The Fascist Prison Island of Freedom.

Unlike Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy had no law criminalizing homosexual activity. Why not?  Well, it was thought that such a provision would publicize homosexuality. Like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Benito Mussolini declared Italy too masculine for homosexuality to exist. Nevertheless, despite its non-existence, a group of 45 thought to be homosexual men were labelled "degenerate", expelled from their homes and interned on the  island of San Domino, in the Tremitis.

"Unwittingly, the Fascists had created a corner of Italy where you were expected to be openly gay." -- Alan Johnson, BBC News

Needless to say, despite the lack of sanctions, the shame connected to homosexuality at the time--that has not been totally eradicated--made life for homosexuals in Italy extraordinarily unpleasant.  So, in spite of the prison island and their shackled exile status, for the first time in their lives, these men could be themselves

"But some of the few accounts given by former exiles make clear that life was not all bad on San Domino.

It seems that the day-to-day prison regime was comparatively relaxed.
Continue reading the main story

We did theatre, and we could dress as women there and no-one would say anything”

Giuseppe B San Domino inmate

Unwittingly, the Fascists had created a corner of Italy where you were expected to be openly gay.

For the first time in their lives, the men were in a place where they could be themselves - free of the stigma that normally surrounded them in devoutly Catholic 1930s Italy.

What this meant to the exiles was explained in a rare interview with a San Domino veteran, named only as Giuseppe B - published many years ago in the gay magazine, Babilonia - who said that in a way the men were better off on the island.

"In those days if you were a femminella [a slang Italian word for a gay man] you couldn't even leave your home, or make yourself noticed - the police would arrest you," he said of his home town near Naples.

"On the island, on the other hand, we would celebrate our Saint's days or the arrival of someone new... We did theatre, and we could dress as women there and no-one would say anything."

And he said that of course, there was romance, and even fights over lovers.

Some prisoners wept, Giuseppe said, when the outbreak of World War II in 1939 led to the end of the internal exile regime on San Domino, and the men were returned to a kind of house arrest in the places where they came from.

Links:

The Island and the City: Homosexuals in Exile in Italy in Fascist , by Gianfranco Goretti and Tommaso Giartosi

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Wake Up! Ron "Let 'em Die" Paul is no Messiah.

Or, rather, Ron 'let him die, unless a church or someone wants to help out' Paul -- in other words, it seems Paul wants to devise a metric that would measure a citizen's worth to society before pulling the plug. Despite this, Ron Paul supporters, abound.  Not only that, these supporters make him out to be a messiah.


Haven't we learned from former President Ronald "transfer the wealth"  Reagan (false messiah #1)?  Not to mention - most recently - President "extend the Bush programs" Obama (false messiah #2)?

Obviously not, because fast forward to 2011 and the promise-to-pay-hero-worshiping public is creating false messiah #3: Ron "let 'em die" Paul.  Hello? Didn't we just go down this path with false messiah #2, less than three years ago?

What is it about pro austerity for the masses,  #3 - who, not only believes poor sick people should die, but flashes freemasonic hand signs, as he makes racist and homophobic remarks that he later denies authorship (keep in mind, Ron Paul wants us to believe that these "Ron Paul" newsletters went out to hundreds of thousands of people for at least seventeen years without his notice), and associates himself with white supremacists - that makes people believe this man has any interest in saving anyone but his kind, wealthy white people? 

This racism issue has followed Ron Paul from the beginning.  While "where there's smoke, there's fire" doesn't always ring true, in the age of the Internet, it's very simple to find out for yourself whether that idiom applies, and in Ron Paul's case, it very well might.

The Commander of the American National Socialist Workers Party, Bill White, while, certainly not  a pillar of virtue himself, he does give a little credence to this claim, especially when there are records to back it up. (record of disbursements for Tara Thai restaurant), and he has the habit of associating with extremist groups).

Comrades:

I have kept quiet about the Ron Paul campaign for a while, because I didn’t see any need to say anything that would cause any trouble. However, reading the latest release from his campaign spokesman, I am compelled to tell the truth about Ron Paul’s extensive involvement in white nationalism.

Both Congressman Paul and his aides regularly meet with members of the Stormfront set, American Renaissance, the Institute for Historic Review, and others at the Tara Thai restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, usually on Wednesdays. This is part of a dinner that was originally organized by Pat Buchanan, Sam Francis and Joe Sobran, and has since been mostly taken over by the Council of Conservative Citizens.

I have attended these dinners, seen Paul and his aides there, and been invited to his offices in Washington to discuss policy.

For his spokesman to call white racialism a “small ideology” and claim white activists are “wasting their money” trying to influence Paul is ridiculous. Paul is a white nationalist of the Stormfront type who has always kept his racial views and his views about world Judaism quiet because of his political position.

I don’t know that it is necessarily good for Paul to “expose” this. However, he really is someone with extensive ties to white nationalism and for him to deny that in the belief he will be more respectable by denying it is outrageous — and I hate seeing people in the press who denounce racialism merely because they think it is not fashionable.

Bill White, Commander
American National Socialist Workers Party

Then there his association with Ronald "transfer the wealth"  Reagan.  At one time, he was  a big-time supporter, not to mention his long time association with the John Birch Society, which is essentially, the precursor of Council for National Policy (CNP), a very secret conservative organization with a hell of a lot of power. 

Ron Paul and false messiah #1 Ronald Reagan in 1976

Ron Paul and false messiah #1 Ronald Reagan

Ron Paul and false messiah #1 Ronald Reagan

Ron Paul and false messiah #1 Ronald Reagan

Granted, Paul supposedly changed his view on Reagan, calling his budget,"a failure"; however, he had no problem embracing the Reagan legacy and releasing an ad comparing himself to Reagan, in 2007, and using a 40 year old endorsement from Reagan.

Ron Paul masonic handshake

Furthermore, Ron "I miss the closet" Paul hasn't/doesn't (Title V, Section V: “Prohibits the expenditure of Federal funds to any organization which presents male or female homosexuality as an acceptable alternative life style or which suggest that it can be an acceptable life style”) exactly support gay rights.

This is an issue that Paul sort of dances around. He has been praised for stating that the federal government should not regulate who a person marries. This has been construed by some to mean that he is somewhat open to the idea of same sex marriage, he is not. Paul was an original co sponsor of the Marriage Protection Act in the House in 2004. Among other things this discriminatory piece of legislation placed a prohibition on the recognition of a same sex marriage across state borders. He said in 2004 that if he was in the Texas legislature he would not allow judges to come up with “new definitions” of marriage. Paul is a very religious conservative and though he is careful with his words his record shows that he is not a supporter of same sex marriage. In 1980 he introduced a particularly bigoted bill entitled “A bill to strengthen the American family and promote the virtues of family life.” or H.R.7955 A direct quote from the legislation “Prohibits the expenditure of Federal funds to any organization which presents male or female homosexuality as an acceptable alternative life style or which suggest that it can be an acceptable life style.” shows that he is unequivocally opposed to lifestyles other than heterosexual.

He was also a co-sponsor of  the “Marriage Protection Act” which ensures DOMA can't be challenged in federal court...basically a covert way to convey his support for DOMA, even when he publicly states that he's against it. He wants to give one state the right to supersede another state's final authority on a matter that was never carried out in the superseding State to begin with. In other words, he's done a lot to try to empower states to be able to infringe on gay rights.

In 1990, he was quoted as saying in one newsletter that mentioned a reporter from a gay magazine, “who certainly had an axe to grind, and that’s not easy with a limp wrist.”

From the Survival Report, January 1994

“...gays in San Francisco do not obey the dictates of good sense...These men don’t really see a reason to live past their fifties. They are not married, they have no children, and their lives are centered on new sexual partners...they enjoy the attention and pity that comes with being sick.” - Ron Paul

I agree with Ron Paul's "stand" on a few issues, and I'm sure that most Americans can say the same; but you see, that's what makes him so dangerous: his apparent bucking a system that's taking full advantage of the masses.

Unfortunately, the following quote from M. Scott Peck's book, People of the Lie applies to everyone from Rick "let 'em die" Perry to Ron "let 'em die" Paul, and everyone in between. Whether the innocent die as a result of our system of "justice", or lack of health insurance, what's important is that the innocent, die.

Theirs is a brand of narcissism so total that they seem to lack, in whole or in part, the capacity for empathy...Their narcissism makes the evil dangerous not only because it motivates them to scapegoat others but also because it deprives them of the restraint that results from empathy and respect for others.

In addition to the fact that the evil need victims to sacrifice to their narcissism, their narcissism permits them to ignore the humanity of their victims as well...The blindness of the narcissist to others can extend even beyond a lack of empathy; narcissists may not "see" others at all.

There are boundaries to the individual soul. And in our dealings with each other we generally respect these boundaries. It is characteristic of--and prerequisite for--mental health both that our own ego boundaries should be clear and that we should clearly recognize the boundaries of others. We must know where we end and others begin.

-M. Scott Peck, The People of the Lie, p. 136-137

Links:

Ten Reasons Not to Vote for Ron Paul

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Demonizing Homosexuality in the Name of Jesus Christ is Paradoxically Oxymoronic

Updated again: This poor woman can't even go to the park.

When there were two men relaxing at the side of the pool unnaturally close to each other, effeminately rubbing elbows and exchanging doe-eyes, I was again anxiously watching my children hoping they wouldn't ask questions. They don't see Daddy do that with anyone but Mommy. We haven't been back to the pool for a couple of weeks, except once but it rained. The truth is, now I don't really want to go back.

I have no words...Oh wait, yes I do. Thank goodness she won't be bumping into Jesus anytime soon. What the hell would she tell her children when they saw Jesus unnaturally close to his male disciples as he effeminately rubs their feet, exchaning, what can only be called, doe eyes?  

Not to mention, no one really knows the sexuality of Jesus, if He even had one.  The Secret Gospel According to Mark implies Jesus might even be gay, Himself.

According to Morton Smith, of Columbia University, a manuscript that he found at the Mar Saba monastery near Jerusalem in 1958, showed that the full text of St. Mark chapter 10 (between verses 34 and 35 in the standard version of the Bible) includes the passage:

"And the youth, looking upon him (Jesus), loved him and beseeched that he might remain with him. And going out of the tomb, they went into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days, Jesus instructed him and, at evening, the youth came to him wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God".

Updated again: Should Gay People Be Allowed to Marry? - After a Maine state law permitting same-sex marriage was repealed at the polls Tuesday, the New York Times asked the question to students 13 years and older: Tell us what you think about same-sex marriage. Do you think gay marriage should be permitted or not? Why? Do you think it will be allowed nationwide in your lifetime?

Updated: James Lawson, an architect of the civil rights movement, sees a similarity today in attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, he said while addressing a gathering and panel discussion hosted by Soulforce.

“There is a great need for us to link the ‘isms’: anti-Semitism, racism, sexism and now heterosexism. They come from the same kind of place.”

Imagine being told you are not allowed to love who you love, not allowed to marry who you love, and are not allowed to express the way you feel about who you love. That there is something wrong with you for falling in love with who you fall in love with.

Jesus, an unmarried man, who spent the majority of his adult life surrounded by twelve men, who made no secret of his love for those men, preached about love, first and foremost. Homosexuality is about love, first and foremost.

Yet, many people, in the name of Jesus Christ, preach hate in order to abolish this type of love...the type of love involving two people of the same gender. These men and women experience the same deep and/or intense affection for each other as people of opposite gender. They just don't fit into society's idea of what romantic love should look like. So, we bash it...outlaw it...make sure it remains not only forbidden and inferior to heterosexual love, but claim it is somehow damaging to heterosexual love.

Hate is encouraged among those who want to curtail the rights of others who fall in love with their own gender, and what's even worse is that the hating or judging of homosexuals -- "Judge not and you shall not be judged" -- is often the central focus of attention of Christianity, at the expense of almost everything else Jesus Christ clearly stood for.

Promiscuity is often given as a reason for condemning homosexuality...that it's not so much about love, as it is sex. Really? If that's the case, then why does a Denmark study on divorce, where the vast majority of gay marriages are male-male, show a much lower divorce rate amongst homosexuals? The rate of divorce for gay men is the lowest at 14%, compared to 23% of all lesbian marriages, and 46% of all heterosexual marriages.

Homosexuality does not promote promiscuity...if anything, the prohibitive stance society takes against homosexual love is responsible for elevating the rate of indiscriminate sex practiced amongst gay men, in particular. However, keep in mind that that rate is more than likely, exaggerated a great deal.

What's truly remarkable is despite all the hate preached about homosexuality in the name of Jesus, more often than not, gay men and women build loving relationships with who they fall in love with anyway, proving that love can conquer all.

So, for those of us who insist on strictly adhering to Biblical teachings, we should seriously consider the following:

MARK 12:18-27
If a man dies childless, his widow is ordered by biblical law to have intercourse with each of his brothers in turn until she bears her deceased husband a male heir... Oh my, this may pit brother against brother...guaranteeing certain death for the brother who marries an attractive female.

DEUTERONOMY 22:13-21
If it is discovered that a bride is not a virgin, the Bible demands that she be executed by stoning immediately...Well, there goes 85% of the female population.

DEUTERONOMY 22:22
If a married person has sex with someone else's husband or wife, the Bible commands that both adulterers be stoned to death...And the rest of the female population and 60% of the male population.

MARK 10:1-12
Divorce is strictly forbidden in both Testaments, as is remarriage of anyone who has been divorced...Well without the female population divorce shouldn't be an issue.

LEVITICUS 18:19
The Bible forbids a married couple from having sexual intercourse during a woman's period. If they disobey, both shall be executed...Well, considering the female population has already ceased to exist, this should not be a problem.Jesus never mentioned homosexuality, and the Bible had very little to say about it, so why is Jesus so often used to promote an agenda of hatred toward those who are only trying to live what Jesus preached and lived?

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Evil People Have Plans! Good People Have Donuts and Word Jumbles.

Clear thinking comedian Lee Camp tells it like it is.

Evil people have plans.



Message to homophobes.



We Can't Control The Monsters We Create



What do Glen Beck and Hugh Hefner have in common?



Stamp out happiness!

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Has C-Street Targeted Africa to Test Out its Murderous Anti-homosexuality Legislation?

Jeff Sharlet, author of  "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power" and the follow up, "C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy" surely thinks so.  For now, the “Kill the Gays” bill has been shelved, due to world-wide outrage; however, you can be sure it will  reemerge, repackaged, and ready to go at some later date.  This concerted effort to institutionalize homophobia, not only in Uganda, but throughout Africa is, the work of the insidious group,  C-Street,  a.k.a. as the Family or the Fellowship, who have "poured millions of dollars working through a very convoluted chain of linkages passing the money over to Uganda" to get this legislation up and running. Moreover, according to Michelle Goldberg of The Daily Beast, Pastor Rick Warren, who delivered the Invocation at President Obama’s Inauguration, and other "American demagogues"  were also influential.

In the documentary (below), The World’s Worst Place to Be Gay? DJ Scott Mills, who is himself gay travels to Uganda here homophobia "is so severe that Parliament is considering a bill to execute gay people". Mills found plenty of depressing evidence of institutionalized homophobia, and this was before the murder last month of the Ugandan gay-rights activist David Kato.

“David’s death is a result of the hatred planted in Uganda by U.S. evangelicals in 2009,” Val Kalende, the chairwoman of one of Uganda’s gay rights groups, said in a statement. “The Ugandan government and the so-called U.S. evangelicals must take responsibility for David’s blood.”

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Hypocrisy of the "Heterossexuality as Institution" Gestapo

Zach Wahls, a son anyone would give their right arm, gives the best definition of family I've heard:

"...the sense of family comes from the commitment we make to each other...to work through the hard times, so that we can enjoy the good ones.  It comes from the love that binds us.  That's what makes us a family." - Zach Wahls



Jesse Ventura on gay marriage: (interrupting Pat Buchannan, Thank God!) "You can't take a civil right's issue and put it up to a vote...if you did that, we might still have slavery if it was allowed to be voted on...You can't take civil rights and let people vote on it! [If you care what Pat had to say...listen for yourself..below] Well, not by the populace itself, Pat. You can't put a civil rights issue on a general ballot a state and let people vote on it because if you did that in the Southern states, you can bet they would've voted to continue slavery."




As Jesse said, the government has no right to legislate love, and in modern times, that's what marriage is based on: love between two consenting adults, pure and simple.

If the heterosexual marriage gestapo cares so much about the "institution" of marriage, let them start with their own marriages, and then heterosexual marriage in general. You know...take a look at the planks in their own eye. The problem is that there are so many, they're blinded.

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Interfering with a Citizen’s Fundamental Rights Under the Constitution Without Explanation.

Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the Northern District of California declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional Aug. 4, and he suggested that only the state could defend the law. In his ruling overturning Prop. 8 and in a subsequent order denying a stay, he said the "measure's sponsors had failed to show any prospect of harm in allowing same-sex weddings."

Just last week, the federal appeals court decided that same-sex marriages remain barred while the case is on appeal, despite the fact that the state is not defending the measure.  Moreover,  the 3-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit did not even state its reasons for issuing a stay that put the marriages on hold until the court decides whether Prop. 8 violated the constitutional right to marry.  The appeals court will decide whether the initiative's sponsors have legal standing to represent the state's interests during a hearing the week of Dec. 6 in San Francisco.

So, this order, without any kind of explanation leaves thousands of gay and lesbian couples wondering why they can't marry, and millions more people wondering why Prop. 8 remains in effect after a federal judge found it unconstitutional.

Links

Support for Same-Sex Marriage - Support for gay marriage has risen to 45 percent or more, according to national polls, and a CNN poll this month found that a narrow majority of Americans supported same-sex marriage.

Courage Campaign 

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What do Texas and Uganda Have in Common?

While the Obama Administration plans to expand family and medical leave to same-sex parents, and other non-'traditional' families, the Texas GOP wants to take a page from Uganda's "kill the gays" bill linked to C-Street's The Family,  and criminalize gay marriage and reinstate the sodomy ban.  In effect, Texas wants to punish those who support gay rights.

The 2010 State Republican Party Platform in Texas supports laws that criminalize sodomy and suggests that straight people who support same-sex marriage should be penalized with jail time.The GOP platform was quoted as openly stating:

“We oppose the legalization of sodomy. We demand that Congress exercise its authority granted by the U.S. constitution to withhold jurisdiction from the federal courts from cases involving sodomy,” the GOP platform reads. Meaning that even though the U.S. Supreme Court overturned sodomy laws last decade (ironically in a case that stemmed from Texas), Texas Republicans would like the state to have the power to criminalize LGBT folks for having sex.

“We support legislation that would make it a felony to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple and for any civil official to perform a marriage ceremony for such,” reads the GOP platform.

If a straight person were to aid and abet a gay couple with marriage in Texas, th GOP would like to see that person serve mandatory jail time.

“We believe that the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit, and leads to the spread of dangerous, communicable diseases,” the platform reads.

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Judge Walker Shows Skepticism Towards Both Sides in Gay Marriage Case

President Obama announced June as National LGBT Pride Month  and will hold a White House gay pride reception on June 22 to recognize the estimated  nine million people who represent the LGBT population in the United States.  He said that “our Nation draws its strength from our diversity,” and then called upon Americans to “observe this month by fighting prejudice and discrimination in their own lives and everywhere it exits.”

And it appears the majority of our nation is ready to do just that.  The "closet" is gradually disappearing  and acceptance of homosexual relations, especially amongst those under 30, is increasing by leaps and bounds. However, despite this fact, gay equality has a way to go. 

On Wednesday June 16, closing arguments in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage will be  heard.  Lawyers will have to answer questions posed by Judge Walker on issues presented in the testimony in January of this year.

"The 29 questions Judge Walker issued this week suggest skepticism towards both arguments. He asked the defense to prove that gay marriage harms society, and to show how prohibiting gay marriage furthers a state interest in having children raised by their married biological mothers and fathers.


Judge Walker also challenged plaintiffs to provide "empirical" evidence that not being allowed to marry harms gays and lesbians. He also asked how the court could find Prop 8 to be unconstitutional without also taking up the federal Defense of Marriage Act."

Any decision either by the District Court or the Ninth Circuit in the plaintiffs' favor will almost certainly face the Supreme Court in appeal.  Unfortunately, given the far-right leaning of  SCOTUS, chances are that step in the right direction, if it is to occur, will be reversed to the wrong direction.  

In other news,  Iceland passed gay marriage law in a unanimous vote on Friday.

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Will Judge Being Gay Remain a Nonissue?

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, hearing the federal challenge to California’s Proposition 8, and about to rule on the first federal trial to decide the constitutionality of a gay marriage ban, is gay. Judge Walker didn't seek out the Prop. 8 case - it was assigned to him at random.

Now, what if the judge decides that Prop. 8 is unconstitutional? Will the supporters of the measure make an issue of the judge's sexual orientation? They say no, but we'll see.

Many gay politicians in San Francisco and lawyers who have had dealings with Walker say the 65-year-old jurist, appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, has never taken pains to disguise - or advertise - his orientation.

They also don't believe it will influence how he rules on the case he's now hearing - whether Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure approved by state voters to ban same-sex marriage, unconstitutionally discriminates against gays and lesbians.

"There is nothing about Walker as a judge to indicate that his sexual orientation, other than being an interesting factor, will in any way bias his view," said Kate Kendell, head of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which is supporting the lawsuit to overturn Prop. 8.

As evidence, she cites the judge's conservative - albeit libertarian - reputation, and says, "There wasn't anyone who thought (overturning Prop. 8) was a cakewalk given his sexual orientation."

State Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who has sponsored two bills to authorize same-sex marriage that were vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said that as far as he's concerned, Walker's background is a nonissue. "It seems curious to me," he said, that when the state Supreme Court heard a challenge to Prop. 8, the justices' sexual orientation "was never discussed."

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Gay Marriage: Going for the Gusto

State by State: The Legal Battle over Gay Marriage
Hundreds of thousands of gay Americans have fought and died on the front lines of freedom throughout the history of this great nation. Millions more pay and have paid taxes throughout the history of this great nation. Yet despite their sacrifice and contribution, gay men and women are the only group of people excluded from certain benefits and freedoms, central to living the American Dream, that the rest of us take for granted, and that is the freedom to marry and receive all the benefits that accompany marriage.

Today, the stage was set in San Francisco for the first federal trial questioning the constitutionality of same-sex marriage bans. This trial, likened to a modern version of Brown v. Board of Education, in which the issue of civil rights became a legal matter, is expected to make its way to the US Supreme Court for what could result in a landmark decision on gay marriage. Currently, only five states recognize same-sex marriage. Thirty-six have banned it.

Stuart and I have been a loving, committed couple for 23 years. We're legally married in the state of California. But we're not just Californians. We're Americans, too. And we will not rest until we have the freedom and liberty that our Constitution promises us in every single state in this great nation. -- John Lewis, legally married to Stuart Gaffney, previous plaintiffs in a gay marriage suit

Specifically, the case turns on Proposition 8, the California referendum that barred gay marriage, winning voter approval in November of 2008. Two same-sex couples filed suit over Proposition 8, the 2008 voter-approved initiative that defined marriage as a union of a man and a woman, on the grounds that it violates their 14th Amendment rights to equal protection under the law.

"If the Supreme Court were to rule in favor of Olson and Boies' side, then you would have legalized same-sex marriage throughout the country. That's a big if at this point, but that would be the implication, ultimately." -- Margaret Talbot, a staff writer at The New Yorker.

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What Happened to the Sanctity of Marriage, Mr. Rove?

Holy horrors Mr. Rove! The gays destroyed your marriage? Again? For the second time? How?

Oh, I'll bet it was your gay affairs, right? I know gay men can be so irresistible. Because, it certainly couldn't have been the no-fault divorce laws that allow married couples to destroy their marriage on a whim...with a mere stroke of the pen. No, of course not. The no-fault divorce laws have nothing to do with the destruction of marriage in this country.

Nevertheless, what about the Defense of Marriage Act? Why didn't that kick in and defend your marriage?

"Rove obtained his divorce under Texas' "no-fault" divorce law, one of the most permissive in the nation. That law basically allows any married couple to simply end their marriage because they feel like it. Texas, needless to say, is one of the states which has constitutionally barred same-sex marriages." -- Glen Greenwald

Wedge politics...

What's that Mr. Rove? Oh, you don't really care about preserving, what you pretended to believe, are Christian concepts of "traditional marriage". You were just using that as a means to mobilize support and galvanize voters during the last presidential campaign and barring gay marriage was crucial to your "3G" mantra (Gays, Guns and God) for the win.

So, you mean all your efforts to ban gay citizens from getting married was a ruse? A tactic to focus we the people's hatred toward one group of people, and to provide a big red herring to distract from the real issues?

Karl Rove, the master of dirty tricks, who will lie, cheat, steal, smear, destroy...do just about anything to win, is once again, getting what he wants.

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Mexico City Legalizes Same-sex Marriage

Today, Mexico City legalized same-sex marriage and adoption by gay couples. Legislators already approved civil unions for homosexuals in 2007, but the assembly voted 39-20, with five lawmakers abstaining, to change the civil code and allow same-sex marriages. Legislators also voted 31-24, with nine abstentions, to legalize adoption by gay couples.

Under the city's civil code, marriage is currently defined as the union of a man and a woman. The new bill changes that to a union of two people.

Links:

Why two black D.C. pastors support gay marriage.

"..."bibliolatry" -- the practice of worshiping the Bible rather than worshiping God. It is also found in a "literal" interpretation of the Bible that focuses more on the letter of the text than on its spirit, and concentrates on passages about domination, oppression, hierarchy, elitism and exclusion rather than on the major themes of love, justice, freedom, equality and inclusion that run throughout the Bible."

Gay marriage goes way back.

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Is Gay Media Dead?

Window Media, the nation’s largest publisher of LGBTQ media has closed its doors and with it, The Washington Blade, America’s oldest gay newspaper.

“The bottom line was they filed for Chapter 7, which means liquidation. I think a lot of us expected a Chapter 11 reorganization … but they didn’t go that route and I guess the creditors wanted out.” -- Kevin Nass, editor for Washington Blade

While the death of print media seems inevitable, and everyone in the print industry is struggling, the loss of The Blade is significant because it caters to a niche market, with no alternatives to turn. With the exception of big national news such as Prop 8, the mainstream media does not report on issues or stories relevant to the gay community, and even less so since the recession.

So, does this mean gay media is dead?

The New Gay: for everyone over the rainbow or TNG thinks it is, and it may not be such a bad thing, or at least it opens the windows of opportunity. TNG is a website/forum that encourages gay people to choose to "define ourselves instead of letting a narrowly defined mainstream gay culture do it for us".

While the creators of TNG all agree that being "gay" is not just about sexual orientation, and they reject the stereotypical, yet embraced idea, that gay is a "white male culture defined by consumerism, superficiality and anti-intellectualism", they don't subscribe to any one way of "being gay". TNG wants to start a "truly representative, broad new gay community based on diversity, compassion and self-reflection".

The Blade's coverage of gay culture, according to Zach Rosen, provided a very narrow view of gay life

"Gay media should reflect the world around it, not the other way around. The Blade’s insistence on only covering the most vapid, the most A-list, the most anti-intellectual, camp-at-all-costs, male dominated aspects of our life have done real and lasting damage to the 90% of us who don’t fit so narrow a rubric." - Zach Rosen

Whatever your opinion of The Washington Blade, it was the official gay paper in the US for the last 40 years, and no other newspaper covers or has the resources to cover American gay issues in the same way.

However, there will be at least one more edition as the former staff of the Blade plans to publish a "revived edition this week, investigating who killed the gay weekly newspaper...and why two offers by prospective publishers to buy the Blade were not accepted earlier this year".

In other news:

Court Upholds Recognition of Gay Marriages in Narrow Ruling

Gay Couple Awarded Benefits Compensation

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A Professor's Influence Suggests A Promising Outlook for the Future Gay Rights.

Despite the defeat of same-sex marriage in Maine and the possible upcoming battle over same-sex marriage in New Hampshire, where two legislative proposals aim to overturn the new law set to take place January 1 of next year, it's important to realize that the legalization of gay marriage is inevitable.

Exposing the hypocrisy - most recently evident when Carrie Prejean, who is against gay marriage, and at the same time, known for hard-core sex tapes, nude pictures, lying, and cover up, took her microphone off in the middle of an interview on CNN's Larry King Live. Why? She did not want to answer questions from Larry King and a caller inquiring about her views on gay marriage - is crucial to speeding up the process of legalizing same-sex marriage.

Laurence H. Tribe, author of An Invisible Constitution, Professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School, who said that Obama was "overall the most impressive student he's ever had" (out of 7,000 students including Chief Justice John Roberts ), and who also served as judicial adviser to Obama's campaign, has the experience, depth of knowledge and understanding of what it takes to evolve gay rights to a point of total equality.

In his article, Toward a Less Perfect Union, written in 1996, Tribe pointed out the irony of eviscerating the Constitution's Full Faith and Credit Clause —by giving a state the right to deny the validity of a marriage already sanctioned by a another state - the provision in DOMA that discriminates against gay marriage,

"..The Constitution's principal device for assuring a "more perfect union" is the Full Faith and Credit Clause, which requires that each state must fully credit "the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state." More than half a century ago, the Supreme Court described the clause as "a nationally unifying force" that transformed the individual states from "independent foreign sovereignties, each, free to ignore rights and obligations" created by the others, into integral parts "of a single nation, in which rights . . . established in any [state] are given nationwide application."

And he went on to say,

This would convert the Constitution's most vital unifying clause into a license for balkanization and disunity.

Laurence Tribe, knowingly gave up any chance of winning a place on the "Reagan" Supreme Court when he argued Hardwick’s case in Bowers v. Hardwick, which resulted in a US Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of a Georgia sodomy law that criminalized oral and anal sex in private between consenting adults which was primarily targeted at homosexuals, even though heterosexuals violated this law nightly. Regarding that case, Tribe said he knew he "couldn't win but wanted to get some good dissents in".

"Tribe, was at the time, probably the only straight lawyer in the country to receive the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association’s Allies for Justice Award, which was bestowed on him in 1996. Tribe was so pleased when notified of the honor, that he asked the person on the phone if he could bring his wife to the award ceremony. There was a few moments of stunned silence on the other end. But, of course, this was all part of that same cultural change. The struggle for gay rights had transcended the gay community — equality under the law had become a fight by all and for all." -- Kathleen Sullivan, his student and later faculty colleague who went on to be named dean of Stanford Law School

After the Bowers decision, Tribe told his students that "time would correct the injustice". Seventeen years later in 2003, his words came true in Lawrence v. Texas, the landmark U S Supreme Court case, that struck down the sodomy law in Texas. Tribe wrote the ACLU brief that the courts accepted when it overruled Bowers.

He said that this is the only case in history that he knows of, where the court said that the earlier decision was wrong on the day it was decided. In other words, the court did not preface their decision with the rhetoric normally spoken before overruling, such as: things have changed, the world has changed, Brown v. Board addresses a world that's different than Plessy v. Ferguson, etc. Instead the court said, "the original decision fundamentally denied the dignity and equality of gay people and was wrong from the start."

One has to ask in light of the recent election results regarding Prop 8, if the right at issue (gay marriage) belongs to the public at large or is it, rather, an individual right that is not subject to majority infringement? Could the following be applied to same-sex marriage? I think so, but what do I know, I'm not an attorney.

The Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause has been interpreted to require non- discrimination in treatment of people.

Specifically, regarding gender, * Reed v. Reed, established that, "arbitrary preference established in favor of males by § 15-312-14 of the Idaho Code cannot stand in the face of the Fourteenth Amendment's command that no State deny the equal protection of the laws to any person within its jurisdiction." That later lead to the equal protection component of the 5th Amendment Due Process Clause stated this way: "confers on petitioner a federal constitutional right to be free from gender discrimination that does not serve important governmental objectives or is not substantially related to the achievement of such objectives."

In addition, the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment was used in deciding Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court decision that stated blacks and whites could not be prevented from marrying as it clearly violated the 14th Amendment's due process clause.

In Laurence Tribe's book, The Invisible Constitution, he refers to the Ninth Amendment as an example that supports the recognition of rights not explicitly mentioned.

"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

We can only hope the influence of Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe will shape the fundamental character and underlying assumptions that will inform the Obama administration regarding equal rights, freedom, liberty, and the chance for all citizens to engage in the pursuit of happiness.

Major court decisions effecting same sex marriage:

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
The U.S. Supreme Court held that a Connecticut law prohibiting the sale and use of contraception could not apply to a married couple because the U.S. Constitution generally guarantees a right to marital privacy.

Loving v. Virginia (1967)
The U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a Virginia law banning interracial marriage, partly on the ground that the 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause guarantees a fundamental right to marry.

Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972)
The U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a Massachusetts law prohibiting the distribution of birth control to single people.

Bowers v. Hardwick (1986)
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Georgia anti-sodomy statute on the ground that the constitutional right to privacy does not guarantee the right to have private, consensual sex with a person of the same gender.

Romer v. Evans (1996)
The U.S. Supreme Court invalidated an amendment to the Colorado Constitution that nullified local anti-discrimination protections for gay and lesbian people.

Lawrence v. Texas (2003)
The U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a Texas anti-sodomy statute for violating the 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause, thereby overruling Bowers v. Hardwick.

Goodridge v. Department of Public Health (2003)
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that a state law limiting marriage to opposite-sex unions violated the Massachusetts Constitution.

Marriage Cases (2008)
The California Supreme Court held that sexual orientation is a "suspect class" under the California Equal Protection Clause, and state laws limiting marriage to opposite-sex unions therefore violate the state constitution.

Links:
Same Sex Marriage Timeline

"I want judges who have a heart, have an empathy for the teenage mom, the minority, the gay, the disabled. We want them to show empathy. We want them to show compassion." -- President Elect Obama

*An example of how some twist the meaning and intent of the law in the most outrageous ways to fulfill their own discriminatory agenda. This guy wants feedback. Give it to him.

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Same-Sex Marriage in USA

Government recognition of same-sex marriage is presently available in seven countries and five U.S. states. Currently, however, gay married couples fork over $467,000 more than straight married couples in the US.

Upwards of $467,000, when you account for the 1138 federal rights and benefits afforded to heterosexual couples that are denied to same-gender couples. That's how much the Times estimates a gay couple will pay -- in a worst case scenario -- over the span of their lifetimes for extra costs related to health care, legal affairs, and other issues.

The Respect for Marriage Act introduced in September by Rep. Jerrold Nagler (D-NY) and has 91 co-sponsors would fully repeal DOMA.
Although similar to marriage, a domestic partnership does not confer any of the 1,138 rights afforded to married couples by the federal government.

The following is a review of a 1997 and 2004 government report that outlined the specific benefits afforded married couples in the United States. These are benefits and rights denied gay and lesbian couples taken from the website Equality Matters:

Right to many of ex- or late spouse's benefits, including:

-- Social Security pension
-- veteran's pensions, indemnity compensation for service-connected deaths, medical care, and nursing home care, right to burial in veterans' cemeteries, educational assistance, and housing
-- survivor benefits for federal employees
-- survivor benefits for spouses of longshoremen, harbor workers, railroad workers
-- additional benefits to spouses of coal miners who die of black lung disease
-- $100,000 to spouse of any public safety officer killed in the line of duty
-- continuation of employer-sponsored health benefits
-- renewal and termination rights to spouse's copyrights on death of spouse
-- continued water rights of spouse in some circumstances
-- payment of wages and workers compensation benefits after worker death
-- making, revoking, and objecting to post-mortem anatomical gifts

Right to benefits while married:

-- employment assistance and transitional services for spouses of members being separated from military service; continued commissary privileges
-- per diem payment to spouse for federal civil service employees when relocating
-- Indian Health Service care for spouses of Native Americans (in some circumstances)
-- sponsor husband/wife for immigration benefits

Larger benefits under some programs if married, including:

-- veteran's disability
-- Supplemental Security Income
-- disability payments for federal employees
-- medicaid
-- property tax exemption for homes of totally disabled veterans
-- income tax deductions, credits, rates exemption, and estimates

Joint and family-related rights:

-- joint filing of bankruptcy permitted
-- joint parenting rights, such as access to children's school records
-- family visitation rights for the spouse and non-biological children, such as to visit a spouse in a hospital or prison
-- next-of-kin status for emergency medical decisions or filing wrongful death claims
-- custodial rights to children, shared property, child support, and alimony after divorce
-- domestic violence intervention
-- access to "family only" services, such as reduced rate memberships to clubs & organizations or residency in certain neighborhoods
-- Preferential hiring for spouses of veterans in government jobs
-- Tax-free transfer of property between spouses (including on death) and exemption from "due-on-sale" clauses.
-- Special consideration to spouses of citizens and resident aliens
-- Spouse's flower sales count towards meeting the eligibility for Fresh Cut Flowers and Fresh Cut Greens Promotion and Information Act
-- Threats against spouses of various federal employees is a federal crime
-- Right to continue living on land purchased from spouse by National Park Service when easement granted to spouse
-- Court notice of probate proceedings
-- Domestic violence protection orders
-- Existing homestead lease continuation of rights
-- Regulation of condominium sales to owner-occupants exemption
-- Funeral and bereavement leave
-- Joint adoption and foster care
-- Joint tax filing
-- Insurance licenses, coverage, eligibility, and benefits organization of mutual benefits society
-- Legal status with stepchildren
-- Making spousal medical decisions
-- Spousal non-resident tuition deferential waiver
-- Permission to make funeral arrangements for a deceased spouse, including burial or cremation
-- Right of survivorship of custodial trust
-- Right to change surname upon marriage
-- Right to enter into prenuptial agreement
-- Right to inheritance of property
-- Spousal privilege in court cases (the marital confidences privilege and the spousal testimonial privilege)

Spousal income and assets are counted in determining need in many forms of government assistance, including:

-- veteran's medical and home care benefits
-- housing assistance
-- happy birthday housing loans for veterans
-- child's education loans
-- educational loan repayment schedule
-- agricultural price supports and loans
-- eligibility for federal matching campaign funds
-- Ineligible for National Affordable Housing program if spouse ever purchased a home:
-- Subject to conflict-of-interest rules for many government and government-related jobs
-- Ineligible to receive various survivor benefits upon remarriage

There are some laws that either benefit or penalize married couples over single people, depending upon their own circumstances:

-- Marriage penalty/bonus
-- Someone working for their spouse cannot be defined as an "employee"
-- Someone cannot change beneficiaries in a retirement plan or from waiving the joint and survivor annuity form of retirement benefit, without the written consent of his or her spouse
-- Wages can be garnished at a maximum of 60% (instead of the normal 25% limit) if the garnishing is for alimony or child support

The Netherlands was the first country to authorize same-sex marriage in 2001, and now Belgium, Canada, South Africa, Spain, Norway, Sweden, and in the US: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

New York, Rhode Island, District of Columbia (DC) and New Mexico do not allow same-sex marriages to be performed, but do recognize such marriages performed elsewhere.

In the US, domestic partnership is a city, county, state, or employer-recognized status that may be available to same-sex and, sometimes, opposite-sex couples. Domestic partnerships in the United States are determined by each state or local jurisdiction, so there is no nationwide consistency on the rights, responsibilities, and benefits accorded domestic partners.

Related Headlines:

Outcome Over Gay Marriage in Maine is a Toss-up.

Gay marriage question focus of Maine TV debate

Focus of Gay-Marriage Fight Is Maine

A marriage equality bill that respects religious objectors

In Battle Over Gay Marriage, Timing May Be Key
NY Sen. Schumer-Gay Marriage in All 50 States is Goal

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Same Sex Couples Necessary For the Survival of the Species.

Neil Patrick Harris and partner David Burtka
Homosexual coupling occurs in over 1,000 species, from locusts and fruit flies, to penguins, dolphins and primates and the latest studies claim the pairing of same sex couples is not only widespread, but a "necessary biological adaptation for the survival of the species."

For a number of reasons, same-sex bonds have played a significant role in keeping a variety of species from possible extinction. For example, male-male pairings in locusts killed off the weaker males; female-female pairings in the Laysan albatross population raised offspring due to a shortage of males; same-sex couples amongst the dolphins engage in interactions to facilitate group bonding, and many of us have heard about the gay male penguins who hatched the egg rejected by its biological parents.

These are just a few examples that indicate, that not only has natural selection shaped same sex couples, but that same sex coupling acts as a selective force in and of itself. Therefore, it could be said that prohibiting marriage on the basis of a partners' gender is not only unconstitutional, but could adversely affect the evolution of human beings in the long run.

There is no doubt that same sex couples predate recorded human history, cross all social and cultural boundaries, and have played more than an instrumental role in creating culture which is so crucial to human survival. We don't come equipped with built in defense mechanisms like so many other species, as we lack the speed; endurance; strength; "molar" power; ability to fly; ability to camouflage ourselves; and/or shoot poisonous substances, etc.

Yet, in the transition from hunter-gatherers to modern day humans, despite the aforementioned deficiencies, we continue to thrive. While it is true, that our superior intelligence and our innate power or capacity to create factors heavily in our continued existence, it is our exigency to share the world with others that seals the deal.

Gay men and women, all throughout history - from Alexander the Great to Julius Caesar ["every women's husband, every man's wife"] to Leonardo da Vinci to Barney Frank - have overwhelmingly participated in the process of constructing, maintaining and innovating the culture and civilization we depend, not only for the evolution of our species, but the quality of our lives.

Not that it should matter, but sexuality is not a choice. Aside from the fact that gay men have larger penises, recent studies have demonstrated biological differences between homosexuals and heterosexuals. Amongst many other discoveries, Dr. Allen and Dr. Gorski at UCLA found that the part of the brain structure called the anterior commissure, a "cord of nerve fibers that allows two halves of the brain to communicate with one another, is larger in homosexual men than it is in either heterosexual men or in women." Who is to say that this anatomical difference not only affects sexuality but other spheres as well? Perhaps this difference accounts for what appears to be gay men's large contribution to our political and cultural landscape.

So, if thousands of gay and lesbian couples are forced to leave their American homes and move to one of the countries that do acknowledge homosexual relationships, or we go along with what the right-wing Christian group Family Research Council wants,

"I would much prefer to export homosexuals from the United States than to import them into the United States because we believe homosexuality is destructive to society." -- Peter Sprigg, FRC's Vice President for Policy

there is no question American culture would suffer tremendously, if not collapse all together.

And the real reason for the existence of homophobia:

"Uncovered Kinsey Report data show homosexual members have hetero ones by a head."

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Did Barack Obama and Dick Cheney Swap Souls?

The Department of Justice (DOJ) brief, which argued that states should not have to recognize same-sex marriages from other states, just as states don’t have to recognize incestuous marriages or marriages involving underage girls, and supported the Defense of Marriage Act sounds like Jerry Falwell could've written it. It certainly does not sound like something the "enlightened" Obama administration DOJ would release. But that's exactly where it came from.

Today, President Obama, feeling the pressure from many in the gay community who have voiced disappointment with him, will offer benefits to gay partners of federal employees.

Reform requires the rallying and mobilization of we the people with respect to matters of public policy we want to see changed. Sitting idly by waiting for President Obama to act will ensure the status quo continues uninterrupted.

From the article: Iranian Election Exposes Obama's Gay Rights Lies (Really!)

"I would like to hold out the following hope for Obama, however. With respect to social issues, perhaps he can learn that he must respond to the public will (and especially the public that elected him). But the public must make it known loud and clear. I’m not suggesting anything like the unrest that Mr. Sullivan is chronicling in Tehran. But there will need to be a new march on Washington for full equality for LGBT Americans. The march will not be a party of the Gay Pride Festival variety, but rather a no-nonsense affair that will require not only gay people but straight supporters of the cause. There must be so many bodies and voices overflowing the mall that the press can’t underestimate the crowd. There mustn’t be a single available hotel room in DC that day. And the demand must not be just for the repeal of DADT, DOMA, and in favor of ENDA, but to enable every gay, lesbian, and bisexual person in America to come out.

Because the only way this matter will ever really be settled is when everyone finally knows that someone they know and like or love is gay, and once they wrap their heads around that, they can no longer maintain the dehumanizing opinions they presently harbor." -- Michael Fox

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The Way Americans Really Feel About Gay Marriage

From BET:
As we celebrate the hope for reform that we think Obama will bring, our country's presidential choice was bittersweet for the gay community as same-sex marriage bans passed in several states that same day.

Anyway, since the news on that front has been anything but uplifting the last couple of weeks, here are a few tidbits of inspiration.

Gay High School expands mission. - "While the school will be open to all students, its special mission will be to provide a haven where students can feel safe and valued for who they are," reads the mission statement of the proposed school.

Prism Comics who promotes the works of the LGBT community in comics announced that Perry Moore's acclaimed novel Hero will be adapted into an hour-long television series on Showtime. Hero tells the story of a teenage superhero, Thom Creed, who must deal with his ex-superhero father's disgrace, his own sexuality, and a murderer stalking the world's heroes. At Comic-Con, Stan Lee, the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics praised Moore’s Hero, calling the book’s young gay protagonist “a one-of-a-kind hero for the future.”

Wanda Sykes is out.

James Dobson, leader of "Focus on the Family" donated nearly $600,000 to help fight gay marriage in California. It turns out he must pay an additional price as 202 jobs will be cut companywide — more than 20 percent of his workforce.

OK, not exactly news from America...

Mumbai gives Israeli gay couple a baby boy Less Than a year ago, Omer and Yonathan Gher dropped a rose in to the Arabian Sea with a silent prayer, just as a fortune teller had told them to do.

A coming out story. 45-year-old Greg always knew he was different, but coming out was a huge step for the family man he became. He tells us his story.

I believe this is the way most Americans really feel about gay marriage. I often wonder how many people voted "Yes" thinking they were supporting gay marriage.

Links:
Gay Wallet - is a community of people who support LGBT businesses and organizations.

Gay Wallet on Twitter

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Vote No On Prop 8!

Former President Bill Clinton recently telephoned California voters to encourage them to vote no on Proposition 8.

"This is Bill Clinton calling to ask you to vote NO on Proposition 8 on Tuesday, November 4th. Proposition 8 would use state law to single out one group of Californians to be treated differently -- discriminating against members of our family, our friends and our co-workers.

"If I know one thing about California, I know that is not what you're about. That is not what America is about. Please vote NO on 8. It's unfair and it's wrong. Thank you."

The calls from President Clinton went to millions of registered California voters overnight.

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