Democratic gubernatorial candidate Farouk Shami again expressed his support for same-sex marriage tonight during a debate against frontrunner Bill White in Fort Worth.
“I support them all the way,” Shami said of same-sex couples, adding that he believes it’s a question of personal freedom.
Strangely, though, White wasn’t allowed to respond to the question about same-sex marriage posed by Dave Montgomery of The Star-Telegram. The question came during a portion of the debate when both candidates were supposed to answer each question. Yet KERA’s Shelly Kofler interjected when it was White’s turn to answer and began a new question (an honest mistake?).
Of course, thanks to Dallas Voice, we already know White’s stated position on same-sex marriage: He supports civil unions instead. But it still would have been nice to hear him explain said position on live TV.
The Dallas Independent Volleyball Association is hoping you have a craving for Tex-Mex tonight. The organization and On the Border (this location) team up to support the sports group as it begins its new Spring season. For today only, 15% of food and beverage purchases will be donated to DIVA. The event is welcome to all, however, they did not seem to list a time for any specific gathering of DIVAs. Just print out this flyer to be sure and get your discount.
I’ve been reluctant to post the newest video by indie pop duo Xiu Xiu. Stereogum announced the release back on Feb. 1. but as the video got progressively uncomfortable, I couldn’t stomach it. And neither could half the band.
Out frontman Jamie Stewart is barely seen in this one-shot vid but his cohort Angela Seo is the star here as she puts her gag reflex to the test. And if you make it to the end, the payoff is gross but kinda funny…if you’re into that sort of thing. But you know, I’ll just let you watch it (after the jump of course).
I’ve never been a huge Sara Silverman fan. But I am rethinking that after seeing this clip of her on The View recently.
When the View ladies ask her about her love life and if there might be some wedding bells in her near future, Sara immediately takes a stand for marriage equality, declaring that getting married right now in America is like joining a country club that won’t accept blacks or Jews.
I say, you go, Sara Silverman! I am going to watch your new show for sure now!
Sarah Palin spoke at the Tea Party Convention at the GAYlord Hotel in Nashville this weekend. Apparently, the Tea Partiers couldn’t afford a teleprompter, because Palin was caught with crib notes written across her hand.
The get-together attracted fewer than one-third the attendees as Creating Change in Dallas.
I went to check out Carlos Saenz’s CD release party in the Great Room at the ilume Friday night and it was quite the scene. A hefty crowd turned out for the Voice of Pride top 10 finalist as he celebrated the release of his single, “Elaborate Lives.” It didn’t hurt that Bar 10 was there doling out the free drinks.
His vocals sounded good but the sound wavered off a bit by the end. The mike issue went unnoticed however, and he turned in a decent gig with covers of Erasure, The Doors and even Journey by way of Glee. Backup singers included other VOP finalists Mel Arizpe, Juliana Jeffrey and Robert Olivas. There was even an “awww” moment when he introduced his family who had come up from Brownsville to see his show.
Looking at this now, it’s a whole lot darker than I figured on. D’oh! But you should get the idea of the show.
San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross on Sunday “outed” Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker as a gay man. Walker, by the way, is the jurist who will, in the next few weeks, be issuing a ruling on whether California’s Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage in that state violates the U.S. Constitution.
In their article, Matier and Ross said Walker’s orientation is “the biggest open secret” in the Prop 8 lawsuit, and that gay lawyers and politicians in San Francisco don’t think the judge’s personal orientation will have any effect on his ruling. (Hmmm. Big surprise there. Surely Matier and Ross didn’t expect the gays to say the fact that the judge is gay gives the plaintiffs in the case an advantage, did they?)
But if the plaintiffs — the folks challenging Prop 8 — win, you can be DAMN SURE the defendants are going to make a big deal out of the fact that Walker is gay. And what if the defendants will in Walker’s court? What will the gay folks say about a gay judge that ruled against them? Apparently, Walker already has some experience with that: As Matier and Ross point out, he had to fight the reputation of being anti-gay when he was trying to get to be a judge because back in the 1980s, he successfully represented the U.S. Olympic Committee in a lawsuit to keep the San Francisco Gay Games from using the name “Gay Olympics.”
The columnists also point out that the case was assigned to Walker; he didn’t “seek it out,” and that he was appointed to the bench by President George H.W. Bush, someone not seen as particularly gay-friendly.
So, what do you think? Is it an advantage for gay marriage supporters that the judge hearing the case is gay? Or is it a hidden pitfall that will work against the gay marriage cause in the long run?
A quick shout-out to a fellow media outlet addressing some gay issues: KERA’s noon talk show, Think, will discuss recent developments in “Don’t ask, don’t tell” on Tuesday. It airs on 90.1 FM.
David King asks in the comments to the below post, about The DMN’s Saturday editorial in favor of repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell,” whether anyone remembers the newspaper’s infamous 1977 piece saluting anti-gay bigot Anita Bryant. Well I can’t say I remember it — I was 2 years old at the time — but I did manage to pull it up using the NewsBank archives. And King is right, it was a real doozie. A little background for our younger readers: Anita Bryant was a famous singer who led the 1977 effort to repeal a Dade County (Fla.) ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. She also traveled to other cities around the country, including Dallas, rallying against gay rights. Here’s The DMN’s editorial from June 1977, a few days after the Dade County gay rights measure was overturned at the ballot box:
Today’s Dallas Morning News has an article on child suicide that leaves out one important detail.
Sure, they talk about bullying in schools being a major reason children commit suicide. They mention that children ages 5 to 12 can certainly be depressed, something thought impossible just a few years ago. They have anxiety, pressure, trauma.
But they leave out one important fact. According to the National Anti-Violence Coalition, a group I met this week at Creating Change, 25 to 40 percent of child suicide is among gay and lesbian youth. Yes, some estimates are as high as 40 percent. Bullying is certainly a top factor, but most bullying in schools is related to sexual orientation and gender identity.
Omitting this fact, leaves out any possibility for a cure. Stop anti-gay (and all other) bullying in schools. Force parents to accept their gay and lesbian children or provide safe places for these kids to live.
According to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s studies, general anti-bullying laws do not work as well as those that enumerate the types of bullying that must stop. Without sexual orientation and gender identity specified, schools stop bullying in other instances and allow it continue against gay and lesbian students. And child suicide rates continue.
For the Morning News to do such an extensive article and omit this major fact is unconscionable. Maybe if they had taken a quick DART ride four stops from their office and visited the conference attended by more than 2,200 people rather than devote so much time to the Tea Party Convention, which occurred in another city and attracted 600 people at a registration cost of double our local conference, they would have written a more useful article.
The article was written in response to the recent suicide of a 9-year old in The Colony. If bullying was the cause and legislation to stop bullying might have prevented it, our legislators who have prevented passage of this bill since the early 1990s are guilty of manslaughter. And the Morning News has done little to help parents or teachers.
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