In today’s New York Times, Op-Ed columnist Frank Rich addressed the Obama choice of anti-gay minister Rick Warren as part of his inaugural ceremony:

December 28, 2008
You’re Likable Enough, Gay People
By FRANK RICH

IN his first press conference after his re-election in 2004, President Bush memorably declared, “I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it.” We all know how that turned out.

Barack Obama has little in common with George W. Bush, thank God, his obsessive workouts and message control notwithstanding. At a time when very few Americans feel very good about very much, Obama is generating huge hopes even before he takes office. So much so that his name and face, affixed to any product, may be the last commodity left in the marketplace that can still move Americans to shop.

I share these high hopes. But for the first time a faint tinge of Bush crept into my Obama reveries this month.
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John Hodgman, a self-proclaimed “famous minor television personality” (and co-star of the “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” commercials for Apple), said this about Obama and Rev. Rick Warren:

WHAT’S MORE: this not solely a question of being inclusive of different viewpoints. If Warren were merely a pro-life creationist, I would not be so bothered. It’s the question that Obama and Warren agree on that really troubles me.
BOTH WARREN AND OBAMA believe in a fallacy: that one can support equal rights for “everybody” (Warren) and for gay folks specifically (Obama), and yet not support a gay person having the same access as a straight person to the governmental special status known as “marriage.”
I KNOW HOW TEMPTING this fallacy can be: I am ashamed to admit that I half-fell for it myself until Massachusetts proved that the world would not end, and the semantic difference between “domestic partnerships” and “marriage” was so meaningless as to be offensive. I was wrong, I am sorry.
I HAVE CONFIDENCE that, in no short order, Prop 8 will be repealed, and the gay marriage debate will look as absurd at the miscegenation debates of the 20th century do now. I have confidence this will happen not because it is merely right, or because the electorate will suddenly love gayness, but because opposition to gay marriage has no logical foundation in a civil society that is premised on equality.
(CHURCHES can go ahead and ban it all they like. They have their own charters, and no obligation to logic.)
THOSE OF US, however, who foolishly refused to take Obama at his word when he told us he didn’t support gay marriage OVER AND OVER AGAIN must now take him at his deed. He really, really doesn’t want gays to get married. SRSLY.

John Hodgman’s blog

From CNN:
Prop 8 proponents seek to nullify same-sex marriages

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

CNN LINK

I wish I had heard about this sooner…

from David Craig:

“In the wake of the passage of Proposition 8 in California, which banned same-sex marriage, I posted the event on Facebook. My fellow organizer, Steve Holzer, inspired by the Latino protests, suggested we call it A Day Without Gays.

We soon discovered that other organizers had conceived of the same idea simultaneously, and we all agreed to schedule the protest for December 10, which is International Human Rights Day. A week later, Join The Impact, the group that organized City Hall rallies nationwide November 14, joined forces with us.

Our goal is to raise awareness that marriage is a “basic human right” as declared by the U.S. Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia, the case that ended race-based restrictions on marriage.

We believe that to deny gays and lesbians that right, and the 1,400 state and federal legal and economic benefits of marriage, is discrimination and in violation of the 14th Amendment.

We are asking people who support us to “call in gay” to their workplace by taking the day off or to shut down their businesses. Our goal is to raise awareness that we are gay and lesbian Americans who work, own businesses, pay our taxes and support the economy to the tune of $712 billion a year, according to an analysis by Witeck-Combs Communications, a public relations agency that specializes in the gay and lesbian consumer market. This is a declaration that we take our rights seriously and demand full equality.”

LINK

Gay Marriage Ban Inspires New Wave of Activists
By JESSE McKINLEY
Published: December 10, 2008
Outraged by a ban on same-sex marriage, a new wave of gay rights advocates have pushed to the forefront.
LINK

This was just sent to me tonight (thanks, Lisa) but is worth sharing as a well-done parody of both sides on Prop 8.

See how many actors you can name!

I mentioned on Facebook that I think that we had eaten in a homeless shelter the other day with my honey’s mother and got several responses from friends and family inviting us to a real Thanksgiving dinner.

The reality is that the city of Mesquite hold a “community” Thanksgiving dinner every year the day before. All one has to do to enjoy the repast of turkey, etc is to give a donation at the door and sign in so they can track how many meals they serve.

There were large crowds of people going in and out and we definitely felt like some of the youngest there, except for the young families with lots of kids who appeared down on their luck.

The food was actually pretty good. the volunteers used fingers to indicate to others in the midst of the span of round tables how many seats were needed and then you worked your way through the very crowded room to a table ready to be shared with strangers.

Young firemen and much older retired folks served the identical meals on styrofoam “school lunch”-style rectangular, partitioned plates. Drinks consisted of milk, water or apple juice — all served in hospital food style packaging.

Polite conversation with the strangers at our table was strained, at best. We shared table space with two retired couples, one from Montana and the other from Ogden, Utah, who made veiled comments about being fearful about the “next four years”.

It made me realize what a fundamental change has taken place in this country with the election of Barack Obama. Many of these older, western people fear him as much as the world and economic situations in which we are currently living. It kind of surprises me that people are willing to accept the status quo — no matter how bad it may be — in order to avoid rocking the boat.

I am happy this country is starting to embrace change, but this meal at the Mesquite Community Center was a good barometer of how far we still have to go.

Recently Fred Karger, founder of the group “Californians Against Hate”, filed a formal complaint (see it after the jump) with the Fair Political Practices Commission of the State of California (FPPC).

Last Friday, they sent him a formal letter indicating they would open an investigation.

Included in the charges Mr. Karger alleges are these:

· Setting up Church-sponsored and -run phone banks in Utah & Idaho
· Sending direct mail to voters
· Transporting people to California over several weekends
· Using the LDS PR machine to send out multiple press releases to promote their activities to non-members
· Walking the precincts
· Running a speakers bureau
· Distributing thousands of lawn signs and other campaign material
· Organizing the “Surge to Election Day” campaign
· Church leaders traveling back/forth to California
· Creation and maintaining of elaborate websites
· Producing at least nine commercials and four other video broadcasts in support of Prop 8
· Conducting at least two satellite simulcasts over five Western states.

All of these previously-unreported contributions by the LDS Church were on top of its massive fund-raising effort; the largest ever undertaken on a social issue ballot initiative in the US.

Oops.
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