Vote NO in NOvember!

It's time to stand up, to vote, and be counted. It's time to do the right thing for all Americans. It's time to look out for all families.

Vote NO on Amendment 1!

This is the proposed constitutional amendment that Tennessee voters will consider on November 7th, 2006:

The historical institution and legal contract solemnizing the relationship of one man and one woman shall be the only legally recognized marital contract in this state. Any policy or law or judicial interpretation, purporting to define marriage as anything other than the historical institution and legal contract between one man and one woman, is contrary to the public policy of this state and shall be void and unenforceable in Tennessee. If another state or foreign jurisdiction issues a license for persons to marry and if such marriage is prohibited in this state by the provisions of this section, then the marriage shall be void and unenforceable in this state.

Our goal is to ensure the proposed amendment is defeated.

Notice the language attacking alternative legal contracts, policies, and laws. That's what's dangerous about this amendment. Visit the website and learn more about why this amendment is a problem for all Tennesseans.

Good for Bank of America!

As a gay customer of BoA, I say thank you for standing up to bigotry. Lots of links in this article, but the bottom line is that corporate America knows better than to openly discriminate against gay people.

Bank of America board slaps down shareholder anti-gay proposalAnother winger proxy issue comes to vote at a corporate shareholder meeting (see earlier post on Kraft blowing off its stockholder fundie).

This time it's Bank of America, and its board has recommended the rejection of Louisiana shareholder Virginia M. Brown's proposal which would require BoA's management to "amend its written equal opportunity policy to explicitly exclude reference to sexual orientation."

The right wing wants to act like discrimination against gays won't hurt businesses or their states, but in the long run, it will. We know where to go, where to live, and anyone that values diversity knows this too.

Yank 'Em Out!

Well, this should help with the overcrowding in our public schools and maybe our kids can finally get a real education. We're not that fortunate though. They'll stick around just to aggravate the rest of us.

Southern Baptist faction ready to pull kids from public schools

TN Legislators Go To Work for James Dobson

A classic quote from TN Senator David Fowler on his reasoning for taking a job with the Tennessee group Family Action Council (affiliated with James Dobson's Focus on the Family), which is gearing up to pull out all efforts to get the anti-gay marriage amendment passed here in November:

"It will allow me to engage fully in those issues that really brought me to the legislature in the first place without the distractions of all the other things we must do, discuss and debate up here," Fowler said.

Sooooo, building roads, caring for the homeless, dealing with our failing TennCare situation, focusing on the horrendous ethics issues facing TN are not important...making sure gays can't marry IS. Okay, whatever.

Thoughts on the Kids

I recently did a presentation at a conference in Atlanta on religion's influence on our private lives. As I did my research, I came to the realization that the religious "right" has moved from focusing on the lost cause of adult homosexuals to kids, whether it is the right of gays to adopt, to marry, or even now for gay teenagers to have a social club at school, it all comes back to kids.

Do a little research for yourself and see if it's not true.

Here's one recent example.

But it's not hard to find more. Just search for GSAs or gay-straight alliance, and you'll find plenty.

If they can control the minds of the children, they can control society. But remember, for every GSA that these people try to shut down, there is a kid like the one I used to teach many years ago that went home one day and put a shotgun in his mouth after years of being called "fag" by his classmates and having teachers turn a deaf ear.

Hell, I was even one of them in my fundamentalist, homophobic days. I told this student when he tried to confide in me that "maybe if he didn't act so sissy, then maybe he wouldn't get picked on.

Screw the DNC!

Awww, hell! I don't visit this site for a few days then I go back just to see what's going on. Then I find this under the GLBT section.

DNC to launch LGBT Pride Program

Continuing groundbreaking work from the 2004 campaign, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) will soon launch "Pride at the Polls: 2006." This proven program is designed to educate, register, engage, and mobilize the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) and youth communities and help elect Democrats at all levels. We will be partnering with the National Stonewall Democrats Federal PAC and the College Democrats of America chapters.

The "Pride at the Polls: 2006" program will be centered on LGBT Pride season, which typically runs from late May through the end of July. LGBT Pride festivals, which attract hundreds of thousands of LGBT-receptive voters and young people each year, have proven to be one of the most effective venues to reach LGBT and progressive voters.

The goals of the program are to establish a Democratic Party presence at as many LGBT Pride events as possible, increase the visibility of the LGBT community within the Democratic Party, and give community leaders an opportunity to engage in a process that will help support the election of Democrats up and down the ticket. And we plan to have fun while doing it.

When this party gets serious about us, will be when they stop letting us get beat up by these anti-gay marriage amendments, when they stand up for Feingold and others who have stood up for us, and stop cowtowing on the issues important to our community.

They're still asking for votes and not giving anything back.