It was announced just a few minutes ago that a federal judge in San Francisco decided today that gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry!! Prop 8 was struck down!
"U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker said Proposition 8, passed by voters in November 2008, violated the federal constitutional rights of gays and lesbians to marry the partners of their choice. His ruling is expected to be appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then up to the U.S. Supreme Court."
(From the Los Angeles Times)
As a Los Angeles native, I can say that I am finally glad to see my home state doing something right! This is a huge win for gay rights and I believe a true win for humanity. Love is love and how can anyone in their right mind argue with giving all people the right to express their love through marriage?!
Good going Judge Walker! Hard to believe this guy was appointed by Mr. G.W. Bush!
-Vignette-Noelle Lammott, Fish out of Water Blog Commentator - "To find out more information about LGBTQ rights, gay marriage, religion and homosexuality, The Bible's stance on gay relationships or the politics around gay mariage please feel free to contact us or book a screening of FISH OUT OF WATER. Please note that a study guide can be downloaded from the "Book A Screening" page atwww.fishoutofwaterfilm.com"
Listen up, particularly all you local Mid-westerners, Target and Best Buy, both based in Minneapolis, have recently donated $250,00 to a political committee that supports Tom Emmer for Governor of MInnesota. Emmer is in fierce support of vetoing marriage equality legislation and has ties to a Christian rock band that advocates violence and even death to gay people. Um... quick question... since when is violence a "Christian" value?
Emmer is also pro-life and is in support of making it illegal for pharmacists to distribute contraceptives!
Well, I say shame on Target and Best Buy! It is odd, considering both companies have strived over the years to be a fair and equitable businesses. According to the HRC, Target and Best Buy have both consistently received 100 percent ratings on the HRC Foundation's Corporate Equality Index.
As a new mom, I feel like I live at Target sometimes... well, I can tell you one mama that will be taking her business elsewhere unless they can make this right. Babies R' Us, here I come.
-Vignette-Noelle Lammott, Fish out of Water Blog Commentator -
"To find out more information about LGBTQ rights, gay marriage, religion and homosexuality, The Bible's stance on gay relationships or the politics around gay mariage please feel free to contact us or book a screening of FISH OUT OF WATER. Please note that a study guide can be downloaded from the "Book A Screening" page at www.fishoutofwaterfilm.com"
So, most of you have probably heard of the National Organization for Marriage and their crusade to keep marriage between and man and woman sacred... if you haven't check out this link. I assure you, it is quite disgusting.
You may have also heard of their Summer bus tour, which in their own words, is meant to "encourage supporters to stand up for marriage". I am a straight, married mother of one and I will NEVER "stand up for marriage" under NOM's policies and ideology. The "faith based" seminars and Republican backing aside, what they have been doing recently is less promotion of "traditional" marriage values and more promotion of how "disruptive" and "violent" counter protestors can be.
Recently, NOM released this video of marriage equality supporters "intimidating young children" and being unruly...
Jim Morrison once said "Whoever controls the media, controls the mind." Well, I certainly think that is true of the above video. It's clear things were edited and taken out of context to better serve their agenda... but what else is new? Speaking as a new mom, if I felt that people were "intimidating" my family or getting too close to my kids, you know what I would do? I would move and get my kids out of "harm's way".
Here's my response to the above video:
They look pretty peaceful to me....
NOM has also claimed to have had their bus tires slashed by marriage equality supporters... without any proof at all. I wouldn't be surprised if they vandalized their own bus just to propagate more hate towards the gay community.
“Let’s add it all up: NOM and its allies are making a last-ditch legal stand in Washington and Maine that they should be specially entitled to hide their political activities, and they’re saying that harassment and intimidation should provide them this cover. At the same time, Brian Brown schedules a series of virtually unattended weekday afternoon events hoping for counter-protests that they can then use as evidence of harassment and intimidation. Why else would NOM execute such half-hearted non-events and then completely subjugate its so-called ‘pro-marriage’ message in favor of devoting its energies almost exclusively to condemning lawful protesters?”
Well said Mr. Sainz, well said indeed. In fact, NOM's public statements on the bus tour have scarcely mentioned the content of the programs or the substance of its anti-LGBT message. Instead, they really do seem to be focusing attention on the decidedly larger counter-protests and calling their right to stand in opposition, "harassment".
And one other point... if NOM views itself as this benevolent organization that would never promote violence or intimidation to get their point across.... what is this?
I would think that proposing lynching as a way of "dealing with" this issue could be considered... oh , I don't know... a hate crime in the making?!
Shameful.
-Vignette-Noelle Lammott, Fish out of Water Blog Commentator -
"To find out more information about LGBTQ rights, gay marriage, religion and homosexuality, The Bible's stance on gay relationships or the politics around gay mariage please feel free to contact us or book a screening of FISH OUT OF WATER. Please note that a study guide can be downloaded from the "Book A Screening" page at www.fishoutofwaterfilm.com"
Sweden's Minister of EU Affairs, Birgitta Ohlsson promised that she would challenge the conservatives in other parts of the continent and that she would continue her campaign for the rights of women and the civil rights for all members of her community. Recently, gay rights has been her focus and her first task was opening Baltic Pride in Lithuania after it had been under much scrutiny by conservatives and was nearly banned.
”I would like to urge all European politicians from left to right to get out of the closet. Do not hide behind the LGBT-activists and let them fight on their own"
This is the kind of blood we need pumping through our own government channels, if you ask me!
-Vignette-Noelle Lammott, Fish out of Water Blog Commentator - "To find out more information about LGBTQ rights, gay marriage, religion and homosexuality, The Bible's stance on gay relationships or the politics around gay mariage please feel free to contact us or book a screening of FISH OUT OF WATER. Please note that a study guide can be downloaded from the "Book A Screening" page atwww.fishoutofwaterfilm.com"
The changes to the laws will also make it possible for same-sex couples to make medical decisions on their partner's behalf. In a statement, the president mentioned how "uniquely affected" gays and lesbians are by this change in the law as they are often denied access to their hospitalized partner, on the grounds they are not "family".
“Every day, all across America, patients are denied the kindness and caring of a loved one at their sides”
Although President Obama seemed to let the gay community down with regard to Prop8, and although it will take some time for these changes to take affect, I think this is a HUGE step in the right direction towards equality for all Americans!
Today, I am proud to be an American. Good going Obama!
-Vignette-Noelle Lammott, Fish out of Water Blog Commentator -
"To find out more information about LGBTQ rights, gay marriage, religion and homosexuality, The Bible's stance on gay relationships or the politics around gay mariage please feel free to contact us or book a screening of FISH OUT OF WATER. Please note that a study guide can be downloaded from the "Book A Screening" page atwww.fishoutofwaterfilm.com"
Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias, expressed on Wednesday that he feels it is archaic for the Roman Catholic Church to continue demanding celibacy form its priests. He also went on to voice his support of same sex marriage stating:
"We are made as we are. A young boy (or girl) does not ask if he or she will grow up gay or straight. Sexual orientation is given by God or by nature"
Gay marriage will, of course, still need to go through the proper legislative channels to be approved...but... I think THIS is great! Way to think progressively and most importantly... humanely.
-Vignette-Noelle Lammott, Fish out of Water Blog Commentator -
"To find out more information about LGBTQ rights, gay marriage, religion and homosexuality, The Bible's stance on gay relationships or the politics around gay mariage please feel free to contact us or book a screening of FISH OUT OF WATER. Please note that a study guide can be downloaded from the "Book A Screening" page atwww.fishoutofwaterfilm.com"
While this topic has been used before by the likes of radio personality Thom Hartmann and others to support the notion that homosexuality occurs "naturally", I have never read an account of homosexual animals quite like this one!
One example they offer is the work of biologist Lindsay C. Young, who studies albatrosses at the Kaena Point colony, which is a breeding ground for the famously monogamous birds. She discovered over a period of time that "one third of the pairs at Kaena Point actually consisted of two female birds, not one male and one female" , also citing that some of these birds had been a couple for "4,8 or even 19 years"!
"A discovery like Young’s can disorient a wildlife biologist in the most thrilling way — if he or she takes it seriously, which has traditionally not been the case. Various forms of same-sex sexual activity have been recorded in more than 450 different species of animals by now, from flamingos to bison to beetles to guppies to warthogs."
The article goes on to say that while study into this phenomenon has been sporadic and met with some resistance in the scientific community, more biologists are "looking objectively at same-sex sexuality in animals- approaching it as a real science". It would be nice to see human sexuality approached with such enthusiasm and open-mindedness.
However, like every insightful study that is done with the hopes of proving through science that homosexuality is not an abnormality or a "choice", there is always backlash. While some use examples of homosexuality in nature as a platform for equality, there are many who consider this "an effort to humanize animals or devolve humans to the level of animals".
"Many pointed out that animals also rape or eat their young; was America going to tolerate that too, just because it’s natural?"
Puh-lease! That's like the old notion that all gay men are pedophiles or that all lesbians are.... I don't know...a cat loving people... well, that last one may be true. ;)
The article covers every speculation from an evolutionary advantage to pure and simple attraction. Definitely a must read for anyone even remotely interested in the subject. Whether or not you feel it is research that will help further the rights of gays and lesbians, you cannot deny the impact this research will have in the long run on how we experience our evolving world as a whole.
-Vignette-Noelle Lammott, Fish out of Water Blog Commentator -
"To find out more information about LGBTQ rights, gay marriage, religion and homosexuality, The Bible's stance on gay relationships or the politics around gay mariage please feel free to contact us or book a screening of FISH OUT OF WATER. Please note that a study guide can be downloaded from the "Book A Screening" page atwww.fishoutofwaterfilm.com"
Our friends at Foundation Content, who cut the trailer for FOOW, created a PSA for F.A.I.R. in support of abolishing Prop 8 called "Every Heart Matters". (In case you haven't heard of them, F.A.I.R. is a group that was formed to fight for marriage equality in California.)
Well, their PSA has been selected as one of three finalists by the E-Hero Awards selection committee for the 2010 Human Rights Campaign Gala in Los Angeles! The Gala is being held on March 13th at the Hyatt Century Plaza Hotel and will feature U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer. Portia DeRossi will be presented with the HRC Visibility Award and Kathy Griffin will be receiving the Ally for Equality Award.
The PSA uses the Shepard Fairey "Love Unites" ) poster image for which they secured the rights to use (FYI - he also designed the Obama HOPE poster). Foundation's crew traveled to San Francisco and Los Angeles to work with real families and couples to shoot candid moments of them in their homes or playing with their children. The footage was edited by Tom Pastorelle and cut together with graphic images and additional photography shot on the Foundation stage.
Foundation's L.A. Producer, Stacy Paris says, "We are so proud to have been given the opportunity to contribute to the cause and thrilled that our piece has been selected for this prestigious event."
Marriage Equality is not just a California issue, but an issue the whole country is facing. And every heart SHOULD matter.
-Vignette-Noelle Lammott, Fish out of Water Blog Commentator -
"To find out more information about LGBTQ rights, gay marriage, religion and homosexuality, The Bible's stance on gay relationships or the politics around gay mariage please feel free to contact us or book a screening of FISH OUT OF WATER. Please note that a study guide can be downloaded from the "Book A Screening" page atwww.fishoutofwaterfilm.com"
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