News Briefs 1/26/2009
State & Local
Sam Adams returns, releases video to Portlanders, Gay Rights Watch, Bryan Boyd. Follow the link to see the video, as well as a transcript.
Portland gay mayor hangs tough, won’t resign, 365gay.com.
Gay couple seeks Texas divorce, The Dallas Morning News, Brad Watson. News video.
Same-sex divorce case seen as first for Texas, The Dallas Morning News, Roy Appleton.
Proposition 8
NAACP Joins Proposition 8 Challange, Portland Observer, John Payton.
International
Bolivians tackle gay rights, marriage in constitutional vote, On Top Magazine.
Miscellaneous
Op-Ed: Forbes’ Definition of “Liberal”, The Daily Dish, Andrew Sullivan.
Tom Hanks apologises for calling Mormons ‘un-American’ for supporting gay marriage ban, Telegraph.co.uk, Tom Leonard. I am disappointed to hear this. Yeah, the term ‘un-American’ is emotionally charged, but saying that an action is wrong and hurtful, when it is in fact wrong and hurtful, is a necessary step in overcoming prejudice and discrimination. I agree with Greg Hernandez’s comments in Out in Hollywood: “I thought Tom Hanks was a man who knows his own mind and a big enough star to say what he means and mean what he says and stick to it. Apparently not.”
Ad declines lead gay media to cut back, Bay Area Reporter, Matthew S. Bajko.
KABC to air rejected ad featuring gay family, glaadBLOG, Damon.
Soulforce founder Mel White and son to compete in Amazing Race, Towleroad, Andy Towle. This is just kind of fun; I’ve been a longtime fan of White’s.
Excerpts from the above headlines follow:
State & Local
Sam Adams returns, releases video to Portlanders
Mayor Sam Adams just released this video (in fact it’s still processing as I write this). Here is his video message to Portlanders, as well as his written message. I’ve got to say after watching it you can tell he’s had a rough couple of days.
Portland gay mayor hangs tough, won’t resign
The mayor of Portland, Ore., has decided not to resign despite calls for him to do so after he admitted he lied and asked a teenager to lie about their sexual relationship.
Gay couple seeks Texas divorce
Video only. Follow the link to view it.
Same-sex divorce case seen as first for Texas
In what could further define the rights of same-sex couples in Texas and beyond, a Dallas man has filed for divorce from his husband and longtime partner.
The men married in Cambridge, Mass., in 2006 and later returned to Dallas. But on Wednesday one of the pair, citing “discord or conflict of personalities,” asked a state district court in Dallas to void the union in what is believed to be the first such action in Texas.
Proposition 8
NAACP Joins Proposition 8 Challange
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund has filed a friend of the court brief challenging California’s Proposition 8, the voter-approved referendum against gay marriage ban, on the grounds that the basic rights of a minority group cannot be taken away by a simple majority.
LDF joins other civil rights groups, the Asian American Pacific Legal Center, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Equal Justice Society, and the California NAACP in calling for the invalidation of Prop 8.
International
Bolivians tackle gay rights, marriage in constitutional vote
Bolivians will vote on a new constitution Sunday that grants rights to gays and lesbians in the country while defining marriage as a heterosexual union.
The Bolivian constitution already bans gay marriage. In 2007, lawmakers added the provision to the constitution.
Miscellaneous
Op-Ed: Forbes’ Definition of “Liberal”
The real truth is that many on the Republican right just read everything I write through an anti-gay prism, because their homophobia – benign or not-so-benign, conscious or unconscious – is so overwhelming it occludes any genuine assessment of a person’s thoughts outside this fact. See how Forbes cannot even keep the word gay out of quote marks. Just imagine the same sentence with the word “Jewish” replacing the word gay. It tells you everything you need to know about the moral core of conservatism today. It’s sad and will one day be seen as embarrassing.
Tom Hanks apologises for calling Mormons ‘un-American’ for supporting gay marriage ban
“I believe Proposition 8 is counter to the promise of our Constitution; it is codified discrimination,” he said in a statement through his publicist.
“But everyone has a right to vote their conscience – nothing could be more American.” He conceded his earlier remark “creates more division when the time calls for respectful disagreement”.
He added: “No one should use ‘un-American’ lightly or in haste. I did. I should not have.”
Ad declines lead gay media to cut back
The staff layoffs and downsizing plaguing mainstream news outlets is also hitting gay media newsrooms as advertisers pull back due to the faltering economy.
The financial woes have led many LGBT media outlets to reduce page counts, lay off writers, and scramble to find new sources of revenue. One paper, the New England Blade owned by HX Media, shut down last October.
KABC to air rejected ad featuring gay family
After a meeting with GLAAD and the marriage equality group GetToKnowUsFirst.org, Los Angeles station KABC-TV announces it will air a gay-inclusive ad it rejected airing on inauguration day. Gay families are part of the KABC family and this is not an issue that is controversial, says KABC President and General Manager.
