Before we ask ourselves who should be the next governor, we need to ask ourselves what questions we should be asking to make that decision. Do we ask ourselves: "Who do I like? Who represents my hopes? Who can I relate to? Who is best for me?" Yes, maybe we can do that. Or maybe, just maybe we can ask "Which candidate is the best candidate for the most people?"
Without a doubt, I would have to say that candidate would be Entenza because he comes with a disposition and political history that sees the dignity, value, and worthiness of all people- be it the GLBT communities, racial and ethnic minority groups, the employed, the unemployed, the youth, the elderly, the poor, the forgotten, and the unwanted.
He is a listener, and a deep thinker. It means a lot to me that he initiated the Minnesota 20/20 think tank group to ascertain and focus on the issues that are of greatest concern to all of us, and has used that knowledge to formulate policy, legislation, and strategy to develop plans and realistic goals to rebuild this state so that all of us, in whatever corner of the state we reside in, can begin to hope that the future will be better, and that we each carry a dignity no matter who we are, how we were made, and how much we have in our pocket. This is a candidate who sends a message that we all matter. We are all equal and deserving of fairness, safety, healthcare, good educations, good opportunities and we are all welcomed participants in a stronger and healthier Minnesota.
While many candidates are talking about the need for better healthcare, better schools, more jobs, and more opportunities, Entenza is the only candidate who has bridged these hopes with a sound economic plan that will allow us to realize these hopes. We can talk all day about what's wrong with Minnesota, and what needs to be fixed, who is responsible for breaking it, and how hard it is to be living like this, but talk won't change things. If we want a better future, we need a strong economy, and our government needs to rebuild a strong tax base to support our values and our goals for better schools, healthcare, and opportunities.
Entenza has well-developed plans for a new clean energy economy that has the ability to translate into immediate action through policy and initiatives that can take place when he takes office. He's not talking about pipe dreams ten years down the line. He's talking about what can happen now. His strategy will have short-term and intermediate steps to a recovery that will build a stronger and more stable Minnesota economy that can support his vision that we all matter, that we are all welcomed to share in the benefits of a better Minnesota, and that we can do this together.
We can do this together by collectively saying "Yes" to hope. When our friends and neighbors are biting their nails about the economy and joblessness, or when our siblings or parents are worried about how they are going to deal with their health issues, or when our children are worried if they can afford to stay in college, or whatever conversation or encounter that you have that begins to pry open yet another dialogue with despair, send them a link to Entenza's website, and talk to them about what you have read, and do your part to spread the word that our time is now, and that our vote and support for this exceptional candidate really truly matters more than ever.
(Yesterday, I did my seventh year of candle vigil for peace. I am committed for life, no matter what happens. Yet everywhere I hear the anger and disappointment of the unfulfilled expectations of President Obama. - promoted by Grace Kelly)
Patience became the 2009 mantra of the gay rights movement, which generally supports Democrats. Many activists believe that in his heart Obama supports their flagship issues: the ability to serve openly in the armed forces, to be protected from employment in the workplace, and the right to marry (even though he's on record as favouring civil unions over marriage). But they've received almost nothing for their troubles. What the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered community has learned this year is that the president is ultimately a pragmatist. Although his very presence in the White House is the stuff of culture wars, Obama himself is reluctant to wade into one. Moreover, if socially divisive policies have the potential to compromise his legislative agenda, Obama has proven that he simply won't pursue them. Expect this tension to become more acute as the 2010 elections loom-and for gay rights to be shunted aside again. The last thing this pragmatist president will do is hand election-year ammunition to an already energised conservative base that's venomously opposed to gay marriage.
Indeed!
The GLBT dream sheet from the 2008 election has been burnt shortly after it was revealed that HRC Chair Joe Solmonese threw the GLBT agenda under the proverbial bus shortly after Obama's inauguration. In fact, by April 2009, even the GLBT community's "patron saint" Barney Frank (D-MA) was alluding to a repeal of DADT in 2010 as a piece of burnt toast offered to the starving family dog.
Equal Love, a gay rights activist group in Australia is campaigning heavily on an upcoming vote in the Australian Parliament's Senate on same-sex marriage.
The Equal Love March begins August 1st.
Equal Love has launched a series of short television-ready commercials that are not only adorable, they're highly effective. I recommend that you help yourself to see all of them, but this one I liked the best because it hits closest to home.
The premise is that the man represents the Australian government and the woman represents Equality. He wants to take her on a date. But every night he has available on his schedule; she's already booked with those countries that already allow same-sex marriage.
(It's obvious: She's Equality..He's Bureaucracy!)
Check out who she's "dating" on Monday night:
Leave it to Australian-humor to broadcast a simple message. In the other video-spots, you'll see how the Australian government will brag that they've written over eighty-four pieces of legislation that pushes for equality for same-sex couples.
Which is admittedly, staggering. That's well worthy of an applause. 84 laws have been passed in Australia that insists equal rights for their same-sex citizens?! That's mega-Impressive!
Outfront MN has published their "News Alert" bulletin announcing that tomorrow (Wed 7/22/09) the city of St Paul will vote on a Demestic-Partner Registration. The vote is expected to pass and celebrations are planned to be held at Camp, a popular gay bar at 409 N Robert St.
While the city does not have the authority to put an end to the many ways same-sex couples are discriminated against in the state, the city is doing what it can to take a stand in support of GLBT families and contributes to the ongoing momentum in Minnesota toward full legal equality for same-sex couples.
The City of Minneapolis has been registering same-sex couples regardless of their zip code for decades now. It means nothing and it's a sad commentary on the State's lack of appreciation towards it's claim of "diversity". We will continue to pay more in taxes than our heterosexual neighbors and the State will continue to proudly discriminate against us. Having a domestic-partnership registration certificate tacked to our living room wall is pathetic at best.
The party begins at 5:00PM. Obviously, I'd rather not be insulted publicly with a bottle of beer in my hand, so I won't be there.
To put a finer point on it: I have a two family weddings coming up in the next month and a half and I'm planning on skipping those events as well. Why they would bother sending invitations speaks more about getting their gift registry completed than it does about them paying attention.
Everybody remembers Mark Twain's story about Tom Sawyer painting that dreaded picket fence. Gosh, he would have loved to have found a sucker out there who'd be dumb enough to realize how much fun it could be to paint that fence.
Tom had his work cut out for him: He had to whitewash that fence, and he had to make all of those other suckers jealous because he was having such a great time painting it.
Gosh, how effective can this be to shill the same idea to an audience of social conservatives who will, literally, pull their hair out of their heads at the idea of gay marriage?
What could you do?
What could you sell?
Where can you find those same suckers to believe they will invest time and money knowing that their idea of marriage between a man and a woman would be preserved for all eternity?
(Peace, single payer health care, honor for gays in the military, no torture, civil rights - these are the issues that we worked for. How are we doing? - promoted by Grace Kelly)
I've become a cynic on the entire subject related to President Obama's ovations he made towards the GLBT community while he was running for president.
In fact, I've become skeptical to the entire Democratic Party's views towards the GLBT community. The GLBT has been ferociously loyal to the Democratic Party and the Democratic Party has reacted to that ferocity by turning the GLBT's support into nothing short of a cliche'.
The other day, I had a volunteer call me from the DFL looking for my husband life-partner, and when I identified myself as his partner, she identified herself and wanted me consider a donation.
Mega-mistake. Oh boy...
She got an earful. When I said my partner wasn't available, she said; "Then maybe his wife is around?!"
Oh boy....
I said: "ummm... It's illegal for him to get married. I'm his life-partner. We're a gay couple. Is there something that I can help you with?!"
That's when she told me that she was from the DFL and was looking for some cash.
Oh boy...
The DFL is clearly out of touch with the GLBT.
Short version of that conversation: She agreed with me 100% and she admitted that the DFL and the Democrats have treated the Gay Voter as a free meal ticket. Her tone was pretty queasy, you could hear a couple of tears in her tone. She apologized twice I think, but I lost count after I got to the part where the DFL simply walked away from bills in both the state House and the Senate in hopes that they would just go away.
I look like a stop-sign. A freaking bright red stop sign. ...Put my face on top a couple split bananas and a bed of whipped cream - you'd think I was a maraschino. And my legs! My ankles! If they weren't so swollen with all of the water I've been retaining lately - one would think I'd spring a leak and the kids in the neighborhood would have a Slip-n-Slide for Thursday afternoons.
People in Minnesota who still think that the Twin Cities Gay Pride Festival is for gay people should look to invest money into a collection of bridges in Brooklyn, NY.
Twin Cities Gay Pride is for everybody!
Duh!
"The Gays" took a vote a few years ago and we decided to stop discriminating and let the straight people be "gay for a day". (That's not true...Heavens to Mergatroid! The Gays don't vote! It's the Lesbians tell us what to do and we simply do it!"
They fix our gas-efficient cars and we fix them five-star dinner-parties complete with five forks at each place-setting. It's just how we roll!
(I have received many requests to join in the PRIDE parade including Thissen, Marty and Entenza. What I like about this article is the link to Entenza's action history. Entenza was an early supporter! I would love to see substantial articles from the other campaigns on this same subject. - promoted by Grace Kelly)
I believe I had this conversation with my folks about a year ago on the topic of Civil Unions and Gay Marriage. With their ultra-conservative views on the world, they see the topic as sort of a frolick: "Gay people chose to be gay and they're just trying to be trouble-makers for those of us heterosexuals who are serious about our relationships."
One of the notations I pointed out, among many of course, was on the issue of hospitalization. Many gay couples find their life-partners thrown into Emergency Rooms for whatever reason and the hospital staff simply cuts off access to the partner primarily out of legal issues.
"How's that?!" My Dad said angrily as the waitress finished refilling his coffee cup.
"The hospital is legally bound to protect its patients, and since the law doesn't recognize the life-partner as a married spouse, the hospital has no way of validating the claim and they're not willing to risk it!"
My Dad wasn't convinced: "Oh bah... And besides ... How often does that happen anyway? Like... Once every three years?"
That means you've got over two minutes of stuttering and stammering from the President's Press Secretary trying to gather his thoughts and respond (homophobically) to Ana Marie Cox, or:
You've got Robert Gibbs and the Pentagon admiting the obvious: The Gays are easly Punked!
From Pentagon spokesperson Geoff Morrell:
"I do not believe there are any plans under way in this building for some expected, but not articulated, anticipation that don't ask-don't tell will be repealed," Morrell told reporters at the Pentagon.
"They're [the Pentagon] aware of where the president wants to go on this issue, but I don't think that there is any sense of any immediate developments in the offing on efforts to repeal don't ask-don't tell,
Who needs the proverbial Clue-Phone? The President, or the GLBT community?
Mark My Words
Updated: The link (re: "Pentagon has no plans...") was broken and consequently repaired.
The GLBT Community turned our back on Rick Warren and his homophobic message long before Barack Obama, the obscure Illinois Senator threw his hat into the Presidential Ring and decided to embrace Warren as his personall ally. (As if the Democrats, the Republicans and Barack Obama expected the GLBT Community to be that politically dense.) Warren's mega-church was influential in California's Prop 8 and destroying our marriage vows and considering gay-relationships equivalent to cases related animal-husbandry.
Face it; Who needs to answer the Clue Phone?
But, I digress.
Last week, Lt Dan Choi, of the U.S. Army, an Arabic-English translater, went front and center to appear on the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC and announced openly that he was gay. (Footage of the event is available here.)
Maine's Judiciary Committee just passed marriage equality. It still has to pass both chambers and get signed by the governor but the strong vote in favor including all Democrats and a Republican is a very good sign for it's prospects.
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont have all passed marriage equality. California's Supreme Court legalized gay marriage before it was invalidated by Prop 8. New Hampshire's State Senate will be voting on marriage equality tomorow and many other states including NY, NJ, RI, DE, DC, WA, CA and yes Minnesota have strong efforts for marriage equality under way. Public opinion is rapidly changing as well. A recent NYT/CBS poll showed that a remarkable two thirds of Americans favor either civil unions or marriage equality for gay couples. Numbers genius / god Nate Silver thinks that by 2024 even Mississippi will have majority support for marriage equality.
So what does that all mean for Minnesota? It means we are being left out of the march for civil rights for GLBT people. But that may change. Senator John Marty and Rep. Phyllis Kahn have introduced the Marriage and Family Protection Act which would legalize gay marriage in Minnesota with Many co-sponsors. With the DFL's big majorities in both chambers it seems likely that the Marriage and Family Protection Act could pass if brought up for a vote. But the legislative leadership is very unlikely to bring it up for a vote unless we have a governor who will sign it. Tim Pawlenty won't. So to win marriage equality in Minnesota we need to elect a pro-equality, Democratic governor. Where do our candidates stand?
John Marty: Marty is the chief sponsor of the Senate marriage equality bill so obviously he is strongly in favor.
Tom Bakk: I couldn't find anything about Bakk's stance on the issue and as a rural Iron Range legislator I honestly don't really know how he would stand on the bill. I've left a inquiry with his legislative staff.
Paul Thissen: Here's what Thissen has to say on the issue
"I support marriage equality for same sex couples. It's a basic fairness issue."
Steve Kelley: Also no public statement but I've heard he's strongly in favor and he was well liked by Stonewall DFL during his 2006 campaign.
Susan Gaertner: I had heard before that she was only for civil unions but recently I heard that she was jokingly complaining about losing tourism to Iowa over marriage equality at a Stonewall DFL event so I assume she now favors marriage equality or did all along.
Mark Dayton: Was one of 5 Senators who favored marriage equality during his time in the Senate. Strongly in favor and has been as far back as he has had a position.
Matt Entenza: Checked with his campaign and who said Matt has sponsored marriage equality legislation as far back in 1996. So he's a strong supporter (Back in 1996 even Paul Wellstone was voting for the anti-gay marriage "Defense of Marriage Act")
This is one of the most important and basic issues of our time. It's simple, do you favor discriminating against two people who love each other? No one can claim to be "pro-family" while denying basic rights to loving families. In the end it comes down to simply bigotry against gay people. I'll end with a video of the Republican Mayor of San Diego
Now it's up to you Gov. Pawlenty and the other candidates for governor, which side of the history books do you want to be on?
(At the same time, that John McCain's campaign manager, Steve Schmidt, describes that Republican Party,as marginalized by its religious elements, in a speech before the Log Cabin (gay) Republicans:
"If you put public policy issues to a religious test, you risk becoming a religious party," Schmidt declared. "And in a free country, a political party cannot be viable in the long term if it is seen as a sectarian party."
In Marmion, Sir Walter Scott said; "Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive!" There's no simple way to explain the actions of a gay group identifying themselves as "H.O.M.O.". You want to just scratch your head and say: "Okay...What in the Blazes were they thinking??!" It's mind-boggling to think that even though their intentions were good...It was probably the most botched, bungled and banged-up job attempting to raise awareness on a very simple issue.
Fox 9 (KMSP)News, the Twin Cities worst broadcast news show in the ten state region, attempted to spotlight on the story and they seemed to have bungled the story themselves.
So here I am, with a magnifying glass in one hand and my calabash pipe in the other, ready to unravel the unbelievable!
I just received this from Outfront Minnesota's "Amber Alert"...
The hearing on the marriage equality bill that had been scheduled for this Friday has been postponed. The activity at the legislature is very intense and rescheduling is being done to accommodate bills for which there are definite votes planned. This hearing was to be informational only, and lawmakers believed priority should be given to bills that will receive a vote.
So far, this is some of the upcoming hearings on the docket:
+ Tomorrow, the health care agent bill will be heard in the House Human Services Committee.
Friday, the domestic partner benefits for state employees will be heard in a senate committee.
+ The Safe Schools for All bill is expected to be heard in a house committee very soon.
We still anticipate a hearing on the marriage equality bill at some point during this session.
I'm playing telephone tag with two State Senators which has gone on for about three days. I should know more in the next day or two.
