Tag: Gay marriage

Republican State Senator Breaks With Party to Support Same-Sex Marriage

Trish
NY Gay Marriage
N.Y. State Sen. Roy McDonald

“You get to the point where you evolve in your life where everything isn’t black and white, good and bad, and you try to do the right thing. You might not like that. You might be very cynical about that. Well, fuck it, I don’t care what you think. I’m trying to do the right thing.

“I’m tired of Republican-Democrat politics. They can take the job and shove it. I come from a blue-collar background. I’m trying to do the right thing, and that’s where I’m going with this.”

— New York State Sen. Roy McDonald (R-Saratoga), explaining his support for same-sex marriage.

Guess What Percentage of Americans Is Gay

Jon Ponder

If you guessed that 25 percent of Americans are gay, you would be wrong, but you would be in agreement with a majority of the country, according to a new poll from Gallup:

Anti-gay activists debunk assertions that 10 percent of the population is gay. They claim it’s more like 2 percent — which prompts the question: If there are so few gay people, why all the fuss?

U.S. adults, on average, estimate that 25 percent of Americans are gay or lesbian. More specifically, over half of Americans (52 percent) estimate that at least one in five Americans are gay or lesbian, including 35 percent who estimate that more than one in four are. Thirty percent put the figure at less than 15 percent.

The adult population of the United States is about 225 million. If a quarter of them were gay, that would be 56 million people — that’s a lot of gay people. That’s roughly the number of Catholics in America. No way.

The fact is, nobody really knows how many gay people there are in the United States or anywhere. The conventional wisdom used to be 10 percent, a figure that probably came from the Kinsey Report in the 1930s.

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Clinton Supports Same-Sex Marriage

Trish

Our nation’s permanent mission is to form a ‘more perfect union’ – deepening the meaning of freedom, broadening the reach of opportunity, strengthening the bonds of community. That mission has inspired and empowered us to extend rights to people previously denied them. Every time we have done that, it has strengthened our nation. Now we should do it again, in New York, with marriage equality.

— Former Pres. Bill Clinton, supporting same-sex marriage. Both the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy were codified under Clinton.

Mississippi Goddam

Jon Ponder

“Thank God for Mississippi.”

– Unofficial slogan of Alabama

A new survey from Public Policy Polling finds that 46 percent of Mississippi Republicans not only oppose interracial marriage, they believe that individuals who marry someone of another race should go to jail.

On a positive note, it is at least progress that these Mississippi racists see prison time — not lynching — as an adequate penalty for race mixing.

Just 40 percent of GOP voters in the state say they think interracial marriage should remain legal, while 14 percent are not sure.

These results are especially interesting considering the fact that there are few places where Pres. Obama, the product of an interracial marriage, is more despised than Mississippi.

[…]

Hate Group Activist Recants Opposition to Gay Marriage

Jon Ponder

Louis Marinelli, a key activist with the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), an anti-gay group that the Southern Poverty Law Center includes on its official list of hate groups, has recanted his opposition to civil marriage rights for same-sex couples.

From Good As You:

While still not in full support of homosexuality on some levels (where he needs our help to correct misinformation), Louis is now a) repudiating virtually all of the vitriol that he put on the public record; b) is owning up to the major role that he’s played with NOM, including admitting that he was the impetus behind the whole summer tour; and c) is coming out in full support of the civil marriage rights that gay people are seeking.

And even more important that that: He, the man who gave NOM its official “protect marriage” Facebook page and who has been working as an independent contractor with the org. ever since (and still is, reporting directly to Brian Brown, at least up until the moment this post goes live), quite literally credits exposure to the NOM tour as the very thing that led to his change of heart!!!!!

NOM’S Tour mastermind, Facebook founder and online strategist, Louis Marinelli, now supports our civil marriage equality! The [driving force behind the] much-ballyhooed Summer Marriage tour 2010 opened his eyes!

If you’re interested in the gay marriage rights, Marinelli’s recantation is a fascinating read.

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Boehner Kills Jobs, Focuses on Abortion But Chides Obama for Ignoring Jobs with ‘Divisive’ DOMA Shift

Jon Ponder

When the Obama administration announced this week that the Executive Branch would no longer defend the so-called Defense of Marriage Act at trial, they effectively lobbed the ball into Speaker John Boehner’s court. It will be up to the Legislative Branch, which is to say Boehner and his tea party bosses in Congress, to defend the act in upcoming trials.

Boehner’s only accomplishment is a budget bill that would kill hundreds of thousands of jobs and hobble gross domestic spending by 2 percent.

It refreshing to see the White House playing hardball with the speaker. In offloading to Boehner the responsibility for defending DOMA — which is unconstitutional on its face — the administration has unilaterally forced Republicans to shift from arguing their case against gay marriage from the court of public opinion, via their in-house media outlets on Fox and AM radio, into the court of law, where their illogical, Bible-based rationales are immaterial as testimony:

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Banned Video Explains What Love Without Limits Really Means

Trish

The video rejected in The Ruth Institute’s “Reel Love Challenge.” The contest asked for college students or young adults age 18 to 30 to answer the question, “What makes lifelong love possible?” Apparently it has to be man-lady lifelong love only.

This video was first accepted, but after someone at the “Institute” actually watched it, it was thrown out. The Ruth So-Called Institute is a project of the National Institute for Marriage Education Fund, which is just another Focus on the Family spin-off that claims these bizarre “core values:”

  • Respect for the contributions of men to the family Marriage as a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman
  • Lifelong spousal cooperation as a solution to women’s aspirations for career and family

Bill Clinton Finally Supports Same-Sex Marriage

Trish

Good news gay people! Former Pres. Bill Clinton is finally feelin’ your pain. And while we love the former president, and totally respect the longevity of his marriage, and fully realize that the only ones who know what’s really going on in a relationship are the two people in it…Well, still, as far as him making any statements on marriage…Just saying.