AFP: LGBTs ‘Call in Gay’ to protest same-sex marriage ban

VIA AFP/GOOGLE NEWS:

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — Gays across the United States were urged to skip work on Wednesday as part of the latest protest against recent votes outlawing same-sex marriage in several regions.

The “Day Without A Gay” protest appeared to have had little economic impact but organizers said they had accomplished their main goal of raising awareness of their campaign without shutting down businesses.

Activists had encouraged people across the United States — both gay and straight — to call in “gay” for work and spend the day doing volunteer tasks. They also asked gays and lesbians to avoid shopping as a way of showing the economic power of the gay community.

But merchants in the Castro, the heart of San Francisco’s large gay community, said it was mostly business as usual on a chilly Wednesday morning.

“It seems to be about the same. The cold weather has brought about a little bit of slowness on the streets, but it’s mostly normal,” said Don Forfang, a barber at Louie’s Barber Shop.

The Day Without a Gay protest was created by Sean Hetherington, a personal trainer and stand-up comedian in Los Angeles, as a reaction to the November 4 passage of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California. Florida, Arizona and Arkansas also approved bans on gay marriage last month. It was timed to coincide with Wednesday’s celebration of International Human Rights Day, and took its inspiration from the 2006 immigrants rights protests that shut down schools and businesses from California to Texas.

Hetherington said the main goal of the protest was to increase awareness of the gay community, not to undermine businesses.

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HRC: Comments Comparing Prop 8 Protestors with Mumbai Terrorists Shows True Colors of Anti-Gay Movement

FROM THE HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN:

Pat Boone’s Bizarre Rant Claims “Awful Similarity” Between “Jihadists” in Mumbai and Prop 8 Protestors; Attacks CA Gov Schwarzenegger for Encouraging Protests

12/9/2008

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organization, responded today to the exclusive commentary posted on the extremist, right-wing website World Net Daily by anti-gay activist and former singer Pat Boone. Boone published a bizarre and disturbing commentary comparing the horrific tragedy in Mumbai, which took the lives of over 170 people, to the protests against Proposition 8 here in the U.S. In essence, equating the Mumbai tragedy with those protesting the passage of the discriminatory amendment in California that took marriage rights away from gay and lesbian couples to terrorists.

In the commentary titled “Hate is hate, in India or America,” which can be viewed at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=82830, Boone writes, “let me ask you: Have you not seen the awful similarity between what happened in Mumbai and what’s happening right now in our cities?” Boone went on to state, “What troubles me so deeply, and should trouble all thinking Americans, is that there is a real, unbroken line between the jihadist savagery in Mumbai and the hedonistic, irresponsible, blindly selfish goals and tactics of our homegrown sexual jihadists.”

“Pat Boone wouldn’t normally warrant a second thought, even if his only claim to fame these days is his unabashed homophobia, but his disturbing commentary on this right-wing site can’t go unanswered,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “His commentary marks a new low in anti-gay rhetoric. And yet it also demonstrates the depths of hatred from these demagogues toward the LGBT community. Most Americans would be shocked to see this level of vitriol coming from someone who presented himself as America’s sweetheart.”

Boone even lodged an attack on Governor Schwarzenegger for encouraging gay Americans to “never give up” in the quest for equality. Boone wrote, “You haven’t seen, on the evening news, prominent entertainers and even California Gov. Schwarzenegger, urging the demonstrators on, telling them they should “never give up” until they get their way?” Boone added, “Hate is hate, no matter where it erupts. And hate, unbridled, will eventually and inevitably boil into violence.”

“Bigots like Boone will never see how absurd their arguments are, but just like that other anti-gay icon from the 70s, Anita Bryant, Pat Boone’s screed actually helps our efforts for equality,” continued Solmonese. “In most places in America today it isn’t acceptable to be an outright bigot. Obviously, Pat Boone hasn’t got that memo.”

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The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

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Mark Leno Facebook update outlines resolution opposing ‘unlawful’ Proposition 8

Via Facebook – California State Senator Mark Leno’s Page:

Leno Resolution Declares Legislature’s Opposition to Proposition 8’s Unlawful Revision to the California Constitution

Sacramento, CA— Senator Mark Leno (D-Marin/San Francisco/Sonoma) introduced Senate Resolution 7 today to declare the Legislature’s opposition to Proposition 8 because it failed to meet the distinct procedures mandated by law for revisions to California’s Constitution.

The resolution is co-authored by the entire LGBT Legislative Caucus and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg. It is sponsored by Equality California and supported by many other civil rights groups opposed to the November initiative. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) has introduced an identical resolution, HR 5, in the Assembly.

“Proposition 8’s revision to the California Constitution violates key structural checks and balances built into our legal system,” said Senator Mark Leno. “Overnight, the constitutional protections of thousands of tax paying, law abiding California citizens were stripped from them by a simple majority vote, without a prior two-thirds vote by both houses of the legislature, thereby trampling on their fundamental right to equal protection,” he said.

Specifically, SR 7 memorializes the Legislature’s opposition to Proposition 8 because it is an improper revision of the California Constitution and was not enacted according to the procedures required by Article XVIII to the State Constitution. This Article mandates that a proposed revision of the California Constitution must originate in the California Legislature and be approved by a two-thirds vote of each house of the Legislature before being submitted to the voters.

The California Supreme Court has held in Livermore v. Waite and other subsequent decisions, that a revision is a substantial change to the “underlying principles” of the California Constitution or to the structure of our “basic governmental plan.” Proposition 8 changes the constitution to eliminate the fundamental right to marry for a particular minority group, and thereby violates the principle of equal protection and the separation of powers clause.

“Prop 8 eliminates the fundamental right to marry from same-sex couples and allows a slim majority to take away the equal protections of a single minority group, which violates one of the fundamental and founding principles of our Constitution,” said EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors. “That type of unprecedented change to the Constitution puts the rights of all Californians at risk, and it’s critical in our system of checks and balances that the Legislature weigh in on such fundamental revisions to the Constitution.”

“The framers of our state’s constitution outlined distinct procedures to follow when enacting a revision to our state’s highest legal document,” said Leno. “These procedures are the rule of law, and must be followed when we’re talking about human beings’ fundamental rights.”

SR 7 and HR 5 will be heard in Committee and on their respective floors when the Legislature reconvenes in early 2009.

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Windy City Times: Plans for LGBTA school postponed

FROM THE WINDY CITY TIMES:

By Yasmin Nair
2008-11-26

A proposal for a Chicago gay high school was abruptly taken off the agenda of the Chicago Public Schools Nov. 19 board meeting. Supporters and opponents of the proposal came to the downtown office of CPS, only to be handed a memo from The Office of New Schools informing them, “The Social Justice Solidarity High School proposal has been withdrawn from consideration during today’s Board meeting.”

Paula Gilovich, a member of the Design Team for the high school and the Education Director of About Face Theatre said that “community input after our October 8 public hearing created changes in our proposal that we were not comfortable with” and the team unanimously decided to withdraw the proposal. One of the changes was in the name of the school, which had originally been titled the Pride Campus of the Social Justice High School.

In addition, according to Gilovich, there were curriculum changes; About Face Theatre was taken out of the proposal; and language was watered down. According to her, “sexual orientation” became “orientation;” the word “identity” could not be included; and neither could “transgender,” which was changed to “appearance.”

News of the withdrawal of the proposal had gone out on e-mail the night before, according to Sam Finkelstein, a member of Gender JUST (Gender Justice United for Societal Transformation) . Finkelstein and other supporters decided to attend the meeting regardless “because we’d already done a lot of mobilizing. We don’t want CPS to define our agenda, and we needed to hold the Board of Education accountable.”

Some of the supporters who spoke out in support of the proposal felt that the design team had been forced to cave in. Roger Fraser said “I feel that there was political pressure on this design team from the mayor’s team on down to shelve it.” Andy Thayer, of Gay Liberation Network, said that “a handful of far-right anti-gay preachers worked with CPS hierarchy [ to withdraw the proposal ] . He added that “We’ve learned that some of the proponents of the Pride campus have had their jobs threatened.” According to CPS, the matter of whether or not people were threatened is under investigation.

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NOTICE: This posting is meant as a courtesy to the LGBT community at large to direct individuals to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender items of interest. We do not post full articles, so if you wish to read an entire story you should follow the link to its original author/publisher. We in no way, stated or unstated, claim to be the authors of any content posted here unless we say so explicitly. All content should be considered intellectual property of the original publisher, and should not be redistributed without full back-links and proper citations.

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