Pam's House Blend

It seems my email and voicemail were full of reactions to today's Raleigh News & Observer's profile of me by Sadia Latifi, "Blogger gets respect: Durham resident writes on progressive issues."

It's a good look at the blog, with quite a bit of personal background that people may not know about me -- my father's side of the family has deep roots in Durham's political history, and the reporter gave a good summary of it.

Actually most of the information I gave to Ms. Latifi I didn't think wouldn't make it into the article. You know, you sit down with the reporter for a couple of hours and figure they'll pick a few quotes here and there and it will end up a little squib somewhere in the back of the paper, but it's a full-blown feature piece...with photos (argh!). But at least it gives non-bloggers a peek into my world. I have no idea what you all think, so I'm putting a diary up for your reactions (both to the article and the info in it).

It's pretty amusing that more people in DC know me for my political blogging than people here in my own home state.

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.

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.

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.

On Friday morning I'm heading to Senator Elizabeth Dole's Raleigh office with a delegation of NC bloggers and concerned citizens to deliver a petition requesting that the U.S. Senator put a stop to the color arousal/racist ad floated by the NC GOP and its head Linda Daves. John McCain has already said he can do nothing about it. Dole doesn't even give a damn:

Dole said in an interview she didn't want to get involved.

"I am concentrating on getting my work done here in the Senate, and I'm just not going to get into refereeing a third party political ad that has nothing to do with my race," she said.

Spent the afternoon with Pam Spaulding and Chris Fitzsimon talking with communications folks in progressive organizations about blogging. I gave participants an assignment - to post something to some blog some time between now and Friday at 5 pm.

(Secret note to all my new progressive friends: posting a comment here will qualify as having done your homework!)

J

Cross-posted on Pam's House Blend.

We still have quite a way to go on the LGBT rights front here in NC, which is not exactly a hotbed of homophobia; in many ways the heart of the state has a live and let live attitude on social issues. That doesn't mean however, that our state government is where it needs to be in terms of respecting its tax-paying LGBT citizens.

I'm not just talking about life and death issues, such as violence against people because of sexual orientation or gender identity or being fired from your job. This post is about institutionalized, legal discrimination that is often overlooked, because it isn't a fire raging or putting one's life in jeopardy -- but what lies behind it are the same root causes.

This week I was faced with an amazing professional opportunity related to the sphere of my day job (I'm in academic publishing) that I could not consider for two reasons - both painful, with one completely out of my control.

I guess I represented the progressive blogosphere well enough the first time to be invited back on the air. I appeared on CNN Newsroom's Blog Buzz at 7:30 PM on Sunday to discuss the results in Nevada and South Carolina.

Host Tony Harris asked about McCain's "momentum" and we discussed the issue of race as it has been playing out so far in the primaries. The blogger/columnist for the Right is Mary Katharine Ham of Town Hall. Video and transcript are below the fold.

It's not every day that you land an interview with a candidate for the U.S. Senate, and the chance to have one come to your home to do it is probably even more unlikely, but that's what happened yesterday. Jim Neal, who's ready to unseat Senator Elizabeth Dole, came by. As most of you know (unless you've been under a rock), Jim is the first openly gay candidate to run for the U.S. Senate. I naturally have a particular interest in this race, since my blog covers national LGBT issues, but the fact that I'm based in the Tar Heel state and a NC native, it's all doubly important to cover this campaign and its significance.

Jim was on a packed Saturday schedule. In the morning he attended a political candidate grilling by the N.C. Association of Educators, and after leaving our place, he hopped on a plane to Miami for a fundraiser, so I'm glad he was willing to take a few hours out of the day to do this.

This isn't exactly North Carolina news-related, but since I am a Tar Heel and BlueNC-er, I thought I'd let you all know about my appearance last night on CNN's Blog Buzz segment hosted by Tony Harris. The format pairs a progressive and conservative blogger to discuss the newsworthy political stories of the week.

I've done radio before, but not TV. I did it via satellite, driving over to very cold studio in Raleigh. I couldn't see Harris or my foil on the Right, Amanda Carpenter of TownHall.com. I had to deal with a very trebly, almost painful earpiece, but it was still fun. We discussed the Des Moines Register endorsements -- Hillary Clinton and John McCain, as well as the Boston Globe nods to Obama and McCain.

Joe Sudbay of Americablog was kind enough to snare the video; it's below the fold.