Pam's House Blend

Friends, in case you missed it, I wanted to make sure you got a chance to read Elaine's forthcoming discussion on LGBT issues with Pam's House Blend. It went very well as Elaine took the questions on DADT, DOMA, her campaign, and many others. You can see a full recap by clicking here.

I've posted some highlights below. If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments. Thanks!

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For me the best part of attending my statewide Pride celebration is capturing the anti-gay fundamentalists along the parade route.

This year, I managed to do that, but I took the pix while riding in one of the cars in the parade this year, as I was asked to deliver the keynote address. Oy. Really, I don't understand why people think blogger=public speaker, but not all of us are extroverts. More on that later.

This year's crop of bible-beating losers was interesting.

Right: Pastor Billy Ball, a "fan" of my blog who has written me damnation Valentines and other deranged emails, made the trip all the way from Primrose, GA.

I rode in the "celebrity" jeep with Stormy Ellis, who is the only out Assistant District Attorney in the entire state of NC -- of course she is in Durham. The Grand Marshall of the parade, Mark Kleinschmidt, is an out gay Chapel Hill town council member who is running for mayor there this year.

Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez Sr., who is one rocking supporter of the LGBT community, spoke; the officers at the parade volunteered to be there and those on the force who are LGBT are not in the closet.

So in this environment, our 2009 fundies found themselves wildly outnumbered; poor Billy Ball didn't even bring a bullhorn. Talk about unprepared. But we had these new ones (one reader called them Agent Smiths with "all their asinine Matrix sunglasses") who really wore the loser label quite well...

And the guy carrying this sign is a three-time attendee; he also shows up at the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival here.

In terms of the keynote, rewritten over and over up until the last moment, I was definitely nervous, since I wasn't delivering a traditional rah-rah keynote. After all, if you give me the podium, knowing my content, you may be asking for trouble -- or at least a generous amount of stepping on some third rails.

My keynote is below the fold (w/video and a slideshow).

Continue taking blogging to the next level.

A couple of days ago I mentioned that I was interviewed by Amanda Millner-Fairbanks of the New York Times for a feature. She told me that it was likely to run Sunday, but it actually published today on its web site.  It will be in the print edition tomorrow (on page ST1 of the New York edition).

The article, "The Year of the Political Blogger Has Arrived," is about bloggers and the 2008 Democratic National Convention, focusing on some of the logistical and financial hurdles faced by bloggers to cover the event. She also spoke with the DNCC about the challenges of including new media/citizen journalists as members of the credentialed media.

Other bloggers are interviewed, including Phillip Anderson from The Albany Project and John Odum of Green Mountain Daily.

It seems my email and voicemail were full of reactions to today's Raleigh News & Observer's profile of me by Sadia Latifi, "Blogger gets respect: Durham resident writes on progressive issues."

It's a good look at the blog, with quite a bit of personal background that people may not know about me -- my father's side of the family has deep roots in Durham's political history, and the reporter gave a good summary of it.

Actually most of the information I gave to Ms. Latifi I didn't think wouldn't make it into the article. You know, you sit down with the reporter for a couple of hours and figure they'll pick a few quotes here and there and it will end up a little squib somewhere in the back of the paper, but it's a full-blown feature piece...with photos (argh!). But at least it gives non-bloggers a peek into my world. I have no idea what you all think, so I'm putting a diary up for your reactions (both to the article and the info in it).

It's pretty amusing that more people in DC know me for my political blogging than people here in my own home state.

This is a cross-post from my blog, Pam's House Blend (which will be updated a bit more frequently), so I have to go into a bit more detail about things for my general audience.

***

At the New Bern Convention Center, as the festivities and business begin.

I'm in New Bern, NC for the North Carolina Democratic Party State Convention. Of course I know that most regular Blenders won't find this post exciting, since I usually blog about national politics, LGBT issues, race, the religious loonies, etc. I wanted to attend the NC state party convention because 1) it is a landmark presidential election; 2) it's a way to see democracy in action, as well as my state's inner party workings; and 3) it's a micro-version of what I and the rest of the baristas will experience covering the national convention in Denver.

Here is the audio of the show:

Today I was a guest on NPR's The State of Things (WUNC), hosted by Frank Stasio, to discuss the impact of the California Supreme Court ruling and its impact on the NC amendment effort. Also on the "Same-Sex Marriage and NC" segment were Wake Forest University Professor of political science John Dinan, and Steven Petrow, the past president of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.

I think there was consensus that the ruling -- and the upcoming ballot initiative, is being watched closely by other states, some for guidance on how to extend marriage equality, and others, like North Carolina, which already has a state DOMA and an onerous amendment has been introduced for the fourth time into the state Senate by good old boy Sen. James Forrester.

Marriage is the union of one man and one woman at one time. This is the only marriage that shall be recognized as valid in this State. The uniting of two persons of the same sex or the uniting of more than two persons of any sex in a marriage, civil union, domestic partnership, or other similar relationship within or outside of this State shall not be valid or recognized in this State. This Constitution shall not be construed to require that marital status or the rights, privileges, benefits, or other legal incidents of marriage be conferred upon unmarried individuals or groups.

The significance of the California ruling is that, unlike Massachusetts, the Golden State does not have a no residency requirement for obtaining a civil marriage license -- and that means North Carolinian same-sex couples would be able to marry -- and contest the constitutionality of the state DOMA here. Steven Petrow mentioned that fact that the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund has asked the California Supreme Court for a stay issuing same-sex marriage licenses until after the election -- and the outcome of the November ballot initiative.

More below the fold.

For those of you who aren't regular readers of my blog, you might want to see the quality of the radical right whackjobs who read my posts, then foam at the mouth at their blogs, usually as a drumbeat to do a bit of fundraising. People like Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality are full-time, "professionals" who spend day and night doing "research" on The Homosexual Agenda, funded by misguided followers and wingnut welfare. Below the fold, a taste of what I deal with on a regular basis.

On Friday morning I'm heading to Senator Elizabeth Dole's Raleigh office with a delegation of NC bloggers and concerned citizens to deliver a petition requesting that the U.S. Senator put a stop to the color arousal/racist ad floated by the NC GOP and its head Linda Daves. John McCain has already said he can do nothing about it. Dole doesn't even give a damn:

Dole said in an interview she didn't want to get involved.

"I am concentrating on getting my work done here in the Senate, and I'm just not going to get into refereeing a third party political ad that has nothing to do with my race," she said.