Tell the Census Bureau to count every marriage in 2010.

Yet another reason to repeal the so-called "Defense of Marriage Act":

Under DOMA, the federal government will not (cannot) recognize same-sex marriages. This often brings to mind issues around tax status, adoption, hospital rights, etc. But it is also preventing us from being counted in the census. Gay marriage is legal now in three states, and not a single one will show up in the 2010 Census.

The U.S. Census Bureau will actively edit the responses of same-sex couples on the 2010 Census, classifying all legally married same-sex couples as "unmarried partners."

Last year it was announced that they won't count legally recognized same-sex marriages. They plan to actually go line by line erasing our relationships -- even legally recognized marriages in Massachusetts, Connecticut, California, and Iowa.

What can you do? Ask the Census Bureau to Count Our Marriages.

http://countourmarriages.com
sposored by The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund

You gotta give 'em hope.

575 Castro St. from FilmInFocus on Vimeo.

575 Castro St. is a simple, beautifully shot short film from the Focus Film crew Jenni Olson on the set of MILK. In 2008, the Castro Camera Store, where Harvey Milk lived and worked in the late 1970's, was recreated at the same address for Gus Van Sant's film MILK.

For me, the joy of my films is found in the poetry of the static image — in the experience of time passing on film, undistracted by plot, actors, dialogue and other narrative conventions. An internal drama is evoked in the sensitivities of each viewer who is open to the subtleties of these mundane shots that are almost bereft of movement and sound. So quiet, so still. All the better to showcase the range of emotions evoked by Harvey Milk’s words.

The audio track is an edited down version of the 13-minute audio-cassette that Harvey Milk recorded in his camera shop on the evening of Friday, November 18, 1977 (a few weeks after his election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors which made him the first openly gay elected official in America). Labeled simply: “In-Case” the tape was to be played, “in the event of my death by assassination.”

The audio is the same 5-6 minutes that can be found all over YouTube, but is better quality, and is all the more moving against the backdrop of the set.

Everyone's already seen it, but I wanted to blog it for posterity's sake.

I can't say it any better than Perez Hilton did (never thought I'd type those words!).

The Gays Doing What They Do Best

Fighting inequality and homophobia with….song and dance!

Click here to watch Prop 8, The Musical!, featuring an all-star cast that includes Margaret Cho, Andy Richter, Maya Rudolph, John C. Reilly, Allison Janney, Kathy Najimy, Rashida Jones, Sarah Chalke, Jack Black, Neil Patrick Harris and Marc Shaiman.

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

In the wake of Prop 8...

First of all, let me say THANK YOU to the 43 people who donated $2655 to No On Prop 8 since my blog post on 10/14. As soon as I follow up with you all via email, I hope to put together a post listing your names and giving you the thanks you deserve.

We were close. But unfortunately, surprisingly low voter turnout (50% compared with 64% nationally)* and the ugly fear that children would suddenly be taught about homosexuality in the classroom created the perfect storm for this hateful thing to pass. Edited to add: turns out low voter turnout is no excuse. CA was in line with the rest of the country at around 64%. However, surprisingly high turnout of other minority groups is a popular scapegoat...

I decided not to pay much attention to the returns regarding Prop 8 Tuesday night -- fearing the worst after the kerfuffle on TechCrunch on Monday (search that page for "hillary" and you'll see what I mean) -- choosing instead to get totally swept up in the drama, emotion, and history of electing our first African-American President. It was an amazing night. I laughed, I cried, I hooted and hollered, and I got a bit drunk. :)

However, Wednesday and Thursday were a different story. I still welled up a couple times when I saw all the "Yes, He Did" headlines, but the joy was tempered with a deep and profound hurt. I'm sad. At In-N-Out Burger last night I was putting little green checkmarks and red Xs over peoples heads: Do you think I'm disgusting? How about you? I'm pissed. I've had some of the same hateful thoughts that I'm sure people have had about me. And it stings that there's so much activity in the wake of Prop 8's passage. Where was this urgency last week? Why were we all so complacent, so sure that there was "no way in hell" it could succeed?

But all that will pass. Even just 24 hours later I'm again full of hope, and thankful that I live in a place like San Francisco and am surrounded by friends and family and coworkers that feel the need and take the time to reach out and say, "You are not alone." The vigil last night and the march through San Francisco tonight were enough to put a smile back on my face, and fill me not only with hope, but with the will to fight.

And so, I give you my latest blog comment. Some background: I was searching twitter for "Prop 8" and ended up clicking through to a lot of the links. I felt that this post deserved a response -- "Is there a downside to Prop 8?"

Hi there. I stumbled across your post via twitter, and thought I'd take a minute to reply to a few things.

First off (so you know where I'm coming from), I'm gay and legally married thanks to the window of opportunity between the Supreme Court decision and the passage of Prop 8.

I am not going to try to convince you that I'm just as normal as you because I know that's a dead end. I will also refrain from pointing out the obvious biblical passages that fundamentalists choose to ignore because they acknowledge that they make no sense in today's society. Instead, I'll try to point out a couple of flaws in your argument.

Even if I weren't a Christian, I would be opposed to the notion that homosexuality might be taught in schools.

Fact: Not one word in Prop 8 mentions education. And no child can be forced, against the will of their parents, to be taught anything about health and family issues at school. California law prohibits it.

California’s top educators including Superintendent of Schools Jack O’Connell and California Teachers all agree: Prop 8 has nothing to do with education and the idea that "homosexuality might be taught in schools" is ridiculous.

Also, it wasn't right for a minority to push their agenda on the majority.

I don't quite understand what agenda you mean. The proponents of Prop 8 were the one with the agenda. We simply wanted people to vote no -- to say no to a bill that would use state law to single out one group of Californians to be treated differently. No matter what your faith, equality under the law is a fundamental constitutional guarantee.

Would you have supported a bill that erased the right to marry for atheists? For Muslims? For African-Americans? After all, it was just a short 40 years ago that it was illegal for whites and blacks to marry -- the common thought was that interracial relationships were deviant, unnatural and disgusting.

Again, I realize that you and I fundamentally disagree. But I simply ask you to think about what has happened:

Just over half of Californians who went to the polls on Tuesday (which represent less than half of all Californians) were able to amend the Constitution and strip away rights from a tiny minority. It doesn't matter if homosexuality is a "choice;" the CA Supreme Court has designated us a suspect class (groups which meet a series of criteria suggesting they are likely the subject of discrimination) just like the federal Supreme Court recognizes race, national origin, religion, and alienage. Prop 8 is discriminatory at its very core, and I hope that you can take a step back and recognize that.

So this is my fight for now. Brick by brick, tweet by tweet, march by march I suppose. Not sure where it will lead, but it felt good to write about it tonight. Thanks for indulging me.

No On Prop 8 needs all the help it can get.

I just received this update from the Executive Committee of No On 8 (emphasis mine):

Yesterday, the other side reported donations of $2.2 million, dwarfing the $255,650 we reported, and called on their donors to contribute another $3 million.

With this enormous sum of money they are buying every available ad space on TV in California to blast even more of their hateful lies and prevent our messages from being seen.

Unless we raise $3 million in the next three days we will likely lose.

A campaign donor recently told me that their gift was five times more than they had ever given and suggested that everyone do the same. So today, I am increasing my donation to No On 8 to $50,000. I'm doing this because I know I must if we hope to win.

And I'm asking you to increase your gift too -- at whatever amount you can, so that we can match the other side on the air. Please increase your gift today.

Last night the brilliant movie "Milk" premiered at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. The film is a poignant reminder of the ultimate sacrifice Harvey Milk made to advance our rights and how much Harvey, and so many others, gave to stop the Anita Bryant-led anti-gay movement that was sweeping the country and the Briggs Initiative -- exactly 30 years ago.

It's now up to us to shape the next 30 years.

Thanks to each of you who have sacrificed in this critical fight for our equality. Please join me in making another gift and asking everyone you know to do the same.

It is that important.

With respect, admiration and appreciation,

Geoff Kors
Executive Committee Member
No On 8

If you have any money left in your charitable coffers (remember, it's tax deductible!) please donate. As always, every single dollar helps.

Begging for $$$ ain't easy

"Our Lead is Gone"

Yesterday, I gave $1000 to No On 8. I'm not saying that to brag. I'm saying it because it's a big deal. It's a big deal because it's a good chunk of my paycheck, and because the issue is worth it. I don't want discrimination to be written into our state constitution. And, frankly, I don't want to have to worry about my marriage certificate being nullified on November 5th.

Over the last few weeks, No On 8 has been out-spent and out-marketed. Our once-promising double-digit lead has dwindled to a dead heat. Proponents of Prop 8 recently enlisted the help of the Mormon church, and their massive phone tree, for $$$ and GOTV.

With the campaign to defeat anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 behind in money and in two recent polls, Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors declared Tuesday, “We are going to lose this election if we don’t raise the money we need to stay on the airwaves.”

No on 8 senior strategist Steve Smith who, along with Kors, was speaking on a conference call with LGBT media, said the campaign needs to raise at least $10 million before the November 4 election. That money is crucial to reach voters through TV ads.
-Bay Area Reporter

I previously reached out to my family to spread the word to their California friends to pledge to vote NO. But now I'm reaching out to all of you to spare $5 if you have it. Foes of marriage equality have taken a lesson from Barack Obama and have raised massive amounts from small donors. We need to match them dollar for dollar over these next three weeks, and I humbly ask for your help.

Anna and I were married at San Francisco City Hall on June 18, 2008. Since it was our third wedding (long story for another blog post), we didn't make a big deal of it and we'd already gotten everything on our registry the first time around. :) So, this time we've set up a different sort of registry...

In lieu of a belated wedding gift, you can give to the No on Prop 8, Equality for All campaign via our Wedding Registry donation page. We've set a goal to raise $500 over the next three weeks.

If you need more information, please visit No On 8's news page -- it's obviously biased, but should get you started. If a little humor is what you need to be convinced, check out the Mac/PC parody commercial (the meme is a little tired, but it's well done).

If you are on either Obama or McCain's email lists, I know you've been flooded with donation requests day in and day out -- yes, it's getting a little old. The candidates can surely use your money, as that fight is far from over, but so can marriage equality. No amount is too big or too small!

Thank you for all of your support. We appreciate that you take our marriage (and our family) seriously. Big love,
Hillary & Anna
legally married since June 18, 2008!

---

UPDATE: You all rock.

In little more than 24 hours from the time I posted the link on Twitter, we've raised $750 for No On 8! (Not to mention the nearly $600 raised by Marnie Webb who set up a similar registry after seeing our's.)

As such, we're going for the gold, and our new goal is $1000. Thanks for all you have done -- donating, pledging to vote, spreading the word, re-tweeting. I am in awe and truly inspired.

UPDATE #2: Seriously. You all rock.

It took about a day to reach goal #1, and 3 days later we'd surpassed goal #2. Thank you, thank you, thank you. By the way, everyone who voted before midnight, Sunday, October 19th had their donation matched.

So far, 31 people have donated an average of $40! Keep spreading the word, and (Californians) don't forget to vote No On Prop 8!

UPDATE #3: Going strong, but now is the final push.

No On 8 is trying to raise $3 million in these final days to compete with the millions raised by the proponents of the proposition. If you can spare another $5 or more, now is the time.

We've raised over $1500 so far and are aiming for an even $2000. Thank you all so much for the outpouring of support (and cash!).

Lesbian (Speed) Dating

A stereotypical lesbian relationship... in three minutes.

Dems debate the gays

YouTube video with the audience's real-time response.

This is interesting not because of all the spin (they each have their own unique take), but in the way the audience clearly reacted to who was the best speaker (not really what they had to say).

Richardson flatlined. Edwards flatlined. They were both boring. Hillary got a bit fired up. Biden got a little more fired up. And the audience reacted positively to them both, even though they were both spinning more than debating.