oppose Stay in Prop 8 Case

The State of California filed motions today opposing a stay in Judge Vaughn Walker's landmark decision ruling Proposition 8 unconstitutional; in other words Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown are on record saying they want same-sex couples to be able to get married while the decision is on appeal.

As governor, Schwarzenegger is named as a defendant in the case, although he remained neutral in the lawsuit challenging Proposition 8. The governor was against the initiative when it was on the ballot and chose not to defend the constitutional amendment in court. He filed his brief Friday in his role as a named defendant and on behalf of two other administration officials.

The Schwarzenegger administration contended in the brief that there is no governmental or public interest in continuing a ban on gay marriage after Walker's decision." Instead, the administration said that allowing such marriages to resume would further the state's interest in recognizing the rights of gays and lesbians. It also said that there would be no administrative burden for the state to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. California issued 18,000 such licenses before passage of Proposition 8.

Schwarzenegger applauded Walker's decision earlier this week.

"For the hundreds of thousands of Californians in gay and lesbian households who are managing their day-to-day lives, this decision affirms the full legal protections and safeguards I believe everyone deserves," the governor said in a statement Wednesday.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown, a Democrat, filed a similar motion. Brown had argued that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional when the measure went before the California Supreme Court last year.

Read Attorney General's motion below.

CA AG Brown Motion To Oppose Stay in Prop 8 Case

New Season of Venture Bros Is Coming!!

The Venture Bros. is one of my favorite guilty pleasures. It is an absolutely wicked animated series on Cartoon Network, now entering it's 5th season. Check out the trailer.

Hat/tip to WonderMan

Celebrity Friday: Barack Obama

Wednesday was Barack Obama's 49th birthday. The next day, his second Supreme Court Justice was confirmed.