We all know this is a big issue in our community. How does it break down, and what’s happening in the states currently? What does it all really mean to you? If you have a partner, it may mean quite a lot in terms of health care, credit, benefits and your rights and responsibilities.

Only one state, Massachusetts, allows same sex partners to marry, issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples just as they would heterosexual couples. Domestic partnerships and civil unions offering all the rights accorded a married couple under state law are an option in California, New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Some legal protections are available as domestic or civil unions without all the protections of heterosexual marriage in Hawaii, Washington, the District of Columbia, and Oregon.

Many states that recognize same sex marriage or unions will recognize those granted in other states. Unfortunately, states without such unions as an option will not legally recognize such a union from another state. Furthermore, twenty-six states have constitutional amendments barring the recognition of same sex marriages, and some forty-three have statutes confining marriage to a relationship between a man and a woman.

Laws regarding same sex marriages and civil unions can impact each of our lives in ways we may not have considered. A Michigan Supreme Court ruling has recently deemed that the state cannot offer benefits to domestic partners in any way because of the state’s constitutional amendment banning recognition of same sex marriages and unions. There is worry that a similar amendment in Florida could create the same legal situation. While some institutions, like the University of Michigan, are responding by creating language that still allows for domestic partner benefits, this is a significant concern for many of us.

What can we expect to see in terms of laws regarding same sex unions in the foreseeable future? As you might imagine, that will largely depend upon the outcome of the 2008 election. Both Democratic candidates oppose same sex marriage, but support civil unions. They do, however, believe it is a matter best left to the states. Barack Obama supports a full repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) while Hilary Clinton only supports a partial repeal. McCain has flip-flopped on gay issues, including civil unions, but does not support a federal ban on gay marriage.

The realities: for a long time to come, unless you’re lucky enough to live coastal or are willing to move, you will be creating the legal aspects of your relationship with durable powers of attorney and commitment ceremonies in front of friends and family. Any hope of widespread legalized same sex unions of any sort is still a long way off.

It is, of course, an election year. While many of us are thinking about the presidential election, there are many seats in political office open this year and you can make a difference. Your own level of political action and involvement is personal, of course, and may be decided based on your own priorities, your time and more. You may want to volunteer for a local politician or work through your local gay and lesbian organizations in order to help publicize issues that matter to you. Not only might you want to consider who you’re voting for and who you’re working to get into office, but also the issues, including ENDA, don’t ask don’t tell, marriage legislation and more.

One of the best options for political action this year is to work locally. Working locally is often more motivating, more relevant and can allow you network within your community. You may find that there is a local political group that works specifically on GLBT issues and this can be a good jumping off point. Local activities sponsored by moveon.org can be another possibility within your community. You can also find information about the local organizations for the Democratic Party at democrats.org/local . Conveniently, working with these sorts of organizations on a local level can help you to stay informed about issues that may matter within your community specifically. Often, local organizations need help on the phones, in person, or even with tasks you may be able to work on from home when you have time.

If you live in a small town, are short on time or simply are looking for other options for political activity, there are some great possibilities for GLBTQ individuals. First, sign up for moveon.org to stay informed about political issues. You may even want to donate money if you are able. The Victory Fund at victoryfund.org is another possibility, whether you are looking for political information or would like to offer help to GLBT candidates. Stonewalldemocrats.org is another good source for information and another possibility in terms of donation, fundraising and political action. You may be surprised to find that even in a smaller community you can find ways you can take action, share your views and more.

Stay apprised of the issues in your community and the nation as a whole to make good choices with your time, money, and eventually your vote. Research the candidates and issues thoroughly, take the time to talk to candidates whenever you are able, and make your vote based on who you believe will act to the benefit of the GLBT community. When all else fails, vote for the candidate who will not promote or support legislation harmful to our community.

What issues are you for or against in this presidential campaign? For higher taxes, lower taxes, or a fairer taxing system?  Ending the War in Iraq with Obama or 100 years more of war with McCain?  Politics as usual with McCain? Gay Marriage and Gays in the Military are also some of the issues surrounding the 2008 campaign.

You may also want to examine local issues in some counties where you could be voting on things such as liquor drinking rights, judges, and house property taxes.

I was in a happy surprise today when searching my favorite search engine Google today.  I had noticed that on the word gay and several of the gay terms they are displaying a gay flag on the right side.  Big G is based near San Francisco so it could have to do with them celebrating gay pride but the flag is not coming up when I search for San Fran.  I think this is a historic event for them to help in celebrating gay pride.  It could also be that they are helping us celebrate couples marrying in California.   If there is a company we do not mind there being the leader on search it is a gay friendly one even though they do make some mistakes.

Happy Pride to everyone celebrating this weekend in Oklahoma City and those next weekend in San Francisco and New York City among many others!

The nations largest state today had an outcome from the top Supreme court that said gays could marry as soon as a month away. This is great news for gay rights across the nation and over 90,000 estimated same sex couples in California. California’s highest court ruled that denying same sex couples the right to marry is unconstitutional, granting loving, committed gay and lesbian couples the dignity and support their relationships have so long been denied.

While many in California and the nation are celebrating that gays can now marry in the state. Their is a possible backlash in the November election. Anti-gay groups such as Focus on the Family have gathered signatures to put the gay marriage issue on the November ballot. This could not only hurt the chance of Democrats in the white such as the stolen Bush election 7 years ago but it could overturn the Supreme court decision based on the constitution.

California’s secretary of state is expected to rule near the end of June whether the activists gathered enough signatures to put the gay marriage amendment on the ballot. Right wing groups are building up a 10 million dollar bomb to throw towards the November ballot issue. The National Organization for Marriage’s own web site is calling on their supporters to give $10 million so they can pollute the state with anti-gay messages in months ahead.

VoteYesMarriage.com, who seek to to amend the California Constitution to ban gay marriage are saying that the decision today is a bad role model for children to follow but they are not thinking of the basic rights of other tax paying humans sharing the planet with them. Same sex couples pay taxes and we have the right to marry just like your families and your kids.

What can you do to help? Donate to the Human Rights Campaign (hrc.org) or get a card that helps these causes just by making everyday purchases.

Conspiracy theories are not my thing but Reverend Wright has brought light to an issue that needs attention. If HIV and AIDS are not man made viruses then what is wrong with opening up an investigation into this matter. When you stop questioning things and learning then you really stop living. I am not saying to be paranoid but there are just so many unanswered questions in this debate.

Russia, China, the United States are just a few of the nations that have to constantly do research on war programs for protection. The pentagon has admitted many programs that use biological warfare after sometime. Some may even be needed to protect the U.S. in case some country decides to do the same. But this could just possibly be a case of an experiment gone wrong. It could also be many other factors.

I normally always question things such as who owns the drink sites that tell you that drinking corn syrup really is not that bad for you? hmm maybe Coca-Cola. It was on the main page of Yahoo.com one day advertising and at the time it did not have anything that resembled Coke on the site until I researched it. It now has a semi-Coke looking label. A web page owned and created by Coke called the Beverage Institute for Health and Wellness.

My point is that questions need to be asked sometimes.

I do not really see any gay blogs talking about this issue that Rev. Wright brings up. Sometimes it seems that the GLBT overall is scared to speak up about HIV/AIDS and just submit to "tests" every time they are told with no questions asked. With full trust of everyone involved for some reason even though we are the most discriminated group known to mankind.

Above is Hillary making a good point from a YouTube video. Rev. Wright may be on the racist side of things but he may have a point that needs to be looked into further. Not just blacks but gays and blacks could have been the target.

There are sites online such as EATG.org that point out some interesting details that never make it to the big media:

But an adviser to WHO who disclosed the problem, told The Times ‘I thought it was just a coincidence until we studied the latest findings about the reactions which can be caused by Vaccinia. Now I believe the smallpox vaccine theory is the explanation to the explosion of AIDS." the article stated, adding, "The greatest spread of HIV infection coincides with the most intense immunization programme… The article said about 14,000 Haitians who were involved in the vaccination program then brought the disease home to the Caribbean.

The literature on this site brings up thoughts that Smallpox, Hepatitis B, and Syphilis "vaccines" or experiments or tests could all be part of the main problem. I am not a doctor I just found it really interesting. I would like to know what the people over at theBody.com have to say about it.

Of course we have all heard about the Tuskegee experiment where black patients who were never told they had Syphilis all eventually died untreated. This went on for forty years with African-Americans in the medical community not saying a word.

Not saying I agree with all of this… Just saying some things need to be evaluated.

A Collin County commissioner decided to put this guys job on the line when an article was published in the Dallas Voice which mentioned his sexuality.   This commissioner wanted to fire a rising political star and person with no criminal record for being gay.  They claimed that he should not be working with children and had even discussed whether it was safe for a gay person to be working with children.

The person who has been dragged through the slaughterhouse lately by these religious radicals is Justin Nichols who just so happens to be gay and running for Plano City Council.  He recently appeared on the front page of the Metro Section of the Dallas Morning News three times this week, the front page of the Plano Star Courier, and the front page of the Dallas Voice.  People are watching how this battle goes, and we must win!  The fight is not over!

We have got to stand up to this bigotry and say NO MORE!!  It is going to cost money to fight the radical fundamentalists, and I need your help.  If you have already donated to the campaign, thank you!  If not, please click here and make a contribution today.  MOST IMPORTANTLY, PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO 10 FRIENDS OF YOURS SO THEY CAN HELP TOO!

To give you an idea of what you donation can do, please consider:

$20 allows us to buy breakfast for volunteer who will knock on hundreds of voters’ doors.

$50 pays for 10 yard signs, or makes it possible to reach 100 voters by mail, or 500 voters by phone.

$100 pays for 4 large signs, makes it possible to reach 200 voters by mail, or 1,000 voters by phone.

Whatever the amount, your contribution will make the difference in this campaign.

Please join me in standing up against bigotry, intolerance, and equality for every person.  This isn’t about being Republican or Democrat, man or woman, straight or gay - this is about people taking a stand for what is right!

I never imagined taking on this fight so publicly and becoming the poster-child for discrimination in Collin County – but that is where I’ve been led, and I am ready to fight.  I say to those bigots, “BRING IT ON!”

Thank you for your consideration and support, and please remember to forward this on to your friends, whether they are in Plano or not, because this fight affects us all!  I remain

Very truly yours,

Justin Nichols

www.JustinNichols.net

Nichols has also been endorsed by the Victory Fund, and encourage you to visit their website.  

Hillary Clinton may be behind Barrack Obama in the polls but she is still helping the underdogs of society. While its cool lately to bash gays Hillary is taking a huge step in the right direction. Today a newspaper interview showed that she supports Gays and Lesbians more than ever.

Clinton said she opposes a measure that would ban gay marriage in Pennsylvania and proposed a few other great ideas:

• Eliminate her husband’s policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” that prevents gays from serving openly in the military. Asked if she could do so by a signing order connected to a military appropriations bill, Clinton said she didn’t think that is possible but she would look into it and do it if it were legal.

• Be “very strongly outspoken” against foreign governments that execute gays and use financial assistance and other leverage to prevent the killings.  (read our article on dangerous gay travel destinations regarding this)

• Support federal domestic partner legislation to extend rights to all same-sex couples.

• Support services for gay youth, including guidance for schools about the discrimination they face.

• Continue to support gay pride celebrations, to the extent that security would allow. “I don’t think the Secret Service let Bill walk in a parade when he became president,” Hillary said.

She also recently spoke on AIDS/HIV Issues. I love Hillary and hope she gets the Democratic nomination for president. I am sad that MoveOn.org had to support Obama in such an early state of the election. They clearly do not represent millions of progressive voters who are for Hillary.

Obama and McCain declined the interview with the Philadelphia Gay News.

The funny thing of this story is that Gary George sounds like Sally Kern’s to me for some reason. They sound like Pleasantville, USA fictitious names for some reason. They are living in a fictitious land filled with hate and karma will come their way. People like George and Sally are trying their hardest to silence us and make us feel lower than life so our self esteem will be “gay bashed.” Ellen was so right when she said that we are not going to sit here and remain second class citizens. We pay taxes, we vote, we should not have to shut up and we will not shut up. I hope Oregon voters tell Gary George to Shut up when they vote again though!

My advice to the gay community is SHUT UP, just don’t talk about it. If you walk around talking about what you do in the bedroom, you should be on the pervert channel. – State Senator Gary George of Oregon, (sen.garygeorge@state.or.us)

Here is what a friend (Floyd Martin) wrote on a myspace bulletion that I totally agree with:

Yeah, Senator George,
I will stop talking about it when you take down all pictures of your wife and children, and stop wearing your wedding ring, and flaunting your heterosexuality. I will stop talking about it when all Americans are allowed to serve their country if they so desire, and to have all the legal benefits that other American couples are afforded. I will shut up when bigots like you do not exist in the world anymore, and unfortunately, thats not going to happen for a long time. So, your desire is not our wish. I have an idea, why don’t you shut up, and resign, and go crawl under the rock you came from. Free Speech and civil rights are not only for those that you agree with, and are too small-minded to see reality. Shame on you. — FD Martin Oklahoma City, OK

You may have heard this rumor just as I did: Australia is to ban internet porn. What on earth…? Well, I started looking into this recently and tried to find out more information about this potentially life-shattering edict from the Oz government, if indeed the rumors were true.

I did my usual searching about on the net and found some related articles and info, which I’ve put together for you, to try and explain what exactly is, or isn’t, going on.

It was around August 2007 that news started breaking that Australia was going to ‘clean up internet porn’ but how it was going to do this was another matter. Then Prime Minister, John Howard, announced that a whole heap of cash was going to be made available to assist a new programme, ‘Assisting Australian Families Online’ which would come under the auspices of NetAlert – Australia’s internet safety advisory body. Some say that this was just a ploy to recruit the Christian voters in the upcoming elections, (the announcement was made in a webcast that went out to 770 churches and which was watched by an estimated 100,000 Christians,) so bear that in mind.

The scheme works in two ways: families can opt to have a filtering programme installed on their home PCs or they can requests a ‘clean’ internet connection – one from a service provider that is responsible from blocking porno content at ISP level. (At the main hub.) These options take up most of the budget and the rest goes on publicity, an awareness campaign and ‘internet police’ and prosecutions. The main thrust of this action, of course, is to protect children from unscrupulous website owners and others who provide CP, but there were concerns from legitimate adult webmasters (providing 18+ adult entertainment) that their businesses could also be affected.

There were more concerns about the scheme when, soon after the filter system went public, a teenage hacker managed to find a way around it within half an hour. A second version was released and this took the lad 40 minutes to get through.

The caldron bubbled some more as new legislation was proposed that would make the owning of five or more pornographic movies an offense, (in the Northern Territories) even if they were for ‘home use’ as opposed to distribution. There were, some say, good reasons behind this move, again to do with trying to stamp down on the occurrences of CP in those areas but the ideas were called ‘draconian’ by the New Zealand Herald and slammed by the Australian Christian Lobby as not going far enough, after all, what about other parts of the country?

So it seems, from what I could find out, that the screaming headline of ‘Australia bans porn’ is not as dramatic as it sounds and you don’t need to be too concerned that it is a trend that will start to spread to other countries. There were (and still are as far as I know, though the controversy seems to have died down recently) plans to help parents limit the kind of content that was accessible on their home PCs, via a couple of methods. This can only be good news if you have young children who are adept at using the computer and internet (as more and more are) and you don’t want them to stumble across inappropriate content. The idea that a government can tell you what you, as an adult, can and can’t view totally smacks of censorship and I doubt that it would be stood for by human rights campaigners. Though don’t forget that in some other countries the government have already taken this step. For example, in China a law has existed since 1997 that makes it a criminal offense to produce a piece of work (art, literature etc.) that is deemed a ‘computer crime’ and promotes, among other things, ‘pornography.’

And there is one other thing to remember. The attempt by Howard to woo the Christian vote on the back of a ‘clean up the net campaign’ didn’t help him. A new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, was elected in December 2007.

Final Point:  Who wants to visit a country that bans porn or takes away basic rights? Not someone who demands freedom.  This is a right every adult should have.  It should be the parents decision to put filters on what their kids view online not the government or internet provider.  What will they ban next?

It is sad that when I was searching for gay resources online I would find a hate site in the top 6 results. Top 4 results if you do not count gay.com and wikipedia.org as being two sites (since they are double listed). The site listed is lovegodsway.org but the title of the site clearly says “God Hates Fags! Love Gods Way!”. The same bozos that brought us godhatesfags.com.

I would expect to find more gay news related resources such as GayWired.com, PlanetOut.com, 365gay.com, etc. The strange thing is that neither MSN nor Yahoo search has the hate group listed in the top 10. So I suppose maybe some googlebombing is taking place? Similar to the tactics websites used to get George Bush to rank high on the term “idiot.”

With the rise of hate crimes lately including the killing of a teenager in gay California and neo-conservative religious radicals going up against gays we need as much love and support as we can get and not expect to be bashed just by searching online. We should all at least try to get google to remove this or lower it down for the term “gay”. I am not trying to tell google how to run their search engine but it is unfair that they are using the same techniques of google bombing to rank high on this highly popular term.