Weekly Political Roundup

There’s lots of news below about Prop. 8, the measure to ban marriage of same-sex couples in California. Let’s not forget there are similar measures in Arizona and Florida—but California is the big one, as it would represent the greatest reversal for supporters of LGBT equality. This weekend is No on 8 Action Weekend, and you can find lots of ways to support equality throughout the state. If you don’t live in California, or can’t attend an event, you can still contribute money to the No on 8 campaign or give through any number of other LGBT organizations.

• The Gay History Project’s Mark Segal interviewed presidential candidate Barack Obama. Rival John McCain declined participation. In the interview, Obama talks about his support of LGBT rights, but also why he feels we must approach legal changes with the right process.
• Lynne Cheney, wife of Dick and mother of Mary, kinda sorta maybe endorsed marriage for same-sex couples. She quoted her husband, saying, “that freedom in this country ought to mean freedom for everyone.”
• Arkansas Families First, which opposes a ballot measure to bar same-sex and unmarried opposite-sex couples from adopting or fostering children, said it is dropping plans to challenge the ban in court. Instead, it will concentrate its efforts on “educating voters about the broad implications of the measure.”
• A new poll indicates that support for Prop. 8 in California, is falling. Lest you think we’re out of the woods on this one, however, go read this piece in the LA Times by David Blankenhorn, president of the far-right Institute for American Values. He write, “Marriage . . . is primarily a license to have children. . . . Every child being raised by gay or lesbian couples will be denied his birthright to both parents who made him. . . . I believe that we as a society should seek to maintain and to strengthen the only human institution—marriage—that is specifically intended to safeguard that right and make it real for our children.”
• Openly gay philanthropist Bruce Bastian gave $1 million to HRC’s “No on Prop. 8” committee. Actor Brad Pitt gave $100,000 to fight the measure. Karen Ocamb of IN Los Angeles, however, asks why more high-profile LGBT celebrities have not given money to fight it.
• The Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled that adoptions by stepparents are allowed only when the stepparent is married to the child’s biological parent. In a catch-22, same-sex stepparents cannot therefore adopt because Kentucky has a constitutional amendment banning marriage of same-sex couples.
• LGBT activists in Washington, D.C. say that if Democrats expand their majority in Congress and Prop. 8 fails in California, the D.C. City Council could approve a bill legalizing marriage for same-sex couples as early as April 2009.
• Dane County, Wisconsin, voted to require companies companies that work for the county on contracts worth $5,000 or more to offer health benefits to their employees’ domestic partners. The county already has DP benefits for its own employees.

Around the world:

• Malcolm Turnbull, an Australian MP whose constituency has one of the highest gay populations in the country, was elected leader of the Liberal party.
• The President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said he is in favor of civil unions for same-sex couples.
• The Middle East Research and Information Project has a lengthy piece on sexual identity politics in Turkey.
• A gay Ugandan national refused to get on a plane and be deported from the U.K., where he would face likely death in his home country. He was taken back into custody and is being held by authorities.
• Right-wing newspapers in the U.K. have misunderstood an academic seminar by the anti-bullying group No Outsiders, designed to talk about how queer sexualities and bodily activities are discussed in elementary school classrooms. The right claims that the group will be “teaching gay sex to infants”; No Outsiders says that their academic discussion, held at Exeter University, is separate from the type of actual anti-bullying work they do in elementary schools.