I'm gonna get married

It was a sad day Tuesday for civil rights in California, as the state Supreme Court offered its schizophrenic decision on last November's Prop. H8:

The California Supreme Court's decision Tuesday to uphold Proposition 8 and existing same-sex marriages left in place all rights for California's gays and lesbians except access to the label "marriage," but it provided little protection from future ballot measures that could cost gays and other minorities more rights, lawyers and scholars said Tuesday.

In a 6-1 ruling, the court said the November ballot measure that restored a ban on same-sex marriage was a limited constitutional amendment, not a wholesale revision that would have required a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to be placed before voters.

One gay friend of mine cynically suggested that the reason the court let the marriages stand was to avoid having to refund the license fees ($70 x 18,000 = $1.26M). I dunno, I'm not sure they're that smart. But grandfathering in actual discrimination seems OK to this court.

Tonight the irony-challenged ProtectMarriage.com folks sent out this awful email:

Second, the Court’s decision to continue recognizing those same-sex couples who obtained marriage licenses prior to the passage of Prop 8 should be kept in perspective. Remember that a large number of the marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples were for out-of-state residents travelling to California --- which will not be recognized anyway in the vast majority of their home states. Moreover, if California goes as Massachusetts did after legalizing gay marriage, a substantial portion of the still-recognized gay marriages will be dissolved by divorce within a few years. In the end, only a tiny number of gay marriages will continue to be recognized. What really matters is that the vast majority of what was at stake in this case --- the right of the voters to amend the state constitution to restore traditional marriage going forward --- ultimately proved to be a complete victory for us!

While raising the "Gay's are more promiscuous and thus marriages are bound to fail" straw man, and ignoring the real divorce rates with hetero marriages, they count on D-I V-O-R-C-E to further their agenda.

That's some family values we can count on.

Bastards.

Where you can live in the love of the common people, Be the pride in the heart of a family man

(Paul Young-Love of the Common People (Waylon Jennings)

Gov. Jon Corzine (D-New Joisey) had been thought to be on the short list for Pres.-elect Obama's cabinet as Treasury Secretary. Obviously that didn't happen, but Corzine is still pretty popular in Democratic circles. His Chief of Staff, Lisa Jackson, is on the Obama transition team.

Corzine just did a good thing, which should make him even more popular with liberals:

Gov. Jon Corzine said today New Jersey's civil unions law "hasn't done enough to narrow the gap" and same-sex marriage should be established in New Jersey "sooner rather than later."

He urged the Legislature to "seriously review" a report released today by the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission that said civil unions have failed to grant full rights to same-sex couples and urged the state to quickly enact same-sex marriage. The report likened denying same-sex couples the right to marry to racial segregation laws imposed against African-Americans.

"Indeed, the commission found the opposite - that civil unions may have widened that gap and fostered inequity by creating a separate class of relationships," Corzine said in a statement. "While this administration is focused squarely on the economic crisis for the forseeable future, it's clear that this issue of civil rights must be addressed sooner rather than later."

But while Corzine pledged to sign a gay marriage bill if it reaches his desk, it's unclear whether the Legislature will take up the issue, with Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) saying equality must come in "incremental steps."

Excellent. Corzine's statement. Codey's "incremental steps", not so much.

Please let me love you and it won't be wrong

(Milk trailer/Focus Features)

We were invited by the Courage Campaign last week to a special screening of the new film "Milk", about San Francisco gay rights activist and city Supervisor Harvey Milk.

For folks here who don't know, the Courage Campaign is a wonderful organization dedicated to "progressive change in California." And among these changes are gay rights. Check out their web site, sign up for the e-newsletter, and contribute if it feels right to you.

The evening was hosted by Courage Campaign founder and all-around great guy Rick Jacobs, who then introduced "Milk" co-producer Dan Jinks.

The story of Milk was huge in California at the time. I clearly remember the Prop. 6 battle of '78. One of my mom's best friends was a wonderful gay elementary school teacher, who was in real fear of losing not only his life's passion, teaching, but also losing his job. I proudly wore a "No on 6" button every day before the election.

This is a tremendous film on so many levels. At times it almost feels like a documentary, as if we were viewing real events as flies on the wall of Milk's Castro Cameras shop. And not only is the story, and the message important, but the acting is just superb. There's always a risk in using a high profile actor, not for the studio bottom-line, of course, but for the story. An actor who is really well-known may overshadow the character they are supposed to play.

Sean Penn is one of the most important, and well-known actors today. And he completely overcame his own fame to become a totally unrecognizable actor inhabiting Harvey Milk's body. This was acting into territory not often found, especially by the many of the two dimensional talents working today. After the first 30 seconds or so, Sean Penn acting on screen ceases to exist, and it just Harvey's story.

Harvey Milk wasn't a perfect guy, he had many faults. But he also had a vision that still needs to be remembered today. He was told by the gay establishment at the time to "go-along, get-along" and not make his crusades about gay issues, but human rights issues. And he refused to do that. And it worked.

There is a portion of the conservative left today that has regressed back to that position: no confrontation, bi-partisanship, give away concessions to get something in return. So in many ways, we haven't progressed much from 1978.

So Milk's story is especially important today, coming on the heels of the horrible CA Prop. 8 recently passed. We all need to take a lesson in political activism from Harvey's story. Tell people the truth about what we are fighting for, and against, and don't let the timid hold us back. While it is about civil rights, it's OK to be for gay rights too.

Listen to Harvey's voice in this great video:

And when I feel my finger on your trigger I know nobody can do me no harm

Stay classy, Idaho:



Kids chanting "Assassinate Obama" on the school bus. Seriously, 2nd & 3rd graders. Good for these parents for speaking up.

Of course, this could happen anywhere. There are racists right here in blue Los Angeles.

Bastards.

Well, I believe what you say

Believe in whatever religious views give you comfort. But don't think for a moment that those religious views give you the right to take freedoms away from anyone.

Believe what you want, but leave me alone.

Vote No on CA Prop 8!

Have I the right to hold you

Friend and L.A. blogger Dante Atkins and his brother David have produced a great "No On 8" video for the Courage Campaign. No other commentary is needed:



Interestingly, my wife Pam is in Palm Springs this weekend, celebrating the marriage of her cousin Joy to her long-time partner Shelley. Our best wishes and love to the newlyweds.

And I feel myself a cog in somethin' turning

These charming paragons of Freedom of Religion want to limit my religious freedom, all in the name of their ideology:


(full disclosure: I was once on a first-name basis with 2 of the gray-haired men named in the video)

So, how did that massive rally at Qualcomm work out? Was it this year's Woodstock? A total sold-out performance? Butts in every seat?

Um, not so much. Lucas was there, let him tell you:

The parking lots were mostly empty. The trolley station that goes essentially right up to the door was almost entirely empty. The concourses and hallways were empty. Most of the seats were empty. A popular shirt as I walked around (but don't have a picture of right now) was a bright yellow Tshirt reading "You can't change God's Law: Yes on Prop 8." But you know...don't worry about this being the effective repeal of the separation of church and state. It's just God's law. Being written as state law. Right. "It Ain't Just Genetics" was another personal 'favorite' of mine.

Here's his video:



Sorry, kids, you can't have your cake, and my freedoms too.

Update: Juls has a great post at DKos using these same videos, as well as some great stills. Please go read it, and if you have a DKos account, please recommend it.

I got something to say that might cause you pain

The wingnut monkeys are throwing crap through the cage bars, trying to hit anything. Among the latest is this mailer from the Yes on Prop 8 idiots:



Lying hypocritical bastards! Oops, I mean Republicans.

As usual, the No on Prop 8 campaign responded immediately with an ad quoting Barack Obama:



The publishing and advertising geniuses who put this trash together made a Freudian proof-reading error, that's almost comical:


Yep. The SCARED institution of marriage.

If these folks were tools, they'd be a broken screwdriver.

Imagine me and you, and you and me

(Itzhak Perlman: No on 8)

Imagine the Sunni and Shi'a, who agree on nothing other that Allah is God, and Mohammed is his Prophet, got together and tried to present a common front, to gain your support?

The Neocons, who wanked us into war in Iraq, believe in ponies, pixie dust, and the Sunni/Shi'a convergence.

Believe it or not, the Theocons in our own country have the same goal. The Mormon and Catholic theocrats, who barely have any common ground other than belief in a white-bearded God and his hippie-like son, want to band us together with belief in some common ideal, and force us to accept their vision of marriage.

And what exactly is that vision? I'm not sure, because all they present is "One Man, One Woman". Never mind the Mormon Church's fairly recent disavowal of male-centric polygamy. And never mind the Catholic Church's refusal to accept divorce.

Nope, they want to make sure you and I are legislated into their clear-cut vision of propriety.

Thankfully, not all clergy feel that way:



Here's one little problem. Catholicism has had a wink and nod relationship with gays for a long time, actively seeking out gay men and funneling them into the priesthood. Of course they're told that they can't act upon their sexual urges, but since they cloister only men together in the seminary, well, boys will likely be boys.

And the wink and nod has continued as the Church leaders have worked tirelessly to hid pedophile priests from justice, shiiping offenders off to small town congregations and shredding records. They know full well that gay men are in the priesthood, and thus likely members of society at large, yet ought not to be allowed to marry legally.

By the same logic, there may be lesbians among Catholic nuns; I have no real idea. Still, the idea that they too are second class citizens, while being accepted as Wives of Christ, is mind-numbingly illogical. Dignity USA has some resources for LGBT Catholics.

So these Theocratic organizations have joined together in a mission to strip a part of the population of their rights. They want to legislate from the pulpit, and dictate public morality. Does their goal spread to include the mandatory wearing of Mormon Garments? Will the Catholic Church demand that Mormon priests un-marry?

In other words, what other theocratic demands will these unlikely allies make of us? How far into a Theocratic state will we allow ourselves to be pushed?

And conversely, as Jeffersons' Wall of Separation is breached, how will secular law insinuate itself into the Church? It may sound foolish, but with the secular age of majority being 18, will the state now tell Jews that Bar and Bat Mitzvah's can only be celebrated at that age?

More clergy agains Prop. 8:



As I said here before, power flows both ways. Once the wall is broken, it's broken, and anything can happen.

Please, vote NO on CA Prop. 8. It's bad law, and legal discrimination.

Even smart Republicans vote No on Prop. 8: