jj79

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoodAsYou/~3/oP00JJh5gGY/diverse-huh.html

http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2009/12/diverse-huh.html

Meet your 38 anti-equality NY state Senators:

Well, they certainly aren't going to use race against us on this one!

*UPDATE: Here's our coalition:

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoodAsYou/~3/NT8GXlnmRpw/24-38.html

http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2009/12/24-38.html

NY loses.

**Here's the roll call. It's very important to hold the "nos" accountable:

(D) Addabbo - No.

Alesi - No.

(D) Aubertine - No.

Bonacic - No.

Breslin - Yes.

DeFrancisco - No

(D) Diaz Sr. - No.

Dilan - Yes.

Duane - Yes.

Espada Jr. - Yes.

Farley - No.

Flanagan - No.

Foley - Yes.

Fuschillo - No.

Golden - No.

Griffo - No.

Hannon - No.

Hassell-Thompson - Yes.

(D) Huntley - No.

C. Johnson. Yes.

O. Johnson. - No.

Klein - Yes.

L. Krueger - Yes.

(D) C. Kruger - No.

Lanza - No.

Larkin - No.

Lavalle - No.

Leibell - No.

Libous - No.

Little - No.

Marcellino - No.

Maziarz - No.

McDonald - No.

(D) Monserrate - No.

Montgomery - Yes.

Morahan - No.

Nozzolio - No.

(D) Onorato - No.

Oppenheimer - Yes.

Padavan - No.

Parker - Yes.

Perkins - Yes.

Ranzenhofer - No.

Robach - No.

Saland - No.

Sampson - Yes.

Savino - Yes.

Schneiderman - Yes.

Serrano - Yes.

Seward - No.

Skelos - No.

Smith - Yes.

Squadron - Yes.

(D) Stachowski - No.

Stavisky - Yes.

Stewart-Cousins - Yes.

Thompson - Yes.

Valesky - Yes.

Volker - No.

Winner - No.

Young - No.

**Eight Democrats voted against us (including flip-flopper Monserrate), joining every last one of the Republicans

*Photo breakdown here*

**UPDATE: The Pride Agenda weighs in:

Pride Agenda Executive Director Reacts to Today's Vote on Marriage Equality in the New York State Senate

Moments ago, the Pride Agenda released the following statement from Executive Director Alan Van Capelle:
"While we are disappointed by today’s vote, we are pleased that the issue of marriage equality at last was debated in the New York State Senate. We had long called for a public debate on this matter so we could determine who was truly on our side.

It is a step forward for our democratic process in New York that a debate and vote have now occurred. Now we know where we stand, and where we need to concentrate our efforts in the future.

We are incredibly thankful to those who have stood with us and will continue to stand with us as our community presses forward to win marriage equality. In this regard:

We thank Governor Paterson for his unstinting support;

We thank each of the Senators who pushed for a vote and stood with us when it was time to be counted;

We also thank the members of the New York State Assembly—led by Speaker Sheldon Silver and Assemblymember Daniel O’Donnell—who have three times now voted for marriage equality by increasingly bipartisan majorities; and

We thank our many allies in the labor, faith and the business communities for their support and willingness to speak out.

To the tens of thousands of LGBT New Yorkers who have worked hard for equality, and to those who may for the very first time have become politically involved due to this fight, our message is as follows:

Our fight continues. Marriage equality is coming to New York. Time clearly is on our side and you can be sure that we will never stop working until we win.

To those Senators who do not yet see our families as deserving the same protections as other families in New York, our message is simple:

We are more committed than ever to this fight. We will redouble our efforts in your district to ensure that our voice is heard. We know our cause is just. We know that a growing majority of New Yorkers believes in the same values of fairness and equality that we do. If you cannot support us, we will find candidates for public office who do, and we will work through the democratic system to affect needed change."

**Here's the kind of rhetoric for which the majority voted:

DNBlog1's photostream [Flickr]

That, coupled, with Ruben Diaz's speech about voting with your Bibles? Congratulations, faith-based bigotry! You had a great day trampling over CIVIL government!!

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoodAsYou/~3/cLuLgiEeosQ/audio-ilovenyequality.html

http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2009/12/audio-ilovenyequality.html

For those who miss any of the ongoing NY marriage equality debate, we are going to post the archived audio as it comes in. Check back throughout the day for constant updating.

(sorry for any ancillary noises throughout)
12:20 -12:34PM (EST)
*Democrat Ruben Diaz works to turn pro-fairness Republicans against their friends on the left. He also refers to the marriage debate as "treason":


12:35 - 12:42PM (EST)
*Sen. Eric Scneiderman highlights the ridiculous of NY law, which recognizes but doesn't perform same-sex unions:


12:42 - 12:51 PM (EST)
*Sen. Eric Adams connects the dots of bigotry:


12:51-12:59 PM (EST)
*Sen. Jeffrey Klein on his friendship with Tom Duane, the lessons of Loving, and the real benefits of fairness:


1:00 - 1:04 PM (EST)
*Sen Valesky disconnects civil marriage from religion:

1:04 - 1:12 PM (EST)
*Sen Kevin Parker on the ease of casting this civil rights vote, and making it about real people rather than abstract policies:


1:12 - 1:17 PM (EST)
*Sen Pedro Espada Jr. speaks from the heart about why he is supporting equality, even if his own community is not yet there:


1:17 - 1:25 PM (EST)
*Sen Diane Savino is brassy, bold, and funny. Most importantly: She's right:


1:25 - 1:29 PM (EST)
*Sen Liz Krueger (this writer's senator) on the lessons from her own background as a Jewish woman:


1:29 - 1:34 PM (EST)
*Sen Daniel Squadron on his own recent wedding, religion vs. civil marriage, etc:


1:34 - 1:40 PM (EST)
*Sen Velmanette Montgomery on "living in sin," and marriage equality's reduction of that concept:


1:40 - 1:44 PM (EST)
*Sen Serrano on why this will again be another positive advancement for civil rights:


1:44 - 1:51 PM (EST)
*Sen Ruth Hassell-Thompson gets intensely personal. And she gets with us:


1:51 - 1:58 PM (EST)
*Sen Craig Johnson on why civil unions are not enough:


1:58 - 2:02 PM (EST)
*Sen Bill Perkins on the historical inevitability that is marriage equality:


2:02 - 2:08 PM (EST)
*Sen Suzi Oppenheimer on why we should protect commitments, and how we can truly do that:


2:08 - 2:09 PM (EST)
*Sen Stavinsky goes the terse route:


2:09 - 2:18 PM (EST)
*Sen. Malcolm Smith on why the religious arguments are specious, even on their merits:


2:18 -2:40 PM (EST)
*Sen. Tom Duane (the bill's sponsor) rounds it all up:


2:55PM
Yet all of this passion manages to lose out to bigotry. I might just vomit.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoodAsYou/~3/Pav0LF2JrY8/video-thou-shalt-not-lie-about-sodoms-supposed-lessons.html

http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2009/12/video-thou-shalt-not-lie-about-sodoms-supposed-lessons.html

Thou shalt not lie with mankind -- Sodom and Gomorrah [YT (ItsDaSuperFly)]

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoodAsYou/~3/72tl4sDQBDc/nom-itching-to-join-dc-party-crashing-trend.html

http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2009/12/nom-itching-to-join-dc-party-crashing-trend.html

"This battle is not over. DC politicians are blocking the right of people to vote on marriage. Voters in 31 other states have already exercised their right to vote on this issue. It is ironic that some politicians actively campaign demanding DC voting rights and yet they are conspiring to deny those same citizens the right to vote on the definition of marriage. We will not give up on D.C. The people of D.C. have the right to vote for marriage; we will fight for their rights and we will win. NOM will be proud to fight alongside Bishop Harry Jackson to make sure politicians hear the people's voice loud and clear: don't mess with marriage. We will fight in Congress. We will fight through the courts to get this to the people of D.C. who have a God-given right to vote for marriage and Charter-given right to overturn the council's decision. We are confident marriage will win in the end in D.C. as it has in Maine and 30 other states."
-The National Organization For Marriage's Brian Brown

Ya know, you can't really blame Brian Brown for having so much steam to blow off. After an 11-2 Council vote, a mayor who promises to sign the marriage bill, a Congress who couldn't seem less interested in standing in the way, and two Board of Elections and Ethics decisions against the right of a majority to vote on a minority's civil rights, his hopes to inject his dastardly, rights-stripping games into the process seem ever-more likely by the day. And without the ability to piss in our punchbowl, how will Brian ever advance his career?

You can, however, blame him for getting himself involved in this process in the first place. And for constantly demeaning our lives and loves. And for fallaciously connecting the push for D.C. autonomy to the supposed right to vote on minority rights. And for saying that this supposed right to vote on marriage is "God-given." And for collecting a paycheck on the back of bias. And for just about everything else involved in his thoroughly ignoble, reliably hostile NOM work.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoodAsYou/~3/Bnz_Ygg94yo/ny-minute-quick-ny-senate-anything-but.html

http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2009/12/ny-minute-quick-ny-senate-anything-but.html

So the New York Senate didn't vote on marriage equality last night, instead moving the discussion to this morning. But the state assembly did. Again:

[Late last night], the New York State Assembly passed marriage equality legislation for the second time this year in a bipartisan vote of 86 to 51. By taking a vote in what is called an “extraordinary session,” the Assembly has removed any obstacle to the bill being sent to the Governor for his signature if the Senate votes on the bill when it reconvenes tomorrow to conduct business.
Assembly Vote on Marriage Signals Continued Momentum [ESPA]

Now we wait again. The Senate debate begins at 10AM, but they have to first take up the deficit reduction package (or DRP, for the politically geeky). Will we finally get our vote? Will we have enough favorable votes if the matter does come up? Or will the antics in Albany again make us want to go to the concession stand for some popcorn, so as to shield our eyes from all the clowning going on in the ring?

You can watch it all happen right here:

**UPDATE from NY Daily News:

The same-sex marriage bill, which passed the Assembly for the third time last night with virtually no debate and a 88-51 vote, is teed up and ready to be moved to the floor of the Senate for debate.

We're told that the bill is now certain to come to the floor sometime after the DRP passes. (Also on tap: Tier 5 and public authorities reform). But whether it has the 32 votes necessary to pass is anyone's guess.
Read more: Gay Marriage Hits Senate Rules Agenda, Lobbying Hits Fevered Pitch » [NYDN]

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoodAsYou/~3/qO2e4H2wF7k/welcome-out-elyse-keaton.html

http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2009/12/welcome-out-elyse-keaton.html

Coming soon to Lifetime: "A Woman Who Loves Other Women: The Meredith Baxter Story":

It's just a coincidence Meredith Baxter recently appeared in the Hallmark Channel's ''Bound By a Secret,'' but ironically the actress reveals a very personal secret on ''Today'' this morning.

Baxter, perhaps best known for her seven years playing TV mom Elyse Keaton on ''Family Ties'' in the 1980s, will be the latest star to come out of the closet, revealing she is a lesbian.
TV mom Baxter bares a big secret today [Chicago Sun-Times]

Don't worry, Mer: Alex P. was always more of a fiscal conservative. We wouldn't expect his to start up an anti-gay "Focus on the Family Ties" or anything.

**UPDATE: The "Today" video:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

• 09:57 There are those of us that remember, and we hope many more that won't forget #red bit.ly/5oK1Xh #
• 11:54 @BeckyCochrane Have you ever seen the documentary "Silverlake Life: The View From Here" #
• 23:11 has just discovered fat washing. #

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoodAsYou/~3/X1r5vfHm1w0/live-from-new-york-its-finally-gonna-happen.html

http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2009/12/live-from-new-york-its-finally-gonna-happen.html

We just heard NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn say that she's getting on a train to Albany. And since she's one busy, connected lesbian who's not likely to waste a Tuesday night on yet another non-start, we're pretty damn well convinced that a marriage equality vote is going to come up tonight in the NY Senate!

When the fun begins (around 9PM), you'll be able to watch it all here. Fingers crossed, kidrens:

**UPDATE: I'm pretty sure I just heard the video pop on and say that the Senate is adjourning until tomorrow morning at 10AM. Did anyone else hear it, or am I hallucinating (which are not necessarily independent notions, btw)?

**UPDATE2: Yep, I heard correctly. 10 AM tomorrow. Blue balls yet again.

**UPDATE: 12/2: Well, they took it up and it bit it. Hard. Here's archived audio, and here's the disgusting roll call vote.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoodAsYou/~3/rafaK8tLKV0/our-timeline-is-an-enlightened-ladder-despite-frcs-attempts-to-chute-us.html

http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2009/12/our-timeline-is-an-enlightened-ladder-despite-frcs-attempts-to-chute-us.html

A ridiculous talking point from the Family Research Council regarding the D.C. Council's pro-marriage equality vote:

Some Council members proudly recounted the various steps, from repeal of sodomy laws to adoption of domestic partnerships, which led to this day--unintentionally confirming "slippery slope" arguments against incremental "homosexual rights" legislation.
D.C. Council Proposes 'Marriage' [FRC]

Only problem for FRC? There's enough hogwash in their quip to slip-up all of the world's slopes (with another bucket of hogwash to spare)!

We LGBT activists do indeed cite our journey to freedom. But doing so does not show our descent into the immoral oblivion of the far-right's imagination. Instead, our journey shows the way the indefatigable human spirit will always -- ALWAYS! -- fight against whatever affronts, attacks, biases, and assorted wrongs are thrown in the way! Our tale, like that of so many minority populations to come before us, shows the way that disenfranchised populations will never give up when it comes to the decent treatment of their lives. And our movie let's everyone know that we'll work tirelessly, bit by bit, until the mere idea that our existences and our loves could even constitute a "slippery slope" is universally recognized for the deeply offensive bit of rhetoric that it truly is.

There certainly is a group who's slipping up in this so-called "culture war." But it ain't the LGBT activists. The ones who are flailing toward inevitable failure are the self-professed moral authoritarians whose decades of overplayed attacks have lift the veil off of their supposedly loving movement. Theres is the misguided downward spiral that history will remember, playing out in inverse to our own movement's principled struggle over considerable adversity. And gravity is one law they won't be able to cast out via a tyrannical majority vote.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoodAsYou/~3/bqg5USZhC7Q/report-diaz-is-holed-up-praying-away-the-gay.html

http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2009/12/report-diaz-is-holed-up-praying-away-the-gay.html

This from NY Daily News' Elizabeth Benjamin:

Here's the strongest sign yet that the gay marriage bill will indeed come to the Senate floor for a vote before the day is over: Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., the measure's most outspoken opponent, has retired to his Albany office to pray.
*Read more: Gay Marriage Vote Advances, Diaz Sr. Resorts To Prayer [NYDN]

Let him. Maybe God will tell him to sit out the vote altogether.

UPDATE:

The Senate is scheduled to reconvene at 9 p.m., aides said.

On the agenda: the deficit reduction plan and same-sex marriage.

"We'll vote on gay marriage if there's enough time," said one Senate staffer who asked not to be identified.
AIDES: SENATE TO VOTE ON BUDGET, SAME-SEX MARRIAGE TONIGHT [WKBW]

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoodAsYou/~3/KLpMg0PSW-E/video-till-prop-8-do-we-part.html

http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2009/12/video-till-prop-8-do-we-part.html

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoodAsYou/~3/s6bUPaHIE_M/the-american-right-wing-has-gone-off-the-rails-into-the-bushes-and-off-the-cliff.html

http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2009/12/the-american-right-wing-has-gone-off-the-rails-into-the-bushes-and-off-the-cliff.html

Don't call us flaming lefties for the above headline. Because the quote doesn't come from this here site. It comes from Charles Johnson, the onetime right-aligned blogger of Little Green Footballs, who, like an ever-growing number of Republicans, has been driven to the left by the frighteningly unhinged voices that have hijacked the conservative cause:

Why I Parted Ways With The Right

1. Support for fascists, both in America (see: Pat Buchanan, Robert Stacy McCain, etc.) and in Europe (see: Vlaams Belang, BNP, SIOE, Pat Buchanan, etc.)

2. Support for bigotry, hatred, and white supremacism (see: Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Robert Stacy McCain, Lew Rockwell, etc.)

3. Support for throwing women back into the Dark Ages, and general religious fanaticism (see: Operation Rescue, anti-abortion groups, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, the entire religious right, etc.)

4. Support for anti-science bad craziness (see: creationism, climate change denialism, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, James Inhofe, etc.)

5. Support for homophobic bigotry (see: Sarah Palin, Dobson, the entire religious right, etc.)
KEEP READING: Why I Parted Ways With The Right [LGF]
(h/t: Joe.My.God)

The far-right will surely call him a turncoat. But when the coat seems more hellbent on protecting discontent than protecting its wearer from the winter, it's far better to go cold turkey than to embrace the overheat.

And far be it for the social conservatives to decry someone for "going rogue."