Stuff to keep you busy

Another petition to sign to get rid of Joe Lieberman here.

From TerraPass: "Another trivially easy thing you can do to end climate change" here.

Help stop child sex trafficking here.

Demand safe drinking water in schools here.

Sign a petition on polar bear habitat preservation here.

Find your Reps. phone numbers here and start calling in support of true health care reform.

Stand on the side of love and sign the petition for Full Equality here.

End the aerial wolf hunts in Alaska here.

""What do you think us boys fought for at Omaha Beach?"

Grab a tissue.

h/t Katie

This should keep you busy for a while

Stand on the side of love here.

Don't let Kellogs buy scientists here.

Check to see if your stuff is made from toxic chemicals here.

Pledge to promote and support progressive ideas here.

Click here to take all sorts of action at the Union of Concerned Scientists site.

Click here to take all sorts of action at the EarthJustice action center.

Click here to go to the Hunger Site (you should be clicking daily, anwyay!).

Don't forget about Free Rice, either.

Click here to sign up for a webinar on how your business can reduce its carbon footprint.

Help Defenders of Wildlife by taking their survey here.

Help make pet care more affordable here.

Speak up for leatherback sea turtles here.

Click here to take action with the Sierra Club.

Kiss-In

Join the Great Nationwide Kiss-in:

Saturday, August 15, 2009, at 2 p.m., EDT (or 11 a.m., PDT). In the coming weeks, we hope it evolves into a simultaneous occasion of kissing and hugging between thousands of couples, gay and straight, in cities and towns all over the country. This will be a fun and lighthearted event, but one with an extraordinarily strong message as well: we are human, capable of a beautiful normal love like everyone else in the world. We won’t keep being excluded. There is nothing wrong with us.
Please consider joining us on August 15, both to have fun and to send out that extraordinary message to folks all over the country. If you want to host/organize an event similar to what is already being planned in Boston, New York and several other cities, please e-mail us at GreatNationwideKissIn@gmail.com as soon as possible; we will send you written guidance on how to plan your event. Again, it’s going to be really simple to put together, but we need people from as many different cities as possible to help us.

Emphasis mine. Now, get to hugging and kissing, y'all!

h/t Dana

Tell Obama to straighten up on gay rights

From Credo:

Back in the days of the 2008 campaign, Senator Obama promised he would work to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. But now that a gay couple in California is challenging DOMA in federal court, President Obama has chosen to take action to defend a law that prevents legally married same-sex couples from receiving any federal benefits, or from having their marriages recognized in other states.

The Obama administration now tells us it has no choice but to defend DOMA - after all, it's the job of the Department of Justice to defend every law on the books. But a former Special Assistant for civil rights to President Clinton writes on AmericaBlog that this is far from true: On the contrary, the DOJ is charged with figuring out how to argue a president's policy decisions, not the other way around.

Call bullshit on Obama and Holder by clicking here.

Oh, and this is the link for Obama's plan for LGBT rights. (h/t Vegas710)

Free Bumper Sticker

Click here to get a free "I support Gay Marriage" bumper sticker. Yay!

Blerg

The CA Supreme Court upheld Prop 8. Now what?

*The Courage Campaign is asking you to be "fearless" and go on the offensive with them. Do so by clicking here.
*Join the Human Rights Campaign's "We Won't Back Down" effort by clicking here.
*Follow news coverage at Stop Prop 8 to find ways to push back by clicking here.

Quickie: Marriage Equality

From the Courage Campaign:

The Courage Campaign, along with other organizations committed to restoring marriage equality to California, is surveying our membership about going back to the ballot. We stand together, hopeful that the California Supreme Court will confirm that fundamental civil rights cannot be stripped away from a minority group at the ballot box. However, we must be prepared to go back to the ballot if the Supreme Court fails to overturn Proposition 8.

They are asking: "If the state Supreme Court upholds Proposition 8... should we support going back to the ballot to restore marriage equality to California in 2010 or 2012?"

Some arguments for placing a marriage equality initiative on the ballot in 2010:
We should take advantage of the powerful grassroots activism that has emerged following the passage of Prop 8 by going back sooner rather than later. That energy will dissipate if we wait until 2012.
By November 2010, we will have full marriage equality in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and very likely in New York and New Jersey. Given these developments, Californians should not wait beyond 2010 to try and restore the right to marry.

In November 2010, the top of the Democratic ticket -- the gubernatorial candidate -- will support overturning Prop 8 and restoring the right to marry. In 2012, it's questionable whether President Obama will take that position.

Some arguments for placing a marriage equality initiative on the ballot in 2012:
We have hundreds of thousands of voters to convince on the issue of marriage equality. Even if we work our hardest, it will take three-plus years to do that work.

On this issue, time is on our side. By 2012, an even greater number of voters will have come our way. So why risk it in 2010 when we probably have a better chance in 2012.

We will once again need tens of millions of dollars to run a strong campaign. Given the state of today's economy and the fact that people just gave so much to the No on 8 campaign, we should wait before going right back to the ballot.

So, go vote. You have until tomorrow, Wednesday May 20th, at 5pm.

A Day Without a Gay?

I shudder at the thought, and so should you ( a day without Rachel Maddow is one that should never be!). Click below to find out how to show the world, or at least California Prop 8 supporters, how integral "the gays" are to our society, our economy, and our culture. From the site:

Gay people and our allies are compassionate, sensitive, caring, mobilized, and programmed for success. A day without gays would be tragic because it would be a day without love.

On December 10, 2008 the gay community will take a historic stance against hatred by donating love to a variety of different causes.

On December 10, you are encouraged not to call in sick to work. You are encouraged to call in "gay"--and donate your time to service!

You can be totally lazy and also make this your Human Rights Day action by clicking here. Win-win!

Quickie: Repeal Prop 8

Yay! Go here to sign a petition with the Courage Campaign. Join the Facebook group. Donate to the Lambda Legal Defense Fund.



h/t Daily Kos

Sick to death

I am sick to death of the Bible being used against LGBT folks. There is NOTHING in the bible that should be construed as "god hates gays." This quote from Billy Graham's son, Franklin, has just set me off:

Though never partisan in his preaching, Billy Graham is a registered Democrat. His son expressed concern about Obama's views on abortion and gay marriage — an issue Franklin Graham raised in a meeting with the Illinois senator — saying that he and is father are conservatives who believe the Bible speaks clearly on those issues.
"President-elect Obama heard our position," Franklin Graham said. "And I told him that this was very difficult for us and hard for us. It's a moral issue that we just can't back down on."

Moral issue? What type of morality denies the rights, feelings, and expressions of love of fellow human beings? What kind of bullshit is that? I hope against hope that Obama's administration is progressive enough to re-frame morality and strip it from the hate-filled, tight-fisted hands of the radical right. Why is it that Republicans are the party of family values? It is such crap. I am fuming and I haven't even thought about the abortion aspect yet!

What to do? Read the Bible for yourself to see that it has little, if anything to say about gay folks. If you don't want to read it, check out a website called Religious Tolerance. Their take on the Bible and Homosexuality can be found here. Some tidbits:

1. The Bible has a lot to say about temple prostitution, including homosexual ritual prostitution. This was a common practice within the Canaanite fertility religion; some believe that the practice was also taken up by some ancient Israelites.
2. God’s destruction of town of Sodom had nothing to do with homosexuality.
3. The Bible says little about homosexual feelings.
4. It says nothing about sexual orientation; the concept of orientation dates only from the late 19th century.
5. A number of homosexual relationships are described positively or neutrally in the Bible.
6. Of the many hundreds of Jesus’ instructions and prohibitions, few have a sexual component and none condemn homosexuality.
7. Paul may have condemned same-sex sexual activities by homosexuals, but the passages are unclear; there are many possible interpretations.
8. Bible translators must be aware of the errors that have been made in previous versions of the Bible; they are widely discussed in theological literature. But it would probably not be economically possible at this time to produce a translation of the Bible that was accurate. People are so used to expecting homophobic references in a half-dozen locations in scripture that they probably would not buy a Bible that was accurate to the original text, or which admitted that the meanings of certain words are unknown. (emphasis added because I'm pissed!)

Number 8 (and Prop 8!) speaks volumes to the problems LGBT folks and progressives struggle against. It reminds me of a Chinese proverb - "a closed mind is like a closed book: just a block of wood."

What else to do? Read Moral Politics by George Lakoff. I blogged about it here. Oh, and, Jesus Rode a Donkey by Linda Seger.

Support your local UU church. They do good work, are welcoming to the LGBT community, and work to fight religious oppression of all people.

What else? Find out what the Human Rights Campaign fund is up to as well as People for the American Way and see how you, too, can help wrestle the mantle of morality from the radical right.

Rant over. Thanks for listening.

Yes we did!

Thank you.

The anti-choice ballot measures in Colorado, South Dakota, and California went down. As of this entry, however, Prop 8 in California and 102 in Arizona are winning. Ack! I'm hoping against hope that when all the dust settles these measures will also go down.

Don't Forget

Today is Write to Marry day. If you haven't blogged about gay marriage, equal rights for LGBT, and the evils of Proposition 8 in California yet, please do so now.

Thanks.

Write to Marry: October 29

Attention Bloggers: October 29 is Write to Marry Day. Please use your voice to blog for the basic human right of marriage for all. I will.

From Dana at Mombian:

The event will give bloggers a chance to voice their opposition to Prop 8 and highlight what they may have already done, online or off, to stop the measure. The campaign will also educate California voters of the need to “go all the way” down the ballot to vote on the proposition.

Mike Rogers of PageOneQ approached me last week to ask if I’d organize a blog carnival like Blogging for LGBT Families Day, but this time to help generate awareness and action against Prop 8. I readily agreed, and here it is.

To participate, post on your own blog against Prop 8 on or before October 29, 2008, then submit the link to your post by completing the form here. Links to your own videos on YouTube or other video sites are also accepted.

Many of you have already done much to try and stop Prop 8 in California, donating and raising money, blogging, and talking with friends and family. Please share your efforts and post about them for Write to Marry Day, or submit a link to a previous post. This will help us create a comprehensive view of bloggers’ efforts to stop Prop 8.

Please help spread the word and stop the hate.

Stop the (Anti-LGBT) Props

From Dana over at MotherTalkers and Mombian:

Florida's Prop 2, California's Prop 8, Arizona's Prop 102: These are the measures that could make marriage for same-sex couples unconstitutional under state law, and take away the existing right to marry for same-sex couples in California. Many people have already given money to fight them...

With two weeks to go now before the election, what else can you do, especially if you are a busy parent or don't live in one of these states, to stop any or all of these measures from passing? How can you keep informed and help spread the word? Here are some ideas, in no particular order. Please feel free to add more in the comments.

Click here to find out. Please. Do something. Anything. Now.

I beg of you

Please, especially if you live in California, do whatever you can to defeat Proposition 8. I just stumbled across this and am made ill by it:


Donate. Volunteer. Put up a yard sign. Slap on a bumper sticker. Talk to friends, neighbors, merchants. Write a letter to an editor. Do whatever you can do to stop this insanity.

As California goes, so goes the Nation.

h/t Daily Kos.

Quickie: Yay Connecticut!

Take that, all you politicians who think it's up to the states to decide! And, because this was a State Supreme Court ruling, it can NOT be challenged or appealed. 3 down, 47 to go...