As horrible as it sounds, I’ve always taken a small measure of comfort in thinking Anita Bryant, who worked so tirelessly in the 70s to strip gays and lesbians of their human rights and reduce them to second class citizens, was no longer with us. Which is not the same as wishing them dead, not exactly anyway.

I guess I’ve been living under a rock. I was wrong. Terribly wrong.

And it looks like she may be up to her old tricks and more… (via Gossip Boy)

And in case we need to be reminded…

As a civil unions bill winds its way through the Hawaiian legislature (currently in hearings in the Senate judiciary committee), a fierce battle rages outside the state capitol between equality advocates and those against any form of same-sex union.

Lesbian blogger Keori, who has been liveblogging for Pam’s House Blend, relates her post-hearing experience …

(please note I have added a link below for reference)

You know, it gets really tiresome to be called diseased and a pedophile and a rapist and an abomination and a threat to America three dozen times in one day. It infuriates me to hear that yes, heterosexuals have special rights (at least they admitted it finally!) and that is how it should be because The Big Book of Bronze Age Fairy Tales says so. To hear little old ladies screaming that they would rather see their grandchildren commit suicide than “be part of that disgusting, filthy, evil lifestyle”, isn’t even remotely amusing anymore.

Even better is to, due to the concussion headache beginning to blind me, forget to take off my little green and gold “equality” sticker on the way out of the building, and be followed to the bus stop by a bunch of red shirts with signs. Three 6’5″, 200 pound Islander guys with signs saying “Gay marriage is wrong” and “John 3:16” followed the lone little white girl with her laptop case across the street, yelling at me, “Repent!”, calling me a bitch and a whore, telling me, “You just need a real man to fuck you straight.” Nothing I haven’t heard before.

Then one of them said, “We know who you are now, and what you drive. We saw you last Thursday. You better watch yourself, fucking haole bitch.” Not one of the 20 people standing around the bus stop said anything to them. I got on the first bus that came along, got off three stops down the street, and caught my right bus a few minutes later. I rode home all alone, with my headphones on, praying no one bothered me. I don’t want to ever hear another fake apology from these people saying that they don’t actually hate queers, they’re just “protecting traditional marriage”. It’s just the latest lie in their christian hate grab bag.

The last time we were in Hawaii was back in 2001. While there we visited the Polynesian Cultural Center, which we later learned was owned and operated by the Mormon church. Considering recent events here in California,  it is a mistake we will not repeat. And if this civil unions bill fails to pass, we won’t make the mistake of vacationing again in Hawaii either.

Hate truly knows no borders.

Supporters of same sex marriage came out to San Francisco city hall yesterday on the 5 year anniversary of granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Organized by Marriage Equality, participants were given roses to to hand to the city clerk as a show of thanks for all the support provided by the city since the gay marriage debate began.

Congressman Jerrold Nadler of NY will introduce the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) tomorrow February 12 which would allow gay Americans to sponsor their foreign-born partners and provide a legal path to U.S. citizenship.

Originally introduced in 2007, the 2009 version of the bill is essentially unchanged and has a growing list of 43 original cosponsors. You can help add to the list of cosponsors before and after the bill’s introduction by doing the following:

• Find out who your U.S. House Representative is. Go to www.congressmerge.com, enter your address, and you will be provided the name of your U.S. Representative.
• Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202)224-3121 and ask to be connected to your U.S. Representative.
• Tell your representative’s staff:

I am calling to ask Representative ________________ to be an original cosponsor of the Uniting American Families Act of 2009. To cosponsor, he/she must contact Rep. Jerrold Nadler who is the lead sponsor.

The U.S. government discriminates against gay and lesbian binational couples by not allowing us to sponsor our foreign-born life partners for immigration. Because of this, we face the terrible choice of separating from the person we love or leaving our country. As Americans, we should not have to choose between family and country. Please ask Rep. _________________ to cosponsor the Uniting American Families Act of 2009.

While not a cosponsor of the 2006 bill, former senator and now President Obama wrote in an open letter to the LGBT community in early 2008 that he worked to improve the Uniting American Families Act, “so we can afford same-sex couples the same rights and obligations as married couples in our immigration system.”

Rahm Emanuel former Congressman from Illinois and now President Obama’s Chief of Staff was also a cosponsor of UAFA bill.

On a more personal level this issue is of tremendous importance to me. Many of my closest friends live with the threat of forced separation every day, knowing that each day could be their last together. And considering my personal background and history, it is a situation that I could easily find myself in. So it’s hard to remain optimistic and hopeful as friend after friend says goodbye…

But the significance of the introduction of this immigration bill on February 12, on Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, shouldn’t be lost on any of us. Like Lincoln before him, Obama must heal a nation that is divided, with the promise of expanding freedom and opportunity to all Americans, regardless of race… regardless of gender… regardless or sexual orientation. The echo’s of Lincoln we see in Obama, give me pause, and give me hope. It makes Lincoln’s words especially relevant now as we hunger for change…

“Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We — even we here — hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free — honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just — a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.”

For additional information and resources vist

Immigration Equality

Out4Immigration