Posting will be pretty light over the next few days — it is Pride weekend here in San Francisco (and in New York) after all… but will have plenty of photos of the parade and other goings on early next week.
Until then everyone have a safe and happy Pride!
Bay Area photographer Bill Wilson spoke briefly with Michelle Obama at an event he covered in San Francisco yesterday, kicking off the United We Serve program. Wilson, who is gay and recently married to his partner of 22 years by Mayor Gavin Newsom, told the First Lady we need to get rid of DOMA. The exchange via The Petrelis Files below:
Bill Wilson: My husband and I have been together 23 years. We need to get rid of the Defense of Marriage Act.
Michelle Obama: I agree.
Bill Wilson: We need it done now.
Michelle Obama: It will be.
Bill Wilson: I really want to be able to support him.
Michelle Obama: As well you should!
Bill Wilson: We really do want him to succeed.
Michelle Obama: I’ll tell him.
(At this point she leaned over to give me a hug.)
As she stepped away I said, “We were married by the Mayor last year.”
Michelle Obama: Give your husband a hug from me.
I met Bill recently covering the GLAAD Media Awards and am glad he was able to speak to Michelle Obama on behalf of the gay community. Is it possible we have a “fierce advocate” in the White House after all?
After losing a lawsuit accusing the city of San Francisco of hostility toward the Catholic Church, Richard Thompson of the Thomas Moore Law Center had some harsh words for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, drawing on the holocaust for inspiration:
“It is not a stretch to compare the San Francisco board’s actions to that of the Nazi Germany policy of Gleichschaltung, vilifying Jews as an auxiliary to and laying the groundwork for more repressive policies, including the final solution of extermination.”
Filed on behalf of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights (CLRCR), the lawsuit accused a board of supervisors resolution of violating the constitutional requirement of government neutrality toward religion. The resolution which originally passed in 2006, denounced an order from the Vatican to Catholic Charities decreeing that adoptive children could not be placed with same-sex couples because it “would actually mean doing violence to these children.” The resolution called the Vatican order “hateful and discriminatory rhetoric” and asked that local Catholic officials ignore it. They did not, and actually stopped placing adoptive children entirely.
CLRCR is headed by Bill Donohue, a rabidly anti-gay, anti-progressive Catholic apologist who regularly appears on cable news networks promulgating his views. Recently Donohue characterized an Irish report detailing abuse of children by Catholic priests and nuns as “hysterical,” even to one of its victims.
Sometimes hypocrisy is subtle, and sometimes it screams from the rooftops. Mr. Thompson, I’d suggest you and the Thomas Moore Law Center refrain from referencing Nazis and the final solution when defending the Catholic faith, particularly when considering the role the Catholic Church played in Nazi abuses during World War II. And Mr. Donohue, don’t you see the irony in defending your church against multiple cases of child abuse, while at the same time participating in a lawsuit which defends your church’s right to accuse same-sex parents of essentially the same thing? Astonishing.
This case unfortunately is far from over. The Thomas More Law Center has asked for a rehearing and will take their case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.
Granted it’s a comedy show by some crude and talent-impaired shock jocks (and one semi-reasonable jockette), but give me a break. It’s dehumanizing talk like this that nudges someone to act out and hurt someone. Listen to audio from the Rob, Arnie and Dawn Show if you can stomach it. Discussion starts around the 4:45 mark.
It’s easy to forget sometimes living here in this bubble called San Francisco that we are just an hour or two away from such intense prejudice and intolerance. Oh wait a minute, Michael Savage broadcasts from San Francisco. So much for that theory.
GLAAD has now called for an apology from the show.