State Rep. John Kavanagh (R-8th District) recently submitted an amendment for state Senate bill SB 1432. He’s stated that the amendment is a response to Phoenix passing an ordinance granting housing, employment and public accommodation antidiscrimination protections based on gender identity for transgender citizens. His proposal is to limit public restrooms and locker rooms usage…
Many of us Catholics feel that our church has left us. We have not left the church. The last two popes, especially, have used very hurtful and ugly words when talking about homosexuality, divorce, adoption, women’s rights, etc., etc. I truly believe if Jesus came down to Earth he would weep when he would see…
Next week, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and Proposition 8. Only two things are certain. No decisions will be made, and activists and reporters will parse every word uttered to project how the Court will vote. To help you keep up with the rampant, pointless speculation,…
At what age do transgender girls become perceived predators? Do we consider a transgender girl in kindergarten – a girl born with male genitalia – to be a predator toward other girls in her elementary school class should they all use the girls bathroom? Would the line be a third grade/8-year-old trans girl? A sixth…
When Bob Filner was running for mayor last year the Republican Party, the Tea Party and the downtown millionaires establishment let it be known and did all they could do to defeat Bob Filner. One right-wing Republican leader told me that if Bob Filner won it would be like Vladimir Lenin taking over City Hall…
In 2010, political prognosticator Charlie Cook felt that Republicans might win back the Senate, unless they nominated far right candidates who would lose to moderate Democrats. As his prime example, Cook used Kentucky, where ophthalmologist Rand Paul was the Tea Party choice against the establishment favorite, Secretary of State Trey Grayson. (In Cook’s defense, this…
March 9, OutServe-SLDN’s Executive Director Allyson Robinson gave a speech at a Washington, D.C. fundraiser for her organization that was billed as “The State of LGBT Military Service Address.” In her speech she gave a description of how her family supported her through her time, first at West Point and then later during her military…
There were more GLBT Republican delegates at this past week’s state party convention in Sacramento than ever. San Diego’s Republican delegation was led by Susan Jester (president of the local Log Cabin chapter and AIDS Walk founder) and “Mr. Gay Republican” himself former state Assembly candidate Ralph Denny. For the first time all the candidates…
I spent last weekend in Washington, D.C. lobbying and learning with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), America’s largest LGBT civil rights organization. I returned with a few stories to share. The last time I visited room 2410 in the Rayburn House office building with an HRC folder I got a forced smile from a staffer…
I would never refer to African Americans by the terms “colored” or “negro” even though Martin Luther King Jr. used those terms frequently. Times have changed, and the terms we use for the African American community and its members have changed. Many, if not most, African Americans now consider those terms to be offensive, although…
