The Editorial You Didn't Get To See...

Those of you who saw my anti-Wisconsin Marriage Amendment editorial in the Green Bay Press Gazette November 30 got to see a second, significantly revised version the piece (if you have trouble loading the page - I have on several occasions - you can also get the Campbell's Condensed Soup version over at Action Wisconsin's "No On The Amendment" blog).

Josh Freker, Action Wisconsin's Energizer Bunny of a Communications Director, literally spent months trying to persuade the GBPG's editors to run an OpEd on the amendment. He worked with me to coordinate the column and made a valid criticism of the original piece. I listed the opposition's arguments in a way that would allow a casual reader skimming the piece to pick up their side's view much easier than the opinion I was arguing.

However, the original was a little less personal and (I feel) hit the other side arguments harder with factoids I could not include in the revised piece due to space limitations. It also better countered the Camille Solberg editorial that appeared a day earlier.

(Aside #1: I believe those who told me it was ghosted by the FRI. The rhetoric was classically Appling-esque.)

(Aside #2: Can you imagine if the forces of bigotry and discrimination's "let the people decide" argument had prevailed over the last century or so? Camille probably would be spending her time trying to win the vote for women and equal civil rights for Latinos or other people of color, rather than serving as a diversity shill for the overwhelming white, upper class forces supporting this amendment initiative.)

So I'm sharing the original draft here for my loyal and entry-starved blog readers. I've added a little formatting that obviously would not have been in the original submission, had it been printed in the paper. Here goes:

About this time next year, if the Republican-controlled legislature gets its way, Wisconsin citizens will have the opportunity to vote to adopt or reject what its supporters call the "Wisconsin Marriage Amendment" to our state's Constitution.
The amendment reads as follows: "Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state."
Now that you've read the language of the amendment, I want you to take a little quiz. Answer "true" or "false" to the following statements, all of which have been used to promote the amendment:

1. This amendment is necessary to make gay marriage illegal in Wisconsin.

2. This amendment will protect traditional marriages.

3. This amendment was introduced to uphold traditional values in our state.

All the above statements are false. Allow me to explain.

This amendment is necessary to make gay marriage illegal in Wisconsin.
The statement is false because same-sex marriage is already illegal in Wisconsin. Should this referendum be on the ballot and fail, Wisconsin's heterosexual "husband and wife" definition of marriage statute remains intact. Gay and lesbian couples will continue to be prohibited from marrying in our state.

However, the broad, vague language prohibiting "any legal status... for unmarried individuals" likely will hurt hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin's unmarried heterosexual couples impacted by that second sentence. In states that have passed amendments with such similar language - Ohio and Michigan to name two - domestic violence laws have been ruled inapplicable and private sector domestic partner benefits have been called into question for unmarried straight couples.

Given that a 2004 Business Week survey showed that 49.6% of all adults in the United States live in unmarried relationships, the impact could be significant. The vague language of the proposed amendment simply goes too far.

This amendment will protect traditional marriages.
That statement is not only false but illogical. Denying same sex couples any legal recognition of their unions will do absolutely nothing to stop the 50% divorce rate that currently plagues the so-called traditional marriages. I find it ironic that nondenominational evangelical Christians and Baptists - the two religious groups most strongly opposed to gay marriage equality - have the #1 and #2 highest divorce rates, according to fellow evangelical George Barna's exhaustive research study.

I won't name that irony as hypocritical. I'll let Jesus do it for me. Read Matthew, Chapter 7 - all of it.

On the subject of hypocrisy, let's talk about the third statement: This amendment was introduced to uphold traditional values in our state. If the value argument were true, this issue could have been resolved nine months ago, during the Spring 2005 elections.

Assembly Speaker and 8th District Republican Congressional candidate John Gard made his intentions clear in his June 2, 2005 letter to Wisconsin's lead supporter of the marriage amendment, Julaine Appling of the Family Research Institute of Wisconsin. In his letter Gard wrote: "the best time to bring this issue before the voters is when we have the potential for high voter turnout," noting the November, 2006 election would be the next such vote.

Political junkies have been quick to note the November, 2006 election also will determine who will be the next governor in Wisconsin and who will go to Washington to represent the 8th Congressional District in an open race for that seat.

All the stained-glass rhetoric about traditional marriage professed by the amendment's supporters masks the true perversion that will occur if this amendment becomes part of our state's Constitution: the writing of discrimination against all unmarried couples, gay or straight, into a document that currently defines our rights as citizens of Wisconsin.

Several thousand same-sex in the Green Bay Press Gazette's readership area volunteered to report their unions in the 2000 US Census. Tens of thousands more unmarried heterosexual couples live here as well. Tens of thousands more dependent children live with these couples.

How many people will be denied full equality so a political party can make a short-term gain? The so-called Wisconsin Marriage Amendment protects no one and has the potential to hurt thousands of your friends and neighbors. No matter what your views about gay marriage, if you oppose discrimination, you should oppose the so-called Wisconsin Marriage Amendment.

It's alive!

Just a quick note to those who keep asking me why there have been no recent entries...

The Reality Blog will arise from its moribund state shortly... The real fight has begun on the so-called Wisconsin Marriage Amendment...

It's not like I'm not pounding out readable stuff at the keyboard... Just check the Quest website, or more recently the Green Bay Press-Gazette...

Spain & Canada Get Gay Marriage, USA Gets Gay TV

Can a more cogent cultural contrast be made?

John Gard & The "God Hates Fags" Gang - The Secret Behind The Assembly's Rebuke

June 20 has come and gone in Antigo without incident. Slain Marine Lance Corporal John Mattek Jr. was laid to rest before over a thousand mourners with tributes attesting to his genuine goodness and zest for life.

Absent among the crowd: members of the Westboro "God Hates Fags" Baptist Church who had caused a minor media stir by announcing last week that they would picket the funeral. While those who mourned Lt. Mallek were certainly relieved, the no-show was not a surprise. Those who actually follow the antics of this bigoted bunch know they show up about one of three events they announce plans for - and that appears to be largely based on the amount of local reaction and media attention their press releases draw in advance of the scheduled event.

In other words, the "God Hates Fags" gang craves media coverage just like any fading, former Hollywood superstar looking for a comeback would. Yes folks, Fred Phelps is the Norma Desmond of the Radical Right and his gang are always ready for their close-ups. The mission is not to proclaim the truth but to catch as many unsuspecting eyes as possible.

Another of the groups tactics, again from Phelps-watching experts, is the tendency to regularly revisit the scenes of previous successes. The group landed in Wausau two years ago when a local college campus decided to mount a production of "The Laramie Project," a play about the community response to the murder of Matthew Shepard that gave a good chunk of stage time to the Baptist bigots. The counter-protest organized by the local Unitarians practically guaranteed a "if it bleeds it leads" kind of confrontation local TV news teams wet their panties over. Of course a gaggle of the gay haters showed up, and were outnumbered by more than 20-1, all covered by local camera crews and begetting a bevy of news teases to guarantee top viewership "at the 10."

Last week's news release barely caused a blip on the local news scene. Wisconsin Public Radio dutifully allowed a Westboro woman to blather that every major catastrophe from 9/11 and the Asian tsumani to the ever increasing American body count in Iraq was the Almighty's revenge on queer-loving America. But no visuals, no counter-protest was planned. The family and the officiating minister begged for calm and passive response to the planned protest. Even the state Assembly's passage of an official rebuke garnered only a couple of column inches.

So no media blow, no show. Typical.

However, from my vantage point, there may be more to the story of the Assembly rebuke. On June 17, the Wisconsin Assembly unanimously passed at 10 PM in the evening a bipartisan bill introduced by several central Wisconsin lawmakers formally rebuking the Topeka-based Baptists for their plans to disrupt a straight soldier's funeral to push their anti-gay message. Among those who apparently voted "aye" was Majority Leader, Assembly Speaker and announced Congressional candidate John Gard.

Why would Gard, who has openly collaborated with the state's rabidly right-wing Family Research Center of Wisconsin on the timing of the anti-gay Constitutional ban support such a "pro-gay" resolution? Why, for that matter would the Republican-controlled Assembly - who three days earlier had passed a bill allowing medical professionals to follow their personally chosen religious beliefs rather than the Hippocratic oath on the job and just the day before passed another bill cutting off post-exposure birth control for college women across the state to "stem promiscuity" - want to pass a measure that would seem antithetical to their moralistic mindset?

I can think of two reasons. First the Assembly rebuke was what is known as a "sense of the Assembly" resolution. It is an opinion which carries no weight other than the fact the Assembly took time to say it. The Assembly passes these sorts of bills regularly, honoring special local and regional events, anniversaries of organizations and individual years of service to one community or another. The "rebuke" in essence was worth about as much as the ink and paper used to print it. The classic "big whup."

The second reason is as sinister as it is savvy. Bill Clinton savvy even. Remember how the conservatives used to scream about Clinton's ability to triangulate his way to the political center? The Assembly rebuke is a similar stab at positioning. After weeks of passing legislation that poses real harm to real people, the Assembly decided to point out how extreme it wasn't. Taking aim at the Westboro Gang was the Assembly's way of saying "Lookee there! Now that's what wild-eyed extremists look like."

And in one small way the Assembly was right. Fred Phelps and his followers, just like Wisconsin's own Rantin' Ralph Ovadal, are truly wild-eyed extremists. But they're on the same fringe as the folks who wear tin foil antennas on their heads to get better reception of those secret messages from outer space.

The truly dangerous extremists are those who hold power equal to the extremity of their beliefs. John Gard leads an Assembly full of them. The Assembly rebuke of the "God Hates Fags" gang diverted the public eye from scrutinizing the dangerous legislation that body has proposed and passed. And that's why the Republicans joined in on an unanimous vote to for a fleeting second late on a Friday night to support the LGBT community.

With faint friends like that you can see why most queers consider them enemies.

Wisconsin Media War? Pish Posh! (updated 6/6)

I laughed out loud when I checked in with Bill Attewell's Wisconsin Gay News this morning. His top story asked if there was a start of a newspaper war and then touted that Quest editor/publisher Mark Mariucci "Crowns Himself With Top State Gay Media Tiara." Bill well knows that if anyone can get those glass hats at a discount, it's Mariucci, who is also the owner of the Wisconsin USofA pageant system!

The actual story that supposedly is causing all the "ruckus" between Bill's ears is really nothing more than what could have been an eye-drooping statistical report enlivened with a smidgen of publisher puffery. And the questions Mariucci asked do deserve answers from his competitors.

Before I go further a little reality check is in order (hmmm, where have I heard that phrase before?):

There is no "newspaper war." That would be Bill "stirring the pot" as he is regularly wont to do. Stirring the pot, whether it be about Outbound's Milwaukee publishers, Milwaukee Alder Mike McGee or this year's Milwaukee Gay Pride Parade, creates a lot of heat but very little light. So let's enlighten this "war" broadside with a few facts. First of all,

1. For the most part none of the papers are actually competing head-to-head editorially at this time. Edge has the show performer, drag queen market almost all to itself. Ditto for Outbound's hold on the gay bar marketplace. The closest competitors on the surface might be the Milwaukee monthlies Queer Life and Outbound News, but a peek at the editorial content shows the former heavy on softball features and opinions with a little dated local news coverage thrown in, and the latter a hodgepodge of national news clippings and opinion but all but absent on state and local news. With its bi-weekly schedule, primarily focused on breaking national and state news mixed with leather and free personal ads, Quest for better or worse is the only paper making a conscious effort to be a real "gay newspaper" in the term's classic definition, or in the legacies of dearly-departed Out, Wisconsin INStep and Wisconsin Light.

That said, there certainly is fierce competition for ad dollars. The discounting is akin to the kind of haggling found in New York's garment district, a Middle East bazaar or a used car lot after three days of heavy rain. Deep discounting is the order of the day. The only advertisers paying actual "rate card" rates are professionals who often consider their business card ads as much a public duty to the LGBT community as a source of referrals, and straight advertisers who are probably pretty clueless of what gay media choices actually are out there.

Moreover, the rate competition tends to evaporate when formats and distribution patterns are factored into the equation. Edge and Outbound are pocket-sized glossies and are, for the most part, limited in distribution to their advertisers' venues. Queer Life and Outbound News are color-laden newsprint with disproportional Milwaukee distribution. Queer Life also has the advantage of better distribution in non-gay, non-"adult," progressive locations than any of the other four.

Quest, with its odd, super-sized pocket edition and flat finished paper, is truly the platypus of the Wisconsin gay periodical animal kingdom. In Quest's favor, however, is its truly statewide - though heavily gar bar dependent - distribution.

If there's any real head-to-head competition, it might seem to be between Attewell's Wisconsin Gay News and QNU, Quest's daily news update page, which I dutifully upload anew every morning before going to my day job. Again a closer look sees more compliment than competition.

While there's some overlap, QNU has a lot more original written material, drawn from the print edition, and a well-delineated set of news topics that cover world, national, state, health, entertainment and offbeat news. There's also random photo coverage of gay events, serious and lighthearted and links to the online-only Wisconsin Whispers column. It's outsized design needs work and it is meant to be an update page as part of the larger Quest site rather than a portal.

On the plus side, Wiscosnin Gay News is sharply designed and has a nice toolbar of drop-down resources at the top of the page. Though WGN started out with more original news last Fall, most of the fresh material now shows up more typically in Bill's Blog, Attewell's well-penned, always sassy, sometimes infuriating but addictively readable contribution to the blogosphere. On the down side, WGN has an inconsistently updated set of state stories followed by a series of links to gay "reads," at least one of which can lead surfers by accident or design into the gay porn world with its Trojan and spyware-laden pop-up ads. (June 6 update - Billy obviously had time on his hands yesterday, site has been polished up nicely since this blog initially went up - in all seriousness, a genuine coincidence most likely.) Also recently, the mix in the top stories section appears to be a better indicator of what piqued Attewell's interests on any given day rather than a conscious attempt to create a consistent news update.

(Aside to Bill: your recent preoccupation with straight actresses in lesbian lip locks and Sapphic revelations seems to be way too "straight guy" to me. Were you abducted by Dobson's "Love Won Out" minions? Are you going through the change? Most importantly, does Jorge know?) Secondly,

2. There is internal dialogue amongst the media players. Though no one is talking to everyone equally, there is a lot of internal dialogue going on among the writers, publishers and editors at all the publications. Between Mark and I, we are in contact with at least one peer, usually more, at the other four papers. I'll let the others come forward and share their contacts if they so wish.

That doesn't mean there isn't occasional squabbling. The James Boys certainly have had no love loss with Bill Attewell. I hear from third parties that Queer Life's Don Hoffman doesn't like me, allegedly because of my toupee jokes and reporting his previously-published spotty history at MPS. Za has alternately ranted against and then played the Rodney King "can't we all get along" bit with a number of his print peers.

My shorts recently were in a bundle recently over Sura Faraj's civil unions piece, not because of any personal reason, but because of its obliviousness to the current Wisconsin political realities and its lack of straightforwardness. At least two of the interviewees were fellow employees of Queer Life. That's not good investigative journalism, that's reflecting the sophistry of water cooler sycophants. So big deal, occasional friction happens in close quarters. And finally,

3. It's all free and no one's getting rich. Assuming one can even get a copy, its not going to cost a reader anything more than the calories to pick any of Wisconsin's gay papers up. Looking at pick up patterns, the great majority either pick up everything or nothing.

The redundancy is even worse on the web. Want to check out LGBT news? There are literally hundreds of choices. Additionally websites exist that permit you to customize your news, so if you're hot for the latest on left-handed Lithuanian lesbians, MSN, AOL, Crayon.net and many more will look it up for you and plant it on your desktop for you to look over with your morning coffee.

Fiscally, the alternative press in general is not a lucrative undertaking. Print media are so 20th Century to begin with, as the ongoing consolidation of the mainstream press demonstrates. Quest has been around for 12 years, currently the Guinness record for uninterrupted Wisconsin gay media longevity, and that's because Mark physically prints his own paper.

So stir away, Bill. As you've said to me over and over, with the exception of a few dozen gay folks, no one really gives a hoot. And unless they're running the presses, those that do really need to get a life. Most of us in the gay media are doing this work not for the money and certainly not for the glory, but because we enjoy doing the work, and think its fun. Now you know why they call us queer.

And, oh yes, maybe - just maybe - the gay community in Wisconsin is a little better off for our efforts.

Wisconsin Whispers - Fresh Dirt Now Dished!

When it comes to dishing, dodging and delusional Republicans, heaven-bound hellraisers, tap dancing drag dinosaurs, anal-retentive lesbian scribes, and disappearing Bible bigots, moi's gossip goblet overfloweth... Settle in dahlings, its gonna be a lovely, long, bumpy but absolutely yummy read! Read the latest dish at Wisconsin Whispers...

The Slippery Slope

Thanks David for sharing this:

The Slippery Slope
by David Walinski (Louisville, KY)
First they came after same-sex couples who wanted to get married, but because I didn’t want to get married, I said nothing.

Then they came after couples who wanted to adopt children, but because I didn’t want to raise children, I said nothing.

Then they came after gays and lesbians who wanted to be foster parents, but because I didn’t want to be bothered with kids, I said nothing.

Then they reduced benefits for people with AIDS, but because I didn’t have AIDS, I said nothing.

Then they started passing laws making it legal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, but since I was self-employed, I said nothing.

Then they closed down the gay bars as a health hazard, but since I didn’t go to bars, I kept quiet.

Then they reinstated sodomy laws, but when I spoke up, there was no one left to speak up with me.

Sound familiar?

Is George Bush Gay?

Kudos to the Dallas Morning News layout artist who put together the front page of yesterday's paper... Are these sweethearts talking oil or oils? Hmmmm. And to put the gay unions story immediately to the right of the fun couple? Looks like the work of Karl Rove!

All this revealed the day The Shrub waffles on visits to Galvestion's high gay holy "Splash Day"? And the day after White House records reveal off-hour visits by reporter/whore Gannon/Guckert?

Does Laura know?

Like The Presidential Brain, Bush's iPod Needs Fillin'

I read with mild amusement the stories and commentary about the music playlists on President George W. Bush's iPod. One widely distributed pundit suggested the POTUS should include Creedance Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son" on the list.

The Democrats suggested the #1 song was really Prince's "When Doves Cry." The song title that turned my head from what we actually know of what's on the list was Blackie and the Rodeo Kings' "Swingin' From the Chains of Love."

The saddest thing about The Shrub's iPod is that it currently contains only 250 songs of the 10,000+ it is capable of handling. Sort of sums up the Bush II Presidency in so many ways. I'll leave it to y'all to make the comments about wasted space, doing so little with so much, etc.

But the blank bytes on the Presidential iPod led me to another thought: we really need to fill that sucker up with tunes that will truly inspire the leader of the Free World the next time he pops in the earbuds.

Okay dear readers: Time for you to nominate your Top Ten lists of songs that should be on Bush's iPod. Just click the Comments link below and add your 2 cents' (and ten tunes') worth!

Wisconsin Whispers Debuts

Check it out if you're into dish... And yes, it's another persona (though with a little help from my friends)... Five more and I'm Sybil!

Next task: A fresh Reality Check column... Long promised and way overdue!

Ralph Ovadal Comes Out, Will Marry

MADISON, April 1, 2005 -- Jaws dropped at a televised noon news conference here as Wisconsin Christians United director and self-proclaimed "pastor" Ralph Ovadal announced that he is getting married - to a man. The news conference, held in front of two Madison Gay bars in the shadow of the State Capitol, had been called to announce Ovadal's appointment to a gubernatorial task force on Gay and Lesbian issues.
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Those close to Ovadal knew of his hush-hush divorce late last year from ex-wife June. However, few knew of a new love in his life: Reginaald Tornvald, a plant manager from Oosthaus, a small town outside of Copenhagen, Denmark.
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Tornvald had visited Monroe in the summer and fall of 2003 as part of an exchange program between European and Wisconsin cheese factories. The ruddy, 54-year-old Tornvald supervises several hundred workers at a plant that specializes in smoked cheeses that are well-known throughout Europe. His visit was sponsored as part of Governor Jim Doyle's plan to build Wisconsin's capabilities as an international trading partner.
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Ovadal and Tornvald had met on the eve of Cheese Days, a biennial celebration of cheesemaking and Swiss heritage in Monroe. "It was truly love at first sight," Ovadal said at the press conference. "I knew then and there that I was going to spend the rest of my earthly life with this wonderful man." Local anti-Gay activists speculate that the initial flirtation was the reason for Ovadal's absence at protests against then-Congressional candidate Tammy Baldwin who had campaigned prominently at Cheese Days two years ago.
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Ovadal admitted his struggle to accept himself as a Gay man and his growing passion for Tornvald made the last 20 months very difficult. "Therapy - a lot of therapy - got me through this," Ovadal said.
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Ovadal admitted he had thought about reparative therapy, but decided against it after speaking with Michael Bussee. Bussee and his late partner Gary Cooper founded Exodus International, the first of many "ex-Gay" ministries. Bussee and Cooper later renounced that group and came out as "ex-ex-Gays."
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Reporters at the conference pressed Ovadal as why he continued protests against the LGBT community after the discovery of his own homosexuality.
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"Well, Michael says its called 'extinction behavior'," Ovadal said. "The whole Mazo thing - the protests, the chaining myself across the entrance - I just had to get it out of my system." Ovadal reported that well known Madison Dr. Michael J. Sweet, Ph.D. has been working with him for the last 15 months.
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Ovadal's announcement startled LGBT activists around the state, some of whom had been highly critical of Doyle's selection just days earlier.
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"I'm stunned but in some ways not all that surprised," exclaimed Christopher Ott, Executive Director of Action Wisconsin. "When I met with Governor Doyle last Thursday to strategize AW's displeasure at Doyle's choice for the head for the Gay and Lesbian Task Force, I couldn't understand the governor kept giggling. Now I know why!"
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Ovadal's lack of involvement at the 2004 hearings on AJR-66, the so-called "Definition of Marriage" state constitutional amendment bill, had tipped off Milwaukee Center Advocates wiz Patrick Flaherty. "I thought Ovadal's total lack of involvement was more than his typically odd behavior," Flaherty said. "And he has been just so chummy with that red-faced, middle aged assistant when he has been out doing protests - it was so unlike him."
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Others were less kind. "The pain and fear that this man has inflicted on so many in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered community will not be easily forgotten, and I say this from the personal perspective of an openly Gay Christian," retorted Walt Jackson, board member of Coming Out, Coming Together, an interfaith coalition of religious communities supportive of Gays and Lesbians.
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"I remember Ovadal as the sponsor of anti-Gay billboards in the Madison area, as well as campaigns of harassment against Gay-supportive Christians throughout Wisconsin." Jackson said. "All the same, I understand he has had a difficult spiritual journey."
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Other activists claimed they knew all along. ÒFor the last ten years we've been getting one or two reports every month or so that Ovadal had been seen hanging out at wayside restrooms and adult bookstore peep shows," Madison's Outreach Executive Director John Quinlan said. "The reported sightings and dates matched several of Ralph's so-called "Truth Tours" and "Wolf Runs." I just hope he's gotten a full STD screening."
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Ovadal, who reported that he has rights to Danish citizenship due to his father's immigration in the early 1900s, said he will marry Tornvald in a private ceremony later this spring. Under Danish law, citizens may form a government-recognized relationship that offers most of the rights of marriage, except for church blessing and adoption. Ovadal will seek dual U.S. and
Danish citizenship.
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Ovadal and Tornvald plan to relocate to Madison. "We've got the apartment, picked out the window treatments and have begun repainting," Ovadal said with a flip of his newly limp wrist. "Reggie is bringing over a number heirloom pieces that have been in his family for centuries. His Royal Dansk china is to die for!"
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The couple will also challenge U.S. Immigration law which currently prohibits same-sex partners from gaining permanent resident status. "I'm going to continue being the rabid activist I've always been," Ovadal promised. "My position as the head of the new Wisconsin Gay and Lesbian Task Force will afford me influence that will far exceed any credibility I had as the head of the Wisconsin Christians United."
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Ovadal concluded the news conference by adding that he will transform his Monroe church into a LGBT Community Center. 'After all the misinformation about Gay people I've spread in the last ten years, it seems appropriate." Ovadal said.

(Now that it is past Noon CST I suppose it's time to add the April Fool's caveat to the above.)

If Jesus Actually Returned, Karl Rove Would Kill Him

Great piece from the leftie Free Press. Happy Easter!

California Gay Marriage Ruling By A Roman Catholic GOP Appointee

Who'da thunk it? San Francisco Judge Richard Kramer - a Roman Catholic Republican appointed to the bench by a former GOP governor - has just decided that "equal protection under the law" trumps the Religious Right's vaunted (and faux) "trah-di-shun" of when it comes to civil recognition of same-sex relationships.

Also of interest, however, is Kramer's political donation history: long time AIDS activist Michael Petrelis points out in his March 15 blog entry, that Kramer donated thousands to the collective campaigns of openly lesbian California Superior Court Justice Nancy L. Davis, openly gay Castro District Supervisor Bevan Dufty, same-sex marriage proponent San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and his opponent Matt Gonzalez - the first openly candidate of the gay-friendly Green Party to run for mayoral office in US history. To give Kramer his GOP props, however, he donated $500 to Ah-nald Schwarzenegger's successful campaign for Governator of Kali-For-Nee-Ah.

The fundies are blaming it on the influence of living in San Francisco.

I can hear my mother now: "How many ways will that man roast in Hell?"

The Latest Fine Whine From Rantin' Ralph

Thanks to fellow blogger Mike Tidmus for pointing me to the obscure story in the Christian web press about the "persecution" of two "Christians" witnessing for the Lord by passing out gay hate literature from the Wisconsin Christians United.

Here's my response to Tidmus' request for background on Ralph Ovadal, Wisconsin's "class clown" of Christian bigotry:

"Hello Mike:

The only word I can gather on the matter is that a phone call was made to the police department allegedly by the WCU. No mainstream papers have reported anything on the alleged altercation, which reportedly happened early last week.

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This "martyrdom of the majority" ploy, however, is a common tactic of "Pastor" Ralph Ovadal, a former beer truck driver and sheep herder (really!) with no formal religious training who now heads Pilgrims Covenant Church, a miniscule ministry in Monroe, WI (the mailing address and meeting hall at one time was a shed on Ovadal's farm). Anything in the form of negative response, is claimed to be "violent persecution" of Christians. At one of Ovadal's Truth Forums in the early 90's one smartass lesbian shouted "Bring back the lions!" He used that line for almost a decade to "prove" the "violent homosexual intent" toward his ministry.

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Ovadal's foray into guerilla Christian street theatre as the head of the larger - but still miniscule in membership - Wisconsin Christians United has given him more press space, not to mention a police record for civil disturbances as long as your arm (you can check out the bigger offenses at the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access Project - there are also local ordinance violations around the state too numerous to mention). He is the best known of a number of evangelical extremists who regularly picket LGBT-related events in Wisconsin. He's also currently fighting an incident where he physically intimidated and verbally abused a woman at Mazomanie Park, site of the state's best-known nude beach. (Reference: Dane County Case Number 2001CM003050. From court record of August 6, 2001: "Defendant (Ovadal) shall not have any contact, direct or indirect, with N.J.E. This no contact order is different than any 72 hour no contact order that may have been issued at time of incident. This no contact order must be followed as long as case is pending unless changed by a judge." Judges have to issue these kinds of restraining orders to the boundary-free criminal element in society: thugs, bullies, wife beaters and - apparently - certain "religious" leaders.)

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Ovadal also is likely to lose a frivolous lawsuit he promoted against the state's LGBT civil rights group, Action Wisconsin, for publicly reporting content of a speech made by Pastor Grant Storm, Louisana's version of Ovadal. Storm made his comments at the "First International Conference on Homo Fascism" attended by a little over a dozen people at an evangelical church in Milwaukee in September, 2003. Ovadal actually sold a copy of the speeches to the gay group, who then transcribed the contents of the compact disc and released them to the public. The lawsuit claimed Storm has received "death threats" since Action Wisconsin's published the speech. Storm has been a long time fixture protesting New Orleans' Southern Decadance and also regularly rants against the Roman Catholic Church in one of the most Catholic states in the United States. He would have a hard time proving any death threat was based on comments made in an Action Wisconsin press release.

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Ovadal got his start in the late 80's by blowing up pictures of aborted fetuses to 8' in size and then picketing with the placards on street corners and then everything from women's health conferences to the state's AIDS walks and rides (I've never gotten how safe sex condom messages lead to abortions but the placards showed up for years).

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His sideline rants on homosexuality grew as legislative efforts by more politically-savvy right-wing "family" organizations like the Family Research Institute of Wisconsin intensified in the 1990's. A shameless self-promoter, he was ready to jump in front of very TV camera and mic whenever the opportunity arose. Ovadal's constant availability has allowed him to become the lapdog media's "go to guy" whenever they want "balance" on gay issue reporting. More recently, other voices have emerged and only the totally lazy Madison broadcast media pay much attention to him.

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Ovadal's other foray into press coverage is his long-standing Mazo Beach pickets. In the name of "public decency" he decries the existence of and alleged "state promotion of public nudity" at state's best-known, and thus most popular, clothing-optional beach.

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Ovadal's over the top rhetoric regularly refers to "sodomites" and "homo fascists," which have led many to refer to him as Wisconsin's Fred Phelps, a moniker at which he bristles. "Fred Phelps Lite" would be more appropriate I guess.

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Gay activists, including myself, indirectly have confronted Ovadal many times over the years, typically in successive sessions of locally-produced TV programs, which he later refers to as "debates." He has never taken up any direct offer to debate from such notables as Tammy Baldwin, openly-gay Assembly Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison), and even the state Log Cabin's former Executive Director and former Bush AIDS czar Scott Evertz. My all-time favorite zinger at Rantin' Ralph was my April Fool's cover story I did in 1998 for the now-defunct Wisconsin Light. (However, the idiot editor butchered the piece completely, rewriting the entire story into future tense. His logic? Because the paper came out on March 28 and he wanted the story to appear as if Ovadal come out on April Fool's Day. Not a clue as to the fictional nature of satire. And they wonder why that paper folded?).

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Come to think of it, April 1 is coming - I 'll have to crank up my ancient Mac Performa, but that's a story worth sharing again on my blog this coming April 1."

That gives me another idea as well. Look for more profiles of other Wisconsin "Christian" bigots soon. In the meantime check out Mike's "Stoopid Intelligence" blog - its a hoot!

Weenie Wacker - The Sequel

Just about everyone I have talked to seems to have missed this story, even though it made it into Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" monologue this past week.

Woman Cuts Off Boyfriend's Penis, Flushes Down Toilet
Attack Sparked By Impending Breakup
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA -- An Alaska woman is in jail, accused of cutting off her boyfriend's penis and flushing it down a toilet.

Police say Kim Tran did it after her boyfriend tried to break up with her.

At some point during their argument the couple decided to have sex. The man apparently agreed to have his arms tied to their bed. Police say Tran used the opportunity to cut off the body part.

After the attack, police say Tran untied her boyfriend and drove him to the hospital. Then she went back home, where police found her cleaning up the bathroom.
Tran was arrested and police went to work trying to find the severed penis. They succeeded after pulling out the toilet. The penis was put on ice and taken to the hospital, where doctors reattached it.

Tran is charged with first-degree assault, domestic violence and tampering with evidence.

Three thoughts: 1) A man stupid enough to allow himself to be tied up during break-up sex probably doesn't deserve to reproduce. His genetics probably contains the last vestige of our ancestors who investigated noises in the forest. His only good luck is that it was February in Alaska and the investigating officer had rubber gloves on him. 2) Seriously, for the sake of the gender, I hope everything heals properly. Please spare us the videos a la post-Lorena John Bobbitt. 3) Tampering with evidence for flushing the detached member down the toilet? Note to future Lorenas and Kims - don't play with your food - that's a separate crime.

It's Official! You Cannot Be A Gay Conservative!

In the latest twist in the Right's proof of the non-existence of Gannongate, Managing Editor David Thibault of CNSNews, a unit of the conservative Media Research Center, recently maintained that Guckert/Gannon's homosexuality disqualifies him from representing himself as a conservative.

"Make no mistake, Jeff Gannon, or James Guckert, or whatever his name is, is no conservative," Thibault said. "Anybody who publishes sexually explicit photos of himself on a website in hopes of making money as a hooker is no conservative. Not in this lifetime. Not on this planet. The person in those photos is a pig and a pervert."

"Homosexuality, at its core, is about narcissism and self-loathing," Thibault concluded.

Paging screaming liberal Andrew Sullivan...

Reality Check Website Updated

The news copy from the Volume XII, No. 3 issue of Quest is now available on my Reality Check website.

Abe Lincoln's "Gay" Wisconsin Tryst Recounted

Does the recently outed Abraham Lincoln have something in common with the 46 year old "King of Pop"? A 1923 newspaper article on file at the Wisconsin Historical Society suggests it may be true and - even worse - the very first Republican President was a lousy bed partner. His "appearance of sleep but wild jerking about" sent "the small boy" whose bed he was sharing fleeing to the couch. And it all happened here in Cheeseland in 1859!

(For more hysterical history, commentary and other assorted stuff, visit the Reality Check website.)

Gannongate Gains Gravitas

The saga of disgraced gay White House press corps whore Jeff Gannon (AKA James Guckert AKA outcall escort "Bulldog") continues to gain mainstream press coverage, including an item on the notoriously "fair and balanced" Fox News.

For those "returning from Mars" revelations about Gannon's questionable press credentials, his active moonlighting as a male prostitute, his involvement in the "outing" of CIA undercover operative Valerie Plame, his disinformation campaign against former Senate Minority leader Tom Daschle, and other dirty tricks has been the stuff of the "fifth estate" blogosphere for weeks. Among the collateral damage was the outing White house Press Secretary Scott McClellan.

Even as he tries to sell his hotmilitarystud.com website for $15,000, Guckert/Gannon has resurfaced with a new website, aimed at real time historical revisionism. Apparently G/G wants both to prove that Orwell's 1984 was precocious and that the American public's short term memory now equals that of a goldfish.

(For those of you who may be off put by the photo at the top of this entry, that is an actual photo of "Bulldog Gannon" from his outcall website. Gannon cut off everything above his chins. My commentary was added for emphasis and to lower the parental advisory rating to PG-13.)

God Smites Pope For Anti-Gay Remarks

Pope John Paul II was rushed to the hospital early this morning in what clearly appears to be a full blown "smiting" by a vengeful Lord God Almighty. While the mainstream press and the Holy See's spin doctors attempted to downplay the event, Vatican insiders also noted that the Almighty's response was less than 36 hours after the pontiff called gay marriage part of the "ideology of evil" in his newly published tome "Memory and Identity."

During a personal conversation with the Son this morning, I was informed that the Big Guy is tired of all divisiveness being engendered against His gay and lesbian children.
"That old Polack is really getting under my omnipresent skin" the Son claims his Dad told him off the cuff during "welcome to heaven" cocktail reception for the latest tsunami victims currently dying by the thousands of hunger, malaria, typhus and other post-disaster diseases. "He thinks its all about him. He should know better: it's all about Me!"

When I asked the Son about the other, more bigoted comments against LGBT people by American televangelists, He pulled me closer and whispered in my ear. "Dobson's next," my own personal Savior hinted conspiratorially.

(For more irreverence, commentary and other assorted stuff, visit the Reality Check website.)

SuperBug Update

One more factor to consider in the recent HIV SuperBug story: the condition of the meth addict's immune system. Tina does to brain cells and T-cells what a nice sport bottle full of Liquid Drano would do to the lining of your digestive system. This guy may have progressed because he was already a mess at the time he was infected.

The late, great AIDS activist Michael Callen wrote in his 1990 collection of writings and speeches Surviving AIDS that he had been diagnosed and treated for over sixty curable and chronic sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and other illnesses related to his voracious sexual lifestyle before he was diagnosed with HIV. He wondered aloud why he had not been dead long before he caught the bug. Callen also noted that at least some of the who men passed so quickly in the early 80's did so as much to immune systems trashed by drinking, addictions and multiple STIs as due to a lack of understanding of the new virus in town.

HIV Super Bug or Superinfection

While the startling headlines from New York last week may have shaken the HIV/AIDS community, its important to remember all the facts are not yet on the table.

One fact that remains unknown is whether the 40-something crystal meth and sex addict has a new virulent strain of HIV or is superinfected with multiple strains of the disease.

Clinical evidence has already shown that reinfection does exist among those HIV+ people who do not modify their risk behaviors. Clinical evidence also has shown people can be infected with multiple sexually transmitted diseases (STIs) in one encounter and that certain STIs - especially herpes simplex II, syphilis and human papillomavirus - actually create circumstances that facilitate multiple STI infection.

So until we see the genotyping and phenotyping of this supposed supervirus, the jury's out. Is this is truly a single super bug or merely multiple infections of different strains of HIV?

Best Evidence

The best evidence against the existence of a "Supreme Being" is the consummate pettiness and arrogance of those who believe in the concept.

Bicker amongst yourselves.

Reality Check Website Updated

The news copy from the Volume XII, No. 2 issue of Quest is now available on my Reality Check website.

Vote! Vote! Vote!

I stopped by my polling place to vote this AM on the way to work. It was 9:45 AM. Polls had been open since 7 AM. I was the fourth voter.

Last November I voted an hour and a half earlier. That time I was the 117th voter.

The Religious Right got its start back in the 1970's & 1980's by voting themselves into elected education positions like those on today's ballot here in Wisconsin.

They understood that its easiest to turn the tide when the water is the most shallow. Apparently, as a group, progressives outside of WEAC haven't learned that message yet.

Whining isn't winning. Victory lies only in the vote.

Show that you have learned the lesson: Vote today!

White House Gay Sex Scandal - The Dirty Details

John Aravosis of AmericaBLOG has the dirt, right down to archived websites in his peice "A Man Named Jeff." (Warning: Some page links in the story contain sexually explicit photos.)



Aravosis sums up the hypocrisy nicely:

"This is the Conservative Republican Bush White House we're talking about. It's looking increasingly like they made a decision to allow a hooker to ask the President of the United States questions. They made a decision to give a man with an alias and no journalistic experience access to the West Wing of the White House on a "daily basis." They reportedly made a decision to give him - one of only six - access to documents, or information in those documents, that exposed a clandestine CIA operative. Say what you will about Monika Lewinsky - a tasteless episode, "inappropriate," whatever. Monika wasn't a gay prostitute running around the West Wing. What kind of leadership would let prostitutes roam the halls of the West Wing? What kind of war-time leadership can't find the same information that took bloggers only days to find?

None of this is by accident.

Someone had to make a decision to let all this happen. Who? Someone committed a crime in exposing Valerie Plame and now it appears a gay hooker may be right in the middle of all of it? Who?

Ultimately, it is the hypocrisy that is such a challenge to grasp in this story. This is the same White House that ran for office on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. While they are surrounded by gay hookers? While they use a gay hooker to write articles for their gay hating political base? While they use a gay hooker to destroy a political enemy? Not to mention the hypocrisy of a "reporter" who chooses to publish article after article defending the anti-gay religious-right point of view on gay civil rights issue.

Who in the White House is at the center of all of this? Who allowed this to go on in the People's House? Who committed the crime of exposing Valerie Plame? Jeff Gannon has the answers to these questions, and boy we know he loves to talk."

Gay Sex Scandal In The White House?

Raw Story reports. You decide.

FRI Lies Continue Unabated

Julaine Appling of the Family Research Institute of Wisconsin (FRI) has gotten her shorts into a bundle over a recent Capitol Times op-ed questioning the "truth" of the FRI's recently published tract entitled "Is Marriage in Jeopardy?" A February 10 FRI email to the faithful (among whom are many fair-minded moles), outlines the group's response to the editorial.

The FRI response is the fodder for my first new Reality Check column in some time. But to whet your taste, here's the original 2003 column. The points are as valid for the proposed Wisconsin Marriage Amendment to the state constitution as they were for the DOMA bill, vetoed by Governor Doyle in November, 2003.

Reality Check: The Lies The FRI Tells About Same-Sex Marriage

Originally published in Wisconsin IN Step September 25, 2003

Given their "virtuous" sounding name, it may seem almost impossible to believe. However, the Family Research Institute of Wisconsin (FRI) is attempting to mislead the citizens and lawmakers of Wisconsin through scare tactics, glittering generalities, circular logic, half-truths and outright lies about the need for its so-called "Defense of Marriage Act." Let's look at the FRI "Fact Sheet" taken from their own website most recently updated in late August 2003. Then let's look at the real truth of the matter. The "bullet points" below are taken in order verbatim from the FRI site. My rebuttal follows.

FRI "FACTS" ON MARRIAGE AND WISCONSIN MARRIAGE LAW

• Wisconsin's current law refers to marriage being between a "husband and wife." Opponents of AB 475/SB 233 claim that these words are sufficient to protect one-man/one-woman marriage. However, a liberal, activist court could determine because the law doesn't specify that "husband" means "man" and "wife" means "woman," and because there is no clear statement of the intent of Wisconsin's public policy about marriage, that the current law is broad enough to include something other than one-man/one-woman marriage.

SCARE TACTIC & OUTRIGHT LIE: The word "wife" comes from the 11th Century Middle English. For almost 1,000 years it has meant the female partner in marriage. No court in U. S. history has interpreted the word "wife" to mean anything other than that nearly millennium old, gender specific definition. Moreover, every court decision to date that supports same-gender marriage refers not to redefining marriage but to extending equality of opportunity to having unions legally recognized to all citizens regardless of sexual orientation. AB475/SB233 replace one heterosexual definition with another and thus in reality change nothing. However, the bills do perpetuate ongoing prejudice against LGBT people -- the real intent of the FRI.

• Throughout history, all civilized cultures have recognized marriage between one man and one woman as the norm.

OUTRIGHT LIE: Even the Bible refers to the plural marriages of some of its greatest heroes. Plural marriages, the same gender marriages and communal marriages have been recorded throughout world history in multiple cultures. The "norm" has been a diversity of unions, the majority of which have been heterosexual.

• Throughout history, all civilized cultures have understood that the best environment for children is to have both a physically present mother and a father, that is, a man and a woman married to one another.

GLITTERING GENERALITY: A classic propaganda technique that makes a seemingly important statement using vague language that states nothing factual. If "understanding" means written documentation, there are numerous historical and contemporary documents that show a diversity of environments can produce well-adjusted children. Well-constructed scientific surveys have repeatedly demonstrated that quality parenting involves consistency, boundary setting and other characteristics. These skills can be performed by any number of individuals, couples or even groups of adults. The findings by the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association simply trump Bible-based bigotry.

• Throughout history, all civilized cultures have recognized that children growing up to be stable, contributing citizens is the guarantee of that culture's future. These societies have therefore historically protected marriage.
  

GLITTERING GENERALITY COVERING AN OUTRIGHT LIE: Cultures that permit quality parenting are a product of the stable social systems that result from the acceptance of naturally occurring diversity of race, ethnicity, religious belief, etc. Religious intolerance is one of the most pervasive and destabilizing forces in recorded human history. Such intolerance has lead to such things as religious wars, pogroms, Inquisitions, heretic burning and - most interestingly - the settling of the majority of the colonies that formed the United States, whose founders wisely created a "godless" Constitution. The FRI of WI is just a contemporary example of such religious intolerance.

• Marriage is not just about "love and commitment." It is the union of the two sexes and the union of two families, and the means by which families are built and maintained and family names and lineages are perpetuated.
  

OUTRIGHT LIE: Apparently the FRI hasn't read the traditional marriage vow that expressly asks each party to "love and honor" and to commit to do same "until death us do part." If family names and lineages were important to those other than royalty, there would not be a hobby known as genealogy. Tracking lineage has uses a variety of records and tracks not only traditional marriages but "unsanctified" unions.

• Marriage is not discriminatory. All citizens have the same right: if they meet the other statutory requirements, they can marry if their intended spouse is someone of the opposite sex.
  

HALF TRUTH: Marriage is not discriminatory, as long as anyone can participate in it with the adult they choose to commit to. Categorically limiting the civil marriage definition to reflect a particular version of a religious dogma is in fact the very dictionary definition of discriminatory. It also violates both the Constitutional principles of separation of church and state and of equal treatment under the law.

• Research has shown and continues to show that monogamous, life-long marriages between one man and one woman result in, among other things, fewer abortions, safer homes for both women and children, safer communities, less poverty and welfare, less premarital sex and out-of-wedlock children, fewer divorces, a healthier society, more revenue and a broader tax base, and more citizen involvement in civic activities.
  

GLITTERING GENERALITY AND HALF-TRUTH: With the exception of abortion and tax revenue, the same can be said for same-gender unions that are lifelong and monogamous. And if same gender couple's relationships are legally recognized, the tax revenue issue will be true as well. The statement also begs the question: with over 10,000 heterosexual divorces disrupting families in Wisconsin in the last decade, why isn't the FRI working to strengthen the above mentioned "lifelong" marriages?

• Because monogamous, life-long marriage between one man and one woman brings order and numerous benefits to society, there is a legitimate "state interest." Governments, therefore, should protect and strengthen this institution in public policy and programs.
  

CIRCULAR LOGIC COVERING AN OUTRIGHT LIE: In order to ask for the force of law, you have to prove your case. As the above rebuttals show, the FRI has woefully failed to do so. Inclusion of same-gender civil marriages will also bring greater stability to the LGBT community that makes up anywhere from 4-10% of the entire population. Is such enhanced stability not a legitimate "state interest"? (Just a side note to the FRI folks: you put your summary argument last, not next to last.)

• Marriage encourages the sexes to complement each other's strengths and weaknesses. It is the way that men and women, with all their differences, have been united to bring out the best in the individuals and therefore in the children and in society at large.

HALF TRUTH AND GLITTERING GENERALITY: All working relationships between two people - marital or otherwise - work best when the parties bring complimentary skills and deficits to the union. All people are unique and our society in its advancement of full gender equality has demonstrated that beyond basic biology, most of the so-called "differences" between men and women result from sexual stereotyping and cultural conditioning.

In theory at least, individuals and organizations make decisions after coldly reviewing all the facts and weighing all the risk-versus-benefit arguments. When it comes to its "facts" to prove the need for its so-called "Defense of Marriage" law, the FRI simply hasn't made its case. However, the reality of contemporary American and Wisconsin partisan politics is that all decision-making occurs with foresight that extends merely through the next election cycle.

Balanced perspective comes only from retrospect. History will not be kind to either the legislative supporters of Wisconsin's DOMA or its prejudiced primogenitor, the Family Research Institute of Wisconsin.

Marcia Cross Says She Ain't So

So Marcia Cross is desperately claiming she's not a lesbian. Of course confessing live on camera to Babs is irrefutable proof she's straight as an arrow, right? The only things missing there were glycerin tears and a big box of Puffs - better make that Kleenex, Puffs sounds too gay.

Reality Check Website Updated

The latest copy from the Volume XII No. 1 issue of Quest is now up on my Reality Check website.

Also check out Action Wisconsin Executive Director Christopher Ott sparring with Wisconsin Public Radio Ideas Network host Ben Merens over the proposed constitutional ban on marriages and civil unions on Merens' program* this afternoon

(*RealPlayer software necessary)

A Thought...

The voice of reason does not shout. That is why it is so rarely heard.

Speaker Training & Lobby Day Story Sneak Peek

No sleep in more than 24. This is a quick update prior to some serious slumber.

The Green Bay Action Network put on a killer speaker's training this morning at the University of Wisconsin Student Union. Talk about turning the interested into the invested. 20% of the attendees immediately volunteered to do public talks about the pending ban on civil unions and marriage. Additionally, several volunteered to help out GBAN and Action Wisconsin, including the now critical data entry. Anti-discrimination supporters on board now approach 50,000 statewide. Kudos to Dennis Krenn, Susan Allen, Aaron Hulse and Laurie Ferguson for a job well done!

Real Christian response to the amendment is percolating a lobby day of their own to boot. Check it out or yourself online or in the next edition of Quest.

Speaking of Quest, here is a sneak peek of the opening of my lobby day story due out midweek, one of two in the paper:

"They came from every one of the Wisconsin's thirty three senate districts. Many from the far north and west got in Wednesday and stayed overnight. Thirty-five from Milwaukee boarded the Center Advocates bus as dawn broke, just about an hour after an Auburndale dairy farmer/activist delivered a calf prior to his leaving for the capitol. They came, young and old, straight and gay, Christian and nonbeliever, singles, couples and families - over four hundred strong - for Action Wisconsin's Lobby Day to Stop the Constitutional Ban on Civil Unions and Marriage here January 27.

For all it was a "take your breath away" kind of day. Massing at the Best Western Inn on the Park the citizen lobbyists first charged through the controlled chaos of registration and sign-in. Unlike AW's 2003 lobby effort, cobbled together in a matter of days, the overwhelming majority of attendees had pre-registered. The entire process thus proceeded with near-military precision, right down to the "hurry up and wait" lines to receive training packets."

I'm going to pop a few pics up in the blog as well. Look below:

A Perfectly Awful End To A Perfectly Wonderful Day

It's a subzero night in Madison around 10 PM. I'm atop the Capitol Square - North ramp in my car ready to head home after a life spirit charging day of activism and celebration. I attempt to put the car into reverse. The shift selector won't move. A litle extra oomph and the selector moves with ease but no gears engage. I'm stomach-sinkingly aware this car isn't going to be heading anywhere.

The tow truck guy tells me its a broken transmission cable. The dealer tells me its under warranty. I wait. I wait some more. I'm in hetero gearhead land without a phrase book. "We'll get to it as soon as possible, Mr. Fitzpatrick," my service advisor tells me. I hope he's more efficient that my high school career advisor was.

"How long will it be until you can get a look at the vehicle, three hours?" The advisor remains mum. "Two hours?" I press. He scribbles "ASAP" across the top of the service order and hands it to the service manager.

I grab a ride back to my friends Dan & Charlie who were kind enough to put me up last night. I call my office to let them know I'm still breathing but won't be in. I down a bowl of Dan's Kashi GoLean and some warmed over coffee. I have Donald Trump hair, a rumpled suit, toxic breath and beard stubble savage enough to scar dry skin. I look like one of the half-dozen or so Bible baboons who tried to rain on the parade more than 400 grannies, gays and other moral giants who trekked up the hill to the State Capitol Janaury 27 to oppose the proposed constitutional amendment banning legal recognition of all non-marital unions.

I click on Bill Attewell's Wisconsin Gay News to see what coverage our state's openly-gay Drudge has dredged from the mainstream media. There isn't much, considering there were 5 TV stations, three radio networks and a half-dozen print reporters present at the press conference. The only gay media present was Quest, with four staffers. My writers stuff is due tonight. I have the 300+ pics in my camera and on disc. Look for some soon on this blog site and on Attewell's.

Also look for lots in-depth coverage in the next issue of Quest, due on the street February 2. Some of it will be funny, some of it will be surprising and some of it will make you want to grind your teeth.

But none of it will be published until I can get back to Green Bay, which I hope willl be sometime later today. I'm on Dan's Mac and I have neither SpellCheck nor formatting. IE and Safari don't support those blogger functions in Mac land. And I have no access to the PC only world of my ISP's ftp protocols. Trying to blog today is almost as difficult as explaining the complcated reality of same-sex committed relationships to the staff RepubliNazis, most of whom live exclusively in a black and white, sound-bite Bizarro world. Their logic is slogans. Their arguments fit on bumper stickers. And most of the uninformed Wisconsin citizenry supports them. Perhaps its more like my car problem. I can select different shifts of logic, I just can't get their brains to engage.

Now Here's A Civil Union That SHOULD Be Unconstitutional!

Strange bedfellows certainly comes to mind when you read how the American Religious Right is in league with radical Islamic factions to promote their mutually twisted version of "family values" as Brian Whittaker writes in his perceptive Fundamental Union piece in today's edition of Great Britain's Guardian Unlimited.

The Arlington Group Strikes Again

They're back! And now they're gonna threaten your retirement! The nefarious Arlington Group (see my January 19 post below) has told Karl Rove to kiss off Social Security reform if they don't get their anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment. Here's the scoop from today's New York Times (my comments are interspersed):

January 25, 2005
Backers of Gay Marriage Ban Use Social Security as Cudgel
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 - A coalition of major conservative Christian groups is threatening to withhold support for President Bush's plans to remake Social Security unless Mr. Bush vigorously champions a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. (Let's make this perfectly clear: "conservative Christian" is an oxymoron on the same scale as "jumbo shrimp" and "military intelligence." Any real Christian gets the liberating message of the Sermon on The Mount and the Second Great Commandment on which true Christianity is based: "Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself" aka the Golden Rule that is found in every great world spiritual tradition.)

The move came as Senate Republicans vowed on Monday to reintroduce the proposed amendment, which failed in the Senate last year by a substantial margin. Party leaders, who left it off their list of priorities for the legislative year, said they had no immediate plans to bring it to the floor because they still lacked the votes for passage.

But the coalition that wrote the letter, known as the Arlington Group, is increasingly impatient. In a confidential letter to Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's top political adviser, the group said it was disappointed with the White House's decision to put Social Security and other economic issues ahead of its paramount interest: opposition to same-sex marriage.

The letter, dated Jan. 18, pointed out that many social conservatives who voted for Mr. Bush because of his stance on social issues lack equivalent enthusiasm for changing the retirement system or other tax issues. And to pass to pass any sweeping changes, members of the group argue, Mr. Bush will need the support of every element of his coalition.

"We couldn't help but notice the contrast between how the president is approaching the difficult issue of Social Security privatization where the public is deeply divided and the marriage issue where public opinion is overwhelmingly on his side," the letter said. (Really? Overwhelmingly mixed might be a better way to express it - as the results duly tabulated at Polling Report clearly show. Caveat: You will have to scroll down through a variety of topic questions listed by date of most recent poll, not by topic.)

"Is he prepared to spend significant political capital on privatization but reluctant to devote the same energy to preserving traditional marriage? If so it would create outrage with countless voters who stood with him just a few weeks ago, including an unprecedented number of African-Americans, Latinos and Catholics who broke with tradition and supported the president solely because of this issue." (And your proof? Not the "moral values" spin that later was shown to be inaccurate by the folks at the Pew Research Center.)

The letter continued, "When the administration adopts a defeatist attitude on an issue that is at the top of our agenda, it becomes impossible for us to unite our movement on an issue such as Social Security privatization where there are already deep misgivings." (Defeatist attitude? Or knowing how to pick your battles? Bush never has to be re-elected again. Like many second-termers before him, he has his eye on the history books yet to be written.)

The letter also expressed alarm at recent comments President Bush made to The Washington Post, including his statement that "nothing will happen" on the marriage amendment for now because many senators did not see the need for it.

"We trust that you can imagine our deep disappointment at the defeatist position President Bush demonstrated" in the interview, the group wrote. "He even declined to answer a simple question about whether he would use his bully pulpit to overcome this Senate foot-dragging."
The letter also noted that in an interview before the election Mr. Bush "appeared to endorse civil unions" for same-sex couples. (See January 18 blog entry "Presidential Brain Atrophy")

The group asked Mr. Rove to designate "a top level" official to coordinate opposition to same-sex marriage, as a show of commitment.

Trent Duffy, a spokesman for the White House, said on Monday that "the president was simply talking about a situation that exists in the Senate, not about his personal commitment or his willingness to continue to push this issue." Mr. Duffy said the "president remains very committed to a marriage amendment" and added, "We always welcome suggestions from our friends."

Some Senate Republican leaders were not optimistic on Monday about the amendment's prospects this year.

"I think if we had the vote right now we'd come up short," said Senator Rick Santorum, the Pennsylvania Republican who is a member of the leadership and one of the amendment's most vocal backers in Congress. "We'd like to bring it up when we have the best possible chance of getting it passed." (That will be after the Supreme Court rules on the conflicting decisions on the same-sex marriage issue now working their way through the circuit courts. Realists on both sides of the issue understand that.)

The members of the coalition that wrote the letter are some of Mr. Bush's most influential conservative Christian supporters, and include Dr. James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, the Southern Baptist Convention, the American Family Association, Jerry Falwell and Paul Weyrich.

Several members of the group said that not long ago, many of their supporters were working or middle class, members of families that felt more allegiance to the Democratic Party because of programs like Social Security before gravitating to the Republican Party as it took up more cultural conservative issues over the last 20 years.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, declined to talk about the letter, but said, "The enthusiasm to get behind his proposals is going to require that he get behind the issues that really motivated social conservative voters."

Asked to estimate the level of discontent with the White House among the group on a scale from one to 10, Mr. Perkins put it at 8. (Personally I give it a 69, since its the same old song and the GOP always finds a way to dance to it and in the process gives the Religious Right's butt another deep kiss.)

Virus Alert!

Email Virus
Okay, which of you activists is downloading things from nasty sites? Last week there were reports that some people were receiving virus laden emails from Action Wisconsin. Now they're reportedly coming from Quest, Rainbow Over Wisconsin, Outbound, SAGE and others. Be aware none of these groups is actually sending out the emails. The virus (worm to be exact) is collecting names out of an infected computer's Outlook or other Microsoft software's email client and inserting a name from the address book as the reported sender. The giveaway is that names in the email description are silly things like "Hokki=)" or "Lookee+" and contain the virus as an attachment. Do not open the attachment!

Yahoo! Messenger Virus
There is also a virus apparently making the rounds in Yahoo! Messenger. Got this notice from a trusted friend who has been offline for awhile recently thanks to a virus he picked up from Yahoo! Messenger. Here's his warning verbatim (with a few revisions - none of the infecting source links work):

"If somebody by name dvorak@yahoo.com adds you. Don't accept it. Its a virus. Tell everyone on your bulletin because if somebody on your list adds them, you get the virus too. Tell everyone on your list not to open anything from angell11, tewwtuler, and sassybitch. It is a hard drive killer and a very horrible virus. Pass this letter to everyone on your messenger list. We need to find out who is really using these accounts. Sorry for the inconvenience. Right click on the group name of your buddy list and click Send Message to All."

For the latest scoop on all the current viruses out there check out McAfee Security.

Guilt Works, AW Lobby Day Gossip

The Quest website is getting a makeover worthy of a drag queen getting ready for the state pageant. A few minor touches to that new up-do and it will be tiara-ready. And just a few days after I whined to the world about Mark's resistance to change. Hmmmmm. I guess guilt does work sometime.

Speaking of changes, the Wisconsin Gay News website is now actually at its correct URL. And I'm continuing to fine tune my own Reality Check website.

Only goes to prove the old saying is true: "the one constant in life is change."

In other news, if you are a member of Action Wisconsin, it seems like they've morphed into a telephone company. I got five calls over the weekend, reminding me about the Anti-"Wisconsin Marriage Amendment" Lobby Day! SBC only called me twice!

I got one of the AW volunteer telemarketers to share the inside story with me. Apparently well over 300 have pre-registered already. For the last Lobby Day the number of actual attendees doubled the number of pre-registrants. Does that mean there will be 600 (or more) queers and allies descending on the State Capitol this Thursday? Could be!

As for the threat of snow or cold threatening the day, the Weather Channel say "partly cloudy and 20's." Does that mean "God is on our side"? Of course! Stick that in your New International Version Julaine!

Reality Check Website Updated

The Reality Check website has been updated. Several of the most requested 2002-2003 columns are now up on the Archive page. Yes, the "Sodom Postpartum - Watch Your Ass" column is one of the ones now up.

With a few free hours this weekend, I may get the majority of the PC-based columns online. The columns you've asked for still on my old Mac, including the ever-popular "Lashing At Laura," may take a little longer.

And until publisher Mark Mariucci can find the free time or accept the multiple offers from multiple folks to assist with the update the Quest website on a timely basis, I will be offering the News content effective with each issue's street date. Perhaps guilt may work when pleading doesn't.

Inaugural Antics

I had the opportunity to watch a bit of the live television coverage of the Presidential Inauguration today. A few quick takes:

Loved the limo. Loved Laura resplendent in Oscar De La Renta. Loved watching W play the daddy signaling to Jenna that film crews were broadcasting her applying lip gloss to a nation hungry for a human moment. Let's face it: in the wide shots it wasn't a parade; it was an armed invasion.

Hated the protestors. Not their causes, mind you. Their deportment. What a motley crew! Environmentalists starting trash fires in the "freedom section?" There is something so fundamentally wrong with that picture. Until the Left learns how to be the loyal opposition, red state America will prevail. Every uncivil pixel broadcast nation- and worldwide only stiffens the Right's already well-disciplined spine.

Pundits paralleling 2005 with LBJ's inauguration forty years ago hit it on the head: A second term President presiding over increased majorities in both houses of Congress with messy foreign conflict defining their legacies. Whether the other parallel also holds true (1965 was the zenith for liberalism in the 20th Century vs. 2005 as the zenith for conservatism) is a question yet to be answered.

The answer will likely lie in the one word missing in today's pomp and circumstance: Iraq.

And for the moment it is - like it or not - today is W's day. America spoke, albeit with a divided voice, but the democratic process and the republic prevail. George Bush does polish up "purty darn nice" for a West Texas oil millionaire. How long the shine will last after the balls, however, is anyone's guess.

So for today, Hail to the Chief. After that, let Hell to the Chief begin.

You Say "Alliance," I Say "Conspiracy"

Why did a vision of Hillary Clinton singing Cole Porter's "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off" rattle through my Dr. Demento-addled brain when I read about the Arlington Group?

Conservative Voice web columnist Rusty Benson explains it thus:

"Like popular TV forensic investigators combing a crime scene for crucial evidence, political observers continue to autopsy the recent national elections for clues to explain the outcome. However, most -- if not all -- will overlook the fingerprints of a new alliance of conservative organizations calling itself the Arlington Group.

" 'Same-sex marriage would not have been such a large issue if the Arlington Group had not existed' says Dr. Don Wildmon, founder and chairman of American Family Association, and primary organizer of the new alliance. 'It might have been a minor issue, but there would have been no coordination of efforts. It certainly would not have taken hold like it did, and we would not have gotten 12 new state constitutional amendments protecting traditional marriage.'

"Under Wildmon's urging, the coalition first came together in the fall of 2002. Leaders from ten pro-family religious organizations met in Arlington, Virginia, to discuss how they might join forces to resist the legalization of same-sex marriage. Soon the alliance quickly grew to over 50 official members including Dr. James Dobson (Focus on the Family), Gary Bauer (American Values), Dr. D. James Kennedy (Coral Ridge Ministries), Charles Colson (Prison Fellowship), Tony Perkins (Family Research Council), Bill Bennett (Empower America), Dr. Franklin Graham (Samaritan's Purse), and many others.

" 'For the first time, virtually all of the social issues groups are singing off the same sheet of music,' said long-time conservative activist Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation."

Wasn't it Weyrich who very publicly told the Religious Right to go back to their churches and get out politics (all dutifully reported initially byMatt Drudge and the Faux News Channel and then picked up by the drones in mainstream media) just about the time this Arlington Group was forming?

And then there's the next question: Did the Arlington Group invite Karl Rove to the dance or was it the other way around?

Hmmmmm. Belt it out Hillary: "You say 'cable,' I say 'cabal.' "

Looking For Your Gay Daily Dose?

If you're looking for the latest news in Gay Wisconsin (and all points connecting thereto), you cannot do much better than clicking over to Wisconsin Gay News, conveniently located at the old Wisconsin IN Step website. It's run by Bill Attewell, who keeps telling me the "real" WGN URL will be up "any day now".

Also a daily must read is the new liberal gay version of Matt Drudge, Raw Story Q. Those looking for the antidote to the Drudge Report should also check out Raw Story.

If you are looking to see who's the latest Republican closet-case to be outed, check out Michael Rogers' notorious BlogActive site.