The Story Of John Arthur & Jim Obergefell

Chris Geidner has written a wonderful profile of the late John Arthur and his husband Jim Obergefell, whose marriage will take center stage at the Supreme Court next month. Geidner's Buzzfeed piece begins:

The plane was only on the ground a matter of minutes. Just enough time for wedding vows and little else. Jim Obergefell and John Arthur had wanted to marry for a long time. In 2013, after the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, they decided this was the time to do it — even though Arthur was very, very ill. He had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2011, a fatal neurological disease that paralyzes the body. He was confined to his bed.

The couple could not get married in their home state of Ohio. They could, however, get married in one of the handful of states that did allow same-sex couples to marry. So their wedding took place aboard a small, specially equipped medical plane with two pilots, a nurse, and Arthur’s aunt — she performed the ceremony.

“We landed at Baltimore, sat on the tarmac for a little bit, said ‘I do,’ and 10 minutes later were in the air on the way home,” Obergefell said. The marriage performed there on the tarmac of Baltimore-Washington International Airport has become iconic within the marriage equality movement and beyond, a testament to a couple’s commitment and to the absurd lengths the law required them to undertake for a simple ceremony.

Hit the link and read the full story.

Obama Welcomes Coming SCOTUS Ruling To End "Patchwork" Marriage Laws

Via Buzzfeed:

President Obama Tuesday welcomed the Supreme Court’s signals that marriage equality is on the verge of becoming the law of the land, adding that he expected local Alabama officials resisting the shift to be swept aside by federal courts. The Supreme Court Monday morning refused to put on hold a federal court ruling striking down Alabama’s ban on same-sex couples’ marriages while the ruling is appealed, with Justice Clarence Thomas making clear in a dissent that the court’s action would be seen as a sign the court will soon rule that the Constitution requires equal marriage rights for same-sex couples.

“My sense is that the Supreme Court is about to make a shift, one that I welcome, which is to recognize that — having hit a critical mass of states that have recognized same-sex marriage — it doesn’t make sense for us to now have this patchwork system,” Obama said in an interview with BuzzFeed News. “It’s time to recognize that under the equal protection clause of the United States [Constitution], same-sex couples should have the same rights as anybody else.” Obama’s comments came on the second day in which same-sex couples were marrying in Alabama, the 38th state to allow same-sex couples to marry.

Watch the below video interview  in which the president discusses Roy Moore, whom Obama says will have to answer to the federal courts.

Buzzfeed: Nancy Reagan Rejected Rock Hudson's Desperate Request For Help With Experimental AIDS Treatment

Buzzfeed reporter Chris Geidner tonight revealed that official White House and Reagan documents show that Nancy Reagan rebuffed Rock Hudson's plea for help in getting access to experimental treatment as he lay dying of AIDS in Paris. The request was made through publicists Yanou Collart and Dale Olson.

Three days after Hudson’s collapse, he still lacked permission to go to the French hospital or to have Dormant see him in the American Hospital. His team’s initial attempts on the ground in Paris were not working. So they started working higher up: Collart would work her contacts with French defense officials. Back in America, Olson would ask for help from the American government.

In a desperate telegram sent at 12:22 p.m. ET on July 24, 1985, Olson made his case directly to the White House in a message addressed to Mark Weinberg — a special assistant to the president and deputy press secretary in the White House.

“Doctor Dominique Dormant specialist treating Rock Hudson in Paris, reports only one hospital in the world can offer necessary medical treatment to save life of Rock Hudson or at least alleviate his illness. This hospital is Ministere du la Defence Centre d’Researches du Service de Sante des Armees Percy Hospital in the city of Clamart,” the telegram read, with Olson going on to give the phone number to the hospital.

“Commanding general of Percy Hospital has turned down Rock Hudson as a patient because he is not French. Doctor Dormant in Paris believes a request from the White House or a high American official would change his mind. Can you help by having someone call the commanding general’s office at the Percy Hospital at the above number,” the telegram stated.  “Please advise what can be done.”

According to Buzzfeed, the former First Lady was "very sorry" to hear of Hudson's condition but advised staffers that the Reagans shouldn't give the appearance of pulling strings for their celebrity friends. She agreed with their suggestion to forward Hudson's request to the US Embassy in Paris.

Noted AIDS activist Peter Staley told Buzzfeed: "I’m sure if it had been Bob Hope in that hospital with some rare, incurable cancer, Air Force One would have been dispatched to help save him. There’s no getting around the fact that they left Rock Hudson out to dry. As soon as he had that frightening homosexual disease, he became as unwanted and ignored as the rest of us.”

Ronald Reagan finally made his first major address on AIDS nearly two years later at a May 1987 American Foundation for AIDS Research event. By the end of that year over 41,000 Americans had died of the disease. Buzzfeed wryly observes that amfAR was launched in 1985 with a $250,000 donation by Rock Hudson.

I strongly recommend you read Chris Geidner's full report. The excerpt above does not do his work justice and there are copies of telegrams and White House correspondence in his story.

Chris Geidner On Fifth Circuit Court

Buzzfeed reporter Chris Geidner recaps today's action:

After three hours of arguments, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals appeared poised to strike down bans on same-sex couples’ marriages in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas — joining all but one of the other appellate courts to consider that matter. More than halfway through the morning’s arguments, an exasperated Justin Matheny, the assistant attorney general in Mississippi charged with defending the state’s ban, tried to change his tune during his rebuttal arguments.

It being clear that the three-judge panel was leaning against upholding the bans, Matheny told the judges that although the “trajectory” on marriage rights for same-sex couples is “undeniable,” he argued that “it’s not there yet.” Judge Patrick Higginbotham, born in Alabama almost eight decades ago and appointed to the appeals court by President Reagan more than three decades ago, spoke up. And though the older judge was hard to hear at times, he spoke up and spoke clearly when he responded to Matheny: “Those words, ‘Will Mississippi change its mind?’ have resonated in these halls before.”

Hit the link and read the rest.

NEW YORK CITY: At The Out 100 Party

Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims and boyfriend Brandon McMullin were among the gay glitterati in attendance at last night's Out 100 party at Stage 48 in Hell's Kitchen. Also seen above are Out 100 honorees Freedom To Marry head Evan Wolfson with his husband Cheng He, journalist Chris Geidner, Liz Margolies, founder of the National LGBT Cancer Network, and her trans activist husband Scout, director of LGBT Health Link. Orange Is The New Black actress Lea DeLaria hosted and pop singer Mary Lambert was among the performers. I hung out for a bit with NYC Councilman Corey Johnson and Dan Pepitone (above) and caught glimpses of Jason Collins and Zachary Quinto, but didn't get a chance to grab a photo, dammit.

Out Magazine Unveils 2014 Out 100 List

Out Magazine has unveiled this year's Out 100 list. The 2014 ranking features Buzzfeed's Chris Geidner (seated above) and New York Times writer Josh Barro (third from left.) Others on the list are Dan Savage, Larry Kramer, Andy Bell, Armistead Maupin, Jason Collins, Richard Chamberlain, Carmen Carrera, and the cast of Looking.  See the full list.

MISSISSIPPI: Court Sets Rapid Schedule For Marriage Equality Hearing

This is the suit filed just Monday by some of Edith Windsor's legal team. (Others on the DOMA case were the ACLU and NYCLU.)

Sixth Circuit Court Hearings Conclude, Reporters Weigh In With First Thoughts

Buzzfeed Reporter Chris Geidner Named NGLJA's Journalist Of The Year

The National Gay & Lesbian Journalists Association has named Buzzfeed reporter Chris Geidner its 2014 Journalist Of The Year. Via Politico:

Geidner, the site's legal editor, has turned LGBT issues into a full-time beat at BuzzFeed, and wrote several features on the history of the marriage equality movement, including profiles of Edith Windsor and Mary Bonauto. "We're so proud of this well-deserved recognition for Chris's work, and of the blend of hardcore beat reporting and high-altitude features that showed how marriage could and should be a frontline beat and one of the most important stories of the decade," Ben Smith, BuzzFeed's editor in chief, said.

We send our hearty congratulations to Chris, whose work is excerpted here on JMG at least once a week and sometimes far more often. The full list of this year's NGLJA honorees is here.

The Census Wants Advice About Gays

Chris Geidner reports on an unprecedented move by the U.S. Census.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced Friday that it is seeking advice on how to address lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender populations in implementing the once-a-decade census. The census, which has never counted LGBT people directly, has indirectly referenced gay people through its count of same-sex married couples and "unmarried partner" households in the past. With the formation of the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations, however, the Census Bureau today stated that it will be seeking advice from the 31-member committee "on topics such as housing, children, youth, poverty, privacy, race and ethnicity, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other populations." Specifically, the Bureau noted, the committee will provide advice on "a wide range of variables that affect the cost, accuracy and implementation of the Census Bureau's programs and surveys, including the once-a-decade census."

Geidner speculates that the Census Bureau may be seeking a method to more accurately count (or at least estimate) the number of LGBT Americans.

Obamacare Will Ban Anti-Transgender Discrimination By Health Providers

A senior official from the Department of Health and Human Services has confirmed that under the Affordable Healthcare Act, federally funded agencies and providers will be barred from discriminating against transgender patients. Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed:

In response to a letter sent by a dozen LGBT health and advocacy organizations to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in June, Leon Rodriguez — the director of HHS's Office for Civil Rights — wrote on July 12 HHS considers discrimination based on "gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity" in federal health programs or activities receiving funding under the Affordable Care Act#39;s-covered programs to be illegal.

In the letter, obtained by BuzzFeed, Rodriguez agreed with the groups' assessment that the prohibition on sex discrimination in Obama's health care law prohibited discrimination against transgender people and stated that his office would investigate any complaints of such discrimination. Referring to a recent survey, National Center for Transgender Equality executive director Mara Keisling told BuzzFeed that 20 percent of transgender people report being turned away from a health-care provider for being transgender. "That's illegal now," she said.

Read Geidner's full report.

Buzzfeed Hires Gay Reporter Chris Geidner

Over the past few years I've probably excerpted the excellent work of gay reporter Chris Geidner hundreds of times via his gig at Washington DC's MetroWeekly. Today Geidner moves up to a much bigger audience.

Chris Geidner joins BuzzFeed as Senior Political Reporter and will continue his aggressive, news-driven coverage of politics and policies of LGBT issues and of the battles over marriage. [Buzzfeed editor] Ben Smith: “Chris Geidner is the fastest, best-sourced reporter on his beat. The marriage wars and gay rights battles are some of the key stories of the decade; stories that readers from BuzzFeed to social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit care about deeply. It deserves to be treated with a fair mind as a front-line political beat, and Chris is uniquely positioned to turn BuzzFeed into a hub for that coverage.”

Congrats, Chris!

GOP Contract Bars King & Spalding Staffers From Supporting Same-Sex Marriage

Over at Metro Weekly, Chris Geidner unearths an interesting stipulation in the GOP's contract with King & Spalding, the legal firm hired to defend DOMA.

All of King & Spalding's employees – lawyers and non-lawyers – are barred from advocating for the Respect for Marriage Act – the bill that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act – in the 112th Congress, according to the terms of the contract to defend DOMA that King & Spalding partner Paul Clement signed on the firm's behalf on April 14. The contract, which was entered into with U.S. House of Representatives General Counsel Kerry Kircher on behalf of the House's Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group to defend DOMA in court, contains a provision that prohibits all King & Spalding attorneys and non-attorney employees from any advocacy to "alter or amend" DOMA.

HRC's Fred Sainz: "This particular provision adds insult to injury. Not only is K&S promoting discrimination, they also are muzzling their own employees from opposing discrimination and doing what's right."

RELATED: As I noted here last week, King & Spalding last year earned a 95% positive rating from the Human Rights Campaign and trumpets their devotion to LGBT equality on their corporate website.

Metro Weekly On GOProud

The Metro Weekly cover story on GOProud and the CPAC boycott has been posted online. Reporter Chris Geidner does a great job delving into the philosophy of GOProud and who their allies and enemies are. You should read the entire piece, but naturally I'll excerpt a bit with a quote from me in it.

''The problem is that the gay left has decided what qualifies as pro-gay and what qualifies as anti-gay, and a whole bunch of the stuff that they think qualifies as pro-gay, I don't think has anything to do with being pro-gay,'' says Barron. "And, a whole bunch of stuff that they think is anti-gay, I don't think is anti-gay at all." Barron sees his mission as changing that. ''I think that, over time, obviously, people's position on gay issues is evolving, and I think it helps to have a gay voice out there that says, 'You don't have to be with them on all the things they say you have to be with them on.'''

Saying that's ''one of the things that drives the left crazy,'' Barron becomes angered when describing the complaint that GOProud is ''providing cover to our enemies,'' as gay left blogger Joe Jervis (Joe. My. God.) – a near-constant critic of GOProud – puts it. Barron isn't having it. ''No, we're not giving cover to bigots," he argues. "What we're doing is separating the people who don't agree with the left-wing agenda from the real bigots. You can be against ENDA and hate crimes and federal safe schools legislation and not be a bigot. If you're Tony Perkins, you're a bigot. You're against all of that stuff not because of any federalist reasons, but actually because you're just a nasty, anti-gay bigot.'' Jervis defends his tactics against GOProud, saying, ''What they're actively advocating is blockage of some pretty critical LGBT rights that the movement has only begun to scratch the surface of.''

Read the rest.

Coming Later Today From Metro Weekly

The GOProud/CPAC kerfuffle is the cover story for today's Metro Weekly, which should appear online by the end of the day. Reporter Chris Geidner interviewed me for about an hour on Monday, so we have to see how much of my take was, uh, printable. Here's the teaser, via press release:

GOProud has a fight on its hands. From the left, right and middle, organizations and activists argue with, debate and even ignore the gay conservative group that’s now heading into its second year at CPAC, the annual conservative conference. But – in the conservative arena that is the group’s aim – GOProud is winning, as an attempted boycott because of the group’s CPAC participation fizzled and the group is making serious inroads in the conservative movement. From longtime conservative activists like Grover Norquist to new media names like Andrew Breitbart, GOProud is grabbing attention – and friends – in the conservative movement. Metro Weekly senior political writer Chris Geidner talks with GOProud, allies and critics as CPAC gets under way – and as GOProud looks to the future.

What Might Happen Today With Prop 8?

Over at Metro Weekly, reporter Chris Geidner has posted an excellent 10-item FAQ sheet about today's hearing of Prop 8 in the Ninth Circuit Court. Question #8 asks: "What Could The Court Rule?"

With no specified timeline, the court will issue its ruling -- although the fact that the court gave the case expedited consideration as to briefing and the scheduling of the oral arguments suggests it is cognizant of the desire for a quick resolution of the case.

If the court holds that some party has standing to appeal Walker's ruling, it could affirm the trial court and say that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional or it could reverse the trial court and say that Proposition 8 is constitutional. At that point, the ruling would have "precedent" -- meaning the judges would need to adhere to it -- in all of the trial courts in the Ninth Circuit.

The court also could find that neither the proponents nor Imperial County have standing and dismiss the appeal. This would leave Walker's ruling in place and invalidate Proposition 8, but would limit the ruling only to his order and provide no appellate precedent that would apply to the entire Ninth Circuit.

To take the least likely position, it could dismiss the appeal and also hold that no standing existed at trial, which could lead the appellate court to vacate Walker's judgment and, effectively, erase the entire case. This would mean that Proposition 8 would remain in effect. Because the state of California was enforcing Proposition 8 at the time of trial -- and still now -- it would be extraordinary for the court to take this route.

Read Chris Geidner's entire analysis.

POST-HEARINGS: White House Holds Meeting With DADT Repeal Groups

Following today's conclusion of the Joint Chiefs' testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the White House hosted an off-the-record meeting with members of various DADT pro-repeal groups. Chris Geidner reports at Metro Weekly that today's was the largest of several such recent meetings.

Two people who attended the meeting but asked to remain anonymous because of the off-the-record nature of the meeting told Metro Weekly that those organizations that were represented included Center for American Progress, Human Rights Campaign, Log Cabin Republicans, National Black Justice Coalition, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, OutServe, People for the American Way, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, Servicemembers United, Stonewall Democrats and Third Way. [Politico's Josh Gerstein, who first reported the news, also reported that representatives from OutServe and the Palm Center attended the meeting, a fact confimed to Metro Weekly by a third attendee.] As such, it would make it the largest of several such White House meetings held about DADT repeal this year. The two attendees of the meeting said that the White House was represented at the meeting by Christopher Kang, White House legislative affairs; Christina Tchen, director of the public engagement office; Brian Bond, deputy director of public engagement; and representatives from the Domestic Policy Council and White House Counsel's Office.

According to Metro Weekly, White House representatives expressed optimism that a Senate vote on DADT will take place before the end of the year. One attendee reported that the meeting did not feel like pandering: "I know it wasn't. I've been mollified before, and this wasn't mollification."

Read Chris Geidner's full report.

World Bank Ditches PFOX (Sort Of)

Last week Metro Weekly reported that World Bank had added the nasty "ex-gays" at PFOX to their list of charities for whom they'd match any donations by employees. Following a petition campaign spearheaded by Truth Wins Out and Change.org, today World Bank issued this rule change.

For this year's Community Connections Campaign, Bank-matching funds will be provided to those organizations that have, through prior participation, established a track record of support with staff. Organizations that have come on the list this year will not be offered matching funds in this year's campaign, though the Bank will match any contribution that has been made to this latter group prior to today, November 15, 2010. We will review the new organizations after one year, to see if they have the staff and community support to warrant a match in the FY12 campaign.

Metro Weekly's Chris Geidner sums up: "That means that, while employees will continue to be able to select PFOX for their contributions this year, the World Bank -- because PFOX is new to the list this year -- will only provide matching funds for donations to the group made before today."

Now we'll have to see if PFOX makes next year's list.

World Bank Donates To "Ex-Gays" At PFOX

World Bank, whose stated mission is ending poverty through loans to developing countries, has listed the "ex-gay" group PFOX as a suggested group for charity giving by its employees. World Bank matches employee donations at rates from 50-100% and places PFOX directly above PFLAG on its list of endorsed charities. Chris Geidner reports at Metro Weekly:

PFOX supports so-called ''conversion'' therapy – by which people who identify as gay attempt to become ex-gay – and the National Association for Reparative Therapy (NARTH), specifically. One of the few videos on the PFOX YouTube channel is a video of an interview with former NARTH president Dr. Joseph Nicolosi. Another shows a televised debate between PFOX's Peter Sprigg and Truth Wins Out executive director Wayne Besen, who has been writing about the ex-gay organizations for more than a decade. Besen told Metro Weekly on Wednesday afternoon, "It's as sickening as it is scandalous." Besen said that the former president of PFOX, Richard Cohen – who Besen described as "the guru of the organization to this day" – runs the International Healing Foundation and "sent his protégé to Uganda – and what came from that was the Anti-Homosexuality Bill" that has been the subject of intense worldwide scrutiny and criticism. "Here's this group that is tied to what can only be described as an eliminationist campaign, worldwide, against gay people," Besen said, "and they're receiving money from the World Bank?"

The self-haters at PFOX will now be able to tout their relationship with World Bank as they attempt to legitimize their campaign against their own people. Unbelievable. Read Chris Geidner's complete expose on this travesty.

Metro Weekly Recaps Budgets & Staff Levels For National LGBT Groups

Click over to Metro Weekly for Chris Geidner's recapping of fifteen of the nation's most well-known LGBT advocacy groups. Geidner's article includes self-assessing quotes from many of the group's leaders. What's most interesting to me is that the three groups that seem to have most dominated the news in recent months (GOProud, Servicemembers United, and GetEqual) have the smallest budgets and the fewest paid staffers.