These are difficult times. Most everyone we know is cutting back. Some of us are looking for work, myself included. But for many these times are especially tough, like those struggling with HIV and AIDS. A situation made worse by Gov. Schwarzenegger’s threat to slash $80 million in AIDS/HIV funding, which would be used for prevention, education, testing, treatment and housing.

This weekend is AIDS Walk 2009 in San Francisco, and we will walk as we do every year. If you are able, please consider making a gift, no matter how small, to continue the fight against AIDS, and to help make up the difference for those who are unable to give. The AIDS Walk is our community’s single most powerful and enduring response to the AIDS epidemic, as the struggle against this disease is far from over. Every 9 1/2 minutes someone becomes infected with HIV. In the U.S., one in five people already infected don’t even know. And in San Francisco alone, 25,000 live with HIV every day.

If you are unable to give, please consider walking with us instead. The greater our visibility, the louder our message.

If you would like to sponsor Inside, Looking Out by making a donation, visit http://aidswalksanfran2009.kintera.org/inlookout. Thanks!

A new Gallup poll shows conservatives and weekly churchgoers now in favor of allowing open gays and lesbians to serve in the military, up 12 and 11 points respectively  since 2004. From Gallup:

The finding that majorities of weekly churchgoers (60%), conservatives (58%), and Republicans (58%) now favor what essentially equates to repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy implemented under President Clinton in 1993 is noteworthy for several reasons. First, the data show that these traditionally conservative groups are shifting on this issue, supporting it to a far greater extent than they support legalized gay marriage. Second, it suggests the political playing field may be softer on this issue, and President Barack Obama will be well-positioned to forge ahead with his campaign promise to end the military ban on openly gay service members with some support from more conservative segments of the population. To date, it is estimated that more than 12,500 servicemen and servicewomen have been discharged under the policy, including more than 200 since Obama took office.

The question Gallup asked was:

“Do you favor or oppose allowing openly gay men and lesbian women to serve in the military?”

I wonder if moving the word “open” to later in the question would have affected the outcome of the poll…

“Do you favor or oppose allowing gay men and lesbian women to serve “openly” in the military?”

Just curious… In the mind of a wingnut…would it make a difference? I suspect it might.

Roy Beck seems to thinks so, Executive Director of NumbersUSA, who made the argument during the UAFA hearings yesterday. I’m all for reducing our carbon footprint as a part of multifaceted approach to reduce global warming, but I’ve never heard anything so entirely ridiculous. From the NumbersUSA website:

But nearly every new adult permanently added to the U.S. population through immigration legislation would be a potential competitor to unemployed and underemployed American workers. And every new immigrant increases the total U.S. carbon footprint and ecological footprint (and, because of increased consumption once they arrive here, increases the global footprints, as well).

Given the larger context of current immigration levels, passing S. 424 would be irresponsible to the environment, to future generations and to the most economically vulnerable members of our national community.

Don’t individuals seeking U.S. citizenship contribute to our “global” carbon footprint whether they are in our country or not? I wonder if Beck also favors abortion as a method of reducing our carbon footprint? Someone needs to ask.

Beck also has ties John Tanton, the “racist founder of many of the nation’s key nativist groups”, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). In the video below the SPLC explores America’s anti-immigration network, with Roy Beck making an appearance around the 5:30 mark. The whole video is definitely worth a watch.

Somehow this feels like some poorly conceived attempt to appeal to the left-leaning, green conscious among us, making his anti-immigration rhetoric more palatable. Sure we can reduce global warming by simply allowing fewer immigrants to enter the country. It smacks discrimination. And now he’s directing it at gay people. Sure. Let’s spread the hate.

You can watch his testimony at the UAFA hearings here.

Here in the U.S. the time is almost upon us! Please show your support for the Earth by switching off your lights (and any other electronics you can live without) from 8:30 to 9:30 this evening, and send a message to our leaders that we need to act now against climate change.

Earth Hour began in 2007 in Sydney Australia where 2.7 million switched off their lights. The following year the movement had gone global and an estimated 50 million people participated in 35 countries and over 370 cities.

Please join us. We can do better. We have to.