Tag: Gay Politics

Divorce Has Declined Since Gay Unions Were Legalized, So Where Is Threat to ‘Opposite’ Marriage?

Jon Ponder

Kill the Gays: Poster from a National Organization for Marriage "rally" in Indiana this week
Kill the Gays: Poster from a National Organization for Marriage rally in Indiana this week - Click photo to read more
One of the most nonsensical claims by opponents of gay marriage is that it is a threat to “traditional marriage,” by which they mean what their intellectual hero, Carrie Prejean, the disgraced former Miss California USA, referred to as “opposite marriage.”

For people who aren’t tuned into the debate, the canard that gay marriage threatens heterosexual marriage sounds vaguely reasonable — like marriage is a zero-sum game and that as gay marriage increases so will the divorce rate among straight couples.

A recent report from Pew Research indicates that the opposite of that is true:

The national divorce rate is higher now than it was a century ago, but it has been declining for the past two decades. According to provisional data for most states from the Centers for Disease Control, there were 3.5 divorces per 1,000 people in 2008, compared with 4 per 1,000 people in 2000. (Marriage rates have also declined but the divorce rate also has declined if expressed as the number of divorces per 1,000 married couples.) [Emphasis added.]

The year 2000 is key here. Before 2000, anti-gay activists had been winning their war against gay marriage, including the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act by Congress in 1996. In 2000, however, the course of the war began to change, and the good guys started to win:

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The ‘Ick Factor,’ And Why Huckabee Will Never Be President

Jon Ponder
Left: Huckabee family several years ago, Mike and Janet Huckabee more recently
Left: Huckabee family several years ago, Mike and Janet Huckabee more recently

The New Yorker has profile of Mike Huckabee up that explores the possibility that he may be the Republicans’ “best hope” to take on Pres. Obama in 2012. If he is, there’s at least one quote from the interview on social issues that will likely turn off reasonable independent voters (and any of the few remaining Republicans who are rational) down the road:

I asked him to explain his rationale for opposing gay rights. “I do believe that God created male and female and intended for marriage to be the relationship of the two opposite sexes,” he said. “Male and female are biologically compatible to have a relationship. We can get into the ick factor, but the fact is two men in a relationship, two women in a relationship, biologically, that doesn’t work the same.” [Emphasis added.]

“Ick” is in the mind of the beholder. For example — and with apologies in advance if you are eating as you read this, dear reader — but imagine just for a second, Huckabee and his wife Janet belly to belly making the beast with two backs, doing the nasty and hiding the salami — fill in your own euphemism, just so long as your imaginary Huckabees are doing it missionary style.

See? Ick. Who wants to think of these two bruisers having sex? No one. And yet, Mike Huckabee — a supposedly serious Republican candidate for president in 2012 — rests the foundation of his justification for the use of constitutional amendments in 45 states and federal laws like the Defense of Marriage Act to restrict millions of Americans’ civil right to marry a picture in his puerile mind of what these people do in bed.

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CA Sen: Anti-Gay Hate Group Takes Credit for Carly Fiorina’s Primary Win

Jon Ponder

Gallagher
Gallagher
The last time the National Organization for [Hets-Only] Marriage was in the news was during the Carrie Prejean scandal, when NOM’s Maggie Gallagher publicly humiliated herself by first rushing in to support Prejean after she came out against gay marriage during the Miss Universe pageant — only to drop Prejean months later when it was revealed that a recent boyfriend was in possession of solo sex home videos produced by the future Miss California USA. This was embarrassing for Gallagher who is also an anti-porn crusader.

Now, in the afterglow of the Republican primary in California, the New Jersey-based group is back in the news. Despite the fact that gay rights were not an issue during the primary campaign, NOM is taking complete credit for Carly Fiorina’s victory in the U.S. Senate vote on Tuesday:

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Gallup Reveals ‘Stunning’ Uptick Among Those Who Say Gays Are ‘Morally Acceptable’

Jon Ponder

graph-gaprllup-gay-moral-acceptanceIn an op-ed for the New York Times, Charles Blow says he finds results from a new Gallup poll on Americans’ views about the morality of homosexuality to be “stunning”:

1. For the first time, the percentage of Americans who perceive “gay and lesbian relations” as morally acceptable has crossed the 50 percent mark. (You have to love the fact that they still use the word “relations.” So quaint.)

2. Also for the first time, the percentage of men who hold that view is greater than the percentage of women who do.

3. This new alignment is being led by a dramatic change in attitudes among younger men, but older men’s perceptions also have eclipsed older women’s. While women’s views have stayed about the same over the past four years, the percentage of men ages 18 to 49 who perceived these “relations” as morally acceptable rose by 48 percent, and among men over 50, it rose by 26 percent.

I warned you: stunning.

In 2001, Gallup found that 40 percent held the view that gay people were morally fit. The number dropped to 38 percent the next year, but reached 44 percent in 2006 and has risen steadily ever since.

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Ill Sen: GOP’s Mark Kirk, Reeling from False Military Service Claims, Outed As Gay after Pro-DADT Vote

Jon Ponder

Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., who is also a Naval Reserves Commander
Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., who is also a Naval Reserves Commander
Another U.S. Senate “trophy seats” targeted by Republicans — this one is the Illinois seat once held by Pres. Obama — appears to be a less-certain pick up now that the Republican frontrunner in the race, Rep. Mark Kirk, has been outed as gay.

The other two trophies are the Nevada seat currently held by Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Delaware seat formerly held by Vice Pres. Biden. While Biden’s seat will likely flip to liberal GOP Rep. Mike Castle (one of the first Republican pols to be shouted down by tea baggers at town hall meetings last summer), Reid’s 12 Republican opponents, including “chicken woman” Sue Lowden, seem to be imploding one by one.

Kirk has held a single digit lead over Democrat Alexi Giannoulias in early polling. But even before he was outed yesterday by Mike Rogers, editor of BlogActive in Washington, D.C., the Kirk campaign was reeling from the revelation that Kirk, who is an officer in the Naval reserves, has claimed on more than one occasion to have received a commendation that in fact he’d never been awarded.

Update: Today Kirk’s campaign has acknowledged another misstatement about his service. A bio erroneously stated that Kirk served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. In fact, Kirk was serving in the United States at the time, so he actually served during, not in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

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Gallup: Gay Marriage Support at 44%-53% – Still Twice As Popular Today than Interracial Marriage Was When It Was Legalized in 1967

Jon Ponder

Chart source

The trend toward a national consensus in favor of gay marriage remains in play, a new Gallup survey finds — and while a slight majority of Americans remain opposed to gay marriage today, it is still more than twice as popular now than interracial marriage was when the Supreme Court legalized it in 1967.

In the first Gallup poll on interracial marriage taken after the Supreme Court’s 1967 ruling on Loving v. Virginia that states could no longer prevent interracial couples from marrying, just 20 percent of Americans favored mixed-race marriages. Seventy-two percent were opposed.

The latest Gallup poll on gay marriage finds a nine point gap between opponents and supporters:

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2010 Census Will Count Gay Households

Trish

No wonder Michelle Bachman is scared. Exactly how many people live in committed gay relationships has always been a matter of opinion, and hers was as good as yours. But official record-keeping will no longer turn a blind eye on gay households. In 2010, we will have precise, objective numbers.

The sharper focus comes courtesy of a July 31 legal analysis by U.S. Commerce Department lawyers that reverses years of Bush-era policy regarding the reporting of same-sex marriage, declaring that for the first time, data on relationships must be reported, state by state, as declared by respondents. The information will be presented unedited by 2012.

…up until this summer, an earlier interpretation of the 1996 Federal Defense of Marriage Act gave our sovereign questioner the right to edit out, essentially at the touch of a button, the mere existence of gay couples. It worked quite simply: If two men identified themselves as a married couple, one would have his gender identification changed on the government form to read “female.” With lesbian couples, one of the women would instantly be recorded as a man. Just like that, thousands of gay marriages were turned straight, at the gender-bending direction of a computer algorithm dictated by political ideology.

The 2000 Census did mark some progress, permitting couples to identify themselves as same-sex partners for the first time — though only of the unmarried variety.

The Human Rights Campaign web site offers tips on how to answer Census questions, which will still not directly ask for sexual orientation (maybe in 2020?). They list ten things to know before you respond, including:

5. LGBT couples who are married should check “husband” or “wife” on the census form. Other same-sex couples should check “unmarried partner.” The person filling out the census form indicates their relationship to everyone in the house. If you are living with your married spouse then check “husband” or wife” on the census form. Other same-sex couples should check “unmarried partner.”

6. The White House is seeking ways to include same-sex marriages, unions and partnerships in 2010 Census data. The Obama administration has directed the Census Bureau to determine what changes need to be made in tabulation software to include married same-sex couples in census reports. Citing DoMA, Census officials had planned to reclassify married same-sex couples as, instead, “unmarried partners.” This approach would result in inaccurate census data and belittle the lives of LGBT families across the country. HRC and other organizations continue to work closely with the administration and Census Bureau to ensure everyone’s marriages are treated with equal dignity and respect.

Census forms will start arriving in March.

Mormons Deny Men in Same-Sex Kiss on Temple Plaza Were Detained, Handcuffed Because They Were Gay

Jon Ponder

George Bush and Saudi prince engage in what Mormons officials deem to be “unwanted” and “unacceptable” behavior

It’s one of the great paradoxes. Despite the fact that the punishment for being gay is death in fundamentalist states like Iran and Saudi Arabia, it is acceptable for men in those countries to kiss and hug each other and even to hold hands in public.

This practice is even legal in Texas. No one alerted police in Crawford a few years ago when macho right-wing icon George W. Bush was photographed hugging, kissing and holding hands with a Saudi Arabian prince.

Earlier this month, however, in the capitol of the American theocratic state of Utah, two men were detained and handcuffed by Mormon Church security guards and then arrested by Salt Lake City police, for doing exactly what Bush and Prince Abdullah did:

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Michael Savage’s Son And Wife ‘Disavow’ His Hateful Views on Gays, Stave off Boycott

Jon Ponder

Facing a potentially brand-killing boycott of Rockstar Energy Drink by key sectors of its target demos — nightclubbing young gays and their non-gay, socially liberal cohorts — CEO Russ Weiner and his mother, CFO Janet Weiner — issued a statement last week in which they sought to distance themselves from the unabashedly homophobic views of radio ranter Michael Savage, who is their father and husband, respectively:

Savage’s radio sponsors should take note that not only has Savage himself said that associating his persona with a product “smears” it, lawyers representing Savage’s son have said that Savage’s connection to a product “defames” it.

“Some have erroneously associated our company with offensive language directed at LGBT people, specifically statements coming from Michael Savage, who is not and has never been a shareholder or officer of Rockstar Energy Drink. On behalf of our company and directors, including myself and CFO Janet Weiner, I would like to take this opportunity to disavow any offensive statements directed toward LGBT people, including statements from Michael Savage. Rockstar assures our customers and the general public that our brand will never be associated with any language that does not affirm the essential dignity of every person in our diverse national community.”

The Weiners’ statement was prepared as part of a deal with an ad hoc group of gay rights activists and editors of political websites who had advocated boycotting Rockstar because of the connections — familial, ideological and, allegedly, financial — between Savage and the company’s senior management.

The resolution of the conflict — which, in addition to the statement, includes assurances from the Weiners that Rockstar will treat its gay employees fairly, as well as a pledge of $100,000 in contributions to gay-rights groups — also represents a reversal of Rockstar’s hamfisted initial strategy to stifle the boycott: hiring the high-priced law firm of OJ Simpson “dream team” lawyer Robert Shapiro to threaten bloggers and activists with lawsuits.

As a result of this strategy, the Weiners created a bizarre conundrum. Not only did Rockstar’s lawyers assert that bloggers who pointed to the connection between Savage and his family’s energy drink “defame” the product, but Savage himself made a statement revelatory of self-loathing in which he described attempts to tie him to Rockstar as a “McCarthyesque smear campaign.” These assertions prompt a question: Why would Savage’s radio sponsors want to advertise with a host whose association smears and defames their products.

Bullying bloggers and activists — who generally have few resources other their soapboxes and bullhorns — was clearly the wrong strategy. As we suggested in Pensito Review last month, “Paradoxically, the Weiners’ intimidation-by-lawsuit strategy will almost certainly produce the very outcome they seem desperate to avoid: making the Rockstar boycott a headline story and the subject of endless chatter on cable news.” Our take then was that “[instead] of lawyering up, a smarter — and cheaper — strategy would have been to hire a PR firm that specializes in damage control.”

We’re not suggesting the Weiners took our advice, of course, but rather that what needed to be done was so obvious that even a fool could see it.

A broad-strokes timeline of events leading up to the resolution of the boycott follows…

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Rep. King, R-Iowa, Casts Lone Nay Vote on Thanking Slaves for Building U.S Capitol

Jon Ponder

U.S. Capitol Building under construction in 1858

The House of Representatives voted 399 to 1 yesterday for a resolution expressing gratitude to the slaves who built the United States Capitol Building, which said, in part:

Whereas enslaved African-Americans provided labor essential to the construction of the United States Capitol;

…Whereas enslaved African-Americans performed the backbreaking work of quarrying the stone which comprised many of the floors, walls, and columns of the Capitol;

Whereas enslaved African-Americans also participated in other facets of construction of the Capitol, including carpentry, masonry, carting, rafting, roofing, plastering, glazing, painting, and sawing…

And:

Whereas the Statue of Freedom now atop the Capitol dome could not have been cast without the pivotal intervention of Philip Reid, an enslaved African-American foundry worker who deciphered the puzzle of how to separate the 5-piece plaster model for casting when all others failed…

In addition to the expression of gratitude to slaves who have been dead for a century or more, the resolution also instructed the Architect of the Capitol to place a marker in Emancipation Hall in the Capitol Visitor Center acknowledging the role of slave labor in the Capitol’s construction.

So who was the lone wolf who felt the slaves’ force labor in the construction of the capitol of freedom did not warrant gratitude and a bronze plaque?

Rep. Steve King, a Republican, of course, who has represented western Iowa since 2002 — and who vies with Rep. Michelle Bachman, R-Minn., for the title of nuttiest wingnut in the House. Since even Rep. Bachman voted for this resolution, Rep. King is officially the title-holder, at least for now.

A few hours after the resolution passed, King’s office released a statement explaining his vote:

“Last night I opposed yet another bill to erect another monument to slavery because it was used as a bargaining chip to allow for the actual depiction of ‘In God We Trust’ in the [Capitol Visitors Center]…

“Our Judeo-Christian heritage is an essential foundation stone of our great nation and should not be held hostage to yet another effort to place guilt on future Americans for the sins of some of their ancestors.”

In his statement, King also rewrote the history of the Civil War era, falsely claiming that white “Christian abolitionists gave their lives by the hundreds of thousands to end slavery.”

It’s true that hundreds of thousands of Union soldiers died in the Civil War, but the percentage of them who self-identified as abolitionists was very small. It’s also historical fact that the primary objective of the United States in waging war against the Confederacy was to preserve the Union, not free the slaves.

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