Rod 2.0:Beta #gay #news #lgbt #gaynews

Activists Want Fenty Uninvited from Pride After Ex-Gay Certificate

A number of Washington D.C. gay activists led by Lane Hudson are demanding that Mayor Adrian Fenty should not invited to this year's Pride celebration .... unless he formally apologizes for the accidental "Certificate of Appreciation" awarded for the "good work" of  the "ex-gay" group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays.

Via the Facebook's "Un-Invite Mayor Fenty from Capital Pride Unless he Meets These 3 Demands":

Six months after the Certificate was discovered, a spokesperson from the Mayor's office blamed a "low level staff error" for the Certificate. However, the Mayor has been silent on the issue and refuses to apologize and retract this Certificate. This is a serious matter and must be addressed in a serious way by the Mayor. His refusal to take responsibility is a complete abdication of leadership. We as a community must stand up to anyone that gives credence to harmful organizations like PFOX. Please join others who are demanding that Mayor Adrian Fenty be un-invited from participation in Capital Pride until all three of the following conditions are met:

1) Formally retract this Certificate of Appreciation
2) Personally take responsibility for your office's actions instead of blaming a "staff level error"
3) Issue a statement condemning PFOX.

The mayor apologized last week. The certificate was awarded in November. It came to the attention of the gay media and blogoswphere after PFOX blasted their award in a recent press release. 

Not invite the mayor to gay Pride after he's marched in every parade and just signed the District's marriage bill?

Some Background:
Fenty Apologizes After Award to Ex-Gay Group

Bill Clinton on "DADT" and Defense of Marriage Act at Netroots Nation

Photo by Andrés Duque

While delivering the keynote address at the Netroots Nation 09 conference in Pittsburgh, former president Bill Clinton was interrupted by a question on "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" and the Defense of Marriage Act. Washington D.C.-based netroots gay activist and blogger Lane Hudson yelled: "Mr. President, will you call for a repeal of DOMA and 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' right now?"

Clinton joked that Hudson, who was heckled by some in the audience, should take his behavior to a town hall meeting on health care reform, then explained he "didn't have any choice at the time" and "nobody regrets how this was implemented anymore than I do."

You wanna talk about ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’, I’ll tell you exactly what happened. You couldn’t deliver me any support in the Congress and they voted by a veto-proof majority in both houses against my attempt to let gays serve in the military and the media supported them. They raised all kinds of devilment. And all most of you did was to attack me instead of getting some support in the congress. Now, that’s the truth.

When Gen. Colin Powell came up with this ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ it was defined while he was chairman much differently than it was implemented. He said, 'If you will accept this, here is what we’ll do. We will not pursue anyone, any military members out of uniform will be free to march in gay rights parades, go to gay bars, go to political meetings, whatever mailings they get, whatever they do in their private lives, none of this will be a basis for dismissal.' It all turned out to be a fraud [due to] enormous reaction against it among the middle-level officers and down after it was promulgated and Colin was gone.

On DOMA, the former president maintains he was attempting to block a constitutional marriage amendment: "Something had to be done to try to keep the Republican Congress presenting that. The president doesn’t even get to veto that. It’s the Congress that can refer constitutional amendments to the states. I didn’t like signing DOMA, and I certainly didn’t like the constraints it would put on benefits."

Writing at Firedoglake and the Huffington Post, Lane Hudson says he was "shocked" by the response from fellow progressives: "The immediate response shocked me at the time and still does. Those surrounding me yelled at me, booed, and told me to sit down. One elderly lady even told me to leave. While I was among the supposed most progressive audience in the country, they sought to silence someone asking a former President to speak out on behalf of repealing two laws that  took away the rights of a minority."

Lane Hudson adds: "What happened that was really important, however, is that President Clinton did address the issues that I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have without my forcing the conversation."

AFTER THE JUMP, via Firedoglake, video of the exchange.

McCaskill Rationalizes Vote on Concealed Weapons: " A Foot in the Door to Gay Marriage in Missouri"

Not the best choice of words. Missouri's Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill rationalizes her vote against yesterday's controversial concealed weapons amendment—which fell two votes short of passage and would have allowed licensed gun owners to carry concealed weapons across state lines—as a "states' rights" issue and "a foot in the door to allow the laws in Vermont on gay marriage" to be enforced in Missouri.

The senator told reporters: "It is a bad idea for us in Washington to tell one state they have to accept what another state has done. This is a foot in the door that would require, for example, the laws in Vermont on gay marriage to be enforced in Missouri. It just kills me, these guys ... pound the tables about state’s rights until situationally they don’t want to talk about states rights anymore." Audio here.

Gays and progressives are pushing back and in the past two hours, McCaskill's office went into damage control mode. The Senator took to (where else?) Twitter to explain: "My argument was about states rights, re conceal & carry. Gay marriage is another example of states having rights to decide w/out Washington." McCaskill also issued this clarification to The Advocate: "I wasn’t clear when I stated that my vote against that provision was because it came down to a states’ rights. I was expressing my frustration in that some who argue that states shouldn’t respect the laws, certificates, or permits from other states when it’s convenient, like with gay marriage, but then argue that they should when it’s convenient on another issue, like gun rights. They can’t have it both ways."

McCaskill has a strong record on LGBT issues and an 85 percent score from the Human Rights Campaign. In 2004, she opposed a Missouri constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. This year, she co-sponsored the Matthew Shepard Act "despite her office [receiving] calls from Missouri residents 5 to 1 against her support," notes PROMO, Missouri's statewide LGBT advocacy organization.

Probably another case of an ally using a bad analogy to make a good point. But an excellent example of the problems created when Democrats use right-wing talking points to frame progressive issues. (Is she against all firearms owners carrying guns across states lines or just the heterosexual ones?) Pam Spaulding on the takeaway: "She may not hate gay people, but she doesn't think that they deserve to be equal in all ways under the law. If she has a religious objection that's one matter, but we are talking about civil marriage and reciprocity in the same way a drivers license is recognized. What part of it does the Senator not understand? She needs to explain herself. Certainly she must have LGBT on her staff—does she think that they are lesser human beings?"

Thanks LaneHudson (@TLaneHudson)

Some Background ...
Senate Rejects Gun Amendment, Major Hurdle for Hate Crimes Bill [R20]

Friday Surprise: Tony Snow to Resign as White House Press Sec'y

Another day and another high-profile resignation from the White House. Press Secretary Tony Snow says "financial pressures" have forced him to resign.

He declined to say when he would depart, but that, "I'm going to stay as long as I can."

The 52-year-old Snow, the father of three children, earns $168,000 as an assistant to the president but made considerably more as a conservative pundit and syndicated talk-show host on Fox News Radio.

CNN reports on The Situation Room that Snow will depart at the end of the month with outgoing political advisor Karl Rove. Both are seen above.

Snow has undergone chemotherapy for a recurring bout with cancer and it is expected the regimen will intensify. Snow also has three teenage children and probably wants to hit the lucrative lecture circuit to ease the financial burdens of college tuition.

This has been a banner week for Republicans to throw in the towel. In the past two days, two former House leaders have also called it quits: Ohio's Deb Pryce and former Speaker Dennis Hastert (above)—both were implicated in covering up the Mark Foley scandal and Lane Hudson wryly notes that Hastert's do-nothing legacy should be "enabling a sex predator." Undoubtedly, both have very realistic views of the GOP's chances of regaining the majority in 2008 and has prefer not to spend another two years in the minority.

Snow to Leave White House Before Bush [Forbes]
Pryce Won't Run Again [Post Dispatch]
Hastert to Retire [News for the Left]

Did You Read ... ?
Monday Surprise: Karl Rove "Resigns" [R20]
Report: Republicans Negligent in Foley Scandal [R20]
Blame Gays, Clinton and the Victims [R20]
Foley Latest: Blame it on the Gays [R20]
Vast "Liberal Conspiracy" [R20]
Repubs Wanted to Avoid "Gay Bashing" [R20]
GOP Leaders in Foley Cover-Up [R20]

Jonathan Capehart Says No Easy Questions at the Presidential Forum

Jonathan Capehart is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer at The Washington Post and one of three panelists at tonight's HRC/Logo Presidential Forum. Definitely an A-list gay but his selection on the HRC/Logo forum caught many observers by surprise: Capehart is a former aide to New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and the hawkish editorial pages of WaPo are reliable supporters of the Bush Administration. "It's a little odd that a Republican would ask the questions at a Democratic debate," notes Keith Boykin. "But compared to the other panelists, he makes the most sense."

Blunting some early criticism, Capehart says there will be no softball questions tonight. "For 15 or 16 minutes," he said on CNN's The Situation Room, each candidate "will face questions on the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. They will not be ready for many of [these]."

Capehart defends the question selection process to gay political activist Lane Hudson: "We culled thousands of questions that came in via the Internet. I've gotten more than a few questions directly from friends and from folks who heard I was going to be a part of this and just wanted an outlet to make sure their question got a hearing."

More later tonight ...

Democrats to Debate Gay Issues [Video @ CNN]
Q &A with Jonathan Capehart [News for the Left]
Too Many Debates [Keith Boykin]
WaPo Editorial's Bush Talking Points [Amerblog]
WaPo Editorial's Right-Wing Talking Points On Libby [TP]