Posted by Admin at 5:51 PM. Placed in Local In Utah category
Hello Dear Readers!
The PRIDEinUtah Podcast is launching this coming Monday, September 6th!!
The half-hour “Episode 1″ will include LGBT Local and National News, giveaways from top restaurants and clubs and an interview with two former “Yes On 8″ employees!
Co-hosted by myself and blogger Misty Fowler (known as “Saintless” on Twitter), the show should be a gay old time!
The podcast will be available for free download through iTunes, on our RSS feed as well as posted on the site!
Oklahoma- State Representative Sally Kern (R) got in hot water back in 2008 when she claimed on camera that homosexuals were worse than terrorists. Now she’s at it again with the same sleazemouth claims. Watch the video here!
Rep. Kern is being challenged this November by Brittany Novotny. Go Brittany!
California – Incumbent Senator Barbara Boxer (D) held a public debate against challenger Carly Fiorina (R) on gay marriage and marriage equality. Fiorina used the new GOP platform on marriage – using President Obama’s stances. Interesting interesting… Mr. President this is what happens when you don’t fully support your constituents. Watch the video here!
California – In a follow up to this week’s earlier story, the appellate court has rejected the lawsuit brought by the Pacific Justice Institute attempting to force Governor Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown to continue defending Prop 8.
Major concerns have been rampant among the sleazemouth bigots as to whether or not they will be able to continue appealing Judge Walker’s decision to overturn Prop 8 without the support of the Governor and AG. State law required the state to defend Prop 8 in the Federal Trial with Judge Walker, but once the ruling was made the state refused to be involved with the Defense’s appeal to the 8th District Court.
With the lawsuit being rejected, chances are becoming slim for the bigots to continue with Proposition 8.
UK- A new scientific study looks at whether or not people are truly homosexual, and the results are absolutely clear – YES. The researches map brain stimulations to show who people are actually attracted to, creating scientific proof that people are gay. Great video, watch it here!
Can we get Chris Buttars and Gayle Ruzicka to take this test?
3 stories from Australia in a week? Sheesh. The Aussie State of New South Wales has very narrowly approved removing the bigoted clause in their adoption clause to now allow adoptions to gay couples. This comes on the heals of Tasmania passing a law recognizing legally wed same-sex couples. Aussie Aussie Aussie!
Members of the New South Wales state parliament voted 46-44 in favour of removing discriminatory clauses in the Adoption Act. In two other jurisdictions, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, gay adoption is already legal. The debate on the bill lasted four days and drew a crowd of 200 protestors to Sydney’s Parliament House. David Clarke, who led the protest, argued that his supporters were not motivated by their religious creed. “This has nothing to do with religion,” he said. “This is about morality and this is about the rights of children.” Devout Catholic Kristina Keneally, the premier of New South Wales, supported the bill. “In forming my position on this bill, I have considered my experiences as a mother, my responsibilities as a parliamentarian and my conscience as a Christian and member of the Catholic faith,” she said.
Posted by Admin at 7:07 PM. Placed in Local In Utah category
SLC, UT – BREAKING NEWS. The time limit expired last night on Ben McAdams’ Republican opponent Nancy Davis to file her disclosures and she was forced out of the race. In these unlikely circumstances, the Republican Party is allowed to nominate their own candidate to automatically run without going through the delegate system. You won’t believe who they picked.
Melvin Nimer
Of all people… Melvin Nimer, the President of the Utah Log Cabin Republicans and board member of the Utah Pride Center.
Mel has built a reputation as a hard-core conservative in this state, but also as someone who has tried to build bridges with current elected Republicans like Governor Herbert and slowly persuade them to support LGBT rights.
“The Party called me at 10am this morning,” says Nimer, “after accepting their nomination I had to have all my paperwork submitted by early this afternoon to make it official.” So why Mel? Why would the Utah Republicans nominate a gay man? “Well I think it’s precisely because I’m gay,” said Nimer, “we’ve made a lot of inroads over the years with the party and helped them get many important people elected and this may be the Party’s way of slowly moving [onto the side of equality].”
For his part, Ben McAdams told PRIDEinUtah that although he still fully intends to keep the Senate chair he took over from Scott McCoy, he’s glad to see the Republicans putting out a gay candidate. “I think that both through my election and Mel’s nomination, we’ve signified that LGBT issues are much more mainstream then many in Utah would believe” he says.
But the fight is on.
McAdams stated that “I’m still the best person in the Senate working on LGBT issues, I have the track record through both last year’s session and the SLC non-discrimination ordinances that I can get the job done.” At the same time, Nimer says that he could do it better, “I’d be as fierce of an LGBT advocate in the Senate as Ben or Scott [McCoy] ever were. There’s a big difference between LGBT issues and other aspects of conservatism.”
Equality Utah’s endorsement period ended months ago, and they’re endorsing Ben McAdams. “Ben is an extraordinary Senator, and we stand behind him” says Executive Director Brandie Balken. Equality Utah’s endorsement policy states they cannot endorse two candidates for one race. This means there isn’t a chance for Mel Nimer to receive an official endorsement from the biggest name in Utah LGBT politics.
And of course, the LGBT community at large tends to swing heavily democratic. Will this hurt Nimer’s chances? “I don’t know if the LGBT community will support me, but I don’t think I’ll get much resistance,” he says.
District 2 has a long proud history of constantly voting for the democrats, but Mel hopes to change that. “There’s a lot of registered republicans who don’t vote, so we’ll have to see what we can do.”
Personally, I think this is a simple way for the Republican Party to throw Mel Nimer and the Utah Log Cabin Republicans under the bus. With 2 months until the election, and with all of the qualified candidates they could have picked from, the Repub’s decided to throw the gay head of a gay political group into a race against the biggest ally the State has in the Senate? With virtually no time to raise funds or to get a campaign off the ground..
Sounds very….. Republican to me.
For The Record: PRIDEinUtah has and continues to strongly support and endorse Senator Ben McAdams.
Australia -Cheltenham’s Lepage Primary school principal Garry Martin decided to ban the word “gay” from the folk song “Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree.” The song features the line “a gay old time” which he changed to “a good old time.” Advocacy groups are up in arms, was the decision smart or stupid?
Principal Garry Martin said yesterday he taught the lyrics to grade one pupils using an old tape of the famous song.
“It uses gay and I just suggested to kids, ‘Nowadays that can mean different things, so let’s just sing a fun old time’,” he said.
Mr Martin said some children used “gay” to bully others without knowing the meaning of the expression. “Political correctness is to the fore in schools – what’s appropriate and what isn’t – and sometimes we rightly or wrongly err on the side of caution,” he said.
But gay-rights advocacy group The Also Foundation is calling the ban ludicrous, and is strongly opposing the ban.
“Kids in schoolgrounds say ‘That’s so gay’ and that’s all fine. That’s just the way that language is,” he said.
I’m not so sure, the phrase “that’s so gay” is heavily offensive to me, as it implies that ‘gay’ and ’stupid’ are synonyms and are ok for use.
Brilliant video analysis of the lies the Mormon-owned National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is spitting out on their new radio ad attacking the Prop 8 decision. Among their lies: Hetero marriage was ruled as discrimination, and “the gays” are trying to impose their values on the rest of society. Watch the video by “Stop8″ here!
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has announced that they intend to be the first airline to host an in-flight same-sex marriage. To make sure no one beats them to the punch, they’ve launched a contest to find the perfect couple. The only catch is that the marriage MUST take place in Swedish airspace in order for it to be a legal wedding and not just a commitment ceremony.
“It will be a very traditional wedding,” SAS spokesman AndersLindstroem told AFP. “There will be wedding cake and dancing in the aisles.” SAS is accepting entries from gay couples who wanted to celebrate their nuptials mid-flight from Stockholm to New York on December 6, with the winning entry will be chosen by an online vote. The airline said it would pay for the winners’ tickets, hotels and honeymoon in Los Angeles, and cater the on-board banquet, albeit with a special wedding menu instead of normal passenger fare. Linstroem said SAS was playing catch-up to US airlines, who have spent years courting gay, lesbian and bisexuals in the United States with targeted marketing and sponsorship campaigns.
"Eric, trying to have this conversation (lgbt rights) with you is ultimately like trying to teach a pig to dance, it just annoys the pig. So Eric, sorry to annoy you."
-Paul Mero, The Sutherland Institute.
