Julian Bond on National Organization for Marriage's "racial tensions" tactics

 

"NOM's underhanded attempts to divide will not succeed if Black Americans remember their own history of discrimination. Pitting bigotry's victims against other victims is reprehensible; the defenders of justice must stand together." - Julian Bond, Chairman Emeritus, NAACP

MSNBC reports on NOM controversy over creating tensions between gay and black communities

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

NOM president Brian Brown admits to using race as a "wedge" against marriage equality

 

Responding to the growing controversy about the National Organization for Marriage's plans to pit African Americans against gays to create tensions in order to achieve their goal of denying equal rights to gays, NOM president Brian Brown today acknowledged and admitted to using marriage equality as a "wedge" between the two communities:

Gay marriage advocates have attempted to portray same-sex marriage as a civil right, but the voices of these and many other leaders have provided powerful witness that this claim is patently false. Gay marriage is not a civil right, and we will continue to point this out in written materials such as those released in Maine. We proudly bring together people of different races, creeds and colors to fight for our most fundamental institution: marriage.

Everything in this statement confirms the strategy of using people of color as spokespeople and using the language of “civil rights” as a catalyst for division.

Brown's statement was issued in response to the revelation that NOM has based stategies against the LGBT community for years by attempting to "drive a wedge" between gays and the black community. From their own documents recently made available:

“The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks—two key Democratic constituencies. Find, equip, energize and connect African American spokespeople for marriage, develop a media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a civil right; provoke the gay marriage base into responding by denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots…”

The freedom to marry is a civil right, crucial to same-sex families’ ability to pursue life, liberty, and happiness just as all families do.

Read more on the growing controversy at the New York Times.

Donate to defeat anti-gay Amendment One in North Carolina

On September 13th, the North Carolina Legislature proposed an amendment to the Constitution that would ban legal recognition for all unmarried couples, strip protections and benefits from families across our state, hurt our business climate and economic development and put our children in danger.

The Coalition to Protect North Carolina Families is a coalition of groups, individuals and families dedicated to defeating this amendment at the polls on May 8 and protecting North Carolina from the harms it represents.

The Heritage Foundation, NOM and other anti-gay groups who fund these kinds of harmful amendments around the country are coming in with millions of dollars to try and misinform all of North Carolina about this amendment.

Protect All Families has launched a "moneybomb" to raise funds to help raise awareness and spread the truth about writing hate into the North Carolina constitution.

Please donate what you can to help Protect All Families by going here.

Finland to may adopt marriage equality

 

Marriage equality has been proposed in Finland by a group of local MPs. The suggested legislation would change the civil definition of marriage in the country while protecting religious groups that wish to remain homophobic.

Reports the Star Observer:

The Finnish Parliament have now sent the initiative to the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, where its passage is uncertain.

The draft amendment was signed by 76 of the 200 members of Parliament, with more lawmakers including Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen expected to vote for it, Reuters reports.

European Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Alexander Stubb, the first signatory of the initiative, spoke passionately for the amendment during debate.

“This initiative is aimed at dismantling a system that causes inequality, in which couple relationships are divided into A and B categories” he said.

Finland was one of the first countries to recognize the legal status of same-sex relationships by instituting a domestic partnership registry in 2002.

Thank Starbucks for standing up for equality

Starbucks stuck its neck out to publicly support the right of all people to marry, regardless of the gender of their partner.

Now it is under attack by the ironically-named, ultra-conservative American “National Organization for Marriage”. Already over 4,000 NOM members have pledged to boycott Starbucks.

Show that supporting equal rights is good business: Add your name to our thank you card.

Rhode Island: Marriage equality could generate $1.2 million new revenue

The Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law says Rhode Island stands to generate nearly $1.2 million in new government revenue over three years if the state allows gay and lesbian couples to marry.

The new revenue would come primarily in the form of additional tax revenue. The study estimates that same-sex weddings would generate $400,000 in new sales tax dollars over three years.

Also, married couples filing their state taxes jointly would pay an estimated $786,000 in new income taxes over the same period.

Rhode Island lawmakers voted last year to permit same-sex couples to form civil unions after gay marriage legislation failed.
(source)

Starbucks CEO speaks to his company's support for marriage equality

"Any decision of this type or magnitude has be made with great thoughtfulness and I would assure you that a senior team at Starbucks discussed this. To be very candid with you, this was not something that was a difficult decision for us and we did share this with the board as well. [snip] We made that decision, in our view, through the lens of humanity and being the kind of company that embraces diversity." - Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz, responding to NOM's complaint about his company's support for marriage equality.

(Audio from GoodAsYou.org)

Hew Hampshire House votes down attempt to repeal marriage equality

An effort to prevent recognition of same-sex marriages in the “Live Free or Die” state seems to be dead for the year after a Republican-controlled state House of Representatives failed to pass the measure, despite desperate last-minute attempts to make the bill more palatable to moderates by author Rep. David Bates.

The New Hampshire House of Representatives has defeated the bill with a vote of 133-202.

At stake first was the absurd amendment proposed by Rep. David Bates (R), which would have re-implemented civil unions and given voters a chance to weigh in on that decision in a non-binding way. That amendment failed 162-188.

Then, there was a parliamentary debate as to whether to consider a humorous amendment proposed by Rep. Seth Cohn (R) that would have prohibited marriage between people who are left-handed, but the effort to bring it forth was defeated.

During the debate on the bill as originally proposed, Bates and other opponents of equality invoked comparisons between same-sex marriage and incest while protesting when others juxtaposed the measure with the racial segregation of the past.

Three-term governor John Lynch had promised to veto the bill had it passed both majority-Republican chambers of the state legislature.
(source)

Sen. Scott Brown: "Move on" from same-sex marriage

In an interview last night with Piers Morgan on CNN, Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) explained that marriage equality is settled law in his state and “everybody’s moved on”:

MORGAN: Massachusetts is one of the states that’s approved gay marriage. How do you personally feel about that?

BROWN: Well, it’s settled law in Massachusetts. Quite frankly, everybody’s moved on.

MORGAN: Do people care that much? I mean, those who argue against it say this is like the end of civilization as we know it.

BROWN: Certainly some people care. And others have moved on. But they’re really concerned about how they’re going to pay their mortgage. Both people, gay and straight, they’re wondering about how they’re going to pay their mortgage, or if their kids and families are going to come home safe as they travel around the country and the world.

It’s debt, deficit, taxes, spending, jobs, national security. We’ve moved on. I encourage everyone else to move on. It should be decided state by state basis. I’m focusing on those other things.

As much as he'd like to "move on" from the subject, I'm sure Sen. Brown would like us to forget that just two weeks ago, Massachusetts Democrats were urging Brown to change his position, but he dismissed it as a “social issue.”

He has voted to ban same-sex marriage twice before, and he even refused to participate in an “It Gets Better” video for LGBT youth with the Massachusetts Congressional delegation.

I think he's tip-toeing around the subject so he doesn't become the next Kirk Cameron in an election year.

President Jimmy Carter supports marriage equality

"In all of [Jesus'] teachings about multiple things -– he never said that gay people should be condemned. I personally think it is very fine for gay people to be married in civil ceremonies."

"I draw the line, maybe arbitrarily, in requiring by law that churches must marry people. I’m a Baptist, and I believe that each congregation is autonomous and can govern its own affairs. So if a local Baptist church wants to accept gay members on an equal basis, which my church does by the way, then that is fine. If a church decides not to, then government laws shouldn’t require them to." - President Jimmy Carter speaking to the Huffington Post

Marriage Equality News: March 19, 2012

Ben & Jerry's renames flavor to support marriage equality

With the debate for marriage equality taking place in England’s Parliament this month, Ben & Jerry’s UK arm has renamed their Apple Pie “flavor” as “Apple-y Ever After.”

It echoes their celebration of Vermont’s passage of gay marriage in 2009 with the “rebranding” of Chubby Hubby as “Hubby Hubby.”

The ice cream maker is also teaming up with Stonewall to launch a new Facebook app today that asks users to ‘marry’ each other online.

‘Proposing’ through Ben and Jerry’s, users can voice their support for marriage equality and add their name to a letter to prime minister David Cameron backing the move.

Laura Doughty, Stonewall’s Deputy CEO says “We’re truly moved by Ben and Jerry’s support for same-sex marriage in Britain.

“All people want is to call their long-term relationship by the same name as everyone else. Our strong advice to those who disapprove of same-sex marriage is just not to get married to someone of the same sex.”

Maine legislators send marriage equality initiative to the voters; polls show likely to pass

The Maine House of Representatives unanimously voted this morning to send an initiative on marriage equality directly to voters. House Speaker Robert Nutting, R-Oakland, recognized Minority Leader Emily Cain, D-Orono, to make the motion. Cain is a supporter of gay-marriage.

"We just think this should be decided by the voters," said Cain's spokeswoman Jodi Quintero. "We would like to see this citizen initiative succeed."

A recent poll from PPP shows that Maine voters are likely to approve it:

It looks like Maine voters will reverse their 2009 decision and legalize gay marriage in the state this fall. 54% think that gay marriage should be legal to only 41% who think it should be illegal. And when we asked about the issue using the exact language voters will see on the ballot this fall, they say they're inclined to support the referendum by a 47-32 margin.

Republicans' opinions are pretty much the same as they were in 2009. But Democrats' support for gay marriage has increased slightly, from 71% to 78%. And more importantly independents have gone from voting against gay marriage 52/46 three years ago to now supporting it by a 57/36 margin.

Denmark may pass marriage equality this summer

Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt on Tuesday said the government will introduce draft legislation this week to legalize same-sex marriages later this year, a move which had been expected for years.

ut Thorning said the Danish government will submit a draft legislation on Wednesday which will allow same-sex couples to get married at both City Hall and the Church of Denmark if they find a priest who is willing to perform the wedding. Although some church leaders have spoken out against same-sex marriage, previous surveys have suggested that as many as 70 percent of priests are willing to marry same-sex couples.

The Danish Government is ready with the Law Proposal, which will take effect in June 2012. It is important step for our society, which recognizes the individual's differences and the individual's equality within the society, regardless of who you are, and regardless of who do you love, says PM Thorning. She calls the Law Proposal a completely natural and the right step in the moden Denmark. It will be up to individual priest though to decide, whether they would want to bless the homosexual couples in the church, the PM informs.

In 1989 Denmark was the world's first nation to offer federal domestic partnership recognition.

Read more here.

Pennsylvania: proposed bill to amend state constitution outlawing marriage equality

From Equality Pennsylvania: A vote on House Bill (HB) 1434 is scheduled for TUESDAY, MARCH 13 in the House State Government Committee. Now is the time to let your voice be heard. HB 1434, proposed by Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, would not only amend the Pennsylvania Constitution to define marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman, it would invalidate any other type of legal union or one substantially equivalent. That means any discussion of civil unions or domestic partnerships would forever be off the table for consideration.

Passage of this legislation will also forcefully terminate benefits currently provided to thousands of employees in municipalities or state owned schools or facilities that offer domestic partnership benefits.

Pennsylvania residents - contact your legislators by clicking here.

Get more info on how you can make your opinion known by visiting Equality Pennsylvania.

UPDATE: The Pennsylvania legislature has put on hold discussion of a proposed bill that would bar in the state Constitution recognition of same-sex marriage, according to the blog PoliticsPA.com.

Majority of Marylanders would uphold same-sex marriage law

Fifty-two percent of respondents to a Maryland poll said they would “probably” or “definitely” vote in favor of the state’s recently-enacted same-sex marriage law should it appear on the ballot in November, while 44 percent of the 600 respondents said they would “probably” or “definintely” vote against it.

The poll was commissioned by Marylanders for Marriage Equality and conducted by Public Policy Polling.

Polls recently released by Gonzales and The Washington Post have reported the split in votes closer to 50-50. Opponents of the law are currently trying to collect the 56,000 signatures needed to put the law on the November ballot.
(source)

California: Support for marriage equality continues to grow

Fifty-six percent of likely California voters now favor allowing same-sex couples to legally marry, according to a poll released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC).

The poll represents an increase in public support for the freedom to marry from an identically worded poll of likely voters conducted in September 2011 by Equality California, which marked support at 51%.

This news comes on the heels of a Field poll released last week that showing that support for marriage equality had reached as high as 59% among all California adults.

Los Angeles Mayor: Democratic platform should include marriage equality

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the chair of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, expressed his support for a marriage equality plank in the party platform in an interview with Politico.

Said Villaraigosa: “I do, I think it’s basic to who we are. I believe in family values and I believe that we all ought to be able to have a family and marry if you want to. I don’t think the government should be in that business of denying people the fundamental right to marry.”

At least 18 senators have expressed support for adding marriage equality to the platform.  Freedom to Marry launched a campaign to that end last month.
(source)

Kylie Minogue: Mardi Gras and Marriage Equality

During her appearance at Australia's Mardi Gras, Kylie Minogue expressed her opposition to Australia's ban on same-sex marriage, saying "Of course I believe that it should be legalised. I always say, love is love is love," according to the Herald-Sun.

In recent months, several major names from the entertainment field have expressed support for marriage equality in Australia including Hugh Jackman and Olivia Newton-John.