GayWisdom

Maggie Gallagher Speaks

You can thank Jeff Whitty (of Avenue Q) for this bit o' truth.

The Maine Idea

"Basic constitutional rights cannot depend on the willingness of the electorate in any given state to end discrimination. If we were prepared to consign minority rights to a majority vote, there would be  no need for a constitution."  - David Boies

"You can't put a civil rights issue on the ballot and let the people decide. You have to have elected officials who have courage to make the right decision. If you left it up to the people, we'd have slavery, depending on how you worded it." - Former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, responding to Maine's vote on CNN.

Marriage Equality & Catholic Charities

A very interesting exchange took place last night between D.C. City council members and representatives from the Washington D.C. Archdiocese and Catholic Charities.  What came through was a fascinating conversation about the use of public tax dollars to discriminate.  This is in three sections.  They're posted below.

Bea Arthur: Hero

 The Ali Forney Center in New York City, received a gift of $300,000 today, from the Estate of 
legendary actress Bea Arthur.
 
The Ali Forney Center, the nation's largest organization dedicated to homeless 
LGBT youth, announced at Bea Arthur's Memorial Service on September 14th that 
they planned to purchase a building to house 12 youths and name it her honor. 
 
"We work with hundreds of young people who are rejected by their families 
because of who they are. We are overwhelmed with gratitude that Bea saw that 
LGBT youth deserve as much love and support as any other young person, and that 
she placed so much value in the work we do to protect them, and to help them 
rebuild their lives." says Executive Director Carl Siciliano.

The Ali Forney Center offers emergency shelter and transitional housing in seven residential sites in NYC 

and operates two drop-in centers offering food, clothing, medical and mental health treatment, HIV testing, 

treatment and prevention services, and vocational and educational assistance. It provides 

services to over 1000 young people each year.

This is What Bat Shit Crazy Looks Like

Words fail.

RISE UP & SHOUT... RISES AGAIN!

A couple of years ago, White Crane was the beneficiary of this wonderful event, that was filmed by Brian Gleason and made into a wonderful documentary Rise Up & Shout!

Well...they're doing it again. If you're anywhere near Los Angeles, Rise Up & Shout! is a wonderful, feel-good evening. This is sponsored by The Gay Men's Medicine Circle in Los Angeles.

Tickets are $25 and vailable at BGTix.com 

GO! RISE! SHOUT!

A Frank Tete a Tete Discussion

Funny and sweet in a way.

It Doesn't Get Better Than This...

Urvashi Vaid. On fire with poetry and blazing wisdom...I love this woman.

Schwarzenegger Does the Right Thing...

It's amazing what can be accomplished when a Governor needs to court votes. Late last night, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the Harvey Milk Day, out-of-state marriages bill and domestic violence protection bill.

However, Schwarzenegger vetoed AB 1185 (Lieu), which Equality California legislative director, Alice Kessler described as “a simple bill allowing better access to birth certificates for transgender people.” He also vetoed AB 382 (Ammiano), which would have established protections for LGBT prisoners, which he said was “unnecessary.”

The Harvey Milks Day bill - AB 2567  requires “the governor proclaim May 22 each year as Harvey Milk Day. It would encourage public schools and educational institutions to conduct suitable commemorative exercises on that date.” It does not make it a state holiday.

Buy Pepsi!

A group of religious conservatives, ever vigilant for another group or entity at which to wag a collective, scolding finger, have ratcheted up rhetoric aimed squarely at PepsiCo for its alleged support of "the homosexual agenda." 

The American Family Association, which has been promoting a boycott of Pepsi since January, said in a statement Tuesday it has secured more than 500,000 signatures from those pledging to stop buying Pepsi products, which include soft drinks, salty snacks, juices and oatmeal (as if there were anything less wholesome than oatmeal, for chrissake).

AFA's beef with Pepsi is for what it calls the company's financial support of groups promoting the "homosexual agenda." AFA points to two gay-rights groups in particular: Human Rights Campaign and Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, better known by the acronym PFLAG. 

PepsiCo didn't respond to queries about the boycott, or whether it donates to these groups. But it does note on its website that it earned a top score, 100 percent, in HRC's 2009 Corporate Equality Index, an annual measure of gay-friendly employment policies. PepsiCo achieved the same score in the 2010 index, along with 305 other companies, according to HRC. PFLAG notes on its site that PepsiCo is among its corporate sponsors.

AFA will continue the boycott for as long as PepsiCo continues to support "a lifestyle that is extremely unhealthy and dangerous," said the group's president, Tim Wildmon, in a statement.

The Pepsi boycott seems to be having some effect within the Christian conservative community. Last month, the Westboro Baptist Church, of "God hates fags" fame, protested in downtown Atlanta with signs that read "God hates Diet Pepsi."

One question: Where's Coke?

Oh...and we should still tax "juice drinks" and soda as a means to support universal healthcare.