General: September 2005 Archives

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger followed through on his promise and vetoed legislation yesterday that would have legalized same-sex marriage in California.

In his veto message, the Republican governor said he was rejecting the measure “because I do not believe the Legislature can reverse an initiative approved by the people of California.” Proposition 22, an initiative passed in 2000, defined marriage as the union between a man and a woman. [...]

Assemblyman Mark Leno, the San Francisco Democrat who wrote the bill, said he was disappointed.

“The governor has failed his test of leadership and has missed a historic opportunity to stand up for the basic civil rights of all Californians,” Leno said. (source)

FLINT - A statewide gay rights organization is calling on Flint City Council President Johnnie Coleman to apologize for anti-gay remarks he made in a television news report that aired last week.

The Triangle Foundation issued a news release Tuesday asking for the apology after WSMH (Channel 66) showed Coleman on camera calling news anchor Jim Kiertzner a “faggot” and referring to persons apparently at City Hall as “faggots.” [...]

Coleman has made similar anti-gay remarks before. In 2004, Coleman called Flint Journal columnist Andrew Heller a punk who probably likes to watch “fag porn” after Heller criticized the council for spending time on an ordinance to ban porn from in-car DVDs.

“It’s offensive and insulting for an elected leader to use such language,” said Sean Kosofsky, policy director for the foundation. “It’s an embarrassment to the city of Flint when someone does something like this.”

Coleman, who is running for re-election this November, referred comment Tuesday to attorney Loyst Fletcher, who said he needed to review the tape and transcript before advising his client.

“Sometimes people in anger say something they should not,” Fletcher said. “If he said something that would offend some segments of the population, I would recommend that he would apologize. It all depends on the context.” (source)

CONTACT INFORMATION
Mail
Johnnie Coleman
Flint City Council
1102 S. Saginaw Street
Flint, MI 48502

EMail
jcoleman@cityofflint.com

Phone
810-766-7418

I suppose it does all depend on context. I suppose that in some contexts, it’s fine to call other citizens “faggots”. Very true, in many bigoted circles of society, it is still very acceptable to call gay people “faggots”. I don’t think any gay person reading this will dispute that unfortunate fact.

What is really in question here is why an elected official seems to think it is acceptable. What is more outrageous is for an attorney, one who supposedly represents many different types of people in society, would say that, “It all depends on the context.”

But then again, perhaps I’m taking the attorney’s comment out of context. Attorney’s don’t hold any special abilities for fairness and sensitivity. I remember after Kent and I moved to Connecticut, I went to an attorney for help in drafting a will to protect what Kent and I have together, as a partnership.

Granted, that was long before this concept came along of gay couples wanting marriage. All I was looking for were some simple legal protections. The lawyer, who was in his mid-to-late twenties, literally laughed in my face and told me to get out.

I left. What could I do? I was humiliated and powerless. But things are changing (I think). I read this story about a gay man in Russia who successfully sued to get his job. If he can do that in Russia, I know things are changing for the better.

(Washington) House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) was indicted on conspiracy charges Wednesday by a Texas grand jury. [...]

DeLay was the main push in last year’s proposed amendment to the US Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. The measure failed in the House but DeLay said the issue was far from dead. “We will come back and come back until this is passed,” he said. (source)

Well, I suppose he was the main push for the amendment against gay marriage, and I suppose someone may bring it up again, if the Republicans think it will work again to get voters to the polls, but I don’t think it will be Mr. Delay doing the driving.

I wonder how many more corrupt politicians from the GOP will fall from this. I can’t wait to find out.

Yes, I’m outraged as well. We all should be. Amir is lucky to even be alive in Iran. I’m going to be quite blunt here. I expect such treatment from a backward tenth-rate nation such as Iran. Think I’m being too harsh? Think I don’t understand all the issues involved? Perhaps I don’t. But, I don’t really have too. All I have to do is look at the photo below and realize that the only thing this young man is guilty of is being gay. That is why he is wearing those 100 lashes on his back. Is there honestly anything else that is relevant for me to understand?

As I said, I expect that from Iran. What I hope for is that countries such as the United States and Great Britain (they call them “civilized” countries), would actually say and do something about it. But we don’t. We don’t even give asylum to people like Amir. In fact, we, along with other “civilized” countries have deported gay refugees back to their country knowing full well what awaits them once they get there.

I don’t know what they answer is. We go to war with Iraq to “promote freedom”. And when something like this happens to someone like Amir, we do nothing. When the two teenage boys were hanged by Iran on July 19, the United States did nothing. Not even a mention, except from the “liberal groups” and “liberal blogs”, like mine. It’s as if we just don’t care. How on earth can we care so much about “WMD’s” and “freeing the Iraqi people”, when we have little or no regard for what happens just next door to Iraq?

LONDON, September 20 - The bruised and bloodied body of a 22 year old gay Iranian, Amir, bears further witness to the brutality of the Ayatollah’s regime. Yet many gay and human rights groups in “the West” are sweeping the matter under the carpet.

Amir escaped Iran after the authorities threatened him with execution for being gay - but not before he was subjected to the barbarism of 100 lashes, which left his back covered in huge bloody welts.

A copy of Amir’s story, together with photos of his savage injuries, has been sent to the British LGBT human rights group OutRage! by Iranian LGBT activists.

“This is a further example of the violent homophobia of the Iran’s Islamic fundamentalist regime”, fumed Brett Lock of OutRage!

“OutRage! is appalled that large sections of liberal and left opinion in the West shows little concern regarding the murderous brutality of the clerical fascist regime in Tehran.” (source)

What it was like for Amir

“There was a metal chair in the middle of the room -- they put a gas flame under the chair, and made me sit on it as the metal seat got hotter and hotter. They threatened to send me to an army barracks where all the soldiers were going to rape me. There was a soft drink bottle sitting on a table -- Ali Panahi told one of the other basiji to take the bottle and shove it up my as, screaming, ‘This will teach you not to want any more cock!’ I was so afraid of sitting in that metal chair as it got hotter and hotter that I confessed. Then they brought out my file, and told me that I was a ‘famous faggot’ in Shiraz. They beat me up so badly that I passed out, and was thrown, unconscious, into a holding cell.

“When I came to, I saw there were several dozen other gay guys in the cell with me. One of them told me that, after they had taken him in, they beat him and forced him to set up dates with people through chat rooms -- and each one of those people had been arrested, those were the other people in that cell with me.”

“We were eventually all taken to court, and cross-examined. The judge sentenced four of us, including me, to public flogging. The news was printed all over the newspapers that a group of homosexuals had been arrested, with our names. I got 100 lashes -- I passed out before the 100 lashes were over. When I woke up, my arms and legs were so numb that I fell over when they picked me up from the platform on which I’d been lashed. They had told me that, if I screamed, they will beat me even harder -- so I was biting my arms so hard, to keep from screaming, that I left deep teeth wounds in my own arms.” ... (source)

Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist died last night. What happens now?

I guess the good news is that Rehnquist was so conservative that it’s going to be hard for President Bush to come up with someone as conservative that won’t give him a lot of headaches during the nomination process.

The president’s choice could be affected by the fallout from Hurricane Katrina. Bush is facing so much criticism and has sunk so low in the polls that he may choose a more moderate nominee.

“If he ever thought about putting forward a hard-nosed conservative, in the wake of Katrina and the negative publicity he’s received, this is not the time to pick a political fight” [...]

Gonzales is believed to be more moderate than the other candidates and more likely to win Democratic support. (source)

What does it say for where we are in this country when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is considered a moderate?

My prediction is that the President will come up with someone who is a bit more moderate than Rehnquist (there are rumors that he may even ask Justice O’Connor to postpone her retirement, although I don’t think that will happen). The conservatives won’t like that. They will feel that this is a prime time for him to change the balance of the court once and for all.

To counter this, I suspect the President will promote either Justice Scalia or Justice Thomas to Chief Justice. That’s my prediction.

This is not good for gay Americans. But then again, what did we expect? Disappointment can only happen with the expectation of something better.

Our day in the sun will come some day. Tonight, I briefly got caught up in 60 Minutes. They had a segment about todays generation - college age children. They were talking to a group of about 20 kids. They were asking various questions and mentioned that these kids want all citizens to be able to share equally in what society has to offer. To show this point, they asked the group how many of them support gay marriage.

Every single hand went up without hesitation. The cast of the news show was taken back by that and said, “All of you?”. That spoke very loudly to me and gave me a lot of hope.

Some are saying that hurricane Katrina is the worst recorded natural disaster that has happened on American soil. It’s got to be right up there with the 1906 earthquake that hit San Francisco, but very few alive today are around to give their recollections of that event. Much of San Francisco burned in the aftermath of that earthquake.

Of course, the world was very different then. San Francisco was largely on it’s own. There were no transport planes available to bring in help. There were neighborhood towns that offered what help they could, but that was it.

But today, we have the horrible disaster and I’m left wondering why it took the President two days to publicly mention that there was a need to look at the situation happening in Louisiana. Indeed, the President decided to cut his vacation short in Crawford, Texas to return to Washington, D.C. On his way back, he decided to divert to Louisiana to see the damage of hurricane Katrina for himself - from 5,000 feet up on Air Force One, from the comfort of his couch. Now, that’s leadership! He cared enough to stop by.

I wasn’t actually going to weigh in on this, because the press - from left and right - are doing a decent job of covering these issues. We expect that from the left-leaning news sources, but the right-leaning news source are also weighing in on this, and they aren’t being kind to our the President.

For example, this from The Union Leader of New Hampshire, a paper known for it’s conservative views. (highlighting my own)

AS THE EXTENT of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation became clearer on Tuesday — millions without power, tens of thousands homeless, a death toll unknowable because rescue crews can’t reach some regions — President Bush carried on with his plans to speak in San Diego, as if nothing important had happened the day before.

Katrina already is measured as one of the worst storms in American history. And yet, President Bush decided that his plans to commemorate the 60th anniversary of VJ Day with a speech were more pressing than responding to the carnage.

A better leader would have flown straight to the disaster zone and announced the immediate mobilization of every available resource to rescue the stranded, find and bury the dead, and keep the survivors fed, clothed, sheltered and free of disease.

The cool, confident, intuitive leadership Bush exhibited in his first term, particularly in the months immediately following Sept. 11, 2001, has vanished. In its place is a diffident detachment unsuitable for the leader of a nation facing war, natural disaster and economic uncertainty.

Wherever the old George W. Bush went, we sure wish we had him back. (source)

The problem is, George W. Bush didn’t go anywhere. People are finally seeing him for what he is.

He’s still the same stupid schmuck he’s always been. He’s the same person who speaks constantly in sentence fragments and half truths. He’s the same president who cares more about people disrupting his vacation than being the leader of the United States. When he finally gets an idea into his head, no amount of facts or reason is going to change his mind.

Yes, I’m alluding to the war in Iraq. Our war on terror is misplaced. We all know that. We know that there were no WMD’s in Iraq. We know that Iraq was not obtaining enriched uranium for the purpose of making bombs. Everyone knows this. We also know that there was no intelligence to suggest this prior to tearing Iraq apart. The President knew this as well. So why did we go to war? Why are 1900 of our men dead? Why are tens of thousands of Iraqis dead? Because George W. Bush took us to war without solid evidence that there was a threat? Why? One word: OIL. You didn’t really think we were going to leave did you? After all, we are building bases there to “protect the oil”. Yeah, right.

Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden, the terrorist who was supposed to be our target is still thumbing his nose at us. And the Bush Administration just doesn’t seem too concerned about that, saying that he is only one person in the war on terror. Folks, OSAMA BIN LADEN IS THE TERRORIST WHO LEVELED THE WORLD TRADE CENTER. He’s not just one man. Yet, they don’t care that he’s still at large. Why? One word: OIL.

Then, there’s this editorial entitled “Waiting for a Leader”, from the New York Times that came out yesterday.

George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end. [...]

It would be some comfort to think that, as Mr. Bush cheerily announced, America “will be a stronger place” for enduring this crisis. Complacency will no longer suffice, especially if experts are right in warning that global warming may increase the intensity of future hurricanes. But since this administration won’t acknowledge that global warming exists, the chances of leadership seem minimal.

All true. It was a difficult speech for me to listen to as well. I admit that a lot of that is just my personal baggage. There’s just something about his voice that makes me cringe. Secondly, he can’t speak. I want to hear from him, as a leader, not from notes hastily put together by some wanna-be speech writer at the very last minute. Yes, that’s what I truly think is happening because anyone who is in a position to put together speeches for the President of the United States can form complete sentences. Am I right? The speech was a disgrace, but then again, it comes from a leader who is an embarrassment to our country.

America deserves better than that.