Florida Agenda

By JOE HARRIS

In November, voters in four states will be asked to make permanent— more or less—their jurisdictions’ treatment of marriage equality (or reasonable facsimiles thereof). Ballot initiatives in Maryland and Washington will determine whether marriage equality laws signed this year will stay on the books. In Maine, voters will decide once and for all, they presume, whether to allow gay marriage back into the Pine Tree State (where it was already signed into law—and overturned at the ballot box—in 2009). And in Minnesota, a constitutional amendment would enshrine marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

The Maine Event

AUGUSTA, MAINE – In 2009, state lawmakers enacted marriage equality, but it was overturned in the voting booth. Supporters of ballot Question 1 want to reinstate same-sex marriage. Both they and their opponents criticized the wording of the ballot question (“Do you want to allow same-sex couples to marry?”) as being too simplistic. Although Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, has been silent about his position on the issue, in May he criticized the teachers’ union for endorsing it, and later vetoed the union’s pay bill. Polls suggest that most voters (58 percent) support the marriage equality referendum.

Freedom to Marry in the Free State?

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND – Supporters hope to pass an initiative repealing the state’s Civil Marriage Protection Act, which was enacted earlier this year in support of marriage equality. Survey data shows strong support for same-sex marriage in Maryland.

The Veep, the General, and the Gays

ST PAUL, MINNESOTA – Although gay marriage isn’t legal there, Republican lawmakers and conservative activists support a constitutional amendment to prohibit it from ever rearing its head in the North Star State. The ballot measure asks, “Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota?” (Republicans want you to answer, “Yes.”)

The question’s opponents include former Vice President Walter Mondale (D-MN), Fortune 500 corporation (and Minnesota-based) General Mills, Thomson Reuters, Target, and U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-MN).

Ever-Pink in the Evergreen State?

OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON- The state’s Referendum 74 would repeal the marriage equality law signed in February by Gov. Christine Gregoire, a Democrat. The referendum question asks voters to approve or reject the law, which “allows same-sex couples to marry, applies marriage laws without regard to gender, and specifies that laws using gender specific terms like husband and wife include same-sex spouses.”

The law also says that “After 2014, existing domestic partnerships are converted to marriages, except for seniors. It preserves the right of clergy or religious organizations to refuse to perform or recognize any marriage or accommodate wedding ceremonies. The bill does not affect licensing of religious organizations providing adoption, foster-care, or child placement.”

Major supporters of Washington state marriage equality include Amazon.com, Google, Microsoft, Nike, and Starbucks.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Advocates say that a recent decision under the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) will, effectively and literally, open doors for the LGBT homeless to shelter facilities that receive federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding. The ruling under the “Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs – Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity” measure means shelters that receive federal funding must begin to accept LGBT individuals, or face the threat of legal consequences.

LGBT rights groups say that a subtle discriminatory practice will now be more difficult to maintain or justify. They say that in many facilities across the country, an individual’s sexual orientation often factors into the decision by administrators to extend shelter.

And in the case of transgender residents, there is the additional challenge of placing them based upon their pre-operative/nonoperative status, which has resulted in numerous complaints, nationwide. Another recent landmark ruling by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) extended employment opportunities and protections to trans-identified individuals, with their addition to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The decision will, in practice, open employment doors to trans-identified individuals who are homeless, and who receive wraparound services in transitional and supported-housing situations.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An asteroid has been named for American LGBT rights pioneer Frank Kameny, who was fired during the 1950s by the U.S. Army for being gay. Kameny, who died last year in Washington, D.C., earned a Ph.D. in astronomy at Harvard University, and worked for the U.S. Army Map Service during the early days of the Cold War between the U.S. and Soviet Union.

After being “outed” and fired, Kameny, who was 86 when he died, took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Homosexuality was viewed at the time as a national security risk, as it was claimed that gays in sensitive military and government positions were subject to blackmail, or to being “turned” by a foreign power.)

He later organized the first historic gay rights protests outside the White House and the Pentagon in the 1960s. Astronomer Gary Billings read Kameny’s obituary last year, and submitted a citation to the International Astronomical Union in Paris, and the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Minor Planet Center, hoping to designate “Minor Planet 40463” as “Frankkameny.”

The celestial body—which is located in the asteroid belt, with an orbit between Mars and Jupiter—was first discovered in 1999 using longexposure photography, and is visible through a telescope. The published citation officially naming the asteroid reads, “Frank E. Kameny (1925-2011) trained as a variable star astronomer in the 1950s, but joined the Civil Rights struggle.

His contributions included removing homosexuality from being termed a mental disorder in 1973 and shepherding passage of the District of Columbia marriage equality law in 2009.”

WASHINGTON, DC – On Thursday, May 17, dozens of LGBT families from across American descended upon the nation’s capital to lobby their U.S. Senators and Members of Congress in support of the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the 1996 law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman for federal purposes.

The gay, bisexual, and transgendered parents and their children—members of the Family Equality Council—held meetings with about 50 Members of Congress, discussing a range of issues from same sex marriage to adoption and hospital visitation. Zach Wahls, an Iowa man who spoke emotionally last year to lawmakers in his state about the rights, was among those in attendance. He told CNN, “The fact is that not all people who are opposed to same-sex marriage are bigots or hateful or ignorant.”

Wahls, 20, is the author of “My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength and What Makes a Family.” “I think if we can move past some of these stereotypes on both sides, we’re able to have this real conversation and understand that at the end of the day, my family isn’t looking for some radical change to the law, we’re looking for due process and equal protection,” Wahls added. Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray proclaimed May 17 as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Family Equality Day,” and called upon citizens to support justice and equality for all families.

WASHINGTON, DC – President Obama’s reelection campaign reports an upsurge in political donations following his announcement in support of marriage equality. Campaign officials report that within minutes of last week’s endorsement, which the chief executive made during an interview with ABC News reporter Robin Roberts that aired in part on last Wednesday and was broadcast in full the following morning on “Good Morning America.” “I am just so happy,” said openly gay Obama campaign Finance Director Rufus Gifford, in a fundraising message.

“If you’re proud of our president, this is a great time to make a donation to the campaign.” Although the campaign won’t comment on the exact dollar amounts involved, an individual close to the process was quoted as saying the response was “astounding.” Both campaign officials and Democratic Party fundraisers say that many contributors have given the maximum allowable under election laws to both organizations. Federal statutes permit an individual to contribute up to $5,000 to the Obama reelection effort, and $30,800 to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), in addition to be donations they can make to individual state campaign efforts for the president.

“Here I thought the LGBT community was already knocking it out of the ballpark for Obama, and now I see they’ve expanded the ballpark,” said openly gay DNC Treasurer Andrew Tobias. “And many of my straight donors are energized as well. People are excited up and down the line.” Both the president’s reelection bid and that of his presumptive challenger, Republican Mitt Romney, are focusing intense energies on building their competing campaign war chests. Last Thursday, both Obama and the former Massachusetts governor attended major fundraising events, with the Romney campaign reportedly pulling in $800,000 at a Nebraska event.

The president attended a $40,000-aplate dinner at the home of George Clooney in Los Angeles, which sources say could rake in as much as $16 million between in-person and online contributions. The refocused debate over marriage equality could also benefit Romney’s campaign, with donations from social and religious conservatives who support the preservation of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and who likewise would support a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a man and woman.

The candidate himself seemed to throw water on the idea of campaigning negatively on gay marriage, which might reflect the political realities of trying not to alienate moderate and independent voters who may support same sex marriage. Appearing last Thursday on Fox News Channel, the presumptive Republican contender said, “I don’t think the matter of marriage is really a fundraising matter either for the president and it certainly is not for me.”

WASHINGTON, DC – During an appearance this Sunday on “Meet the Press”, Vice President Joseph Biden Jr. said that he is “comfortable” with gay marriages, and that marriage equality would simply be extending the same rights to all Americans, regardless of the sexual identity.

Speaking with NBC’s David Gregory, Biden said “I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men and women marrying one another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties.”

“I just think that the good news is that as more and more Americans come to understand what this is all about is a simple proposition. Who do you love? Who do you love?” Biden asked rhetorically. “And will you be loyal to the person you love? And that’s what people are finding out is what, what all marriages, at their root, are about. Whether they’re marriages of lesbians or gay men or heterosexuals.”

WASHINGTON, DC – A new survey from the Pew Research Center finds that an increasing number of Americans favor of gay marriage.

At the same time, a greater number favor gun ownership rights over gun control. The poll’s authors note that both positions represent landmark shifts in public attitudes, reflecting a “small-l” libertarianism taking shape in the culture.

The survey—conducted by telephone between April 4 and 15, and reflecting the opinions of more than 3,000 nationwide respondents, with a margin of error plus or minus three percent—found that 47 percent of Americans favor marriage equality, and 49 percent believe it’s more important to protect the rights of gun owners than to support gun control laws. While not a majority in either case, those who support these positions outnumber their opponents, with 43 percent against same-sex marriage and 45 percent supporting gun control over gun ownership.

According to Pew, strong opposition to gay marriage—which peaked in December 2004 at 38 percent— generally fluctuated around 30 percent until 2010, when it began to decrease, finally reaching its present 22 percent.

Contrarily, strong support—with an all-time modern low of 8 percent, also in 2004—has ticked upwards until it now equals its opposition with 22 percent.

WASHINGTON, DC – The White House announced last week its full support of a pair of measures that would offer federal protections against bullying to LGBT students.

The Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA) and the Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA) would address anti-gay bullying and harassment and require that school initiate and enforce anti-bullying policies.

On Friday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan condemned the quiet culture of anti-gay harassment in the public schools. “Bullying can no longer be seen as a normal rite of passage,” Duncan said. “As a country, we must all work together to take action against bullying and improve the safety climates of our schools and communities.”

The April 20 announcement came on the heels of news last week that President Obama has decided against issuing an executive order that would require federal contractors to implement nondiscrimination policies based on gender identity and sexual orientation. The administration has been widely criticized by LGBT advocacy and human rights groups for its inaction on the issue. Senate votes on SNDA and SSIA could take place later this year. The bills’ sponsors, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) and Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), have said they will introduce their measures as amendments to the larger Elementary & Secondary Education Act reauthorization when that bill comes to the full Senate for a vote.

Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Compares Anti-Gay Bullying and Violence to “Teasing” ALBUQUERQUE, NM – In a rebuke to the suicides of gay teenagers who were subjected to harassment and violence, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from New Mexico has added her voice to the anti-gay bullying chorus, claiming that proposed federal legislation to provide similar civil rights protections to LGBT students in cases of bullying “as those that currently apply to students based on race and gender” would be like criminalizing “teasing.”

The Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA) would establish federal protections for children against harassment based upon gender identify and sexual orientation. The measure requires schools to implement policies of nondiscrimination and to take immediate action to investigate and address cases of bullying and harassment.

It has 37 Senate co-sponsors and 157 House co-sponsors.

At a candidates’ debate on April 12, for U.S. congresswoman Heather Wilson said that “With respect to this particular agenda we have to recognize as parents that children tease each other because you’re short or you’re tall or you’re a redhead or because you’re ugly or because you’re smart or because you’re dumb or all kinds of differences and as parents we have to deal with that and strengthen our children to be comfortable with themselves and also to show empathy and acceptance towards others, but that particular act is so broad it would actually punish children and say that it’s prohibited to express an opinion with respect to homosexuality in the schools. I just think that’s wrong and it’s a violation of the First Amendment.”

Wilson said that the logic behind SNDA was “misplaced” because, she claimed, pre-pubescent children don’t know if they’re gay. She was also uncomfortable with legislation that “criminalizes bullying” of gay children.

“It basically makes federal funding dependent on school board policies that will not tolerate bullying of people based on their sexual orientation or, you know, even when kids are below puberty,” Wilson claimed.

WASHINGTON, DC – A senior adviser to President Barack Obama told LGBT rights groups last week that the chief executive will not sign an executive order to ban discrimination by employers holding federal contracts. Currently, federal law does not offer protection from discrimination based upon gender identity or sexual orientation.

Valerie Jarrett, Special Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, met with gay rights activists on April 11 to inform them of the administration’s decision not to sign the executive order, which has the support of the Departments of Justice and Labor. The order would have applied to LGBT persons who are currently employed by or are seeking employment from federal contractors.

Joe Solmonese, the President of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest LGBT advocacy group, was an attendee of the meeting called by Jarrett. His comments afterward reflected the sentiments of most in attendance. “We are extremely disappointed with this decision and will continue to advocate for an executive order from the president,” said Solmonese. “The unfortunate truth is that hard-working Americans can be fired simply for being gay or transgender.”

The Employment Non- Discrimination Act (ENDA), legislation which would ban workplace discrimination by federal contractors for LGBT individuals, is currently stalled in the Republican-controlled Congress, lacking sufficient votes for passage. The White House supports ENDA, but its decision not to sign the executive order stands in sharp contrast to many of its recent policy positions. Over the past several months, the president has signed executive orders on a number of issues, citing a “we can’t wait” approach to Republicans’ putative intransigence on certain legislation.

The president also risks alienating political supporters who so far have been willing to allow him some leverage because of his decisive action on issues such as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. These same supporters have been a reliable source of campaign donations.

By CLIFF DUNN

WASHINGTON, DC – A subtle cultural shift may be underway on the part of the highest ranks of the Republican Party and their unofficial but no less powerful greybeards, with GOP Congressional leaders blocking passage of a number of measures that would have strengthened the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the federal ban on same-sex marriage.

Even cultural conservatives including Rep. Allen West (R-FL), whose district encompasses portions of Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manors, have made drastic shifts in their on-record statements.

Last week on CNN, West— whose previous statements warned that marriage equality would be a signpost of the decay of society and that homosexuality is a “choice”— said “I want my daughters to have the opportunities that I had, and that’s what concerns me. That’s what keeps me up awake at night, not worrying about who’s sleeping with whom.”

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX)—who voted “no” in 2007 on federal legislation that would prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, and was rated 0% by the Human Rights Campaign, indicating opposition to gay-rights—told Politico.com, “That’s not something we’re focused on now.”

During the 2010 House floor debate on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Gohmert predicted that permitting openly-gay military servicemembers would sound America’s downfall. The Congressional Record reported the four-term lawmaker as saying that “when militaries throughout history … have adopted the policy [of] ‘fine for homosexuality…’—they’re toward the end of their existence as a great nation.”

Congressional Quarterly quoted an aide to a ranking House Republican who said that GOP lawmakers are concerned that the conservative social agenda that has been driving the Republican presidential primaries will alienate independent and socially moderate voters in their home congressional districts.

“There is a debate in the Republican conference on whether defense of marriage is a winning issue politically,” the unnamed aide said. These concerns have touched the top echelon of GOP leaders, who have been sending mixed signals to social conservatives—to the displeasure of the latter.

In 2011, President Obama instructed the Justice Department to stop defending DOMA in court. At that time, House Speaker John Boehner and the Republican House leadership formed the House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) to step into the void and defend the law in court. Attorney Paul Clement was hired to defend DOMA, and given a $1.5 million budget by BLAG.

Marriage equality opponents expressed satisfaction with Boehner and BLAG. They have recently begun to sharply criticize what they perceive as lackluster performance on the part of Boehner and the GOP leadership, and accuse them of paying lip service to mollify religious and social conservatives.

“They hired Paul Clement, and they think their job is done,” complained Tom McClusky, senior vice president of the Family Research Council, to Congressional Quarterly. “While the Obama administration ignores DOMA, Speaker Boehner has forgotten that the checks and balances also include Congress,” he added.

The possibility of a social realignment within the GOP echoes an actual shift that occurred during the 1948 presidential election, when the Democratic Party split on the issue of civil rights for African Americans.

Addressing the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia that year, Minneapolis mayor Hubert Humphrey urged party leaders to “get out of the shadow of states’ rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights.” That call resulted in a walkout by Southern Democrat delegates, who subsequently nominated then-South Carolina Gov. Strom Thurmond as the candidate of the States’ Rights Party, or Dixiecrats.

“Republicans are cognizant of where the public is moving,” said Brian Moulton, the legal director of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest LGBT rights organization, concerning the mixed signals. “The Speaker’s defense of the law helps us show the harms that the law has caused,” and, he added, “at the end of the day, his action perpetuates the harms.”