Ordinary, Like Us
by Jennifer Vanasco | May 7, 2008
To have kids, to love and be loved, to marry: the aspirations of today’s gay and lesbian youth are as ordinary as they are diverse. [read article]
What's New?
The Pope, Gays, and World Peace
by Dale Carpenter | May 7, 2008
We can be grateful that Pope Benedict XVI has made a point of distinguishing between homosexuals and pedophiles. But now for the bad news… [read article]
Keep Talking
by John Corvino | May 1, 2008
Nowadays some gay-rights supporters are as eager to ostracize our opponents as the anti-gay side once was to ostracize us. But turnabout is neither fair play nor smart politics. [read article]
Laughing With Us
by Jennifer Vanasco | April 29, 2008
Lesbian comics are turning humor into a lever for civil rights. It’s one more sign that we’re moving beyond rage to integration. [read article]
Laughing Matters
by Dale Carpenter | April 25, 2008
Humor at the expense of gay people isn’t necessarily the same as anti-gay humor. And sometimes gay stereotypes are funny. [read article]
We Are Everywhere
by Jennifer Vanasco | April 24, 2008
It’s not uncommon to hear Africans deny that homosexuality exists there, but a surprising encounter with a lesbian in a Nairobi slum shows otherwise. [read article]
Class Dismissed
by John Corvino | April 22, 2008
By canceling the author’s lecture on the ethics of homosexuality, and then by maligning him to boot, a Catholic college missed a chance to teach intellectual integrity. [read article]
Creating Community
by Paul Varnell | April 12, 2008
Talk of a “gay community” is just that — talk — if we don’t take active steps to build one. Chicago’s Gay and Lesbian Artists Network shows the kind of cultural activism we need. [read article]
A Hope for Audacity
by Dale Carpenter | April 10, 2008
On gay issues, the two Democratic candidates offer comparable policies and legislative experience. But Barack Obama comes out ahead on one key dimension: commitment. [read article]
The Sins of Sodom
by John Corvino | April 3, 2008
The common misreading of the Sodom and Gomorrah story as anti-gay shows that most people who cite the bible against homosexuality have little idea of what it says. [read article]
Let Them In
by Paul Varnell | April 2, 2008
Western gay-rights advocates and leaders can’t stop homophobia around the world, but we can, and should, do better by gay asylum-seekers. [read article]
State of the World, 2007
by Richard J. Rosendall | March 27, 2008
In 2007, according to a key State Department report, anti-gay oppression and violence remained common around the world. But there’s a rising tide of gay activism from here to Timbuktu. [read article]
Action, Not Words
by Paul Varnell | March 26, 2008
Too often, gay voters settle for sympathetic speeches. We need to ask candidates what specific actions they intend to take to advance gay equality. [read article]
It's Self-Defense, Stupid
by Jonathan Rauch | March 23, 2008
The Washington, D.C., gun-control case now before the Supreme Court concerns the most fundamental gay right of all. [read article]
Equality through Visibility
by Paul Varnell | March 22, 2008
Though politics is important, everyday life provides opportunities for impromptu gay activism of a more personal, and sometimes more effective, kind. [read article]
Sally Kern’s Free Speech
by John Corvino | March 21, 2008
An Oklahoma state representative seems to think free speech means she is entitled to deliver a vicious anti-gay rant without being criticized for it. [read article]
Whose Marriage Was He Defending?
Posted on May 14, 2008
Former Congressman Bob Barr (R-Ga.), who is hoping to win the Libertarian Party's presidential nod and cause problems for John McCain, gets a puff profile here from the New York Times. But the thrice-married father of the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act and congressional opponent of medical marijuana makes for a strange libertarian indeed.
More. Barr also had an terrible record on free trade (voting against it, that is) while in Congress. As David Boaz told the Times, if Barr should head the LP ticket, "I think he's going to have a problem." That seems clear: only unhappy GOP social conservatives — and New York Times liberals hoping for "Barr to block" — will wish him well.
-- by Stephen H. Miller
Switcheroo Times Two
Posted on May 11, 2008
Last week Michigan's state supreme court, upholding lower-court rulings, held that a 2004 constitutional ban on gay marriage means that state employers can't offer health insurance and other partner benefits to gay employees.
You may recall that conservatives insisted that their broadly written amendment was aimed only at same-sex marriage, not at taking away employment benefits. And that, as soon as the amendment passed, they set about taking away employment benefits. "A classic bait and switch."
But to what end? Turns out that Michigan's public universities preemptively circumvented the ruling not by shutting down partner benefits but by extending them even more broadly, to spouses and "other qualified adults"—i.e., financially interdependent cohabitants.
It's one more example of a fact that same-sex marriage opponents will not address, or even acknowledge: The real-world alternative to recognizing gay unions isn't recognizing nothing, it's recognizing everything.
-- by Jonathan Rauch
Victory Fund Responds...
Posted on May 11, 2008
Replying to CultureWatch's criticism of the Victory Fund's decision not to endorse an openly gay Democratic Senate candidate, the Fund's Denis Dison writes:
The Victory Fund's endorsement decisions have absolutely nothing to do with the desires of any political party. We endorse against party picks all the time...
Our endorsement decisions are necessarily private because it is not fair to applicants to publicly air our evaluations of their campaigns, particularly when we decide not to endorse. The decision not to endorse any particular candidate is the result of the same application and evaluation process every candidate goes through, and our endorsement criteria are public.
Read the full text here.
More. Reader "avee" comments:
although it didn't come into play in this primary race between two Democratic liberals, the Victory Fund has a firm litmus-test policy of only endorsing candidates who strongly favor abortion rights. That's an easy way to rule out many gay Republican moderates who show less than all-out enthusiasm for abortion on demand without parental consent (and preferably at taxpayer expense).
Maybe they should call themselves the Gay & Lesbian Abortion Rights Victory Fund.
Reminder: comments that consists of personal insults will be deleted.
-- by Jonathan Rauch