Gay Rights Watch

A First-in-the-Nation Decision of State Legislature to Hire Evangelical Group Demands Scrutiny.

Let me preface this by saying that the group they have chosen is the Alliance Defense Fund. The Alliance Defense Fund has an extensive history of anti-gay actions.

Recently, the group was involved in a lawsuit to overturn a voter-enacted domestic partner registry in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Alliance Defense Fund co-founder James Dobson has attacked SpongeBob SquarePants for being gay and has called for a "second civil war" in the United States. Bring it on James.

The people of Wisconsin elected the Attorney General who should be the one seeing this case through - not an extremist right-wing Christian cult. The Legislature has seriously overstepped its bounds here.

In expressing his discomfort with the selection of the Alliance Defense Fund, Rep. Mark Pocan said in a May 17 statement, "If bringing in fringe extremists who think cartoon characters are gay is the only way to fight providing health care benefits to Wisconsin families, it is a sad day in Wisconsin."

"The decision by the Republican leadership to hire an evangelical Christian group to represent the entire state legislature in a lawsuit—apparently the first such move anywhere in the country—is shocking and unprecedented.

"It demonstrates the dangerous trend toward politicizing the judicial process. It is an attempt to usurp the role of the duly elected Attorney General in defending the state of Wisconsin. And it reveals a level of personal hostility toward gay Wisconsinites on behalf of a small group of Republican leaders that appears to know no bounds.

"Republican leaders have told us they hired the evangelical Christian group because the Legislature--not the courts--is the proper body to consider this issue. Yet the Legislature has consistently refused to even consider the issue. Domestic partner benefit bills introduced in past sessions were refused hearings. And now the Joint Finance Committee is refusing to give fair consideration to Governor Doyle's request for UW System domestic partner benefits.

"Republican leaders have told us they oppose partner benefits for state employees because they must defend taxpayers. Yet any one of the 233 Fortune 500 companies that offer domestic partner benefits will tell you their cost increase was insignificant, and that there is actually a bottom-line benefit to offering them.

"Republican leaders have also told us they must amend the Wisconsin Constitution to 'define' and 'protect' marriage. Yet the amendment they propose would ban civil unions and any meaningful legal protection to thousands of Wisconsin families.

"So what's the real issue? Legislative leaders seek to deny gay and lesbian citizens of Wisconsin even the most basic protections afforded to other families--and they're willing to put that ideologically driven goal before the best interests of the state.

Statement by Action Wisconsin Executive Director Christopher Ott

Gay marriage opponents in California file proposed constitutional ban.

Gay marriage opponents filed a proposed amendment to the California Constitution on Thursday that would ban same-sex marriage in the state and strip domestic partners of most spousal benefits.

Randy Thomasson, organizer of a group called VoteYesMarriage.com, said the far-reaching measure he hopes to qualify for an upcoming election is designed to prevent judges and lawmakers from eroding laws that limit marriage to one man and one woman.

The move comes as state lawmakers debate a bill to legalize gay marriage and follows a March ruling by a trial judge in San Francisco who said state laws prohibiting gays from marrying are unconstitutional.

"The bad guys here are the judges and the politicians. The people are frustrated," Thomasson said outside the state Capitol. "The people are ready to protect marriage once and for all."

The amendment's sponsors must submit nearly 600,000 signatures from voters to the California Secretary of State to qualify the measure for the June 2006 ballot.

Under the proposed amendment, same-sex couples still would be allowed to register as domestic partners, but most of the privileges and responsibilities the state has provided for such unions would be taken away. State and local governments, for example, would no longer be allowed to provide health coverage for the partners of their gay employees.

Gay rights supporters described the measure as among the most extreme attempts nationwide to block the gains same-sex couples have made since Massachusetts legalized gay marriage a year ago. If passed, it would make California the 20th state with a constitutional prohibition against gay marriage.

"It's extremely mean-spirited and far-sweeping in its effect," said Thalia Zepatos of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "It's absolutely ahead of the pack in its viciousness."

Outside of Massachusetts and Vermont, which recognizes civil unions, the Golden State offers the strongest legal protections to same-sex couples in the nation.

Since Jan. 1, domestic partners in California have had all the rights and responsibilities of marriage conferred by the state except the ability to file joint income taxes.

Thomasson said he would seek as much as $2 million in donations from around the world to fund the signature-gathering campaign.

Elections held on Tuesday ushered three gay candidates into new offices, advanced two candidates to general elections and maintained a strong win rate established for candidates endorsed by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, a Washington, DC-based political action committee that identifies, trains and supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) candidates for public office.

Earlier this month, Victory Fund played a pivotal role, both financially and strategically, in the election of the first-ever openly gay official in Nebraska. Barbara Baier captured 56 percent of the vote and a seat on the Lincoln, NE School Board. Also in early May, Elena Guajardo won the primary in a crowded field for an open seat on the San Antonio City Council and Mary Jo Hudson won the primary to keep her seat on the Columbus, OH City Council.

On Tuesday, May 17:

-- Bill Rosendahl beat Flora Gil Krisiloff by more than 6,000 votes to pick-up a seat on the Los Angeles City Council

-- Mike Gin was elected Mayor of Redondo Beach, CA with a spectacular 60 percent of the popular vote

-- Dan Ryan won a seat on the Portland, OR School Board

-- Kevin Lee won his primary for the Lansdowne, PA Borough Council and Dan Miller placed a very close 3rd in the Harrisburg, PA City Council primary to secure a spot on the general election ballot

"Gays and lesbians deserve equal access to the American dream and we will never get from here to there without having a voice and a vote in the halls of government," said Chuck Wolfe, Victory Fund's president and CEO. "Victory Fund's 2004 strategy proved successful and this year we're taking it up a notch to elect gay and lesbian officials in states that do not have a single gay person in their legislatures," Wolfe added.

So far in 2005, Victory Fund has endorsed 27 gay and lesbian candidates and expects to endorse dozens more before the end of the year. Year-to-date, 65 percent of Victory Fund candidates have won. A full list of currently endorsed LGBT candidates can be found at http://www.victoryfund.org/candidates.

Victory Fund is the largest LGBT political action committee and one of the nation's largest non-connected, non-partisan PACs. In 2004, 41 of 65 Victory Fund endorsed LGBT candidates (local, state and federal levels) won their races in 20 states and D.C., including five in states that also passed anti-gay amendments in 2004: Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon and Utah. Since its founding in 1991, the Victory Fund has invested over $15 million and secured more than a fivefold increase in the number of openly gay and lesbian officials serving in America to over 285 today.

A Press Release from the Victory Fund.

Dan Ryan was elected to the board of Oregon's largest school district by a wide margin, according to preliminary election results reported by the Multnomah County elections division.

Ryan, a Portland State University development director, defeated his nearest challenger, teacher and former school board member Steve Buel, by a wide margin.

Ryan also defeated Charles McGee, a Portland State University student; Sheryl Butler, a community college administrative assistant, and Steve Kayfes, a production manager in the Portland Nabisco bakery. His final opponent, Juanita Johnson, dropped out of the race.

Ryan will replace Derry Jackson, who did not run for re-election.

"I feel great because a lot of people came together to make this campaign successful," said Ryan, 42. "Really, my job now is to keep them engaged."

Ryan said his primary goal is to address the achievement gap, "especially how it relates to the students in North Portland," he said.

The Basic Rights Oregon EqualityPAC had also given Dan their endorsement - Go Dan! The BRO EqualityPAC green lighted a total of 3 people for the Portland Public school Board. All three won their races.

A new report weighing the effects of anti-gay measures nationwide against the positive ones has concluded that 2004 wasn't that bad after all.

The report was prepared by the Human Rights Campaign. It shows that on a variety of fronts - from family rights to workplace protections - there has been consistent progress made in obtaining LGBT legal rights, in spite of reports characterizing last November’s election as a ‘backlash.’

“Even with the setbacks at the end of last year, we’ve seen more progress in the past 12 months than we’ve seen in any other year since 1992,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese .

“In spite of the best political maneuverings of those on the ultra-right, there is undeniable progress across the spectrum from family rights to workplace protections to rising polling — hearts, minds and laws are slowly changing for the best.”

The report showed, among other things, that 14 state legislatures defeated anti-gay constitutional amendments in 2004 (compared to the 13 states where these measures passed) and six state legislatures have defeated them already in 2005.

Two states, Connecticut and Maryland, legislatively approved civil unions and domestic partner benefits, respectively. Two other states are considering legislation granting rights to same-sex couples this year so far - California is debating a marriage bill, and Oregon a civil unions measure.

Four state legislatures have passed or strengthened workplace protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees: Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois and Maine.

In addition, polling on election day last November showed that a high-water mark of 60 percent of the country supports either marriage or civil unions for same-sex couples, the report says. Similar polling in Massachusetts and New Jersey has shown that a majority of residents in those states favor marriage equality.

“Clearly, we still have a long way to go,” said Solmonese. “But the American people over time always value fairness over discrimination, and we continue to see that dynamic play out all across the country.”

The American Civil Liberties Union announced plans on Monday to launch a national Marriage Campaign to persuade Americans that it is unfair to deny legal protections to the families of same-sex couples.

The campaign will be led by Michael Mitchell, who comes to the ACLU after serving as the Executive Director of Equality Utah, that state’s lesbian and gay advocacy organization.

"Our Constitution guarantees basic fairness to all people, yet lesbian and gay couples who make lasting commitments to each other just like married couples, are denied protections for their families," said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU.

"With states racing to enact amendments that will forever ban same-sex couples from getting legal protections, it is critical to show why it’s wrong to keep people from visiting their partners in the hospital or from making emergency medical decisions, and how it hurts children to be legal strangers to their parents."

The goal of the Marriage Campaign is to step up the dialogue with the American people and show through firsthand accounts how lesbian and gay couples and their children suffer when their families are not recognized by the law. Among other public education efforts, the campaign will offer assistance to local campaigns fighting constitutional amendments that seek to ban gay people from marriage and other family protections.

"One thing I learned during Utah’s recent constitutional amendment challenge is that most people don’t realize the toll these measures take on very real Americans with very real families," said Mitchell.

"When people are given the opportunity to see the chaos caused by our government’s treatment of gay families, their attitudes change. I’m eager to bring the lessons I learned here in Utah and from my colleagues around the country and focus them into an active, honest conversation with the American public."

Mitchell has served as the Executive Director of Equality Utah since 2001, when he helped to oversee the campaign to defeat Utah’s anti-gay relationship amendment. He is also on the board of the Equality Foundation, a network of statewide LGBT advocacy organizations. Prior to joining Equality Utah, he worked as a senior advisor on the congressional election campaign for Donald Dunn. He also served as the Executive Director of the Gay/Lesbian American Music Awards.

"We’re at a defining moment in the civil rights struggle for gay people," said Matt Coles, Director of the ACLU’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project.

"While we have recently made several important breakthroughs, our opponents are motivated like never before. It’s time to fight back, and with Michael’s enthusiasm and leadership we hope to show America that this is simply a matter of basic fairness for all families."

As reported by 365gay.com