Citizen's filibuster

Governor Abercrombie of Hawaii has called his state's legislature into a special session to work on a marriage equality bill. It looks like that means the legislature normally doesn't meet at this time (some state legislatures are part time or meet only a few months a year) and has a limited duration to consider a single issue.

The Hawaii Senate has already passed the bill with a 20-4 vote (there is only one Republican in the Senate). The House has started hearings to allow citizens (and leaders of the National Organization for Marriage [the bad guys]) to have their say. It looks like the Fundies are turning the hearings into a "citizen's filibuster" -- get so many of their side to testify (even if only once each and only a minute each) that they run out the clock on the special session. Nearly 5000 people signed up to testify, though many people didn't step up when their turn was called. Some observers think the hearings will run out of steam Monday evening. Oh, to have to listen to that drivel over many hours for several days.



Billionaire Paul Singer has a gay son so was instrumental in pushing Republicans to approve marriage equality in New York. Now Singer, joined by Daniel Loeb, is funding the Human Rights Campaign to increase rights for sexual minorities around the world. Along the way they will challenge the American Fundies who have been pushing for anti-gay laws in countries such as Uganda and Russia.

A commenter adds that this is great news -- but he still heavily supports the GOP.