17 posts tagged “discrimination”

As of now Florida does not legally protect its gay citizens. For those of you that might regularly check in with my blog from time to time, this is nothing new. For those of you who might have stumbled across this posting here, it's important for you to know why gay rights and protections are of ultimate importance. Please follow this link to a short video of Eric Breidenbaugh, of Florida, and try to put yourself in his shoes as he tried to get information on his partner's whereabouts after an aircraft "incident". Just try to imagine if your loved one was missing.

Please spread the word to those who live and vote in Florida: vote "No" this November on a Florida State constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and unions. Take this fight a step further by clicking on the following link and joining HRC, Human Rights Campaign. You can donate money or volunteer your time. Most importantly, just vote "No" in November.

If you haven't heard about the homophobic and ridicules comments from Oklahoma State Representative, Sally Kern, watch this clip from Ellen. Usually nonpolitical, Ellen couldn't help but discuss this on her show last week.

If you'd like to give Representative Kern a call to discuss her views, she can be reached at (405) 557-7348, or she can be emailed at sallykern@okhouse.gov.

Have you gotten wind of this yet? A radio station, in of all places West Virginia, gave away a free legitimate divorce for a Valentine's Day promotion.

Social conservatives are often outraged by the thought of gay marriage and blame gay-rights as a threat to the sanctity of this institution. The true threat to traditional marriage is the straight community and their nonchalant attitude; marriage isn't taken seriously anymore by many people. It is evident in all aspects of our culture from reality TV shows, to Vegas style nuptials and even to radio stations promoting divorce.

It seems that you can't escape reality TV these days, especially during the peak of the writers' strike. You don't have to be a fan to have noticed that there are television programs that actually promote the union of two strangers, in the short time period between the first episode and the season finale -- literally only a couple of months.

Then there are those that run off to Vegas and sign on the dotted line while in a drunken stupor. Even celebrities are in on the fun. Remember when Britney Spears married a long-time friend on a whim? I think it was for only a matter of hours.

Well, now here is the next insult to the sacred institution of marriage. I'll even give you a hint. It has nothing to do with two loving committed people of the same gender wanting to make a spiritual and legal commitment to each other. The threat once again comes from the straight community itself.

In the conservative southern state of West Virginia, a radio station gave away a free divorce for a situation "where maybe you despise your spouse and resent the entire day." This is according to Jay Nunley, the Program Director of WKLC-FM, referring to Valentine's Day. He spoke of giving away concert tickets in place of the divorce. "That's going to make you happy for a little while. This is the chance to make someone happy for the rest of their life."

The threat to marriage doesn't come from anyone in the gay community wanting to legalize or legitimize their unions. It comes directly from those who have the legal right to marry; the institution of marriage has turned into a trivial game, easily entered and easily escaped. One thing is for sure, those of us fighting for equal treatment under the law wouldn't take this American right for granted.

Broward County, home of Fort Lauderdale, a large gay tourist destination, passed an amendment this afternoon to include gender identity in its human rights ordinance. Broward County is now one of only a dozen municipalities in the state of Florida to have banned discrimination based on gender identity.

The amendment provides for workplace and housing protections, as well as public accommodations for transgendered people. It also makes harassment illegal, against gay or straight people that do not fit traditional stereotypes.

Just as Florida begins to grapple with a November ballot initiative against gay marriage or unions, Broward County proves to be a progressive pocket in the state. Congratulations to the fair-minded commissioners who were part of this movement and also to the citizens of Broward County.

As our country continues to be divided about extending equal rights to its gay citizens, individual states are attempting to figure out where they stand on the issue. As one state progresses forward, another sinks deeper into the abyss of the dark ages.

Oregon was the latest to offer some type of protection for its gay community. The state finally extended a domestic partnership law after it was held up in court for a short period of time. Just this Monday, same-sex couples were able to legally apply for domestic partnership. This move provides gay couples with many of the responsibilities and benefits of marriage, but not all.

How can anyone reconcile that in their hearts and in their heads? Yes, it's a step in the right direction but the new law does not treat gay people as equal. Why only provide for some of the duties and protections of marriage, and not all? The mind-set in that logic is blatantly discriminatory.

Meanwhile, New York's appellate court decided it must recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages as equal to its recognition of heterosexual marriages. A court challenge, by a Canadian lesbian couple, led to this ruling. The lawsuit began when one of the women was denied health care benefits by her partner's employer. Because the two had entered into a civil union in the state of Vermont many years earlier, the court ruled they must be treated as any married couple.

The New York Times reported that the court concluded that gay marriages meet the state's "marriage recognition rule". The court said, “In our view, the Court of Appeals thereby indicated that the recognition of plaintiff’s marriage is not against the public policy of New York.”

Again this is a step in the right direction, but when and how does this ruling begin to apply to the other thousands of gay couples in the state? Of all states, New York has been slow to move on this issue; in the greater context of things this doesn't make too much sense. I'm confident, however, that it will only be a matter of time until the state makes things right, but it should have led the movement, not followed.

And now, as I've pointed out several times recently, Florida is on the verge of going in the opposite direction. This November the state will vote on whether to ban all forms of gay marriages and unions. The gay community needs its state representatives to lead on this issue. It has been rumored that Florida Governor, Charlie Crist, is against this proposed measure. If that is the case, then will he stand up for us? He is a very popular Governor with about 70% approval. He and others should speak out against the proposed amendment.

It can be defeated but only if we work to defeat it. The most important thing you can do as a Florida voter is to VOTE! And, don't forget to spread the word to your family, friends, and neighbors.

You can also join the fight by checking out and joining these organizations: Fairness For All Families, Equality Florida, and Human Rights Campaign Fund

I have written several times before on this topic; and, unfortunately, it has now come to be. Florida will decide in November 2008 if the gay community, and others, in the state will permanently be banned from every form of civil union or gay marriage. The anti-gay group, collecting signatures supporting an amendment to Florida's constitution, collected enough support to get their anti-gay marriage proposal on the ballot in the fall.

If passed by Florida voters, the amendment will affect all unmarried Floridians not just those of us in the gay community. Many from the straight community, including seniors, firefighters, teachers and police officers living together for financial purposes, will also be impacted by this.

The most important thing we can do is to spread the word and ask all of those who love and support us, to vote "NO" on the proposed Florida state constitutional amendment known as the so called "Marriage Protection Act". Equality Florida, a non-profit group seeking equality and justice for Florida's gay community, suggested talking to your circle of influence, stepping outside of your comfort zones and engaging the people in your neighborhoods and the places where you shop. We must not allow this kind of inequality to be permanently written into the state's constitution.

Two laws and a court decision already prevent gays in Florida from marrying. Why do we now have to write this into the constitution? If it succeeds in passing, our relationships will never be legally recognized. We will be legally prevented from visiting our life-partners in the hospital; we will be in jeopardy of losing our own homes upon the deaths of our partners; our children will be legally prevented from visiting a gay parent with whom they grew up in the event of a separation. And, the list goes on.

How does giving our community legal protection threaten traditional marriage? By not legally recognizing our relationships, the law would in effect, promote a lack of commitment and responsibility to each other. The law actually encourages us not to be faithful to each other. Why would Floridians and our government support that? This anti-gay group is attempting to mislead fair-minded citizens in the state. Their message is all about religion and fear. Since Massachusetts enacted gay marriage many years ago, heterosexual marriage hasn't collapsed. It won't anywhere else either.

Please join me by helping to defeat this ignorant and hurtful proposal in November. You can help by voting "NO", by spreading the word to other Floridians, by volunteering or contributing to organizations working for true equality. You can learn more by linking to these websites: Equality Florida and Fairness For All Families.

You can also read my other postings on this topic by clicking on any of these links here: Florida Gay-Rights Supporters Beware; Gay Floridians Still in Harm's Way; Attention Florida Voters: We Need Your Help; Religion & Politics: A Match Made In Heaven?

As many of you know today is Primary election day in Florida. There are several groups out today, working the polling places. One group is attempting to get additional signatures for an anti-gay marriage amendment. If this group is successful, a proposed change in Florida's constitution will appear on the November 2008 ballot. If passed this amendment will forever write anti-gay rights discrimination into the state's constitution, prohibiting any form of gay union in the future. For more details please read my earlier post by clicking here: Gay Floridians Still in Harm's Way

A couple of other groups are working the polls today as well; these other groups are pro-gay rights. They are attempting to educate voters on what the proposed amendment will mean for our community as well as others in the state of Florida. They are asking voters not to sign the petition for the proposed amendment.

A friend of mine, just came from voting this morning and told me that he was asked to sign a petition to keep the proposed amendment off of the November ballot. He was confused and did not sign it. I am not aware of any pro-gay rights groups collecting signatures. This does not mean that they are not. It could be that my friend was confused or it could be that the person collecting signatures was misrepresenting herself. I'm not sure.

But I have a strong warning for those in Florida today -- please do not sign anything that you do not fully understand. Unless it very clearly states on the petition that you want to keep the measure off of the November ballot, I urge you not to sign it.

Please spread the word to all of your Floridian loved ones that want to support you and your gay-rights.

Yesterday, in recognition of Martin Luther King Day a fellow blogger, Dancing Bear, wrote a post to honor Bayard Rustin. He was a civil rights leader who worked closely with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Unfortunately, he is almost anything but remembered in the history books, merely because he was homosexual. Dancing Bear wrote of Dr. King and Bayard Rustin, the struggle and how Dr. King's Dream has still yet to be realized.

One reader's ignorant comment spawned many replies and set off an interesting dialog. I also added my two cents. I think my comment is approximately number 36. I urge you to check it out, and I ask that you read as many of the comments as you can tolerate. The offensive comment is from "8gurl" and is only 2nd on the list.

Before you link to the post, I would like to highly recommend a movie. Don't walk, but run out and rent Crash, today. It is well written, well directed, and well acted. It's a touching story with a very important message for ALL of us. And if you're anything like me, you might shed a tear or two.

You can link to Dancing Bear's post here: A dream yet to be realized..............

An anti-gay marriage amendment was almost certain to find its way onto Florida's November ballot; but it has been widely reported over the last several weeks that this discriminatory effort has failed. Link to my original post for background on this measure by clicking here: Attention Florida Voters: We Need Your Help. In reality, the measure could still end up on November's ballot.

The anti-gay marriage amendment could still be presented to Florida voters in November if its supporters can gather and submit a total of 611,009 signatures to the Division of Elections. Earlier in the year the group behind this proposal thought they had already achieved that goal; however, a "glitch" had caused an over count of 22,000 signatures.

Now the group has until February 1st to gather the additional support they need. It is suspected that they will take advantage of the January 29th Primary election to gain more signatures from the volumes of people that turn out to vote.

Fairness For All Families is recruiting volunteers to work the polls on election day in an effort to educate voters on the harmful effects of this potential amendment. If you will be in Florida on Primary day and want to volunteer please follow this link to sign up -- Fairness For All Families, 2008 Primary Day Volunteers.

According to the Reader's Digest Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary, the term bigot is defined as: Noun. A person of strong conviction or prejudice, especially in matters of religion, race, or politics, who is intolerant of those who feel differently.

Did you see this Mike Huckabee interview yesterday on CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer? (Once the video buffers, fast forward passed the beginning) To me, his arrogant conviction against same-sex marriage was frightening.

In this same interview, he enlightened us on the notion that the separation of church and state is a myth. And, that it was meant to protect religion from having to accept government's state sanctioned church, not to keep religion out of government.

He was arrogant in the expression of his beliefs; as he explained how marriage was meant for only one man and one woman, he reminded me of a former communist dictator from Germany's past. Hitler too had a similar view of superiority.

Huckabee was also interviewed by Beliefnet on Thursday and spoke on the same subject. He was quoted as saying, "Marriage has historically, as long as there’s been human history, meant a man and a woman in a relationship for life. Once we change that definition, then where does it go from there?"

When asked if he'd want to change the constitution to conform to the Bible, he likened the idea of same-sex marriage to bestiality. "Well, I don’t think that’s a radical view to say we’re going to affirm marriage. I think the radical view is to say that we’re going to change the definition of marriage so that it can mean two men, two women, a man and three women, a man and a child, a man and animal. Again, once we change the definition, the door is open to change it again. I think the radical position is to make a change in what’s been historic."

What makes his opinion/belief superior to mine? And, what gives him the right to dictate that we, as gay Americans, should have no legal protection in our relationships, because of his religious belief?

The way I see it, he fits the definition of a bigot fairly well. How do you see it? I'm open to hearing from those with a differing opinion.