WaPo On New York Marriage

Greg Sargent is optimistic.

A historic day for marriage equality? The most important thing to watch today: New York’s state legislature is on the verge of voting to become the sixth state to legalize gay marriage. Proponents are one vote in the state senate short of making today a very big day indeed for marriage equality. The larger story is striking: This year, for the first time, multiple national polls are showing majority support for the notion that consenting gay adults should have the right to marry and enjoy the same benefits of marriage that heterosexual couples do. If New York takes this step today — which would make it the largest state thus far to do so — it will reinforce the sense that the national outcome of this decades-long civil-rights battle, which has produced a truly astonishing shift in public attitudes, is inevitable.

Washington Post Calls For Moratorium On Deportations Of Legally Unioned Gays

The Washington Post editorial board has called for a moratorium on the deportations of foreign gays in legal-sanctioned relationships with American citizens.

DOMA has been an impediment to the rights of gay men and lesbians since its inception in 1996. It withholds from same-sex couples the legal protections, obligations and privileges enjoyed by their heterosexual counterparts. Repeal appears out of reach, but Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced in February that the Justice Department would no longer defend DOMA in court, after concluding that it is unconstitutional.

The attorney general has vacated the court decision and asked the Board of Immigration Appeals whether Mr. Dorman’s civil union makes him a “spouse” under New Jersey law and whether, absent DOMA, he would be considered a “spouse” under immigration law. Mr. Holder should erase any confusion by declaring a moratorium on removal of foreign nationals in state-recognized same-sex unions until federal courts determine DOMA’s constitutionality. He should ensure that the government is not focusing on breaking up otherwise law-abiding families.

POLL: Slim Majority Now Support Marriage

According to a national poll issued today by the Washington Post/ABC News, a slim majority of Americans now support marriage equality. NOM's Brian Brown is denouncing the wording of the poll's question.

Five years ago, at 36 percent, support for gay marriage barely topped a third of all Americans. Now, 53 percent say gay marriage should be legal, marking the first time in Post-ABC polling that a majority has said so. “This is very consistent with a lot of other polling data we’ve seen and the general momentum we’ve seen over the past year and a half,” said Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, a leading pro-gay-marriage group. “As people have come to understand this is about loving, committed families dealing, like everyone, with tough times, they understand how unfair it is to treat them differently.” Opponents of same-sex marriage took issue with the poll, which asks respondents: “Do you think it should be legal or illegal for gay and lesbian couples to get married?” Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, argued that the term “illegal” could be inferred to mean that violators could be imprisoned, which most Americans would consider harsh.

WaPo notes that it has used the same "legal/illegal" wording in every poll on marriage equality since 2003. So Brian Brown can suck it.

Jonathan Capehart Rants About DADT

Openly gay Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart appeared on MSNBC's Daily Rant segment tonight to rail against Sen. John McCain's position on DADT.

Washington Post Publishes Editorial From Mother Of Dead Bullied Gay Child

In response to widespread criticism for publishing an anti-gay editorial from Family Research Council head Tony Perkins, the Washington Post has posted a response from the mother of 11 year-old Carl Walker-Hoover, who took his life last year after relentless homophobic bullying. An excerpt:

I am a single mother and a devout Christian who had never been involved in advocacy work or politics. After my son died, and GLSEN reached out to me, some of my friends and family members expressed concern about the organization's work to address anti-gay bullying in school. They voiced religious opposition to GLSEN. Thanks to Tony Perkins' On Faith piece published yesterday, I don't have to repeat the arguments. Perkins' lays them all out practically word for word. And they're all wrong. [snip]

If schools perceive addressing anti-gay bullying as a controversial issue, then they'll continue the status quo of putting their heads in the sand and hoping the issue takes care of itself. It won't. And we need to be clear on one thing - addressing anti-gay bullying is not a controversial issue. If you move through the smoke screen organizations like Family Research Council try to create, you realize addressing anti-gay bullying is simply the right thing to do if we care about all of our young people.

Read the entire essay.

PhoboQuotable - Tony Perkins

"Some homosexuals may recognize intuitively that their same-sex attractions are abnormal--yet they have been told by the homosexual movement, and their allies in the media and the educational establishment, that they are 'born gay' and can never change. This and not society's disapproval may create a sense of despair that can lead to suicide.

"The most important thing that Christians can offer to homosexuals is hope--hope that their sins, just like the sins of anyone else, can be forgiven and their lives transformed by the power of Jesus Christ. Jesus' command to love our neighbor clearly embraces the homosexual as well. But love does not require affirming every behavior in which an individual engages." - Family Research Council head Tony Perkins, in a Washington Post column blaming gay teen suicides on the very people working to prevent them.

Commenters on the WaPo column are raging against the paper for providing space to Perkins. Jeremy Hooper piles on at Good As You:

There's absolutely no reason why Tony should be allowed such an open forum. NONE. The gig is not based on merit, but rather because we still live in a skewed world where (a) LGBT people are the one kind of vulnerable population sect whose lives remain subjected to back-and-forth public debate; (b) anti-LGBT discrimination is still passed off as "family values", (c) anti-LGBT groups like the Family Research Council are able to maintain a place in conservative politics by virtue of their connections and financing, and (d) these same groups are given platforms in the name of "objectivity" and journalistic "fairness." It doesn't happen to any other kind of people.

Freep This Poll

The GOP's new "Pledge With America," while full of teabaggery nonsense, only makes one mention of supporting "traditional marriage," and says nothing more about opposing LGBT rights. Anti-gay groups are, of course, displeased, although the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins calls it a "step in the right direction." Today the Washington Post discusses LGBT rights and the GOP:

As polls show that growing numbers of Americans back greater rights for gay men and lesbians, some well-known Republican figures are calling for the party to shift its stances on such issues. But Christian conservatives warn that the GOP could lose its base if it endorses same-sex marriage or takes other pro-gay-rights stands. What do you think? Will opposition to same-sex marriage become a liability for the GOP?

Respond to the Wapo poll here. And check out their slideshow of (now) openly gay GOP members, some of whom were only revealed through scandal.

(Tipped by JMG reader Roger)

GOProud Vs. GetEQUAL

Today the Washington Post examines the two newest groups on the gay political scene.

It's been a big, loud gay year, and a pair of young gay rights groups on opposite ends of the political spectrum have tried to be heard above the noise in Washington: GOProud, from its basement office in Capitol Hill, and GetEQUAL, a nationwide, direct-action network of activists co-captained by Managing Director Heather Cronk, 32, who lives in Maryland. The groups are not analogous in size, strategy or mission, but each aspires to commandeer the causes championed by the establishment -- embodied by the Human Rights Campaign on the left and the Log Cabin Republicans on the right. It's been a busy gay week, too. On Tuesday, Democrats failed to break a Republican filibuster of the defense authorization bill, which included a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Both GetEQUAL and GOProud support repeal, but they reacted differently to defeat.

GOProud ripped Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for refusing to extend debate on the bill, then headed to New York for Homocon, a $250-to-$2,500-a-plate dinner at the home of billionaire and GOProud donor Peter Thiel, the libertarian co-founder of PayPal, with conservative instigator Ann Coulter as the group's keynote speaker. GetEQUAL retrenched by pulling 80 people onto a conference call Wednesday night, soliciting the tactical ideas of supporters from Montana to Arkansas to Connecticut. Suggestions mirrored the actions that have already garnered publicity: sit-ins, walkouts and traffic blockades.

Read the entire article.

In Today's Washington Post Express

I watch one episode and this is what happens? I'm sure Sarah Palin's teabagger drones don't read the WaPo Express, so we should be safe from her army of trolls on this. Real critics of the show who dissed Bristol's dancing haven't been so lucky.

(Sent by JMG reader Nicholas)

WaPo Picks Up My FRC Post

The Washington Post's David Weigel has picked up my post about the Family Research Council lobbying against a congressional condemnation of Uganda's "kill gays" bill.

Gay City News and blogger Joe My God dug into the lobbying records of the Family Research Council and found that among the "Civil Rights/Civil Liberties" issues that the FRC's Tom McCluskey and David Christensen lobbied on was HR 1064, a resolution condemning Uganda's proposed anti-homosexuality bill. That's the bill that would assign a seven-year sentence for "homosexuality" and a possible death sentence for "aggravated homosexuality."

Should this come as a surprise? Well, it's the only issue under the "Civil Rights/Civil Liberties" heading that doesn't actually touch on a change to American laws. The resolution, proposed by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Ca.), spends most of its length arguing that Uganda's efforts to fight AIDS would be impeded by the law and proclaims that "all people possess an intrinsic human dignity, regardless of sexual orientation, and share fundamental human rights." In the FRC's report, this resolution is short-handed as "pro-homosexual promotion."

Weigel has posted the FRC's lobbying report in full, as well as the wording of the House resolution. He is waiting for the Family Research Council to respond.

Obama X

Either the Washington Post has really cut back on their proofreading team or somebody can't tell the difference between Malcolm X and Barack Obama. Gawker has the photo that was supposed to run.