Anti-Homophobia Imagery Raise Hackles In Upstate NY

The above are examples of images challenging homophobia which are appearing on billboards in the Tri-Cities Capital district area (Schenectady-Troy-Albany) sponsored by the advocacy group In Our Own Voices.

The Times Union covers the resulting controversy:

City Councilman Joseph Allen said Friday that he came in for both scorn and support after publicly expressing his displeasure this week that the billboards send the wrong message to impressionable youngsters, particularly those being raised by single mothers who may not have positive male role models.


"This kind of billboard is putting the stamp of approval on a gay lifestyle," said Allen, who is black and insists he is not homophobic.


He said he has talked with the city lawyer about taking down the billboards in Schenectady but was told the advertisements are protected under First Amendment rights.


Tandra R. LaGrone, executive director of Albany-based In our Own Voices, said the group is sponsoring the awareness campaign because it is consistent with the mission of promoting the health and welfare of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people of color.


"I thought it would be useful and pertinent to have the campaign in the Capital Region because of the numbers for HIV and AIDS among gay black males have has risen significantly," she said. "You have to start from a place of respect in order to address the stigma and homophobia of being a black gay man."


There are a total of 18 billboards in Schenectady, Albany, Rensselaer and Montgomery counties along with ads on buses and bus shelters, said Peter Constantakes, spokesman with the state Department of Health which gave $50,300 to the campaign.


[...].


LeGrone called Allen's remarks especially "frightening" considering he is an elected official and black. "He is looking at his constituency as strictly being heterosexual individuals," she said, adding that the message is that gay black men make up every segment of society and are here to stay.

He's a City Councilman and doesn't know that the first amendment applies to speech he doesn't agree with? Homophobic idiot. I find it fascinating he denies he is homophobic and then is quoted in the newspaper using the words "gay lifestyle" which is a clear indication of homophobia and ignorance. Too bad the reporter didn't ask Councilman Allen what the "gay lifestyle" is and whether he think there is a "jewish lifestyle" or "Black lifestyle."

Congrats to IOV for the successful campaign. This is very important work.

GLAD, ACLU File Lawsuits Challenging DOMA

Suzanne & Geraldine Ardis are married and
raising three boys in Clinton, CT.

Interesting news on the civil rights front. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) arefiling lawsuits today challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) on behalf of same-sex married couples from New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and New York.

The New York Times reports in ("Gay Couples To Sue U.S. Over Marriage Law"):

The two new lawsuits, which involve plaintiffs from New York, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire, expand the attack geographically and also encompass more of the 1,138 federal laws and regulations that the Defense of Marriage Act potentially affects — including the insurance costs amounting to several hundred dollars a month in the case of Ms. Pedersen and Ms. Meitzen, and a $350,0000 estate tax payment in the A.C.L.U. case.

The civil liberties union filed suit on behalf of Edith S. Windsor, whose spouse, Thea C. Spyer, died last year of aortic stenosis. The two women, New Yorkers who had been together for 44 years, married in Toronto in 2007. New York officially recognizes same-sex marriages performed in other states. Had the two been man and wife, there would have been no federal estate tax to pay.

“It’s just so unfair,” said Ms. Windsor, who is 81.

Taken together, said Mary Bonauto, the director of the Civil Rights Project for the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, the cases show same-sex couples “are falling through the safety net other people count on.”

Traditionally, Ms. Bonauto noted, the federal government has left the definition of marriage to the states. “The federal government has respected those determinations, except in the instance of gay and lesbian couples marrying,” she said. The result, she said, is a violation of constitutional guarantees of equal protection.

GLAD does not play. Many people expect them to win their other lawsuit challenging DOMA, Gill v. OPM,  which is currently before the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals with GLAD winning at the circuit court level. That lawsuit was on behalf of same-sex couples who have been married in Massachusetts for at least 5 years.

WATCH: Cynthia Nixon Kicks NOM Butt For Marriage Equality

At the New Yorker festival this weekend there was a panel with the odious Brian Brown of NOM, Cynthia Nixon (Miranda on Sex in the City) along with other notables like Perry v. Schwarzenegger super-lawyer David Boies making the case for and against same-sex marriage.

Nixon demolishes the argument that gay and lesbian couples who want to marry are seeking to "redefine marriage" by saying something like: "When women got the vote, it did not redefine voting. When African-Americans were able to sit at lunch counters and get served it did not redefine eating out. Opening up marriage to same-sex couples will not redefine marriage!"

Watch the video yourself to see what she said exactly.

In NYC For The Weekend...

Slow blogging for a few days as I'll be in NYC through Sunday...

Celebrity Friday: Nhojj

Nhojj has the #1 video on MTV's Top100 list. And he's openly gay. Born in Guyana but raised in Trinidad, he has a degree in Economics from NYU. And now he is being considered the vanguard of a gay music revolution by Billboard magazine. Represent!

Here's the award-winning video for the song called "Love."

WATCH: Harold Ford Lie To Your Face

He's Pretty But Does He Think We're Stupid?


Former congressman Harold Ford is considering challenging appointed U.S. Senator Kristen Gillibrand for the Democratic nomination in New York later this year. Ford ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate in Tennessee in 2006 and afterwards moved to the Empire State.

Rod 2.0 breaks down the anti-gay and anti-choice positions (previously) held by Harold Ford, Jr.:

Ford's record has been extensively reported on Rod 2.0. Ford voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in 2007 and against extending hate crime protections to gays and lesbians. Ford also was one of 34 Democrats to vote for then-President George W. Bush's Federal Marriage Amendment and he boasted about this in a campaign television spot when he was running for Senate in 2006. Ford left Congress with a dismal 25 out of 100 rating from the Human Rights Campaign.

I really don't know how stupid Harold Ford thinks we are, but I really don't think New Yorkers are going to fall for his schtick.

UPDATE 18:04 PST 01/11/2001:

Here is what Alan van Capelle of Empire State Pride Agenda said about Harold Ford:

I know Harold Ford Jr. just arrived to New York, but as a native and lifelong resident, I know what New York values are, and I know a snake oil salesman when I see one. You simply can't claim to be pro-equality if you've twice voted to enshrine discrimination into the U.S. Constitution.

While it may be tempting for Mr. Ford to compare himself to people like Sen. Chuck Schumer, the fact remains that Sen. Schumer - who did evolve on his position on marriage equality - has been a longtime supporter of several pieces of legislation that are very important to LGBT people and never supported the awful Federal Marriage Amendment. Harold Ford Jr. is no Chuck Schumer, and he is no Kirsten Gillibrand.

OUCH!

NY Gov Issues Order Protecting Public Employees On Gender Identity

Governor David Paterson of New York signed executive order No. 33 protecting state employees from discrimination based on gender identity on Wednesday.

The New York Times said:

Though state antidiscrimination law includes gay men and lesbians, it is silent on the issue of transgender people. And while Mr. Paterson’s order will not have the sweep of a statute enacted by the State Legislature because it will apply only to state agencies, gay and transgender rights advocates said it would be a first step toward including gender identity and expression protections in state law.

Advocates for transgender people have succeeded in winning broad antidiscrimination protections in a number of cities throughout the state, including New York, Buffalo, Albany and Rochester. But efforts to add similar protections to state law have so far fallen short. The Assembly has passed a transgender antidiscrimination bill, but the Senate has refused to vote on the issue.

Human Rights Campaign provided background information on the move:

An executive order prohibiting discrimination in state employment is the furthest extent to which any governor is able to exercise his or her executive power. Extending protections to private employees must be accomplished by the state legislature. New York joins eight other states in which an executive order, administrative order, or personnel regulation prohibits discrimination against public employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity: Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

In addition, twelve states and the District of Columbia prohibit full employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity: California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Nine more states, including New York, prohibit employment discrimination based only on sexual orientation. For an electronic map showing where employment non-discrimination stands in the states, please visit: www.HRC.org/State_Laws.

Now, the Governor says that the New York State Senate should hurry up and pass GENDA already (which would add gender identity or expression to the list of categories which private employers are prohibited from practicing discrimination).

Hat/tip Rod 2.0.

New York State Very Likely To Pass Marriage Equality Today

There is breaking news today on the effort to enact marriage equality in New York State. Last night the New York State Assembly passed the marriage equality bill (for the second time this year!) by a vote of 88-51 in a special session.

The New York Senate, acting in the same special session to deal with that state's $2 billion dollar deficit is now getting ready to debate their marriage equality bill, which will gladly be signed into law by Governor David Paterson.

Here's the official word:

"The Senate will reconvene in extraordinary session today at which time it intends to vote on the deficit reduction plan, Tier V pension reform, public authority reform, and marriage equality legislation.

Session is streamed live on the internet at http://nysenate.gov; the debate on marriage equality will be carried via satellite, with coordinates to be released later in the day prior to the bill being brought to the floor."

There are very good chances the bill will pass today. There is no ballot initiative process in New York State by which it can be repealed.

For more updates tune in to @adamjbink on Twitter.

WATCH: Cece Peniston's "Finally" featuring Interracial Gay Couple

Happy Thanksgiving!

(hat/tip to Joe.My.God)

Marriage Update: New York and New Jersey

Interesting developments in the fight for marriage equality in New York and New Jersey in the last few days.

First, yesterday the New York Court of Appeals (the state's highest court) ruled unanimously to reject a legal challenge to the policy that New York same-sex couples married out of state must have those marriages recognized in the state.

In their majority ruling, four of the seven members of the court said they were making their decision on narrow grounds involving the specifics of each case, and not settling the broader question of whether same-sex marriages performed in other states should be recognized. Judge Eugene F. Pigott Jr., writing for the majority, expressed “hope that the Legislature will address this controversy.”

But in a concurring decision, three of the justices said that the court should have addressed the wider issue because New York law already allows for the recognition of marriages that are considered legal elsewhere.

Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick, who wrote the concurring decision, said “that the orders under review should be affirmed on the ground that same-sex marriages, valid where performed, are entitled to full legal recognition in New York under our state’s longstanding marriage recognition rule.”

The New York State Senate is expected to vote on a marriage equality bill before the end of the year.

And in New Jersey, a poll was released showing that a plurality support marriage equality, and a slim majority would support a bill, if the legislature legalized the practice.

The poll, conducted between Nov. 6 and 10, found 46 percent of adult residents want to extend the right to gay couples while 42 percent oppose it. Still undecided were 12 percent of respondents.

[...]

If lawmakers pass the bill legalizing gay marriage, 52 percent would accept the new law, while 40 percent would support a constitutional amendment banning it, the poll said.

Go New York and New Jersey!

No Vote on NY Marriage Bill Today

They don't seem to have the votes in the Democratic caucus to pass the marriage equality bill, and the Republicans aren't saying if they will vote for it or not, so the Democratic leaders are refusing to schedule a vote today.

The State Senate on Tuesday delayed a highly anticipated vote on same-sex marriage, putting off the issue indefinitely as gay rights supporters continued to lobby for additional votes.

Republicans and Democrats said that as of Tuesday afternoon the measure was still several votes short of the 32 necessary for approval. About five Democrats remained either opposed or noncommittal, meaning that Republican votes were needed to secure passage.

But not enough Republicans have committed yet to voting yes, legislators said. The Democrats have a slim 32-30 majority in the Senate

.

New York Senate May Vote On Marriage Equality Today

Or not. Today the New York Senate is in a special session called by Governor David Paterson, who has called for the body to vote on a marriage equality bill (which has already passed the State Assembly) and pass it.

Paterson himself said that he was inspired by the Maine vote last week, which rescinded marriage rights for same-sex couples in that state.

"I think that the public referendum in Maine should inspire us that there's more work to do, more persuasion to be made, more understanding to be reached, and more sensitivity to be displayed, and those of us who have been a catalyst for marriage equality have to regroup and work harder," Paterson said, in an interview with Corey Johnson and Andy Towle.

Negotiations are expected to go into the wee hours of the night tonight as Democratic lawmakers decide whether to push for a vote or not. Advocates estimate that they have 25 votes to support marriage equality. They need about six more to ensure that the marriage equality bill can pass.

The Empire State Pride Agenda is also calling for a vote today:

It is time for the New York State Senate to take up the issue of marriage equality. Millions of gay and lesbian New Yorkers and their friends and families expect and deserve a vote on this matter in the State Senate.

This should not be a partisan matter. It should be a vote of conscience that occurs as soon as possible.

There are those who want to inject politics. There are those who want to delay. There are those who say that other issues are more important.

Of course, budget matters are important. But the reality is that there have always been budget problems in Albany and probably always will be.

What we are talking about now is a matter of fundamental human rights. Are gay and lesbians in the 21st Century in the progressive state of New York equal members of society, or are they second-class citizens? That is what is at stake.

Individual senators tell us all the time that they understand this – but now is the time for them to act as if they do. Now is the time for them to stand up and be counted.

All eyes are on Albany. With a true vote of conscience, senators can rectify inequality and injustice with a vote tomorrow.

Joe.My.God has a live video stream of the New York State Senate up at his blog.

NYT Op-Ed in Favor of NY and NJ Marriage Equality

The New York Times has published an op-ed calling for the Governors of New York and New Jersey to act on marriage equality bills in light of last week's elections:

Voters in Washington State approved a ballot measure endorsing a new law granting gay and lesbian couples the same state-provided benefits that heterosexual couples have.

In other good news, voters in Kalamazoo, Mich., declined to overturn a new law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in housing, employment and public accommodations. Voters elected their first openly gay City Council members in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Detroit. Chapel Hill, N.C., elected its first openly gay mayor.

By sad contrast, voters in Maine — by a slim margin, and following an aggressive, narrow-minded campaign led by the forces of the religious right — repealed the state’s new law extending the freedom to marry to same-sex couples.

[...]

The big battlegrounds now are New York and New Jersey. New York’s governor, David Paterson, has called the Legislature back to Albany. The budget crisis heads the agenda, but gay rights must be there, too. The Assembly has already approved legislation giving same-sex couples the freedom to marry. Democratic leaders need to allow debate to proceed, and rally the Senate’s 62 members to follow suit.

In New Jersey, Gov. Jon Corzine’s loss to Christopher Christie means that the Legislature must move urgently to approve marriage equality. Mr. Corzine has said he would sign the bill. Mr. Christie has said he would veto it. Legislators must act before Jan. 19, when the government changes hands.

NY Gov Says He Expects To Sign Marriage Bill Soon

New York Governor David Paterson said Thursday night at Empire State Pride Agenda's gala dinner in New York City that he expects the State Senate to pass a marriage equality bill in the next few weeks.

''No longer in New York'' will same-sex couples have to worry about insurance coverage, being allowed to visit each other hospitals, or whether they will be guaranteed the same rights as other married couples under law, he said.

[...]

More than a year ago, Paterson had framed the debate as a civil right long denied. But divisions among Senate Democrats earlier this year made approval unlikely after a few Democrats in the 32-30 majority objected to the bill on religious grounds.

Now, however, Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos of Nassau County says GOP senators won't be asked to vote against the measure in a bloc and are free to vote for the bill.

A leading advocate and bill sponsor, Sen. Thomas Duane of Manhattan, who is gay, has declined to comment on the issue this week. Senate Democratic majority spokesman Austin Shafran said there has been no head count of votes on the issue.

To the crowd, Paterson joked that if anyone in a same-sex relationship had put off conversations about marriage because it wasn't legal, ''you'd better leave now because marriage equality is coming to New York City.''

Same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont, and will start in New Hampshire in January. A referendum in Maine on Nov. 3 will determine the fate of a same-sex marriage bill passed by the Legislature in May.

VIDEO: NY Sen. Tom Duane's Speech on HIV/AIDS

Black Same-Sex (Trans) Couple Gets Married in NY

According to TowleRoad, a couple with names Hakim (Kimah) Nelson and Jason Stenson were issued a marriage licence and married by a city clerk in New York City on May 26. Of course, the journalist-challenged New York Post is on the case:

After The Post's inquiries, the city's marriage bureau stopped two more people with male names from marrying Friday, requesting birth certificates.

Stenson, who has two children by his former domestic partner, does not consider himself gay. He sees his new spouse as a woman.

Experts say the marriage is not legal.

"Gay marriage is not lawful here in New York, so they're technically not married," said matrimonial attorney Raoul Felder.

Evan Wolfson, head of Freedom to Marry, a local advocacy group devoted to legalizing gay marriage, saw the Stenson/Nelson example as "one more illustration of why the New York Senate needs to move quickly to pass the marriage bill and end this discrimination in New York."

The "newlyweds," meanwhile, have already run into trouble. They took their new license to the Adult Family Intake Center in Manhattan hoping to qualify for couples' housing. But Nelson's name immediately drew suspicion.

"Are you a man or a woman?" the intake officer demanded.

"I'm a transsexual," he lied.

For now, the pair is living as a married couple in a Brooklyn shelter.

"People in Albany can say, 'Look, it's already happened, so let's just make it legal,' " Stenson said. "We're all human beings. What makes me and my wife different?"

What do YOU think? Will this help or hurt the fight to get marriage for same-sex couples legalized in New York?

Gay Marriage Tipping Point Reached?

Kevin Drum and Joe.My.God both blogged about the above graph from Andrew Gelman at FiveThirtyEight.com in the last few days. The key paragraphs are:

Jeff Lax and Justin Phillips put together a dataset using national opinion polls from 1994 through 2009 and analyzed several different opinion questions on gay rights. Here I'm going to talk about their estimates of state-by-state trends in support for gay marriage.

In the past fifteen years, gay marriage has increased in popularity in all fifty states. No news there, but what was a surprise to me is where the largest changes have occurred. The popularity of gay marriage has increased fastest in the states where gay rights were already relatively popular in the 1990s.

In 1995, support for gay marriage exceeded 30% in only six states: New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, California, and Vermont. In these states, support for gay marriage has increased by an average of almost 20 percentage points. In contrast, support has increased by less than 10 percentage points in the six states that in 1995 were most anti-gay-marriage--Utah, Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Idaho.

These are definitely important and interesting observations, but digging deeper, there is even more.

Most other commenters did not also discuss this even more interesting graph, which shows the current percentage of people who, when polled who support marriage for same-sex couples and/or civil unions.

Looking closely at the dark red dots, notice that marriage for same-sex couples is basically only legal in the states where it is above 50 percent. The three states which have marriage (within margin of error) at 50 percent but do not have marriage equality right now are Rhode Island, California and New York.

Clearly, a state to look at closely at in the future is Iowa which legalized marriage equality though a unanimous court decision in April.

Other interesting data to include here would be to indicate the states which have comprehensive non-discrimination laws that include sexual orientation (and gender identity).

NOM FAIL: Ad opposes "Same same sex marriage"

The National Organization for Marriage released its latest ad opposing marriage equality in New York State and ends with an epic fail: "Say No To Same Same Sex Marriage." Giggle.

Here's the ad in all its execrable deceitfulness:

VIDEO: Ad Supporting Marriage Equality in NY

Obama Nominates First Latina To Supreme Court

President Barack Obama has chosen Sonia Sotomayor to replace retiring Justice David Souter on the US Supreme Court. From FirstRead:

She currently serves on the Second Circuit in New York and was appointed to that position by Bill Clinton. BUT she was appointed to her first federal court appointment by President George H.W. Bush… She checks lots of boxes: Woman. Hispanic. Empathy… While working for the famed Robert Morgenthau in the New York District Attorney's office in the early 1980s, she described herself as a "liberal.”… Also has drawn criticism for saying in 2005: “All of the legal defense funds out there they're looking for people with court of appeals experience because it is-- court of appeals is where policy is made." She tried to backtrack, but conservatives are already rallying to defeat her based on this. Other bio information: Child of parents born in Puerto Rico... Grew up speaking mostly Spanish... Raised in a public housing project in The South Bronx in the shadow of Yankee Stadium... Father died when she was 9... A diehard Yankees fan, she's credited as the judge who saved baseball, issuing an injunction that led the eventual settlement of the 1990s-era Major League Baseball strike... Described by the New York Times in the early 1980s as an incessant smoker… Divorced from Kevin Edward Noonan in 1983 after seven-year marriage (no children). She left the NY District Attorney's office a year later and went into private practice... Graduated summa cum laude in 1976 from Princeton after winning a scholarship to the school... Earned her law degree from Yale in 1979, where she edited the Law Review.

Big day for court reporters today. The Prop 8 ruling is coming down at 10am PDT from the California Supreme Court.