Pam Spaulding's blog

My friend Wayne Besen at Truth Wins Out, a non-profit founded to combat the junk science and propaganda of the infamous professional "ex-gay" movement, is joining forces with a coalition of North Carolina organizations to produce a counter-symposium to the conference being held by Exodus International in Asheville in July.

While you might find the idea of "praying away the gay" outlandish, the fact is that Exodus and other "ex-gay" organizations prey upon individuals who are coming to terms with their sexual orientation; many are often in conflict because of the anti-gay messages the have received from fundamentalist family and friends.

This is a cross-post from my blog, Pam's House Blend (which will be updated a bit more frequently), so I have to go into a bit more detail about things for my general audience.

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At the New Bern Convention Center, as the festivities and business begin.

I'm in New Bern, NC for the North Carolina Democratic Party State Convention. Of course I know that most regular Blenders won't find this post exciting, since I usually blog about national politics, LGBT issues, race, the religious loonies, etc. I wanted to attend the NC state party convention because 1) it is a landmark presidential election; 2) it's a way to see democracy in action, as well as my state's inner party workings; and 3) it's a micro-version of what I and the rest of the baristas will experience covering the national convention in Denver.

Today is the Third Annual Blogging for LGBT Families Day, an occasion to celebrate the beauty of non-traditional families. Kate and I are a child-free couple, but we're doting aunts, and completely out of the closet to those we love. It means that nieces and nephews will grow up knowing us without a thought to our orientation, that it's not a dark family secret or a guessing game.

The existence of thriving LGBT families of all shapes and sizes is a grave threat to the Dominionists who see life and love through a very narrow religious worldview, as if morality and good child-rearing is only present in a mother/father parented family. Even though all sorts of configurations of families exist -- grandparents raising children, single parents, etc. -- we have seen an obsessive focus by the right on denying LGBTs the ability to adopt or foster children, and to deny committed same-sex couples to marry, even though these are culturally and socially stabilizing institutions.

(See my earlier post, Democratic National Convention state blog selection dustup.)

I've laid off commenting about the dustup regarding the announcement of the 55 blogs selected for the DemConvention State Blogger Corps over the last few days in the hope of receiving more information regarding the program and handling of the fallout. There were actually two points of contention about the selection process that have been covered unevenly in the blogosphere.

1) Lack of racial diversity in the state pools selected (given the overall composition of the Dem party), and the fact that there is a different level of access to the state delegation given to these blogs on the floor at the Dem National Convention versus the general blogger pool, which will be announced this week;

2) The charge that there were political factors that went into the decision-making process for state blogs that resulted in highly qualified state blogs not making the final cut. This was the suggestion that state parties were consulted and were able to give thumbs up or down to specific blogs that may have been hard on the state parties.

Item number two has already been heavily covered in the progressive blogosphere, while outside of black blogs, the first item has been largely and curiously ignored by the top-tier blogs. As is the norm on such things, my position seems to straddle that group of progressive blogs. On the one hand, I think the problem is due to 1) an inability of state blogs to include more minority contributors; 2) some may not have thought about a lack of minority perspective on state and local issues as important; 3) those state blogs have truly tried by haven't seen interest from POC who are well-versed in state and local issues who are able to/want to contribute to a state blog.

On the other hand, some of the black/brown bloggers have seen the selection results and have tossed "Jim Crow" charges out there -- meaning overt, purposeful exclusion. I don't see purposeful exclusion, what I see is a DNCC that wanted blogs represented at the convention in an unprecedented way, but was unable to see or fully address the minority representation problem (and we're not only talking about racial minorities) it was going to create with its selection system.

The bottom line is that the lack of minority participation at the state blogger level is real, and it is a problem for the Democratic Party as well as the blogosphere.

However, both reactions aren't particularly helpful in terms of improving dialogue long term -- the defense shields go up, and nothing positive usually comes of this. It's been frustrating to see it all unfold.

I was contacted by Aaron Myers, the director of online communications for the 2008 Democratic National Convention Committee, and spoke with him a couple of days ago to ask him about the credentialing process, the details in level of access, and some logistics, in an effort to get some information on the record. My notes are below the fold.

Here is the audio of the show:

Today I was a guest on NPR's The State of Things (WUNC), hosted by Frank Stasio, to discuss the impact of the California Supreme Court ruling and its impact on the NC amendment effort. Also on the "Same-Sex Marriage and NC" segment were Wake Forest University Professor of political science John Dinan, and Steven Petrow, the past president of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.

I think there was consensus that the ruling -- and the upcoming ballot initiative, is being watched closely by other states, some for guidance on how to extend marriage equality, and others, like North Carolina, which already has a state DOMA and an onerous amendment has been introduced for the fourth time into the state Senate by good old boy Sen. James Forrester.

Marriage is the union of one man and one woman at one time. This is the only marriage that shall be recognized as valid in this State. The uniting of two persons of the same sex or the uniting of more than two persons of any sex in a marriage, civil union, domestic partnership, or other similar relationship within or outside of this State shall not be valid or recognized in this State. This Constitution shall not be construed to require that marital status or the rights, privileges, benefits, or other legal incidents of marriage be conferred upon unmarried individuals or groups.

The significance of the California ruling is that, unlike Massachusetts, the Golden State does not have a no residency requirement for obtaining a civil marriage license -- and that means North Carolinian same-sex couples would be able to marry -- and contest the constitutionality of the state DOMA here. Steven Petrow mentioned that fact that the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund has asked the California Supreme Court for a stay issuing same-sex marriage licenses until after the election -- and the outcome of the November ballot initiative.

More below the fold.

Initial version crossposted at Pam's House Blend.

When the big announcement of the state blogs that will receive credentials to the Dem National Convention came down this week, there was an immediate buzz about the choices made by the DNCC.

(UPDATE: As California celebrates its marriage equality victory, freeper and fundie heads are exploding. If only Tar Heels could celebrate equality here. Makes me think about packing my bags sometimes.)

Here we go again.

Will gubernatorial candidates Pat McCrory and Beverly Perdue weigh in on Sen. Jim Forrester's (R) latest attempt to enshrine discrimination into my state's constitution? Senate Bill 1608 was introduced by the Gaston lawmaker one day into the legislative session. Clearly he has different priorities than most of NC's residents. Equality NC:

Just one day into the 2008 legislative session, Sen. Jim Forrester (R-Gaston) once again filed an anti-LGBT, anti-marriage state constitutional amendment. A similar bill is expected in the state House. Equality North Carolina is working to defeat these attempts to write discrimination into our state constitution.

The proposed bill mirrors those introduced in the last four sessions, which Equality North Carolina and our allies have successfully blocked.

"We can't let our guard down this year," said Ian Palmquist, Executive Director. "The far right would like nothing better than to put this amendment on the ballot and turn out radical conservative voters for the 2008 elections. We can't let Sen. Forrester and his cronies play politics with our lives, our rights, and our families."

The amendment would not only prohibit same-sex marriage-which is already not recognized in the state under current law-but would also ban any other form of relationship recognition for same-sex couples. In fact, the language is so broad it could prevent private companies from offering partner health benefits.

Equality North Carolina is actively lobbying against the amendment and is calling on supporters to contact their legislators.

You can send a message to legislators through Equality North Carolina's web site:
http://eqfed.org/campaign/amendment08

The sponsors of Senate Bill 1608 are below the fold.

For those of you who aren't regular readers of my blog, you might want to see the quality of the radical right whackjobs who read my posts, then foam at the mouth at their blogs, usually as a drumbeat to do a bit of fundraising. People like Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality are full-time, "professionals" who spend day and night doing "research" on The Homosexual Agenda, funded by misguided followers and wingnut welfare. Below the fold, a taste of what I deal with on a regular basis.