Friday, November 9, 2012

Thank a straight person

The SuperPAC that Karl Rove headed spent $400 million on various campaigns, especially against Obama. What did he and his donors get for that amount of money? Zip. A bunch of billionaire donors are mighty mad at Rove. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy.



More election results:
* Stacie Laughton, transgender, won a seat in the New Hampshire House, the first transgender lawmaker.

* Mark Ferrandino, gay, is on track to become Speaker of the Colorado House. Pat Steadman, gay, is expected to run for President of the Colorado Senate. We could have a state legislature where both leaders are gay.

* Tina Kotek, lesbian, is expected to become Speaker of the Oregon House.

* Tim Brown of Ohio is both gay and GOP and the only such state lawmaker in the nation.

* Justin Chenette, gay, was elected to the Maine House. He is also the youngest lawmaker at 21.

* Puerto Rico approved an application for statehood! It passed by almost 54%. But don't hold your breath waiting for Congress to approve it.



Dan Savage gives a big thank you to the straight allies who made marriage equality in Washington state happen.
Gays and lesbians are a tiny percentage of the population. We couldn't do this on our own. A majority of the legislators who voted for same-sex marriage? Straight. The governor who signed the law making same-sex marriage legal in Washington state? Straight. The majority of the folks manning the phone banks for R-74? Straight. The overwhelming majority of people who voted to approve R-74? Straight. The president who took a huge political risk and came out for marriage equality before his reelection campaign? Straight. It has gotten better for us—better, not perfect—but it hasn't gotten better for us in a vacuum. It's gotten better for us because straight people have gotten better about us.
Maybe the theme of the next Pride should be "Thank a str8 person." Or a huge wedding reception to include all the allies.



Ari Ezra Waldman thinks marriage equality will happen next in a state where Democrats control both parts of the state legislature and have a Dem governor. States that have (or will have in January) are Minnesota, Delaware, Illinois, Colorado, and Hawaii. In addition to actually allowing gay couples to marry every state with marriage equality deprives our opponents of one of their big arguments and improves the chances the Supremes will rule in our favor. Within a few weeks they'll decide whether to take cases related to the Defense of Marriage Act and the Calif. gay marriage ban.



Alas, The Christian Civic League in Maine wants a do-over. They're pondering whether to take the marriage equality issue back to the ballot box.



I don't remember where I heard this idea, nor do I remember the exact wording. It goes something like this: We'll know we've completely achieved gay acceptance when at a church sponsored dance the parents comment about what a cute couple Ralph and Don are and how good they are for each other. May that day come soon.

1 comment:

  1. A Seattle shop, Cupcake Royale, was a big supporter of R74. Yesterday they had Dan and his partner over to cut the R74 celebration cake. A piece was handed out to anyone who came by their shop on Capitol Hill.

    http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2012/11/09/celebrate-r74-with-a-free-slice-of-capitol-hills-biggest-rainbow-cake

    ReplyDelete