In the news: Prop h8-erade

"Gordon Brown has condemned California's ban on gay marriage as "unacceptable" and warned people to be vigilant against all forms of discrimination.

The prime minister said the ban, backed in a referendum in the US state in November, would "undo" much of recent progress made in tackling prejudice.

California became the 28th US state to prohibit gay marriage, overturning an earlier court ruling legalising it.

Same-sex civil partnerships became law in the UK in 2005." [bbc]

-the New York Times talks about this shtuff too, you guys. [nyt]

-That Brent Corrigan case is still going on, but ending soon. Hence the picture. [msnbc]

In the News: Prop 8. Still.

"The California Supreme Court, which last year declared the right of gays and lesbians to marry, appeared ready Thursday to uphold the voters' decision to overrule the court and restore the state's ban on same-sex marriage.  "There have been initiatives that have taken away rights from minorities by majority vote" and have been upheld by the courts, said Chief Justice Ronald George. "Isn't that the system we have to live with?"" [sfgate]

In the news: pertinent things

- There are still people who listen when the pope speaks. These are called Catholics, but then they also get outraged  when he says stuff they don't like. JUST STOP LISTENING! How hard is that? [canada]

-There's a dumb ad where Shaq acts in a manner which could be construed as homophobic. It has since been pulled. [adrants]

-Homophobia is still a problem, y'all, even for Lance Bass. [las vegas weekly]

-Prop 8 hearings in March. [gcn]

-"According to Democratic strategist Elaine Kamarck, the passage of Proposition 8 does not have serious long term implications for the LGBT community’s future within the Democratic Party. "The support for gay issues of all sorts is strongly correlated to age,” she explained in an interview with the HPR. “If you look at longitudinal polling, this is the fastest-changing social issue ever; it is all about generational change.” As today’s young people make up a larger share of the electorate, same-sex marriage will begin to become less controversial as a political issue." [harvard political review]

=========================================================

IN ADDITION:

A note to Nick Jonas - 

Um, hi, Nick. Can you do me and other bloggers/internet peoples a really, really big favor, bro? Nah, it's not even, like, a big deal or whatever, but could you, um, maybe hurry up and turn 18 already? I know, I don't even know you, but, look, there are just some things that I would like to say about you, and even if it's okay to say them now, I would just be more comfortable if you were of a generally agreed upon legal age before I said them. So, yeah, just turn 18. It'd be awesome.

Cool, bro. Later days, I guess. (miss you)

TGIF: Slow news week

Yeah, so, to avoid posting the same thang over and over, I just post nothing (this is also to avoid becoming a hawt dudez photo site, which is just brimming below the surface, that's BRIMMING BTW) and also I work allowed but will probably get fired soon, ANYWAY:

*New York might try to sneak same-s3x marridge into legalness by making it an issue of helping the state's economy or what have u. [daily news]

*This article mentions the orientation of the alleged crime-causer, but I stopped reading it before they made it clear why this information is relevant to what appears to be an unrelated issue of KIDNAPPING. [SLTrib]

*This rugby ref came out, and says it was really hard, but thinks he would have basically just gotten his ass kicked if he had been a futball ref, and we basically agree, though we don't have evidence on us at this exact moment, ok? [bbc]

*"...But while a majority of non-white voters backed a ban on gay marriage, the key finding in the new survey was that voters' position on Proposition 8 was determined more by their level of education and income than their race or ethnicity, said PPIC president Mark Baldassare. Among Californians with a high school diploma or less, 69 percent voted for Proposition 8. Among college graduates, 57 percent voted against it." [mercury news]

In the (slow) news (day): Prop 8 Forever

"Leaders of the California Legislature and members of its gay and lesbian caucus have introduced measures supporting the repeal of Proposition 8, the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage approved by voters last month."

This is basically so the Supreme Court of Cali knows that official people with jobs oppose this thing, not just homeless gey people. They won't have a ruling til NEXT JUNE, though, so you still have an excuse to be a slut until then. [sfc]

In the news: Oh, so now we think of this?

Prop 8 (a measure designed to outlaw heathen-themed weddings in the state of California) was in the news (sort of) at the end of last week because the courts of Cali decided they would hear the case against upholding this outlawing. People were all pissed, because minorities were acting like they hated gay people, because the gay minority reminded them what being a minority feels like, and they were just glad they weren't being treated like that anymore (out in the open, that is), so they piled-on the geys with a flurry of Yes on 8 votes that were no match for the hippie love-fests of Castro Street. Now those minorites are all, like, "Maybe this opens us up for similar types of discrimination against us, in the future..." and the geys are all, "Look, don't even talk to me right now." From Reuters:

The court had recognized such marriages in May, and about 20,000 same-sex
couples wed before the November vote. Those marriages may now hang in the
balance. Connecticut and Massachusetts are the only states that allow gay
marriage.

Legal scholars say the measure, which defines marriage as between a
man and a woman, breaks new ground by limiting the courts' ability to protect
minorities.

"They could take away any right from any group," said University
of Southern California Law Professor David Cruz, who filed a brief in favor of
gay marriage in an earlier case.

Oh, they could, could they? But wouldn't this have to violate some other precedent in order for anybody to give a shit? I mean, we're talking about h0m0s here, ok? Oh wait, there's that equal protection thing that should protect constitutions from enacting No Homo policies! What about that?

"The entire purpose behind the constitutional principle of equal protection
would be subverted if the constitutional protection of unpopular minorities were
subject to simple majority rule," read a brief by black, Asian and Hispanic
groups challenging the ban. "This case is not simply about gay and lesbian
equality."

"The history of California demonstrates with sobering clarity the potential
for disfavored minorities to be subjected to oppression by hostile majorities,"
the minority groups say in their brief, pointing to segregation laws and one
excluding Asian-Americans from land ownership as examples. [reuters]

Gah, it's like when you know how a movie is going to end (with an anti-climactic guy-on-guy wedding), but the writers insist on wasting your time with stupid courtroom scenes and heavy-handed references to segregation and prison camps for Asian people. GET TO THE MARRIAGE ALREADY! Some of us have cats to feed!

On the websites: Slash isn't evil

So, Guns N Roses is awesome, largely because of Appetite for Destruction and maybe, like, six or seven songs from the Use Your Illusions, but mostly because of Slash and Izzy (Axl's cool too, but is a douche; he's cool on rock star terms only, which are significantly different (almost useless), when compared with real world terms). Anyway, Slash is more valuable than Axl, as we already knew, but MusicRadar reminds us:

In a new YouTube video, Slash appears in the background playing the American national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. Meanwhile, his wife Perla Hudson speaks out on behalf of same-sex unions.

She says: "I married my sweetheart, you should be able to marry yours too.
Say no to hate, and yes to equal rights. Keep up the fight."

During Slash's time in Guns N' Roses, accusations of homophobia were
levelled at the band, in particular frontman Axl Rose. This was in no small part
down to the song One In A Million in which Rose uses the term "faggots", who are
said to "spread some fucking disease". [musicradar]

So, Slash, who was in one of the most badass hardrock bands ever formed, is cool with himself and others, yet Prince, a professional Tinkerbell impersonator (Purple Rain was great, I know), has his ice-skating uni in a twist? I wonder what the youtube commenter intelligentsia is going to have to say about this.

In the news: Uppity gay people

Some gays can't just take what they are given and be happy and so are protesting on top of America. From a newsource known as the Age:

'BEARING signs such as "No More Mr Nice Gay" and "We're Not Asking for Five Wives — Just One", more than 10,000 New Yorkers yesterday joined in a nationwide backlash against California's voting down of same-sex marriage rights.

'It was the second major protest within days in New York, the previous one targeting the Mormon Church ... for its role in financing the anti-gay marriage campaign.


... "We are not going to rest until every citizen in every state in our country has the right to stand up and say this is the man or woman I love and we want to express that love in the form of marriage," he said.'

[Gay rights anger goes nationwide]

In the news: Mormons under attack as gays give Anthrax Makeover to local church!

Some good samaritans tried to donate their leftover cocaine to a buncha Mormons but they got all pissed. Now they think the gay mafia's Al-Quaeda Terror-Cell Department is trying to same-sex marry them into an early grave by burying them up to their necks in anthrax. Or something...:

Someone sent envelopes containing a suspicious (but, it turns out, harmless) white powder to the Salt Lake City headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and to an LDS temple in Los Angeles.

The church says the culprits are extremists who opposed the recently enacted ban on gay marriage in California. Mormons were among those who were most active in getting the measure passed.

But according to this Associated Press story, "Investigators have not publicly cited any evidence that the mailings were linked to the Mormon church's support of the measure, and a gay rights group in Utah disputed that gay protesters were involved."

Just like a bunch of gay queers to send expired anthrax to straight churches filled with American taxpayer dollars. If I could give any advice to the WAR ON MORMON VALUES, it would be to just flood them with copies of the Latter Days Double-Disc Extra-Heresy Edition, until they finally stand up to their parents and run-off with their promiscuous gay boyfriends just like the star-crossed lovers in the groundbreaking nu-classic.

[original article]

In the news: Dems try to void Prop 8

Your editor had to get up at five in the morning the day following the election, but was up late practically crying wine-soaked tears (along with Oprah and, presumably, Palin supporters) as Obama gave his first speech as president-elect. The following morning, I was fashioning spears from old table legs, ready to destroy all Mormons (and their allies) as word came on down that Prop 8 had passed in California (gay marriage bans were passed in other states, but nobody is trying to go to those, not even with spears).


I tried to look at things in perspective (civil rights takes time; Obama needs to gain the trust of southern degenerates first, then he can make everybody marry gay people at same-sex weddings and wear Hitler mustaches, like he promised), but I decided to just resign to the fact that secretly-gay, homo-killing cyborgs from the future run the world, and all I can do is watch True Blood and deal with it. But then Gov'ner Schwartzenegger said to keep fighting and that Prop 8 sucks and is for pansies who can't even press their own body weight, and I was impressed enough by this to go ahead and pre-order tickets to Terminator: Salvation, and he's not even in that shit!

Then, from the LA Times yesterday:

Forty-three Democratic legislators, including leaders of the California
Senate and Assembly, filed a brief Monday urging the California Supreme Court to
void Proposition 8.

...
"This is a Hail Mary, no question about it," said Frank Schubert, manager
of the Proposition 8 campaign.Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown's office would be obligated
to defend the initiative. But Schubert said that if the high court agrees to
hear the case, backers of the initiative would seek to intervene to defend it.In
their brief, lawmakers described the 500,000-vote margin as a "bare majority,"
and said it was "compromising the enduring constitutional promise of equal
protection under the law.

"Proposition 8 seeks to effect a monumental revision
of this foundational principle and constitutional structure by allowing a bare
majority of voters to eliminate a fundamental right of a constitutionally
protected minority group," the brief says."If Proposition 8 takes effect, this
court will no longer be the final arbiter of the rights of minorities," it
continues.The action contends that the ban, created by the initiative that
defines marriage as being between one man and one woman, cannot be done by a
mere constitutional amendment. Rather, it must be done by a revision of the
entire Constitution and the Legislature would have to be involved.

Yeah, whatever. I'm making those spears, just in case.

I'll probably also have a horse's legs...

[lat]