Pennsylvania Blogger Threatens to Out Senators for Anti-Gay Vote

Pennsylvania takes up the issue of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage today. One blogger has decided that enough is enough and he is using his blog to fight back. The Pennsylvania Progressive's John Morgan says he knows who's in the closet in the state capital of Harrisonburg and has threatened out any closeted gays who support an anti-gay amendment to the state's constitution.

On Friday, Morgan wrote: Do you remember last year when State Sen. John Eichelberger debated Sen. Daylin Leach about marriage equality?  He said this about the gay and lesbian citizens of Pennsylvania:  "we allow them to exist."  No one "allows me to exist."  The threat implied by those words outraged Pennsylvanians everywhere. ...He wants to make discrimination in Pennsylvania legal and his actions doing so will encourage violence against GLBT persons.  After all, if these people are second class citizens under the law isn't it OK to bash them, assault them or even kill them?  Isn't that what Sen. Eichelberger meant when he said "we allow them to exist?" 

Morgan says he's serious about fighting the homophobes in the Keystone State, "I spend a fair amount of time in Harrisburg.  I know who is closeted.  Any closeted Senator who votes for Eichelberger's bill will be outed.  I also know a State Senator who is wildly homophobic and is also an alcoholic.  One of her rants will also be made public depending on her vote.  This is fair warning."

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House Resolution Condemns Uganda's "Kill the Gays" Bill

Ugandan Anti-Gay Legislation Threatens Human Rights, Reverses Gains in HIV/AIDS Fight, Berman Says.

Washington, D.C. – Howard L. Berman (D-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today introduced a bipartisan congressional resolution condemning anti-gay legislation now making its way through the parliament in Uganda.

“The proposed Ugandan bill not only threatens human rights, it also reverses so many of the gains that Uganda has made in the fight against HIV/AIDS.  This issue has united leaders of different political and religious views in Uganda and worldwide in one common belief in the rights of all human beings regardless of sexual orientation.”

More than three dozen members of Congress joined Berman in introducing the resolution (H. Res. 1064), including Committee Ranking Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen; House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA); Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Chair Donald Payne (D-NJ); Congressional Black Caucus Chair Barbara Lee (D-CA); and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Co-Chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus. 

Mexico City Legalizes Same-sex Marriage

The big news from south of the border is that Mexico City has become the first city in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage. The city assembly approved the bill with a 39-20 vote on Monday.

With Canada, Mexico City and the District of Columbia now recognizing the inherent right of all people to marry the one they love, without regard to gender, and the pending anti-gay legislation in Uganda and Rwanda, will the president feel the increased pressure to do right by the LGBT community, or will he serve up more empty promises?

365Gay reports:

"Leftist Mayor Marcelo Ebrard of the Democratic Revolution Party is widely expected to sign the measure into law. The bill calls for changing the definition of marriage in the city’s civil code. Marriage is currently defined as the union of a man and a woman. The new definition will be “the free uniting of two people.” The change would allow same-sex couples to adopt children, apply for bank loans together, inherit wealth and be included in the insurance policies of their spouse, rights they were denied under civil unions allowed in the city."

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Happy Thanksgiving, Roanoke!

I am especially thankful this year for all of the support that I have gotten from readers and members of the Roanoke LGBT community since I started this blog back in March. I started this as a way to express my creative side. It was easy to fall into the typical blogger trap of just sitting back and saying everything sucks. Then I realized how lame that is.

I decided that if I really wanted to have an impact, I had to get more involved in the Roanoke LGBT community, talk to people, ask questions and write about things that matter not just to me, but to all of you as well. Blogging can be a lot like putting a message in a bottle and throwing it into the ocean. You don't really know if it's going to be found or if it has any meaning to the reader.

In the last few months, I have met some really incredible and dedicated people who are also passionate about getting our community more involved and motivated to stand up for our rights. I've made some new friends and built on the friendships I already had. At those times when I felt like I was wasting my time and no one was interested in what I had to say, out of the blue, someone would send an e-mail or tell me in person, "Thank you for doing what you do."

For these and so many other reasons, I am truly thankful.

Thank you for all your support. I promise to continue working to make this blog better and to helping our community feel more connected to the larger LGBT community and to the ongoing fight for full equality.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Rev. Steve

Bill to Repeal DOMA has Over 100 Co-sponsors

A bill to repeal the Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), introduced in September, now has over 100 co-sponsors. On Top reports:

Sponsors of the Respect for Marriage Act said Tuesday the bill has exceeded 100 co-sponsors. Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Jared Polis (D-CO) introduced the bill that would repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) at a Washington outdoor press conference in September.

DOMA was signed into law by President Bill Clinton 13 years ago. The law defines marriage as a heterosexual union for federal agencies and allows states to ignore gay marriages performed in other states. Under DOMA legally married gay and lesbian couples cannot access federal benefits, including Social Security and pensions.

“Only weeks following the introduction of the Respect for Marriage Act, we have the support of over 100 members of Congress for this historic bill,” Nadler said in a statement.

“This progress demonstrates in no uncertain terms that support for our legislation is growing every day and that there is broad support from across the country to repeal DOMA now. Gay and lesbian Americans simply must not be the target of discrimination under federal law,” he added.

DOMA has been under intense fire since President Obama's Department of Justice defended the law in a California lawsuit that aimed to overturn the statute. That suit has since been dismissed on a technicality, but petitioners have vowed to refile their challenge. In filing their final brief, administration lawyers greatly reined in the anti-gay sentiment of their arguments.