Reflections Ten Years Later on The First LGBTQ Bloggers & Citizen Journalists National Summit

Yours truly at the LGBT Blogger Summit in 2008.

I first began blogging at the suggestion of my therapist who suggested I write a book for those coming out in "mid-life" since so many of the existing materials at the time were aimed at teens and young adults.  There was little available for those in their 40's or 50's.  Once I started the endeavor of gathering materials through blog posts something happened.  This blog became a needed form of therapy and slowly took on a life of its own.  A major transformation took place in December, 2008, when I was privileged to be selected to participate n the LGBTQ Bloggers & Citizen Journalists National Summit in December 2008.  I won a spot among those invited to the all expense paid gathering in no small part due to my role in helping Mike Rogers "out" then Virginia 2nd District Congressman, Ed Schrock, a closeted Republican with the second most anti-gay voting record in Congress.  I had also assisted activist Wayne Besen expose "ex-gay" fraud Michel Johnston, a former poster boy for so-called conversion therapy. Despite these efforts, this blog still had a small readership back in 2008 yet was a labor of love. At the blogger Summit, I was in the big league and eventually when on to also be a contributor to The Bilerico Project which the Washington Post once referred to as a "must read" blog (it later became a part of LGBTQ Nation). 

Ten years later I am still in contact with many of the summit attendees via Facebook, following each other's blogs and writings, and a listserv through which we can quickly spread stories and information to hundreds of activists and journalists across the country. Fellow attendee Sue Kerr has a post on her blog that pulls together great memories of the experience. Like Sue, I'd love to see another summit! My husband also has found memories of the experience.  Here are highlights from Sue's post (go to Sue's post for the links to participating blogs - many of which are still ongoing -  and a video where I can be seen standing near Sue):

[T]he first LGBTQ Bloggers and Citizens Journalists National Summit. It was December 5-7, 2008. I met a lot of folx there and my mind was awhirl with new possibilities for blogging.

More than 60 organizations and blogs were represented. I’m trying to remember how I was invited – I think I had been interacting with Mike Rogers (formerly of BlogActive, now know with Raw Story) online after he wrote about Rick Santorum. This gathering was a prelude to the Netroots Connection preconferences that began in 2009 (in Pittsburgh)

Rather than wax eloquently about my memories, let me share a few links.

Here are my original blog posts summaries My Preview  Day One Summary Post

Pam Spaulding’s write up of the weekend (Pam’s House Blend)

More from PamThere was great coverage of the framing used by the right wing to demonize and restrict expanding LGBT rights and how the LGBT movement can counter that framing going forward with different political strategies.

Tony from Perge Modo has a post

Today, in the revolution that has now begun for ownership of individual rights, bloggers are the new Paul Revere, but there are hundreds of thousands of them and they are not all shouting the same thing about the British coming. They are shouting huge heaps of overlapping static. Sometimes they pull together suddenly like a school of fish responding to the force of the current. There is no skill to this. There is only speed. You almost need to be out of the water to see, let alone control this. Nevertheless, the political bloggers feel that coalescence is within their grasp.

Read the takeaway of a filmmaker at Working Films

Let’s get meta – a post about a media article about the gathering with links to other bloggers reactions (whew!)  What LGBT bloggers do when they write about blogging conventions

From Blabbeando, a list of blogs in attendance in alphabetical order (probably not a complete list):

• Bilerico Project

• Blabbeando

• BlogActive

• Boi From Troy

• Buffawhat

• Burnt Orange Report

• Calitics

• Michael-in-Norfolk Coming Out in Mid-Life

• (en)gender

• Existential Punk

• Farmboiz

• Gay Agenda

• Gay Persons of Color

• Get Busy, Get Equal (ACLU LGBT Project Blog)

• Good as You

• Greta Cristina’s Blog

• hunter of justice

• InterstateQ

• Jimbo

• Joe.My.God

• Knucklecrack

• The Mad Professah Lectures

• Mombian

• The New Gay

• Ninjatron

• PageOneQ

• Pam’s House Blend

• Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents

• Project Q Atlanta

• Rod2.0

• That Gay Girl Tamara

• UK Gay News

• Working Films

Back to the present  – are you reading any of the above blogs or their spin-offs? When you have some time, I urge you to dive back into this glorious archive of LGBTQ activism and politics during the latter half of the 2000’s and reacquaint yourself. I hope someone, somewhere, takes the time to create an actual archive.

I interact with some of these folks via email and all sorts of social media. I’ve been to two follow up events associated with Netroots Nation since then. And I’ve continued to blog. During that first year, Laura and I met with media expert Cathy Renna for advice on my blog. She told us we were doing a good job and basically to keep on with what we had accomplished. Thanks to the wonders of a former webhost, you can see the original blog format from that very day.

A lot has happened in ten years. Netroots Nation will be in Philadelphia in July 2019 so I hope we’ll attend. One thing that has not changed is the lack of revenue in blogging – to get this lesbian voice and others to these events, there has to be scholarships and fellowships and other supports. It might interesting if someone crunched the numbers about the state of the blogosphere in 2008 versus now, including revenue data.

I miss having a chance for blogger connection. I’d like to see events that bring people together, old and new. I’d like to harness the power of experience to the energy and new ideas of today’s leaders.

Here’s a snip of video via Tony Adams survering the crowd. You can see me in the right hand margin wearing a black sweater and having very short hair.

I will always treasure the experience and the brilliant and interesting friends I made (the now husband was there for the weekend too and enjoyed the experience).  I'd love to do a reunion summit where we could work on strategies for the coming 10 years.  Kudos to Sue for putting together her excellent post.  Thanks also to Progressive Insurance and Microsoft for their underwriting of the 2008 event. 

The Bilerico Project Is Ending

For over five years - actually almost six years - I have had the privilege of being a contributor to The Bilerico Project, an LGBT blog that the Washington Post once described as an LGBT version of the Huffington Post.   Now, as Bilerico founder and my friend Bil Browning explains, The Bilerico Project is shutting down.  In many ways this makes me very, very sad.  At the same time, I completely understand the burn out that comes from writing and or overseeing a blog.   My friend Pam Spaulding- whose writing skills I continually seek to emulate - closed down Pam's House Blend a few years ago.  Similarly, Andrew Sullivan closed down the Daily Dish more recently.   Seemingly, nothing has sprung up to replace these amazing blogs.  Truthfully, I wonder at times how much longer this blog (which dates back to April, 2007) will continue given the hours everyday that are consumed to keep it going.  Labors of love can be exhausting.  Meanwhile, the upside of gays being increasingly "mainstream" is that our own unique news outlets and cultural icons are steadily fading away.  Here in Hampton Roads gay clubs increasingly struggle as the younger generations go to all inclusive venues.   But I digress.  Here is Bil's final post:

Almost 11 years ago, I turned my personal homepage into a blog covering Indiana politics and LGBT issues. A few years later as more and more folks signed up to join me here, we turned our focus national and Bilerico Project was born.

We wanted to cover what was lacking on the big blogs at the time - real political and cultural analysis provided by LGBT movement leaders and everyday activists. We wanted diversity not only in our writers, but also their views. "What's the worst that could happen?" we thought. "No one likes the new format so we go back to our roots?" Thankfully, readers loved the expanded coverage and we were off to a roaring start.

Together we've covered a multitude of important stories. From George W Bush's election to the Supreme Court decision on marriage equality, we've brought the best news and analysis we could. We've made a change in the Salvation Army's anti-LGBT policies and ensured an innocent HIV+ immigrant was released from prison to die surrounded by loved ones. Together, our writers and readers have made a difference.

Projects are meant to be temporary and so was Bilerico Project. After more than a decade, it's time to wrap up our experiment. The media landscape has changed dramatically over the past decade and so have our lives and the LGBT movement itself. It's time to turn the page and start something fresh in this new environment.

My first post in 2004 was a quote from Margaret Meade. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." I think we've done our part to make the world a better place.

This will be my last post on Bilerico Project. The site will be archived at bilericoproject.com so that all 31,000+ posts will still be available for readers. It's been a long strange journey and I've loved every single moment of it, but the time has come to end the project and call it a success. 

Personally, I'm going to take two weeks off to relax, look for a job, and work on my upcoming book. I will use bilerico.com as my personal blog again when I come back and I have a few ideas for starting something new and different. The spirit of Bilerico Project will live on and I plan on tapping into it as I move forward. I want to go back to my roots.

You'll be able to find essays and longform writing here and, of course, you can find my biweekly column in several LGBT newspapers, a daily news piece at advocate.com, and freelance writing all over the web. You can also like my Facebook fan page for updates on what I'm up to, what I'm writing, and how my ideas for bilerico.com are progressing.

It's been a long and amazing journey to get to this place, but I wouldn't change a thing about the past decade. It's been an honor to share it with all of you. I hope you feel the same.

I want to thank Bil for the honor and privilege he afforded me to be a Bilerico contributor.  I like to think that collectively, we helped to make a difference. Bilerico certainly assembled an amazing group of LGBT bloggers, many of whom I continue to count as friends (many of uds met in person at the LGBGT blogger summit in December, 2008, sponsored by Microsoft and Progressive Insurance). I hope as time goes by we can remain connected via Facebook and other means.  These people hold a special place in my heart.  Bil, thank you so much!

Andrew Sullivan to Leave Blogging After 15 Years

The husband and me with Andrew Sullivan at a fundraiser

Out gay blogger Andrew Sullivan - who I have had the privilege of meeting - has announced that he will be leaving blogging in due course.  Some days Andrew outrages me, especially with his refusal to face the reality that the Roman Catholic Church is systemically flawed and his opposition to hate crimes laws, but other times he amazingly sums up a situation in prose that I can only wish I could author.  In a post today, he summarizes the reasons behind his decision.  Here are excerpts:

Why? Two reasons. The first is one I hope anyone can understand: although it has been the most rewarding experience in my writing career, I’ve now been blogging daily for fifteen years straight (well kinda straight). That’s long enough to do any single job. In some ways, it’s as simple as that. There comes a time when you have to move on to new things, shake your world up, or recognize before you crash that burn-out does happen.

The second is that I am saturated in digital life and I want to return to the actual world again. I’m a human being before I am a writer; and a writer before I am a blogger, and although it’s been a joy and a privilege to have helped pioneer a genuinely new form of writing, I yearn for other, older forms. I want to read again, slowly, carefully. . . . . I want to write a book. 

I want to spend some real time with my parents, while I still have them, with my husband, who is too often a ‘blog-widow’, my sister and brother, my niece and nephews, and rekindle the friendships that I have simply had to let wither because I’m always tied to the blog. And I want to stay healthy. I’ve had increasing health challenges these past few years. They’re not HIV-related; my doctor tells me they’re simply a result of fifteen years of daily, hourly, always-on-deadline stress. These past few weeks were particularly rough – and finally forced me to get real.

I can completely understand the burn out aspect Andrew describes.  Likewise, my husband can understand the "blog-widow" statement since, even though I blog at nowhere the level of Andrew, each day, more or less 365 days per year, I spend numerous hours scanning the news and stories and then writing posts.  Oh, and the hunt for daily "male beauties" likewise can be time consuming since I strive to never disappoint. 

Will I follow Andrew's example and end the blog?  I really don't know.  It is hard to describe, but over the last almost seven years of daily blogging, I have made amazing connections with people literally from all over the world including Europe, Australia, across the USA and most recently a reader in Ghana.  The other aspect of blogging is that it can be a great way to vent as some of my truly long time readers can recall from the dark days of my coming out, suicide attempts and an unpleasant divorce.  If and when I decide to stop blogging, I will let readers know.  The other option is to take on some co-contributors, as

summing anyone would be interested.

When The Dish ends, it will join another former favorite, Pam's House Blend, which ended when blogger friend Pam Spaulding finally burned out. I wish Andrew the best and I hope he can finally come to terms with his inability to walk away from the Catholic Church.

Goodbye Pam’s House Blend After 9 Years

One of the things that I have enjoyed most is the wonderful people that I have been privileged to meet via this blog, particularly the other attendees at the 2008 LGBT Blogger Summit in Washington, DC, financed in significant part by Microsoft and Progressive Insurance.  Among those - and there were many - I was privileged to meet and come to call a friend was Pam Spaulding, the blog mistress of "Pam's Hose Blend."  Indeed, for me Pam became a model of what I hoped to achieve as an LGBT blogger.  Often her wit, charm and amazing use of language made me break out laughing out loud.  Now, after nine (9) years of blogging, Pam is calling it quits for a number of reasons, some of which I well understand, especially the amount of time involved in trying to post meaningful information 365 days a year.  Here are excerpts of how Pam explains her decision:

All good things must come to an end, even after numerous awards and accolades, it’s time to acknowledge that I cannot continue to run on fumes alone. The Blend could continue limping along, but my health and well-being come first; over the last few years burning the candle at both ends with a full-time offline job and PHB. It has taken a severe toll — most readers have learned that I am dealing with chronic pain conditions — fibromylagia, and in the last couple of years, aggressive rheumatoid arthritis.

My decision to close the blog is just as reality-based as its content has been. If I cannot produce material at the frequency or with the same level of quality, enthusiasm and effectiveness, it’s really time to close the doors to this coffeehouse — and work to ensure it continues to have a life as an archive, a snapshot in our digital political history. Pamshouseblend.com will redirect to archives.

Looking back, I churned out pieces at an incredible pace — up to ten posts a day– many long-form pieces, commentary, curating news articles I thought my audience should check out, and occasionally (and increasingly) doing citizen journalism at news events and conferences. All of this while holding down a full-time day job with no connection to politics or activism. And most of of those posts were done in the wee hours, so I didn’t get much sleep over the lifespan of this blog.

Political blogging changed mainstream journalism in many ways. Save for a few who were able to monetize their blogs or who were cherry picked to help traditional outlets get their feet wet in new media, the vast majority of citizen journalists and opinion-makers toiled with little hope of quitting that day job. The LGBT movement was energized by the speed and reach of new media, and at times appeared quite threatened by it — mostly because it was a venue where Beltway orgs, and even the White House, didn’t see any possible way to co-opt or control what was being produced by this first generation of online political rabble rousers and activists. I’ve made a lot of great friends and met a lot of people along the way, and hopefully opened a few eyes, particularly with my posts about the intersection of LGBT and race.

The Blend sat in a unique place in all of this — I brought the perspective of a black lesbian living in the South to the dialogue — broadcasting a voice certainly not represented in the power structure of the LGBT movement. It was the first major blog to feature a transgender contributor, and it was important to me to bring talent to the blog from under-represented regions and voices.

By the way, I’m not disappearing into complete obscurity (though that would be OK as well), I’ll continue to be active on social media and make time to mentor folks as I can. It’s just time for someone else to pick up the ball and run with the daily activist grind, and forge new ground in an ever-shifting new media.

Speaking of which — on FDL, a rebranded blog will debut on the channel with my talented current contributors Laurel Ramseyer, Alvin McEwen and Autumn Sandeen. Look for more information on that effort soon.

I’ll have a “goodbye” post on July 1 that takes a look at some of PHB’s nine-year history.

Pam will always be one of my heroines and I hope she knows how much I love and respect her and all that she has done.  For non-bloggers and activists, it is hard to convey the intensity of some of the cyberspace friendships that can be made.  I myself have thought of shutting down this blog, but so far cannot quite let go of it.  I wish Pam the best of everything and I want to convey how much she will be missed, not only in her posts but quick and dirty advice when e-mailed and asked for information or her take on things.

Paul Ryan's Plan for Senior Citizens

I love Pam Spaulding's sense of humor and she makes me laugh with her skillful use of language to convey her points. In a tweet she recommended the image above (she calls it the "Romney/Ryan senior meal plan") for what senior Americans need to keep in mind going into this election: their ideas of what their so-called golden years will look like could be radically changed by a Romney-Ryan victory in November.  As I keep telling the boyfriend, his elderly relatives need a wake up call on the precipice they are heading for if Obama isn't re-elected.

LGBT Reactions to Obama's Embrace of Gay Marriage

As regular readers of this blog know, I have often been frustrated and/or angry with Barack Obama and his repeated willingness to throw LGBT Americans under the bus when deemed politically expedient.  Yes, at times Obama has exhibited pro-gay actions: passage of DADT repeal (under extreme pressure), cessation of defense of DOMA, and various administrative actions.  Today, much to my surprise, Obama finally got off the fence on same sex marriage.  Am I pleased that he finally did so?  Most definitely, even though it's unclear what Obama's personal support for same sex couples will mean from a practical perspective.   I do hope that Obama's statements will perhaps help LGBT youth to believe that the future can be better.  From surfing the blogosphere, I'm not the only one with mixed emotions and uncertain as to what the consequences will be.   First, these reactions from Andrew Sullivan:

I was uncharacteristically at a loss for words for a while, didn't know what to write, and, like many Dish readers, there are tears in my eyes.

So let me simply say: I think of all the gay kids out there who now know they have their president on their side. I think of Maurice Sendak, who just died, whose decades-long relationship was never given the respect it deserved. I think of the centuries and decades in which gay people found it impossible to believe that marriage and inclusion in their own families was possible for them, so crushed were they by the weight of social and religious pressure. I think of all those in the plague years shut out of hospital rooms, thrown out of apartments, written out of wills, treated like human garbage because they loved another human being. I think of Frank Kameny. I think of the gay parents who now feel their president is behind their sacrifices and their love for their children.

Today Obama did more than make a logical step. He let go of fear. He is clearly prepared to let the political chips fall as they may. That's why we elected him. That's the change we believed in. The contrast with a candidate who wants to abolish all rights for gay couples by amending the federal constitution, and who has donated to organizations that seek to "cure" gays, who bowed to pressure from bigots who demanded the head of a spokesman on foreign policy solely because he was gay: how much starker can it get?

Then there are the thoughts of my blogger friend Pam Spaulding who I first met at the 2008 LGBT Blogger Summit in Washington, D.C., and with whom I often find myself in agreement:

The President’s position to date has been dodge and parry that ultimately made no sense politically. Robin Roberts in her live report moments ago, cited that President Obama’s “evolution” finally occurred because of a conversation with his daughters, who attend school with kids who have same-sex parents, and that it wasn’t a big deal.

Well, I guess that’s as good a cover story for the debutante debut on this matter as any. After all, Mitt Romney has staked out a position in favor of a federal marriage amendment, something that will go nowhere. It all comes down to whether either of them think this is a decision point for voters who are out of work, have lost their home or health insurance.

Even as one part of me celebrates the end of the torture, as I said earlier, it smarts sitting here in NC where his evolution is cold comfort for those of us now living under the thumb of a marriage discrimination amendment.

Being jerked around, constantly seen as an ATM, and the man can’t even state the obvious, and his surrogates continue this tap dance of stupidity over what is or isn’t an affirmation that the President believes in full equality for gay and lesbian couples. His own campaign couldn’t even lift a digital finger to tell people to vote against discrimination here in NC. The President can’t even sign an executive order barring employment discrimination against LGBTs in federal contracts.

Being able to come out of the closet and not be fired is eons more important sitting here in NC than the right to marry, but I’m sure that POV and emotional drain of this won’t carry the day among most of my fellow LGBTs celebrating the President’s statement.

The equality movement will celebrate — as it should — and move on; it will be easy to forget how hard we fought without the President’s help here. The expect the outflow of gay $$$ to his campaign will now accelerate. We’re left to pick up the pieces until the feds/courts help us here in North Carolina.
All this is to say, we’re not just a political football. Families are going to be hurt here.

As in North Carolina, LGBT Virginians can be fired at will and we have ZERO legal protections.  While support of gay marriage is nice, employment non-discrimination protections would be more practical for many of us.  Having been forced from a large law firm after I came out, employment is a huge deal for me.

Dan Savage likewise had mixed emotions:

 Today Barack Obama announced that he supports the freedom to marry. Personally. Because he knows monogamous same-sex couples who are raising children. (Non-monogamous couples aren't allowed to get legally married, of course, unless they're straight.) But the president also supports the "concept" of states "deciding the issue on their own." (States like, say, North Carolina, which yesterday banned any recognition of same-sex relationships in reality, not in concept.) So the president supports same-sex marriage while also supporting the right of states to ban the same-sex marriages that he supports. Which means, of course, that once the dust settles... everyone is going to be upset, supporters of marriage equality and opponents alike.

I wouldn't say that this "completes a turnabout" for the president on the issue of marriage equality. I'd say he's almost there. His support for marriage equality in concept is huge, of course, and it's welcome, and I'm pulling out my gay checkbook. (I'm pulling it out again.) But as delighted as I am by this news—and I'm freakin' delighted—I'm nevertheless disappointed that the president's support for marriage equality doesn't extend to same-sex couples in North Carolina and other states that have already banned same-sex marriage.

And yes, I must confess I contributed to the Obama campaign after hearing the news.  I'm still not thrilled with Obama, but now the contrast between Obama and Romney - as noted by Andrew - makes it a no brainer as to I will support in November.  Despite his waffling, Obama finally seems to recognize my humanity.  Romney does not.  It's that simple.

North Carolina's Amendment One is All About Religion

Frankly, I am so over the Christianists' - and that term now has includes the Catholic bishops - efforts to destroy the separation of church and state and inject their fear and hate based version of Christianity on everyone that it has come to the point when I hear the term "Christian" my first reaction is negative.  Very negative.  It can be anything from an ad for "Christian Singles" to religion columns in the local paper.  My first reaction is to simply want to vomit.  Yes, this reaction is unfair to the "good Christians" who exist, but by the same token most of them act like the "good Germans" who sat by and watched Hitler rise to power in the early 1930's.  Fortunately, some Christian leaders have belatedly awakened in North Carolina and have begun to oppose the Christianist inspired Amendment One.  But more needs to be done - and quickly - to expose Amendment One as a power grab by those who despise freedom of religion for other citizens.  The true question is whether it will turn out to be too little too late.  My blogger friend, Pam Spaulding has a post that zeros in on the religious based bigotry that is the sole and central basis for Amendment One.  Here are excerpts:

When you don’t have any other card to play when it comes to discriminating against LGBTs, out comes the Bible. Without fail; it’s been clear from Day One that the people at Vote for Marriage NC could not find a way to make the case to add a measure to the state constitution to “protect marriage” without conflating church and state and preying upon fears and ignorance of voters. Its latest volley – recruiting Franklin Graham, the anti-gay preacher son of Billy Graham for its radio ad, released Friday (N&O):

Franklin Graham asks listeners to “take a stand on God’s definition of marriage” between a man and a woman and vote for the amendment on the May 8 primary ballot. Anne Graham Lotz – Franklin Graham’s sister – also has said she supports the amendment.

The ballot initiative is a complete legal over-reach — the original intent by its proponents was to ensure gay and lesbian couples would never have access to ANY legal recognition such as civil unions or domestic partnerships in addition to marriage — and Vote for Marriage NC has run into a lot of trouble here because of it:

• The collateral harms that the amendment could cause to all unmarried couples — rollback of existing domestic partnerships, effect on domestic violence laws and health benefits for children, have the organization completely on the defense.

• An epic level of public condemnation of Amendment One from conservative judges, elected officials and organizations, has rendered V4MNC silent, since it cannot trot any public officials out on camera to support its position. Its most embarrassing moment to date has to be that an original sponsor of the Amendment, Rep. Jim Crawford, announced in a public forum that he plans to vote against it because “it goes too far.”

• There are direct challenges to the notion that this is a religious or moral battle against “godless, evil secularism.” There’s no other way to read V4MNC’s ads, which prominently feature the National Organization for Marriage’s racial wedge strategy — showing black families and clergy to purportedly represent all Christians should be for the Amendment.

The last point is particularly damning because of the hundreds of clergy of all colors and denominations — including Baptists, usually seen as conservative — have publicly come forward to condemn Amendment One. Just this week, a group of 15 interfaith African American Clergy in Greensboro took out a full page ad in the Carolina Peacemaker, a well-known black newspaper in Guilford County. In the Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem region alone, 100 black clergy have come out against the amendment.

Using religious advocacy as the main justification for voting for Amendment One exposes the fact that these people want everyone to live under their religious worldview to the exclusion of all others. That is a theocracy, and the lengthy list of people of faith who are against Amendment One are well aware of the use of biblical justification for all sorts of discriminatory human behavior in the past, thus their opposition and willingness to be very public about it. The amendment is a danger to religious freedom. 

Pam has more on developments and is a treasure trove in terms of spotlighting the religious based hate that the Christianist proponents of Amendment One are aiming at LGBT citizens in North Carolina.  For the Christianists, Christianity has truly become a religion of hate pure and simple.

Former Charlotte, North Carolina Mayors (Including a Republican) Condemn Amendment 1

With Rick "Man On Dog" Santorum now out of the GOP presidential nomination race, the odds of large numbers of Republicans going to the polls next month in the North Carolina GOP primary are certainly reduced. That's not to say that hate groups such as NOM won't be doing their best to turn out the knuckle dragging Bible beater set like modern day examples of Pavlov's dog. Returning to good news, two former mayors of Charlotte - North Carolina's largest city - have come out strongly against the anti-gay Amendment 1. Better yet, one of the former mayors condemning the Christianist effort is a Republican. Pam's House Blend has details. Here are highlights followed by a video clip:

“[Amendment One] is unnecessary and may have serious unintended consequences,” says Vinroot. Gantt adds, “And some of those consequences may harm women, children and families throughout North Carolina.”

As former mayors of the state’s largest city and national financial hub, the advertisement also features Vinroot and Gantt pointing out the economic impact of Amendment One. “It may hurt our ability to attract business and job opportunities into North Carolina,” says Vinroot. “But we do know this: if you vote against it, it won’t harm anybody.”

Protect All NC Families underscored how this joint statement against Amendment One from representatives on both sides of the political spectrum represents a trend emerging throughout the state. “This powerful new web ad illustrates the growing consensus among North Carolinians against the dangerous harms of Amendment One,” said Jeremy Kennedy, campaign manager for Protect All NC Families. “It’s remarkable how such a divisive referendum has, in turn, brought together so many people from all political stripes, personal backgrounds, and perspectives, for one common purpose: to protect our state’s families by voting against on May 8.”

People should compare and contrast the calibre of spokespeople on the anti-Amendment side in the ad below vs. what the Vote for Marriage NC people have featured in their latest ad, covered by Alvin McEwen on the Blend (Vote for MarriageNC ad filled with misrepresentations and false views) – none other than Rev. Patrick Wooden, who said “I don’t have any animus against the gay community” but in interviews has gone on at length about gay men needing diapers and using cell phones as sex toys.

10 Facts About North Carlina's Insidious Amendment 1

Watching the efforts of Christianists in North Carolina to write anti-gay discrimination into the North Carolina Constitution brings to me a sense of deja vu to 2006 when The Family Foundation, joined by its trained circus dog like minions from many black churches, ran an incredibly (and deliberately) deceptive campaign to dupe people into voting for the foul "Marshall-Newman Amendment" without really understanding the full consequences of the Amendment. By all appearances, the same campaign of lies and deceit are being utilized by the self-congratulatory hate merchants backing Amendment 1 in North Carolina. Blogger friend Pam Spaulding has a timely post that looks at some of the facts that voters need to open their eyes to before it's too late. Here are highlights from Pam's post:

One of the challenges (and quite frankly, frustrations) about the work to defeat Amendment One is that the average voter out there (and even some in the LGBT community) don’t have a clear idea about what it is — and isn’t.

The proposed amendment to the NC Constitution in its entirety:

“Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state.”

Facts about this amendment you should know:

1. This amendment is not needed to prevent gay marriage: there is already an NC law forbidding gay marriage.

2. This amendment bars the state from recognizing any legal domestic union other than marriage, including partnerships between unmarried men and women.

3. Similar laws in other states have been struck down by the courts – meaning NC will face substantial legal costs to defend the amendment if it passes.

4. This amendment would take away legal protections for the children of unmarried people, including healthcare and prescription drug coverage provided though an unmarried parent and child custody, child support and visitation rights.

5. A child could even be taken away from a parent who has taken care of them their entire life if something happens to the other parent.

6. This amendment would take away domestic violence protections for all unmarried people and could lead to the convictions of their abusers being overturned. This has already happened in another state.

7. The amendment would automatically strip health benefits from unmarried people who receive coverage through their partners, including people with severe pre-existing conditions.

8. The amendment would interfere with the right of unmarried couples to visit one another in the hospital and to make emergency medical and financial decisions if one partner is incapacitated. It would also invalidate certain trusts, wills and end-of-life directives.

9. Seniors wanting to keep these legal protections would be forced to marry, which could cause them to lose their pension, health care and Social Security benefits.

10. If passed, it would be one of a handful of times our state constitution has been used to take away rights rather than grant them. You have to go back over a hundred years to find similar instances (notably forbidding interracial marriage and taking away the right to vote from African-Americans.)

Polling has consistently shown that when people are given the facts about the scope of the ballot initiative’s impact they overwhelmingly oppose it.

I sincerely hope that the Christianist forces of evil - yes, that is how I see them - are defeated and that Amendment 1 is defeated. No more special rights for and deference to religion under the civil laws.

Support the North Carolina Blogswarm Money Bomb

Blogs and bloggers around the country - including this blog - are joining in the coalition effort to defeat North Carolina Amendment One on May 8. How? By launching an aggressive week long grassroots fundraising effort to reach the referendum campaign’s initial $1 million dollar fundraising milestone. Polls indicate that with adequate get out the vote advertising, there is a very good chance that the Christianist/GOP backed Amendment One can be defeated. Here are details on this important effort to block anti-gay hate and the enshrining of discrimination in the North Carolina Constitution:

To date, Protect All NC Families has already raised more than $950,000 in financial contributions, the vast majority from thousands of individual North Carolina donors, as well as key coalition members the Human Rights Campaign, Replacements, Ltd, Self-Help, Equality NC, ACLU NC and others.

The campaign launched this week’s fundraising campaign, also known as a “money bomb,” as a primarily online effort in order to bring a national focus to Protect All NC Families and their efforts to defeat Amendment One. The money bomb will encompass a major social media fundraising push, state and national blogger outreach, the coalition campaign’s over 100 partner organizations and others to build on the campaign’s momentum.

To learn more, visit: https://secure.actblue.com/page/ncmoneybomb

“This seven-day money bomb enables us to do the most important thing we could in this campaign: educate as many state citizens as possible in as many ways as possible about the harms of this constitutional amendment, including communicating those harms to women, children and families on television and radio,” said Jeremy Kennedy, campaign manager for Protect All NC Families.

Here's the position of the North Carolina Democrat Party on this foul amendment:

Whereas, the 700 members of the State Executive Committee of the North Carolina Democratic Party have unanimously passed a Resolution opposing Amendment One on the May, 2012 Primary ballot;

Whereas, this State Executive Council of the North Carolina Democratic Party has unanimously voted its opposition to Amendment One;

Therefore, be it resolved, that this State Executive Council today restates its opposition to Amendment One and

1 – Asks all County Democratic Parties to adopt Resolutions against Amendment One;
2 – Asks all County Democratic Parties to go to work and actively oppose Amendment One.

This Resolution was unanimously passed by the State Executive Council on March 17, 2012 in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina.

If you can afford to donate a few dollars, I urge you to do so HERE. Religious based bigotry and discrimination have no place in any state constitution. We need to make sure that North Carolina does not adopt the equivalent of Virginia's vile "Marshall-Newman Amendment" which has made all LGBT Virginia's third or fourth class citizens. Here is the still-growing list of participating blogs - many written by friends of mine and Blogger Summit alumni - and coverage of the money bomb:

* Americablog: This week, A Money Bomb to Help North Carolina Defeat Anti-gay Amendment 1
* Towleroad: Moneybomb: Help Defeat North Carolina’s ‘Amendment One’
* Daily Kos: This week: Netroots Money Bomb to oppose NC’s Amendment One.
* Joe My God: LAUNCHED: NC Marriage Moneybomb
* Good As You: Six weeks to Protect NC Families #4marriageNC
* Prop 8 Trial Tracker: Why North Carolina is different–and important
* The Bilerico Project: North Carolina Amendment Recap & LiveChat at 3pm
* The New Civil Rights Movement: Our North Carolina LGBT Friends And Families Need Your Help Right Now
* Dirt and Noise: City of Innovation in a Discriminating State
* Human Rights Campaign: Act Now: Help Defeat North Carolina’s Amendment One
* Truth Wins Out: Help Protect All North Carolina Families
* Coverage by Metro Weekly: Blogs Come Out Swinging to Help Defeat North Carolina Marriage Amendment* Pam's House Blend: The Blogswarm Money Bomb is Off to a Good Start
*David Mixner: Money Bomb Week

Trayvon Martin: Gunned Down For Simply Being Black

There has been a fair amount of media coverage of the murder - yes, murder, because there's no other legitimate way to describe it - of 17 year old Trayvon Martin (pictured above) who was gunned down in his family's neighborhood by a vigilante minded white gun owner. A white gun owner who emergency personnel had ordered NOT to fire at the youth. Martin had walked to the store and was walking home with a bag of Skittles for his siblings and a can of ice tea. But the color of his skin made him worthy of death in the eyes of George Zimmerman who apparently has the same mind set as KKK members and similar white supremacy groups. What happened to Martin is frightening. It's also frightening because Zimmerman has not been arrested or charged with any crime even though he murdered Martin. Sadly, the mindset displayed by Zimmerman - typical of the anti-minority hate merchants in the Christianist/Tea Party base of the GOP - is alive and well here in Virginia as well. Worse yet, here in Virginia guns will now be increasingly plentiful thanks to the Virginia GOP's repeal of the one gun a month purchase restrictions. Pam Spaulding looks at this horrible murder. Here are highlights:

Is it 2012? Yes, it is, but in Sanford, Florida (near Orlando), the clock winds back to the days of Deep South Justice. Unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was hunted down and gunned down for the heinous crime of “carrying Skittles while black.” Charles Blow, in the NYT:

Trayvon had left the house he and his father were visiting to walk to the local 7-Eleven. On his way back, he caught the attention of George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch captain, who was in a sport-utility vehicle. Zimmerman called the police because the boy looked “real suspicious,” according to a 911 call released late Friday. The operator told Zimmerman that officers were being dispatched and not to pursue the boy.

Zimmerman apparently pursued him anyway, at some point getting out of his car and confronting the boy. Trayvon had a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea. Zimmerman had a 9 millimeter handgun.

George Zimmerman who was told not to pursue Martin, did so anyway and executed the teen. Was he even arrested? No – he wasn’t — and has not been charged with any crime, claiming self-defense. And there were people who heard the screams of the boy. The Orlando Sentinel has the 911 call, which the police had refused to release until this story blew up. It was clear from the call Zimmerman was on, that he was out for bloodlust. Chicago Sun-Times:

one of the eight calls, screaming can be heard in the background as a woman tries to get help. That call is punctuated by two gunshots.

“You hear a shot, a clear shot, then you hear a 17-year-old boy begging for his life,” said Natalie Jackson, another family attorney. “Then you hear a second shot.”

It was the first time that anyone said two shots were fired that night.

In the call placed by Zimmerman to alert authorities that there was a suspicious person in the neighborhood, he says the person “looks like he’s up to no good, or he’s on drugs or something.”

Moments later, Zimmerman says, “These assholes, they always get away.”

In one of the 911 calls, placed moments later, a man reports that “they’re wrestling right in the back of my porch. There’s a black guy down. It looks like he’s been shot and he’s dead

[I]n his alleged act of violence, Zimmerman shows his hand — “These assholes, they always get away” — his pursuit of Martin was following the Charles Bronson in “Death Wise” vigilante mode — “I’ve had enough of this sh*t (crime).” He wasn’t just defending himself — he was avenging “the community” — and the police in Sanford, Florida agreed with him. And the defense that race had nothing to do with the initial execution and follow up by law enforcement is already being floated by Police Chief Bill Lee Jr., who told the Sentinel he is not a racist and that his officers “conducted a thorough and fair investigation and did nothing underhanded or untruthful.”

Well, not releasing the 911 tapes until the heat is on doesn’t suggest that “forthcoming” could be applied to the situation. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will be meeting with local officials early next week to try to unravel this tragedy. Darryl E. Owens in the ChiTrib, on why this outrage shows how so little has changed when it comes to street justice and race – and why those who are in shock and horror over Martin’s death may feel the die has been cast:

On Sept. 23, 1955, Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam fired up stogies and smooched their wives. About an hour earlier, a Mississippi jury had mulled their fates.

The men had stood trial for abducting a 14-year-old black boy. They pounded his face into ground chuck. Shot him in the head. And tossed his broken body — weighted with a large fan used for cleaning raw cotton that they’d hitched with barbed wire around his neck — in the Tallahatchie River.

Emmett Till was dead. And despite damning evidence, Bryant and Milam were acquitted — after the all-white jury deliberated a mere 67 minutes. Nearly 67 years later, and some 800 miles from the delta town where Emmett Till met his doom, another young black kid’s death has revived the suspicion that a black life doesn’t have all that much value.

In 2012 we will see whether much has changed at all. Carrying Skittles and a can of tea should not equal a death sentence. It's an ugly testimony of where conservatives are trying to take this county.