LGBT rights

North Carolina Republicans doing what they do best. No doubt they'll all be surprised when others follow Jim Neal's courageous lead and start to tear this god-forsaken place apart. Roses Rampage? Maxway Madness? Dollar Store Destruction? They have no idea what can happen when the oppressed rise up in civil disobedience.

So says the Twitterverse:

zack_hawkins 3:35pm via HTC Peep RT @ConenMorgan RT @NCCapitol: Same sex marriage protestors entered house floor. 3 arrested, incl 2008 US. Senate hopeful Jim Neal. #ncga

You deserve a medal, my friend, not incarceration. Please stop by and let us know you're okay, after they let you out of the Big House. Or whatever house they use to silence dissenters.

Cross-posted from Facing South article by Bob Moser, Texas Observer

Bobby Beltran was already having a blue Christmas. Because of his job, the 26-year-old was missing his tight-knit family's celebration back home in Brownsville for the first time. After work on Christmas night, to cheer himself up, Beltran joined some friends and co-workers at Rain, a gay bar in downtown Austin. He was accompanied by Chris Ortega, an Austin native who'd recently returned to Texas' supposed beacon of tolerance -- and had, only weeks before, come out to friends as gay.

At issue is the wording of the preamble to the Rules of Professional Conduct:

North Carolina's attorneys are arguing again over whether to encourage colleagues to keep personal prejudice out of their work by endorsing language designed to protect gays, and most recently, transgender people.

Lawyers opposing the change said they already treat clients with respect but believe it would be the first step toward forcing them to take cases about issues they disagree with on moral grounds.

I've got an even better debate: is the phrase "morally conscious lawyer" ripe for classification as an oxymoron?

Breaking a few moments ago is news that the Senate Armed Services committee has passed an amendment that would significantly move the military closer toward repealing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall released the following statement where she rebuked her Republican opponent for voting against restoring equality in the military.

"Richard Burr is once again on the wrong side of history; he’s stuck in the past. Don't Ask Don't Tell' doesn't work for our national security or our values. We need to honor the commitment of ALL men and women who want to serve, and end this policy of discrimination. I'm pleased by the move today toward repealing DADT and I urge the Senate to repeal this policy by the end of the year."

An amendment to repeal the policy passed the Senate Armed Services Committee today in a vote of 16-12. Burr, not surprisingly, voted against it.

North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall has been a steady and consistent friend of the LGBT community throughout her years of dedicated public service. In fact, just last month, Elaine participated in a live chat at Pam's House Blend to reach out to the community about her run for United States Senate.

As such, I wanted to make everyone got a chance to see Elaine's new expanded issue paper on Civil Rights.

More below.

Learn more:
http://ElaineMarshall.com

Make a contribution:
http://ElaineMarshall.com/Donate

Become a fan on Facebook:
http://Facebook.com/Elaine4NC

Cross-posted from a post at Proverbially Penned.

Freshman congressman Larry Kissell has drawn his first official challenger in the form of Tim D'Annunzio, who, it appears, is also acting as a tea-party candidate within the GOP. D'Annunzio did a fantastic job, as CQ Politics reports, of garnering free media attention by holding fundraisers appealing to the crazier individuals among us. D'Annunzio decided a $25 a plate dinner of North Carolina barbeque and sweet tea just wasn't enough to get people excited about his campaign. So he decided to let his supporters come out, enjoy a good meal, and shoot an Uzi or an MP-5 submachine gun.

No, I'm not kidding; he seriously did this:

But wait! There's more. Not only is D'Annunzio running for Congress, he's also acting as if he is the savior of the GOP. More after the break...

How does it affect you? That's my question. I like to ask people opposed to granting marriage equality to same-sex couple, to see how they respond. For some reason i get a lot of responses that start with "Well, God said..." I don't recall getting a clear answer, usually the closest to an actual response I get is some of the poorly constructed, inaccurate, and mostly unrelated canned responses from a NOM advertisement, probably forwarded by e-mail six or seven times.

So that is what I wonder, How will the government recognizing my relationship as equal to that of other couples affect an opposite-sex couples life? I would love to know because I am hard pressed to come up with a viable answer.

While people are mulling that over I'd like to share some of the ways that the government's refusal to recognize my relationship affects my life.

Updated: A friend of mine called the station and spoke with someone in their sales. (Executive but the name escapes me for the moment) The person she spoke with said it was a local affiliate that simply sold air time, and that the LGBT community is welcome to purchase air time if they would like to present a counter point.

My problem with that is this. Would they have sold the time slot to a racist group that wanted to air a program about the dangers of people of color? I've emailed them asking about that and am currently waiting a response.

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Well, in case you missed it, there was a wonderful...>cough< program on TV last night. WJZY (CW 46 in Charlotte) aired a program on "Silencing Christians"
The full video is actually available online at http://www.silencingchristians.com/

but it still isn't there." - Into the Woods.

I've been feeling very musical lately, which is not a good thing, really. But today, in my mind at least, is an interesting day. Just past the 30th anniversary of the White Night Riots, and a little further past the 5th anniversary of marriage equality in Massachusetts (And yes it is still standing! See it doesn't bring about the apocalypse.) A day to remember those who have served this country, and for me a day to think of those cast from the ranks because of who they were and the still standing blemish of DADT. And a day before the California Supreme Court announces its decision on Prop 8. (With Celebrations or Protests planned to follow in 90 cities)

I also watched "Milk" this weekend, which put me in the mind of "The more things change the more they stay the same." (Scary to hear the words of Anita Bryant still being echoed to this day)