For Years, Deaf Boys Tried to Tell of Priest’s Abuse

They were deaf, but they were not silent. For decades, a group of men who were sexually abused as children by the Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy at a school for the deaf in Wisconsin reported to every type of official they could think of that he was a danger, according to the victims and church documents.
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Andy Manis for The New York Times
Steven Geier said the priest who molested him as a boy told him he had to keep it a secret.
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The Predator Priest Who Got Away

The Words of a Victim (March 27, 2010)
Pope May Be at Crossroads on Abuse, Forced to Reconcile Policy and Words (March 27, 2010)
Vatican Declined to Defrock U.S. Priest Who Abused Boys (March 25, 2010)
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Andy Manis for The New York Times
Mr. Geier reported the abuse to three priests, including the Rev. Tom Schroeder
They told other priests. They told three archbishops of Milwaukee. They told two police departments and the district attorney. They used sign language, written affidavits and graphic gestures to show what exactly Father Murphy had done to them. But their reports fell on the deaf ears of hearing people.

This week, they learned that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, received letters about Father Murphy in 1996 from Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland of Milwaukee, who said that the deaf community needed “a healing response from the Church.” The Vatican sat on the case, then equivocated, and when Father Murphy died in 1998, he died a priest.

“That man should have been in prison for a very long time, but he was lucky,” Steven Geier, one of Father Murphy’s victims, said Thursday. “What about me? I wasn’t supposed to touch girls. What gave him the right to be able to do that? Father Murphy constantly thought about sex with children, and he got away with it.”

Young victims of sexual abuse are often so confused, ashamed or traumatized that they wait years to report the violations. Some never say a word. One of the remarkable aspects of the Father Murphy case is that young victims began alerting the authorities in the mid-1950s, when sexual abuse was hardly even a part of the public vocabulary.

In his ranch house in Madison, where he lives with his wife, Ann, and two dachshunds, Mr. Geier said through an interpreter that he entered St. John’s School for the Deaf in St. Francis, Wis., when he was 9. His father had helped build a Catholic church in rural Dane County, and his aunt was a nun. His family wanted him to get a good education in a Catholic school.

Mr. Geier, now 59, said that between the ages of 14 and 15, starting around 1965, Father Murphy molested him four times in a closet at the school. The priest, a hearing man fluent in sign language, said that God wanted him to teach the boy about sex but that he had to keep it quiet because it was under the sacrament of confession. Mr. Geier said he felt sick.

“First thing in the morning,” Mr. Geier said, “we took communion, and as he passed out the communion wafers, I thought about how many boys did he touch with those hands and all of the germs, all of the filth of his hands.”

Father Murphy may have molested as many as 200 boys while he worked at the school from 1950 to 1974, according to the accounts of victims and a social worker hired by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to interview him.

Mr. Geier said he first tried to tell the priest at his home parish in Madison, where he served as an altar boy, in 1966 when he was just 16. But the priest, he said, told him he did not want to hear about it, and to just forget about it. He told another priest while he was still a teenager, and yet a third priest years later, after he married.

That priest, the Rev. Tom Schroeder, 72, who led Masses for the deaf in Madison from 1970 to 1992, said in an interview Friday that he remembered Mr. Geier’s telling him about Father Murphy. Father Schroeder said that he told a nun, who told another nun who was a dormitory supervisor at St. John’s, but that the supervisor did not believe it and nothing ever came of it.

“I assumed that if enough people told her, she would finally believe it,” Father Schroeder said.

Internal church correspondence unearthed in a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and given to The New York Times, which made it public it this week, included a letter from the Rev. David Walsh, who served as a chaplain for the deaf in Chicago, saying that teenage students at St. John’s had told him in the late 1950s about Father Murphy’s abuse.

Father Walsh said he told Archbishop Albert Gregory Meyer of Milwaukee, who sent Father Murphy on a retreat and then put him back in the school to undo “the harm he had done.”

In the 1970s, a group of former students who were in a vocational rehabilitation program in Milwaukee began telling their hearing supervisors about Father Murphy, a sequence of events reported in two articles in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2006.
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN and DAVID CALLENDER

Who can or will fire the Pope after more evidence mounts on his involvement on the sex scandals.

Only God Can Fire Pope Benedict After Scandals

"As a priest, it's like seeing my home and family disintegrate before my eyes."
Protesters rallied outside the Vatican, angry that an office under his command had stopped the prosecution in 1996 of Wisconsin priest Lawrence Murphy, who admitted molesting 200 boys at a school for the deaf where he worked for 20 years.

The secret church trial was halted after Murphy made a personal appeal to the future pope asking for mercy.

The Murphy case emerged as Catholic anger was already building over growing sex scandals in Ireland and in the pope's native Germany where his level of trust has fallen to 24 percent, according to a recent Stern magazine poll.

The Vatican continued to be rocked almost daily about new revelations. The New York Times reported today that the pope when he was archbishop of Munich was included on a memo about a priest he had sent to therapy for pedophilia was returning to pastoral work. The priest was later convicted of molesting boys.

Mom Blasts Pope for Lying About Abuse'The Pope, You Know, He Is Lying': Mother of Victim Leads Charge Against VaticanWATCH: Vatican Insider a Sex Abuser?
French bishops have sent the pope a letter saying they are ashamed of priests who committed "abominable acts" by molesting and raping children.

And the conservative group Legionaries of Christ issued a statement today apologizing for the behavior of the group's founder, Marcial Maciel, who was determined by a church investigation to have molested seminarians and fathered a child by a woman with whom he had a long affair.

Those would be devastating scenarios for most world leaders, but not for the pope.


Experts in canon law say only a heavenly bolt of lightning can take the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger from power as the supreme leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

"The only person who can fire him is God," said the Rev. Thomas Doyle, who worked at the Vatican embassy in Washington, D.C., and was one of the first whistle blowers when the sex scandals broke in 1984.

"A pope is never forced to resign, not under the current canon law," said Robert Mickens, the Vatican correspondent for the Tablet weekly. "A pope can voluntarily resign, but it's interesting... Who would take his resignation?"

The number of popes who may have resigned has been estimated as high as 10, according to Thomas Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

Bye Bye Homophobe General

Mullen, Gates Condemn General's Letter on DADT

A three-star general's opposition to repealing the military's ban on openly gay and lesbian troops may put his career in jeopardy.

Lt. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, in an open letter to Stars and Stripes newspaper on March 8, wrote that it was highly unlikely that a majority of service members are in favor of repealing "don't ask, don't tell."

"I suspect many service members, their families, veterans and citizens are wondering what to do to stop this ill-advised repeal of a policy that has achieved a balance between a citizen's desire to serve and acceptable conduct," he wrote on March 8.

Mixon is the commander of the U.S. Army Pacific.

Defense secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Michael Mullen said Thursday that Mixon's letter was "inappropriate" because of his influence on other military personnel, according to MSNBC.com.

Mullen said the Army has issued specific guidelines on speaking about "don't ask, don't tell" while the Defense Department is reviewing repeal of the policy. Mixon's case is "being addressed," he said.

An Army official told MSNBC that the directive to high-ranking military personnel was not pertaining to public statements on the ban and that the Army is likely not to fire Mixon. However, he may be forced to resign.

His three-star status (which he attained in February 2008) may also be under consideration for demotion to two stars by Congress.
By Michelle Garcia

The Army is expected to release a statement distancing itself from Mixon's letter.

Google protects Gmail users with suspicious activity alert

Google protects Gmail users with suspicious activity alert
The new Gmail feature launched by Google won’t have any cool audio alert blaring out “intruder alert”, but it will alert users when suspicious activity indicates a potential compromise of the e-mail account. Google hopes to help users combat e-mail fraud and identity theft with the new feature.

Pavni Diwanji, Engineering Director for Gmail, described the following scenario in a post on the Official Gmail Blog. “A few weeks ago, I got an email presumably from a friend stuck in London asking for some money to help him out. It turned out that the email was sent by a scammer who had hijacked my friend’s account.”

Many small and medium businesses—as well as an increasing number of larger companies—rely on the Web-based Gmail as their primary messaging platform. A sharp rise in socially-engineered attacks and identity theft make Gmail account compromises a quickly growing concern.

Google has long had a security feature which displays the last login time for the account and whether or not the account is currently open in another location. That information should be sufficient for users to identify most compromises or suspicious activity, but apparently it is not overt enough and many users don’t pay attention to it.

The new Google approach monitors certain criteria and considers a range of user behaviors to try to identify activity which should raise red flags. Diwanji explains “To determine when to display this message, our automated system matches the relevant IP address, logged per the Gmail privacy policy, to a broad geographical location. While we don’t have the capability to determine the specific location from which an account is accessed, a login appearing to come from one country and occurring a few hours after a login from another country may trigger an alert.”

Diwanji summed up by reminding users to “Keep in mind that these notifications are meant to alert you of suspicious activity but are not a replacement for account security best practices.”

That is sage advice—particularly for IT administrators, and small and medium businesses that rely on Gmail. The new suspicious activity alert is a nice feature, but it is not a comprehensive defense and does not enable customers to let their guard down. It is no silver bullet.

Businesses should ensure that users are aware of the new Gmail feature so they are not caught off guard if they see it. A process should be established for escalating the notification to management, or responding to suspicious activity alerts.

By developing a plan for what to do with the information, businesses can capitalize on the feature to augment existing security controls and protect Gmail accounts from fraud and identity theft. Tony Bradley, PC World

Gates Makes It Harder to Oust Gay Troops

WASHINGTON, March 25, 2010

Defense Secretary Announces Changes to How Troops Could be Expelled Through "Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announces new rules on the military's "Don't Ask-Don't Tell" policy, Match 25, 2010. (CBS)
STORIES
Dutch Blast U.S. General's Gay Comments
Military's Study on Gay Ban Biased?
(CBS/ AP) Updated 10:51 a.m. ET

Defense Secretary Robert Gates Thursday approved new rules that will make it harder to discharge gays from the military, calling the changes a matter of "common sense and common decency."

Gates announced new guidelines for how the Pentagon carries out the 1993 law banning gays from serving openly in the military — rules which essentially put higher-ranking officers in charge of discharge proceedings and impose tougher requirements for evidence used against gays.

The new guidelines go into effect immediately. They are considered a stopgap measure until Congress decides whether to go along with President Barak Obama's call for a repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" law.

"I believe these changes represent an important improvement in the way the current law" is applied, Gates told a Pentagon news conference. He said the changes will provide "a greater measure of common sense and common decency" on a difficult issue.

The changes raise the level of officer authorized to initiate a fact-finding inquiry into a case, the level of officer who can conduct an inquiry and of the one that can authorize a dismissal.

To discourage the use of overheard statements or hearsay, from now on any evidence given in third-party outings must be given under oath, Gates said. Cases of third-party outings also have included instances in which male troops have turned in women who rejected their romantic advances or jilted partners in relationship have turned in a former lover.

Some kinds of confidential information also will no longer be allowed, including statements gays make to their lawyers, clergy, psychotherapists or medical professionals in the pursuit of health care.

The individual service branches will have 30 days to change their regulations to conform to the new rules.

Gates announced plans to implement the policy following a 45 day review at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in February. At that hearing, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do."

Some military officials, Republicans and even some conservative Democrats have been reluctant to embrace a change in the existing law. They say they support Gates' review of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy but that no changes should be made if they might undermine military cohesion and effectiveness.

Some in GOP say Military's Gay Ban Study Biased

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and other Democrats say the time has come to repeal the ban and have called for an immediate moratorium on dismissals.

Nathaniel Frank, a senior research fellow with the Palm Center, which supports a repeal of the ban, said it is unclear how much of an impact the new guidelines would have because regulations already restrict third-party allegations.

"Anything that continues to allow the discharge of service members for something that research shows has no bearing on military effectiveness will not go far enough," Frank said.

An estimated 13,000 have been discharged under the law. The Pentagon didn't officially begin tallying discharges until a few years after the law was implemented, and official figures show roughly 11,000 discharged since 1997 with the peak in 2001 before the military became strained by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

Please Don Savage!!!

Iam so disappointed at Dan. Some one I have always looked up. Now he is in the same track as people that tell all these lies about us. I know that many times when the rain drop hits the stone, eventually makes a hole. No need to be an asshole in how we conduct ourselves when the world is watching. Dan can you not be an ashole. Save it for ur partner or your phyco analy st...Please!!!

Big Announcement on Dont Ask Dont Tell!! Tomorrow Thursday

Tomorrow Defense Secretary Gates will make an announcement on Dont Ask Don't Tell. This announcement goes in harmony with all kind of signals from the defense Dept and the White House that there is a bone coming for the Gay community and Armed Forces. The speaker on the House, Pelosi and Sen. Reid in the Senate have been unusually quiet on this issue. You can't blame them because of the Health Care bill. But Gates had no such pressures on hi,. Instead he had a different kind of pressure. The pressure from his own Generals and commanders and his own words that something will be decided soon. This blog believes that he will announce that they will be impremennt a more lax of the law on DADT. He can not terminate the law, only congreress can. But he can, on nudging from the White House, make harder for members of the Armerd forces to be brought on charges on DADT. Stay tune to adamfoxie and the news.

The manager for teen pop sensation Justin Bieber has been arrested on Long Island

Justin Bieber's Manager Arrested On L.I.
NEW YORK
Scott "Scooter" Braun surrendered to Nassau County Police on Wednesday.

His arrest stems from a November mall appearance by Bieber.

When the large crowd became unruly, police told Braun to send out a Twitter message saying the event was canceled. Bieber never got out of the car.

The prosecutor says it took Braun 1 1/2 hours to send two tweets. His lawyer said it took seven minutes.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said Bieber was scheduled to sign autographs at the clothing store, Justice, inside the Roosevelt Field Mall from 4 to 6 p.m. The event was coordinated by Bieber's record label, Island Def Jam Music Group.

Braun was awaiting arraignment Wednesday in Hempstead. He faces up to one year in jail if convicted. His lawyer said he will plead not guilty to reckless endangerment and criminal nuisance

Calling All Thugs: Gas Line Cut After Tea Party Leader Posts Enemy’s Address

Posted in Antigovernment, Extremist Crime by Mark Potok on March 24, 2010
The latest news from the opponents of health care reform who like to suggest that supporters should suffer for their transgressions: A day after two Virginia Tea Party activists posted the address of the brother of a congressman who voted for the bill, authorities discovered that someone had severed a gas line at the man’s home.

According to The Daily Progress of Charlottesville, Va., Danville Tea Party leader Nigel Coleman was one of the two people who posted the address of Bo Perriello, the older brother of U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Ivy), who voted for the health care bill. “This is Rep. Thomas Stuart Perriello’s home address,” Coleman wrote Monday, going on to suggest that others who oppose the health care bill “drop by” and “express their thanks.” He added, “I ain’t holding back no more.”

According to the Politico website, Coleman, upon learning he had posted the wrong address, said on a blog: “Do you mean I posted his brother’s address on my Facebook? Oh well, collateral damage.”

Told by The Daily Progress of the severing of the line that connected a propane tank to a grill on Perriello’s screened-in porch, Coleman said he was “shocked” and “almost speechless.” He claimed innocently that he was against violence, and in any case wasn’t sure that the attack, which is under FBI investigation, was related to his post.

Coleman’s absolutely despicable actions were remarkably similar to those of American neo-Nazi leaders who in recent years have made a practice of posting their enemies’ addresses and other personal information. They, too, often suggested that their sympathizers drop by to let enemies know their feelings. But that certainly didn’t stop Coleman from engaging in his own mindless and dangerous provocation.

The news of Coleman’s post and its apparent result followed the boasts earlier in the week from Mike Vanderboegh, a former Alabama militia leader who last Friday called on enemies of health reform to smash the windows of local Democratic Party headquarters around the country. Vanderboegh’s threatening blog post, which suggested that civil war could be around the corner, was followed by bricks or stones being thrown through party offices in three states. The offices of two Democratic congressmen in New York and Arizona were similarly attacked.

As if that wasn’t enough, opponents of health care legislation demonstrating in Washington, D.C., this weekend spit on a black congressman, shouted racial slurs at two others, and shouted an anti-gay epithet at another congressman. A week earlier, a group at a Tea Party in Columbus, Ohio, taunted a man sitting on the ground with a sign saying he had Parkinson’s disease. “If you’re looking for a handout,” one of the protesters told the health care reform supporter in a scene captured on video and posted to YouTube, “you’re in the wrong end of town.”

These despicable attacks and those who help foment them are unworthy of any citizen of a democracy, let alone of those who pretend to be standing up for principled conservatism. What we are seeing is the infuriated response of thugs and those who like to encourage thugs. And what may be most appalling of all is the absolute temerity, not to say cowardice, of supposedly responsible leaders of those who opposed health care reform, almost none of whom have condemned the latest round of hate. It’s a sad commentary on America that this is what our political process has become.

Calling All Thugs: Gas Line Cut After Tea Party Leader Posts Enemy’s Address

Posted in Antigovernment, Extremist Crime by Mark Potok on March 24, 2010

Print This Post
The latest news from the opponents of health care reform who like to suggest that supporters should suffer for their transgressions: A day after two Virginia Tea Party activists posted the address of the brother of a congressman who voted for the bill, authorities discovered that someone had severed a gas line at the man’s home.

According to The Daily Progress of Charlottesville, Va., Danville Tea Party leader Nigel Coleman was one of the two people who posted the address of Bo Perriello, the older brother of U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Ivy), who voted for the health care bill. “This is Rep. Thomas Stuart Perriello’s home address,” Coleman wrote Monday, going on to suggest that others who oppose the health care bill “drop by” and “express their thanks.” He added, “I ain’t holding back no more.”

According to the Politico website, Coleman, upon learning he had posted the wrong address, said on a blog: “Do you mean I posted his brother’s address on my Facebook? Oh well, collateral damage.”

Told by The Daily Progress of the severing of the line that connected a propane tank to a grill on Perriello’s screened-in porch, Coleman said he was “shocked” and “almost speechless.” He claimed innocently that he was against violence, and in any case wasn’t sure that the attack, which is under FBI investigation, was related to his post.

Coleman’s absolutely despicable actions were remarkably similar to those of American neo-Nazi leaders who in recent years have made a practice of posting their enemies’ addresses and other personal information. They, too, often suggested that their sympathizers drop by to let enemies know their feelings. But that certainly didn’t stop Coleman from engaging in his own mindless and dangerous provocation.

The news of Coleman’s post and its apparent result followed the boasts earlier in the week from Mike Vanderboegh, a former Alabama militia leader who last Friday called on enemies of health reform to smash the windows of local Democratic Party headquarters around the country. Vanderboegh’s threatening blog post, which suggested that civil war could be around the corner, was followed by bricks or stones being thrown through party offices in three states. The offices of two Democratic congressmen in New York and Arizona were similarly attacked.

As if that wasn’t enough, opponents of health care legislation demonstrating in Washington, D.C., this weekend spit on a black congressman, shouted racial slurs at two others, and shouted an anti-gay epithet at another congressman. A week earlier, a group at a Tea Party in Columbus, Ohio, taunted a man sitting on the ground with a sign saying he had Parkinson’s disease. “If you’re looking for a handout,” one of the protesters told the health care reform supporter in a scene captured on video and posted to YouTube, “you’re in the wrong end of town.”

These despicable attacks and those who help foment them are unworthy of any citizen of a democracy, let alone of those who pretend to be standing up for principled conservatism. What we are seeing is the infuriated response of thugs and those who like to encourage thugs. And what may be most appalling of all is the absolute temerity, not to say cowardice, of supposedly responsible leaders of those who opposed health care reform, almost none of whom have condemned the latest round of hate. It’s a sad commentary on America that this is what our political process has become.

What would happen if someone in Afghanistan said I’m gay?

Mitt Romney was on Larry King Live last night to talk about how Obama had betrayed the nation with the signing of health care reform, which is kind of funny since Romney signed a universal health care in to law when he was governor of Massachusetts. And, luckily for us, King sneaked in a little question about gays in the military:
KING: Some other things. Gays in the military, where do you stand?
ROMNEY: My view is that the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy should be kept in place until conflict is over, at least until that time. And when — we’re in the middle of a war. I don’t think it’s time to be experimenting with a new social policy. I think that would be potentially difficult for our troops. Let us consider those changes when we’re at peace.
KING: Because what would happen at war? What would happen if someone in Afghanistan said I’m gay?
ROMNEY: I think it’s complicates the fulfillment of our mission in the various theaters to change a policy of that nature in the middle of wartime. And that’s something that I think can wait until after a war is complete.
KING: Are you surprised that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs disagrees with you?
ROMNEY: People can have different views on issues. I’m not terribly surprised. I’ve just had that view for some time and I’m sticking with it.

How the Health Care Overhaul Could Affect You

In Health Care Bill, Obama Attacks Wealth Inequality
For all the political and economic uncertainties about health reform, at least one thing seems clear: The bill that President Obama signed on Tuesday is the federal government’s biggest attack on economic inequality since inequality began rising more than three decades ago.

(NYTimes piece)
A History of Overhauling Health Care
Over most of that period, government policy and market forces have been moving in the same direction, both increasing inequality. The pretax incomes of the wealthy have soared since the late 1970s, while their tax rates have fallen more than rates for the middle class and poor.

Nearly every major aspect of the health bill pushes in the other direction. This fact helps explain why Mr. Obama was willing to spend so much political capital on the issue, even though it did not appear to be his top priority as a presidential candidate. Beyond the health reform’s effect on the medical system, it is the centerpiece of his deliberate effort to end what historians have called the age of Reagan.

Speaking to an ebullient audience of Democratic legislators and White House aides at the bill-signing ceremony on Tuesday, Mr. Obama claimed that health reform would “mark a new season in America.” He added, “We have now just enshrined, as soon as I sign this bill, the core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health care.”

The bill is the most sweeping piece of federal legislation since Medicare was passed in 1965. It aims to smooth out one of the roughest edges in American society — the inability of many people to afford medical care after they lose a job or get sick. And it would do so in large measure by taxing the rich.

A big chunk of the money to pay for the bill comes from lifting payroll taxes on households making more than $250,000. On average, the annual tax bill for households making more than $1 million a year will rise by $46,000 in 2013, according to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research group. Another major piece of financing would cut Medicare subsidies for private insurers, ultimately affecting their executives and shareholders.

The benefits, meanwhile, flow mostly to households making less than four times the poverty level — $88,200 for a family of four people. Those without insurance in this group will become eligible to receive subsidies or to join Medicaid. (Many of the poor are already covered by Medicaid.) Insurance costs are also likely to drop for higher-income workers at small companies.

Finally, the bill will also reduce a different kind of inequality. In the broadest sense, insurance is meant to spread the costs of an individual’s misfortune — illness, death, fire, flood — across society. Since the late 1970s, though, the share of Americans with health insurance has shrunk. As a result, the gap between the economic well-being of the sick and the healthy has been growing, at virtually every level of the income distribution.

The health reform bill will reverse that trend. By 2019, 95 percent of people are projected to be covered, up from 85 percent today (and about 90 percent in the late 1970s). Even affluent families ineligible for subsidies will benefit if they lose their insurance, by being able to buy a plan that can no longer charge more for pre-existing conditions. In effect, healthy families will be picking up most of the bill — and their insurance will be somewhat more expensive than it otherwise would have been.

Much about health reform remains unknown. Maybe it will deliver Congress to the Republicans this fall, or maybe it will help the Democrats keep power. Maybe the bill’s attempts to hold down the recent growth of medical costs will prove a big success, or maybe the results will be modest and inadequate. But the ways in which the bill attacks the inequality of the Reagan era — whether you love them or hate them — will probably be around for a long time.

“Legislative majorities come and go,” David Frum, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, lamented on Sunday. “This health care bill is forever.”

Since Mr. Obama began his presidential campaign in 2007, he has had a complicated relationship with the Reagan legacy. He has been more willing than many other Democrats to praise President Reagan. “Reagan’s central insight — that the liberal welfare state had grown complacent and overly bureaucratic,” Mr. Obama wrote in his second book, “contained a good deal of truth.” Most notably, he praised Mr. Reagan as a president who “changed the trajectory of America.”

But Mr. Obama also argued that the Reagan administration had gone too far, and that if elected, he would try to put the country on a new trajectory. “The project of the next president,” he said in an interview during the campaign, “is figuring out how you create bottom-up economic growth, as opposed to the trickle-down economic growth.”

Since 1980, median real household income has risen less than 15 percent. The only period of strong middle-class income growth during this time came in the mid- and late 1990s, which by coincidence was also the one time when taxes on the affluent were rising.

For most of the last three decades, tax rates for the wealthy have been falling, while their pretax pay has been rising rapidly. Real incomes at the 99.99th percentile have jumped more than 300 percent since 1980. At the 99th percentile — about $300,000 today — real pay has roughly doubled.

The laissez-faire revolution that Mr. Reagan started did not cause these trends. But its policies — tax cuts, light regulation, a patchwork safety net — have contributed to them.

Health reform hardly solves all of the American economy’s problems. Economic growth over the last decade was slower than in any decade since World War II. The tax cuts of the last 30 years, the two current wars, the Great Recession, the stimulus program and the looming retirement of the baby boomers have created huge deficits. Educational gains have slowed, and the planet is getting hotter.

Above all, the central question that both the Reagan and Obama administrations have tried to answer — what is the proper balance between the market and the government? — remains unresolved. But the bill signed on Tuesday certainly shifts our place on that spectrum.

Before he became Mr. Obama’s top economic adviser, Lawrence Summers told me a story about helping his daughter study for her Advanced Placement exam in American history. While doing so, Mr. Summers realized that the federal government had not passed major social legislation in decades. There was the frenzy of the New Deal, followed by the G.I. Bill, the Interstate Highway System, civil rights and Medicare — and then nothing worth its own section in the history books.

Now there is.

Gay Marriage Outside The Pope's Bedroom Window

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OPENS SAME-SEX MARRIAGE HEARINGS

(ANSA) - Rome, March 23 - The supreme Constitutional Court on Tuesday opened public hearings on the legitimacy of several articles in Italy's civil code which prohibit same-sex marriage.

The case was brought to the attention of the court through a suit filed by a number of gay couples in Venice and Trento who were not allowed to post the banns of their upcoming 'marriage'.

According to the suit, there is nothing in Italy's legal code which prohibits same-sex marriage because the diversity of gender is not established as a requisite for marriage.

The plaintiffs argued in their suit that a ban on same sex marriage violated the constitutional principle of equality between citizens and was in contrast to European Union law as well.

They also noted that an "unreasonable inequality in treatment" existed in regard to homosexuals and trans-sexauals given that the latter, once they have had a sex-change operation, are allowed to marry members of their original sex.

The office of the state attorney, acting on behalf of the government, said the suit was inadmissible because it sought to establish a legal precedent "through the manipulation of the fabric of the law" whereas only parliament can create laws.

The attorney also said that European and international law clearly gave national legislatures jurisdiction in governing the rules of marriage.

Heart Attack Ally!

Palm Springs Considers Senior Home Next to Gay Nude Resort

The Palm Springs Architectural Advisory Committee recommended plans Monday to build an assisted living facility next door to the Canyon Club Hotel, one of the Southern California city's gay-owned and -operated clothing-optional resorts.

According to the Mercury-News,developers with Tappan Enterprises say they hope to break ground this year on the 190-bed facility. The building will include a public beauty parlor and day spa.

The three-story project will be next to the nude resort, but developers say palm trees will block the view into the hotel’s pool area.
Advocate/Daily Nws

Bush Wipes Hand on Clinton After Shaking Haitian Hands

"The visuals just look bad – an American President shaking hands with a crowd of Haitians, then getting something he deems ‘icky’ and wiping it on the shirt of another American President."

Gay attack legislation NOW in force

A new law which punishes perpetrators of hate crime against gay people is in force

A new law which punishes the perpetrators of hate crime against disabled and gay people has come into force.
The new legislation means judges must take into account the motivation for attacks on disabled and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

It puts such crimes on the same footing as racist and religiously aggravated incidents for the first time.

A survey of Scotland`s gay community found a third claim they have been the victim of a physical attack, according to the equality charity Stonewall Scotland.

Its recent poll showed two-thirds have been verbally abused but 88% did not report it to police. Only four out of ten who had been physically attacked reported it to the authorities.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said: "There is no excuse for any form of hate crime, it is simply not acceptable and it will not be tolerated. When it does happen, victims must have the confidence to report it, confident that they will receive a good level of service from the police and other agencies.

"That is exactly why we've got this new legislation coming into force which will rightly put these kinds of crimes on the same footing as racist incidents. This sends out a strong message that hate crime against LGBT and disabled people will not be tolerated."

The Offences (Aggravation by Prejudice) (Scotland) Act 2009 was introduced to the Parliament after being proposed in a Member`s Bill by Green MSP Patrick Harvie. It is the first piece of Green legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament.

Mr Harvie said: "Perpetrators of hate crimes against disabled and LGBT Scots will be put on notice. Courts can now take account of the true nature of their crimes when sentencing and the police will be gathering data to see how effectively these offences are being tackled."

JAMES CAMERON UNLEASHES ON GLENN BECK, CONSERVATIVES

Avatar director James Cameron wants to debate Glenn Beck, he told reporters at a press junket for the video release of the film on Tuesday, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Said Cameron: "Glenn Beck is a fucking asshole. I've met him. He called me the anti-Christ and not about 'Avatar.' He hadn't even seen 'Avatar' yet. I don't know if he has seen it...I think, you know what, he may or may not be an asshole, but he certainly is dangerous, and I'd love to have a dialogue with him...He's dangerous because his ideas are poisonous. I couldn't believe when he was on CNN. I thought, what happened to CNN? Who is this guy? Who is this madman? And then of course he wound up on Fox News, which is where he belongs, I guess...[The right wing are] just people ranting away, lost in their little bubbles of reality, steeped in their own hatred, their own fear and hatred. That's where it all comes from. Let's just call it out. Let's have a public discussion. That's what movies are supposed to do, you know, you can have a mindless entertainment film that doesn't affect anybody. I wasn't interested in that...Anybody that is a global-warming denier at this point in time has got their head so deeply up their ass I'm not sure they could hear. (David Badesh blog)

Hey John Boehner: There’s Not Going To Be A “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Debate!

by DAVID BADASH

Hey John Boehner: There’s Not Going To Be A “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Debate!

On “Meet The Press” yesterday, Republican Minority Leader John Boehner said,

“At a time when Americans are asking ‘where are the jobs,’ why do we want to get in this debate?”

That’s called “skillful politikin’,” but I’m calling him out on it. You see, he’s trying to get folks to think that there is actually going to be a debate on repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” There’s not. The President has called for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to be repealed. The military, as we will see on Tuesday, is drawing up plans for how to enact repeal of DADT. All that remains is “how,” and “when.” “If” is no longer on the table.

It’s important to continue to call the GOP out on their lies, mis-truths, and mis-information — whenever you hear it. They’ve played games with our lives for far too long. Last week taught us a lesson. I hope you were paying attention. I was — and Boehner’s mis-truth was a pop-quiz.

I think I passed.

Changes In DADT: Gates

entagon to Announce Changes in DADT Enforcement
By Advocate.com Editors


Defense secretary Robert Gates will offer "a way ahead" later this week regarding changes in the enforcement of "don't ask, don't tell," a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday.

Gates, who testified in February before Congress alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen in support of a repeal of the 16-year-old policy, will "address the changes [to] the department's policy to provide a more humane enforcement and application of the law," Defense Department press secretary Robert Morrell told reporters.

Last month Gates tasked Pentagon legal counsel to investigate strategies for softening DADT enforcement.

Morrell did not specify what day Gates would make an announcement any changes to enforcement.

The announcement comes just days after Lt. Dan Choi, whose discharge from the military under DADT is currently pending, handcuffed himself to the White House gates on Thursday in protest with fellow soldier and Army infantryman James Pietrangelo. Both were arrested and have been charged with failure to obey a lawful order.

During a congressional hearing earlier that day, retired general John Sheehan, the former Supreme Allied Commander for NATO, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee that he believed the 1995 Srbrenica massacre resulted in part from the Dutch military's policy of allowing gays to serve open

I Havent Found-U2

Tea Partyers Grapple with Image Problem

Posted on Advocate.com March 23, 2010

Tea party activists are struggling with the fallout from reports that some members spewed racial and homophobic slurs during this past weekend’s health care reform protests.

Reports indicate that tea partyers in Washington, D.C. shouted "fa**ot" at Rep. Barney Frank and called Rep. John Lewis a "ni**er" as the lawmakers walked outside the Capitol. There are also reports that tea partyers spat on lawmakers.

The accounts could prove problematic for the tea party movement, according to Politico.com.

“While the thousands of tea partiers who thronged the Capitol grounds on short notice in advance of Sunday’s House health care vote were proof of the movement’s continuing energy, their impact was undercut by accounts of racist and homophobic epithets directed at Democratic lawmakers by a handful of individuals among this weekend’s crowd,” reports Politico.com.
By Julie Bolcer

In addition to public image, the incidents seem to have sparked an internal debate on the right, with GOP leaders denouncing the slurs while some tea party activists say that media and lawmakers fabricated the incidents.

YMCA Refuses Gay Couple Membership

A YMCA in North Carolina refused to grant the family rate to a same-sex couple who applied for membership last month.

According to the Winston-Salem Journal,Mark Maxwell and his partner, Timothy Young, were turned down when they applied to join the YMCA of Northwest North Carolina.

“Maxwell said he was told that the family rate doesn't apply to same-sex couples,” reports the Journal. “The rate is only for a husband and wife who are legally married according to state law or those who file joint tax returns.

“The YMCA of Northwest North Carolina is the only large metropolitan YMCA in the state that doesn't allow same-sex couples to get family memberships.”

Maxwell and Young are preparing to adopt their third child and are looking to balance their budget with a family membership rate. The head of the Y that refused them says the issue of same-sex membership does not appear often, according to the Journal. By Julie Bolcer

“But Curt Hazelbaker, its president and chief executive, said that the organization is due to review its membership categories, which it does every four or five years. The last time it performed such a review was in 2006.”

The Heterosexual Agenda:" Exposing The Myths"

The Heterosexual Agenda: Exposing The Myths
Jim Burroway

At last, the truth can now be told. In our latest report, The Heterosexual Agenda: Exposing The Myths, we examine the statistics and the case studies that dispel many of the myths about heterosexuality.

No longer satisfied with “mere acceptance” by our society, heterosexual political pressure groups have launched a well-planned, well-financed campaign, which, if left unchecked, threatens to destroy the most fundamental structures of American society. This report considers the implications of the heterosexual agenda (both overt and hidden), the problems it has already caused and its potentially disasterous results for society.

In The Heterosexual Agenda: Exposing The Myths, you will learn how:

heterosexual militants have embarked on a systematic assault on American values;
heterosexual activists plan on recruiting your children into their lifestyle;
heterosexuals are undermining traditional marriage;
heterosexuals are undermining the health and safety of society;
violence has become a hallmark of the heterosexual lifestyle;
heterosexuals are intent on eventually recriminalizing all freedoms of expression for gay men and women. (It’s already happening in Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and throughout the Middle East where the heterosexual agenda is well advanced.)
Here is where the buck stops — no hype, no exaggeration, no fear-mongering — just the facts. Whether you are personally impacted by heterosexuality or simply concerned about this controversial issue, you will be informed and challenged by The Heterosexual Agenda: Exposing The Myths.

GRoups Escape listing as "HATE GROUPS" Find Out Which Ones

Peter LaBarbera’s AFTAH Listed As Hate Web Site By SPLC; Escapes Listing As Hate Group
Jim Burroway
March 22nd, 2010
The Southern Poverty Law Center has long maintained a list of hate groups, including what is now fourteen anti-gay hate groups listed on its web site. Now, the SPLC’s Spring 2010 print edition of the Intelligence Report goes even further, with a listing of 15 anti-gay web sites. They include:

Abiding Truth Ministries (Scott Lively) *
America Forever *
Americans for Truth about Homosexuality (Peter LaBarbera)
American Vision (Gary DeMar) *
Article8.org
Biblical Family Advocates *
Chalcedon Foundation (Founded by R. J. Rushdoony, headed by his son Mark Rushdoony) *
Chalcedon Store
Faithful Word Baptist Church (Steven L. Anderson) *
Family Research Institute (Paul Cameron) *
H.O.M.E.: Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment *
MassResistance *
Traditional Values Coalition (Lou Sheldon, Andrea Lafferty) *
Watchmen On the Walls (Scott Lively, Ken Hutcherson, Alexey Ledyaev, Vlad Kusakin.) *
Web sites marked with an asterisk are also organizations listed by the SPLC as anti-gay hate groups. As far as I have been able to determine, the SPLC’s list of anti-gay hate web sites is not available on the web. Their list of anti-gay hate groups however is on the web and also in the print edition with the list of web sites. Additional anti-gay hate groups not included in the list of hate web sites are:

School of Christian Activism
American Forever Foundation (Listed separately from America Forever)
While LaBarbera maintains a 501(c)(3) organization called Americans for Truth about Homosexuality complete with a board of directors, his organization is among a small handful that escaped being listed as a hate group despite running a web site identified as a hate site. Without addressing LaBarbera specifically, the Intelligence Report explains the discrepancies by saying that groups listed in both lists “actively promote hate beyond the mere publishing of Internet material.”

What are you willing to sacrifice? LT. Choi speaks about HRC

t. Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and fluent Arabist being discharged from the Army for being openly gay, was arrested last week along with former Army captain Jim Pietrangelo II, after handcuffing themselves to the White House gate in protest of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. They were handcuffed with the help of Robin McGehee, a former PTA president turned activist who last week cofounded GetEQUAL, an LGBT activism group inspired by civil-rights organizations and gains made through civil disobedience. "We've held marches, lobbied, manned the phone banks," says McGehee. "The last resort is to rumble."

All three were arrested, and Choi and Pietrangelo spent one night in jail. Both men appeared in court the next day, in shackles and handcuffs, and pleaded not guilty to the charge of failing to obey a lawful order. A trial date is set for April 26. Several other GetEQUAL activists were also arrested last week for staging sit-ins in support of federal antidiscrimination in employment legislation at the San Francisco and Washington offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

In his first interview after the arrest, Choi spoke with NEWSWEEK's Eve Conant about what drove him to act, the schism within the gay movement, and why those in support of gay rights need to be prepared to make personal sacrifices in the quest for full federal equality. Excerpts:

When you walked into the courtroom after your night in jail, you were in uniform, handcuffed with a chain around your waist. You are a West Point graduate and Army lieutenant, how did you reach this point?
Being in chains, for me, matched what was in my heart the whole time I was serving and was closeted. Harriet Tubman once said she had freed 1,000 slaves but could have freed so many more if they only knew that they were slaves. People don't always know that they are in fetters. Even my feet were shackled so I could only take small steps forward. To me that symbolizes what it is to live under Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the only law that enforces shame. Those chains symbolized how my country is trying to restrict my movement, how we are only allowed incremental, tiny steps.


Critics of last week's civil disobedience at the White House and Nancy Pelosi’s office say this is not the time for actions like this. They argue that the gay-equality movement is so close to progress, why risk it all now?
Why not now? Within the gay community so many leaders want acceptance from polite society. I think there's been a betrayal of what is down inside of us in order to achieve what looks popular, what look enviable. The movement seems to be centered around how to become an elite. There is a deep schism [in the gay-rights movement], everyone knows this. But this shouldn't be about which group has better branding. There is a tremor right now in every gay and transgender youth that these groups are not grasping. I would say to them—you do not represent us if all you are looking for is a ladder in to elite society.

When I get messages from people who want to be a part of this I ask back: what are you willing to sacrifice? We are tired of being stereotyped as Rolodex, bourgeoi love s elites. Is someone willing to give up their career, their relationships with powerful people, their Rolodex, or their parents' to stand up for who they are? I'm giving up my military rank, my unit—which to me is a family—my veterans' benefits, my health care, so what are you willing to sacrifice?

They say freedom is not free, but it doesn't have to cost anything either. Jesus up on the cross did not have a party with all his major donors to raise money for his cause, his cross was free. Ghandi did not need three-course dinners and a cocktail party to get his message out. These are people who sacrificed their lives. For them it was hemlock, a cross, the bullet that shot Harvey Milk … it was not the size of their distribution list, but their message that endured.
When did you decide to take this step, to go beyond talking and do something like chain yourself to the White House gate?
There are so many moments. When I first fell in love? When I was closeted while serving in Iraq? You know, the military puts the idea of sacrifice in your mind the very first day you join. We learned very quickly that someday we might be asked to sacrifice life, limb, comfort, and freedom. My soldier training has made me a better activist, and being a gay activist makes me a better soldier. I can use tactics of both to make both roles better.

Why now? Because you get tired of talking. [Over the past two years] I've done 50 live interviews, a hundred other interviews, how much more talk am I expected to produce? When I heard Kathy Griffin was going to be a spokeswoman for Don't Ask, Don't Tell, I wondered about that. I have great respect for her as an advocate. But if [the Human Rights Campaign] thinks that having a rally at Freedom Plaza with a comedienne is the right approach, I have to wonder. Don't Ask, Don't Tell is not a joking matter to me. To be at Freedom Plaza and not at the White House or Congress? Who are they trying to influence? I felt like they were just trying to speak to themselves. If that's the best the lobbying groups and HRC can do, then I don't know how these powerful groups are supposed to represent our community. Kathy Griffin and [HRC president] Jay Solmonese said they would march with me to the White House but didn’t. I feel so betrayed by them.

We all know the political reality now. The only way for the repeal to go through is for the president to take leadership and put it in the Defense Authorization Bill. There's a sunset on this, and it's happening quickly. Obama told us at the HRC dinner last year, you need to put pressure on me. I was there at that dinner, in uniform. So this is my mission; the president said to pressure him and I heard that as a warning order.

What was it like in jail? Were you at all scared at where this might be headed?
I've detained people in Iraq, I've read them their rights, and I've applied handcuffs and zip ties. I've talked with people in Arabic who've just been arrested. I know what it means to arrest someone for my country's mission. But I've never been incarcerated, and for something that I thought was not my country's mission. I know my country's mission is not to make an entire group of people into second-class citizens.

I asked seven or eight times to speak with a lawyer. I was not given a phone call. I was called a liar by one officer; I was scoffed at by another one. But there were others who wanted to talk with me about their service. The first time I saw a lawyer was in the courtroom, and I didn't know who he was and I couldn't understand what he was telling the judge at first. I asked him, "Did you just plea for me?"


[Choi, shortly after Pietrangelo did the same, went against the lawyer's advice to pay a $100 fine and walk away, instead pleading not guilty and preparing to stand trial.

So what is next for you?
When I was handcuffed to the gate someone else asked me what's next. I'm standing there with hands lifted skyward and I just told him, "This is." I have fully committed my life and all the sacrifices necessary to manifest equality and America's promises. Like I said at court, "I'm not guilty, I'm not ashamed, and I'm not finished."

You told the Air Force about me...now pay up!!!

The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota is asking Rapid City to pay a lesbian Air Force sergeant as much as $800,000 to compensate for financial losses it said she will suffer because she was discharged after police informed the military she is married to a woman.
Jene Newsome was honorably discharged after Rapid City police notified the Air Force of her marriage. Newsome said nothing will compensate her for what she has lost.
"There is not going to be any amount of money that will ever compare to a 20-year career and my sense of self and service serving my country," Newsome said from Fairbanks, Alaska, where she is staying with family.
"I'm very proud of my career and what I did," Newsome said. "I was good at it, and it was a great career."
The discharge followed a Rapid City police detective's Nov. 24 fax asking the Office of Special Investigations to review a police account of the arrest of Cheryl Hutson on Nov. 20 for an Alaskan fugitive warrant for grand theft. The fax noted that Newsome was "very uncooperative" in responding to officers' request for assistance in "contacting her spouse, Cheryl Hutson."
The ACLU sent an e-mail with its demands to Mayor Alan Hanks and members of the city council on Friday a few hours before Police Chief Steve Allender released an eight-page report of an internal investigation prompted by the complaint filed Feb. 8.
Hanks said it is unusual that the ACLU issued its demands before the report was released. Hanks said he had not seen the report and would reserve comment until after reading it.
Allender's report concludes that the ACLU complaint is unfounded because the police officers followed department policies.
In addition to financial compensation for Newsome's lost wages and benefits, the ACLU wants an apology to Newsome for the disclosure of her private information to the Air Force; a police department policy regarding privacy and prohibiting officers from releasing information to the Air Force with specific reference to any information about a person's sexual orientation, and a written reprimand for the officers involved.
Rapid City police have a long-standing practice of sharing information with Air Force members who are arrested, according to Allender's summary of the investigation.
Allender says Newsome became a subject of a criminal investigation for harboring a fugitive after officers spotted a marriage certificate on a kitchen table when they looked through the window of the home Newsome shared with Hutson. Up to that point, Newsome's reluctance to assist the officers was attributed to the women being roommates, according to the report.
Allender acknowledged that police detective Tom Garinger forwarded the report to the Air Force without discussing the appropriateness of sharing the information. Garinger sent the report to the Air Force so the military could evaluate Newsome for possible criminal conduct, according to the report.
As an Air Force veteran, Garinger had a "good idea" that the information would cause the sergeant problems, according to Allender.
Any personal feelings Garinger might have about Newsome's sexuality are immaterial because he followed department policy in reporting the incident to the Air Force, Allender wrote.
Allender goes on to question Newsome's conduct by not only keeping her sexual orientation and marriage a secret from the Air Force but also by not by not cooperating with police officers.
"Sgt. Newsome is responsible for her own actions, and on the same note, we will be responsible for ours," Allender said.
Allender said his department will begin an immediate review of all polices related to the exchange of information with other agencies, including a separate policy concerning the sharing of information with the military. He said he also will form an advisory council composed of members of the gay and lesbian community who will advise the department on how it can better serve its community.
Robert Doody, executive director of ACLU in South Dakota, said Allender's report will not derail ACLU's efforts to represent Newsome.
"Indeed, the report clearly affirms what we had argued all along -- that the information regarding the marriage certificate was intentionally turned over by the Rapid City Police Department."
When the report was sent to the Air Force, it made no accusations of a crime, Doody said.
"No options have been taken off the table," said Doody, who insists that Garinger knew the report would cause problems for Newsome.

The House Dems Who Said No To HCR

In alphabetical order, here are the House Democrats who voted against health care reform:
John Adler NJ, Jason Altmire PA, Michael Arcuri NY, John Barrow GA, Marion Berry AR, Dan Boren OK, Rick John Boucher VA, Bobby Bright AL, Ben Chandler KY, Travis Childers MS, Artur Davis AL, Lincoln Davis TN, Chet Edwards TX, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin SD, Tim Holden PA, Larry Kissell NC, Frank Kratovil Jr MD, Daniel Lipinski IL, Stephen F. Lynch MA, Jim Marshall GA, Jim Matheson D UT, Mike McIntyre NC, Michael E. McMahon NY, Charlie Melancon LA, Walt Minnick ID, Glenn Nye VA, Collin C. Peterson MN, Mike Ross AR, Heath Shuler NC, Ike Skelton MO, Zack Space OH, John Tanner TN, Gene Taylor MS, Harry Teague NM.

The Grassroots Showdown Against HRC Is Just Beginning: Robin McGehee Is Launching a War

Whether you grew familiar with Robin McGehee — the lesbian mom-cum-activist — during Fresno's Meet In The Middle rally, her spearheading the National Equality March, her not-so-quiet divorce, her formation of Get Equal, or her Thursday arrest during Dan Choi's White House chaining, by now you know she's very quickly catapulted herself to the forefront of gay activism. In wanting to know what's been driving McGehee up to this point, we emailed her a few questions about what's in store — which she had to take a beat in getting back to us, because she was helping Choi get out of prison.
QUEERTY: Was it your intent to get arrested? What was the experience in jail like?
It was my intent to send a message that we will no longer wait and except excuses, compromises or empty promises. I realized an arrest could be an outcome, but I was willing in our fight for equality to take that risk. And, I STILL AM. My intent was to force the issue around DADT.
The arrest was very interesting.
Is it true Get Equal and Choi were working with each other? Is he an official liaison of Get Equal?
I called Dan on Tuesday because I was very upset with the debacle of the Kathy Griffin show in DC. While I was here in DC, with GetEQUAL, planning the ENDA actions at Pelosi's office I asked if he was willing to do some sort of action at the HRC rally. The mission of GetEQUAL is to empower the LGBTQ community and our allies to take action to demand full legal and social equality and to hold accountable those who stand in our way, so it only seemed fitting to call HRC to task for making DADT a joke with some of the antics of her show this past week. Dan's response was that his issue was with the White House and that he would prefer to take action there, not at Freedom Plaza. I told him that I would help him organize what ever he wanted to do – because in my mind the people that need to speak for DADT is NOT Kathy Griffin, but the people who actually suffer because of the injustice of DADT. Don't get me wrong, Kathy Griffin is funny, but what is NOT funny is the service members who suffer because of Don't Ask; Don't Tell.
One of our goals is to help anyone and everyone who wants to take action. What do you need – a bullhorn, bail money, handcuffs – if the action is a great idea, we'll make it happen. We HAVE TO organize our lunch counter moments and make those happen. Dan and Jim asked for help and we helped.

Do you consider Thursday's events a success? Did anything happen that was unexpected?
Yes, we had 4 actions that were pulled off as successful as I would have wanted.
* HRC event was redirected to the White House, where the true pressure needs to be applied
* White House action
* DC Pelosi action
* SF Pelosi action
I had planned to be involved with the action at Pelosi's office that was demanding a date for a House vote for a trans-positive ENDA, I did not plan to be arrested at the White House – but, when Dan asked me to support his mission for Obama, I felt it was very fitting, since my frustration is truly with him. As I said at Meet in the Middle rally, I want Obama to show the courage that convinced me to work to elect him.
Are you disappointed in HRC, or Kathy Griffin?
ABSOLUTELY – HRC needs to know – they have a HUGE problem. They are completely disconnected from their community and their base and there is a way to reconnect, but I think they are so consumed with fundraiser events and t-shirt sells to really engage in a conversation about why the organization that is NATIONALLY branded to represent us is NOT connected to those who feel disenfranchised. I know that I, and many others, would love to have an open and honest conversation about how to build a better army, but I don't believe there are ready or willing to have that conversation.
[Ed: Apparently HRC is on "lockdown," fearful McGehee and Get Equal will storm their offices like they did Pelosi's. But can't Joe Solmonese just hop on a first-class flight out of dodge?]
David Mixner is among your brand new supporters. How do you plan to merge "old activism" with "new activism"? Or do you consider what you're doing to be one in the same?
David Mixner is a hero to us. Kip, Dan, Jim and I – as well as the many others who were arrested on Thursday have admired his true patriotism to our community and to our country for so very long. What we do is completely done with direct influence from his leadership. Mixner has supported us since the National Equality March and his advice as a leader in our movement who also chained himself to the WH fence in opposition to Clinton's decision to compromise around the DADT bill is one of the exact reasons we admire him and trusted his input.
He has offered support and advice for GetEQUAL's mission since long before last week's action.
Well, what's next?
We need people to go to our website, sign on, take the pledge. The questions there will ask if you are willing to sign up for non-violent civil disobedience – if you are ready, we have bail money, legal services and a strategy to make change. We want volunteers who are ready to take action and not only with the efforts of phone banking, lettering writing and doing lobby visits.

No Gotcha Tickets NYC Parking Law Changes.

New York City drivers are now getting a little bit of grace. A new law is now in effect< today> that gives drivers in some parking zones a five-minute grace period before a ticket can be written. The new law started Sunday.

The City Council passed it last year over the veto of Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The measure that had passed the Council overwhelmingly, would give drivers an extra five minutes on a Muni-Meter and on alternate side of the street parking regulations -- a little leeway to help avoid a $65 ticket.

No Gotcha Tickets NYC Parking Law Changes.

★ ready for greatness ★ - why i support the rainbow: an essay on gay rights

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herbabyblues
20 march 2010 @ 07:22 pm
why i support the rainbow: an essay on gay rights
This is a paper I wrote for my English 112 class. The assignment was to write about an issue that is currently being discussed in this country, and I wrote about gay rights. Please understand that I am not trying to “attack” anyone in this essay; I am just stating my opinion. Feel free to comment and tell me what you think. :)

Why I Support the Rainbow
By Katharine Alex


What is my position on gay and lesbian rights? Well, first off, rights for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender persons alike – and whether they should be treated as equals or not – have been a hot topic of debate for quite sometime in this country, and also around the world. In the United States, I believe we have come a long way to recognizing gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people as human beings. I also believe that the media has influenced some religious and political groups to accepting that fact, and people who are not even gay at all. I am also very enthusiastic about equal rights among the gay community, and if someone asked me if I thought gays and lesbians deserve to be treated like equals, I would proudly say that I think they deserve the same rights as everyone else in this country, and the rest of the world.

Throughout the nineteenth century, homosexuality was considered a “disease.” A German neuropsychologist, Richard von Kraff-Ebing, considered homosexuality a “hereditary neuropathic degeneration aggravated by excessive masturbation” (“Homosexuality,” Issues & Controversies in American History). Also during this time, people were prosecuted and sometimes put to death for being homosexual. For instance, in 1895, Oscar Wilde, a playwright and a novelist (who actually was gay), was accused for being a homosexual. The courts of Queensbury, England used his novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” to prove that he was a homosexual and also called the book, “immoral” and “perverted.” He ended up serving two years in prison (Wilde, xxxi – xxxii). Throughout the course of the 1800s, homosexuality was still thought of as a sickness. However, in 1952, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) called homosexuality “a sociopathic personality disturbance,” but ended up revising it as a “non-psychotic mental disorder” in 1968 (Eaklor, xxiv). The American Psychiatric Association’s revision shows that some parts of this country have moved on from the “illness theory” and is now, slowly but surely, adapting to the fact that homosexuality is not a disease that needs to be cured. However, some parts of the media and religious groups do not agree with the APA’s current opinion.

Through a Christian point of view, being gay and marrying someone of the same sex is considered to be one of the biggest “taboos.” However, according to Todd Herbert, a writer for “Not About Religion” magazine, “Jesus never said one word against homosexuality. In all of his teachings, Jesus uplifted actions and attitudes of justice, love, humility, mercy, and compassion. He condemned violence, oppression, cold-heartedness, and social injustice. Never once did Jesus refer to what we call homosexuality as a sin” (Opposing Viewpoints: Homosexuality). I have never been a religious person (I do respect those who are religious), but my Christian grandmother always told me the exact same thing Herbert said. So, whenever I hear some devout Christians calling homosexuality a “sin” and bad-mouthing those who are gay, I get confused. I ask myself, “Do they realize that they’re pretty much going against what God and Jesus talked about in the Bible?” These days, however, more churches that support homosexuality and do not think of it as an “abomination” have been popping up. I personally think this is great, because it gives a chance for people who are gay and who also believe in God to be around other gays who share their beliefs. It also gives them a place where they feel like they are welcomed. But while these churches are opening, the “more conservative churches [are fearing] that [the] greater protections for LGBT people under the law would encroach upon the freedom of churches to speak against homosexuality as a sin” (Sanders, www). I think that the churches who oppose homosexuality and preach it in their churches should do the opposite of that and just wake up. They need to realize that the times have changed and other parts society is beginning to move forward and be more accepting.

I am thankful that some parts of today’s society has moved out of their close-minded boxes and has decided to take action against hate crimes that have been inflicted upon the gay community. Just last year, President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. This act “extends existing federal hate-crimes laws (which already include protections for racial and religious bias) to include to protections for crimes that are motivated by bias against the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity” (Sanders, www). Although I am happy that Obama signed this act, the harsh reality is that it will not fully stop people from committing them. Just because it is an official law, does not mean people are automatically going to follow it. But now that this act has been passed, people who commit these types of crimes will finally be punished. Along with that law being passed, some states are beginning to legalize gay marriage. As of 2009, a total of six out of the fifty states (Connecticut, New Hampshire, Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine) have legalized gay marriage. In other states, like Hawaii, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington state, civil unions are granted to same-sex couples (Vestal, www). For those who do not know, civil unions are similar to marriage, but they do not grant not all of the legal benefits a couple could get if they are married. I have heard some people say, “Why do gay couples still fight for the right to get married, when they can sign up for a civil union? Just take what you can get, and be grateful for it.” But what some people do not get, is that there are big differences between marriage and civil unions:

1). The Number Of Legal Benefits
a. Marraige: Over 1,049 legal benefits.
b. Civil Unions: Over 300 state level benefits, and no federal protection.
2). Tax Relief
a. Marriage: Couples can file both state and federal tax returns jointly.
b. Civil Unions: Couples can only file jointly in the state of civil registration.
3). Medical Decision
a. Marriage: Partners can make emergency medical decisions
b. Civil Unions: Partners can only make medical decisions in the registered state. Partners may not be able to make decisions out of state.
4). Gifts
a. Marriage: Partners can transfer gifts to each other without tax penalty.
b. Civil Unions: Partners do not pay state taxes, but are required to report federal taxes.
5). Death Benefits
a. Marriage: In the case of a partner’s death, the spouse receives any earned Social Security or veteran benefits.
b. Civil Unions: Partners do not receive Social Security or any other government benefits in case of death.
6). Child/Spousal Support
a. Marriage: In case of divorce, individuals may have a legally-binding financial obligation to spouses and children.
b. Civil Unions: In the case of dissolution, no such spousal or child benefits are guaranteed or required out of state (Johnson, Opposing Viewpoints: Homosexuality.)

It is obvious that one of the reasons why some gay couples are so passionate about having the right to marry, is so they can have the privileges they cannot get if they are in a civil union. But marriage has a different meaning for everyone. Some people look at marriage through a legal point of view, while others look at it as the ultimate act of love. So it is understandable that gay couples would like to get married. However, there are some gay couples who “take what they can get” and are happy with just being in a civil union. Once again, this proves that the term “marriage” can mean different things, depending on the person. And one person may ask why our government cannot just legalize gay marriage so it does not have to deal with all of the debates surrounding the subject? The answer to that is most of our country’s laws are based by what is said in the Bible, and some politicians do not want to go against that.

Along with marriage and civil unions, comes the debate whether gay couples should be allowed to adopt children. Some people are disgusted thinking that gay couples should be permitted to raise children. Why? In this country, there are convicted felons, drug addicts, and even child molesters who are allowed to marry whomever they want and make babies. I wonder if those people who criticize gay parents think about that before they make that judgement? There have been many studies over the years that have proven that children who are raised by stable gay parents in a healthy environment, turn out just as fine as children who are raised by stable straight parents in a healthy environment. Some people also say since gay people cannot reproduce, they should not be allowed to raise kids. My response to that is this: The world population increases just about every day, resulting in food shortages, people not having a place to call home, and other things. Therefore, I think gays are doing the world a huge favor by not being able to reproduce. This also goes along with the gay marriage debate. Some people think that one needs to be married in order to have and raise children, and since gay people should not be allowed to marry, they should not raise children. There are some couples in the world, including the United States, who do get married and not have any children at all, for whatever reason. There are also people who skip the marriage step and become parents. So just because people get married, does not mean they automatically become baby making machines.

But despite the religious and political point of views, we have come a long way to acknowledging gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual people, through the media especially. I think that because of the media, people in this country are slowly getting used to them. However, the media’s portrayal of gays, lesbians, transgender individuals, and bisexuals is somewhat stereotypical. In January 2010, the openly-gay entertainer and “American Idol” runner-up, Adam Lambert, was being interviewed by a radio station in Toronto, Canada. During the interview, the interviewer referred to his “controversial” performance at the “American Music Awards” in November 2009 and asked him, “Do you feel that being out to the extent of what you are is a revolutionary act?” Lambert gave this response:
“Well, I don’t want to toot a horn or anything like that ‘cause I know that there a lot of people who are apart of this [gay rights] movement. I’m not the only one, you know? But I think it is helpful to be visible. I think that is the first big step. And because of “American Idol” and it being such a big platform and having so many viewers, my visibility is pretty high. And so I think my responsibility, as far as this movement is concerned at this point, is just owning it and not apologizing for the fact that I am a gay man, and that I’m a younger gay man, and I am sexual. And I think that in the media right now we [gay men] finally have a visibility, but it’s a cliche [version] of a homosexual man, which is like, ‘I’m just like you, but I just happen to have a male partner! I’m just like you, I’m just like you! I’m the gay next door, and I just happen to be a hair dresser and I’m very nice and I’m a good cook and I’m very domestic.’ And it’s just this cliche that’s being perpetuated and luckily it’s letting people be more comfortable with the idea of what gay is and identifying as gay. But the minute you show gay or the minute the alternative, slightly more aggressive or over-the-top gay male, it freaks people out. So I just hope that there is being visibility for the gay community that there’s visibility for all different types of the gay community. We’re not one guy! We’re lots of different people, just like the straight community isn’t one dude.”

This is something I agree with, and this cliche that Lambert was referring to does not only apply to gay men, but to lesbians and bisexuals as well. Some people think that lesbians are women who display more of a masculine side than a feminine side and bisexuals are people willing to have sex with practically anyone, even if they are already in a relationship. But what Adam Lambert said, made me have some sort of epiphany. What if the creators of the television shows that have the cliche gay characters want to show that there are different kinds of gay people like Lambert talked about, but the networks will not allow it because they think it will stir up controversy? It also made me wonder this, too: Do people who are now realizing that they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or whatever think they have to act the way gays, lesbians, and bisexuals are portrayed in the media to get accepted? It is something to think about. It is not like I do not like that gays are finally getting some exposure, because I do. And I am sure that some members of the gay community feel the same way as I do about it. It is better to have some visibility – even if it is a cliche – than to have none at all.

Even though the media is portraying one part of the gay community, it is showing that society is getting closer to accepting the gay community and making people re-think their beliefs. And since the awareness of the gay community is rising, people are beginning to question whether it should be a subject taught to children or not. According to Kevin Jennings, “homosexuality itself has nothing to do with education, any more than biology, chemistry, algebra or any subject does. What is important is what one can learn form the study of a given subject. A discussion of how we understand homosexuality in our culture and how this reflects our values, beliefs and world view has a tremendous educational value” (Opposing Viewpoints: Homosexuality). Personally, I agree with him. People go to school to get a basic education, but they also go to learn how to socialize and to survive in the outside world. Since homosexuality is becoming a huge part of our culture, I think schools should provide the opportunity where children can learn more about it. But there are some people who disagree with that. However, most of the people that disagree, are just concerned parents that believe the stereotypes revolving around the gay community. It is understandable that some parents are concerned with what their kids are being taught. The school systems in this country have changed drastically over the years, and these days it is difficult for parents to keep track on what goes on in their children’s lives. But by teaching children about homosexuality, the stereotypes that go with gay people and the fear that some parents have about the subject, will hopefully disappear. Not only that, the gay bashing that occurs during school and outside of school will go away as well. I believe that one of the reasons people who are gay get bullied in school, is because the people who are bullying them do not fully understand that being gay is something they should not be afraid of. Some kids use phrases like “that’s so gay” and insults like “fag,” “faggot,” or “dyke” all the time, and sometimes they are not even aware that they are saying it. It is obvious they are aware of homosexuality, but they do not know much about it and how hurtful those terms are to other people around them, gay or straight. So because of these reasons, homosexuality should be taught in schools across the country, not to “recruit” children to being gay or to force believe onto them, but to give them an idea of how people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender are.

I still stand by my belief that gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender individuals deserve to be treated equally. The journey society has taken to recognizing people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender has been very long. In some ways, it has been very rewarding. Gay marriage is now legal in six states and there is now a law that punishes people who commit any kind of hate crime towards the gay community. The media has also helped improved some of society’s opinion on gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people. However, there is no denying that society still has a long way to go to get people to see that homosexuality is not something to be afraid of and is not a “taboo.” Even though that is true, I believe that if society can get to where it is today concerning gay rights, then it is capable to go even further.

Works Cited

“Adam Lambert.” Q1CBC Radio. Sirius Satellite. PRI International, Toronto, January 2010.
Eaklor, Viki L. Introduction. Queer America: The GLBT History of the 20th Century. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2008. xxiv. Print.
Herbert, Todd. “What does the Bible say about same-sex marriage?” Opposing Viewpoints: Homosexuality. Web. 17 Feb. 2010.
“Homosexuality.” Encyclopedia. Issues & Controversies in American History. Facts On File: News Services, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2010.
Jennings, Kevin. “Schools Should Stress Acceptance of Homosexuality.” Opposing Viewpoints: Homosexuality. San Diego: Greenhaven, Press 2004. Web. 17 Feb. 2010.
Johnson, Ramon. “Why Gay Marriage and Not Civil Unions?” Opposing Viewpoints: Homosexuality. Web. 17 Feb. 2010
Sanders, Cody. “Opinion: On gay rights, is there a common ground?” ABPNews.com 2 Dec. 2009. Web. 9 Feb. 2010.
Vestal, Christine. “Gay marriage legal in six states.” Stateline.org (2009): n. pag. Web. 17 Feb. 2010.
Wilde, Oscar. The Picture Of Dorian Gray. July 1890. Introduction Camille Cauti. New York: Barnes and Nobel, Inc. 2003. xxxi – xxxii. Print.

Also posted at gsa_lj.
tags: "and i think i'm kinda gay!", college is eh
feeling: busy
listening to: Sure Fire Winners by Adam Lambert
4 hearts | show me your teeth
( 4 hearts — Post a new comment )
phillipalden on march 21st, 2010 01:21 am (utc)
Two things:

1. I think you're a very good writer.

2. You put forth a well-reasoned and logical argument.

I really enjoyed your essay. Erik and I have been together almost 12 years and I love him more than anything or anyone else in this world.

I wish the rest of the world, or at least my own country, could return to civil public discourse and a "live and let live" attitude that existed before Reagen was elected in 1980. I'm not saying things were perfect in the 1970s, far from it, but it's the last time I felt we were truly accepting of others.

Good Luck! And keep writing!
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herbabyblues on march 21st, 2010 01:33 am (utc)
Oh my goodness, thank you so much!! -hugs you-

I'm really happy you read this. To be honest, I didn't think anyone would, haha. (^-^)v

Erik and I have been together almost 12 years and I love him more than anything or anyone else in this world.

12 years? Seriously? Wow, that's a very long time. But that shows you guys really care about one another. I'm happy for you both. :)

Thank you again!!! :D

Love,
Alex
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kishenehn on march 21st, 2010 02:53 am (utc)
Very well said!

Thanks so much for sharing it with us. :)
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herbabyblues on march 21st, 2010 02:58 am (utc)
Awh, you're welcome! I'm glad you liked it! :D

Love,
Alex