Ameriqueer

Read my latest Bilerico Project post: The time to demand unequivocal Progressive support I think everyone's already put their two cents in on 'Maine'--including myself and Maggie Gallagher. Certainly we're not all on the same page on marriage, but what happened in Maine was a demoralizing defeat for a lot of people. The same-sex couples in Maine in desperate need of legal protections for their relationships, and the young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender teens who had to endure severe and dehumanizing scrutiny in the media are the folks I feel worst for. I feel sort of bad for our whole Progressive movement too. Our movement is easily distracted. We are a broad and curious umbrella of causes. We are united by a common proclivity toward supporting society's greater good, equality and justice and building on rights, access and protections for people rather than limiting them. The form that this progress ought come in, however, seems to often be very different de...

I submitted this piece under a different title, but that is neither here nor there at this point. READ MY DAILY ILLINI PIECE: MAINERS NEED TO GET A GRIP ! On Tuesday, voters in Maine approved a bill establishing second class citizenship for millions of American citizens by a slim margin. Despite the tireless work of organizers, fundraisers and the amazing turn-out by the supporters of equality, in the end, discrimination won over fairness. We see across the country voters choosing to create two types of citizenship: the folks we’re comfortable with get first tier, and those we aren’t comfortable with get second tier. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans are often feared for religious reasons, but somehow this is justification for legal discrimination? And believe you me, it is discrimination. According to the New York Times just last month, a same-sex couple pays anywhere from $50,000-$400,000 more than the national average over their lifetime for health insurance alone, l...

Check out my newest piece in Bilerico.com about our losses in Maine and our wins elsewhere in the nation: MOURN THE LOSSES... CELEBRATE THE VICTORIES Today is not a day to be sad. Anger is a different story. We have a lot to be angry about with our community's razor-thin defeat in Maine. Its a hard pill to swallow. I've given quite a bit of my cash and time to LGBT causes over the years, but I've never given as much cash to an organization as No On One Maine. I am proud to say that I think they spent every penny carefully and deliberately, and worked their butts off to avoid mistakes of the past. However, despite all that we gave in Maine, all the time we all took, Maine went the other way. When our relationships are voted on, this is not a normal political loss. When losing elections before, I always felt as if it were something akin to losing a really important baseball game--like the time in High School when we were stopped at States by Blissfield (I'm still convi...

UPDATE: IF YOU ARE IN MAINE YOU MUST GET FOLKS TO POLLING PLACES IF THEY HAVEN'T VOTED YET! CHECK OUT THIS LINK! http://www.protectmaineequality.org/page.cfm?ID=142 So I was riding the bus home from class with my iPod on shuffle when something very rare happens. A piece of music from a theatre musical shuffled on. I don't own much musical theatre. In fact, I kind of dislike most musical theatre. However, I have a sentimental spot in my heart for stories of 'dreams come true' and fairy tales, so I happen to have Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (two versions) on my iPod. The song that came on was "Impossible." Impossible - Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella Today is a monumental day in the history of the LGBT rights movement. Its been five years since we've been so closely following so many tight contests around the nation set to decide our rights as Americans in those states. Will we be real Americans, or second class citizens ...

Check out my latest blog on the Lundon Calling website: SITTING IN CLASS RIGHT NOW GOING ABSOLUTELY NUTS ! Oh indexing, how I loathe thee! Well I can’t wait for this wednesday and L-C 50! Just going to be good ole Ace and good (not too) ole Phil. The question for you now, dear reader, is will this be a happy show or a sad show? In case you weren’t quite aware, there are three major races that queer folk all over the nation are going to be watching tomorrow. In Maine, Mainers are going to the poll to decide Question One–whether or not to overturn the Equal Marriage law in Maine and set up two separate but not so equal system of laws for two groups–one group of laws to govern heterosexual Maine citizens, and a second (class) group of laws to govern everyone else... A great primer to all of this can be found at: http://www.bilerico.com/2009/10/blog_this_the_battleground_basics.php ...Read the rest at SITTING IN CLASS RIGHT NOW GOING ABSOLUTELY NUTS !

Since its coming so late on a Friday night, I decided to call it a nightcap. What do you think? For starters, check out this MSNBC video of David Schuster Destroying NOM's Brian Brown . WAL-MART NEEDS TO OUST THEIR CEO-- BIGOT SUPPORTED ARKANSAS GAY ADOPTION BAN WITH TONS OF MONEY ! Nationally: Our White House Website scandal has evolved rapidly all day long. First, as I had already reported, the Blogosphere lit up with the news the White House had taken down LGBT-friendly language on their website . The White House responded and said that they were changing that site's direction from a campaign and transition site to an active administration site . Then, suddenly and mysteriously, much of the language was restored to the website --however more assertive wording about Don't Ask Don't Tell--"repeal"--was changed to "change." Then, as magically as before, the language was changed back to "repeal. " All very strange, but in my opinion ...