Subject: LGBT Issues

• Who Would Jesus Discriminate Against?

  Although it lacks the economic punch of Christmas, Easter is, in theory, the biggest of Christian holidays. "[A]nd if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." according to Paul (1 Corinthians 15:14), whose opinion on the matter commands a certain respect. So how to show respect for the message of Jesus Christ in this Easter season? Eggs? Naturally, but not quite enough. Have children roll the eggs? Better, but there's still room for improvement. Have childr

  April 17, 2006

• Save Straight Marriages, Quash Queer Ones

  The funniest of articles appeared earlier this week in the Orange County Register: Christian churches are uniting to save marriage. At Eastside Christian Church in Fullerton, about 100 pastors gathered under the guise of the Orange County Marriage Education Initiative, which its website declares is "a non-profit organization dedicated solely to strengthening marriages and reducing the divorce rate within Orange County." On and on, these folks told reporter Serena Maria Daniels how important marr

  May 23, 2008

• Gay Marriage Portends Increase in Urine Sex, OC Reverend Reveals!

  Usually I like to pretend Wiley Drake is really on to something when I blog about his crazy shit, but this email, which sat in my junk folder and remains there (I cut and pasted from it) is outrageously ridiculous enough to print verbatim: What Legal Same Sex Marriages Bring into society........... Oral Sex with the ingesting of semen and anal contamination bringing about hepatitis A, gonorrhea, HIV, and hepatitis B Rectal Sex brings a mixing bowl for saliva and its germs and/or an artific

  June 18, 2008

• No on Prop 8 public service announcement

  Weekly contributing writer Dave Barton and his friend Greg Adkins directed and edited this moving No on Prop 8 clip, currently making the rounds of YouTube and even the Daily Kos. The lines being read are from 1 Corinthians. And of course you already knew that Proposition 8 is the November religious-fundie ballot measure that seeks to ban re-ban gay marriage in California...

  September 29, 2008

• Is Gay Culture Dead?

  August 19, 1999

• Nativo Lopez Organization Cowardly Stays "Neutral" on Propositions 8 and 4

  Remember Nativo Lopez? Guy called Larry who became radicalized during the 1960s, led renter strikes against SanTana slumlords during the 1980s, served on the SanTana Unified School Board during the 1990s, then was recalled for his conflict-of-influenza, amongst other sins in early 2004? He's spent the last couple of years trying to remake himself as the next great Chicano Movement leader by heading the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA), a once-great group that now has the moral weigh

  October 14, 2008

• Gay Marriage Foes Find Latino Mouthpieces in OC

  Where should a conspicuously anti-family, anti-civil rights, anti-gay marriage political “coalition” go when it's looking for Latinos to sound alarms and corral other Latinos to vote for their anti-gay marriage proposition in November? None other than Orange County, of course, where hatred doesn't merely extend to those who are Mexican among us. The defenders of Prop 8., known as ProtectMarriage.com, pulled their first gay-marriage-bashing Latino out for show on Saturday, a day after the

  October 16, 2008

• But What About the Same-Sex Marriage Officiants?

  It's time for everyone to stop, take a breath and think about the people who will really be screwed should Prop. 8 pass. These are, of course, the wedding officiators who perform same-sex marriages and have now gone public with their "fervent opposition" to the California voter initiative that would outlaw gay marriages. “Love does not discriminate; therefore, we perform wedding ceremonies for both gay and straight couples, seeing no difference in the love that these couple share,” states t

  October 20, 2008

• Martin Millard Not Just a Racialist, But a Homophobe

  The man who fancies himself the savior of Costa Mesa had this concluding couplet in his rambling reasoning to support Proposition 8: "On the other hand, it could be argued that if it is true that, as many gays now assert, homosexuality is genetic, then allowing gay marriage (and the normalization of homosexuality in society) will tend to have the effect of keeping gays from faking being straight and marrying people of the opposite sex and reproducing. Then, since they aren't reproducing the "ga

  October 28, 2008

• Prop 8: No Way in Hell Is This Over

  I spent my Election Night trying to find non-existent parking outside Hamburger Mary's in Long Beach. The celebration inside sure looked like fun, though, but I don't think I would have stuck around past midnight to watch all the tears turn from Obama joy to Prop 8 despair. Failing that, I instead drove up Cherry to another gay bar, Pistons, the local leather/bear hangout, to check out the scene - which really wasn't much, just a handful of guys shooting pool. I left when a couple of inebriates

  November 5, 2008

• Because You're Ugly: Urban Outfitters Pulls Tees in Support of Gay Marriage

  Repeat offender Urban Outfitters has made headlines once again: the leading retailer has taken T-shirts supporting gay marriage off its California shelves this week. The printed Tees, a staple for the popular chain, simply read "I Support Same Sex Marriage." When questioned, a buyer for Urban Outfitters stated that they had received "too much bad press"--though not even a single blog entry had made its way onto the internet, according to the shirt's designer, Tara Litman and New York magazine.

  December 10, 2008

• The Purpose Driven Knife in the Back of Obama's Gay Supporters

  Perhaps for not going so hard on Barack Obama in last summer's Saddleback presidential forum, the Lake Forest mega-church's pastor, Rick Warren (right), will deliver the invocation at the president-elect's swearing-in ceremony Jan. 20, reports CNN. Warren did not make a public endorsement in the race, but his past views (and forum questions) were certainly slanted more toward  John McCain. And Warren did publicly support California's Proposition 8, commenting in Saddleback's October newslet

  December 17, 2008

• Is Rick Warren Outing His Tolerant Self of Just Bluffing?

  UPDATED WITH PASTOR WILEY DRAKE SAYING GOD WILL PUNISH RICK WARREN FOR PARTICIPATING IN OBAMA INAUGURATION (SEE THE VERY END).The choice of Rick Warren as Barack Obama's inaugural invocation giver has apparently so touched the leader of Lake Forest's Saddleback Church that he has become The Most Tolerant Pastor Ever!!!He posed for a photo that has his arm around an openly gay guy at the Out of the Closet thrift store in West Hollywood. He met with Melissa Etheridge, apologizing for the way

  December 23, 2008

• Still More Fun From the Prop. 8 Imbroglio . . .

  If it is even possible, there will be a greater concentration of gay and lesbian people in San Francisco on March 5, when the California Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the challenge of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage. On the flipside, the day could also see a huge spike in intolerant religious zealot homophobic nutbars. Paaaartay! With the backing of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Attorney General Jerry Brown will ask the Supremes to invalidate Prop. 8 on grounds that cer

  February 3, 2009

• Supremes' Prop. 8 Oral Arguments Generate Vigils, Viewing Parties, Rallies

  Okay, Prop. 8, supporters, be honest: Would you rather attend a party thrown by gays or straights? If you answered the latter, well, then, you haven't been to a party thrown by gays, have you? Think of all the collected knowledge of Martha Stewart, the Queer Eye guys and Chelsea Handler funneled into a single event, and you get an idea of what kind of fab do you'd be in for.  So, perhaps you should put away your hateful signs and come on out to Eve of Justice, which refers to the evening be

  March 3, 2009

• Chapman Law School Dean Needs to Read Navel Gazing!

  EastmanI appeared on KOCE-TV Channel 50's Inside OC with Rick Reiff a couple of weeks ago to debate Chapman Law School Dean John Eastman on Proposition 8 and other topics on which we mostly agreed. Eastman is one of the legal minds behind the Yes on 8 arguments that will be argued tomorrow before the California Supreme Court. Obviously we don't agree on gay marriage, but that's fine. What's not fine, however, is Eastman's insistence that same-sex marriages have never occurred in California. It's

  March 4, 2009

• ACLU Suing Newport-Mesa Schools Over "Rent" Debacle

  MOVING UP AND UPDATING WITH DISTRICT REACTION, MORE BACKGROUND.Newport-Mesa Unified School District officials say they were attempting to resolve a complaint stemming from the staging, cancellation and re-staging of the musical Rent at Corona del Mar High School when they learned today the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California was suing the public school system.The ACLU announced this morning its suit against the district and Corona del Mar High officials "for permitting and sanc

  March 18, 2009

• Protect the Children, Sign Church's Petition to Ban Mormon Marriage

  When California's gay marriage legal debate gets tough, the tough get weirder: Universal Free Church has now launched a national petition drive to ban Mormon marriage.Mary Cristos, leader of the new, St. Louis-based "Free" religious denomination, says the UFC believes in "religious freedom and religious free speech for everyone, but religious fascism for no one." The church is all about personal freedom in one's own private life, with its lone Commandment stipulating, "At age 18 every UFC member

  March 27, 2009

• Iowa Gay Marriage Ruling Means Everything or Nothing

  The Iowa Supreme Court's overturning of the law banning same-sex marriage in that state either bolsters the arguments of those pushing for gay marriage in California or has nothing to do with the issue here. It depends on who you ask.National Center for Lesbian Rights legal director Shannon Minter:"The fact that two state supreme courts--including now a court in the heartland of our country--have now followed the California Supreme Court's holding on that issue underscores very powerfully that t

  April 3, 2009

• Talking to a Beauty Queen (No, Not That One) About Gay Marriage

  June 4, 2009

• [¡Ask a Mexican!®] Special Catholic Edition

  September 18, 2008

• Beer Brawl

  August 12, 1999

• Americas Gayest County!

  May 13, 2004

• Burning Bush

  September 23, 2004

• Just Another Wedding Expo

  Gay and lesbian event trudges on, politics be damned

  July 22, 2004

• Gays 1, Phobes 0

  May 6, 2004

• Youre So Gay You Probably Think This Short is About You

  April 15, 2004

• Notes From The Banana Republic

  April 1, 2004

• In Defense of Gay Marriage

  February 12, 2004

• Queer Eye for the GOP Guy

  October 2, 2003

• Theyre Here, Theyre Queer, Theyre Armed

  January 16, 2003

• Simon Flip-Flops, Woos Gays

  August 29, 2002

• Letters

  August 22, 2002

• No Pride

  June 13, 2002

• All of Me

  February 28, 2002

• No Queers Here

  December 20, 2001

• Marxist Pinkos!

  May 10, 2001

• Bob Outs Himself!

  April 26, 2001

• Lou Sheldons Nightmare

  March 9, 2000

• An Incomplete History of Gay & Lesbian OC

  August 19, 1999

• I Wish the Orange County Register Used the Word "Fag"

  Longtime Orange County Register theater critic Paul Hodgins is a good guy, great critic, and someone whom was once on the same panel with me judging a dog show. Yesterday, he wrote a blog post about how Westboro Baptist Church (they of "God Hates Fags" infamy) plans to protest outside Corona del Mar High School because its drama department will stage the Pulitzer Prize-winning Rent (there will be counterprotests organized by the Anti-Defamation League and other groups scheduled for 2:30 in the a

  April 22, 2009

• The Unhappy Marriage (Opposite Marriage?) of Art and Politics In the Proposition 8 Debate

  June 11, 2009

• NY Times Reporter WAS in Anaheim for Gene Robinson Exclusive (Apparently)

  Bishop Gene RobinsonThis previous post concerns Arkansas Democrat-Gazette religion editor Frank Lockwood exposing New York Times reporter Laurie Goodstein for not being at the Episcopal Church's Anaheim convention to cover the vote to ordain gay bishops--even though her story and dateline made it appear she was. But Goodstein was there during a break in the action that allowed her to file an exclusive interview with the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson. Some key passages

  July 17, 2009

• Orange County LGBT Pride Festival "Revival" Starts Small

  Sasha Baron Cohen's comedy has nothing to do with OC pride festivals. We just can't find photos from past fests. ​Orange County's first-ever gay and lesbian pride festival was held in Santa Ana's Centennial Park in 1988, when angry Christian conservatives showed up not because they'd finally come out of the closet (knew it!) but to fling urine-filled balloons, taunt attendees with chants of "Go back to your closet," and cheer on an airplane they'd hired to fly over the event with a banner read

  July 29, 2009

• Groups on Either Side of Prop. 8 Blast 2012 Same-Sex Marriage Initiative

  Equality California's decision to hold off on pursuing a same-sex marriage voter initiative at least until 2012 is not being cheered by groups on either side of the Prop. 8 debate.Reports the San Francisco Chronicle:But the organization's decision appears to collide with other progressive groups fighting for marriage equality. The 700,000-member Courage Campaign said Tuesday it is "pushing ahead to file a ballot measure" in 2010, when state voters will decide their next governor, and its officia

  August 12, 2009

• Resurrected, Boisterous OC Pride Festival "a Smashing Success"

  Photo by Christopher VictorioPark rangers talk with OC Pride participants about the noise at Mason Regional Park in Irvine on Saturday.​The crowd was small but boisterous, there was a minor issue with the noise and some participants did not know at first that the showy police presence was for their benefit, but otherwise the resurrected, family friendly OC Pride Festival at Mason Regional Park in Irvine Saturday was "a smashing success," according to organizers of the LGBT event. (See photogra

  August 17, 2009

• UPDATED: ACLU Announces Settlement of Suit Tied to Corona del Mar High's Production of "Rent"

  Photo by Matt Coker Karyl Ketchum and Mike Wiggins talk about the hell their 17-year-old daughter Hail endured at Corona del Mar High School last school year.​Three varsity football players at Corona del Mar High School posted a video on the school's Facebook page in January in which they describe how and where they would rape now 17-year-old Hail Ketchum-Wiggins before disclosing the manner in which they would shoot her to death. The video also includes homophobic remarks directed at another

  September 9, 2009

• LGBT Groups Seek to Intervene in Prop. 8 Challenge

  This just in from the ACLU, which believes the action taken today will help a judge hearing a challenge of Prop. 8 understand the unequal rights inherent in the ballot initiative . . . SAN FRANCISCO -- Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today asked the U.S. District Court in San Francisco to allow Our Family Coalition, Lavender Seniors of the East Bay, and Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays to intervene in Pe

  July 8, 2009

• Proposition 8 Is Keeping Same-Sex Couples From Marrying, But It Has United OC's Gay Community

  November 19, 2009

• More on OC's Reinvigorated Gay-Rights Movement

  Jennie Warren / OC Weekly​A few ideas I couldn't quite fit into this week's cover story on gay-rights activism in Orange County: - LGBT-rights doesn't necessarily mean LGBT: Most of the LGBT activists working in Orange County told me that one of the most remarkable thing about the network that has developed because of Prop. 8 is that it includes a ton of "straight allies." Alex Gorman--the guy in the story wearing the nun costume--is one. So is Felicity Figueroa, the Orange County Equality Coa

  November 19, 2009