Author Archives: aguynamedwayne
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aguynamedwayne
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The new advocacy group, Freedom to Work, has a great op-ed piece on Huffingtonpost Gay Voices entitled We Can’t Wait: How Obama Can Stop Discrimination Now that adds to the growing calls from gay advocacy groups for President Obama to sign the ENDA executive order: “With just the stroke of his pen, President Obama can add enforceable LGBT workplace protections to more than 16 million American jobs. The order will give the U.S. Labor Department strong enforcement powers at 22 percent of all jobs in America to seek back-wages and reinstatement for LGBT workers who are fired for discriminatory reasons.” The sad fact of the matter is that in 29 states across America you can still be fired from your job simply because you are gay.
The Departments of Labor and Justice have already given the OK to amend existing Executive Order 11246 to include sexual orientation and gender identity protections. The measure has apparently been sitting on Obama’s desk waiting for his signature but the president continues to delay signing it. Change.org has set up a petition seeking 150,000 signatures and requesting that the president end the delay and sign the executive order now. And in addition, there are definitely other things President Obama could and SHOULD be doing as well. The president has been signing dozens of progressive executive orders concerning immigration that appeal to the Latino community and he should absolutely extend some of that fierce advocacy to the LGBT community. Besides the ENDA executive order Obama should also issue an executive order mandating the inclusion of sexual orientation protections under the military’s non-discrimination policy and he should ABSOLUTELY end his pathetic “evolution” on the issue of equality and support marriage equality for gay and lesbian Americans. And he should do it TODAY!
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Wow, talk about twisted irony! It is being reported that Dick Cheney aka Darth Vador was a part of the lobbying effort to pass marriage equality in Maryland. The Maryland House of Delegates managed to narrowly pass the marriage equality bill on Friday by a vote of 71-67. Republican Delegate Wade Kach had been widely expected to vote against the legislation but changed his mind after hearing testimony from gay couples in committed relationships. The Baltimore Sun reported that Kach had also received voicemails by some high profile Republicans (former Republican National Committee chair Ken Mehlman, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and former Vice President Dick Cheney) encouraging him to support marriage equality. He was even offered a chance to speak personally with Dick Cheney, whom Kach regards as a “great man.” R Clarke Cooper, the executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, seemed to confirm the report when he released a statement praising Cheney’s advocacy: “As a member of the Bush-Cheney administration and executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, I am proud and grateful that he has chosen to lend his voice to securing marriage in Maryland.”
So Dick Cheney is now a “fierce advocate” while President Obama hides away from the battle for marriage equality with his increasingly pathetic excuse that he is still “evolving.” I know there are some Obama supporters that are so enamored of President Obama that they think everyone in the gay community should bow down and genuflect anytime his name is even mentioned. But I have to ask some of Obama’s more rational supporters if there ever comes a time when you reach a point where you just have to step up and speak truth to power? I mean, come on! Dick Cheney is now doing more to advocate for the marriage equality of gay and lesbian Americans than Obama! How can you even tolerate such indignity and inaction from a candidate you support?
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In October of 2011, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network filed a federal lawsuit (McLaughlin v. Panetta) asserting that the denial of “same recognition, family support and benefits” for gay military members and their married partners is unconstitutional. And today the Obama administration has announced they now believe that the legislation that bans same-sex couples from receiving military benefits violates the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment and they will no longer defend the statute in court. Congress may still choose to do so, but it is an important step nonetheless. Aubrey Sarvis of SLDN released this statement: ”We are pleased that the Attorney General has decided not to defend the constitutionality of DOMA in the military context, just as he has declined to defend it in other contexts. We are also delighted that, for the first time, he has said that separate definitions that apply to military veterans are also unconstitutional. This is an important step for the McLaughlin plaintiffs.”
This should be a lesson to everyone, especially Obama supporters, that we can and we SHOULD be pushing the Obama administration to step up on LGBT equality issues – not waiting and hoping that Obama will somehow transform himself into a true “fierce advocate” on his own after the elections. Our time is now. We must take it!
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Great news! The New Jersey Assembly has passed the marriage equality bill that the State Senate passed last week. And even though Governor Christie has promised to veto the bill, the legislature will have over a year to come up with the votes to override the governor. Good job, New Jersey! Keep up the fight.
Related: Maryland’s House of Delegates should be voting on their state’s marriage equality bill at any moment.
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“Over the span of my career in the Maryland General Assembly, I have worked hard to take thoughtful, considered positions on laws that affect the rights and liberties of our friends and neighbors. My constituents sent me to Annapolis to represent them and use my best judgment. They did not send me to sit in judgment of the lives of others.” – Wade Kach, Republican State Delegate of Maryland, explaining his surprise announcement that he will now vote yes on a marriage equality bill scheduled for a vote later today. (via Towleroad)
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Freedom to Marry recently announced that they were going to start pushing the Democrats to actually live up to their rhetoric on equality. If the Democrats really support the full equality of Gay and Lesbian citizens then marriage equality should be an official part of the Democratic Party Platform. And yesterday Freedom to Marry scored quite the get when House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced that she fully supports the inclusion of marriage equality to the party platform! Unfortunately, in the face of such bold moves, our so-called “fierce advocate” continues to cower in the White House. Metro Weekly reports: “And the leader of the party, President Obama, opposed marriage equality in the 2008 campaign. He said in December 2010 that his position on marriage equality was ‘evolving’ but that he still ‘struggle[s]’ with it. His press secretary, Jay Carney, said this past week of Obama’s position, ‘You know his position, where it stands now, on the issue of same-sex marriage, so I really don’t have much to add on that.’” Metro Weekly continued to send several requests for comments regarding the president’s position on the Democratic Party Platform and marriage equality to no avail.
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The American Civil Liberties Union has set up a “Valentine” petition to the president:
“Our Right to Love Doesn’t Evolve, We’re Born With It. This has been a big couple of weeks in the fight for the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. Yesterday, Washington became the seventh state to stand up for the fundamental right of same-sex couples to marry. And last week, a three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Proposition 8 unconstitutional.
We know where the GOP frontrunners stand on marriage for gay couples—it’s not pretty—that’s why we need the support of a critical player: President Obama. The hundreds of thousands of same-sex families living in states that deny them their fundamental right to marry need the support of their president. This Valentine’s Day, tell the president that the right to love doesn’t evolve, we’re born with it.” – You can encourage the president to reject anti-gay discrimination by signing the petition here.
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