Like George H.W. Bush (41), John McCain is distrusted by the religious right. What does that mean?  Not what a gay friend just told me--that a President McCain will not advance the agenda of so-called "Christians" who are obsessed with homosexuals and abortion.

In the past, Senator McCain had been open-minded about gay rights and even abortion.  (Somewhere out there, McCain is on video about how if his daughter got pregnant, it would be a "family decision" about what to do.  And he praised one of the heroes of 9-11-01, a gay man who helped on Filght 93.)

That was McCain eight years ago, when he should have switched parties after being trashed by Bush in South Carolina.

Now, like Bush 41, a President McCain, even if he is not planning on running for re-election, will be under immense pressure to appoint judges like Alito, Roberts, Scalia, and Thomas.  Activist judges with agendas.

These include overruling Roe v. Wade and implicitly, Lawrence v. Texas, both decisions based on a right to privacy that so-called "conservatives" claim is not in the Constitution--so it does not exist.  So abortion rights and gay rights are on the ballot this year because it's likely that at least three Supreme Court justices will retire in the next four years.

Pioneering lesbian activist Del Martin has died, aged 87. She had been in declining health for some time, but thankfully lived long enough to be able to marry her partner of 55 years, Phyllis Lyon, on June 16 of this year.

I used the word "lion" in the title deliberately: but not with any intention of punning on the surname of Ms. Martin's widow. Del Martin was a gay activist before that phrase was even invented. She and Phyllis were gay activists together for twelve years before the man (San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom) who married them this summer was even born. Del and Phyllis jointly founded the Daughters of Bilitis, the first social and political organization for lesbians in the United States. That was in 1955, when the word "lesbian" was uttered in public only in the titles of lurid "thrillers" purveying bad genre soft-core porn in "dirty" bookstores. The National Organization for Women, which Martin and Lyon both joined, jointly, as the first lesbian couple to do so, was founded eleven years later.

h/t to sfbob

We all lost a hero.

Lesbian activist Del Martin, at the forefront of the battle for same-sex marriage in California, died Wednesday in San Francisco. She was 87.

Martin's partner of 55 years, Phyllis Lyon, was by her side at the UCSF hospice, the National Center for Lesbian Rights said.

My heart is broken by this news, but I am comforted knowing that she left this world having the one thing she had fought so hard for.

On My 15, the California Supreme Court struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage, paving the way for Lyon and Martin and other same-sex couples to marry in the state.

A standing-room only crowd at San Francisco's City Hall on June 16 saw Lyon and Martin, in a wheelchair, take their vows.

I subscribe to American Family Association Action alerts because, you know, somebody ought to read them.   The Founder and Chairman, Donald E. Wildmon, is angry today  that Hallmark stores are carrying cards which are appropriate to same-sex marriage. And, in response to to Wildmon's angry letters and emails, Hallmark said that they will continue to do so.

I know many of you have been glued to the television watching the Olympics these past two weeks. I've watched women's gymnastics and a little bit of swimming, but as a political junkie, the next two weeks of the conventions will be much more "must see TV" for me.

Last week, the Religious Institute sent a letter to both presumptive candidates and campaigns, urging them to affirm sexual justice issues. I thought some of you might be interested in the letters, which were basically identical in our requests.

I can't wait to see how all of this plays out! Stay tuned

In a unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court ruled that a doctor is not permitted to discriminate against gay patients on religious grounds. Moreover, the court noted that the doctor was selectively refusing to perform the same procedure on a gay patient that the doctor had performed without incident on heterosexuals.

The court sided with the plaintiff on the grounds that California state law strictly prohibits discrimination on the basis of one's sexual orientation. In doing so, the court rejected a claim by the physician that treating a gay woman would be against her "Christian" beliefs.

I am generally an optimist, but there are days when as a minister and an advocate, I feel discouraged, especially when I'm being attacked from either the left or the right.But there are signs that we are moving towards a world of sexual justice.

A lot has been made recently of John McCain's recent admission that he would consider a pro-choice Vice-President. One thing McCain won't be considering? A pro-gay Republican for Vice-President.

From the widely touted McCain interview with The Weekly Standard:

"I think it's a fundamental tenet of our party to be pro-life but that does not mean we exclude people from our party that are pro-choice. We just have a -- albeit strong -- but just it's a disagreement. And I think Ridge is a great example of that. Far more so than Bloomberg, because Bloomberg is pro-gay rights, pro, you know, a number of other issues."

Over the past few weeks, various members of the online liberal/progressive community, that included quite a few Kossaks, worked together in a democratic fashion to create the Netroots Platform  

For those of you who have just joined us, check out DemocracyLover in NYC mothership diary http://www.dailykos.com/... , to get the whole picture.  For the Civil and Human Rights Plank, we had a whopping 67 Contributors.  Join me over the fold to read the final version

In 2007, the Oregon legislature passed two laws: The domestic partnership law (the Oregon Family Fairness Act) and the Oregon Equality Act, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

A group of "concerned Oregonians" started gathering signatures because they wanted to place a referendum on this November's ballot requiring a statewide vote on the two laws.

They've now officially failed. H/t to Marshall Collins over at BlueOregon...

The anti-gay attack machine worked before; will it work again? I'm a contributing writer for queer media cites AfterEllen.com/AfterElton.com, and today they're running my article that asks just that question of a wide variety of media and political figures including Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Congressman Barney Frank, Joe Scarborough, AmericaBlog.com's John Aravosis, and a number of others -- including Karl Rove himself.

"If Martin Luther King hadn't been so uppity, he wouldn't have been shot."

"If you hadn't dressed like a bitch, you wouldn't have been raped."

"When that faggot came on to me, I panicked and had to knife him."

"You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession. We have sort of become a nation of whiners." - former Senator Phil Gramm

It's an old but effective way to keep the oppressed in their place - blame them for the oppression, and especially for any conflict that arises out of their attempts to challenge the status quo.

The Christian church certainly does plenty of victim blaming - the Catholic hierarchy blamed the survivors of clergy sexual abuse for causing the scandal, and now Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, blames American Episcopalians for the pending schism in the Anglican Communion.

For those unfamiliar with SF writer Orson Scott Card, author of Enders Game long ago, it often comes as a surprise that he long ago went far off his trolley in campaigning against gay rights.

As an established author he is a regular columnist in Mormon papers, and there is little that I can imagine as being more ironic than Mormons calling for armed rebellion to defend "traditional marriage" - but that's the thing about irony...

Cross-posted on BlueMassGroup.

I had hoped this was a one time anomaly of clouded judgment brought on by strong emotion, but unfortunately I've begun to notice a pattern.  

Let me start from the beginning:  It began last year over the ENDA (Employment Non Discrimination Act) debate.  Congressman Barney Frank introduced a GLBT version of ENDA, but it was realized that the votes were not there to pass it with the T's included.  So a GLB bill was introduced and Tammy Baldwin submitted a Trans-bill amendment which was later pulled because of the lack of support.

My heart goes out to the survivors and the families of the survivors and victims of the shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church outside of Knoxville, Tennessee.  I will keep them in my thoughts and prayers, as well as Mr. Jim Adkisson.  I do not understand the depths of despair and derangement that drove him to open fire inside a church, but it had to be the act of a desperate and damaged mind.  There really are no words to describe how terrible I find this event.

Mr. Adkisson heard words of hatred and intolerance from a wide variety of sources inside the ultra-right-wing world.  Congratulations to Fox News, because their broadcast has finally brought about the sort of tough action they have wanted all along.  The world would be a better place without all the vicious talk and hate mongering, but I won't count on any organization in Rupert Murdoch's portfolio working to make that happen.

More after the flip.

A life long dream came true when Annette Taddeo spoke at the Democracy for America hospitality suite.  Annette was attending Netroots Nation and was meeting bloggers from across the nation. Here was a candidate who started out speaking about civil liberties and what it means to actually care about your constituents rights.

Cross posted @ Doing My Part For The Left

Sometime last year, I read about the murder of Sean William Kennedy. A 20 year old living in South Carolina, Sean was murdered because he was gay. At the time, I remember thinking what a senseless tragedy it was and how the perpetrator, himself just a teenager, had thrown his life away. For I trusted justice would be done. And so, just as quickly as the story entered my life, it was forgotten.

Until today. Until tonight.

The outcome of this sordid tale has now come to my attention - an outcome which makes me white hot with rage.

Well, actually, I didn't win this one.

In fact I didn't even know my friend Jerry Sloan who did, and whose story this is, until years later. But I remembered his story well from news accounts. In what has become an annual tradition at Talk to Action, Jerry retells his famous story, which is an example of how dedication and smart activism can make for illuminating victories even in dark times. I am reposting this in its entirety with his blessing, and our hope that whatever your struggle, that you will find hope and inspiration and a smile.

Without further adieu: