There is a schism in California between Equality California and the popular will of the people which is supported by the Courage Campaign. Equality California put out a big press release yesterday claiming the challenge to proposition 8 would not be until 2012. They claimed it would take that long to persuade 3% of California voters that equality is a good thing. Prop 8 only passed by a 2.5% margin in 2008. They also do not think they can raise enough money to make a go of it in 2010. Equality California was responsible for the highly criticized campaign that lost in 2008.

Enter Courage Campaign, an allied progressive grass roots campaign managed by Rick Jacobs. Their hundreds of thousands of supporters are pushing for a challenge to prop 8 in 2010. They are raising hundreds of thousands of dollars not only for California, but also for the fight in Maine to protect that state from a pending constitutional amendment supported by the same foes that sponsored prop 8. (In Maine support the No on 1 Campaign.) They polled their supporters several months ago and over 80% of the people were ready to roll for 2010.

Voter turn out is better during Presidential election years. The last prop 8 campaign cost each side approximately $40 Million, so fund raising is an issue. However, the GOP never misses an opportunity to turn gay bashing into votes as we can see in Iowa’s governor race right now. As progressives do we want to put California’s electoral votes on the line by placing a proposition on the ballot that is sure to motivate the teabaggers to turn out in droves? Is it fair to make people wait almost 4 years to restore their rights? Do we really want the same team that lost in 2008 to make any more important decisions on behalf of the LGBT community?

Or is Equality California right, the timing is just way off and we should just wait. After all same sex couples in California do enjoy a very strong domestic partnership program. A federal lawsuit challenging proposition 8 is working its way through the courts that could overturn the ban and open the door for all same sex couples to marry in all 50 states. $40 Million could go a long way in states that have no formal legal protection for same sex couples, such as the 30 other states that have constitutional amendments banning same sex marriage equality.

I’m afraid I have more questions than answers, but that seems to the common theme in the LGBT community right now. With so much at stake, no one wants to make a bad decision. But frankly, what do we have to lose that we haven’t already?

originally published on Current.com

Wisconsin started registering domestic partnerships yesterday. Wisconsin passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman, so domestic partnerships are the closest to marriage same-sex couples can expect to get until the ban is overturned by the voters, or more likely the Federal Supreme Court.  Domestic partnerships were the consolation prize for gays and lesbians in states that have over zealous right wing activists who will jump at the opportunity to prevent gays and lesbians from having full marriage equality.  It was the “sanctity of marriage” argument that won them 30 state constitutional amendments banning same sex marriage.  Some in the gay community thought domestic partnerships were a safe alternative with the philosophy, “if it is the word that bothers them, let’s call it something else.”

It is not the word “marriage” that bothers them, it is gay people that bother them.  They would prefer our families to be completely isolated from society — completely separate.  They do not want to share ANYTHING with us. In Wisconsin the fundamentalists immediately filed suit against the state, claiming domestic partnerships are “close enough to marriage” to violate the constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Ultimately the court will decide whether domestic partnerships are marriage or not.  The court will determine if the thousands of families that register prior to the decision will get to keep their domestic partnerships or whether they will be invalidated.  If they lose at court, the fundamentalists will likely go back to the voters to change the amendment to prevent domestic partnerships. They won’t rest until all references to us in the law are gone, until we can’t visit our partners in the hospital, until we can’t leave our property to the people we choose, until we are illegal just for being who we are so they can lock us up.

They won’t rest and they will find every opportunity to attack us.  This morning I received an e-mail that AAA (American Automobile Association) finally recognizes same sex relationships for their family plans.  I thought it was AAA that sent the message because I’m a member, so I was feeling pretty good about it.  I was planning to call them at lunch to add my partner.  But no, it was from the American “Family” Association:

The American Automobile Association (AAA) has begun offering “Family Memberships” to homosexual couples, recognizing the homosexual couple as being “married,” according to a homosexual activist organization in Florida.

Thirty states have overwhelmingly voted to define marriage as being between one man and one woman. Yet AAA is treating homosexual couples as if they are married.

The homosexual couples need only state that they are married to receive the family benefit. In the eyes of AAA two homosexuals living together constitute “marriage” and make a “family.” All they have to do to get the “family membership” benefits is to say “we are gay and married.”

They called on their followers to whine about this as much as possible.  They hope to reverse AAA South’s decision to include all families in their policy, even though AAA is a private club with private memberships. But I’m not surprised, the AFA would prefer to jail us.

If we allow extremists like the AFA and others to take away rights from one group of people, they will ultimately go after everyone’s rights.  They would like to rule this country with a theocratic hand similar to the Taliban.  They will lie, cheat, and do anything possible to get their way.  Fair minded Americans, hear my warning now.  Stop these people.  You must help us protect ourselves so we can protect each other from their heavy handed extremist point of view.

Yes,  business by business, state by state, our civil rights movement moves on as we defend ourselves. In Washington approve referndum 71 to preserve domestic partnerships. In Maine vote no on No. 1 to protect marriage equality. In Iowa elect fair minded representatives and do not change your constitution.  In California, overturn proposition 8 and return to marriage equality.  In Washington DC join us for the National Equality March October 10 – 11, because we will only achieve fully equality by winning at the Federal level.

I am hopeful when I think about our neighbors to the north in Canada.  They enjoy marriage equality at the federal level and have for several years. The debate is largely over for them. Their religious foes have moved on, because as we can all see the sky has not fallen.  The end of the world is not here.  Heterosexual marriages are not suffering.  Children are still children and they are happy to be happy. Our foes realize this, but they will continue to lie and scapegoat, and cheat and attack because this is their way.  This is their last stand. Once they lose Federally they will lose for good, because our country will know that their lies are evil and hate filled. We will learn our lesson.  We will learn like we have so many times before when civil rights are denied from one group of people.  We will learn like when we ended slavery. We will learn like when women became voters. We will learn like when we ended segregation. We will learn like when we elected our first black president.  We will learn that no one group is more superior to another, and the government — the people have no right to create artifical separations. Yes we will learn.  We will grow, and we shall overcome.

The Secretary of State announced today that they have a raw count of 137, 689 signatures on the R-71 petition. 120,557 valid signatures are needed to qualify referendum 71 for the ballot.  Historically 18% of signatures are invalid for various reasons.  The cushion for R-71 is 14.2 %, so we are still in the too close to call range. Because the margin is so close, the Secretary of State’s office will conduct a line by line review of the petition and will compare every signature against the voting record.  If a signature does not match the voting record it will be disqualified. If there are duplicate signatures the duplicates will be removed.

Meanwhile confusion about referendum 71 remains rampant as is evident in comments like these on the Seattle PI’s article about the petition. We must begin our campaign now as if Referendum 71 will qualify for the ballot.  We have nothing to lose by educating voters now that we must vote to Approve Referendum 71 to preserve domestic partnerships .  News articles and other local media outlets have not been adequately explaining how referendum 71 will function, so it is our responsibility as concerned citizens to educate our friends, neighbors, and strangers.  Use every resource you have.  Change your signature line in your e-mail account, change your voice mail, download an image to use on social networking sites like twitter and facebook from WAFST, print off a sign and put it in your window at work or home, write a song and sing it on the corner and raise some money for the campaign…. I think you get the idea.

The following was originally published on Jointheimpact.com

The Obama Flip-Flop campaign was a creative attempt to convince Obama to instruct the Justice Department to refuse to defend the DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) lawsuit started by GLAD.  Presidents have the option to let lawsuits go through undefended when they believe they are unconstitutional.  Both Clinton and Bush exercised this option.  Unfortunately, the Justice Department released a 50  page brief today outlining the Obama administration’s defense of DOMA.  Check out the AMERICAblog for their translation of the motion. (A copy of the brief is at the end of this post.) In the mean time let me summarize; it is not good.  The Obama administration is attempting to diminish the two Supreme Court cases that most of our rights are based on, Loving vs Virginia and Lawrence vs Texas.

The LGBT community supported President Obama and his campaign with our money, our valuable time, and our votes.  We believed the President when he promised us he was going to repeal DOMA, end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Pass the Employment Non Discrimination Act, support Hate Crimes Legislation, and more.  We believed the President because he offered the country hope and our community needed hope more than any other community in America.  We needed a friend in the White House who was willing to lead us through the civil rights movement of the century.  We needed someone who was not going to stab us in the back.

Mr. President you flip-flopped.  We should have known.  You started your Presidency with one of the most anti-gay Pastors in the country giving your inaugural prayer, Rick Warren.  You further hurt us by remaining silent on proposition 8.  The one moment you mentioned our advances in Iowa and other states was in jest at the correspondence dinner. You asked the Supreme Court to ignore an appeal on Don’t Ask Don’t tell for “unit cohesion”.  You did all these things and yet your promises remained on Whitehouse.gov (FYI his promise to repeal DOMA is no longer there.)  Some of us still hoped, myself included, that you would do the right thing and not defend DOMA.

I no longer have hope for you President Obama.  I no longer believe you are on my side. Your adminstration is using the arguments of our worst enemies to uphold laws that destroy our families.  I should have known. I should not have been so enchanted by your beautiful speeches and colorful campaign posters. Mr. President you are no different than the rest.  You used our community to get to the White House and now you have pushed us aside. This time is different though, because we won’t take it anymore!

I was once on the fence about the October march on Washington.  It is clearer to me now more than ever we can not wait. We need to show up and stand up.  We need to destroy our worst enemy — apathy.  We need to mobilize our communities to fight locally and nationally. We need to demand that our leaders not only say they are going to protect our families, but they must prove it through action.  Flowery speeches will no longeer woo us.  Colorful posters are a red flag now.  If you want the support of the LGBT community, you will have to earn it.

A group of leaders met this spring in Dallas to discuss the future of the LGBT civil rights movement.  They developed a set of ideals that I think are a good start. They are called the Dallas Principles:

In order to achieve full civil rights now, we avow:

1.Full civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals must be enacted now.  Delay and excuses are no longer acceptable.

2.We will not leave any part of our community behind.

3.Separate is never equal.

4.Religious beliefs are not a basis upon which to affirm or deny civil rights.

5.The establishment and guardianship of full civil rights is a non-partisan issue.

6.Individual involvement and grassroots action are paramount to success and must be encouraged.

7.Success is measured by the civil rights we all achieve, not by words, access or money raised.

8.Those who seek our support are expected to commit to these principles.

We are in a fight for our lives. Maine needs our help to protect marriage from a voter initiative to overturn the recent gain there.  Washington needs our help to protect Domestic Partnerships from a group of fundamentalists. Gays and lesbians are still being fired from their jobs because of who they were born to be.  Children are being hurt as they are ripped from loving same-sex parent’s arms and returned to foster care systems. Our community continues to be violently attacked in hate motivated crimes. Obama reminded us today that we are the only ones we can depend on to fight for our rights. Apathy is no longer an option. Either stand up for yourself now or don’t be surprised when we are left with nothing.

Join the Impact will be launching several tools in the near future to help you fight for your rights. In the mean time volunteer your time locally, get ready to go to Washington DC, donate your money to LGBT causes, demand your representatives vote for your rights, talk to people about our issues, and most importantly do not give up.

When Obama became President, he asked us to hold his feet to the fire when he was letting us down. Mr. President, you let me down.  Join me by telling the president he let you down by twittering the president @barackobama with the tag #promise

It is no longer okay for our elected leaders to take advantage of us. If you want our support, you will have to earn it through action.  You better start now, because we are watching.

Moments ago New Hampshire became the 6th state to provide marriage equality to all of it’s citizens! The Governor signed the bill today after the legislature added additional language to protect religious institutions from recognizing same-sex marriages. He threatened to veto the bill if the changes were not included. Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine now all recognize marriage equality. New York and Rhode Island recognize same-sex marriages from other states and Canada.

California briefly recognized same-sex marriage until voters narrowly passed proposition 8 constitutionally prohibiting same sex marriage . A recent California Supreme Court upheld proposition 8 but also allowed the 18,000 same sex marriage on the books to remain.

Since prop 8 passed, the country has seen a new tide in the direction of equality. New Hampshire is the second state to pass equality legislatively. Vermont was the first.

Interestingly, the two states that are extraordinarily important in Presidential elections, Iowa and New Hampshire, will likely be states with full equality during the next Presidential Election. Both Republicans and Democrats should start changing their rhetoric towards equality if they expect to fair well in New Hampshire or Iowa. Full Equality throughout the country is inevitable.

Equality always prevails over inequality. I am over joyed at this historic news.