A Word on Gay Marriage

As everyone celebrates the one-year anniversary of the historic election of President Obama a lot of us, especially here in California are sadly reminded of another anniversary this week. The anniversary of the passing of Proposition 8, which was made even more painful after a similar vote passed in Maine on Tuesday. Writing this, I still can’t wrap my mind around the one burning question that keeps haunting my thoughts. Why?

Why are people voting on the right for other people to marry? Why do people care? And why are people so stupid? Yes, I said stupid. Sue me.

One of my favorite books in high school was The Crucible. I’ve always loved the subject of the Salem Witch Trials. The part of the story that was always so fascinating to me was the people in the community who were so easily taken advantage of. People who let their fear and ignorance become a tool that was used to make fools out of all of them.

This is perfect analogy to me of the poor fools who continue to vote against gay marriage in California and Maine and  every church that preaches against it. These people continue to have their own fear, their religion, and their ignorance used against them to take a stance against gay marriage.

I joke about these people and their ignorance with friends, but in truth, it’s not funny. In fact it breaks my heart.

It breaks my heart because for me when I think of gay couples and their families, I don’t see “gay couples.” I see my friends. I see family members. I see other PTA moms who fight with their kids to do homework. I see soccer games, I see vacations, and I see kids growing up in loving homes, just like my kids. No different.

So to you, the people who keep fighting the inevitable legalization of gay marriage, I ask you to face the sweet young faces of the kids who are being raised in these loving homes by loving gay & lesbian couples and tell them why their family is different. Why their family breakfasts, their trips to the supermarket, and their Saturday T-Ball games with the family are any different than yours.

Tell them, explain it to them. And then tell me, because I’m totally clueless.

This is proudly Meghan Harvey’s inaugural post at MOMocrats. When she’s not working hard to find a cure for ignorance she can also be found blogging on her personal blog, Meg’s Idle Chatter. 

Strategies to Pass a National Public Option/State Single Payer Health Care Plans: Will They Work?

Lately there's been a lot of angst from liberals and moderates who favor health insurance reform regarding the fate of a public option* in Congress. What's missing is a sense of how national policy debates intersect with state efforts to reform the provision of health care.

Listen up if you live in the states of California, Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, or Ohio (pdf).

Listen up if you're belong to or agree with over 572 union organizations nationwide who support single-payer health care at a national level, also known as H.R. 676.

Listen up if you've gotten increasingly concerned over the mainstream media reporting on reputed White House wavering on the public option.*

MOMocrat CityMama gave an excellent overview of the situation which I encourage you to revisit and plunder for talking points WHEN YOU CALL OR FAX your representative. You are making those calls, right?

I wanted to give a little space here to review what's happening on the state level, and encourage you to mobilize there as well.

Go Read It: LA Times Recap, California State Supreme Court Ruling Expected on Prop 8 Today

The California State Supreme Court's decision on Prop 8, the amendment to the California state constitution that formally added language identifying marriage as "between a man and a woman," will be made public at 10 am, May 26, 2009.

The LA Times has a good brief recap of the issues.

...the court is dealing with three different legal issues: whether Proposition 8 amounts to an impermissible revision of the state Constitution; the attorney general's challenge contending that marriage is an "inalienable" right that can't be taken away without compelling justification; and the fate of existing same-sex marriages.

18,000 people who married between May 2008 and November 2008 and their friends, families, and allies are anxiously waiting to see if their lives will come undone.

I'm hoping we join the ranks of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and Maine in recognizing marriage equality. Updates as they come.

Previous MOMocrats posts on marriage equality:

Vermont Fourth State to Okay Same-Sex Marriage; What Say You, California? Apr 2009

Iowa Says Yes to Love, No to Ban on Same-Sex Marriage, Apr 2009

Prop 8, With Jazz Hands, Dec 2008

Prop 8, Its Aftermath, and Minority Communities, Nov 2008

Activists Target People and Businesses Who Supported Prop 8, Nov 2008

No on Prop 8: Six Arguments in Favor of Marriage Equality, Oct 2008

California's Prop 8: The Battle Tightens, Oct 2008

Happy National Coming Out Day (Vote No on Prop 8), Oct 2008

Same-Sex Marriage: Liberty and Justice for All, Aug 2008

The Cost of Caring for Aging Parents, Another Issue to Consider for Same-Sex Unions, May 2008

California Supremes Overturn Gay Marriage Ban, May 2008

Cynematic blogs at P i l l o w b o o k.

May 19, Special Elections Day in California & a Few Last Words on Judy Chu for Congress

[Previous entries in the Run, Mama, Run series on Judy Chu for Congress here.]

Today's Special Election will elect a replacement for the House seat once occupied by Hilda Solis representing California Congressional District 32, and determine whether ballot initiatives addressing our state's enormous budget deficit will go forward or be rejected.

So please do vote today--it's a low voter-turnout election. According to @lacrrcc, (Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's twitter handle), as of May 18, 2009, "With 273,418 by mail ballots returned, we are just over 6% overall voter turnout for tomorrow's election and 36% returned of ballots issued."

If you'll indulge me in some meta-commentary about the Chu-Cedillo race--some of the punditry has framed the 63% Latino/22% Asian/15% white/other 32d Congressional district as Latino candidate State Assembly person Gil Cedillo's race to lose. It's both a recognition that Cedillo's been active in local and state politics since 1970, but also predicated on the notion that Latinos vote for Latinos in a sort of simple identity politics paradigm. This also assumes that a near-complete turnout of Latino voters will largely go to the best-known Latino frontrunner, Cedillo, and make a runoff election unnecessary. (Whoever takes the majority on May 19 will be named the winner; if no one takes the majority, top finishers from both parties participate in the runoff in July.)

Run, Mama, Run*: Candidate for Congress Judy Chu Answers More Questions, Part 2

 (Intro to the series here. Part 1, here.)

Less than two weeks to vote for a congressional representative for CA CD-32! It's anticipated to be a low voter-turnout election, so it's vitally important for all registered voters to get out to the polls on May 19, 2009, for the special election.

(Hilda Solis and Judy Chu both wearing lucky red for Chinese New Year.)

Here's the promised Q&A between MOMocrats' Cynematic and Dr. Chu. It delves a little deeper into Dr. Chu's background, her first entry into politics, and concrete plans for representing her district and serving Americans in Congress. (*I should note that "Run, Mama, Run" is a MOMocrats series that features progressive pro-choice women of note as they compete for local, state, and federal offices. We use 'mama' in the literal sense--many of the women we feature are mothers of either very young or grown children--and in the more colloquial, friendly and intimate sense--of acknowledging metaphorical kinship with women in a greater struggle for justice that benefits all. In each case, we leave it to the candidate to reveal and discuss the particulars of her family life as she wishes.)

Run, Mama, Run: Congressional Candidate Judy Chu Answers Political Bloggers' Questions, Part 1

Recently Dr. Judy Chu made herself available to numerous political bloggers to answer questions about her background and her positions on several local initiatives that are up for a vote during the May 19 special election. I was pleased to be on the conference call, as throughout the 1990s, I'd heard a great deal about her time as mayor of Monterey Park, and how the demographics of the San Gabriel Valley were changing now that many immigrants from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the People's Republic of China were settling there. Now, much of the San Gabriel Valley is Chinese or Vietnamese restaurants, ethnic grocery stores, small ethnic businesses, Latino eateries, and tutoring academies for children.

Dr. Chu, a community college professor and former Garvey school board member, city council member, then mayor, has had a lengthy career based in the San Gabriel Valley. After several years as mayor of Monterey Park, she ran for California State Assembly and served there for three terms. From there, she successfully ran for the State Board of Equalization, the nation's only tax policy-making entity staffed with elected officials. She now serves as Vice Chair of the State Board of Equalization. Just a few days ago, she received the endorsement of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Viillraigosa.

Run, Mama, Run: Dr. Judy Chu Sweeps California Democratic Party Delegates, CA Congressional District 32

Left: former Congresswoman Hilda Solis, then-State Assemblywoman Judy Chu

Part of the pleasure of seeing former Congresswoman Hilda Solis appointed as Labor Secretary in the Obama administration is anticipating which worthy Democrat will then fill her seat in the 32d district.

Barbara Boxer: Lean, Mean & Green

I spent yesterday morning deep in the world of Silicon Valley cleantech in order to hear what Barbara Boxer, Chair of the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works had to say about green energy, Silicon Valley and the economy. The event began late, but it was interesting and Senator Boxer's candor was refreshing. (For hashtag lovers, I live tweeted it, but if you like details, please read on...)

Vermont Fourth State to Okay Same-Sex Marriage--California, What Say You?

In a historic first, both houses of the Vermont legislature voted to override the governor's veto of a bill permitting same-sex marriage. In practical terms, that means same-sex marriage is legal in Vermont in spite of the governor's opposition, and that state is the first to grant the right through a legislative vote. From the Burlington Free Press:

The vote came nine years after Vermont adopted its first-in-the-nation civil unions law.

It’s now the fourth state to permit same-sex marriage. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa are the others. Their approval of gay marriage came from the courts.

What an inspiring and wonderful victory for LBGT activists and their straight allies! Just last week, we heard good news from Iowa. Four states now recognize the marriages of same-sex couples, out of 50.

Republicans: The Party of "No," the Party of Nobody

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 yesterday, authorizing some $787 billion dollars' worth of government economic stimulus to be spent. (Click here for a slideshow of this process.) Not a single Republican in the House of Representatives voted for the bill; only three Republican senators worked on the bill reconciling the House and Senate versions in preparation for Obama's signature.

During campaign season, I argued that the Republican party, and conservative ideology in general, has become the party of zombies. (Signs of brainlessness: the GOP seem to be taking marching orders from those intellectual heavyweights Rush "I want Obama, and therefore YOU, to fail" Limbaugh and Michelle "generational theft except for the 6-year long Iraq war blank check part brought to you by the GOP" Malkin.) Not simply content to be undead, these bodies are aggressively and viciously seeking to feast off the living. Why Republican congressmen and women act as though foreclosure only affects Democrats is a mystery; why Republican senators seem to think hunger and joblessness are partisan and will only affect Democrats is completely befuddling to rational, caring, PATRIOTIC human beings.