"The law should treat each person with equal respect in relation to each person's singularities without the need to understand or regulate them."

--Argentine Judge Gabriela Seijtas, in ruling that the city of Buenos Aires must recognize the marriage of a gay male couple.  Her decision will likely pave the way for same-sex marriage in Argentina.

Houston, we have a problem

 After our loss on the Maine ballot initiative, I wrote about some of the LGBT candidates who had won elections across the country.  Especially encouraging was Annise Parker, who topped the ticket to win one of two run-off slots for Mayor of Houston.  Her sexual orientation was not really an issue in her campaign.  She has children and has been with her partner for two decades.  She never focused on her identity, and most politicians didn’t either.

Well, that has all changed.  Anti-gay activists are in panic mode over the possibility that one of the top ten US cities could be run by a --gasp--lesbian. In fact they are so panicked that they are launching a campaign not against what Parker stands for, but who she is.  They are warning people of the “gay takeover” of Houston.  (Their words, not mine.)  I’ve tried to envision what that might look like.  Hmmm.  Pink Fridays instead of casual Fridays?  Changing the name of the Houston Astros to the Houston Castros?  Making heterosexual marriage unconstitutional?  Replacing the Star Spangled Banner with  YMCA or In the Navy? The possibilities are endless.

But the opponents are dead serious.  The other candidate in the race, Gene Locke, had previously distanced himself from the anti-gay groups.  Now he’s not so sure he can live without them.  He is courting endorsements from these folks, including a man named Steve Hotze, who in the past recruited eight city council candidates -- a straight slate -- to run solely on an anti-gay platform.  Said David Welch, the leader of one of these groups, “The bottom line is that we didn’t pick the battle, she did, by making her agenda and sexual preference a central part of her campaign.”  What’s so ironic is that she’s barely mentioned her orientation.  And by the way, aren’t candidates supposed to make agendas the central part of their campaigns?

Houston is generally a gay friendly city with a large LGBT population.  It remains to be seen whether LGBT folks will feel as welcome there after the vicious and hateful campaign.

Thanks to Gaypolitics.com and Gayrights.change.org for much of the info in this post.

A CNN report on Annise Parker

This piece was filmed before the Houston primary.  What was once considered a "boring" campaign has heated up in an unfortunate way.

Where's the logic?

This video was taken at a candidate forum for the state legislature in New York.  The issue of gay marriage is due to be taken up soon, and this candidate will be voting.  His answer seems to sum up (for me, at least) the inability for opponents of same-sex marriage to present a clear and cogent argument.  I can't help but  to compare his words to those of the questioner.

Did I read this right?

"I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix."
--Dan Quayle.

(I know this has nothing to do with the subject of this blog, but I just couldn't resist.)

"But the point is, I do not mind the homosexuality. I understand it. But nevertheless, the point that I make is that goddamn it, I do not think that you glorify on public television homosexuality."
-- Richard Nixon, in recently released White House tapes, discussing a 1971 episode of All In The Family

Why Are They Afraid of Us?

Last week, Melody Barnes, President Obama’s Director of Domestic Policy, (see photo) spoke at a forum at Boston College.  During the meeting, she was asked about her feelings on same-sex marriage.  She suggested that she was okay with gays and lesbians marrying. In her words, "I come to my experience based on what I’ve learned, based on the relationships that I’ve had with friends and their relationships that I respect, the children that they are raising, and that is something that I support. But at the same time, when I walk into the White House, though I work to put all arguments in front of the president, as you say, I also work for the president,"

Sounds positive, right?  Except it’s not.  Aides at the White House immediately tried to deny that Ms. Barnes had expressed any support for same-sex marriage. They then requested that the tape of Ms. Barnes speaking at BC not be released until White House aides had the chance to review it.  Said John Aravosis late last week at Americablog, "It's been 4 days. Why has the video of the event not been released publicly? You'd think it was a scandal, or something, that a White House official might have been support (sic) of the g-a-y-s."

Finally, the White House agreed to make the video public on Friday, after vetting its contents.  Friday is  typically the day when politicians release embarrassing or controversial information since fewer Americans are paying attention.  So instead of feeling positive about the words of a senior advisor in the White House, many LGBT people are instead asking the same question of the administration  we have asked for quite some time now: “Why are you afraid of us?”

I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating: I am a supporter of Barack Obama.  His was the most enthusiastic presidential vote I'd ever cast.  And I can’t possibly imagine not voting for him in 2012.    But an inconvenient question remains: How many heterosexual couples would have eagerly supported a candidate if he publicly stated that they should not be married?  Think about it, because it’s a tough question and one that many LGBT people have had to grapple with.  Most of us decided to rise above this question in order to vote for Barack Obama.  I do wonder how many heterosexual couples would have been able to do the same.

So when you read that LGBT people need to be patient, that we need to lighten up a little and let the President deal with more pressing issues, please remember that many of us had to give up a profoundly important part of ourselves in order to pull the lever next to Obama on Election Day.  We've already given up enough for the Democratic Party.  When will the Democratic Party do the same for us?